� General 952-894-1111 Distribution 952-846-2070 Display Advertising 952-846-2011 Classified Advertising 952-846-2000 Announcements/5A Public Notices/5A Opinion/6A Thisweekend/7A Classifieds/11A Sports/14A A NEWS OPINION SPORTS Thisweek www.thisweeklive.com www.thisweeklive.com Farmington-Lakeville Farmington-Lakeville DECEMBER 31, 2010 VOLUME 31, NO. 44 FARMINGTON LAKEVILLE Year in Year in Review Review by Aaron Vehling THISWEEK NEWSPAPERS The Lakeville City Council approved the city’s $74 million 2011 budget at its Dec. 20 meeting. The vote was 4-1 with Council Member and May- or-elect Mark Bellows the sole dissenter. “I’m just being consis- tent with my September vote,” Bellows said in an interview this week, adding that he would like to see expenditure reductions and to see government try to be leaner and more efficient. Bellows and the new council plan to revisit the budget in 2011, he said. The approved budget anticipates about $68 mil- lion in revenue with $16 million of that coming from general property tax- es. The budgeted expendi- tures top out at $74 million with the difference made up by fund reserves, said city Finance Director Den- nis Feller. The biggest expenses are in the basic services that residents typically expect a city to provide: police, streets, parks and firefight- ing. The tax levy is $5,000 less than the preliminary levy the council adopted in September. City staff achieved that reduction by eliminating a facilitator for the 2011 mayor and City Council goal-setting retreat. The city will also achieve savings through various personnel transitions. There will be $42,000 in savings achieved in the Po- lice Department. A patrol officer will replace a ser- geant. In the Fire Department, the city will save almost $20,000 in adjusted salaries and benefits. In the parks department, the city will save about $11,000 through similar means. Though the general property tax levy will not increase, there could be ex- tra fees for residents. Where the city is asking for businesses and residents to pay more is in slightly in- creased sewage treatment, street light, surface water management and water us- age fees. Some of these are attributable to increases in rates on the service provid- er end, Feller said, but the city also needs to upgrade and perform maintenance on the water system. Historically, the city has funded its water infrastruc- ture improvements with connection charges on new developments. Because such developments have re- duced considerably, Feller said, city staff had to find other ways to capture the lost income. At a City Council work session on Dec. 15, a num- ber of business owners called for cuts to the bud- get. While no concrete project cuts came out of the meeting, the council and city staff did discuss the viability of projects Lakeville City Council approves 2011 budget Mayor-elect Mark Bellows votes against it, citing a need for more fiscal discipline by Aaron Vehling THISWEEK NEWSPAPERS A Lakeville woman who was arrested for allegedly crashing into and killing an idled mo- torist on the morning of Friday, Dec. 17, has been charged with crimi- nal vehicu- lar homi- cide and criminal vehicular opera- tion. Julie Ann Fischer, 49, of Lakeville, was alleg- edly driving erratically at 1 a.m. when she struck from behind a vehicle that was stalled in the right lane of Interstate 35E in Mendota Heights. Tijuan Moore, 50, of St. Paul, the vehicle’s driver, was killed and his 26-year-old female passen- ger was injured, according to reports from the Dakota County Attorney’s Office. Fischer had said she had several glasses of wine and a hard lemonade earlier in the evening, according to reports, and an open bot- tle of hard lemonade was found in her vehicle. According to an earlier Minnesota State Patrol re- port: Fischer was driving her 1998 Nissan Pathfinder in the right lane northbound when her car struck a 1987 Plymouth Caravelle that was stalled with its flashers on in that same lane. The driver, Moore, was killed. The passenger in the Cara- velle, Lisa N. Newsom, 26, Lakeville woman charged with criminal vehicular homicide Fischer by Aaron Vehling THISWEEK NEWSPAPERS Peaks and valleys abounded in 2010 for Lakeville. The city lost several of its pioneers – people who helped shape the city over the past half century into what it is today. But it also gained some notable businesses, weath- ered some severe storms and gained much more clout in the state Legisla- ture. A generation passes A handful of civic lead- ers of Lakeville and other notable business personali- ties died in 2010. These were people who witnessed the city’s tran- sition from a village and township to Minnesota’s 16th-largest city by popu- lation and one of the larg- est by area. It started in May, when local grocer Jerry Eng- gren, 80, died. Enggren’s grandpar- ents start- ed their eponymous grocery store in 1906, which stayed in the fam- ily until it closed in 2006. Enggren was vastly in- volved in downtown af- fairs. Through his grocery store, Enggren supported local civic groups, the schools and the food shelf. “Jerry was a salt of the earth kind of guy,” said Mark Hotzler, owner of Metro Equity Manage- ment, the company that purchased Enggren’s Mall after the store closed in 2006. “He was just an hon- orable person. If you had a deal with Jerry, and shook hands on it, that was the deal. You didn’t have to worry about too much else with him.” Don McGuire is a name familiar to anyone who has graduated from Lakev- ille Public Schools the past 45 years. He died in July at 82. A super- intendent from 1960 to 1982 (and a teacher before that), McGuire left a mark on students, staff and com- munity members alike. His influence and inspiration ran so strong that after he left the district in 1982 to head Dakota County Tech- nical College the Lakeville School Board voted to change the name of the middle school downtown to honor him. The active Lions, Ro- tary and VFW member presided over a district that tripled in 20 years from about 1,000 students to more than 3,000. Along the way, he be- came a pillar of Lakeville. “Don was such a very special person to all of us in the Lakeville commu- nity,” said Bob Erickson, a former Lakeville city ad- ministrator, current School Board member and friend of McGuire. “He gave so much back. He was an extraordinary educator, coach, humanitarian and human being. We’ve lost a special person.” In August, the city lost another of its pioneers, Jer- ry Erickson. The man who owned and operated the lo- cal Ben Franklin and drug store, both in downtown, also played a key role in the creation of the Cham- ber of Commerce and the Pan-O-Prog festival. As an extension of his vast network of involve- ment, Er- ickson was pivotal in creation of the Downtown Lakeville Busi- ness Association. Erickson’s legacy will be downtown, said Nancy Smith, who helped create the DLBA with Erickson. “It’s going to be tough,” Smith said. “But his legacy will live on. He was always so active and really was one of the pioneers of this community.” On the final day of Sep- tember, Lakeville lost one of its royalty, Charolette Vucinovich, 90. “She was a queen – the queen of Lakev- ille,” said JoAnn Vucinovich, Charolette’s daughter-in-law. “We’d be out to dinner and people would line up to talk to her. You really felt that you were with royalty some- times.” Vucinovich was a char- ter member of the Lakeville Lionesses, helped launch Lakeville’s Boy Scout and Girl Scout programs and the VFW Auxiliary, and even helped create the first private kindergarten pro- gram in the community. She was active with All Saints Catholic Church, serving on several commit- tees. She was also the first president of American Foreign Students Abroad and a grand champion Lakeville loses several civic pioneers in 2010 New council, increased political clout in the Legislature to impact the city Enggren McGuire Erickson Vucinovich See Lakeville, 9A See Homicide, 10A See Budget, 10A Farmington’s fiscal challenges expected to carry on in 2011 Economy will play large role in City Council decisions by Laura Adelmann THISWEEK NEWSPAPERS Farmington city offi- cials tackled many chal- lenges in 2010, but face more tough decisions in 2011 as the economy re- mains tenuous amidst un- precedented state budget shortfalls. Fire and ice Throughout 2010, Farmington firefighters were hired to replace 11 former members who re- tired in 2009. One of those retirees was Ken Kuchera, a 38- year veteran of the depart- ment who served for 20 years as chief and had been a pillar of the community. Kuchera died June 6 af- ter a long battle with can- cer. A public open house honored Kuchera for his dedication when the mayor named April 15 Chief Ken Kuchera Day. In April, the Farming- ton City Council passed a resolution for a $1.2 million bond to fix the 33-year-old Schmitz-Maki Ice Arena’s leaky pipes and conduct various mechani- cal repairs. The 10-year bond will cost the city about $160,000 annually plus six months of capitalized in- terest, which will be paid through the city levy. Food shelf In May, Farmington residents joined 360 Com- munities to celebrate the opening of a new location for the Farmington Food Shelf. Now located at 510 Walnut St., the space, do- nated by the Farmington School District, is larger than its previous location and will help to better meet the food shelf’s increasing demand. During the May 17 rib- bon cutting, former vol- unteer food shelf coordi- nator Imelda Becker was honored for her years of service, along with many other longtime volunteers. New food shelf co-co- ordinators Kris Akin and Kim Donahue were also introduced at the event. Dew Days Farmington Dew Days ended with a positive bal- ance in 2010 after the sum- mer festival went into debt in 2009 and took a loan from the nonprofit Castle Rock, Eureka, Empire and Farmington Enhancement Group. In 2010, the event ended with about $8,000 in the bank from carnival pro- ceeds, parade entries, arts and crafts vendor fees and Dew Days button sales. The event was in full swing June 18-20, and the Grand Day Parade moved from Sunday to Saturday with a new route through downtown Farmington due to road construction. Added in 2010 was an arts and crafts fair, which organizers hope will grow and attract more artists in the future. Kari Pietsch was crowned Miss Farmington and 2010 scholarship win- ner, and Ellie Seyfert was crowned Little Miss Farm- ington. Lawsuit settlement In July, the city of Farmington agreed to pay $21,200 to Exchange Bank building owners to settle a lawsuit brought against the city. The dispute centered on the city saying that the building owners, Hosmer Brown III and Hosmer Brown IV of 2004 Real Estate Company, did not follow through on the agreement to renovate the late 1800s Exchange Bank building. Regarded by many as an eyesore, the building was purchased by the company from the city’s Housing Rehabilitation Authority for one dollar, with prom- ises to make building im- See Farmington, 3A Photo by Kara Hildreth Farmington Food Shelf coordinators Kris Akin and Kim Donahue were surrounded by volunteers and residents at a May 17 ribbon cutting for the new food shelf location at 510 Walnut St. The larger area was donated by the Farm- ington School District.
