West Bend, Hartford see record rain totals

Daily News (West Bend, Wis.)
Published: Aug. 31, 2018

West Bend, Hartford see record rain totals

By Nicholas Dettmann

ndettmann@conleynet.com 262-306-5043

WEST BEND — Some spots in Washington County broke records with this week’s rainfall totals and others just missed, according to data provided by the National Weather Service on Thursday.

Ben Miller, a meteorologist from the National Weather Service’s Milwaukee office in Sullivan, said West Bend received more than 11 inches of rain the last several days making this month the wettest August on record.

Hartford also broke its rainfall record for the month with 10.5 inches. The previous mark was 9.4 in 2007.

Richfield/Colgate and Germantown has its second-wettest August on record at 9.47 inches and 9.44 inches, respectively. The previous marks in those municipalities is 11.03 and 10.77, respectively — both in 2007.

The monthly rain total for most of Washington County before Aug. 15 was around a half-inch.

Miller said the reason for the heavy amounts of rain is attributed to a moist atmosphere and the storms continuing to hover in the region.

“At this time of the year, it’s not all that uncommon,” Miller said about the heavy rain in the region. “But it’s not night after night after night.”

With all the storm damage, including heavy downpours, flooding and tornadoes, Gov. Scott Walker, on Wednesday, declared a statewide State of Emergency.

“After the latest round of continuing storms and their tremendous impact in Wisconsin, we have declared a statewide State of Emergency,” Walker said in a news release. “We are ready to provide any tools and resources necessary to impacted communities. I thank all of those who continue to work diligently to help those in need.”

On Tuesday evening, Walker declared a State of Emergency for several counties throughout Wisconsin, including Washington and Fond du Lac. That declaration came about a week after the same declaration was made for the Madison-area after that region saw heavy rainfall.

Joshua Schoemann, Washington County administrator, said when a State of Emergency declaration is made, it begins a process for possible funding assistance for local governments from state and/or federal governments.

“This is a key to unlock the door,” Schoemann said.

Federal and state officials will evaluate the damage in affected areas and make a determination of which areas qualify for assistance and for how much.

For now, consumers are recommended to work with their respective insurance companies to immediately address any damage from the storms. If and when funding is available, reimbursement options could be made available.

“It’s kind of wait and see,” Schoemann said.

“The state acknowledged there is an emergency,” he added. “They have to evaluate the level of that emergency.”

On Thursday, Walker was scheduled to tour the damaged areas in Dodge and Fond du Lac counties. It’s unknown if he’ll do the same in Washington County.

On Tuesday, severe weather

roared through Washington County, taking out power to more than 3,000 customers with downed power lines and trees throughout the county. Dodge and Fond du Lac counties were hit with seven tornadoes at around 4:10 p.m. in and around the Brownsville and Lomira area.

Most of the tornadoes were EF-1s, but one in Brownsville was named an EF-2, which is a scale meteorologists use to measure the intensity of a twister, such as its wind speed.

The EF-2 touched down on Highway 49 west of Brownsville near West Line Road and traveled nearly 4 miles northeast, through the northern part of Brownsville, and ending near the Highway 175 and Highway Y intersection, just west of Interstate 41 in Fond du Lac County.

The width, according to NWS’ data, was 150 yards and estimated peak winds were 125 mph.

Another tornado went through the heart of downtown Brownsville and was identified as EF-1 with estimated windspeed of 107 mph. It traveled northeast, near the Quad/Graphics plant in Lomira, for 2.7 miles, ending just short of I-41.

The other twisters were all in Fond du Lac County — Alto, Oakfield and three in South Byron. Their duration was short. The Alto twister lasted about 1.17 miles while the others were 1 mile or less.

There are no reports of injuries or fatalities.

It appears the severe weather is over, but some rain is expected to move into the region tonight and be scattered throughout the next several days.

“I know that’s not what people want to hear but that’s what it looks like,” Miller said.

The Wisconsin Department of Military Affairs said Wednesday private property owners should report flood and storm damage by calling 2-1-1 or 877-947-2211.

