Welcome everybody to Midday Magazine for this April 2nd, 2025.
I have your host, James J. Mailov here.
We're going to spend the entire hour with our friends
over at the Wood County Sheriff's Department.
We have him with us, Sheriff Sean Becker.
Sean, always good to see you.
Great to see you.
Always a pleasure to be here.
Thanks for the time.
And you brought in Lieutenant Wagner, who's
been with us before.
Thank you for being here.
Lieutenant, we appreciate the time, as always.
And I will be honest with both of you.
You have all my respect, all my admiration.
At the same time, all I want to do is talk to Lola,
because Lola is here as well, from the K9 unit.
Is that correct, Lieutenant?
That is correct.
Yeah, that's what we'll talk more about that in a moment,
I imagine.
But where do you want to start, Sean?
Let's start with the jail.
And again, people probably used it.
I was talking about it, but we had a big move on Saturday,
the 22nd, working with Susanna, and then Jail Captain
at Ashbeck.
We were getting closer and closer to getting the opportunity
to occupy the new facility.
So we looked at it, and we picked the 22nd
being a Saturday.
It worked out best for us.
We knew that we were going to have to either do it on a weekend
or an evening, some sort of evening when the courthouse
is closed.
So Ted and Susanna put together a plan.
I'm like, OK, this is how we can accomplish getting everybody
moved from the old jail into the new jail.
Fortunately, the facility is connected.
So we just basically utilized our staff.
And many of our corrections staff made sure
that they were all in place.
And then we had deputies that had come in.
All of our administration team was there.
We had several K9 units there.
Made sure that all the other law enforcement agencies
were aware that, hey, this is what's going on.
Same with the fire department, just in case we
wanted to make sure that all the contingency plans were
in place in case something happened.
And I tell you what, everybody did an awesome job.
We moved probably about 10 people at a time.
And we had 101 inmates to move.
And we accomplished that in about four hours.
So it's really all about the staff.
And having that plan in place had a time.
And we were meeting, I think, daily, two weeks before
we picked this date.
Harry, that's the story.
What do we need?
How many people do we need?
Again, talking about contingency plans.
When are we going to move all the inmates from WAPACA?
And another thing to bring up, all the inmates from WAPAC
are now within this facility.
So everybody should know that we will not
be paying out of county housing, at least in my lifetime.
And if we have to, it's going to be way, way down the road.
And I really don't think it's ever going
to have to happen again for WAPACA.
I only had a couple of questions for you today,
because you bring so much to the table always.
But that was one of those.
I was curious about that, how that was developing.
And we're already there.
Wow.
And that was the pre-planning.
I thought initially that we would bring all the inmates
from WAPACA back first.
But then talking with Susanna and Ted,
no, it made more sense.
Hey, let's get everybody from the old facility,
into the new one, get operational and then bring them back
and gradually, they did an awesome job
by we contracted 75 inmates per day.
And what we had been doing in WAPACA
has been a great partner.
They would charge us whatever we had for inmates there.
And so like the last, I'd say month or so, even longer,
we kept bringing more people back.
So we knew when we got to that date,
the goal was April 1st.
We were not going to have anybody in WAPAC anymore.
And they accomplished that just by kind of gradually bringing
back here, our roommate population went over 100.
And that's a lot, just in our facility.
But what we were doing is bringing people back.
I think once we occupied with the inmates
that were in our jail, we were down to like the low 40s.
So Carrie Stern did an awesome job.
She's our main transport deputy, sorry, officer
that had been going back and forth to WAPACA numerous times
a day just to make sure everybody's getting back.
It's really good news to hear.
And especially considering, you know, for decades,
this was a big part of the argument
of why we needed a new jail to see this happen.
And I can't speak on this on the timeline-wise,
but to me as a citizen, it feels relatively quickly.
That not only the process happened,
but even getting this done seemed to be happened.
So a credit to everybody involved.
Yeah, it's been a time to really reflect on that process
that, you know, you and I have talked about for how many years?
That's a seven and a half.
Yeah, it's been a while.
It's been just something that makes it surreal in a way.
And like I've always said, and, you know,
hopefully people are sick of me hearing about it.
But I was talking to one of our court county board members
this morning, Albright, and over a different situation,
and then I just gave him an update,
and then just the show, the appreciation that we all have,
not just me, but our entire staff have for a county board
doing what they did, and then just getting the opportunity
to reflect on, okay, how it started.
And then it was just a true testament to,
and a compliment to our county board members,
and I told him, I think that's really,
because he goes, I didn't really get much, you know,
opposition, and I go, what does that tell you?