The Lakeville City Council approved the city’s $74 million 2011 budget at its Dec. 20 meeting. The vote was 4-1 with Council Member and May-or-elect Mark Bellows the sole dissenter. “I’m just being consis-tent with my September vote,” Bellows said in an interview this week, adding that he would like to see expenditure reductions and to see government try to be leaner and more efficient. Bellows and the new council plan to revisit the budget in 2011, he said. The approved budget anticipates about $68 mil-lion in revenue with $16 million of that coming
from general property tax-es. The budgeted expendi-tures top out at $74 million with the difference made up by fund reserves, said city Finance Director Den-nis Feller. The biggest expenses are in the basic services that residents typically expect a city to provide: police, streets, parks and firefight-ing. The tax levy is $5,000 less than the preliminary levy the council adopted in September. City staff achieved that reduction by eliminating a facilitator for the 2011 mayor and City Council goal-setting retreat. The city will also achieve savings through various
personnel transitions. There will be $42,000 in savings achieved in the Po-lice Department. A patrol officer will replace a ser-geant. In the Fire Department, the city will save almost $20,000 in adjusted salaries and benefits. In the parks department, the city will save about $11,000 through similar means. Though the general property tax levy will not increase, there could be ex-tra fees for residents. Where the city is asking for businesses and residents to pay more is in slightly in-creased sewage treatment, street light, surface water management and water us-age fees. Some of these are attributable to increases in
rates on the service provid-er end, Feller said, but the city also needs to upgrade and perform maintenance on the water system. Historically, the city has funded its water infrastruc-ture improvements with connection charges on new developments. Because such developments have re-duced considerably, Feller said, city staff had to find other ways to capture the lost income. At a City Council work session on Dec. 15, a num-ber of business owners called for cuts to the bud-get. While no concrete project cuts came out of the meeting, the council and city staff did discuss the viability of projects
Lakeville City Council approves 2011 budgetMayor-elect Mark Bellows votes against it, citing a need for more fiscal discipline
by Aaron VehlingTHISWEEK NEWSPAPERS
A Lakeville woman who was arrested for allegedly crashing into and killing an idled mo-torist on the morning of Friday, Dec. 17, has been c h a r g e d with crimi-nal vehicu-lar homi-cide and criminal vehicular opera-tion. Julie Ann Fischer, 49, of Lakeville, was alleg-edly driving erratically at 1 a.m. when she struck from behind a vehicle that was stalled in the right lane of Interstate 35E in Mendota Heights. Tijuan Moore, 50, of St. Paul, the vehicle’s
driver, was killed and his 26-year-old female passen-ger was injured, according to reports from the Dakota County Attorney’s Office. Fischer had said she had several glasses of wine and a hard lemonade earlier in the evening, according to reports, and an open bot-tle of hard lemonade was found in her vehicle. According to an earlier Minnesota State Patrol re-port: Fischer was driving her 1998 Nissan Pathfinder in the right lane northbound when her car struck a 1987 Plymouth Caravelle that was stalled with its flashers on in that same lane. The driver, Moore, was killed. The passenger in the Cara-velle, Lisa N. Newsom, 26,
Lakeville woman charged with criminal vehicular homicide
Fischer
by Aaron VehlingTHISWEEK NEWSPAPERS
Peaks and valleys abounded in 2010 for Lakeville. The city lost several of its pioneers – people who helped shape the city over the past half century into what it is today. But it also gained some notable businesses, weath-ered some severe storms and gained much more clout in the state Legisla-ture.
A generation passes A handful of civic lead-ers of Lakeville and other notable business personali-ties died in 2010. These were people who witnessed the city’s tran-sition from a village and township to Minnesota’s 16th-largest city by popu-lation and one of the larg-est by area. It started in May, when local grocer Jerry Eng-gren, 80, died. Enggren’s grandpar-ents start-ed their eponymous g r o c e r y store in 1906, which stayed in the fam-ily until it closed in 2006. Enggren was vastly in-volved in downtown af-fairs. Through his grocery store, Enggren supported local civic groups, the schools and the food shelf. “Jerry was a salt of the earth kind of guy,” said Mark Hotzler, owner of Metro Equity Manage-ment, the company that purchased Enggren’s Mall after the store closed in 2006. “He was just an hon-orable person. If you had a deal with Jerry, and shook
hands on it, that was the deal. You didn’t have to worry about too much else with him.” Don McGuire is a name familiar to anyone who has graduated from Lakev-ille Public S c h o o l s the past 45 years. He died in July at 82. A super-i n t e n d e n t from 1960 to 1982 (and a teacher before that), McGuire left a mark on students, staff and com-munity members alike. His influence and inspiration ran so strong that after he left the district in 1982 to head Dakota County Tech-nical College the Lakeville School Board voted to change the name of the middle school downtown to honor him. The active Lions, Ro-tary and VFW member presided over a district that tripled in 20 years from about 1,000 students to more than 3,000. Along the way, he be-came a pillar of Lakeville. “Don was such a very special person to all of us in the Lakeville commu-nity,” said Bob Erickson, a former Lakeville city ad-ministrator, current School Board member and friend of McGuire. “He gave so much back. He was an extraordinary educator, coach, humanitarian and human being. We’ve lost a special person.” In August, the city lost another of its pioneers, Jer-ry Erickson. The man who owned and operated the lo-cal Ben Franklin and drug store, both in downtown, also played a key role in the creation of the Cham-ber of Commerce and the
Pan-O-Prog festival. As an ex t e n s i o n of his vast n e t w o r k of involve-ment, Er-ickson was pivotal in creation of the Downtown Lakeville Busi-ness Association. Erickson’s legacy will be downtown, said Nancy Smith, who helped create the DLBA with Erickson. “It’s going to be tough,” Smith said. “But his legacy will live on. He was always so active and really was one of the pioneers of this community.” On the final day of Sep-tember, Lakeville lost one of its royalty, Charolette Vucinovich, 90. “She was a queen – the queen of Lakev-ille,” said J o A n n Vucinovich, Charolette’s daughter-in-law. “We’d be out to dinner and people would line up to talk to her. You really felt that you were with royalty some-times.” Vucinovich was a char-ter member of the Lakeville Lionesses, helped launch Lakeville’s Boy Scout and Girl Scout programs and the VFW Auxiliary, and even helped create the first private kindergarten pro-gram in the community. She was active with All Saints Catholic Church, serving on several commit-tees. She was also the first president of American Foreign Students Abroad and a grand champion
Lakeville loses several civic pioneers in 2010
New council, increased political clout in the Legislature to impact the city
Enggren
McGuire
Erickson
Vucinovich
See Lakeville, 9A
See Homicide, 10ASee Budget, 10A
Farmington’s fiscal challenges expected to carry on in 2011
Economy will play large role in City Council decisions
by Laura AdelmannTHISWEEK NEWSPAPERS
Farmington city offi-cials tackled many chal-lenges in 2010, but face more tough decisions in 2011 as the economy re-mains tenuous amidst un-precedented state budget shortfalls.
Fire and ice Throughout 2010, Farmington firefighters were hired to replace 11 former members who re-tired in 2009. One of those retirees was Ken Kuchera, a 38-year veteran of the depart-ment who served for 20 years as chief and had been a pillar of the community. Kuchera died June 6 af-ter a long battle with can-cer. A public open house honored Kuchera for his dedication when the mayor named April 15 Chief Ken Kuchera Day. In April, the Farming-ton City Council passed a resolution for a $1.2 million bond to fix the 33-year-old Schmitz-Maki Ice Arena’s leaky pipes and conduct various mechani-cal repairs. The 10-year bond will cost the city about $160,000 annually plus six months of capitalized in-terest, which will be paid through the city levy.
Food shelf In May, Farmington residents joined 360 Com-munities to celebrate the opening of a new location for the Farmington Food Shelf. Now located at 510 Walnut St., the space, do-nated by the Farmington School District, is larger than its previous location and will help to better meet
the food shelf ’s increasing demand. During the May 17 rib-bon cutting, former vol-unteer food shelf coordi-nator Imelda Becker was honored for her years of service, along with many other longtime volunteers. New food shelf co-co-ordinators Kris Akin and Kim Donahue were also introduced at the event.
Dew Days Farmington Dew Days ended with a positive bal-ance in 2010 after the sum-mer festival went into debt in 2009 and took a loan from the nonprofit Castle Rock, Eureka, Empire and Farmington Enhancement Group. In 2010, the event ended with about $8,000 in the bank from carnival pro-ceeds, parade entries, arts and crafts vendor fees and Dew Days button sales. The event was in full swing June 18-20, and the Grand Day Parade moved from Sunday to Saturday with a new route through downtown Farmington due to road construction.
Added in 2010 was an arts and crafts fair, which organizers hope will grow and attract more artists in the future. Kari Pietsch was crowned Miss Farmington and 2010 scholarship win-ner, and Ellie Seyfert was crowned Little Miss Farm-ington.
Lawsuit settlement In July, the city of Farmington agreed to pay $21,200 to Exchange Bank building owners to settle a lawsuit brought against the city. The dispute centered on the city saying that the building owners, Hosmer Brown III and Hosmer Brown IV of 2004 Real Estate Company, did not follow through on the agreement to renovate the late 1800s Exchange Bank building. Regarded by many as an eyesore, the building was purchased by the company from the city’s Housing Rehabilitation Authority for one dollar, with prom-ises to make building im-See Farmington, 3A
Photo by Kara Hildreth
Farmington Food Shelf coordinators Kris Akin and Kim Donahue were surrounded by volunteers and residents at a May 17 ribbon cutting for the new food shelf location at 510 Walnut St. The larger area was donated by the Farm-ington School District.
provements and upgrades in less than two years. Some renovation work was completed and a few businesses opened in the building at Third and Oak streets. But 10 years later, the city said the Browns had not completed the reno-vation obligations, and in June 2008 the city’s Economic Development Authority reclaimed the building’s deed. In August, 2009, the 2004 Real Estate company sued the city for its actions, but settled after months of closed-door meetings.
Yellow Ribbon model Farmington’s status as a model Yellow Ribbon community was apparent in 2010 as the city hosted the first Yellow Ribbon Summit on Sept. 11. Hundreds attended the event, and 30 entities were given Yellow Ribbon sta-tus. Selected because Farm-ington was the first com-munity in the state to earn the Yellow Ribbon distinc-tion in 2008, the daylong event included a speech by
Gov. Tim Pawlenty. Many state representa-tives and city leaders at-tended and discussed ways to support military service members and their fami-lies. Farmington and Lakev-ille’s Yellow Ribbon net-works were tested when 2002 Farmington graduate Kyle Malin lost both legs in an explosion in Afghan-istan in July. Both communities ral-lied around the family to support his parents, who are Lakeville residents, and his wife and two chil-dren. “The family was en-circled with people who cared,” Pawlenty said. Part of the reason the summit was held was to help the state prepare for a large deployment of Min-nesota soldiers this spring.
