A retired Fond du Lac County Sheriff’s deputy has resigned his post on the Taycheeda parks and recreation committee over a conflict with a fellow board member. After retiring from the Sheriff’s Office John Abler had established a park patrol to clean up Kiekhaefer Park and patrol the trail. The issue arose last fall when a sheriff’s deputy questioned Abler carrying a concealed weapon while patrolling the park and a posted sign prohibiting weapons. Abler says that caused a riff between him and fellow board member Clarence Kraus. But Abler says it really goes back about 14 years ago when he first ran for town board and beat Kraus’ friend Ann Simon. “In the months thereafter they were out to get me. They were mad because I beat her (Simon) in the election,” Abler told WFDL news. “They’ve actually made five different complaints with the Sheriff’s Office about me that I was doing something wrong, that was of course all unfounded.” Abler says he didn’t want to deal with the headache and decided to step away from the parks committee. Fond du Lac County Sheriff Mick Fink told the town board this week that Abler won’t be issued a ticket and that the board needs to update its ordinance to reflect the state’s concealed carry law.
