Local News Briefs Wednesday 10/23/13

A 42-year-old Village of Newburg woman was killed in a head on collision on Highway 33 in Washington County Tuesday morning. Sheriff’s officials say the accident east of County Highway M in the Town of Trenton was reported shortly after 5 a.m. A 41-year-old Milwaukee woman was heading east on Highway 33 when she entered a curve and her vehicle crossed over the centerline hitting a westbound vehicle driven by the victim. The victim died at the scene and Flight for Life flew the Milwaukee woman to Froedtert Hospital with serious injuries. It was the sixth traffic death of the year in Washington County.

Road Rage Incident Started While Waiting For A Train

Fond du Lac Police say a road rage incident that culminated in the arrest of a 31-year-old Oakfield man in North Fond du Lac started out while the victim a 20-year-old Fond du Lac woman was waiting for a train on Arndt Street. Assistant Police Chief Steve Klein says the woman decided to turn around and the suspect’s car came up behind her at a high rate of speed and almost struck her vehicle. The suspect followed her and struck her back bumper. He continued to hit the victim’s car as she traveled north on Hickory Street to Scott Street. She managed to call 911 while heading west on Scott Street. She then turned north onto Van Dyne road and the suspect continued to hit her car. When she got to the intersection of Lakeshore Drive and Prospect Avenue in North Fond du Lac the suspect pushed her car into the intersection and she pulled into Korneli’s Express where officers arrived and pursued him to a dead end. He was caught in the Canadian National railroad yard during a foot pursuit.

Sheboygan Man Who Overdosed At FDL County Jail Pleads To Charges

The 26-year-old Sheboygan man who survived a heroin overdose at the Fond du Lac County Jail has pled no contest to charges that resulted in his arrest. Brian Klemme entered the pleas Tuesday to possession of narcotic drugs and 2nd degree recklessly endangering safety charges. His $2,500 cash bond was revoked and a sentencing hearing has been scheduled for January 9th. When he was arrested on a warrant in July Klemme was strip searched at the Fond du Lac County Jail, but managed to conceal the drug in a body cavity. Officials say he was having difficulty breathing and was overdosing when they checked on him later. He was taken to St. Agnes Hospital where he was treated and released.

FDL City Council Preview

The Fond du Lac City Council tonight will consider approving the 2014 City Budget, tax levy, Transit System Budget, and 5-year capital improvements plan. The $30 million budget will include a $21.5 million property tax levy, which works out to a tax rate of $8.48 per thousand dollars of assessed value on a property. That’s an increase of about 26 cents in the tax rate or 3.2 percent. During an October 2nd meeting of the Council an additional $41,000 in funding was approved for the library and $3,750 for maintenance of downtown planters. The budget will be taken up during the Council regular meeting at 6 p.m. prior to that at 5:15 p.m. the Council will hold a special meeting at 5:15 p.m. to discuss a proposed change to the City’s ordinance regarding housing discrimination.

Plymouth Woman Running For 9^th State Senate Seat

State Senator Joe Leibham will have a challenger in the 2014 election. Martha Laning of Plymouth formally announced her candidacy Tuesday morning at the Generations Intergenerational Center in Plymouth that she helped create. Laning is a Democrat. Leibham, a Republican from Sheboygan, has represented the 9th State Senate District since 2002. In the last election for the seat he defeated challenger Jason Borden of Sheboygan by a 3 to 1 margin.

Brief Power Outage In FDL

An Alliant Energy official says about 59 customers in the vicinity of the northern end of Main Street had their power briefly interrupted Tuesday morning. Scott Reigstad says something fell on an overhead line at 9:17 a.m., but crews weren’t able to determine what that was. Some of the streets impacted by the outage included East Scott, Cotton and Bank Streets.

NFDL Village Budget Deliberations Tonight

The North Fond du Lac Village Board will hold deliberations tonight on the 2014 proposed Village Budget and capital expenditures. Village Administrator Chuck Hornung says there are no real surprises with next year’s budget. He says there are no major projects slated, but there will be some street resurfacing. He says they will also have to figure out the tax levy because property values are down in the village. The meeting will be at the Municipal Building in North Fond du Lac and gets started at 4:30 p.m.

70 Mile Per Hour Speed Limit Faster, But Safer?

Fond du Lac County Sheriff’s Captain Rick Olig says he’s not sure how much having a 70 mile per hour speed limit on roadways like Highway 41 will accomplish. The bill was passed by the State Assembly, but faces an uncertain future in the State Senate. Olig says if it’s about saving travel time it won’t make much of a difference in the area. He says it could cause confusion especially for drivers on Highway 151 where the speed limit would still very depending on where you are. He says it’s not certain what highways the bill would apply to either. Olig says he’s not sure what the benefits are. He questions if it would help save money on gas, whether it would present safety issues or get people to where they are going much faster. Captain Olig is the Highway Safety Coordinator for the County.

Historic Preservation Tax Credit Moves On To State Senate

State Senator Rick Gudex says he’s pleased to see a bill he authored that would raise the state’s historic preservation tax credit from 10 percent to 20 percent passed in the State Assembly. He says neighboring states already have a higher tax credit for historic preservation projects. The state budget raised the tax credit from 5 to 10 percent, but Gudex’s original bill asked for a 20 percent tax credit so he reintroduced it. He says it will create jobs and projects across the state. It still has to make its way through the Senate, but if it does Gudex says he’s like to see the Governor sign the bill into law here in Fond du Lac. Gudex says he put in a request to have the Governor sign it at the Thelma Sadoff Center for the Arts. The bill would give a tax credit for projects involving buildings that were constructed before 1936. The bill goes before the State Senate on November 5^th.

Teen Driver Safety Week

(Wisconsin Radio Network)-It’s Teen Driver Safety Week in Wisconsin. Dave Pabst, Director of the Bureau of Transportation Safety, says teen drivers continue to be killed and injured at alarming rates in large part because they lack experience. He says aggressive driving, speeding, failure to wear seatbelts and distractions all are factors in fatal accidents involving teens. The number one distraction now tends to be cell phones. He says even older adults aren’t setting good examples because they are using cell phones in their vehicles. Pabst says important for adults to model good behaviors on the road. Last year in Wisconsin, 48 teenagers were killed and more than 5-thousand-300 injured in traffic accidents.

FDL Firefighters And Buffalo Wild Wings Up Team Up Against Breast Cancer Today

Fond du Lac Firefighters Local 400 and Buffalo Wild Wings are teaming up to raise money for Breast Cancer Awareness. Steve Pieper of Local 400 says the restaurant will be contributing 10 percent of proceeds Wednesday to the union charitable fund for anyone who says they are there on behalf of the firefighter’s Breast Cancer Awareness effort. He says firefighters will be eating there to help the effort. He says the public is welcome to eat at the Fond du Lac Buffalo Wild Wings and help out the effort. He says in addition to that they will be raffling out a pink firefighter’s helmet, which will be on display at the restaurant.