Budget reductions For months, Farming-ton City Council members worked with City Admin-istrator Peter Herlofsky to devise a city budget that cut spending. Herlofsky repeatedly offered budgets that met spending goals, but did not reduce staff, a request
the council had made to ensure long-term budget reductions. After sometimes heat-ed debate in December, Herlofsky reluctantly proposed options that in-cluded cutting the position of administrative services director. The City Council ap-proved the proposal, which when combined with other reductions, allowed coun-cil members to cut the 2011 levy by $470,841 and bring the levy to $8.5 mil-lion. The city’s total 2011 budget will be $9.1 million, with $45,841 left in contin-gency funds for emergen-cies. Under this budget, Farmington property own-ers will see a 3.42 percent property tax increase on the city’s portion of their 2011 property tax bills.
Elections Five Farmington resi-dents sought two open seats on the Farmington City Council, and in No-vember, one incumbent and one newcomer were elected to office. City Council Member Christy Jo Fogarty re-
tained her seat, but Steve Wilson lost his re-election bid to Jason Bartholomay, who said his connections with representatives of Walmart may help in get-ting the retailer to consider opening a store in the city.
Recognizing dedication After serving seven terms as a state senator of District 36, Farmington’s Pat Pariseau announced in February she would not seek re-election. The 73-year-old Re-publican endorsed Dave Thompson of Lakeville to take her seat. Thompson, a conserva-tive radio and television personality and attorney, easily won the Republican endorsement and in No-vember was elected to of-fice. In September, Farm-ington officials recognized Bill Weireke, Farmington’s Public Works supervisor, who retired after 26 years of service. Weireke began his ca-reer with the city in 1984 as a solid waste employee, moved on to work in city streets and utilities and be-
came a street supervisor in 1998. Farmington May-or Todd Larson called Weireke one of the “most recognizable guys you will find in the city of Farm-ington.”
Looking ahead Farmington City Coun-cil members are expect-ing to continue working on ways to reduce the city debt and keep taxes down. City officials are also concerned about attracting businesses to Farmington and may consider estab-lishing a deputy registrar’s office in City Hall. During 2011, the coun-cil will also likely discuss a proposal to raise $400,000 annually by adding a fee to residents’ utility bills. The issue has raised nu-merous concerns among citizens and council mem-bers, including how to di-vide the costs to citizens and businesses more eq-uitably and if the method is the best way to pay for road maintenance work. Another issue that was debated among city offi-cials in 2010 will result in a visible change to a major city landmark in 2011.
This spring, new play-ground equipment is slated for installation at Ram-bling River Park. The gray and orange play castle supports a drawbridge, four slides, wall climbers, bridges, a treasure hunt panel, inte-rior mazes and is topped by six orange flags. Farmington City Coun-cil members approved the $59,427 purchase in Sep-tember on a 4-1 vote. Council Member Ju-lie May had opposed the purchase, noting that after buying the equipment and paying for the sidewalk project at Depot Way Arts Park, the park fund bal-ance will be $107,025. May said she was not comfortable spending one-third of the park funds balance on park equip-ment. But Parks Director Randy Distad said exist-ing Rambling River Park equipment is old and in bad shape and should have been replaced years ago.
Kara Hildreth contributed to this report. Laura Adelmann is at [email protected].
County Sheriff race most contentious in recent historyby Laura Adelmann
THISWEEK NEWSPAPERS
The surprise early retire-ment of Dakota County Sheriff Don Gudmundson in February set off a con-tentious election race for his successor that continued until ballots were counted. In September 2009, Gudmundson announced that after 16 years in office, he would not seek re-elec-tion. But in a surprise action, Gudmundson resigned his position in February‚ 10 months early, citing family reasons. He recommended Chief Deputy Dave Bellows as the next Dakota County sheriff, and asked Dakota County commissioners to appoint Bellows as interim sheriff to fulfill his term. Commissioners followed through with Gudmund-son’s recommendation, an action Bellows’ opponent, Apple Valley Sgt. Mitch Scott, vehemently opposed. Scott instead advocated for an open process to fill the position. In a press release, Scott described commissioners as “kingmakers” for appoint-ing Bellows as sheriff. Commissioners said a se-lection process would take months to complete, and negatively affect the already short-staffed department. Six weeks after announc-ing his retirement, Gud-mundson surprised county officials again by applying for, and then being selected as, interim sheriff of Steele County. Scott said the action boosted his complaint that Gudmundson retired to make his friend Bellows sheriff, a charge Gudmund-
son repeatedly denied. Throughout the cam-paign, Scott raised issues about Bellows and opera-tions within the sheriff ’s de-partment. In September, Scott said he’d discovered that Bellows had purchased the domain name mitchscottforsheriff.com months before Scott announced his candidacy for sheriff. Scott said Bellows’ be-havior lacked the kind of integrity and ethics that are necessary in law enforce-ment. Bellows said he did buy the name as a way of deter-mining if Scott was going to run or not, but that he regretted the purchase. Throughout the cam-paign, Bellows called on Scott to focus on qualifica-tions as he had in his cam-paign. Bellows emphasized his three decades of police ser-vice in Lakeville and the sheriff ’s department and public safety issues. Scott raised other is-sues, and was critical when it was later revealed the de-partment had inadvertently violated federal labor laws when it changed workers’ schedules in 2007. County Attorney James Backstrom said the county was working with the U.S. Department of Labor to rectify the situation. Ultimately, Bellows was elected sheriff, winning 54.26 percent of ballots cast, garnering 67,377 votes, while Scott earned 56,216 votes, earning 45.27 percent of votes cast.
Censured judge After sailing through the August primary election,
First District incumbent Judge Timothy Blakely was roundly defeated in Novem-ber’s general election. The turnaround was likely because the public became more aware of the fact that the Minnesota Su-preme Court had publicly reprimanded Blakely for us-ing his position to refer cli-ents to his personal divorce attorney to get a $64,000 discount on his legal bill. In the August primary, Blakely had led his two challengers, attorneys Lar-ry Clark and Steven Allan Baker, with 38 percent of votes cast. Both challengers had emphasized restoring honor to the judicial seat, and af-ter earning 32 percent of ballots cast in the primary, Clark went on to win elec-tion night with a 58.91 per-cent take of the vote. Blakely lost, earning 6,063 votes, 40.86 percent of ballots cast in the race. Backstrom, who ran un-opposed and was re-elected in November, was one of many local officials who had endorsed Clark in the race.
Murder plot In September, a convict-ed felon was charged with contracting for the murders of Dakota County Attor-ney Backstrom and Judge Rex Stacey. John Stephen Wood-ward, 47, also was charged with contracting the assault of a witness who testified against him. Woodward, who is also Backstrom’s former neigh-bor, was serving almost eight years in prison on methamphetamine charges See County, 8A
Year in ReviewYear in Review
THISWEEK December 31, 2010 5A
DonaldL. Gorr
Age 70, of Cannon Falls, for-merly of Farmington, died Satur-day, Dec. 11, 2010 peacefully atHoly Trinity Care Center. Hewas born Feb. 11, 1940 in Stew-art Village, MN and enlisted inthe Army when he was 18 yearsold and served in the KoreanWar.
He is survived by his children,Brian Gorr (girlfriend CrystalWarren) and Sher i Costa ; 3grandchildren, Kayla and Kat-r i n a C o s t a a n d S y l v i e m a eGorr-Spear; 2 stepgrandchildren,Jasmine and Jessica Warren; sis-ters, Evelyn Meyers, Vera Mey-ers and Marion (Jim) Dvorak;nieces and nephews. He was pre-ceded in death by his parents,John and Ida Gorr; sister, Dar-lene Halstead; brother, VernonGorr.
Services will be held at a laterdate to be announced. IntermentFort Snelling National Cemetery.Cremation Society Edina Chapel(952-924-4100).
Delbert E.Stevens
Age 78, of Lakeville, formerlyof New Prague, passed awayDecember 18, 2010. Delbertretired from the Richfield PoliceDepartment. Preceded in deathby his loving wife, Mary; son,Wesley Allen Stevens; siblings,Gordon Stevens and NormanWind; also sister-in-law, JanetStevens. He is survived by hisl iving children, Chris (Rick)Peterson, Harold "Hal" (Kathy)and Br ian (Lor i ) Stevens ; 7grandchildren; 9 great-grandchil-dren; brother, Harold Sevens.Funeral Service was held Mon-day 12/27 at White Funera lHome Chapel, 20134 KenwoodTrail, Lakeville (Cty Rd. 50) visi-tation was on Sunday from 2-5PM also at the funeral home and1 hour prior to service. Inter-ment was held at Fort SnellingNational Cemetery.
White Funeral Home469-2723 Lakevillewww.whitefuneralhomes.com
Rodney W.Christianson
Christianson, Rodney W. age62 of Apple Valley passed awayunexpectedly on 12/17/10. Sur-vived by wife Pat; Children Tara(Patrick) Peterson, Dr. Lucas (Dr. Lee) Christ ianson, Nick(Heather) Christianson, Ben andKaty Christianson; Grandchil-dren Robbie & Fernando Souza;Anastasiya Peterson. ParentsAlvin & Allene Christianson;Siblings Marcus (Sara) Christian-son, Marsha (Mike) Ryan &R y a n ( N o r a ) C h r i s t i a n s o n .Funeral Service 11AM Wednes-day, Hope Church, 7477 145th St.W. Apple Valley, MN. Visitation5-8pm Tuesday at White FuneralHome, 14560 Pennock Ave. andalso one hour prior to service atchurch. Interment, LebanonCemetery.
White Funeral HomeApple Valley 952-432-2001
www.whitefuneralhomes.com
Richard A.Chronowski
Richard A. Chronowski 51,slipped from this earth far tooearly on 12-12-10 at home. Hewas a devoted, loving husband,involved, proud father and lifeenthusiast. He understood thei m p o r t a n c e o f f a m i l y a n dinvested his heart and soul ine a c h m o m e n t w i t h t h e m .U n s w a y i n g a n d t r u e , D i c kbelieved in himself and others,lived life to his full potential bothbody and mind while remaininghumble and honest . He wasalways eager to learn and lend ahelping hand, hardworking,always giving 100% and tookp r i d e i n e v e r y e n d e a v o r h eengaged in. He experienced theworld fully through his senses;stayed active and physical, appre-ciated music and the arts, savoredfood and respected and admiredal l the beauty of nature. Anunderstated humorist, Dick couldlight up a room with his wit,charm and sparkle in his eyes.This great man will live on inthose he touched but will be infi-nitely missed. Dick is survived byhis wife of 26 years, Patti; daugh-ters, Alex and Erica; brothers,Larry, Bob, Tom and John; manynephews and nieces, extendedfamily and friends . He was pre-ceded in death by parents, Alfredand Jane and brother , Ken.Memorials preferred to the fam-ily for a state park project.
