The death of an elderly man in Fond du Lac County may be due to the state's treacherous coat of ice. The Sheriff's Department says an 84-year-old Town of Eden man was outside his residence for quite awhile before he was discovered Sunday morning. Sheriff's Lieutenant Rick Olig says the man was still breathing, but died enroute to St. Agnes Hospital. The man kept to himself, but a neighbor who routinely checked on him found him. Olig says the man had some mobility problems and may have fallen due to icy conditions. A Sheriff's Deputy who went back to the residence during the death investigation slipped and fell on the ice and was taken to the hospital with a back injury. The cause of the man's death could be released by the County Medical Examiner's office today.
In Madison, 177 people have apparently sustained injuries due to the icy conditions. That's according to the city's 3 hospital emergency rooms, which have been treating bumps, breaks and other injuries since rain froze up on sidewalks and streets Saturday night. City crews have used one thousand tons of sand – 5 times the normal amount of sand used in a normal snowstorm – to add more traction on residential streets where salt isn't used due to city policy.