Local News Briefs Tuesday 6/24/14

Fond du Lac County’s new drug court will benefit from a state grant. State Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen Monday announced the awarding of grants through the Treatment Alternatives and Diversion program. The grant the County will receive for treatment of non-violent offenders is for $46,807. Thirteen counties and one tribe received the grant money from the TAD program. Van Hollen noted that 81 percent of TAD graduates did not have any new convictions after three years and 97 percent stayed out of state prison after completing the program.

Visitation Held For Kewaskum Students Killed In Washington County Crash

A visitation was held Sunday at Kewaskum High School for the two 16-year-old students killed last week in a crash. Travis Trapp of Cascade and Brent Schultz of Kewaskum were killed last Wednesday morning. The State Patrol says the vehicle the students were in crossed the center line and struck a Washington County Sheriff’s deputy head on. The boys died at the scene. Friends of Trapp and Schultz say the two were best friends. They say the two were running errands. The sheriff’s deputy was treated at a hospital and released

Cooperative Effort Reduces Drug Related Electronics Thefts

Fond du Lac County District Attorney Eric Toney says some people resort to bold behavior when it comes to finding ways to pay for their drug habits. He says one thing they saw was electronics thefts from a larger department store. He says a local law enforcement agency worked with the department store on strategies to reduce the number of those incidents. He says fortunately the strategy developed to reduce those types of thefts at the store paid off. Toney says the thefts at the store went down because the store took some positive steps to reduce those numbers. He says it’s great to see a cooperative effort to do something about a problem pay off.

Highway 151 Meeting

Fond du Lac residents can find out more about the state Department of Transportation’s plans to improve the Highway 151 Bypass at County Highway V and T during a meeting tonight at the UW-Fond du Lac. The meeting will be from 5 to 7 p.m. in the University Commons Rooms UC 114 with a brief presentation at 5:15 p.m. The project that begins in 2015 will put in a partial cloverleaf interchange at County V and an overpass at County T.

FDL School Board

As the financial year for the Fond du Lac School District comes to a close the school board Monday took care of a few items connected with that. The board approved final budget adjustments and after the meeting held a workshop to take a preliminary look at the 2014-15 budget. District Superintendent Jim Sebert says at first glance the next school year’s budget looks pretty good. The board also approved a contract with CESA 6 for supplemental services such as occupational and physical therapy and special services. The board also appointed Frank Endejan as the expulsion hearing officer for the next school year. This past school year 16 students were expelled.

Rain A Blessing And A Curse For Farmers

The host for this past Sunday’s Breakfast on the Farm says the more than plentiful rain has been an issue for farmers the past few weeks. John Ruedinger says it has presented some challenges. He says the week before the breakfast they had finished planting corn and were trying to get in their second harvest of alfalfa. Ruedinger says rain can be both a blessing and a curse for farmers, but it is something crops need. About 3,100 people attended the breakfast at the farm in Van Dyne.

Congressional Candidates Attend Breakfast On The Farm

They are members of the same political party and the Fond du Lac County Breakfast on the Farm found them united in serving people in the food lines, but two candidates for the 6th Congressional District seat say that’s where their similarities end. State Representative Duey Stroebel and State Senator Joe Leibham are two of four Republicans running for the seat. Leibham says he’s the true conservative in the race. Stroebel says he’s a business man and unlike Leibham and State Senator Glenn Grothman, another GOP candidate for the seat, isn’t a career politician. The fourth Republican in the race is Tom Denow of Oshkosh. The winner of the August 12th primary will face Democrat Mark Harris on November 4th in the General Election.

Home Sales Up In FDL County, But Down Across State

(Wisconsin Radio Network)-Homes sales in Wisconsin were down for the fifth month in a row. Numbers released by the Wisconsin Realtors Association show the group’s members sold just under 7,000 homes last month down from almost 7,500 homes sold during the same month in 2013.  WRA President Michael Theo says rising home prices and interest rates might be a couple of reasons for the sales drop, along with tighter regulations on lending. Meanwhile, the median sales price jumped 3.8 percent last month up to $150,000. In Fond du Lac County last month home sales were up 17.6 percent and the median price of a home was up 4.6 percent. For a county by county break down click here.

FDL County Offices Closed For The 4^th

All County offices in the Fond du Lac City/County Government Center, the Sheriff’s Office lobby window, the Department of Social Services, including the offices in the Portland Street Annex, the Veterans Service Office, and the Highway Department will be closed all day on Friday, July 4th in observance of Independence Day. 

Agnesian Pharmacy And Convenient Care Parking Lot Work

Starting Wednesday Agnesian HealthCare will be completing reconstruction of its parking lot at 145 N. Main Street in Fond du Lac at the corner of Main and Johnson streets. The facility features the services of the Agnesian Pharmacy, Agnesian Convenient Care Clinic and Agnesian Dermatology & Skin Care services. The project will include the reconstruction of the existing Agnesian Pharmacy drive-thru area, as well as parking lot resurfacing. Resurfacing work will begin Wednesday in the parking area at the Johnson Street entrance (near Family Video) and progress to the area at the corner of Johnson and Main streets starting on June 30. Work will conclude on the side near the pharmacy drive-thru beginning on June 30 and continuing through July 18. One drive-thru lane will remain open except from July 15 to 18 when both lanes will be shut down. Pharmacy drive-thru customers will experience greater ease of access as they pick up their prescription medications with the new area, facing Main Street. The parking lot resurfacing will help create a more even parking surface for enhanced safety.