That tells you that what we did and what he did,
you know, because he was on our ad hoc committee as well,
for the jail, getting out in the community
and explaining the reasons why the needs, you know,
and what's been going on for so long.
And that's a, you know, a huge compliment
to all of our county board, Lance Plummel,
Laura Valestine, everybody part of the jail hoc committee
and their entire county board.
And even when, you know, a new people got out
in the county board, you know, that had gotten elected
and because people had stepped aside
or they beat an incumbent, the continued support,
you know, for the project, just says a lot about Wood County.
You know, you look at other counties that struggle,
and especially when, you know, elections change,
you know, your county boards,
and then you kind of start over.
That didn't happen here and we're very fortunate here
in what kind to move in the direction that we are
and we're all very, very appreciative of it.
A second that.
And before I bring in Lieutenant Wagner here,
I did this wrong, I apologize.
I will say that I was distracted by Lola
and I'm actually being very genuine there with you guys
because I just dogs do that to me,
but I did want to shout out Wisconsin's
Rabbits Community Media being here recording this.
I appreciate the work they're doing over there.
Encourge you as always to go to your YouTube page,
subscribe to the work that they are doing
and while you're there and subscribing to that,
check out a cool new program that they're doing over there
with the Heart of Wisconsin Chamber.
I saw it yesterday, it was a great video,
great information on that and there's gonna be more stuff
like that from them.
They're working really hard over there.
Support local everybody.
Sure, we did bring in Lieutenant Wagner here.
I want to put her to work.
I mean, talk to her.
Yeah, I would be happy to do it all talking out
the rest of the show is hers.
Yeah, right.
No pressure.
Oh, no.
That stand up that you've always wanted to do, Lieutenant Wagner.
Now we can finally do it.
Now we've got no swearing and you can't pick on me.
Well, I don't have much to say.
Oh, the poor, yeah.
Well, material she's gonna have, that would.
Thank you for being here, Lieutenant.
I appreciate the time.
Thanks for having us.
So you brought her in for a reason.
Oh, we have a tie into things.
So we wanted to...
I felt that she's been a big part of this whole process
and was there that entire day
when we did the move and I think her perspective
is gonna be really important to hear for everybody
because you know, it's there,
but I was, you know, really part of the escorting inmates,
you know, to the old facility to the new one.
And, you know, she had an intent and the rest of the staff,
all right, once everybody got over to the new facility,
had to make sure that was all right.
And then even going back, I mean, her part was,
along with many of our other staff,
is you have people working in the old facility
because, you know, even all the other law enforcement,
you know, we weren't close.
So if we had somebody that needed to come to jail,
we had to make sure we had that accommodation ready to go
and we communicated that out with everybody.
And we didn't have a book in in that morning,
but you're kind of running the old jail,
you know, getting, you know, inmates ready, you know,
and, you know, handcuffing them, getting them all together.
And then we had a process going over escorting
with multiple people, but that was a big part of her
being part of the old jail functioning
and then transitioning over once everybody's there.
And now we got to run the new jail.
So, sure turn it off.
Okay.
How did that process go from your perspective?
Well, I was on the side of the old jail.
So my job was to lead the crews to removing, you know,
getting the inmates to get their property together
that they needed and getting them ready to, you know,
get hooked up in shackles and cuffs and help calm them
because a lot of them did have anxiety moving to a new place.
They didn't know, you know, they had no idea
what it looked like or what was, you know,
gonna happen really because with a lot of things,
we did keep quiet just for security reasons.
However, Lolo was there and she was very helpful
during that time and transition from our side.
It went pretty smoothly.
So, you know, I have to say right away
that I appreciate the care put into this to the inmates.
That is something we, it says more about us as people
than anything I think.
It's certainly the right thing to do
and all that being said, we show who we really are.
Our character, the way we treat people in those situations.
And I really admire that.
I also love hearing this perspective on this
because I don't think that that's insight we get very often.
I was speaking with somebody
who had been part of a transition into a new facility
like we did and she brought it to my attention
that it was something that we should be reminded of
because it's, you know, we're all gung-hole,
ready, excited, you know, can't wait to get in there.
But then, you know, we forget, we expect they,
you know, the inmates to be excited about it,
but really, it's all the unknown to them.
So we just, you know, said, you know, gave them the best,
you know, advice and just said, hey, it's going to be okay.
And, you know, the other, you know, we let them know
who was waiting for them on the other, you know,
at the new facility.
So they knew the officers that were working.
And it just helped calm them.
And you mentioned Lola was a part of this.
That was helpful too.
Yes, Lola was there and just accepting all the pets
and loving that she could get.
