News- July 27, 2021

(Beaver Dam) Beaver Dam’s new fire chief was sworn-in yesterday (Monday). The city’s Police and Fire Commission approved the hiring of Michael Wesle earlier this month. Wesley received a degree in Fire and Emergency Management from UW Oshkosh and previously served as a lieutenant with the Rhinelander Fire Department, where he spent 15 years. Wesle is succeeding Alan Mannel, who retired in mid-April.

(Beaver Dam) A Beaver Dam man convicted of threatening law enforcement was sentenced to four months in jail and placed on probation for two years yesterday (Monday). Marco Solis walked up to a deputy who stopped a vehicle in October of 2019 in Beaver Dam. Solis was apparently an acquaintance of an occupant in the vehicle. Authorities say he was heavily intoxicated and refused warnings to calm down. The 22-year-old was eventually arrested and made threats towards a Beaver Dam police officer while being escorted to jail.

(Wisconsin) Wisconsin’s coronavirus vaccination rate has slowed to a crawl. State health officials say people in Wisconsin got about 26-thousand doses of the vaccine last week, but that number should be higher. Wisconsin’s been averaging about 37-thousand doses-a-week for the past three weeks. The Department of Health Services says about 51-percent of people in the state have had at least one dose of the vaccine. That’s about where the state has been for the past few months. – WRN

(Dodge County) In Dodge County, 41.4-percent have had at least one dose of the vaccine while 39.5-percent have completed vaccination series. That figure is 42.3-percent in Fond du Lac County, 44.2-percent in Washington County, 44.3-percent in Jefferson County, 52.8-percent in Columbia County, and 43.6-percent in Green Lake County.

(Winnebago County) Ryan Koenigs (kay-nigs) has resigned as the DNR’s top sturgeon biologist after being convicted of charges in Calumet and Winnebago counties for his role in the illegal processing of sturgeon eggs into caviar. Koenigs pled no contest in Calumet County court last week to a charge of obstructing a conservation warden and was fined $500. He was convicted of the same charge in Winnebago County last month and paid a $50 fine. Koenigs was suspected of removing sturgeon eggs from a lab and turning them into caviar, which was given to DNR employees, friends, and processors. He had been the DNR’s lead sturgeon biologist for the Lake Winnebago System since 2012.

(Beaver Dam) Dodge County Sheriff Dale Schmidt says a lot of time and thought goes into the wording of the press releases his office publishes. Schmidt told us last week on WBEV’s Community Comment that word selection is especially important if an incident is still under investigation at the time a press release is issued. For example, in a recent press release about an “accidental shooting” it was important to note that the incident was (quote) “reported as an accidental shooting” and not specifically stating that it “was an accidental shooting” because it should not be assumed that any shooting is accidental until after the investigation is complete.

(Hartford) A Wisconsin lottery ticket worth $100-thousand-dollars purchased at a Fond du Lac gas station is set to expire this Friday. The All of Nothing ticket was bought at Station Prospect for the January 31st Midday drawing. Players can win the top $100-thousand-dollar prize by matching either 11-of-11 numbers or by matching none of the numbers. The winning ticket must be claimed at one of the lottery offices in Madison or Milwaukee or be mailed in. Lotto officials say, coincidentally, that same day in January, Eily Schroeder from Albuquerque, New Mexico won a $100-thousand-dollar top prize after purchasing a ticket from Goemans RapidMart in Hartford that did not match any numbers.