Hometown Broadcasting News Wednesday 7/24/19
24 July 2019 News
Dodge County Man Accused Of Arson
A Dodge County man is suspected of setting fire to his former home in the Town of Herman. Forty-one-year-old Benjamin Mueller of Lowell is charged with arson for the April 2017 fire. According to the criminal complaint the property owner pointed the finger at Mueller telling investigators if the fire was suspicious Mueller was “your suspect.” An official with the state’s Fire Marshal’s office determined the fire was arson. Mueller will make his initial court appearance in Dodge County court on August 5th. If convicted he could get up to 40 years in prison.
Farming Accident In Town Of Dekorra
A Columbia County Sheriff’s deputy’s quick thinking saved the life of a 73-year-old man who had a large bale of hay fall on him last Saturday afternoon at a farm on County Highway V in the Town of Dekorra. Sheriff Roger Brandner says a deputy and cut the twine around the hay freeing the man who had stopped breathing. He was taken to a local hospital with non-life threatening injuries. The man was lifting the large bale with a tractor using a front end loader when the bale fell backwards on top of him.
Ripon Required To Test Wastewater For New Chemical Component
The City of Ripon is one of 125 municipalities across the state being asked to test their wastewater discharges for PFAS. PFAS are a group of man-made chemicals used for decades in numerous products including non-stick cookware, fast food wrappers, stain-resistant sprays, and certain types of firefighting foam that have made their way into the environment. Ripon Water and Wastewater Utility Manager Chris Liveris says the city has to do the testing within 90 days. He received a letter Tuesday requesting the city sample its wastewater discharges. Based on initiatives by other states such as Minnesota and Michigan, it was discovered that PFAS could enter the municipal wastewater system.
Military Consumer Protection Month
The Administrator for the state’s Division of Trade and Consumer Protection says military families are targeted by scammers who use the military lifestyle to find openings for additional scams. Lara Sutherlin says in 2017 the AARP studied veterans and found they lost money to scammers at twice the rate of the average citizen. The FTC learned last year 36,000 service members or their family members were targeted by scammers and 11 percent of them lost money. “When they did lose money they were losing about $34 million so with a medium loss for each person around $900.” Sutherlin says many of the scams are typical of what you may see for the general public, but with a spin on them. For instance instead of posing as a representative of a government agency like the Social Security Administration the scammer may say they are connected with the Veterans Administration. She says typically a government agency won’t be calling you out of the blue and if you get that type of call hang up. July is Military Consumer Protection Month.
Ikes Bird At EAA AirVenture
President Dwight “Ike” Eisenhower’s version of Air Force One is among the planes on display at EAA AirVenture this week. Gerald Oliver is with Commemorative Air Force which owns the 1955 Aero Commander L-26B. President Eisehower used it to get back and forth from his farm in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania to Washington, D.C. Oliver says there were six of those planes used by the President’s Administration. “So there were six of those airplanes originally assigned to the White House for the exclusive use of Ike, Nixon, the first family, cabinet level officials, White House staff and secret service and they were used to transport people back and forth including the President to his farm in Gettysburg.” The plane holds seven people and has a top speed of about 200 miles an hour. Nowadays it is dedicated to the use of the Victory Flights for Veterans program to give veterans free rides. For more about that go to Ike’s Bird.org.
Next Stop For Suicide Prevention Task Force Marshfield
The next meeting of the Assembly Speaker’s Task Force on Suicide Prevention will be held next Monday at the Marshfield Clinic in Marshfield. The Noon meeting will be in the auditorium of the Laird Center for Medical Research. State Representative Joan Ballweg of Markesan chairs the 15-member task force. The hearing will open up for public testimony following invited speakers. Last month the task force held its meeting at Ripon College in Ripon.
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