Donald J.McCreadyDonald J. McCready, age 71, ofB u r n s v i l l e p a s s e d a w a y o n12-15-10. Preceded in death byfather, John. Survived by wife,Sarah; children, Denise (David)Puppe, Darren (Lori) McCready,D o u g l a s ( R o s e ) M c C r e a d y ;mother , Mar ie McCready; 5grandchi ldren; s ister , MargeCochran-Tuck. Funeral Service2pm Saturday, December 18,2010, at White Funeral Home,12804 Nicollet Ave. S. Visitationone hour prior to service. Inter-ment, Fort Snell ing NationalCemetery.
White Funeral HomeBurnsville 952-894-5080www.whitefuneralhomes.com
Sailer-DelgadoSara J. Sailer and Nathan M.
Delgado announce their engage-ment and upcoming wedding.
Sara, daughter of Ron and PamSai l e r of Apple Val l ey , i s agraduate of the University ofNorth Dakota with a Doctoratein Physical Therapy. She is pres-ently employed at Marian CareCenter in St. Paul.
Nathan, son of Juan Delgadoand Janet Ackerman of AppleValley, is a graduate of the Uni-versity of Phoenix with a Bach-elor in Business Management. Heis serving on active duty as aninfantry platoon sergeant andtra in ing NCO with the MNNational Guard.
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Talbot-WillkomA n n a T a l b o t a n d B r y a n
Willkom were married in EauClaire, WI, last summer.
Anna, the daughter of Don andMargaret Talbot of Apple Valley,MN, is a graduate of EastviewHigh School and UW-Eau Clairewith a Master’s Degree in Com-munication Disorders. Anna isemployed by the school district ofEau Claire.
Bryan, the son of Monte andPatti Willkom of Marshfield, WI,is a graduate of Marshfield HighSchool and UW-Eau Claire withBS degrees in Religious Studiesand Organizational Communica-tions. Bryan is employed at PeaceChurch in Eau Claire.
They honeymooned in DoorCounty and reside in Eau Claire.
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Levi JosephSchmidt
Was born May 31st, 2010 atUnited Hospital in St. Paul.Weighing in at 7 pounds, 6ounces , and 20 inches long.Proud parents are Grant Schmidtand Nichole Thurmes of Farm-ington. Excited first time grand-parents are Larry and NancySchmidt of Farmington and Geneand Theresa Thurmes of Farm-ington.
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Hilleque, Eliza-beth Ann
Age 36 Passed away peacefullysurrounded by family at home inBurnsville on Tuesday December14th, 2010 due to complicationsrelated to Down’s syndrome. Agraduate of Burnsville SeniorHigh School’s special educationp r o g r a m , L i z w o r k e d a s a nadministrative assistant at CityHal l . She also loved eat ing,b o w l i n g , w r i t i n g , p l a y i n gSequence, and drinking DietCoke. Known for her persever-ance and love for family andfriends, she will be missed.
Survived by her parents Boband Linda Hilleque and her threesiblings Victoria Peterson-Hill-eque, Gordon Hil leque, andKatie (Hilleque) Sutherland,b r o t h e r - i n - l a w s B r e n tPeterson-Hilleque and Josh Suth-erland, and sister-in-law Emily(Erusha) Hi l leque, nephewsAbhinav Peterson-Hilleque andCody Sutherland, and niecesMariama Peterson-Hilleque andAubrie Sutherland.
Visitation Fri Dec 17th 5:30-8PM at White Funeral Home12804 Nicollet Ave S., Burnsville,MN, 55337. Funeral Sat. Dec18th at 11 AM at Berean BaptistChurch, 309 County Rd 42 East,Burnsville, MN 55306. Reviewalone hour prior . Buria l afterfuneral. Luncheon will begin fol-lowing funeral and will continueafter burial. Memorials will begiven to Fraser school and BereanBaptist Church.
This is a summary of the IndependentSchool District No. 194 Special SchoolBoard Meeting on Tuesday, November 16,2010 with full text available for publicinspect ion on the dist r ict websi te atwww.isd194.k12.mn.us or 8670 210thStreet W., Lakeville, MN 55044
The meeting was called to order at 4:02p.m. All board members and administrationwere present.
Discussions were held regarding the2009-10 preliminary audit; joint integrationplan; and 2011-13 budget adjustments.
Meeting adjourned at 6:07 p.m._________________________________
This is a summary of the IndependentSchool District No. 194 Joint Meeting withISD 191 Board of Education on Thursday,November 18, 2010 with full text availablefor public inspection on the district websiteat www.isd194.k12.mn.us or 8670 210thStreet W., Lakeville, MN 55044
The meeting was called to order at 5:35p.m. All board members and administrationwere present except Bob Erickson.
Discussions were held regarding the jointintegration plan that will be developed overthe next couple months.
Meeting adjourned at 7:00 p.m.__________________________________
This is a summary of the IndependentSchool District No. 194 Regular Board ofEducation Meeting on Tues, November 23,2010 with full text available for publicinspect ion on the dist r ict websi te atwww.isd194.k12.mn.us or District Office at8670 210th Street W., Lakeville, MN 55044
The meeting was called to order at 7:02p.m. followed by pledge of allegiance. Allboard members and administrators werepresent except Superintendent Amoroso.
The following Consent Agenda itemswere approved: minutes of the meeting onOctober 27 and November 9; resignations,leave of absence requests, employmentrecommendations; payment of bills andclaims subject to annual audit; investmentsand wire transfers; alt facilities changeorders; donations; field trips.
Recommended act ions approved :2011-12 LNHS & LSHS program of studies;National Inclusive Schools Week.
Adjournment at 8:46 p.m.________________________________
This is a summary of the IndependentSchool District No. 194 Special SchoolBoard Meeting on Tuesday, November 30,2010 with full text available for publicinspect ion on the dist r ict websi te atwww.isd194.k12.mn.us or 8670 210thStreet W., Lakeville, MN 55044
The meeting was called to order at 6:32p.m. All board members and administrationwere present.
Agenda Addition: Fieldtrip for LNHSGymnast ics to Bra inerd , Dec 17-18approved unanimously.
Closed Session was held from 6:36 p.m.until 7:19 p.m. for contract negotiation dis-cussion.
Discussions were held regarding Novem-ber levy election results; 2011-13 budgetadjustment parameters and time-line;thoughts on possible budget adjustments.
Meeting adjourned at 8:45 p.m.________________________________
This is a summary of the IndependentSchool District No. 194 Truth in TaxationHearing on Tuesday, December 7, 2010with full text available for public inspectiono n t h e d i s t r i c t w e b s i t e a twww.isd194.k12.mn.us or 8670 210thStreet W., Lakeville, MN 55044
The meeting was called to order at 7:02p.m. All board members and administrationwere present.
Public Hearing was held with a presenta-tion regarding the 2010 payable 2011 taxlevy.
Public Comment by Dan Nelson, 19520Oak Grove Ave, Ron Gerk, 10466 West175th Street, and Randy Pronschinske,9885 Upper 173rd Court.
Meeting adjourned at 8:01 p.m.2463058 12/31/10
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PUBLIC NOTICEEUREKA TOWNSHIP
Currently there is one opening on theEureka Planning Commission. Term: End-ing April 30, 2012.
Applicants must be Eureka Townshipres idents. Let ters of interest wi l l beaccepted thru January 6, 2011. Applicantsmust be present and will be interviewed atthe January 10, 2011 Town Board Meeting,starting at 8:00 pm at the Eureka Town Hall,located at 25043 Cedar Ave. For informa-t i o n c o n t a c t t h e T o w n s h i p o f f i c e952-469-3736 Mondays and Thursdaysfrom 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm. Send letters ofinterest to: Eureka Township, P.O. Box 576,L a k e v i l l e , M N 5 5 0 4 4 o r e - m a i l t o :[email protected]
Nanett SandstromClerk/Treasurer of Eureka12/31/2010
2456215 12/31/10
PUBLIC NOTICECredit River Township
Board Meeting -
Monday, January 3, 2011 - 6pm
AgendaTerritory CSTS Rate Hearing1 Approve or amend Agenda2 Consent Agenda
1) Approve December 6, 2010 boardmeeting notes
2) Approve November 2010 TreasurerReport
3) A p p r o v e D e c e m b e r 2 0 1 0Developer's Escrow Report3 Resident Open Forum4 Old Business
1) CSTS Ordinance for tank testing2) Prior Lake Fire Contract update3) Krieger - Oak Grove update4) 180th Street Right of Way 5) Policy - consultant charges6) Tree Removal Ordinance
5 Engineer's Report1) County 44 service road plans
6 Road Report1) Repair updates2) Assessment discussion3) Hills of Credit River update
7 Treasurer's Report1) Transfer funds2) LOC Update3) Audit Update4) Expense Tracking5) Koestering Access Escrow
8 Clerk's Report1) March 2011 election
9 New Business1) Terr i tory letter from Faegre &
Bensen2) Township snow plowing / snow
emergency declaration3) Township street parking4) Discuss appointment of Clerk and
announcementForms for birth, engage-ment, wedding, anniversary and obituaries announce-ments are available at our office and online at www.thisweeklive.com (click on “Announcements” and then “Send Announcement”). Com pleted forms may be e-mailed to [email protected] or mailed to Thisweek Newspapers, 12190 County Road 11, Burnsville, MN 55337. If you are sub-mitting a photograph along with your announcement, please only submit photo-graphs for which you have the right to permit Thisweek Newspapers to use and pub-lish. Deadline for announce-ments is 5 p.m. Monday. A fee of $25 will be charged for the first 5 inches and $5 per inch thereafter. They will run in all editions of Thisweek Newspapers. Photos may be picked up at the office within 60 days or returned by mail if a self-addressed, stamped envelope is provided.
6A December 31, 2010 THISWEEK
Letters to the editor policyThisweek Newspapers welcomes letters to the editor. Submitted letters must be no more than 350 words. All letters must have the author’s phone number and address for verification purposes. Anonymous letters will not be accepted. Letters reflect the opinion of the author only. Thisweek Newspapers reserves the right to edit all letters. Submission of a letter does not guarantee publication.