And she, she definitely enjoyed it.
You know, I think of this with her,
and certainly with you guys too,
there's not enough bright spots in your day,
in your career to take wins where we can
is, is, is, is no worthy and needed.
For Lola, as well as you guys and everything.
So that's really encouraging to hear, really good to hear.
And especially with so many moving parts,
I'm sure not the only one.
I worked a lot of construction jobs where you're taking this
to another lot or something like that and moving things
or even I worked at a shoe company once
where we moved all the shoes from one store
to one completely in the other side of town and everything.
And then there's something like this.
That nobody has any real,
there's not a real blueprint for a lot of this.
There's not as if you can just Google her, you know,
and find out, hey, how did other people do this or something?
So to pull this off with all that being said,
just well done by Kudos, that's an increase
to everybody involved.
That's a good thing for all of us as a community.
And again, speaks to why this is something
that we've wanted for a long time, this new jail.
Yeah, no, absolutely, it's, it's a credit to our staff
and the pre-planning, you know, hey,
we just couldn't say, okay, today we're going to do it
and then do it.
There was a lot of communication that went on, you know,
within, you know, our department to plan out.
And then this doesn't happen very often, thankfully.
But the need was there.
And again, I'm really proud of our staff,
you know, working together and getting moved over
and now we're operational and, you know, it's not easy.
You know, for our staff, I'll be honest with you.
I know that people are still struggling a bit
because you look at an old facility
that's a linear design.
And what worries me is, okay, now we have four floors.
The old jail was one floor and it gave the opportunity
to probably spend more time together.
They did their job, but they all kind of, you know,
hung out, I would say, or worked together at,
like the book encounter, the jail control area,
kind of centrally located now with a four level facility.
People can get, you know, isolated a bit, you know,
we're only gonna have two people on this floor,
you know, two people on that floor.
But I know the staff is working very hard.
They're learning the new facility
and doing an outstanding job with it.
But I know that that's been creating stress
amongst our team.
And we understand that.
And going through this process,
Kipper Nier from the San Most Group
was really representing the company and us
as we went forward with this project.
He made it very clear that, you know what,
the staff is gonna struggle a bit
once you get into the facility
because it's really, it's so different, you know,
and then he's right.
You know, everybody is, it's different,
but as people learn things,
I think they, well, I know they appreciate,
you know, the opportunity to be in a new facility
because that doesn't happen very often,
especially the people that make a career out of corrections,
being in one facility, you know,
if you look at it, a lot of people that have retired
have, you know, contacted us and just wanna see it
because they're used to being in the old facility
and they never got the opportunity
to work in the new facility.
And for them to reach out, like Tim Havak,
great friend of ours, you know,
we've reached out to him numerous times
just to come and be part of it, you know,
come and see it and I think he wants to spend more time
the old jail and take some pictures of it
because that's, you know, where all,
honestly all his memories are,
but I think he also appreciates the fact of,
you know, putting it in over 30 years and corrections
and then, you know, having just a, you know,
the next step in life, that awesome retirement
that you saved up for,
but you still wanna be a part of it.
It says a lot about the individual
and appreciate Tim on to be a part of it,
but he's not the only one.
You know, a lot of retirees have reached out,
you know, throughout this whole process
and just want to, you know, walk through Kurt Hoyer, you know,
one of my mentors has gone through the facility
a few times and with his connections
at Midstate Technical College bringing in,
you know, new recruits, you know,
kind of showcasing, you know,
what's going on here in our hometown in Wood County.
Now, he's gone through several times
and he went through this process
when he was sheriff, you know, around 2000
and, you know, it didn't pass then on the finance part,
but the county board then knew the need was there
and, you know, the need continued
until we got here today, but, you know,
big shout out to Kurt and still wanting
to be involved in this whole process.
And I guess there's a lot of people out there
that we were making contact with
and you always look at it, you know, with their retiree.
When somebody gives their, you know, 20, you know,
25, 30, 30 plus years of their life
to public services, especially in Wood County,
they're always going to be part of the team
and they're always welcome to come back
and see the place, you know, hang out with the staff.
I mean, you have to look at that's a big chunk
of somebody's life and, you know,
we've always talked about the mental health
and wellness of us and how important that is,
but you can't forget about the people
that once they do, you know, close that chapter,
open up another one, you still have that,
all those chapters behind you from the career
that you just can't walk away from.
And I think it's very important for,
if they want to, for everybody's own mental health,
after they get into that retirement age,
they still have a connection with our team
and people know that,
anybody that retires from our agency knows
that they're always welcome to come back anytime they want.