“Make sure to document damage by taking pictures and speak with your insurance agent,” the department said.

Multiple resources designed to help residents with their recovery efforts is being posted online at //readywisconsin.wi. gov/flooding/AUG2018.asp.

Schoemann urged residents to “Be patient as you can. Keep working on cleaning things up. Hopefully we can move the state and federal (governments) as fast as we can.”

Jackson officer, boy reunite after life-saving event

Daily News (West Bend, Wis.)
Published: Aug. 31, 2018

Jackson officer, boy reunite after life-saving event

By Nicholas Dettmann

ndettmann@conleynet.com 262-306-5043

JACKSON — Each day, Jackson police officer Kyle Henning doesn’t know which way he’s going to turn out of the department’s parking lot and do his routine patrol of the village.

If he feels like turning left, he will. The same goes for turning right.

“Nothing is routine,” he said.

On Monday afternoon at around 4 p.m., he made a turn into the trailer park on Highway 60 in the village and came to a stop sign. He looked both ways. But when he looked to his left, he saw a handful of people at the edge of a river, appearing to be struggling. “Something wasn’t right,” Henning said Thursday outside the Village Hall.

“I didn’t even call it out on the radio, didn’t put the lights on,” he said.

Henning quickly drove to the scene where he met up with Lee Olson, Kyle Brierton and Rashelle Peters — all of Jackson.

Henning saw a boy struggling with water up to his shoulders. He didn’t flinch.

“You could see three adults tugging at his arms,” Henning said.

“I went to grab one arm and it felt ... it was heavier than anything I could’ve pulled out myself,” he said.

He never thought about the possibility of dying.

“I don’t question; you just go and help,” Henning said.

Instead, he was determined to save that boy’s life.

“He’s not going to die tonight,” Henning said. He also thought about how hard it was going to be to swim in his uniform and gear.

“He wasn’t going to go further underneath than he already was,” Henning said. “There was no way he was going another inch.”

Henning wrapped his arms, like a bear hug, around the boy, Gavin Moederndorfer-Quella, 9, and, with the help of Olson, Brierton and Peters, they pulled Moederndorfer-Quella to safety.

Since the dash cam video of the rescue was posted on the police department’s Facebook page Wednesday, Henning has been labeled a hero. When asked about it Thursday, he brushed it off.

“I’m only 25 percent of the equation,” he said.

“Without Rashelle and Kyle and Lee there, that would’ve never happened,” Henning said. “It took all four of us to get him out of there.”

Chief Ryan Vossekuil said he is “very proud” of Henning’s selfless act.

Henning, who has been with the department since December 2008, was greeted at the police station Thursday, shortly after starting his 2 p.m. shift, by Moederndorfer-Quella and his mother, Taylor

Moederndorfer. They came to say thank you and Moederndorfer-Quella hugged Henning, this time in a much calmer and drier situation. He also got a tour of a police cruiser.

Taylor said she told her son to not go by the river, which wasn’t far from their property. She said her son was dared by some friends to jump in the water. When he did, things quickly escalated into panic mode.

Taylor is grateful the three bystanders — Olson, Brierton and Peters — were around when they were. She plans to thank each of them as well as soon as possible.

Henning said the heroics by Olson, Brierton and Peters shows the caliber of people that live in Jackson.

Taylor said she watched the video once it went online and couldn’t believe what she watched.

“It was a miraculous thing,” Taylor said, adding, “I’m thankful they came and helped.”

There is relief with the crisis having been averted. However, Moederndorfer-Quella, his mom, Henning and others hope this provides a valuable lesson about the dangers with high waters.

It can happen to anybody, Taylor said.

Gavin said he’s learned his lesson.

“Don’t go into high water like that,” he said.

Dance floor at Germanfest dedicated to the memory of a real polka lover

Daily News (West Bend, Wis.)
Published: Aug. 30, 2018

Dance floor at Germanfest dedicated to the memory of a real polka lover

Rhode Wanta passed away in November

By Nicholas Dettmann

ndettmann@conleynet.com 262-306-5043

WEST BEND — The old dance floor at Germanfest, hosted by Habitat for Humanity of Washington and Dodge Counties every August in downtown, had worn out its welcome.