Opinion
Letter writer’s rant marked a new lowTo the editor: Muddled political rants are hardly rarities in letters to the editor, but a Dec. 17 letter in Thisweek, “Two-faced Kline,” establishes a new benchmark for how low such tirades can go. Bashing U.S. Rep. John Kline isn’t what sets the letter apart. Neither does its blatant promotion of class envy between less-rich Americans and more-rich Americans. Both those hackneyed whines are far too overused to deserve distinction. The thing that does dif-ferentiate the letter from others of its irksome ilk is its despicable denunciation of voluntary charity in gen-eral and the Toys for Tots program, specifically. Good grief, Grinch. Voluntary charity is the purest manifestation of human caring. It’s freely offered, not out of compul-sion but out of compas-sion. Charity is dropping coins in the Red Kettle, to be sure. But it’s far more than a dollars and cents is-sue. It’s giving a helping hand to a neighbor stuck in a snowdrift, offering a kind word to a harried re-tail clerk, helping a strang-er lift a heavy parcel into her trunk or overlooking a friend’s Christmas cookie weight gain. The author of the Dec. 17 letter is clearly obsessed with the property of oth-ers and figuring out how to get control of it. It is also clear that she prefers forced redistribution of wealth through taxation (tyranny) to voluntary charity (com-passion). Sadly, she seems more than willing to im-pinge upon the lovely and time-honored Toys for Tots program to promote her preference.
JAN DOBSONLakeville
Alzheimer’s awarenessTo the editor: Over 100,000 Minne-sotans currently have Al-zheimer’s, and that number will swell threefold as our baby boom generation ages over the next decade. Most Minnesota families are di-rectly affected by the enor-mous impact on our budget and state health care sys-tem. On Jan. 13, there will be a rally at the state Capitol to spread the message to our legislators that we must act now to avoid a heath care and fiscal crisis of the high-est order. All in attendance will hear experts in the Alzheim-er’s field describe the issues that must be addressed and solved if we are to defeat this health care public en-emy. You will also be given a chance to visit with your legislators to add your voice to the chorus that says “Act now to solve Alzheimer’s.” Transportation from des-ignated places and lunch will be provided for all those in attendance. Visit the Al-zheimer’s Association web-site (www.alz.org/mnnd or www.facebook.com/family/Alz/1) for exact details re-garding times and transpor-tation. Last year our Minnesota legislators formed a study group to recommend what needs to be done to help deal with this vital issue. The U.S. House and Sen-ate just passed a similar bill. One in eight people over 65 currently have this disease, which affects patients, fam-ily members and all taxpay-ers. Come to the rally to tell our legislators that we can solve this problem, saving suffering and our health care system. For those in Lakeville, Apple Valley, Burnsville and Farmington, you can call or e-mail your Alzheimer’s Ambassador (Doug DuSo-ld) for questions relating to the event at (952) 454-2881
Does Kline truly represent us?To the editor: There has been an ex-change of letters in this paper in the last few weeks debating whether U.S. Rep. John Kline represents our interests at all. Then there was an answer from a John Kline supporter stating that he simply is against increas-ing the deficit and will not support any expenditure in his district for that reason. Events and actions from Kline have clarified the is-sue. First, we know that Kline recently voted to in-crease the deficit by a tril-lion dollars on tax cuts, much of which goes to bil-lionaires, making his anti-deficit supporters look like idiots. Thirty years ago when Kline was in the Marine Corps, the Marine Corps
was paid for by the taxpay-ers. Today the Corps and all of the military are paid for with borrowed money (Chinese and other) and he is happy to give the military to us for free. The next happening is the closing of the Lockheed Martin defense contractor in Eagan – with the loss of a thousand technical jobs. When I worked there de-cades ago, it was clear that our congressional represen-tative was working vigor-ously to keep and increase the federal defense funding in our operation. Kline was clearly out of touch with this busi-ness and pretty much any federal projects, as actually representing his district in Congress is not any kind of priority. The pathetic letter he sent about the Depart-ment of Labor helping these Lockheed employees is very late and not of much help. This situation is simi-lar to a colonial operation where our jobs, transporta-tion funding and money are sent to unproductive and subsidized states like Mis-sissippi, South Dakota and Texas. Their congressmen, who actually represent their interests, are telling Kline where to send the jobs and the money. MIKE FEDDEEagan
We can ensure a healthy planetTo the editor: A recent columnist pointed to the impact our purchases have on many aspects of our world: eco-nomically, environmentally, business-wise and in other ways. As we buy locally, we re-duce the carbon footprint made by burning gasoline to transport products to us. We support local businesses by buying locally, and lo-cal businesses pay property taxes, which permit local
government units to plow streets, maintain parks and libraries and other services. And, we or our neighbors may be employed or en-riched by the presence of these businesses and gov-ernment units. The idea of acting lo-cally doesn’t even have the need to think globally, and the environmental part of our actions has worldwide effect. By being thoughtful about our purchasing hab-its, we can ensure our chil-dren and their children have a healthy, thriving planet to live on. PAUL HOFFINGEREagan
‘Junk science’ of global warming To the editor: In response to Don Heinzman’s column regard-ing the threat of global warming, and the need to get serious about it, I do agree with one thing he stat-ed in his piece. “During these difficult economic times, the pub-lic has difficulty focusing on such threats as global warming,” he wrote. Yes, we do. But it isn’t only the difficult eco-nomic times that deter us from the buy-in. It is be-cause of the junk science behind the global warm-ing lobby, which has been widely exposed by scientists. Heinzman painted all of us who don’t agree with him with a broad brush as “de-niers.” Back to the economic question: Yes, the public is more concerned with unsus-tainable debt and the over-reach of government into our personal lives. One course correction in this theater would be to de-fund Minnesota GreenStep Cities of taxpayer dollars and let them raise dollars for their cause in the private sector, among their base, who are presumably not de-
niers. DENINE LEROUXBurnsville
Lessons from the Great DepressionTo the editor: It is obvious that Lin-da Swierczek (Dec. 10 Thisweek letter) and Wan-da S. Ballentine (Dec. 17 Thisweek letter) are Demo-crats who want someone else to feed their children and also pile on programs that are unsustainable, pro-grams that someone else should pay for. It hasn’t worked elsewhere as I point-ed out, and it won’t work here. Neither of them ap-parently lived through the Great Depression of the late 1920s and 1930s, especially the 1930s when the Demo-crats were in power. Bank-ruptcies and bank closings were everyday events. My father and two grandmoth-ers were victims as were 40 percent of my neighbors and relatives. There were no school lunch programs, and I was told if I wanted to go to college I had to earn the money, which I did doing the meanest possible jobs nobody else wanted. I can’t remember seeing an obese child, and many of us res-cued our parents from pov-erty. For the record, Paul Krugman, the liberal econ-omist, never lived during the Great Depression and is not regarded by the rest of us as anything more than a socialist with Scandinavian connections. The same goes for Al Franken, who barely won his election in a state where Democrats flourish unabated. If Swierczek and Ballen-tine want to check out some real life credentials, I am available by appointment.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty recently tried to put a positive spin on his uneven record of ac-complishment during the past four years. The all-but-announced can-didate for the Republican Party presidential race claims he’s leav-ing the state in good shape with a budget surplus of $399 million for June of next year. He ironically claims credit for a budget surplus that most experts say was due to the infusion of federal government stimulus and Medicaid dollars. The governor also brushes off criticism that the projected $6.2 billion budget deficit forecast for 2012 is manageable and casts doubt on the budget process itself. Never in the state’s history has a governor left such a forecasted deficit for his successor (Gov.-
elect Mark Dayton) to handle. The no-tax governor, who drastically cut local government aid, also is leaving with the state’s property taxpayers having paid $3 billion more under his two-term administration. In 2006, this newspaper en-dorsed the re-election of Tim Pawlenty when he convinced the majority of ECM Editorial Board members that he had learned some lessons during his first four years. One was he had to be more conciliatory and compromising with legislators. He did not fulfill that promise. Instead, he and the lockstep Republican Senate and House members stonewalled the DFL at-tempt to close the budget deficit with spending cuts and tax-raising measures. The governor, however, does
not have to put a spin on his many positive accomplishments. He deserves credit for leading the state through the worst reces-sion since the Great Depression. Minnesota has 7.1 percent unem-ployment compared with the na-tion’s 9.8 percent. The state did not go bankrupt, and its opera-tions were never stopped. Pawlenty and the Legislature maintained the state per-pupil aid for K-12 education, while also prodding educators to reform education to prepare students for global competition. Because of mounting expenses, however, school districts have had to cut millions of dollars of expendi-tures, resulting in larger class sizes, fewer electives, higher fees for extracurricular activities and longer walking distances for many students.
Because of reduced funding to the state’s higher education sys-tem, tuition costs have doubled over the past 10 years. To his credit, while millions of dollars were cut in human servic-es, he did protect the state’s health system, while pointing out that the upward trend in health costs is unsustainable. He and the Legislature cut millions in state aid to cities and counties, forcing them to raise property taxes but also to find new efficiencies. The governor led trade mis-sions to foreign countries, which resulted in more business for Min-nesota companies. He and his wife, Mary, were great backers of Minnesota Na-tional Guard men and women, who are serving this country with distinction while being sent re-
peatedly to Iraq and Afghanistan. Pawlenty has been a leader in getting federal disaster aid for cities struck by floods and torna-does. His backing of Minnesota’s Northstar commuter rail was key to getting the funding for it. The governor has been a good ambassador for the state and deserves gratitude for the many hours he and his family devoted to governing. From a fiscal standpoint, he is leaving the state worse off than when he took office eight years ago. That cannot be spun away.
An editorial from the ECM Edito-rial Board. Thisweek Newspapers and the Dakota County Tribune are part of ECM Publishers Inc.
Pawlenty legacy: Good ambassador leaves huge deficit
David Johnson at 8:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 7, and 8 and 10:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 8, at the Min-neHAHA Comedy Club, 251 W. Burnsville Parkway, Burnsville (lower level of Carbone’s), (612) 860-9388, www.minnehahacom-edyclub.com. Tickets are $12.50 (early show) and $9 (late show). On deck for Jan. 14-15: Cathy Ladman and Ron Lamprect.Theater
“Antigone” presented by En-vision Academy of the Arts at 7 p.m. Jan. 13-14 at the Black Box Theatre at Burnsville Performing Arts Center. Tickets are $8 for adults and $5 for students; avail-able at ticketmaster.com. Infor-mation: (952) 895-4685.
