Hometown Broadcasting News Wednesday 6/9/21
9 June 2021 News
Didion Milling Fined And Cited For Fatal Accident
The U.S. Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration is fining Didion Milling in Cambria for safety violations that led to the death of a 52-year-old manager at the mill in December of last year. It took emergency service workers nine hours to recover the body from a corn silo that was in the process of being unclogged. OSHA determined the unclogging process should have continued for several more days before anyone was able to enter the silo. Didion was issued 14 citations and a proposed $676,808 in penalties for the fatal December 8th accident. An OSHA official says six of every 10 workers trapped in a grain bin don’t make it out alive.
Watertown Woman Sentenced On Meth Charge
A 41-year-old Watertown woman was sentenced in Dodge County court this week on a methamphetamine possession charge. Misty Paulson was given a year and a half in prison and two years of extended supervision. She was originally sentenced in Dodge County Drug Treatment Court in October of 2019 to two years of probation, but did not successfully complete the program. The charge stemmed from a domestic incident in July of 2017 when Paulson was arguing with a man in his van. Police officers noticed both Paulson and the man she was arguing with seemed to be under the influence of drugs. A search of the van turned up items used for drug use and a small amount of meth.
In Person Visitations At DOC Facilities Resuming
Wisconsin’s Department of Corrections is beginning the transition back to normal activities, including in-person visitation with the proper precautions beginning July 6th. The decision followed consultation with the state’s Department of Health Services and is based on a real and sustained downward trend in COVID-19 infections across the state and in DOC facilities. At the beginning of the week the state DOC’s COVID-19 dashboard indicated only 11 active cases among the more than 19,000 people in the department’s custody across 37 institutions. In addition 57 percent of the DOC’s population has been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and more than 90 percent of those who have not declined vaccination have received at least one dose.
Alliance Laundry Systems Job Fair In Ripon Today
Alliance Laundry Systems will hold a job fair at their World Training Center on Shepard Street in Ripon today from 11 am to 6 pm. Margaret Heffernan is the Communications Manager at Alliance. She says in addition to their great benefits they recently increased their starting pay and restructured hours to allow people to have three-day weekends. “We just raised our starting wage to over $20 an hour for second shift. We restructured our shift schedule so our team members are working four 10-hour shifts, which means some three-day weekends just in time for summer to get in full swing.” Hiring Manager Kacie Gossens says with their one-stop application and job fair there is a good chance qualified candidates will have a job when they leave. Tours will be available and questions answered. Among the openings they have are for forklift operators, in assembly, and maintenance.
Alliance Laundry Systems Closes Purchase On Washburn Machinery
Alliance Laundry Systems based in Ripon recently closed on its purchase of the distribution assets of Washburn Machinery, Inc. Based in Elk Grove Village, Illinois, Washburn Machinery opened in 1948. It provides industry-leading on premises laundry solutions to a variety of businesses in Northern and Central Illinois, Northern Indiana and East Central and Southern Wisconsin markets. Rick Pyle, President and Chief Commercial Officer of Alliance Laundry Systems says, “With the completion of this transaction, our third acquisition of 2021, combining with Washburn further illustrates our strong commitment to explore every opportunity to better serve our customers.” Jeff Fox, President of Washburn Machinery, will join Alliance in a leadership role.
Decision To Discontinue Cookie Daze Was A Tough One
The Executive Director of the Ripon Chamber of Commerce says a decision to discontinue Cookie Daze wasn’t an easy one, but it is one they’ve been considering for the past three or four years. Jason Mansmith says it was arrived at through their staff and board of directors. He points out not staging it last year because of the pandemic wasn’t the only factor. Dwindling attendance, sponsorship, the cost of operations also factored in. “It was a difficult decision, but with the loss of the cookie factory here maybe five years ago or so it became increasingly more difficult to host the event because they provided a certain amount of resources for us during the event that were crucial.” Mansmith says they offered whatever resources for the event that they had to the Riponfest 2.0 Committee. He says the cookie factory and the generations of residents it employed will always be an important legacy for the community.
Ripon Dispatch Transfer
A week after the City of Ripon transferred its dispatching for police, fire and ambulance to Fond du Lac County there has been no noticeable change in response time. Police Chief Bill Wallner says it was a nine-month project and a major one for the city. He notes their goal was make sure the average citizen did not see a change in their service. “Because really the goal I think for all three of the chiefs, fire included, was to have that transition and the average person and the average citizen not realize that that had occurred. To be able to do that to be able to work through those issues was very important.” Fire Chief Tim Saul believes the response time of the fire department actually improved. Ripon Guardian Ambulance Chief Mitch Matuszeski says their response time is about the same and things seem to be going well with the transition. The transition to Fond du Lac County Dispatch occurred on June 1st.
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