Hometown Broadcasting News Thursday 8/26/21
26 August 2021 News
COVID 19 Report Wednesday
Wisconsin’s Department of Health Services says the spread of the COVID-19 virus is “very high” in 34 of the state’s 72 counties over the past two weeks. COVID activity is considered “high” in the other 38 counties. Among those in the “very high” category are Dodge, Green Lake, and Winnebago counties. Meanwhile with 1,710 new cases Wednesday the 7-day average for new coronavirus cases is now at 1,417. There were also 9 more deaths to raise the death toll since the pandemic began to 7,558 lives lost.
Winnebago County reported 23 new COVID-19 cases Wednesday. Twenty-two new cases were recorded in Fond du Lac County and Dodge County had 36 new cases. Green Lake had 9 new cases, Waupaca County had 12 new cases, and Waushara County reported 5 new cases.
Oshkosh School Board Meeting Interrupted By Protestors
The Oshkosh School Board meeting was cut short last night when protestors who entered the meeting refused to wear face masks. About 20 to 30 protestors entered the room at the start of the meeting to protest the wearing of face masks by children in district schools. They were asked to put on face masks, but refused even when a police officer asked them to. Board members got up and left the room. They went to the superintendent’s office. About 30 minutes later Board President Bob Poeschl entered the board room and announced the meeting had been postponed.
Tree Removal Not As Costly As First Estimated
The Ripon Common Council this week approved a bid for the removal and grinding of trees damaged by last month’s storm in the city. The original estimate was for the removal of 110 trees on city streets, in the right-of-way, or trees in parks. However Public Works Director Mike Ehrenberg informed the Council Monday night that in looking around the city since then there are 20 or 30 more trees that need to be added to the list. City Administrator Adam Sonntag had some good news for the Council regarding the cost of the tree removal and grinding of the trees. The city had applied for a DNR Forestry Grant in the amount of $185,000, but they received a low bid or proposal of $80,250 for the work. The city will also be able to use some of the chips from the trees for its parks, which usually cost the city about $8,000 a year.
Dodge County Deputy Scam
If you get a call from a Deputy Lewis from the Dodge County Sheriff’s Department trying to get you to give him money he’s not really with the Sheriff’s Office. If you have caller ID it will tell you the call is being received from 920-212-8338, which isn’t local or a number for the Sheriff’s Office. By the way the Department doesn’t have a Deputy Lewis working for it, but a scammer is using that name. Sheriff Dale Schmidt recommends turning the tables on the scammer and calling back the scammer just to tell them the Sheriff says hi. He says enough of those calls may convince the scammer not to bother the people of Dodge County.
New Green Lake County Coroner Appointed
Governor Tony Evers has appointed Green Lake County’s next county coroner. Daniel Krieser will fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Dr. John Willett which took effect on May 1st. Krieser has worked in the Fond du Lac County Medical Examiner’s Office since 2014. He has been a death investigator, the operations manager, the interim medical examiner, and is now the autopsy manager. He has also had the opportunity to work alongside the Green Lake County Coroner’s Office. Krieser plans to move to Green Lake County.
New Ripon Common Council Member Seated
The newest member of the Ripon Common Council was seated for this week’s meeting. At the Councils last meeting Jonathan Gatzke was appointed to serve the remaining 8 months left in the term of Alderman Ben Morrison who resigned when he moved out of the 2nd District. Gatzke took part in the meeting and toward the conclusion of it got his first board assignments. The Council approved Mayor Ted Grant’s appointments of Gatzke to the Library Board and Ripon Area Fire District Governing Board.
Masking Decisions Tough For School Boards
Ripon Community COVID 19 Task Force member Jeff Puhlmann-Becker says he doesn’t envy any school board members in the area who have had to make some tough decisions regarding face coverings. He notes at least 6 school districts in the Fox Valley have recently had to reverse face mask policies because of the surge in coronavirus cases with the Delta variant. He says the Ripon Area School District has a mask optional policy for now with contingencies should circumstances change. He points out no matter what a school board decides at this point someone is going to be unhappy about it.
Expansion Of AG Exports Would Help The State
State Senator Joan Ballweg says we need to improve the exporting of our Agricultural products. Governor Tony Evers used his veto powers to cut some of the funding that would have accomplished that. Ballweg says Wisconsin is number one in a number of areas when it comes to agricultural products such as cheese and cranberries. The state lawmaker from Markesan says we continue do well in exporting our AG products to China, Canada and Mexico but have lost a little ground. She says expanding our exports of AG products would help the state economy, AG economy, farmers, producers and processors. Agriculture is a $105 billion industry in the state.
Arc FDL Event
The Arc Fond du Lac will host their 20th Annual Run, Walk, and Roll with the Arc on Saturday, September 18th through picturesque Lakeside Park. The free, non-sanctioned race is open to all, regardless of ability. Attendees can choose to run, walk, or roll through a one-mile or two-mile route. The event is free to attend, however, pre-registration is appreciated on or before September 10th to be guaranteed an event t-shirt. The starting line and registration is at The Arc Fond du Lac located at 500 North Park Avenue in Fond du Lac and begins at 8 am that Saturday. The actual, run, walk, roll starts at 9 am. Registration will be accepted until the start time of the event. Pre-registration can be done by visiting the arcfdl.org website.
Run, Walk & Roll with The Arc – The Arc Fond du Lac (arcfdl.org)
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