“Peter Pan” presented by the Burnsville Civic Light Opera Jan. 21-23 on the main stage at Burns-ville Performing Arts Center. Tick-ets are $25/$15 adults, $20/$15 seniors, $15/$15 students; avail-
able at ticketmaster.com. Infor-mation: (952) 895-4685. Classes/workshops Dan Petrov Art Studio in Burnsville offers oil painting classes for beginners, interme-diate and advanced skill level painters. Register online at www.danpetrovart.com or call (763) 843-2734.
Teens Express Yourself with Paint, 5 to 7 p.m. Mondays, win-ter/spring and summer at Brush-works School of Art in Burnsville. Register online at www.Brush-worksSchoolofArt.com or call (651) 214-4732. Join other 55-plus adults at the Eagan Art House to create beaded jewelry. The Jewelry Club meets on the third Friday of each month from 1 to 3 p.m. Class fee is $3 per person and includes all supplies. Bring any old jewelry you would like to re-make. The Eagan Art House is located at 3981 Lexington Ave. S. For more information, call (651) 686-9134. The Eagan Art House offers classes for ages 4 through adult. For class and registration infor-mation, visit www.cityofeagan.
com/eaganarthouse or call at (651) 686-9134.
Soy candle making classesheld weekly in Eagan near 55 and Yankee Doodle. Call Jamie at (651) 315-4849 for dates and times. $10 per person. Presented by Making Scents in Minnesota.
Country line dance classesheld for intermediates Mondays 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. at Rambling River Center, 325 Oak St., Farm-ington. Cost is $5 per class. Call Marilyn at (651) 463-7833.
Beginner country line dance classes on Wednesdays, 5:30-7:30 p.m., at the Lakeville VFW, 8790 Upper 208th St. $5/class. Call Marilyn (651) 463-7833.
Country line dance classeson Wednesdays at the Lakeville Senior Center, 20732 Holt Ave. Beginners, 9-10 a.m.; Intermedi-ate, 10 a.m.-noon. $5/class Call Marilyn (651) 463-7833. The Lakeville Area Arts Cen-ter offers arts classes for all ages. For class and registration infor-mation, visit www.lakevillemn.gov or call the Arts Center office at (952) 985-4640.
To submit items for Thisweek-end’s Music Calendar, e-mail:
Friday, Dec. 31 Good for Gary, 9:30 p.m., Bogart’s Nightclub, 14917 Gar-rett Ave., Apple Valley, (952) 432-1515. Pop Rocks (front) and Touched (back), special guest Jaded, 9:30 p.m., Neis-en’s Sports Bar and Grill, 4851 W. 123rd St., Savage, (952) 846-4513. New Year’s Eve Bash, Babe’s Music Bar, 20685 Holyoke Ave., Lakeville, (952) 469-5200. GB Leighton, 9:30 p.m., McKracken’s Pub, 3120 W. Highway 13, Burnsville, (952) 277-0197. DJ Diesel with special guest, Primetime Sports Bar & Grill, 14103 Irving Ave. S., Burnsville, (952) 435-6111. Dave Hudson, 9 p.m. to 12:30 a.m., Rudy’s Redeye Grill, 20800 Kenrick Ave., Lakeville, (952) 469-0711. Ben Aaron, 8 p.m., The Ugly Mug Coffee, Bar and Grill, 18450 Pilot Knob Road, Farm-
ington, (651) 463-6844.
Saturday, Jan. 1Power Plant, 9:30 p.m.,
Neisen’s Sports Bar and Grill, 4851 W. 123rd St., Savage, (952) 846-4513.
Mark Mraz, 9 p.m. to 12:30 a.m., Rudy’s Redeye Grill, 20800 Kenrick Ave., Lakeville, (952) 469-0711.
Friday, Jan. 7Brat Pack Radio, Bogart’s
Nightclub, 14917 Garrett Ave., Apple Valley, (952) 432-1515.
Space Needle, 9:30 p.m., Neisen’s Sports Bar and Grill, 4851 W. 123rd St., Savage, (952) 846-4513.
Ken Wanovich, 9 p.m. to 12:30 a.m., Rudy’s Red-eye Grill, 20800 Kenrick Ave., Lakeville, (952) 469-0711.
Poor Cousin John, 8-11 p.m., The Ugly Mug Coffee, Bar and Grill, 18450 Pilot Knob Road, Farmington, (651) 463-6844.
‘Let It Be’ debuts in January Heartbeat Studios’ Act-ing Company’s original play, “Let It Be,” will be performed at 8 p.m. Satur-day, Jan. 8, at the Lakev-ille Area Arts Center. “Let It Be,” a story in-spired by music of The Beatles, is a trip down memory lane for fans of the Fab Four. Featured in the play are Heartbeat’s junior and senior dance companies perform-ing original pieces and Beatles’ classics sung by Heartbeat’s new singing ensemble. Tickets are $5 for chil-dren under age 5, $7 for students and seniors, and $10 for adults, and can be purchased at Heartbeat Studios, 7661 W. 145th St., Apple Valley, or by calling (952) 432-7833. For more information, visit www.heartbeat-studios.com.
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portant to you, please visit
www.thisweeklive.com
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paper each week.
by Kevin StirtzTHISWEEK NEWSPAPERS
What do hot rods, frozen food, artificial hips, hair shampoo and books on how to blacksmith have in common? You might be surprised, but there are more than a few people in Lakeville who could easily answer this question. They could because they’ve worked in or around the area’s largest industrial park where all these products (and more) are created. Since the late 1960s (remember long hair, muscle cars and the Beatles?), Airlake In-dustrial Park has been a cornerstone of de-velopment and job creation for the city of Lakeville and the surrounding region. But unless you work there you might not even realize what it is or what it means to the re-gion. One man who knows the park well says Lakeville is fortunate to have it here. David Olson, the city’s director of community and economic development, said that “Airlake Park has been a tremendous benefit to the city of Lakeville over the years.” Olson said the park is something many people in the area might not know about be-cause of how Lakeville has developed. “The city of Lakeville has grown up around Airlake Industrial Park,” he said, noting that when the park was conceived some 40 years ago Lakeville was mostly open land. Most of the development in Lakeville is north of Airlake Park, so it’s easy to miss.
Transportation That open land Olson referred to was a major reason Airlake Park’s original devel-opers located it where it is. And the property has a rail line and close access to County Road 70 and Interstate 35, giving it a big transportation advantage over other loca-tions. To make the park even more enticing to business owners and executives, the develop-ers added an airport that can accommodate corporate jets and helicopters. In fact, today 10 to 15 percent of the park’s businesses use the airport, said Jack Matasosky, president of APPRO Development, which has been involved with Airlake for some 30 years. While the little airport is a nice luxury for the corporate executives who fly in and out on business, the airport has recently taken on a more important, even life-saving, role for the southern metro area. Four years ago, North Memorial Health Care opened an air ambulance service at
Airlake Park’s airport. “This fills a gap in our service area,” said Mike Parrish, vice president of Primary Care Oper-ations for North Memorial, who is responsible for the air ambu-lance service. “Now we can offer a much faster response time to people in the south metro than ever before.” Parrish noted that the air am-bulance can actually land at the scene of an accident to ensure vic-tims get the care they need as fast as possible. “After a serious acci-dent, seconds count,” Parrish said.
Local economic engine With 1,500 acres, 120 businesses and roughly 4,200 jobs, Airlake Indus-trial Park is undeniably an economic en-gine for the Lakeville area. According to the Metropolitan Coun-cil, there are 18,503 jobs in Lakeville. That means Airlake Park accounts for just over 22 percent of all jobs in the city. Even bet-ter, many of these are technical, engineering and managerial. “For example, Mendell is full of com-puter wizards,” said Matasosky. “Those jobs pay extremely well.” Matasosky added that about 80 to 90
percent of the businesses in Airlake Park are owner occupied, meaning they are
locally owned businesses. And many of these owners live in Lakeville or the surrounding area, meaning their income has an even greater local impact. Another important mea-sure of economic impact is tax revenue generated by Airlake Park. According to the city, Airlake Park, as a whole, pays
over $4 million a year in local taxes to the state, county, school district and city. But the benefit of a de-velopment like Airlake Park goes beyond raw numbers. There are
other important benefits a place like Air-lake Park creates. Carl Tuttle, vice president of opera-tions and corporate strategies for Bellisio
Foods, said Airlake gives Bellisio an edge in recruiting new employees. “Being here gives us a definite advantage in our recruiting,” he said. “Because the park has so many businesses, it draws more people from temporary agencies, so we have a larger pool of potential employees to choose from.” Alan Krysan, president of Finney Co.,
also sees operational benefits for his com-pany now that it is located in Airlake Park, after moving from St. Louis Park. “About 70 percent of our employees live in the area so we no longer worry about snow days,” Krysan said. “We’re a top-five book distributor in Florida. Our customers there don’t care if Minnesota had a blizzard last night. They want their books.” Krysan also sees a productivity advan-tage to having employees live close to home, as many in Airlake Park do. “We no lon-ger have the stress and venting time every morning due to bad weather and traffic,” said Krysan. “You’d be surprised what a difference that makes in a small company.”
Collaboration success “Airlake Industrial Park is a valuable as-set to Lakeville and the area. We’re happy to have them here,” said Todd Bornhauser, executive director of the Lakeville Area Chamber of Commerce. Bornhauser’s comment sums up the rea-son Airlake Park seems to work so well. There is a strong partnership among the city of Lakeville, the Chamber of Com-merce and the people who manage and develop Airlake Park. And from a tenant’s perspective, they work together very well. “The city and Airlake work well togeth-er to make this a good place to do business. We know this from experience,” said Kry-san, who relocated his company here four years ago from St. Louis Park. “In 60-plus years we never heard from the city of St. Louis Park. In just four years, we’ve been welcomed by the city of Lakeville and the Chamber of Commerce and recognized during Manufacturing Week.” The city of Lakeville’s Olson affirmed the city’s commitment to this collaborative effort. “We work hard to partner with Air-lake Park and the chamber to make Lakev-ille a good home for businesses.” If the city and chamber welcome Airlake Park’s businesses with open arms, many of those businesses seem to reciprocate. Born-hauser noted that, citywide, about one-third of all businesses are chamber mem-bers. Yet in Airlake Park that share is closer to 50 percent. For many residents of the south metro area, Lakeville’s Airlake Industrial Park re-mains a hidden giant. But whether you’ve never heard of it or you’ve worked there for 30 years, Airlake Park continues to have a positive impact on the Lakeville area and its people.