And almost recently, and you had Doug on here last month,
you know, Doug Christensen is now retired
and that was a tough one, you know, for me personally,
because he started after me and we had, you know,
a strong working relationship and friendship
and that foundation of the mental health stuff
that we've talked about, that's huge
and you know, at his retirement party,
it brought up, you know, you look at somebody's legacy
and a legacy is something that I look at,
what did you do not for yourself,
but for other people, other people within the, you know,
organization and the community and he crushed it.
You know, you look at that mental health,
you know, picture that, you know,
just was not there at the start of our careers
and then to really focus on that
as somebody that is at the ground level,
as a deputy sheriff, you know, building upon,
okay, the needs of the community and then now,
you'll take it one step beyond that,
the needs of the organization, you know,
and that was so, it was tough at moments,
but it was a great thing to brag about
and a great thing to say, you know, that's a legacy.
You know, the impact that you can truly say,
you made a difference in people's lives,
that says a lot about a person that wears a uniform.
So we're gonna miss him, but, you know,
he built the foundation that we'll never go away,
no matter who is in the next positions that we have,
it's established, I don't see it ever changing
because that's what the community expects
and that's what we expect as public servants
to, you know, be taken care of as well.
On that level, it's certainly a positive
and there's no lowering the bar.
On the mental health end of things, I talk about this a lot,
there's no putting the genie back in the bottle.
We've gotten to this point and we're not going back.
That's very encouraging and it's because of people
like him that really got us to this place
and like yourself and this your staff
and people who are like minded and thinking on this level.
Throughout this process, you mentioned this earlier,
we've been talking about this for years.
One of the things you mentioned was, you know,
referencing or talking to other people
in other communities that had Jail's built
or were working to, not that we're at this point,
do you think you'll be able to do that for others?
Like our friends in point or some of these other places
that are looking for that, you'll be able to kind of
do that for others now.
Yeah, what's been happening recently is, you know,
leadership over in Portage County has come
and looked at our facility and asked a lot of questions,
you know, what did it take to get to the point, you know,
that we're at and they're under a very similar circumstance
as housing out of county.
A Jail that was built in the late 80s, you know,
a lot of those things are similar.
I think what happened there is some changes
to their county board and they had a real back
and talk about some more so people can understand
that the need is there and you can't walk away from it.
You know, I'm sorry.
You know, a Jail is a necessity
and it's really what you do with it when you build it
and you have to look at what are the community needs
and how does that fit within your community?
Like for us, you know, part of it is that
there's not just the inmate population, you know,
and not about a county housing that's a big cost,
but you have to look at the other needs of the community
as well and that's where Susette does an awesome job show
where she's most of our inmate programming
and going out into the community and saying, okay,
what do we need, you know, to help people
that are incarcerated, you know, they're inmate,
they made a mistake, they're going to be in jail
for a while and do their time,
but they're going to go back to the community.
You know, you're going to get released.
All right, now, what can we do
while you're in custody to help that individual out
to make sure that they don't come back?
You know, and that's a big priority ours
and she does an awesome job of, you know,
I think what we found out is there's a lot of people out
and not just Wisconsin rapids,
but throughout the entire entire county
that want to come in and help.
And that was something that I learned
in the position that I have now,
being that I wasn't a corrections background,
but I've learned a lot throughout, you know,
the years of being sheriff, that there's people out there
that want to come in and help.
A lot of our churches want to come in,
but we have to sometimes put the brakes on and say,
okay, we have to go through guidelines,
people have to pass background checks
and now we have a facility which is really exciting
as we can expand our image programming.
But there's so many partnerships out there
that, you know, I don't really know,
mistakes have been phenomenal.
You know, we've got something that we're building
upon just with the culinary program
that they're going to be able to come in
and it makes if they want to
and work in our trustee program,
they'll have the ability to earn credit.
And I think that's, that's pretty huge.
Yeah, and it's just one thing.
There's another thing about this,
I think that'll be interesting as we go on
is that we see the positives now.
There's always stuff that develops throughout the process
where like, oh, I didn't see that coming.
There's another positive or something like that
and certainly being a real in-time example
to other communities of what the positive
of doing something like this
and investing in your community like this
and investing in the safety of our law enforcement
as well as our community was something like this.
Speaking with Sheriff Shawn,
back here we have Lieutenant Wagner and Lola
and with us along with our friends
from Wisconsin Rapids Community Media.
Right in the half time we'll come back
and have some more fun on Midday Magazine here at WFHR.
Welcome back everybody to Midday Magazine,
April 2nd, 2024, 2025.
