Bruce Link is with us today to talk to us about the Dickens of a Christmas holiday parade.
I'm not sure what it's called anymore.
What's the parade called now?
The parade is not really got a name.
It's always been called light up the night.
Okay.
Dickens holiday parade.
All right.
So I guess we could go with that.
And you kind of are on the organizing committee for that.
Yes.
Yes.
I basically am the parade committee.
All right.
We're looking for volunteers.
Okay.
We'll tell us about that.
Well, if you're interested in being volunteered to work on the holiday parade or any aspect of Dickens contact chamber commerce and speak with Craig or Lydia down there at the chamber office, and they'll be happy to tell you about the different things that you can volunteer for and take it from there.
Nothing,
nothing hard.
I mean, we're just looking for volunteers like for the parade, for instance, looking for volunteers to help with the lineup of the parade, making sure that the units stay in order and nobody jumps out ahead of anybody else and help control traffic a little bit to make sure things keep moving along on a steady pace.
So like I said, nothing hard about it whatsoever.
All right.
Are you looking for parade entries?
Oh, yeah.
Yes, we have four.
We have four, one of which is new.
We did find out that one of our entries that we've had every year in the last probably five years is not going to be with us this year.
That's Ashgash Defense.
They won't be here this year.
They have another obligation somewhere.
I don't know exactly where that is, but we've been informed that they will not be part of the parade this year.
But yes, entries go to the Chamber of Commerce Facebook page, and you can register through the Chamber of Commerce Facebook page to get registered, and then that'll show up on a...
a graph that I get along with the chamber office.
And then we know as the parade, as people enter the parade and how it grows and how many entries we have, we have a goal this year of 65 units.
We thought maybe we were going to lose the rip and fire department, but as of Tuesday night, I don't think that's going to happen.
Although we are looking for out of town.
units to participate in the parade.
You know, we want to make it not just necessarily ripping, but ripping the ripping area.
We've reached out to 4-H clubs, hoping we might pick up some 4-H clubs this year.
Or some of the other, we've got a couple of surprises, hopefully, if they come.
I don't want to say anything yet in case they decide not to
go with it.
But there are a couple of surprises I've reached out to some people.
We have maybe a unit coming.
Well, actually, there would be two units possibly coming from Madison.
So use your imagination with that.
Not to ask them to hire a wiener mobile, is it?
I can't say.
That'd be different for a Christmas parade.
I think so but anyway,
well, I know they did a they did a parade over the summer down in Randolph.
Oh, okay, which really kind of surprised me.
So You never know.
I will say this much.
I have reached out to them.
Okay.
I have reached out to them.
Is there an entry fee
for
$20 bucks?
Okay And
and that can be paid right on when you register
online or you can take a check or cash down to the chamber office and pay it there
okay
and that money so that people just don't think we're we're just doing a fee that helps pay for the prizes that we give out and we give out chamber bucks for second third place and I don't know exactly what the amounts
are
We kind of gear it toward the number of entries to a certain degree so if the more entries we have obviously the more We can give out in prices and we could maybe even add a fourth place or maybe fifth place if we have enough entries Okay, give people more opportunities to win.
Is there a deadline for entries?
Before the
parade, I think it's the week before the parade would be November 20 whatever that would be.
Yeah, I know right is Thanksgiving
is late.
I think the 26 27th
26
to 27th, I think but
I don't remember but You know there there is a
Deadline we try to have like at least a week before because that gives me a chance to as We get closer to the date I start plugging entries into positions and of course the earlier You register the better chances you are of having an early position in the parade And then the later they come
We try to play some we try to spread things out so that we don't have musical units one behind the other Hopefully we have the high school band playing again this year The college rally band has been with us for the last few years.
I don't know if they'll be back this year But they're usually really a really good and I don't mean just the rally band.
I mean the whole college
Group that we have they just do a phenomenal job for us and and have a lot of fun last year.
We had the football team Participated in the parade and they had a ball.
Okay.
Um So what is the date for the parade?
It's not a Friday night.
Usually
it's the first Friday of December and I'm trying to pull up my calendar here so I can double check but Fourth fourth
of December.