Airlake Industrial Park manufactures big results for region
Photo by Rick Orndorf
Airlake Industrial Park is a major business hub in Dakota County and a major employer and taxpayer in Lakeville. According to the city, Airlake accounts for $4 million in tax revenue to all taxing authorities and 4,200 of Lakeville’s 18,503 jobs.
Collaboration between local business entities a key to development’s success
Train smashes into car traveling on rail tracks; police still investigating
Farmington police still haven’t identified vehicle’s driverby Laura Adelmann
THISWEEK NEWSPAPERS
Farmington police are still not certain who drove a small car down the train tracks before it was smashed by a train Monday, Dec. 20. According to Farming-ton police, at around 11 p.m., a person had driven his small, black Chevrolet Aveo northbound on the train tracks, then gotten out and tried to flag down an approaching train. “He must have realized
he was not in a good situa-tion,” said Farmington Ad-ministrative Sgt. Jim Con-stantineau. “As soon as (the train conductor) realized there were headlights facing him, he immediately put on the brakes,” Constantineau said. But, the action was not enough to stop the colli-sion, and the train slammed into the car near the Elm Street rail crossing, finally coming to a rest at Walnut
Street. “The train was 12,000 tons, so it doesn’t stop on a dime,” Constantineau said. The driver of the car fled and successfully evaded police, who conducted a search. Constantineau said the department has contacted the vehicle’s owner, but it has not been determined who had been driving at the time of the accident; there was no passenger in the car. He added that the case
is still under investigation, and police are not releas-ing all the details, but said no alcohol or drug evidence was found in the car. However, charges are likely in the case, he said. The department did not release the owner’s name, but Constantineau said the car is registered in Minne-sota.
when he allegedly tried to pay another inmate, scheduled to be released in December, to murder Backstrom and Stacey, who
County/from 4A presided over Woodward’s 2007 drug conviction. Woodward was charged with two counts of con-spiracy to commit premed-itated first-degree murder and one count of conspir-acy to commit first-degree assault, according to a Rice County complaint filed Sept. 29. Woodward is currently being held in the Oak Park Heights prison.
Emergency director After an extensive search, Diane Lind is expected to be named executive direc-tor of the Dakota Com-munications Center in January, said Rosemount Mayor Bill Droste, a mem-ber of the DCC Board of Directors. Droste said the board voted to extend Lind’s contract at its Dec. 16 meeting, and is expected to give final approval to the contract at a special meet-ing Jan. 20. Lind’s nomination is the only agenda item the board is then expecting to review, according to Droste. In 2010, the DCC con-ducted a search to replace Kent Therkelsen, who re-signed as director in June
and has since started a pri-vate consulting business. Therkelsen said the next director would be respon-sible for overseeing the DCC’s move into next-generation 911, which will focus on improving system operations as more people use wireless phones to make emergency calls. Ten other candidates were considered for the position, and Lind was one of three finalists con-sidered for the position. Droste said Lind, who was a communica-tions supervisor with the Burnsville Police Depart-ment before becoming the DCC’s first operations di-rector when it opened in 2007, has a lot of experi-ence and is familiar with Dakota County. “She knows the terri-tory, she has management experience; she is highly qualified,” Droste said.
Roads and money Either through nego-tiations or quick-take con-demnation, about 160 par-cels along Cedar Avenue became part of the biggest transportation project in county history. In early 2010, Dakota County commissioners approved using the land
for construction of Cedar Avenue bus rapid transit, a shoulder-running express and station-to-station bus service. Utility relocation began in 2010, and beginning in 2011 roads will be wid-ened. The project, funded through dozens of sources on the federal, state and local level, has taken years of planning and cost mil-lions. To fund transit, in 2010, the county raised the Re-gional Rail levy by 38 per-cent, which will increase taxes on a median-value home of $206,100 by $2.35 per year, going from $5.69 per year to $8.04 annually. The funds would help pay for continued transit improvements along Ce-dar Avenue and the Robert Street corridor. The county’s 2011 $307.5 million budget in-cludes a levy of $129.4 million, an increase of 0.8 percent from 2010. To cover state funding losses, the county cut its budget by 16.6 percent, and eliminated 60 posi-tions, 17 of which were filled.
china painter. She was once named Dakota County Se-nior Citizen of the Year and was a Pan-O-Prog parade grand marshal. Vucinovich and her late husband, Tom, were well- known as the longtime own-ers of downtown Lakeville’s popular ice cream stand, the Taystee Freez. The stand is now owned by Dakota County Com-missioner Paul Krause and is called Dairy Delite. Thisweek Newspapers’ former publisher Dan Clay died at 58 in September of cancer. Clay was a history buff who loved musty old archives and chat-ting with senior citi-zens about bygone days, said his wife, Faye. He was also a risk-taker who guided the staid fam-ily enterprise, the Dakota County Tribune, into a new way of doing business in an ever-more competitive mar-ket. In 1979, Dan and his brother, Joe, debuted Thisweek Newspapers, a free-circulation weekly for communities south of the river. Growth patterns in Da-kota County and the 1975 emergence of a free weekly newspaper in Burnsville, The Current, dictated a change in strategy for the Tribune. Thisweek compet-ed with Lakeville’s Life and Times before ECM Pub-lishers purchased both and merged them.
New mayor, council The November elec-tions saw voters elect a new mayor and two new council members. Council Member Mark Bellows was elected may-or, defeating incumbent Mayor Holly Dahl, who was plagued by news of fi-nancial problems with her husband’s business and was growing increasingly un-popular with the city’s busi-ness owners. The soft-spoken but driv-en Bellows wears many hats. He is a pastor of Lakeville’s Hope Community Church and a 20-year police chap-lain, in addition to his 10-year stint on the City Coun-cil. Bellows’ mayoral cam-paign left open his council
seat. Kevin Miller’s seat was open for election as well. There was a slate of candi-dates, but Matt Little and Colleen Ratzlaff LaBeau defeated Miller and several others for seats on the new council. Realtor and property de-veloper Ratzlaff LaBeau, representing business in-terests and rallying for the city to tighten the reins on spending, ran sort of in tan-dem with Bellows, promis-ing a fiscally conservative, business-friendly voting bloc. Little, 25, an active Lions member and food shelf or-ganizer, was inspired to run when the council cut public safety and infrastructure budgets. “I have such an attach-ment to my hometown, and when you have that attach-ment you take decisions made about your city more heavily,” he said. Case in point: cuts in the Police Department. “You can’t do that in a growing city,” he said. Little offered up a three-point plan for his term: re-energizing neighborhood watch programs, increasing youth involvement in the community and expanding the public comment portion of the City Council, which is currently at three minutes per speaker.
GOP wave Lakeville, Republican territory in even the blu-est of election seasons, saw its political influence at the state level increase on the riptide of a Republican wave. Rep. Mary Liz Holberg won re-election handily and secured chairmanship of the House Ways and Means Committee. Rep. Pat Garofalo, of Farmington, also re-elected, will become chairman of the House Ed-ucation Finance Committee and will be involved in re-districting. Dave Thompson was elected state senator, replac-ing the retiring Pat Pariseau. Thompson, a Lakeville law-yer and former radio talk show host, will serve as an assistant Senate majority leader.
Severe weather In August, Lakeville suf-fered flooding, in October came hurricanesque weath-er conditions and in De-cember more than two feet of snow hit the city. In August, a tornado hit in Farmington near the
Lakeville border, creating ancillary weather condi-tions in Lakeville. County Road 46 was flooded and impassable in areas, as were parts of Cedar Avenue. In late October, tree branches snapped, a semi-truck was overturned, and a Lakeville police car was damaged in a hurricane-like, high-wind storm that battered the area. Damage was minor around Lakeville, accord-ing to Police Chief Thomas Vonhof, but he said the city was fortunate the storm hit without leaves on many of the trees. “It’s a very unusual event,” Vonhof said. “Had the trees had leaves, we might be talking about downed trees, structural damage or power lines down.” Then in December came the snow. A massive snowstorm blanketed the state on Fri-day, Dec. 3. This amounted to an unloading of 11.7 inches on Lakeville, accord-ing to the National Weather Service. A week later came “Snowmageddon,” which dumped another 17.5 inches on Lakeville. For the bulk of that Sat-urday, Dec. 11, leaving the house was a treacherous en-deavor. “I’ve seen similar storms but probably nothing of this magnitude,” said Chris Petree, the city’s director of operations and mainte-nance. “We’ve received 30 inches of snow in a week. There’s not a lot of room for it.” Lakeville’s operations and maintenance crews were out in full force. There were about 35 pieces of equip-ment and staff out at any given time over the week-end, Petree said. They tack-led drifting snow that would sometimes undo their best efforts to clear a roadway. Lakeville has 260 miles of roads, which “are a pri-ority, of course,” he added. Crews spent 30 hours on Saturday and Sunday on addressing them with ad-ditional time spent on 22 miles of sidewalks and 85 miles of trails on Monday. In areas where there is not enough room to just push snow out of a right-of-way, such as in one of Lakeville’s 460 cul-de-sacs, Petree said crews would haul the snow off-site.
The Lakeville Fire Department used hoses to keep millions of honeybees at bay following a crash on I-35 in May.
In the early months of 2010, Malt-O-Meal moved its corporate office to Lakev-ille from Northfield. About 120 administrative and technological research posi-tions were moved to the site at 20802 Kensington Blvd., in the Fairfield Industrial Park. Though the company did not add any new jobs, Lakeville Community and Economic Development Director Dave Olson said the move would stimulate Lakeville’s economy be-cause the employees would patronize local establish-ments while in town. In December, despite a snowstorm, the DLBA-sponsored Holiday on Main brought a record number of people downtown for its civic celebration. The event, which fea-tured Santa Claus, real rein-deer, a horse-drawn trolley, carolers, shopping deals and more, had more than 1,000 attendees, said Judy Tschumper, director of the Downtown Lakeville Busi-ness Association, which sponsors and organizes the event. “It’s the biggest one (event) since I’ve been here,” she said, adding it was her fifth year involved in the an-nual event. There were two senior-living campuses in the works in 2010. Lakeville, already home to one senior-living facility that offers a spectrum of care to its residents, could have two more such facili-ties by 2012. Hosanna! Lutheran Church’s congregation on Oct. 31 overwhelmingly ap-proved a plan to construct a senior-housing develop-ment to be built on the west side of Hosanna’s 58-acre property, located at 9600 163rd St. W. In addition, a separate senior-living project from different developers to be located on Lake Kingsley,
near the Chart House Res-taurant, was expected to be presented to the Lakeville Economic and Develop-ment Commission on Tues-day, Nov. 9. Both projects would of-fer more than 80 units for seniors looking for inde-pendent- or assisted-living homes, as well as memory-care suites. The Lake Kingsley proj-ect would be developed by Southview Senior Living Management and offer 32 memory-care units, 46 as-sisted-living units, and 23 independent-living units at the proposed 35,000-square-foot campus. The facility would be directly adjacent to the Chart House, located at 11287 Klamath Trail. According to Hosanna, its facility is envisioned to have 20 independent-living units, 47 assisted-living units, 24 memory-care units and two guest suites. That said, the exact mix is still in flux and could change as plans are fi-nalized, according to the church.