Even the company Habitat rented the floor from said it was old and was destined to be replaced.

Rhode Wanta was the one who helped get a new one in its place, which made its debut at this year’s festival.

Wanta died in November after suffering a stroke. He was 83. Thus, he didn’t get to see the new floor.

However, thanks to a surprise gesture, Rhode Wanta will never be forgotten when it comes to dancing at Germanfest.

On Saturday at Germanfest, the dance floor at the annual event was dedicated in the late Wanta’s honor for his love of polka music and the festival.

Russ said he doesn’t know what his father would’ve said about the floor, but he knows what would’ve happened.

“I’m convinced he wouldn’t have gotten off of the dance floor,” Russ said.

A sign near the new dance floor, which was previously rented and the new one is now owned by Habitat and will be available for rent, will be visible next to the floor going forward for the festival, commemorating it as the Rhode Wanta dance floor at Germanfest.

It was a surprise to the Wanta family, minus Russ’ wife, who helped set up the secret dedication. That in itself was an impressive task, especially because Russ is the organization’s executive director.

Habitat has run Germanfest for the last three years.

“This was kept secret from me by my staff and the board because it would’ve taken board approval to do something of this nature,” Russ said with a smile. “I guess they worked it quietly without me stumbling upon it.”

Russ Wanta, who helped form the organization in 1995, was hired as Habitat for Humanity of Washington and Dodge Counties’ executive director in 2004 and he was the organization’s first full-time employee, according to its website. In that time, Russ has helped lead an organization

expand into Dodge County but also with the building of retail stores in West Bend and Beaver Dam.

Because of that, it’s likely not farfetched for Russ to be bestowed this kind of honor someday. However, his late father had a profound effect on the organization, specifically with Germanfest, which is why he got the honor.

“When Habitat took over the event, I went to my father to take on the role of being the band scheduler,” Russ said. “My dad was a polka junkie. This man would probably skip my wedding to go to a polka festival. That’s how dedicated he was to polka dancing.

“He not only would travel all over the United States, but he would also go on polka cruises ... anything you could imagine. There wasn’t a state far enough that he wouldn’t drive to if he could see a band and dance.”

Rhode was like that for as long as Russ could remember. Growing up around the Madison area, every Sunday, the Wantas went to the Park Ponderosa Ballroom, a dance hall in McFarland, and go polka dancing.

“That’s why I asked him, who would know better of these bands than my father?” Russ said, adding, “the bands that played this year were completed scheduled by my father. ... He was so connected in the industry.”

The day before he died, Russ said his father danced for seven hours at a polka festival. He also loved dancing with anyone who knew how to polka, his kids, grandkids, strangers, etc.

Being the executive director, there was a good chance Russ was going to be at the festival often. The trick was to get the rest of the family — Rhode’s six children, including Russ — there without spilling the secret. What happened was the board decided they’d allow the Wanta family, in honor of the late patriarch, have the VIP area — or the stammstisch, a German word for VIP — for two hours.

Then, after the two hours were up, the presentation was made.

“They were clever to utilize a different area to get my family together,” Russ said. “I had a brother that came in all the way from Oregon to come to Germanfest.”

Once the presentation was made, Russ said the emotions took over for himself as well as the rest of his family.

“I saw tears flowing from a number of people in my family,” Russ said.

While honored for the honor, Russ said the moment was bittersweet.

“It’s simply incredible,” he said. “I don’t know if there are words can describe one feels there. There was a feeling of sadness because we’re still kind of in that mourning period.”

Russ said his dad would’ve been incredibly proud of the honor if he was around to see it.

Heavy rain floods several areas in Washington County

Daily News (West Bend, Wis.)
Published: Aug. 28, 2018

Heavy rain floods several areas in Washington County

By Nicholas Dettmann

ndettmann@conleynet.com 262-306-5043

TOWN OF TRENTON — Jamie and Eileen Kudek have lived in their home on Highway 33, next to the Milwaukee River between Newburg and West Bend, for nearly 20 years and it’s been around since Jamie’s grandfather built it.

