Tag Archives: fond du lac

FdL County Detective Leads Kiwanis Discussion


Monday Morning
We had 18 members along with our guest speaker, Lt. Cameron McGee from the FDL Sheriff’s Department, at our first regular meeting of the New Year. Charlene Pettit announced that the Club Satellite is working on an evening social gathering in the near future. A tentative date of February 1st for refreshments and a fish fry at the KC Hall is being explored. Watch for more details in the near future. Gary Miller also is working on an InterClub to the Kewaskum Club for January 28th, a Monday evening. Check your calendars for availability. More details to follow in the next week or two. Pete Vercouteren was the 50/50 Raffle winner and he drew a two of Hearts. That’s not a winner so Monday’s game will have 40 cards with eight pay cards and a pot of at least $156.

FdL County Sheriff’s Department – Lt. Cameron McGee
Lieutenant Cameron McGee has been with the Fond du Lac Sheriff’s Department for more than 25 years and is currently in charge of the Detective Division of the Sheriff’s Department. Lt. McGee started in the County Jail and after about two years he moved to patrolman before he joined the detective division and eventually became the lead detective. There are six detectives in the department along with a Forensic Lab Specialist. The Detective Bureau is responsible for initial and follow up investigative work involving crimes of all natures. Detectives receive up to date training in areas such as Crime Scene Management, Death Investigation and Cyber-Internet-ID Theft to mention a few. Each Investigator carries an individual caseload and major crimes are often managed through teamwork. Lt. McGee noted that the Sheriff’s Department has brought two relatively high profile cases to resolution over the past several months, the Campbellsport arrow incident from this summer and the Wild Goose Trail sexual assault case from September 2011. Both of these cases were solved through the efforts of the Sheriff’s Department Detectives in collaboration with other law enforcement resources. Lt. McGee also noted that a major case, the multiple deaths/motorcycle accident on Hwy 151, is still in the investigative process.

2012-2013 Governor’s Project to Focus on Autism


Monday Morning
We had 10 members and no guests at Monday’s New Year’s Eve Roundtable. Dan Leeds announced that he is a proud grandpa with the birth of his first grandson, Liam Leeds, on Saturday. Mother and baby are doing fine. Monday was John Cooper’s last day of real work as he is retiring after more than 40 years in the banking business. Good luck, John, and make sure you wake up in time for next Monday’s meeting. General topics of conversation were what Santa brought for Christmas, which appeared to have a heavy emphasis on technology, the Packer’s loss to the dreaded Vikings, and the anticipation of the upcoming Rose Bowl. There was no 50/50 Raffle so the next drawing on January 7th will have 41 cards with eight pay cards and a pot of at least $141.

2012-2013 Governor’s Project on Autism
WI-UM Kiwanis District Governor Lynn and First Lady Merita Messer are passionate about helping children on the Autism Spectrum learn and communicate. Their granddaughter, Kelsey, was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder at the age of eight, so the Messers have firsthand experience with the unique challenges for children on the spectrum. It has been proven that autistic children benefit from the use of software Apps available for the Apple® iPad. An iPad with a protective case and one app will cost approximately $500. Governor Messer’s goal is to raise over $500,000 during his term, which will be used to furnish iPads, Autism software Apps and protective cases for at least 1,000 children on the Autism Spectrum in the WI-UM Kiwanis District.
Former Lt. Governor Tonya Alling also has a son who is diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder and is actively involved with Governor Messer on this important project. We’re hoping to have Tonya speak at one of our January meetings to update us on this project and how we can help to reach this aggressive $500,000 fund raising goal.

Car Dealerships and Buying 101 at Kiwanis


Monday Morning
We had 19 members at Monday’s meeting to hear about Holiday Automotive from our own member, Pat Friedel. A “Happy Buck” was offered by Gary Miller for being back from vacation to Puerto Vallarta and also because he met a Mexican Kiwanian while in Mexico. Ron Seidl was the 50/50 Raffle winner, and he drew the Nine of Clubs. Not a winner so the pot continues to grow. Next week’s drawing will have 42 cards with nine pay cards and a pot of at least $131. Good luck!

Holiday Automotive – Pat Friedel
Pat Friedel was our program on Monday morning and he came to talk about his employer, Holiday Automotive Group. Pat has been with Holiday for three years after working for a number of years at the Service Motors Ford dealership. Shortly after Pat left Service Motors, Holiday acquired the Ford product line and Pat found himself selling Ford products again, only in a different location. Pat provided a little behind the scenes insight into how Holiday was able to get the Ford dealership. Pat also noted that Mazda doesn’t like being in the same building as another product line so Holiday will be building a new Mazda building further to the north on Rolling Meadow Drive. Pat also talked about Mike Shannon’s philosophy on running a customer friendly auto dealership. None of the sales associates are commissioned but rather all the sales associates are salaried with bonuses paid based on sales volumes and client satisfaction scores. Pat noted that the national average for cars sold by sales associates is 8-10 cars per month and at Holiday Automotive they sell almost double that average on a monthly basis. Holiday moved to “Simplified Buying” about 21–22 years ago that made the car buying experience more about outstanding service since the price was already a given. According to Pat, Holiday sold 434 cars last month and has had a number of months over the past several years when they sold over 500 cars per month. He also talked about how customers come to the dealership fully armed with internet printouts to find the best deal for the car(s) that they’re interested in. The one variable that is always a challenge is determining the trade in value on a car deal. Pat finished his talk by telling us how generous Mike Shannon is to our community. We are very lucky to have Holiday as part of Fond du Lac for a lot of reasons.