Hometown Broadcasting News Thursday 10/29/20
29 October 2020 News
Van Dyne Construction Contractor Accused Of Theft
A 36-year-old Van Dyne man has multiple cases going in Fond du Lac County court for allegedly taking home construction jobs and not completing the work. Among the charges Adam Walsh faces in those 5 open cases are theft by contractor, theft from a business setting, theft-false representation, and bail jumping. Last week he waived preliminary hearings in two of the theft by contractor cases and pleaded not guilty to all charges. Plea and sentencing hearings are scheduled in two of the other cases. If he maintains his innocence in those cases they would go to trial.
Brandon Man Gets More Years In Prison For Botched Bank Robbery
A Rock County judge this week sentenced a 40-year-old Brandon man to an additional four years in prison for an attempted robbery at a Janesville bank last January. Daniel Landis tried unsuccessfully to open cash drawers behind the counter at the Wisconsin River Bank. Landis was sentenced on a second degree recklessly endangering safety charge stemming from a high-speed chase following the robbery attempt. Through a plea agreement four other charges including attempted theft from a financial institution were read into the record and dismissed. He was also sentenced to four years of extended supervision. Landis was already serving time for a bank robbery in Vernon County.
COVID Vaccine
A member of the Ripon Community COVID 19 Task Force says it could be up to a year after a vaccine is developed before it becomes available to everyone. “A White House official came out this week and said we are not going to control the pandemic, we are going to control the vaccines and the cure. I’m not sure we have the luxury of ignoring the virus for the next few months until there is a vaccine.” Jeff Puhlmann-Becker says once a vaccine is available it could take 6 to 12 months to have enough to get the most at-risk vaccinated. He says another issue is refrigeration because a good portion of the world that does not have reliable refrigeration and medical facilities, which could pose a problem in getting vaccine to those people.
Ripon School District Closely Monitors COVID-19 In The Community
Ripon Schools Superintendent Mary Whitrock says they are carefully monitoring the COVID-19 pandemic to keep their students and staff safe. Tuesday the positivity rate for Ripon residents being tested for the coronavirus was at 28 percent, while the state averaged just under 32 percent. Whitrock says they keep an eye on the COVID trends to make sure it isn’t a threat to their staff and students. “It’s something we obviously spend time on responding to and looking at our numbers and trends on a daily basis. Our greatest threat is making sure that our staff are healthy and are able to be here to work with our students in our face-to-face capacity as well as virtual.” Whitrock says they did have to move some extracurricular activities such as fall sports, but their main concern has been about offering classes. She says they have very stringent safety measures in place, the same safety measures that the state is recommending for everyone.
Columbia County Jail Walk Away Back In Custody
Columbia County Sheriff’s officials have one of the two recent walk aways from their jail back in custody. Twenty-seven-year-old Amanda Montroy was a Huber inmate with work release privileges. She failed to return from work on Friday, October 16th. Montroy was convicted of escape, resisting or obstructing an officer, and theft. Her sentence ran through March 9th of next year. Adams County assisted in taking her into custody. The other walk away was 35-year-old Kirk Curtis who failed to return from work on Wednesday, October 21st.
Markesan Fire Department Once More
The Markesan Fire Department is once more. The change to the Markesan Fire Department name was noted on Facebook Wednesday morning where the department was previously identified as the Grand River Fire District. Officials say at one time there were the Grand River Rural Fire District and the Markesan Fire Department, which had the same firefighters but used different trucks. The two departments merged in 1994-1995 to become the Grand River Fire District. The decision to return to the Markesan Fire Department name was because the Grand River name was confusing to people and other fire departments calling for mutual aid.
Ripon Senior Activity Center Birthday Celebrated
With the COVID-19 pandemic the Ripon Senior Activity Center hasn’t had a lot to celebrate this year, but they were able recently to celebrate their 52nd birthday. The center staged an outdoors drive-through event in their parking lot last week. Center Executive Director Noreen Johnson says it was good to see people out even though they were wearing masks and were in their vehicles. “We gave away 86 pieces of cake, bags of goodies, and then students from Mrs. Bork’s classroom at the high school had made these flannel apples that had a roll of toilet paper in them and then there was some hand sanitizer.” Because the center’s birthday is so close to Halloween some people dressed in costume including Johnson who donned a Fred Flintstone costume.
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