Have your host James here in part two
of our interview with Sheriff Shawn Becker
and our Wood County Sheriff's Department.
We have Lieutenant Wagner and with us with Lola
as well as our good friends
from Wisconsin Rapids Community Media
hanging out with us today.
Shawn, where do you want to go next?
We got a couple of directions we can go here.
Yeah, I'm just though the public's aware
if you have a visit of the cordhouse yet.
The new entrance now is open.
That started on Monday the 24th.
So we're already over a weekend of that.
We decided to do that.
Everything was ready.
We got that everybody moved into New Jail.
So I figured that was the next stop
and Lieutenant Brian Peterson
who oversees the security services for the cordhouse
that are a really nice job organizing that as well.
Getting the opportunity to, hey, this is gonna happen.
It did so just so the public's aware.
The new entrance, there isn't a big change
but still on the front or the directions
or west side of the cordhouse.
It just moved a little bit to the south.
Well, you can't miss it.
There's signage out there.
So it's another nice for me a focal point
and coming into the facility.
The way it was designed, you're now walking into a glass atrium.
So you come in through security.
You go through the scanning process.
You see the new Sheriff's Department on the right and the jail
and then the cordhouse is done over to the left
but it was a really nice way to combine the both buildings.
So I think when people come in there,
just come in and enjoy it.
If you need to go in the cordhouse,
just go through the scanning and stuff and head to the left.
If you need to see somebody
at the Sheriff's Department, go to the right
and we'll help you out.
But that's just an important thing to know.
If you haven't been in the cordhouse, stop by.
Even if you don't really have a reason,
if you want to stop over and just see it,
I encourage people to do that.
Yeah.
Also one of them mentioned the CIT and touch on that.
Yeah, as we talk about, you know,
dog and the mental health initiatives
that we've incorporated throughout the many years.
One or 14th class of CIT crisis intervention
training that nominee supports.
And that's, you know, very, very impressive.
And again, that started off with that conversation
with Doug Christianson and Katie Says,
who at the time was overseeing crisis.
And just to see it build,
14 classes with an average of about 25,
law enforcement officers or corrections officers,
dispatchers, you know, you look at the impact
throughout the years of this extremely important training.
I think it's probably the most important training,
law enforcement can get after, you know,
they start in their career.
But you do the math, you know, 25 average 14 classes,
you know, we're over what, 350 people, you know,
somewhere on there.
And then you look at, you know, those 300 and some people
that are now at working at law enforcement agencies
with what they learned in their applying it.
Look at the impact that has, you know,
it's just indescribable.
Yeah, it's just another awesome thing to brag about.
Mm-hmm.
And then that partnership that we have with NAMI
and, you know, and then getting to, you know,
we've got two deputies that were named by NAMI CIT officers
the year, one obviously being Doug Christianson.
And then another one, Alicia Brondoch, you know,
at our department based upon the work that they've learned
and the work they do on their community
and being recognized by NAMI, that's some, that's huge, you know,
and it's all part of what we've been doing with CIT
throughout the years.
And now with, you know, with this class,
which I felt was extremely, you know, impressive,
is talking with Katie and Alicia's helping, you know,
organize the class since Doug retired.
Now we've got people representing fire departments
coming into it, you know, just so you're looking at the outreach
is not now exclusive to law enforcement,
but the importance of this train now is reached out
into fire and EMS first responders.
So just another, you know, just an awesome thing
that's going on, I'm looking forward to this train continuing.
And next year, we'll be our 15th class
and just look at, you know, the, how many people
have been impacted by the train.
We have gotten all of our sworn deputies through it
and we're probably about halfway through
our corrections officers.
Yeah.
Right on.
You know, all of us in this room are maybe
from different generations or different ages,
but we all grew up with the, in the era of,
oh, just rub some dirt on it and walk it off, you know,
no matter what we're talking about, a broken leg
or a bad day, that's what you did.
I think that while we can take a lot of positives
from this in society to hear different industries
in different areas where it's, it's,
now it's happening there too, is these other wins
we can take when it comes to this subject.
When it comes to mental health and focusing on that.
I think one of the things that I have admired
and I've appreciated so much is I come from this
from a family, we've been talking about this in stay one,
mental health and how it means.
My mother and father were affected by this in different ways.
But to hear the traditional strong jobs,
the traditional jobs of where we have people in this industry,
we know those are tough people.
We know Sheriff Lieutenant here tough individuals.
They're not doing this job without it and all that.
People from your industry talking about the importance
of mental health, how it affects how it bleeds
into your jobs, that gets people caring
that may not otherwise.
And it's such a brave thing to do.
