A suspected chimney fire heavily damaged a single-family home in the 100 block of  Hyde Park Ave. early this morning.

No dollar amount for damages had been set as of this afternoon.

When firefighters arrived shortly after 3 a.m., heavy smoke and flames were billowing from the windows, a police report says.

All building occupants were outside when firefighters arrived, the report says.

Christmas is over, but the holiday charitable work of Interfaith Senior Programs will resonate into the coming year.

The Waukesha-based agency has fulfilled its goal of giving self-sufficiency items to low income and isolated seniors and adults with disabilities, says Interfaith Executive Director Kathy Gale.

Agency volunteers, 71 in all, distributed 351 bags of much-needed goods earlier this month to the needy in Big Bend, Brookfield, Butler/Elm Grove, Delafield/Dousman/Nashotah, Eagle, Hartland, Lannon/Menomonee Falls/Sussex, Muskego/Mukwonago, New Berlin, North Prairie/Wales, Oconomowoc, Pewaukee and Waukesha.

Interfaith volunteer presents gift basket

Volunteers not only brought holiday cheer to the recipients, but some casually asked about the health and living conditions to see if assistance was needed from other agencies, such as transportation and medical checkups.

Waukesha contained the lion’s share the needy with 178 bags distributed here.

Each bag contained merchandise and gift cards with a total value of $137, Gale said.

Some of the large donors  included Roundy’s, which contributed $5,000 in Pick ‘n Save grocery cards; Kwik Trip, which donated loaves of bread and bottles of water; UPS, which prepared routes and maps to those who received bags; GE Healthcare for energy-efficient light bulbs; the Forest County Potawatomi Foundation, which provided a $5,000 grant.

The present-day Interfaith is an agency that merged in 2007 with RSVP to form an efficient, single agency where volunteer seniors can lend a hand to the needy throughout Waukesha County.

Gale said the merger showed to donors that charitable groups are willing to combine resources, including staff, to provide improved services.

“It gave us credibility in the donor community,” Gale said of the merger.

The Journal Sentinel reports on a prison term handed to Scott E. Ziegler on criminal charges of using his downtown shop as a sex base.

Laurel Walker of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports on the upcoming spring election political battles.

Waukesha police received a call Wednesday morning that a 9-year-old’s tongue was stuck to a pole at Madison and Grandview.

The youngster was unstuck by the time police arrived, the daily blotter says.

I wonder if he was triple-dog dared to do it?

A Waukesha woman on Eales Ave. avoided falling victim to a common scam by quick thinking, according to police reports.

A man posing as her grandson called a Waukesha woman and asked
for a large amount of money. He gave her instructions to drop it off
near a large retail store.

The mom callled family members and discovered the call was
a scam and the grandson was not asking for money, the report says.

The suspect continued to call to see if the money was ready to be delivered.

The woman contacted police.

The suspect called again and wanted the money wired to a location in Boston, Mass. No money was transfered, the report says.

The two baseball diamonds in Grandview Park will remain and serve the secondary purpose of becoming detention ponds for storm water that sewers cannot handle during heavy rains.

The Parks, Recreation and Forestry Board Monday night approved letting the city’s Department of Public Works  use a practice field in the southwest corner of the park  as a detention pond that could temporarily hold up to eight-feet deep water about three to five times a year.

Public Works Director Fred Abadi told the park board that the collected storm water would quickly drain into city storm sewers, probably within a six-to-24 hour period.

Bill Oliver, a park neighbor, opposed the city’s original plan to relocate the two ball diamonds to another park on another side of town.

Oliver echoed a city-wide concern about the lack of baseball diamonds, especially for youth leagues.

Oliver called the new plan to keep the diamonds at Grandview and use the ball fields as a temporary detention pond a “compromise” that he could accept. The city also agreed to install an improved parking area.

“This will achieve what’s best for the kids and what’s best for the city,” Oliver said.

Ald. Carrol Waldenberger said he was concerned about the runoff remaining too long on the diamonds and that the soil would remain damp even after the water funneled into the storm sewer.

Abadi assured Waldenberger that the situation would be watched closely so storm water collection does not prevent the use of the diamonds. Select baseball teams use the diamond in the northeast section of the park. The southwest diamond, where most of the water will be collected, is basically for practice and pickup games.

The northeast diamond will remain level.  A 2% decline to the southwest diamond will allow it to collect mostly on the southern diamond.

The placement of safety fencing being placed around the temporary pond was mentioned but details were not discussed.

Commission Chairwoman Rebecca Roeker indicated she does not want to see parkland used to correct the problems of other city departments,  but the flooding issue needed to be resolved and the park will be improved with better parking.

The board’s approval does not have to be reviewed by Common Council, officials said.