Hometown Broadcasting News Friday 6/26/20
26 June 2020 News
Former Mayville Police Officer Sentenced For Misconduct In Office
A former Mayville police officer convicted of misconduct in office charges was sentenced in Dodge County court this week. During Wednesday’s hearing 31-year-old Mark Forster was sentenced to 9 months in jail and 5 years of probation on three felony counts of misconduct in office. Three other charges were read into the record and dismissed. Charges were based on a relationship Forster had with a 17-year-old high school senior in 2016. The relationship allegedly included sexual contact with her while he was on duty. A department internal investigation into his conduct led to his resignation.
Menasha Man Charged With Arson
A 23-year-old Menasha man suspected of starting a fire at a Menasha apartment complex last Saturday has been charged with arson. Brett Duval was charged with two counts of arson and two counts of negligent handling of burning material when he appeared in Winnebago County court Wednesday. He was released on a $5,000 signature bond and will be back in court July 6th. According to the criminal complaint Duval admitted being involved in four separate fires because “he was sad and depressed.”
Gift Card Scam
Markesan Police are warning residents about a gift card scam. Hackers use a person’s email address book to send out emails posing as that person saying they need help and need you to get a gift card and to send it to them or the numbers from the gift card. The scammer says they aren’t able to get to the store and sometimes use COVID-19 as an excuse. Police advise calling the person you supposedly got the email from to let them know they were probably hacked.
Back To School But Not Back To Normal
Ripon Area School District Superintendent Mary Whitrock believes they can safely reopen their schools this fall if they follow safety and health protocols for the pandemic. The state’s Department of Public Instruction issued an 87-page Education Forward Plan this week. Whitrock says they will use the guidance from that and County Health Department officials to ensure the health and safety of their staff and students. “We know from our interactions in the community that if we follow some really basic good safety precautions that there is really a good chance that we can be together to some degree and still keep everyone safe and that is what we are trying to do we desperately need our kids back in our buildings but it is going to look different.” She says they will be using some virtual learning as part of their offerings. Whitrock notes their plan likely will include screening students and staff prior to entering the building to minimize initial risk.
Ripon College Commencement Hopes
Ripon College President Zach Messitte says they are hoping to have a commencement ceremony for the Class of 2020 during the first weekend in October on campus. That’s something they scheduled in April and Messitte says they are hoping that the outdoor venue will give them a little more flexibility with the health guidelines for COVID-19. “The hope is that we will be able to hold a traditional commencement ceremony as we always do on that beautiful main lawn in the middle of the College’s campus, but again we are watching the state and local health guidelines.” Typically there are over 200 students that graduate.
COVID Concerns
A member of the Ripon Community COVID 19 Task Force says the public needs to take the threat of the pandemic seriously. Jeff Puhlmann-Becker says a number of states that relaxed stay at home orders opened too fast and are now as a result seeing record increases in cases. “It is happening, look at Arizona, Texas, Florida. Some of these states are in really rough shape like getting thousands of cases a day and all-time highs for each one of those states and Arizona is of real concern.” COVID-19 cases across the country increased by 35,000 on Wednesday. Puhlmann-Becker says the only state that may really be through the first phase of the pandemic is New York, but that came at great cost in terms of lives lost and those who were hospitalized.
Unemployment Rates Improve In May
Unemployment rates improved from April to May in Wisconsin. According to Federal Labor statistics some of the people who lost their jobs due to the pandemic were able to find or return to work last month. Fond du Lac County’s rate improved from 15 percent to 11.3 percent. Winnebago County went from 13.2 to 10.6 percent. Dodge County at 11.1 percent in April improved to 9.6 percent in May. Green Lake County went from 18.8 to 13.2 percent and Marquette County from 15 to 12.2 percent. Waupaca County improved from 12.5 to 10.5 percent and Waushara County from 14.3 to 10.8 percent.
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Search For Next Ripon City Administrator Gets Started
The Ripon Common Council this week gave permission to Council President Al Schraeder to put together a request for proposal or RFP statement in its search for a new city administrator. Current Administrator Lori Rich will be retiring next April. She has been with the City for 17 years. The City can also have the position posted with the Wisconsin League of Municipalities and let other cities in the valley know about it. Another option the Council can consider is hiring a search firm. The Council will be discussing the matter further in upcoming meetings.
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