News 9.21.17
21 September 2017 News
A new splash pad at Riggs County Park in Ripon seems to be a popular attraction, but it was the cost that caught Fond du Lac County officials by surprise. A memo from Parks director Sam Tobias to county executive Al Buechel says paid expenses are more than $42,000 over the nearly $165,000 budget. Tobias says an outstanding request from the contractor of project-related expenses would put the project more than $54,000 over budget. Buechel says a variety of things caused the overage and says he’s not happy about it. He says there’s no one person to blame, but after getting the engineering study, no one acknowledged or recognized the well pump needed three-phase power…and there was none in the park. Tobias said in the memo after a high capacity well was drilled the driller discovered a shale layer in the well profile was collapsing, drastically reducing the well capacity, so a $12,000 change order allowed for re-drilling. But even though the project is over budget, Buechel says the splash pad is important to the Ripon community. He says kids found it the first day, and as word spread quickly, the splash pad has seen a lot of useage this summer.
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A body is found in a burned out home in Waushara County. Sheriff Jeffrey Nett says on September 19th around 8:50 p.m., the 911 Dispatch Center received a report of a house fire on North County Road A in the Town of Bloomfield. Arriving units found a home fully engulfed. Once the fire was extinguished, a search of the property began. Nett says Wednesday morning, authorities discovered a body in the home, and further investigation will be needed to identify the remains. The investigation is ongoing to determine the cause of the fire. The State Fire Marshall’s Office has also been contacted.
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The Wisconsin Better Business Bureau is reminding residents to continue to check your free credit report following the Equifax data breach. This breach involves computer hackers accessing personal data including social security numbers, birth dates and potentially more information of 143 million U.S. citizens. Susan Bach with the Appleton office of the Better Business Bureau of Wisconsin says all consumers can determine if their personal information may have been affected by going to the website equifaxsecurity2017.com. Bach says people should also be aware of scams rising from the data breach. She says Equifax will never call consumers unless they have left a message on their hotline. The hotline number is 1-866-447-7559.
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Nonpartisan attorneys for the Wisconsin Legislature say portions of a newly signed law speeding up legal appeals related to the Foxconn Technology Group’s factory could be unconstitutional. The analysis was prepared by attorneys for the Wisconsin Legislative Council at the request of Democratic state Senate Minority Leader Jennifer Shilling. The analysis dated Tuesday came a day after Republican Gov. Scott Walker signed a $3 billion incentive package into law for Foxconn. That bill also gives the company an expedited appeals process. The attorneys say a provision automatically suspending lower court rulings and requiring the Supreme Court to give preference to Foxconn-related cases are the most susceptible to legal challenge. Walker spokesman Tom Evenson says the governor believes the law to be constitutional.
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