10-7-15 fdl woman bakes apple pie to get construction workers to stop shaking her house

A former Fond du Lac County Board supervisor says it felt like an earthquake.  Shirley Ries says construction crews have been working on Military Road near Division Street widening the street, removing terrace trees and  replacing an old underground water main.   But Ries says last week when workers were tamping dirt and gravel her entire house shook.  “The windows were rattling, the doors were rattling, it looked like we were maybe getting some fine cracks in the plaster upstairs,”  Ries told WFDL news.
Ries says her house was built in the 1880s and she was concerned there could be permanent damage.  She admits she may have overreacted when she complained to city officials at the government center.   Some city employees apparently took her comments as a threat and called police.   “I  got agitated and I did say some people would have a concealed weapon, which I would never do,”  Ries said.  “I got a phone call (from police) , I guess they have to follow up on those sort of things.  It made me feel as if I could not go back to the city and readdress the issue.”
Ries says she was prepared to step in front of the trucks when construction resumed Monday to protect her home.  She says she had baked an apple pie and told the workers they could have it if they didn’t  tamp the ground and shake her house.  “When the guy got in the compactor machine I said I have to take a stand, I have to defend my property and my home.  He was very nice  and I tried to be very pleasant and he said the city required that they do this work,”  Ries said.  “In the meantime I went in the house and got the hot apple pie out and put it on my front steps near the edge and said you guys can have this if it doesn’t get jarred off.”   Ries says the workers didn’t use the tamping machine.
Fond du lac Public Works Director Jordan Skiff says usually these types of concerns don’t play out in a residential area…but says he’s glad the contractor appears to have shown the resident some consideration for her concerns.  “Everybody in this situation feels for the resident and understands her concerns and to be honest this part of the project wasn’t intended a year ago,”  Skiff said.  “It came to light that we had some poor water main in that area and since were were doing some work immediately south of here we added this short block of Military to the project.”

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