Hildebrand Russ Funeral Home

Wisconsin Department of Health Services records, obtained by NewsChannel 7 Investigates, show the little known about Wisconsin Funeral and Cemetery Aids Program, or WFCAP, reimbursed funeral homes and cemeteries across Wisconsin $8.4 million tax dollars last year. “It's a burden lifted off your shoulders,” Doug Hazelwood, who lost his wife Bev in September, said. “To know that you don't have to come up with all this money and pay for everything.” The program is supposed to be a last resort option for members of Wisconsin families, like Hazelwood’s wife, too poor to afford funeral and cemetery services. "I'm not working. And I'm on full social security," Hazelwood said. "Just the essentials because we didn't have the funding."Specifically, recipients must meet a qualifying factor-- enrollment in a public assistance program. If an applicant is not receiving aid from one of nine programs, including Medicaid, they are not eligible for reimbursement. After Justin Herman, who owns Herman Taylor Funeral Homes, in Wisconsin Rapids, confirmed Bev Hazelwood’s eligibility, he agreed to defer Doug’s eventual payment."Just stepping up and doing what's right. There's a human side. A very real human side to this," Herman said. “Kind of the depressed economy has to do with things. There's definitely a trend that we've seen here in Rapids of more and more people needing to rely on state assistance."Herman suspects his business received the most reimbursement dollars in Wood County in 2015, at $27,725, because he is one of the few funeral home owners willing to wait. "Obviously funeral homes aren't gaining a whole lot from this program," Herman said. “A lot of times that's not even covering our expenses." NewsChannel 7 Investigates analyzed 11 northcentral Wisconsin counties receiving a total of $544,548 in WFCAP reimbursement funding, including: Adams, Forest, Langlade, Lincoln, Marathon, Oneida, Portage, Price, Taylor, Vilas and Wood counties.In total, Wood County received $108,804 reimbursement dol... (WSAW)

Tom and Andrea Kniewel say they noticed their son, Alexander, was unique at the age of 6 months old. After he turned 6 years old they had him tested by Dr. Linda Silverman at the Gifted and Development Center in Westminster, Colorado. Silverman used the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale and Wechsler Intelligence Scale and determined that Alexander has an IQ?score of 174. To put that into perspective, the average IQ ranges from 80 to 120.On the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale, Alexander passed year 8 level and reached a ceiling at the average adult level at age 6.See IQ, Page #AIQContinued from Page #A"That's how they came to 174, but they also said that they felt that his score on the two tests (were) underestimates as to his natural IQ, his real IQ, because he didn't reach the discontinued criteria on two of the subtests and they also felt that his test results were negatively impacted by a lack of test-taking skills," his mother explained. "Because of being so young, he had never taken tests like that before."The early monthsAccording to parents, Alexander was absorbing the world around him and showing what he was learning from an early age, and seemed to be constantly thirsting for more knowledge."He exhibited things already at (6) months," his father said.?"Andrea was strolling him at his grandparents' cabin and she called Alex a 'silly goose' and he then repeated 'silly goose.'"Then there was nothing for a while."Alex ended up kind of being a young person who was late in starting to speak," Kniewel continued.?"We'd have glimpses but then absolutely nothing."Although he wasn't vocalizing, the Kniewels say Alexander was communicating and showing his intelligence in other ways."He was crawling but he wasn't walking yet,"?Tom said. "I set out five different shapes and colors and by chance I?said 'Alex, can you point to the orange cross?' and he pointed to it, and I said 'Oh, OK, coincidence' and I said 'can you point to the blue circle?' and he pointed to the blue circle and I?said 'Can... (Rhinelander Daily News)