News

Members of the Pigeon Lake Protection and Rehabilitation District held a close vote Oct. 16 but ultimately approved borrowing $2 million to dredge several areas of the lake.

At the district’s standing room-only annual meeting, held at Fox Valley Technical College, commissioners heard arguments on both sides of the issue. A vote of 85-71 will move forward a plan to apply for the 20-year loan, which will increase taxes for property owners in the district at $54 per $100,000 of property value for 20 years.

The state trust fund loan would be secured through the Board of Commissioners of Public Lands, said Todd Thaves, of Ehlers and Associates. He estimated the money will be paid back in 19 years. “The interest rate will be locked in at 4.5 percent,” he added.

Shawano Police Department

Oct. 25

Police logged 28 incidents, including the following:

Disturbance — Police responded to disturbances in the 200 block of East Center Street and the 1500 block of Estates Lane.

Theft — Shawano Pawn Shop, 141 River Heights, reported the theft of a security camera and flashlight.

Threatening — Police responded to a threatening complaint at Aarrowcast, 2900 E. Richmond St.

Fraud — Police investigated a fraud complaint at the Super 8 Motel, 211 Waukechon St.

Accidents — Police responded to property damage accidents at Lincoln and Centers streets and at Hamlin and Maurer streets.

Shoplifting — Shoe Sensation, 180 Woodlawn Drive, reported a shoplifting incident.

Disorderly — Police responded to a disorderly conduct complaint at the Wisconsin House, 216 E. Green Bay St.

Shawano County Sheriff’s Department

Oct. 25

Deputies logged 38 incidents, including the following:

Fundraising efforts for Pulaski High School’s Red Raider Field of Dreams project received a $200,000 boost Oct. 5, courtesy of the Green Bay Packers and the NFL. Mark Murphy, Packers president and CEO, handed over the check at the Pulaski/Green Bay Preble High School football game.

He was accompanied by four Green Bay Packers players – DeShone Kizer, Kevin King, Josh Jackson and Jaire Alexander – who attended the first half of the game and threw autographed footballs to the crowd between quarters.

“There is nothing quite like Friday night lights in terms of bringing the community out together,” Murphy said, adding that the Packers and the NFL are very supportive of high school football programs.

The check represents a matching grant from the the Green Bay Packers and the National Football League.

In the darkness, a light flashes green, then red. Static crackles.

Is that a human voice that speaking through the static?

According to Craig Nehring, founder of Fox Valley Ghost Hunters, it is — or was.

The voice, he asserts, is one of the many ghosts heard at the former Alexian Brothers novitiate near Gresham.

The encounter takes place on one of several public ghost hunting tours.

FVGH, a nonprofit organization based in Appleton, has permission to use the abandoned site for tours.

The FVGH team provides the equipment for tracing the ghosts. Participants bring a flashlight, a jacket, and usually, an open mind.

It’s an interesting place,” Nehring said. “Not many places allow tours to our guests.” There is a high level of local interest in the property, he said and this season’s sessions are sold out.

Not even recent foot surgery was going to keep Sharon Hass, of Shawano, from getting to Mosinee on Wednesday for a chance to see President Donald Trump.

Hass, the newly elected chairperson of the Lake Country Republican Women in Shawano County, traveled to the rally, crutches and all, with Rich Kucksdorf, chairman of the Shawano County Republican Party.

Hass and Kucksdorf had volunteered to help out at the event and both served as ushers.

Hass said the Secret Service was a little skeptical when she arrived about her being able to perform her usher duties.

“They took a look at me at first and said, ‘Lady, you’re on crutches,’” Hass said. “I said, ‘That’s OK. I have a jarhead mentality,’ and the Secret Service guy kind of looked at me and I said, ‘I can do this job.’ And I did the job.”

Hass helped direct attendees to designated areas inside the hangar at the Mosinee airport where the event took place.

Editor’s note: This is the first in a series of interviews conducted with both candidates for Shawano County sheriff.

Incumbent Sheriff Adam Bieber will face off against Shawano Police Officer and former sheriff’s detective Keith Sorlie on the Nov. 6 ballot. Bieber is the Republican nominee. Sorlie is running as an Independent.

Though the interviews were conducted separately, both candidates were given the same topics to address.

The topics discussed in the first installment are staff turnover and department morale.

“Our jail has experienced the most turnover,” Bieber said. “Just like every jail in the state of Wisconsin and the prisons, we’re experiencing a shortage of corrections officers. I think our team has done a great job despite those challenges.”

Bieber said the department has taken steps to try and retain correctional staff.

Homeowners in Shawano would pay a little more next year to have the city pick up their garbage, recycling and brush, under the proposed 2019 budget.

The budget calls for an increase in those annual fees totaling $13, rising from $141 to $154.

The city had been running a deficit from those collection services that was previously being made up with money from the general fund, meaning all city taxpayers were helping to subsidize the services whether they used them or not.

Public Works Coordinator Eddie Sheppard said at a finance committee meeting this week that the increase will now cover the total cost to the city of providing those services.

“Those costs are driven primarily by outside influences,” he said, including trucking waste and recyclables to Marathon and Outagamie county, which have also raised their fees for taking the material.

Shawano Police Department

Oct. 24

Police logged 24 incidents, including the following:

Juvenile — Police responded to a juvenile problem on Mountain Bay Trail Drive.

Vandalism — A fence was reported vandalized in the 800 block of South Main St.

OAR — A 48-year-old man was cited for operating after revocation in the 200 block of Waukechon Street.

Drug Offense — Police investigated a drug complaint at ThedaCare Medical Center, 100 County Road B.

Shawano County Sheriff’s Department

Oct. 24

Deputies logged 49 incidents, including the following:

OWI — A 26-year-old man was arrested for operating while intoxicated on Washington Street in Shawano.

Juvenile — Authorities responded to a juvenile problem on Mader Street in Gresham.

Theft — Authorities responded to property thefts complaint on Regina Road in the town of Aniwa and Round Lake Drive in the town of Belle Plaine.

The Boys and Girls Club of Shawano could be expanding to embrace children in their middle school years if the club can come to an agreement with the Shawano School District.

The Boys and Girls Club, which opened in 2017, serves more than 50 children in the third through fifth grades and has a waiting list. It is currently housed at Olga Brener Intermediate School and operates after the school day ends.

At a Shawano School Board meeting on Monday, Wendy Crawford, co-chair of the Shawano club’s board of directors, said that the club started with the younger grades to test the waters, but with many of those inaugural members moving on to Shawano Community Middle School, she believes it would be prudent to expand the club’s reach.

“The idea was that, when the kids buy into the program and they’re used to attending, if we could move into the middle school building as an expanded program, they would be more open to attending,” Crawford said.

After a year-long study of city employee positions and their salaries, the Clintonville Common Council voted Oct. 9 to approve a new salary schedule that will take effect in 2019.

It’s too soon to tell how that salary schedule will impact the city’s budget, according to Sharon Eveland, city administrator.

In January, the Common Council awarded a contract to Public Administration Associates, LLC. The consulting firm was hired to help redesign and upgrade the city’s human resource system, Eveland said, by reviewing and revising employee position descriptions, collecting and analyzing data from other municipalities and developing the new salary schedule. Eveland said she and city department heads worked closely with the consultants throughout the process.