Okay, and so
typically the deadline would be the 27th Thanksgiving is the 26th and So the fourth is the parade and the sooner the entries are in the sooner I can start getting the lineup put together
Okay, six o'clock kickoff then or
six o'clock the parade or 6 30 rather I'm sorry 6 30 the parade gets underway and we Are usually very very prompt on that I don't know if
Lindsay Michaels from the police department will be leading the parade again like she has for the last, I don't know how many years, but Lindsay usually does some fun things and she had some nice decorations on the truck last year.
Well,
she's got a dog now.
She's got a dog now, so I don't know what'll happen with
that.
Um, haven't ever seen her with the dog.
In fact, I haven't even seen her for quite a while.
She brought him to the studio one day.
Okay.
Okay.
Good.
Very well mannered.
He just slept at her feet while she was talking.
Oh, he didn't, he didn't talk.
Oh, I was hoping he would.
But it was like, I'm going to be well behaved and just, you know,
so that's good.
But, um, okay.
So 6 30 on December 4th, right, would be the parade.
guessing a guy in a red and white suit might make an appearance at that or
well rumor has it that yeah the guy in the red and white suit and the white beard is supposed to show up and and he has confirmed that he will be there but I'm not gonna say definitely yes and no because you know how how plans can change yeah but one year we you know we had him all set to go and
We had no Santa Claus.
Wow.
Something came up and he didn't make it.
He did get here for pictures for that night.
Sounds like a Hannah Barbera cartoon, right?
The Night Without Santa Claus.
There you go.
Maybe it came up with a new cartoon strip.
All right.
Okay, so there are time there is time if people are considering entering the parade to get their entries in there is time if people Want to decide they want to volunteer
right right always looking for volunteers The more help we have the smoother things can be and last year we had a nice little crew to help set up the cones and the numbers and and
that helped out but we just had trying to get people to and I don't know if it's just a matter of not explaining what is involved or what it like I said there's nothing really hard about it we just want to make sure things are kept running smoothly that we can avoid any possible accidents
that could possibly happen.
And by having people out there that can kind of watch for those things is just so very, very important and helpful to keep those things down.
All right.
Well, Bruce, thanks for sharing that information with us this
morning.
No problem.
I always enjoy.
coming and visiting with you.
In fact, I think the last time I was here was last year, right after the parade that we talked a little bit about what happened with the parade.
It could be.
We've been talking with Bruce Lenk, who is on the organizing committee for the Dickens of a Christmas holiday parade.
Wisconsin State Attorney General Josh Call is joining us this morning.
Good morning, Josh.
Thanks for having me.
You're running for a third term?
That's right,
yes.
What made you decide that you want to continue in that role?
You know, I've been proud of what we've been accomplishing during my time as Attorney General.
We've taken on tough fights and gotten real results for Wisconsinites and we're seeing
real progress being made.
So on violent crime, for example, last year there were fewer violent crimes in Wisconsin than there have been in any years since 2011.
On the opioid epidemic, from 2023 to 2024, there was a reduction statewide of over 40% in opioid deaths.
But we also have a lot of progress to keep making.
I want to build on the progress we've been making there, as well as the progress we've made in fighting to protect Wisconsinites from
from pollution, from companies that misuse their market power to raise prices on Wisconsinites, and to protect people's rights.
Your opponent makes a lot out of the state crime lab and the time it takes for testing.
Can you give us a clearer picture of that?
Yeah, absolutely.
So we've made some
significant enhancements to the modernization of the crime labs during my time as AG.
There's now a new Milwaukee crime lab that has been built.
When it comes to DNA analysis, under my predecessor, there was a different type of analysis to use.
Now there's probabilistic genotyping used, which means that we can get DNA matches in more cases.
That also means that there's more data involved in being analyzed in those cases.
When it comes to toxicology testing, we use a new technology now called LC-MS-MS, which allows for smaller quantity of drugs to be detected.
That's really important as we're dealing with extremely potent drugs like fentanyl.
We've also upgraded the laboratory management systems as well.
What we have not had, unfortunately, is support from our state legislature and resource requests, like we've asked for.
Two budgets ago, we asked for 16 positions for the crime labs, but just three were provided and none of them were for DNA analysis.
In the last budget, we requested 19 positions and no positions were provided.
So it's really critical that we get the resources that the crime labs need.
But also, the big picture here is important.
