Hometown Broadcasting News Monday 1/11/21
11 January 2021 News
COVID Vaccine Now Available For Independent Healthcare Workers
The Fond du Lac County Health Department is putting out a call to independent healthcare workers who need a COVID-19 vaccine and are not employed by a facility who can vaccinate them. Currently, rollout of COVID-19 vaccine is for those in Phase 1a of the COVID-19 vaccination program. Distribution groups and timelines are tentative and subject to change due to guiding recommendations, FDA approval of vaccines, and vaccine allocation and availability. Phase 1a includes frontline health care workers and long-term care staff and residents. Vaccine is not yet available for the general public.
Passenger Car And Amish Buggy Collide
No one was seriously hurt when a passenger car and an Amish buggy sideswiped each other Sunday morning in Columbia County’s Town of Randolph. Sheriff’s officials say the buggy and car were both heading east on County Highway E when the buggy attempted a left turn into a driveway. At the same time the car tried to pass the buggy and the two vehicles sideswiped each other. The driver of the car suffered minor injuries, but the six occupants of buggy suffered none. The horse pulling the buggy wasn’t injured either. The accident was reported at 8:14 yesterday morning.
Fatal UTV Crash In Iron County
A woman was killed and a man injured in a UTV crash in Iron County, Wisconsin Friday night. Iron County Sheriff Paul Samardich says they received a call reporting an ATV crash and a woman under water at 8:42 pm, but the caller couldn’t give information on the location of the crash. At 9:59 pm a passerby called the dispatch center to report the crash was on Trail 13 in the Town of Carey. When emergency services responded a UTV was found off the trail and partially submerged. The man driving the UTV was taken from the scene by ambulance. A female passenger was pronounced dead at the scene. Alcohol is believed to be a factor in the crash.
Driver Sober Results Announced
Fond du Lac County Sheriff’s deputies arrested 11 suspected impaired drivers during the recent “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over” enforcement campaign. Officers issued 67 citations for speeding violations, 51 for operating after revocation or suspension violations, and 5 for traffic sign or traffic light violations. There were 6 felony arrests and 9 Fond du Lac County drug-related ordinance citations were issued. Sheriff Ryan Waldschmidt says while the holiday enforcement effort lasts about two weeks their officers work throughout the year to help make our roadways and communities as safe as possible for everyone. The enforcement ran from December 18th to New Year’s Day.
Extended Break Benefits School District
The Ripon Area School District came out of an extended winter break without too many new COVID-19 cases. Superintendent Mary Whitrock says they were hoping the 16-day break would allow some of those who might have contracted the virus to quarantine during that time. She says during the first week they had a report of 9 students and staff test positive for the coronavirus. She says that’s still lower than their peak of 12 last October. “We actually this week coming back from that extended break we had 9 new cases reported to us of COVID. None of those individuals had been in the schools obviously because of break, but our highest group was actually mid-October.” Whitrock says COVID hasn’t been spreading in the schools. She says with a lot of cases it was a family member who got COVID and student or staff contracted it from that member while in quarantine. She says they monitor their numbers pretty close and put them up on the district’s dashboard on their website each Friday.
A Different Kind Of Crowd
Congressman Glenn Grothman says those that stormed the U.S. Capitol this week were a much different group than the protestors he encountered in Madison during the ACT 10 controversy. He says those protests when he was a State Senator about 10 years ago were much more peaceful and the protests went on for months. “Well it is different because the ACT 10 protests went on for months and I came into more personal contact with them because you would walk through them to get to the Capitol. This was more of just a one day thing and the people who were here were obviously violent. I never felt the protestors in Madison got out of control.” He says there were thousands of peaceful protestors to the west of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. last Wednesday, but those around the Capitol weren’t there to protest peacefully.
Nursing Home Vaccinations
A member of the Ripon Community COVID-19 Task Force says he’s impressed with the number of people that have been vaccinated in long-term care facilities. Jeff Puhlmann Becker says LeadingAge Wisconsin reported pharmacists from CVS and Walgreen’s had given the COVID-19 vaccine to people in 39 facilities the first week and as of today have gotten to half of the facilities. “Half of all the long-term facilities in Wisconsin visited and again as many people as want it that want to get it in their arms and by January 25th they are expecting to have had all 360 nursing homes in the state.” He says given the number of doses that have been administered across the country for health care workers and those in long-term facilities that is a pretty impressive achievement. Puhlmann-Becker says on the other hand we need to vaccinate about 10 million people a week in the country to get everyone vaccinated by this summer.
Envision Greater FDL Pledges Support For Shelter Project
Envision Greater Fond du Lac’s Board of Directors passed a resolution supporting a joint venture between St. Vincent de Paul of Fond du Lac County and the Solutions Center. It acknowledges the real issue of homelessness in the county and the ripple effect ts has. The two organizations through research and due process identified the growing need for shelter and services. Envision President and CEO Sadie Parafiniuk says, “The Board of Directors at Envision Greater Fond du Lac, along with the entire team, pledges to support this proposed project. The project is estimated to be completed in the fall and will be named the St. Katharine Drexel Shelter. The new shelter will be located near the St. Vincent de Paul store in Fond du Lac.
Three Promoted To Lieutenant At FDL Police Department
The Fond du Lac Police Department recently announced the promotions of three long-time officers with the department to the rank of lieutenant. Detective Matthew Bobo, and Police Officers Erik Foster and Ryan Williams have been promoted to that rank. All three were sworn into their new positions during a ceremony at the City-County Government Center in Fond du Lac last Thursday afternoon. Police Chief Bill Lamb says, “While these individuals have varying backgrounds, levels of experience and expertise, they all share one thing in common, and that is a passionate commitment to the City of Fond du Lac Police Department.” Bobo is a 15-year veteran of the department; Foster has 16 years with it, and Williams 19 years.
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