6/10/24 Hometown Broadcasting News Monday
10 June 2024 News
VIGIL HELD AT WAUPUN CORRECTIONAL
A vigil was held outside Waupun Correctional Institution last night. Four inmates have died at the facility in the past year. An investigation led to the charging of the prison warden and eight staff members last Wednesday. There have been calls for closing the prison and Green Bay Correctional Institution. Waupun Correctional is one of the oldest prisons in the country. Posting online a couple days ago Waupun Mayor Rohn Bishop said the problems at Waupun Correctional Institution weren’t caused by the Warden or the good people who work there. He says the problems were caused by governors who didn’t care, legislators who didn’t care, and a media who cared too much about the prisoners instead of the safety of the staff. (Waupun Fire Department photo).
PLANS BEING ROLLED OUT FOR UWO FDL CAMPUS
Fond du Lac County Executive Sam Kaufman recently announced a couple meetings where the public can find out what the County’s plans are for the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh- Fond du Lac campus after June 30th. On that date the possession of all campus buildings and land will return to the county. Kaufman says the campus will be repurposed with a focus on bringing county and state government offices, performing arts, law enforcement, an event center and sporting events together. He is hoping it will generate enough revenue to be self-sufficient. The proposed plans will be presented to the County Board during an information meeting on Tuesday, June 18th at 5 pm in the legislative chambers of the City-County Government Center in Fond du Lac. An additional public information meeting will be held at 6 pm on Monday, July 1st on the campus in the commons area near the Prairie Theater. His final proposal will be presented to the County Board for approval at their July meeting.
TWO ARRESTED ON DRUG CHARGES DURING COLUMBIA COUNTY TRAFFIC STOP
The Columbia County Sheriff’s Department arrested two 26-year-old Madison area men on drug charges late Friday morning after a deputy pulled over a vehicle on State Highway 33 in the Town of Caledonia for an equipment violation. When the deputy contacted the occupants of the vehicle the deputy could smell the odor of marijuana which led to a search of the vehicle. The search turned up 80 counterfeit oxycodone blue M30 pills laced with Fentanyl and a knife. The driver, Dashaun Winslow of Madison, and passenger Desmond Watkins of Sun Prairie were arrested and taken to the Columbia County Jail. In addition to drug charges both violated the terms of their probation.
BERLIN AREA SCHOOL DISTRICT REFERENDUM
The Berlin Area School District will be putting an operational referendum before voters in the fall. The School Board will vote at the end of the month on the amount they want to exceed the district revenue cap by. District Superintendent Emmett Durtschi says they learned a few things from the failed referendum of April of 2023 when they asked to exceed their revenue cap by $2.5 million and also asked permission to borrow $20 million to make improvements to the Clay Lamberton Elementary School and at the High School. He says since then they have been committed to reducing their operating costs. Durtschi says there were a lot of factors that led to the failure of last year’s referendum. He says at the same time the City of Berlin was asking to exceed its tax levy, property valuations were soaring, inflation was on the rise, and there were fears of recession.
GILES NAMED EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE FDL AREA FOUNDATION
The Fond du Lac Area Foundation Board of Directors recently announced the appointment of Greg Giles, as the organizations next executive director. Giles comes to the Foundation from the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh Foundation, which manages over $40 million in assets and averages nearly $3.5 million per year in donations. Giles has a distinguished 33-year career and has held many leadership positions including leading the Fond du Lac Family YMCA. He was also on the Fond du Lac City Council and was a founding partner of Fondy 100 Gives. He starts his role as executive director of the Fond du Lac Area Foundation on July 1st. He succeeds Aaron Sadoff who left to become President of Marian University.
REAL HEROES TREVOR CASPER POST OFFICE BILL
Congressman Glenn Grothman says his bill seeking to name a post office in Kiel after a hometown hero isn’t a waste of legislation. State Trooper Trevor Casper was only 21-years-old when he died in a gun battle with a murder and robbery suspect in Fond du Lac in March of 2015. But the Kiel native’s sacrifice wasn’t in vain the suspect also died in the shootout before he could enter a busy Pick ‘n’ Save grocery store and put other lives at risk. Grothman says if he proposes renaming a U.S. Post Office after someone it’s because their actions were heroic and had an impact on other lives. Grothman’s bill was introduced last September and was backed by the entire Wisconsin Congressional delegation. It was passed by Congress and moved on to the Senate.
SPRING TURKEY HUNT RESULTS ANNOUNCED
Preliminary totals have been announced for the 2024 spring turkey season. The DNR says turkey hunters registered 50,435 birds this season, making it the fourth-highest spring harvest on record and a 22 percent increase from the five-year average. The 2024 spring season started on April 13th with the two-day youth hunt for hunters under 16 years old. A total of 3,967 birds were registered, a 37 percent increase from the five-year average. A total of 246,068 authorizations were available this spring, and hunters applied for or purchased 224,630 of them. The deadline to apply for next spring’s turkey season is December 10th. (DNR photo).
SSM HEALTH DONATES TO REACH WAUPUN
SSM Health is giving $5,000 to REACH Waupun to support its Get Active! program, which is designed to help improve the health and well-being of youth in the Waupun community. The funding will help the Get Active! program to provide financial assistance to students within the Waupun Area School District or Central Wisconsin Christian School to pay for fees related to sports, clubs, or extracurricular activities. Students would qualify for a wide variety of sports, including bowling, dance, figure skating, gymnastics, hockey, swim team or swimming lessons, and wrestling. Students can receive up to $250 a year in assistance. DeAnn Thurmer is SSM Health Ripon Community Hospital and Waupun Memorial Hospital president. She says they are pleased to help support this very important local initiative through their community benefit program.
In the photo: Jayne Harmsen (right), REACH Waupun executive director, accepts a $5,000 donation from Nicole Gill (left), vice president, clinical administrator, and DeAnn Thurmer, president, SSM Health Waupun Memorial Hospital/SSM Health Ripon Community Hospital, for its Get Active! program.
BREWERY BEING CREATED IN WAUPUN
It hasn’t even served up its first brew yet, Envision Greater Fond du Lac’s Small Business and Entrepreneurship Director already thinks of a brewery being created in Waupun as a success story. Raina Lyman says it takes partnership and collaboration to grow an idea into a business and the Waupun brewery has already seen its share of that. Among those cooperating on the project are the Small Business Development Center, the City of Waupun, the State, Envision Greater Fond du Lac, the entrepreneurs, and the lender. She says the business has a great family, product, and building going for it. Lyman says she was able to help with a business plan and market viability. The SBDC assisted with market analysis, market viability, and financial projections.
Share |