Statewide, as I just mentioned, violent crimes last year were at the lowest number they've been at since 2011.
And there's a real contrast there in the AG's race because in Fond du Lac County, violent crimes are up.
Last year, Fond du Lac County had the second highest number of violent crimes that it's had in decades.
And so there is a pretty stark contrast there and on other issues in the AG's race.
Okay.
We wanted to ask you a little bit about
Block camera system and automated license plate readers is the AG office Going to weigh in on that at all in the future.
Yeah Yeah, I believe there should be strong statewide guardrails in place for ALPR technology Automated license plate readers Look on the one hand I don't want to live in a surveillance state and I don't think Wisconsinites want to live in a surveillance state
On the other hand, I do know that this technology can be used to really help protect public safety.
At the Department of Justice, we're involved in responding to missing persons' cases.
We administer the amber alert system.
We administer the silver alert system.
And this technology can help find missing kids.
It can help find missing seniors.
Or in serious criminal cases, it can be helpful.
If you have a homicide, it can show you where a
you know, a card row from the scene of a crime to where it returned.
So I think there need to be smart guardrails in place, and that includes things like restrictions on which types of cases it can be big as technology can be used for.
I think we should have clear auditing protocols and clear penalties in place if this is being misused.
And then I think it's critical that the data not be shared outside of the law enforcement context.
having a statewide policy, I think, would be really beneficial so that, you know, whether you're in one community in Wisconsin or another, you've got a consistent expectation as to what's going to be happening.
On the LAC County had one of the first cases in which someone was charged for having child pornography that was basically AI created.
Have there been any others here in the state?
Does the State Attorney General's office weigh in on that when it comes to, well, it was a state law?
So our office leads the Wisconsin Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.
And what we do is we receive tips from the National Center on Missing and Exploited Children.
And so those tips come in.
We then work through them and we refer those tips, usually the local law enforcement agencies, for further review.
It's really critical that we're doing this work.
The number of tips has increased dramatically and working to get that information out to communities and having the resources we need at DOJ's key.
Fortunately, there were some additional positions provided by the legislature recently, which is going to help with this work.
But one area that you talk about that we're seeing real change is in the use of AI.
So I think it's really critical that
We'd be prepared to respond to this.
Our state has taken action to pass legislation to get accountability here.
What I think we need to be prepared for, though, is just a significant increase in the volume of these.
And so making sure that there are tools in place to review a content and to identify it so that we are able to efficiently respond to these cases and address them.
is going to remain key because as we move forward we're going to see more and more of these types of cases.
Well aren't criminals already using AI for example scammers?
That's right, AI is being used and we need to make sure that folks in law enforcement have the resources that we need to respond to these issues.
So one of the things I've consistently advocated for during my time as AG is additional resources to fight crime in Wisconsin and so making sure that
scammers, for example, are being held accountable is critical.
It's one of the things that we do at the Department of Justice is when there are scams committed, we're involved in protecting consumers, and we also work to fight fraud through our Medicaid fraud and control unit, for example, and continuing to invest in that work is going to remain critically important.
And as you indicated, AI is going to make that challenge even, has already and will continue to make it more significant.
All right.
Maybe we could ask you once again why you're running for a third term as Wisconsin State Attorney General.
Well, the stakes in who we have as our Attorney General are really critical.
I talked about some of the contrast on public safety, but like I said, statewide in Wisconsin last year, we had the lowest number of violent crimes since 2011, whereas in Fond du Lac County, violent crimes are up.
When it comes to standing up for the rights of Wisconsinites, I stood up to protect
access to safe and legal abortion in wisconsin and there's a clear contrast there eric tony attacked me for that case he called it a farce and a partisan stunt and said it should be dismissed and yet last year our state supreme court ruled in our favor in that case we've also held powerful corporations special interest accountable that includes securing one of the largest environmental settlements in history following p-foss contamination to holding uh... helping to hold meta accountable
which required them to pay billions and also requires them to make changes that put our kids mental health ahead of their profits.
We stood up to drug companies that we've alleged conspired to raise prices and we helped get accountability from John Deere to help farmers be able to get access to the software they need to repair their own products.
So there is a lot of progress we've been making and I want to see Wisconsin build on that progress and not go backwards.
We've been talking with Wisconsin State Attorney General Josh Call.