News – April 11, 2016

New Health Workers Assigned To Elizabeth-Kingia

 

4/11/16 – Wisconsin’s health agency is getting nine new people to help find the cause of the Elizabeth-Kingia bacterial infection, and prepare the state to handle things like the Zika virus. Governor Scott Walker announced the new positions, saying the state needs the resources to address risks and keep people safe. There have been 57 total confirmed cases in the southern half of Wisconsin including Dodge, Jefferson, Columbia, Dane, Fond du Lac and Washington counties. Eighteen people have died from the Elizabeth-Kingia virus since last November.

 

Dodge County Recognizes Dispatchers

 

4/11/16 – Dodge County is taking part in a national effort to recognize its dispatchers.  This week is National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week.  The idea was introduced in 1991, and a presidential proclamation made it official three years later.  Sheriff Dale Schmidt says Dodge County has a total of 15 dispatchers on its three shifts.  He says they answer all emergency, non-emergency, and text message correspondence that are received.  Dispatchers are also responsible for answering calls for municipal departments’ calls at certain times of day and sending out police, fire, and EMS services.  According to Schmidt, telecommunicators play a vital role in law enforcement since they are the first ones to receive emergency contact from the public and must properly relay that information to the proper responding agency.  Schmidt says dispatch is also responsible for helping the masses through activating tornado sirens and other emergency notifications, when necessary.  In observation, Schmidt says his department will give its dispatchers a variety of perks throughout the week.

 

Congress Secretary Previews Annual Spring Meeting

 

4/11/16 – Citizens are encouraged to weigh-in on roughly 45 DNR-related issues that affect Dodge County and Wisconsin.  The Dodge County DNR is holding its annual spring meeting at the Horicon Marsh Wildlife and Visitor Center at 7 pm.  Thirteen questions directly from the DNR deal with wildlife and fishery management while the rest are advisory questions from the state’s conservation congress.  Congress Secretary Dale Maas says one of the most controversial questions deals with leaving portable stands on public land overnight north of Highway 64.  For safety reasons, some people are asking permission to leave tree stands up around the clock to prevent having to take them down in the dark.  Others say it is not right for people to stake out property they do not own.  Maas says other major questions address trapping issues and potentially closing up part of the Fox River to night fishing.  He says people can weigh-in on changes regarding their favorite statewide hunting or fishing spot at the Dodge County meeting since all 72 counties are voting on the same matters at the same time.  Maas says attendees will also vote on the re-election bids of two local congress delegates and receive a brief presentation from Dodge County’s Deer Advisory Council ahead of its April 18 meeting to make a recommendation on the size of the county’s deer population.

 

Aerial View Of Beaver Dam Then-And-Now

 

4/11/16 – Officials with the Beaver Dam 175th Anniversary Committee are offering a unique aerial poster of the city. The poster features two aerial views of Beaver Dam: one a photograph from last year and the other a lithograph from 1867. John Zanghi who represents the Rotary Club on the 175th Anniversary Committee was aboard the flight last year and worked with the photographer to capture the right perspective for the side-by-side comparison. Zanghi says they went up 2500 feet with the lithograph and flew around a couple times to get the right perspective. In the quarter-century between the it’s founding in 1841 and the time of the first aerial reproduction, Zanghi says the city went from lean-to’s and shacks to the mansions that are still standing today on Park Avenue, known then as Yankee Hill. The lithograph comes courtesy of the state of Wisconsin as part of their efforts to document population points. The posters comparing Beaver Dam then and now can be obtained for $20 at the Beaver Dam Chamber of Commerce, they are individually numbered and the run is limited to 250 prints.

 

This Is Tornado And Severe Weather Week

 

4/11/16 – Officials are reminding residents to make sure they are prepared in case disaster strikes.  This week is Tornado and Severe Weather Awareness Week in Wisconsin.  During a recent appearance on WBEV’s Community Comment, Dodge County Emergency Management Director Amy Nehls encouraged all people to have emergency kits at home, in their car, and in a bag ready to transport.  She says it is important for every home to be stocked with extra food and water in case a disaster strikes.  Nehls says people should also have a weather radio and a traditional battery-powered radio to keep track of any advisories that are issued.  As part of severe weather awareness week, mock tornado warnings are scheduled for 1:45 pm and 6:55 pm Thursday.  Both warnings will be issued on AM 1430 WBEV and 95.3 WXRO.

 

Train Derailment Investigation Complete

 

4/11/16 – A train operator hit the brakes too fast, causing last November’s derailment in which 20-thousand gallons of ethanol spilled into the Mississippi River. The Burlington Northern-Santa Fe railroad investigated the mishap from last November near Alma — and it recently submitted its findings to the federal government. The report says the 112-car southbound train was going at 26-miles per hour when it jumped the tracks, and five cars leaked ethanol into the Mississippi. No one was hurt, and the B-N-S-F says there was two-point-one million dollars in damage to its tracks and equipment. The derailment was one of two in Wisconsin on the same weekend, as 500 gallons of crude oil were spilled in the other mishap at Watertown — and it spurred numerous calls by politicians to pass tougher regulations on trains carrying North Dakota crude and other chemicals.

 

Madison Man Convicted In Fox Lake Motorist

 

4/11/16 – A Madison man who fired three shots at a vehicle near Fox Lake last September will spend 15 months in Dodge County Jail.  Anthony McCaskill’s girlfriend accused a man of touching her inappropriately inside the Fox Lake Kwik Trip.  McCaskill waited down a side street outside the store, followed the vehicle, and fired three shots.  A seven year prison sentence was imposed and stayed.  McCaskill will avoid prison time if he stays out of trouble during five years on probation.

 

Trayvon Martin’s Mother To Speak U-W Oshkosh

 

4/11/16 – Trayvon Martin’s mother will speak at U-W Oshkosh Tuesday night. Sybrina Fulton has been an advocate for social change, after her 17-year-old black son was killed by white neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman in 2012 in Florida. The defendant claimed self-defense, and a jury acquitted him of second-degree murder in a nationally-watched trial. Fulton will talk about her resulting social change efforts at six p-m tomorrow in the ballroom of the U-W Oshkosh Alumni Welcome-and-Conference Center. The speech is part of the school’s Social Justice Week.

 

Racial Chants Reported At Elkhorn Soccer Game

 

4/11/16 – The Elkhorn School District is investigating racial chants from its students at a home high school soccer game. Beloit Memorial coach Brian Denu tells W-I-S-C T-V in Madison that his Hispanic and African-American players were hurt last Thursday by racial slurs and chants of “Donald Trump, build that wall” — a reference to the Republican presidential candidate’s proposal to remove illegal immigrants from the country. Elkhorn District Administrator Jason Tadlock confirms that its students did the yelling — and he apologized, and said the district was changing its supervision plan to avoid such incidents. Denu says some of his players were so hurt, they left the game — and one “cradled” in an assistant coach’s arms for up to 20 minutes. He says he appreciates Elkhorn’s quick response, but the words are something that can never be taken back.