And I don't use that word lightly.
I think we use it too much in society nowadays.
I use it where I think it fits.
I find it brave.
I find it to be one of the stronger things you guys could do
for yourselves and your colleagues.
But to take that also to the initiative
of what we've talked about, our oldest conversation
of ending that revolving door.
Instead of just being, hey, you messed up.
Let's add 10 years to your sentence.
That'll teach you.
No, why did you do this?
What's going on with you?
What's going on between those ears?
This is how we make a better society.
This is how we do these things.
And we're in the ground level of this.
And we're doing this now.
So hopefully future generations,
this is nothing for them to think about.
This is just everyday life thinking about mental health.
I'm thinking about how this affects this industry
or that industry.
It just, you mentioned legacy earlier.
And it got me thinking about yours a little bit.
And I hope that, because you ain't going nowhere.
But I do hope that you have a chance to take again,
these little wins from time to time.
And just even maybe in the morning
as you're putting on your gear
and you have a second to think about this.
I'm like, man, we've accomplished some stuff.
There's work to be done.
I'm not saying that, you know,
you don't get to take your foot off the gas, sir.
But I hope it, you know, the new jail
or some of these things that we're talking about.
This isn't just stuff that helps here or there
or one niche part of our industry.
Talking about our society, our community, this helps.
Not just you and your staff, not just us as citizens,
all of the above.
It feels good.
And I don't think we often get a chance
to just take a step back and have that perspective of,
all right, we've done something here.
We're accomplishing something here.
Yeah, and you nailed it with,
it's not my legacy, it's a we thing.
It's what, what did we do?
You know, that's what's important to me
in the position that I have.
It's what we have done, you know,
throughout the years of anybody's career.
You know, what are we done?
You know, it's interesting with the move,
fighting things, you know,
being here, coming up close to 30 years,
you know, somebody brought a box of stuff over to me
that I didn't know existed.
And then you find your old resumes
and, you know, other things that I was part of, you know,
during my career, like a special response team
and fighting pictures of that and stuff.
And Scott Drew, who's, you know,
recently going to be retired from the part
I was pleased to achieve position
and a great friend of mine
and his career starting at the Sheriff's Department
and then working together, you know,
from training to being on a special response team
and then seeing, you know, a friendship, you know,
all part of that.
It makes you think of how quick a career goes,
goes by you, but no, it's will be thing, you know,
and if you can't have an attitude like that,
you're not going to accomplish anything.
Yeah, well said, you know, real quick,
I know you had some other things we wanted to get to
and want to talk about the rescue raffle
and some of that.
When we were talking about the new jail,
I thought of something and I'm not sure
we got a chance to talk with Lieutenant Wagner
about with the new facility and some of the new things
that are in there.
I don't know, forgive me if we have touched on this before,
but is there a new parts of the new jail
for the canine unit?
Is there anything new addition with that
for your end of things for your department?
Well, with Lola, she's been able to,
we've been able to go into more of the pods
since moving in.
The setup is just more, it's easier.
It's more friendlier for her to move from block to block
or pod to pod, I should say now,
but she's just, there's a bigger area for the inmates
to, you know, you know, be around her.
And she's just, she's adapted well too.
Yeah, yeah, it sounds like it.
Yes, she's got a lot more freedom in there.
Animals are a great like a leading example of that.
I think sometimes I've noticed this a lot
when you move into a new building or new house
or something like that, and the animal adjusts so quickly
because animals, that's just what they do.
They adjust, they adapt so well.
They can, whether you realize that it's,
or not, or subconscious or not,
it can sometimes be a really good example for others.
And I hopefully for the inmates there
and that transition there.
I appreciate that.
Look, I didn't even throw that at you,
but I was curious because we highlighted
so many interesting and really important parts
of this new jail.
I figured there was something there
with the canine unit and that's great to hear.
We're also going to be, I mean,
we know that one of the big reasons
why we built this facility is to offer programming
to hopefully stop inmates with the revolving door part.
But we're hoping that Lolo will be able to be involved
in some of those groups and programming
and user wherever we can throughout the facility.
And we had Lance in last week
and we're putting a lot of our focus on this
and some of the advantages of this new jail with programming
and the opportunities that that will, you know,
bring up when it comes to this.
And again, I keep thinking of for every great thing
we're talking about, there's stuff maybe a year,
maybe months from now that we're going to come across
and be like, oh, there's this we can do too
or something like that because it always happens
with these things where we have the idea of,
well, this is the list of positives we have.
And as we go along through this, like,
oh, this is a positive too.
We can add that to the list and stuff.
So it'll be interesting to see.
