5/26/22 Hometown Broadcasting News Thursday
26 May 2022 News
FDL Police Respond To Fight Involving Juveniles
Police in Fond du Lac responded to a fight involving 6 to 7 juveniles in the area of South National Avenue and East 2nd Street Wednesday. Circumstances of that fight are still being investigated. Investigators did learn that a 15- year- old Woodworth Middle School students was bicycling home when he was jumped by three other juveniles who were hiding behind the Marian University sign. He returned to the school and started a fight in the school with a student he believed to be a friend of those who assaulted him. A 13-year-old student joined the fight. Police arrested the 15 and 13-year-olds, the older boy on disorderly conduct, battery and terroristic threat charges. The 13-year-old faces disorderly conduct and battery charges.
Second Parent Of Lomira Child That Died Charged With Neglect
A second parent of a three-year-old who died in Lomira two years ago is facing three felony counts of neglecting a child with a consequence of great bodily harm and one misdemeanor charge of resisting an officer. Thirty-five-year-old Frank Pleester of Milwaukee will make his initial appearance in Dodge County court on June 13th. Last July the infant’s mother 34-year-old Jamie Hildebrandt was sentenced to 10 years in prison on charges stemming from her three-year-old son’s death. An autopsy concluded the toddler died of multiple blunt force injuries to his head, chest and back. According to the criminal complaint issued against Pleester the child was seriously neglected before his death. Both parents failed to bring him in for medical appointments and the child was chronically malnourished at the time of his death. Prosecutors also allege Pleester knew of Hildebrandt’s neglect of the child.
COVID 19 Still Around
A former member of the Ripon Community COVID-19 Task Force says the coronavirus has taken a back seat to school shootings and other important headlines, but we shouldn’t dismiss its relevance outright. Jeff Puhlmann-Becker says a couple of people he knows have gotten it but were protected by the vaccine and booster shots still it was no picnic for them to go through. He says we may not be getting the full picture as to how widespread the disease still is because more people are testing at home but aren’t officially reporting those results. Over the last two weeks in the U.S. new COVID-19 cases have gone up 13 percent.
Tourism Holds Its Own During Pandemic
The chairperson of the State Senate’s Committee on Agriculture and Tourism says Wisconsin was fortunate that its tourism numbers didn’t suffer that much during the height of the pandemic. Senator Joan Ballweg says people cooped up in their homes wanted to get out of the house and out of the city which actually benefitted the hospitality industry in the 14th State Senate District. She says as a whole the state also has not seen much drop off in average tourism between 2019 and 2021 while other states saw a significant decrease. The state lawmaker from Markesan says unfortunately coming out of those years like other areas of employment the hospitality industry has seen a decline in its workforce numbers.
Active Participant In Ripon College Anniversary
Ripon College’s newly named 14th president says she’s looking forward to becoming part of the community. The college’s Board of Trustees this week announced the unanimous selection of Dr. Victoria Folse as the the school’s next president. She will officially assume the presidency in July. Folse is a respected scholar and administrator that will bring more than 30 years of experience in higher education and a long standing commitment to the liberal arts to Ripon. In an introductory video posted on the College’s website Folse said she’s looking forward to helping with the college’s 175th anniversary in the next few years. She has served as the director and endowed chair of the School of Nursing at Illinois Wesleyan University since 2009 and executive director of Counseling and Consultation Services since 2019.
Heart And Vascular Care Center Expanding
Supported by a $3 million gift from the Michels family, SSM Health Dale Michels Heart & Vascular Care in Fond du Lac is set to begin an $8.5 million expansion project to address increasing space needs as the number of cardiac physicians and life-saving procedures continues to grow. The Dale Michels family continues to honor the legacy of their father, Dale Michels-owner and president of Michels Pipeline Construction, Inc.-who died at age 65 following a heart attack in 1998. This is the second large donation supporting heart care made by the Michels family, the first in 2006 when the family gifted $1.5 million to help launch the Dale Michels Center for Heart Care, now SSM Health Dale Michels Heart & Vascular Care.
Ripon Memorial Day Ceremony
A Memorial Day ceremony will be held in Ripon Monday morning at 9:30 at the Village Green at 400 Watson Street. In the event of rain the ceremony will be held in the Ripon High School. The program will include an invocation, followed by a reading of Abraham Lincoln’s “Gettsyburg Address” and “in Flanders Fields.” The ceremony will be followed by a procession through the downtown to Hillside Cemetery at approximately 10 am, with the laying of wreaths and a National Guard gun salute.
Holiday Reminders
Ripon’s Department of Public Works will be closed Monday for the Memorial Day holiday so there will be no garbage service that day. Monday’s garbage will be picked up on Tuesday May 31st. Monday’s holiday will also affect next week’s recycling pickup. West side recycling will be picked up on Thursday. Meanwhile in Oshkosh the city bus service GO Transit will not be operating on Monday. GO Transit’s office will also be closed. Regular operations will resume on Tuesday.
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