News 05.12.17
12 May 2017 News
Neenah Police are investigating after a man’s body is found outside a Neenah gas station. Community Liaison Officer Stuart Zuehls says police were called to the Mobil West station in the 1300 block of Gillingham Road around 1:00 p.m. Tuesday afternoon. Zuehls says a gas station employee found the body on part of the property that isn’t often used. The man is just being described as a Fox Valley resident, white and about 30 years old. Police are reviewing surveillance video from the gas station and currently awaiting results of a toxicology report.
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Area school and law enforcement officials are reacting to a number of threats that have taken place at schools in Dodge and Fond du Lac counties in recent days and weeks. Last Friday, school was canceled in Beaver Dam following a threatening email. A couple weeks before that a 17 year old Fond du Lac High School student was charged with making terrorist threats after another student overheard him threatening to “shoot up” the school. This week a student wrote a threatening message at a Fond du Lac middle school. Dodge County Sheriff Dale Schmidt says these threats are disturbing and frightening. Schmidt says the community needs to be proactive in addressing these issues before they become threats or actual acts of violence. Fond du Lac School superintendent Dr. Jim Sebert says the Fond du Lac case shows that a student’s life can be changed forever with one mistake. The Fond du Lac student has been expelled and now faces a felony charge as he makes his way through the adult court system.
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The Fond du Lac County Sheriffs Office says this is the time of the year when they are concerned about safety involving young drivers on area roads. Sheriff’s captain Ryan Waldschmidt says the concern is that the days are longer, its prom and graduation season and young people can see summer vacation right around the corner. Waldschmidt says overall this is a time of year when there are more cars and motorcycles on the road. Through the first four months of the year there have been three fatalities in two traffic crashes on Fond du Lac County roads.
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Gov. Scott Walker declares a state of emergency as the state faces heightened wildfire conditions. Walker issued an executive order Wednesday directing all state agencies to assist with potential wildfire response and recovery efforts. The order also directs the Wisconsin National Guard to help the state Department of Resources pre-position firefighting equipment as necessary and authorizes the National Guard to call personnel to active duty. According to the DNR’s website, so far this year Wisconsin has seen 409 wildfires that have consumed about 467 acre. The agency says fire danger is high in far northwestern and northern Wisconsin. Walker spokesman Tom Evenson says emergency officials are expecting warmer, drier weather that could exacerbate conditions.
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The state Senate passes a bill setting up stricter cost reporting requirements for road projects. The bill comes after a state audit in January revealed the state Department of Transportation underestimated ongoing project costs by more than $3 billion. The Legislature’s audit committee drafted a bill that calls for DOT to supply a full project cost estimate to the Transportation Projects Commission that includes costs before the project is approved, the effects of inflation and unexpected costs. DOT would have to include more information in its semiannual report to the commission, including an explanation of any difference between cost estimates and actual current costs. DOT would have to send the report to legislators as well as the commission. The Senate passed the bill Wednesday on a voice vote.
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Health officials in a west-central Wisconsin county are finding increased levels of nitrates in private wells. The La Crosse County Health Department told 2,000 households last month their private wells may be contaminated. More than 450 wells have since been tested for nitrates, and 29 percent show levels over the permissible 10 parts per million. Carol Drury is the environmental health and lab manager at the health department. She says most of the 130 wells that tested positive were between 10 and 14 parts per million, but some were over 20 parts per million. County board member Monica Kruse says the county began worrying about possible contamination after a state audit last year found issues with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources’ regulation of a concentrated animal feeding operation in the area.
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