Yeah, we have a group that are involved
in putting a programming date together for the inmates
and it's pretty in depth.
But the inmates are going to be busy
from the time they wake up until they go to bed at night
and they're going to be having different organizations come
in and meet their physical, you know, needs
that they will have in the community.
And then they're going to meet, you know,
they need spiritual help for, you know,
other kind of skills to be learned to go out and use
when they leave.
I think almost anybody out there,
whether it was when you were in school
or you're working a job and you're just staring at that clock
and you're just waiting for it to speed up.
And of course, a second takes hours and everything.
So I bring that up in part for anybody out there
who has never been incarcerated
and may not know what that feeling is like.
Part of how you get through those moments
is you get numb.
You're just going to try to get through the end of the school day.
Just get to the end of the, hit three o'clock,
that kind of thing or just get to the dinner bell
and, you know, be able to finish your day of work.
And then there is this kind of existence
of living and knowing what your day is day in and day out.
And I'm not bringing any of this up for sympathy.
Everybody has a price, you know,
that you have, you have an accountability,
two to half and stuff and I'm not moving past that.
But in order to get through that oftentimes
and I'm talking to my father about this a lot,
that you get numb and you almost get to a point
where you forget your human.
You forget what it is to be a human being in society.
And again, when we come back to this revolving door thing,
inmates that are in there for too long
or filling out their sentence,
this can happen more and more likely.
Things like Lola, things like what we're talking about
with these programs and everything,
the reminders that you're a citizen.
You got a job to do.
You got to get through this, pay your dues
and come out of here and be a better person and add to society.
That's what we all agree to and we become adults.
And you're reminded of that.
And I know that that might not mean much to some,
but it means so much to this process of just the simple reminder
that you got a life to live.
You were a human being.
And these programs or Lola or so much of this does that,
which again, leads to hopefully this person coming out of there
never going back, becoming a taxpayer,
helping you with your taxes and your day-to-day life
and working in the industries,
this has a domino effect.
And it leads to a better society.
I think that one of the big things that Lola has been able to do
with some of the inmates that are there
that are very, put walls up,
resistant to change and just very angry.
They start petting or some, a lot of them cry,
show a lot of emotions.
They start talking about their dogs at,
pets at home or the pets that they've had in the past.
And then it kind of takes those walls down
and they become more receptive to the idea of getting some help
while they're incarcerated.
That's, appreciate that.
Thank you.
I appreciate you mentioning that.
That's great.
Sheriff, I know that you had some other things you wanted to touch on.
Yeah, I've got a raffle coming up.
It is supporting the Wood County Rescue Unit
of Volunteer Unit.
It's a gun raffle.
It's going on right now, 25 bucks a ticket.
We'll start that raffle.
Yeah, I'm sure you've seen it before.
They do a nice job, drawing the names,
kind of throwing their own spin on it.
But just a highlight that I just said,
they're a completely volunteer organization.
And the unfortunate thing is that there's costs
that come up with the rescue unit
and the community has been extremely generous.
Same with the Legacy Foundation.
And what the biggest need right now is a new rescue truck.
And it seems like yesterday, when we had gotten one,
I think it was over 10 years ago.
And Hocheon had been extremely generous
and helped us with that project.
And I know that I can see this go around
has been very supportive of a new truck.
And the calendar is something that we've
been doing the last few years.
And we're hoping to sell this out.
And the money that we raised from this calendar raffle
will be put towards the new truck.
So again, very gracious to the community
and very thankful to the rescue unit.
They're completely volunteers.
So the response area is primarily
southwood county, however.
Last few years, they've got a really nice job
of outreaching to the Wood County Sheriff's Department
rescue unit.
Well, that encompasses the entire county.
And so just a relationship building
that has been going on throughout the last several years
or so just working with all the fire departments.
And you know, now rescue has some unique equipment
that other volunteer fire departments don't have.
And they could call us at any time if they need something.
They're a big part of project life saver.
They have the transmitter.
So if there's any project life saver call out
within the county, they're going to it.
We've gone up to Marshall for kids
that have been missing for a short time
and help locate them.
So huge need for our community.
So if you can get out and support us with that,
like I said, $25 calendar raffle ticket.
You can pick them up the Sheriff's Department.
If you want to stop down or give me a call
and we'll set you up with one or go on rescue's Facebook page.
We can help you out there and how you can purchase one.
Looks like the drawing starts May 1st.
So you got a little time here to get ready to get those.
And every day, they're able to win a different gun here.
Looks like it's a different gun every day.
You got to be honest with you guys.
I'm staring at number 11.
