Local News Briefs Wednesday 1/29/14

A Wind Chill Advisory continues until 10 a.m. this morning with temperatures expected to get into the teens later today. Tomorrow snow is back with temperatures hitting the mid-20’s and 1 to 3 inches of snow expected. Overnight lows return to the single digits to below zero Friday and will continue through Tuesday.

Lomira Man Sentenced For Stabbing

The Lomira man who stabbed a 21-year-old Campbellsport man at a drinking party in Theresa has been sentenced to six months in jail. Twenty-one-year-old Conrado Garza was recently sentenced in Dodge County court after pleading no contest to a felony count of 1st Degree Reckless Injury. The victim suffered a collapsed lung and ended up in the intensive care unit at St. Agnes Hospital during the incident last February 9th. The victim told investigators he tried to break up a fight and later was pulled from a car, struck in the head and stabbed. Garza was also sentenced to three years probation and ordered to pay $26,000 in restitution.

Hilbert Man Hurt In Truck Versus Train Accident

A 60-year-old Hilbert man was hurt when his pickup truck ran into a Canadian National train Tuesday afternoon in Calumet County. Sheriff’s officials say Thomas Gatza was taken to a hospital with non-life threatening injuries. Investigators say Gatza was heading west on Schneider Road just east of State Highway 57 and failed to yield for the southbound train crashing into the side of it. The accident in the Town Rantoul was reported at 1:15 p.m.

Victim In Fatal Sheboygan County Accident Identified

(WHBL-Sheboygan)-The Sheboygan County Sheriff’s Department has identified the pedestrian who was killed near Random Lake Monday night.  Lt. Mark Rupnik says he was 42-year-old Jonathan Woodbury, of Adell.  Rupnik says Woodbury’s vehicle had gone off the road on Highway 57.  He had walked out of the ditch and onto the highway when he was struck by a car driven by 49-year- old William Bartnik, of Plymouth.  Woodbury was dead at the scene.

Juneau Woman Allegedly Embezzled From Beaver Dam Raceway

Three felony theft charges have been brought against a 54-year-old Juneau woman who allegedly embezzled $32,000 from the Beaver Dam Raceway. Roxanne Siedschlag made her initial appearance in Dodge County Court this week. She’s free on a $1,000 signature bond and has a preliminary hearing on March 20th.  Prosecutors say she was supposed to make three bank deposits for the raceway, but instead lost the money playing slots at the Ho Chunk Casino in Wisconsin Dells.

State Supreme Court Will Hear Voter ID Arguments Next Month

(Wisconsin Radio Network)-The state Supreme Court has set a date to hear challenges to Wisconsin’s stalled voter I-D requirement. Justices will hear oral arguments on February 25th, as they consider lawsuits from the League of Women Voters and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People that argue the voter I-D law is unconstitutional. Judges in Dane County ruled against the state in both cases, blocking enforcement of the law for nearly two years. An appeals court later overturned the decicion in the League’s case, and the high court consolidated both lawsuits when it decided to take up the issue. While the court will hear arguments next month, it could be quite some time before a decision is released. Even after that happens, two other lawsuits are still pending in the federal court system.

Thiesfeldt Encouraged By Governor’s Comments On Educational Standards

The chairman of the State Assembly’s Select Committee on Common Core education standards says he was encouraged by comments the Governor made to an educator’s committee in Milwaukee last week. State Representative Jeremy Thiesfeldt says the media had an interesting take on the Governor’s comments about Common Core. He says when their committee came out with recommendations on the standards the media said the standards would be staying in tact, but after the Governor’s comments which were similar they said Common Core seemed to be ending. He said the Governor as the committee recommended believes there should be a review of the standards. The Governor also believes the state needs to look for something better and the state needs its own standards. Thiesfeldt says it’s appropriate to respect what has been done up this point. Three bills pertaining to Common Core standards are currently making their way through the State Assembly.

Squads Not Idling To Keep Deputies Warm

Fond du Lac County Sheriff’s Captain Rick Olig says they don’t leave their squad cars parked and running in this kind of weather for the comfort of their deputies. He says those cars are also the deputies offices and they have a lot of expensive equipment in them that won’t work well in subzero or bitterly cold conditions. He says that includes computers and defibrillators. He says other equipment in the car has to stay charged up. That list would include radio equipment, flashlights and more. He says their newer cars include a fan that circulates the warm air from the passenger compartment to the trunk where more temperature sensitive equipment is stored. That includes first aid kits, collapsible traffic cones and the electronics to run the equipment in the car.

UW-FDL Chemistry Professor Awarded Research Grant

UW-Fond du Lac chemistry professor Ron Theys, has received a $7,300 University of Wisconsin System Portals of Discovery grant for undergraduate collaborative research on an anti-inflammatory drug. He will collaborate on the study with UW-Milwaukee chemistry professor M. Mahmun Hossain. UW-Fond du Lac students Dillon Abhold and Alex Lundberg will also participate in the research study. This grant is part of the larger National Science Foundation -funded Portals of Discovery initiative which seeks to increase the number of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) graduates in Wisconsin. Funded projects focus on research collaborations between two-year and four-year colleges with the goal of increasing student interest in STEM fields. Theys also plans to involve students at the high school level by collaborating with Fond du Lac High School teacher Robert Doeckel.  Students in Doeckel’s concurrent enrollment chemistry class will participate by doing a joint lab experiment with UW-Fond du Lac chemistry students related to this research. Concurrent enrollment students are earning high school and UW-Fond du Lac college credit for their coursework.

Agnesian Blood Drive Today

Area residents are invited to join Agnesian HealthCare associates, volunteers and physicians and donate an hour of time today to give blood to the Blood Center of Wisconsin. Blood donations will be accepted from 7:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the St. Agnes Chapel at 430 E. Division Street in Fond du Lac. The Blood Center of Wisconsin is the sole supplier of blood to St. Agnes Hospital and Waupun Hospital, as well as 51 other Wisconsin hospitals. Walk-ins are welcome.

Sale Benefits Child Advocate Program

The Fond du Lac County Child Advocate Program will benefit from a bake sale, silent auction and hot ham and cheese sandwich sale today at the City-County Government Center in Fond du Lac. It will be held in Room D and E on the first floor. The bake sale starts at 8 a.m. and runs until sold out. The sandwich sale is at 11 a.m. until the sandwiches run out. The mini silent auction, featuring unique items, including some themed for Valentine’s Day, runs from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. The Child Advocate Program operates under the auspices of the Fond du Lac Conflict Resolution Center.

Germantown Police Chief Shows Humor In Bitter Cold

The “Polar Vortex” and bitterly cold temperatures brought out the Germantown Police Chief’s sense of humor. On their Facebook page under Chief’s Commentary Germantown’s Police Chief posted this:

Attention, Attention, due to the “Polar Vortex,” “Arctic Blast,” “Really Cold” temperatures, Germantown has decided to cancel all criminal activity for Tuesday January 28th 2014. We are also canceling outdoor shenanigans, crazy behavior and anything else that would subject an officer to the frigid cold temperatures tomorrow.

Chief Peter Hoell