That’s why, despite the flooding issues the Kudeks have during any significant rainfall, they don’t plan to move.

Instead, they’ve had fun with it.

Eileen Kudek said she’s given her husband a beer through a window from the house while he’s in a boat.

When asked if the Kudeks get nervous before a predicted thunderstorm, Eileen said, “not really.”

On Monday, in the aftermath of Sunday’s heavy rains throughout Washington County and southeastern Wisconsin, the Kudeks’ grandchildren — Hannah Koby, Brooklynn Harmon and Jakora Harmon — spent a portion of the day retrieving food, such as cucumbers, cantaloupes and zucchini, from the Kudeks’ garden, which was mostly underwater.

They were having fun.

Koby said rain measured about 6 inches in her grandparents’ yard. Others in the area reflected on what was, to some, an overwhelming storm.

“I can’t remember if we’ve had storms like this,” said Connie Puerling of Newburg, who lives up the hill from Fireman’s Park. She added she saw the skies were green as the storm moved through, with some areas sounding tornado sirens.

Andrew Dionne said, while fishing next to the Milwaukee River in West Bend with Collin Totten, also of West Bend, “the backyard is a little wet.”

Their fishing spot, which was on Auxiliary Court, had three steps next to the river that were underwater.

According to Andy Boxell, meteorologist from the National Weather Service’s Milwaukee office in Sullivan, municipalities throughout Washington County received, on average, 4-6 inches of rain. He said some spot areas had as much as 7 inches of more.

West Bend ranged from 2.46 inches to 7.25 inches.

Other preliminary data reported to the National Weather Service indicated Kewaskum got about 7.5 inches, Hartford got more than 4.5, Slinger got 4.28 inches, Richfield ranged from 3-5 inches and Germantown ranged from 2.85-3.9 inches.

Jackson got about 2.75 inches, but tree branches

of about 4-6 inches in diameter were reported down and wind gusts surpassed 70 mph.

Marcia Cronce, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Sullivan, said a representative went to Jackson to review a report of a possible tornado and found sporadic tree damage with wind speeds of about 70 mph. But there were no indications of a tornado.

Fiserv Forum to open Sunday

Daily News (West Bend, Wis.)
Published: Aug. 24, 2018

Fiserv Forum to open Sunday

Official calls new Bucks home the ‘Tesla of technology’

By Nicholas Dettmann

ndettmann@conleynet.com 262-306-5043

MILWAUKEE — With the Fiserv Forum, the new arena for the Milwaukee Bucks, it’s going to be hard to find a spot where you’re not connected to the game in some fashion.

There are nearly 850 video screens throughout the arena, which opens to the public Sunday with an open house, and enough data bandwidth and speed to support the 17,000-plus fans inside the arena. There are about 500 Wi-Fi access points scattered throughout the arena.

“It’s exhilarating,” said Robert Cordova, chief technology officer for Fiserv Forum, about the upcoming open house. “There’s nerves but there’s also excitement.”

Cordova called the Fiserv Forum the “Tesla of technology because of all the stuff we have going on here.”

The ribbon-cutting ceremony is noon Sunday on the plaza outside of the arena. Several dignitaries are scheduled to attend — Bucks players Giannis Antetokounmpo, Eric Bledsoe, Donte DiVincenzo, Thon Maker, Khris Middleton and D.J. Wilson; Bucks alumni Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Vin Baker and Michael Redd; Bucks owners Wes Edens, Marc Lasry, Jamie Dinan and Mike Fascitelli; NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, former Sen. Herb Kohl, Gov. Scott Walker, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, Milwaukee Common Council President Ashanti Hamilton, Fiserv President and CEO Jeff Yabuki and Bucks President Peter Feigin.

The public is invited to attend.

In addition, Kohl, the Bucks’ former owner, will be honored with the dedication of Herb Kohl Way.

Following the ribbon cutting, Fiserv Forum will hold an open house for the community to get its first look inside the arena. Visitors can go on self-guided tours of the venue to see the atrium, the arena bowl, BMO Club, Mezzanine Club, Panorama Club, main concourse, upper concourse and suite level. The concession stands throughout the arena will be operational and the Bucks Pro Shop inside Fiserv Forum will also be open.