That looks really interesting.
What does number 11 there on that one?
It is a revolver.
It is.
OK, I'm a Western's kid.
I grew up on Western.
So of course, I'm going to see that one right away.
Yeah, no, that's, you know, out of my glasses, I don't know.
Yeah, I've got better respect than me.
But yeah, and there's another one on the 15th
that's a revolver, but they're all different firearms
that are on there.
So nothing, there's no same firearm.
And if you do get picked, your name goes back into the raffle
so you can get picked multiple times.
But we've been doing that several years.
Shout out to the trading post being a partner with us.
So that's been going very well.
And that would just always appreciate the community support.
Any opportunity to shout out to Trading Post.
Love to be able to do that.
Love that place.
And really appreciate everybody with the work
that they put into something like this.
Again, one of those things we don't get to use,
the verb we don't get to use often enough with you guys.
This is a fun one.
This is a fun raffle.
This is a fun thing to be a part of.
And a great way for the community to add to people
that they would like to, but don't always know how to.
You know, I don't think that there are many people out there
that aren't thankful for the service you guys do,
what you guys put into it.
But don't always know how to word that or how to,
you know, there's also not a ton of volunteer
or opportunities, you know, necessarily.
Some of those things here is a great one every year
that we kind of have an opportunity to,
whether you win something or not,
you win just by buying that raffle ticket.
Yeah.
Yeah, we should have the new truck sometime
towards the end of this year that's in the process
of being built.
And like I said, that's where the funds this year
will be going towards.
So it's always appreciative of that.
We get that community support.
Well, and hopefully, you know, it's obviously
the audience how important that truck is
and what it does for you and your job and everything.
But another part of that, and I certainly think
of working at the family center and thinking about,
you know, we have touch a truck and that new vehicle shows up.
And maybe it sparks an interest in a young person
or something like that.
Like they, again, the added advantages
with these things are always very interesting to me.
There's a stuff we see and then there's that stuff.
We just don't always see and that could be really helpful
with that.
So it's a great investment in your community
buying one of these raffle tickets.
And you might win something pretty cool.
And those, they revolve right there.
I'm staring at that one.
That looks good right there.
I gotta get my, I gotta get one of those tickets,
or I'll see what happens there.
As we're wrapping up, got about a minute left.
Anything else you wanted to touch on?
Shout out to our KSHA Foundation.
It does the fundraising for K9 unit.
Craig Carpenter has stepped aside from the,
he's one of our board members
and he's one of our founding members.
So a big shout out to Craig in the vision that he's had,
you know, for several years,
the foundation started many, many years ago
with many Mason members.
And he's, like I said, was a founding member
working with, you know, then Sheriff Thomas Reichert.
And they had goals.
You know, like, hey, we want to raise this amount of money
because then, you know, we'll always be able to,
you know, provide a K9 at really zero cost
to the, the will kind of Sheriff's Department budget.
Well, we have far, far exceeded that.
The money that we've raised, you know,
especially in the last couple of years
of putting us in a position that, hey, we have five bucks.
That's a lot for an agency this size of ours,
but they're all supported by the community.
And the big one is, you know, here with us Lola.
You know, when we really looked at focusing
on the mental health initiatives,
how do we, you know, get our K9 unit into fitting
with those initiatives?
And it's a great story.
I know I've probably had 30 seconds,
but, you know, when we got the opportunity to get Lola,
you know, sitting, you know, talking with Susanna
and where was that gonna fit, it's perfect for our jail.
Just absolutely perfect.
And then Susanna is an awesome job getting out
in the community, not only just, you know, working the jail,
but getting out and, you know, doing presentations
has been just a huge thing.
So big shout out to Craig.
Thank you so much for what you've done with this foundation.
You're a big part of why we're in the direction
that we're going.
So thank you to everybody.
It's part of the Occasion Foundation as well.
Mm-hmm.
Continuing in that, thanks.
We want to thank our great friends
over at Wisconsin Rapids Community Media,
hanging out with us past hour.
Always appreciate that.
Get to YouTube, subscribe to their page.
Wisconsin Rapids Community Media.
And I'll support local Lieutenant Wagner,
always good to see you.
Thank you so much again for being with us.
And you know how much I appreciate Lola.
I'm surprised I was able to pull this interview off,
actually, I was a little bit private.
We appreciate you Lola as well.
And a big appreciation to you, sir.
Sheriff Becker always appreciate the time.
And what you guys are doing in our community
to be safe out there.
We'll talk again next month.
Thank you.
We'll have Mormon Day Magazine lined up
for you coming up here at WFHR, locally grown radio.
