KFIZ News Thursday 12/29/16

Chimney Fire In St Cloud

Fire departments from St. Cloud and Mt. Calvary responded to a reported chimney fire late Wednesday morning. The fire was in a home at 127 East Railroad Avenue in St. Cloud. Smoke was reported coming from the building and later authorities said it was a chimney fire. The time of the fire call was just before 11 a.m.

Campbellsport Woman Arrested For Driving Drunk In West Bend

West Bend Police arrested a 25-year-old Campbellsport woman for drunken driving after an officer spotted her swerving in and out of traffic early Saturday morning. The woman also struck a curb in the 700 block of South Main Street. A breath test administered before her arrest put her blood alcohol level at more than twice the legal limit.

Narcan Training Sessions Offered

Three sessions have been scheduled over the next eight months for free community Narcan training in Fond du Lac County. The Harm Reduction Pillar of the Fond du Lac County Opioid Initiative is partnering with AIDS Resource Center of Wisconsin to offer the free training. A limited number of free kits will be available. To reserve a kit call the County Health Department at (920) 929-3085. The community training sessions will be on Saturday, January 14th at 10 a.m., Tuesday, May 16th at 5:30 p.m., and Saturday, August 19th at 10 a.m. All of the sessions will be at St. Paul’s Cathedral in Fond du Lac.

Town Of Taycheedah Offices At Stake In April Election

Voters in the Town of Taycheedah will have plenty of town offices to vote on in April. The positions of Chairperson, two supervisors’ seats, Clerk, Treasurer, Assessor, Constable and Taycheedah Sanitary District #1 Commissioner are all at stake. Brenda Schneider and James Voight have filed declarations of non-candidacy. Schneider, who is town clerk, will become the County Treasurer next week. Voight is currently the town’s Sanitary District #1 Commissioner. The town constable is the only one who has filed the necessary forms for reelection. John Rickert has filed forms to run for a supervisor’s seat. The incumbent supervisors whose seats are up for reelection are Clarence Kraus and Tim Simon.  Declaration of Candidacy, Campaign Registration Statements and nomination papers with a minimum of 20 valid signatures need to be filed with Town Clerk Brenda Schneider no later than 5:00 pm next Tuesday. For more information you can contact Schneider at (920) 921-5224.

Merger Will Take Time

The interim President and CEO of the Fond du Lac Area Association of Commerce says a merger with the Fond du Lac County Economic Development Corporation will take time. Tom Herre says in fact the FCEDC Board of Directors will have to vote on the merger to make it final. He says the Association’s Board does not have the authority. He says a plan has to be submitted to the membership and the membership has to approve it. Herre feels the merger will be approved. He says the 40 members of the two boards voted unanimously to go forward with a steering committee and hiring a transitional director for a merger. He says while that’s happening it will be business as usual for the two organizations. He says three things led them to this point; Envision Fond du Lac’s recommendation for more collaboration, the retirement of former Association President and CEO Joe Reitemeier, and the desire of investors to make more efficient use of their money.

Grothman Says Trump Will Have A Strong Military

Congressman Glenn Grothman feels the nation will have a stronger military under President-Elect Donald Trump. Grothman says Trump has a belief in a strong military, but not one he hopes to use a lot. Grothman says more recently the military has been chipped away at, but was used more. He feels Trump will have a good relationship with foreign leaders, but has no illusions about countries like Iran. He also feels companies like the Oshkosh Corporation, which makes military vehicles for the U.S. are looking forward to having Trump in office. He says those companies feel Trump’s commitment to a strong military is something other presidential candidates didn’t share. He says Trump realizes he won’t get in trouble for having a stronger military and any military contractor will benefit from that including Oshkosh Truck.

IT A Hot Field

Officials at Moraine Park Technical College say people with Information Technology or IT skills are in demand. MPTC President Bonnie Baerwald says the unemployment rate in that field is only 2.6 percent. She says the IT industry is very hot and is one of the country’s and Wisconsin’s fastest growing career fields. Moraine Park offers degrees in IT Tech Support Specialist and IT Network. IT Instructor Joe Desiderio says both provide support that businesses need. He says he instructs students about tech support and customer service help desk. He says IT network specialists work with routers, switches, setting up networks and making sure computers are hooked up to the network. Baerwald says Moraine Park offers a dual degree option that allows IT students to get degrees in both areas.