BMO Harris Bank card holders will have the opportunity to tour the Bucks’ locker room. A limited number of locker room tours will be available to BMO card holders who register for a tour at the BMO Harris Bank tent near the BMO Entrance to Fiserv Forum on Juneau Avenue.

The celebration is all part of the fourth annual Bucks Summer Block Party presented by Klement’s, 11 a.m.-6 p.m.

Technology to provide ‘a unique experience’

Inside, the Fiserv Forum is all about the future of technology.

“From the technology, it will be an experience you’ve never had based on all the technology in the building and the connectivity,” Cordova said. “It will really be a unique experience.”

Fans will learn that right away with a large and wide LED screen in the main atrium that can play any desired video, such as highlights from a previous game.

A trip up the escalators from the atrium is another large and tall LED screen that has similar capabilities.

From there, the LED screens

of all sizes are peppered throughout the concourses to make sure fans don’t miss any of the action on the court.

“Our competition are those big screens in your living rooms,” Cordova said. “We want to go way beyond that.”

Among those technology features is the push toward all digital tickets. Print-athome will no longer be an option but those who don’t have a smartphone can pick up printed tickets at the ticket office at the arena.

“It is a way to be a little more green,” Cordova said. “We felt that it was a more efficient way to do that. It also gets rid of a lot of the problems inherit with having multiple ways to copy a barcode.

“I can print that out, if I was a bad guy, sell it to somebody, sell it to another and three people would come in here with the same barcode and then we have to resolve the problem because they bought it from a crook.”

Other technology features include the scoreboard hanging over the court, which, Cordova said is about two semi-truck trailers tall.

Ron Kiepert, executive director-operation technology, said it is the largest squared scoreboard in North America.

About 500 wireless access points are scattered throughout the arena to help accommodate however many people inside the Fiserv Forum want to use it. In addition, the arena is, or will be, connected to all major cellphone providers, such as Verizon, T-Mobile, US Cellular and Sprint, allowing for high-quality cellphone reception.

There are also 250 miles worth of fiber cables. Milwaukee to Eau Claire is roughly 246 miles.

“The past few months, we’ve been tuning all the antennas so that every seat is covered,” Cordova said.

Some of the security measures for the arena include fingerprint scanners and laser eye-reading for the home team locker room.

To accommodate all the technological upgrades from BMO Harris Bradley Center, the staffs for the video and technology departments have doubled.

On a game night in the BMO Harris Bradley Center, there’d be — at most — seven people working the technology features. At Fiserv Forum, as many 14 people will be on-hand. In the video room, staff goes up from about 12-14 to 25. Plus, six-plus cameras will be spread throughout the arena to help capture a fan’s experience.

Each suite will have an iPad that can control the television screens and other features inside the suite.

Other technology is geared more toward the Bucks and visiting teams with data science. There will be recordings done of players’ activity on the court, such as how fast they’re running or how much space is between a ball-handler and a defender.

“It’s never been too much,” said Cordova when asked if all the technology upgrades got overwhelming. “The biggest thing was getting the right talent on the team to really run this as it needs to be run.”

And because of all this new technology, the creative minds of the team’s technology and video staff have picked up.

“The possibilities are infinite,” Cordova said.

Family-friendly space

The Bucks along with Kohl’s have paired to offer an interactive family-friendly space at the Fiserv Forum — Kohl’s Court.

On the northeast corner of the main concourse, Kohl’s Court is a child-friendly space featuring several interactive activities for families to take part in during all Bucks games and Marquette men’s basketball games in addition to concerts and other events. The Kohl’s Court was unveiled at a ribbon-cutting Thursday at Fiserv Forum.

Featured in the Kohl’s Court are two replica Bucks lockers, a live DJ during Bucks games, fun and interactive size comparisons for kids to see how they measure up against their favorite players, an oversized basketball hoop and several photo opportunities for families. The Kohl’s Court will also serve as a central location for the Kohl’s Fan of the Game.