New fi re chief In July, Michael Meyer took over for the retiring Scott Nelson as fire chief. He has been with Lakeville since 1995 and was previ-ously a firefighter at the Minneapolis-St. Paul Inter-national Airport. “(Meyer) has come up through the ranks and is well respected by both the community and the fire-fighters,” said City Ad-ministrator Steve Mielke at the time. “(He) has the necessary background, ex-perience, and education, as well as fire operations man-agement skills. He will be a great leader for the depart-ment.”
Bees bring I-35 to its knees A chain-reaction crash on Interstate 35 in Lakeville involving two cars and two semi-trucks on May 24 left
two people dead and result-ed in a lengthy cleanup of one truck’s cargo – swarms of honey bees. Pamela Brinkhaus, 50, of Elko, died at the scene and Kari Ras-mussen, 24, of St. Anthony, who was airlifted to North Memorial Medical Center in Robbinsdale, also died. A semi-truck carrying honey bees, driven by Dar-ren Straus, 37, of Fertile, Minn., was stopped in traf-fic, with Rasmussen in her Pontiac Bonneville behind him and Brinkhaus in her Chevrolet Lumina behind her. Another semi-truck driv-en by Jason Styrbicky, 36, of Buffalo, Minn., collided with Brinkhaus’ car, send-ing her car and Rasmussen’s car into the truck carrying the bees. The State Patrol said the bee truck was carry-ing more than 17 million bees that were being trans-ported from Mississippi to North Dakota. Of those, it’s estimated 4 million bees escaped after some of the hives spilled onto the road-way following the collision. Then-Lakeville Fire Chief Scott Nelson, one of the first responders to the scene, said the bees initially hindered the rescue effort. “There was a large swarm of them,” Nelson said. “I radioed in to let those coming to the scene know to wear full turn-out gear to minimize stings.”
A fallen hero Sgt. Brigham Scott Strole, a 20-year veteran of Lakeville’s Police Depart-ment, was killed in an off-duty motorcycle crash near his home on Sept. 1. His funeral services were held at Hosanna! Church on Wednesday, Sept. 8, with a procession through Lakev-ille stopping at the Police Department and ending at White Funeral home.
such as the Kenrick Avenue extension, which would cre-ate a corridor parallel to In-terstate 35. The council has not yet voted to pursue this project, but it has been a topic of discussion for some time.
The new City Council seated in 2011 will likely revisit the Kenrick Avenue project in a more absolute manner, officials suggested. The next council meeting is on Jan. 3.
of St. Paul, suffered non-life-threatening injuries, ac-cording to the State Patrol. Newsom was taken to Re-gions Hospital in St. Paul. After state troopers ar-rived, they determined Fischer was drunk, said Patrol Lt. Eric Roeske. She was arrested on suspicion of criminal vehicular homicide and third-degree drunken
driving. Fischer was not injured. Roeske was unaware of how long the vehicle was stalled in the right lane. Fischer made her first court appearance on Dec. 20. Bail was set at $250,000 without conditions and $200,000 with conditions by Judge Shawn Moynihan. Her next court appearance is Jan. 27. County Attorney James
Backstrom said “this is an-other tragic example of the significant danger associ-ated with drinking and driv-ing.” In 2009, 141 people were killed and 2,592 were in-jured in Minnesota by im-paired drivers, Backstrom said.
Farmington seniors The Rambling River Center is located at 325 Oak St. For more infor-mation on trips, programs and other activities, call (651) 280-6970.
Steak fry fundraiser The Steak Fry Fund-raiser, sponsored by the Farmington VFW, will be held from 5 to 8 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 15, at the VFW, 421 Third St., Farmington. Cost is $9. Proceeds will benefit the Rambling River Center. Tickets are on sale now.
Free hearing tests Dr. Jayne Bongers with Advantage Care Hearing Center will conduct free hearing tests from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 19. Registration deadline is Jan. 18.
AARP Tax Aid AARP volunteer tax aides will be available to assist elderly and low in-come adults with their taxes from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesdays, Feb. 1 through April 12. Call for an ap-pointment.
Cirque D’ord Seniors can see Cirque D’ord featuring the Gold-en Dragon Acrobats at the Burnsville Performing Arts Center on Sunday, Feb. 20. Program time is 1:15 to 5:15 p.m. Registra-tion deadline is Jan. 11. Cost: $54/members, $64/nonmembers.
King Tut at the Science Museum See artifacts from King Tut’s tomb in a display at the Science Museum in St. Paul from 10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 8. Stop for lunch (on your own) at Granite City prior to the museum. Cost is $40/members, $50/nonmem-bers.
Lakeville seniors The Lakeville Se-nior Center is located at 20732 Holt Ave. For more information, call (952) 985-4622.
Better Business Bureau Gary Johnson of the Better Business Bureau will share his program of
“Be Wise, Be Informed, Be Empowered” at 9:30 a.m. on Jan. 7. Sign up by Jan. 5 to attend.
Singles Group Social Hour Join the Lakeville Sin-gle Seniors group for a so-cial happy hour twice per month. Sign up to attend. Call Sharon at (651) 322-4769 with questions and location suggestions. • Jan. 8, 4 p.m., pot-luck and game night at the home of Sharon Klein, Rosemount. Bring a dish to pass, your own bever-age and a game for group play. • Jan. 15, 4 p.m., happy hour at Cherokee Sir-loin Room, 4625 Nichols Road, Eagan.
Foot care Tender Care for You, a new foot care company, will be at the Lakeville Se-nior Center on the second Monday of the month from 9 a.m. to noon, be-ginning Jan. 10. They will do toenail clippings and foot massages. The cost is $32. Call the senior center to make a half-hour ap-pointment.
Health insurance counseling Free health insurance counseling to Medicare beneficiaries will be pro-vided by state-certified Metropolitan Area Agen-cy on Aging staff or vol-unteers from 9 a.m. to noon Monday, Jan. 10. To make a one-hour appoint-ment, call the senior cen-ter.
CVS presentation A Lakeville CVS Min-ute Clinic intern will give an update on the latest medications for osteoar-thritis, rheumatoid ar-thritis and osteoporosis at 9:30 a.m. on Jan. 11. Free juice, coffee and donuts will be provided.
Hearing tests Jayne Bongers from Advantage Care Hear-ing will conduct hearing checks from 1 to 3 p.m. on Jan. 12. She will do behind-the-ear hearing aid re-tubing for $3. Hear-ing aid cleaning, and bat-teries will be available for purchase. Call the senior center for a half-hour ap-pointment.
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Seniors Religion
Grams in Touch Grams in Touch will meet to pray for their grandchil-dren at 7 p.m. every other Tuesday in the prayer room at Trinity Evangelical Free Church, 10658 210th St. W., Lakeville. All area grand-mothers are invited to join this nondenominational group. For more informa-tion, call Sue Chlan (952) 469-3015.
Community meals at Grace Lutheran Grace Lutheran Church in Apple Valley will serve free community meals on Mondays, Jan. 3, 10 and 24. Dining hall doors will open at 5:30 p.m. Dinner will be served from 6 to 6:30 p.m. The meals are for senior citizens, single-parent fami-lies, families in transition and all others in the sur-rounding community seek-ing a healthy meal in a re-laxed and fun environment. Although the meals are free, donations are accepted. Grace Lutheran Church is located at the intersection of Pennock Avenue and County Road 42. For more information, call the church at (952) 432-7273.
Bible institute classes at Christ Church Christ Church, 12925 Johnny Cake Ridge Road, Apple Valley, will host North-western College’s Bible In-stitute, an opportunity to experience college-level Bible teaching and to earn a di-ploma, continuing education units, and college credits, tu-ition-free. The first course, Old Testament, will be held on Mondays from 6 to 10 p.m., Jan. 10 through April 4. For information, call (651) 286-7466 or e-mail [email protected].
Middle East adult forum Presbyterian Church of the Apostles in Burnsville will present an adult forum with speaker Charles P. Lutz, journalist and peace activist, at 9 a.m. Sunday, Jan. 16. Lutz will speak on the Palestinian and Israeli conflict and current U.S. policies. The forum is open to the public. The church is at 701 E. 130th St., Burns-ville, (952) 890-7877. Child care is available.
Dakota County Techni-cal College is seeking aPart-T ime TemporaryF i r s t R e s p o n d e rInstructor . For com-plete information andapplication materials,see our website at:
www.dctc.eduunde r Employmen t .Deadline 1/3/11. EOE/E.A member of the Minne-sota State Colleges andUniversities System.
POSITIONThe City of Elko New Market is accepting applica-
tions for a full-time public works maintenanceworker in the Public Works Department. The posi-tion will be responsible for assisting in the mainte-nance of public rights-of-way, parks, facilities andgrounds. The position will also be responsible forassisting with the maintenance of the municipal
water and wastewater systems. Minimum qualifica-tions include high school diploma or equivalent,experience in operation of heavy equipment, validMinnesota Class B commercial driver's license andability to obtain any employer required endorse-
ments, ability to obtain Class D Water License within12 months of employment, ability to obtain Class DWastewater License within 12 months of employ-ment. Preferred qualifications include valid Class DWater License and Class D Wastewater License.Starting salary range is $18.60 to $20.18 per hour.
City application required. For a copy of theapplication materials visit the city website at
www.ci.enm.mn.us or contact theCity of Elko New Market at (952) 461-2777.
Submit completed application to theCity of Elko New Market, 601 Main Street
P.O. Box 99Elko New Market, MN 55020.
Completed application packet must be received by4:30 p.m., January 24, 2011.
City of Elko New MarketRECORDS CLERK
POSITIONThe City of Elko New Market is accepting
applications for a part-time Records Clerk in thePolice Department. The position will be responsible
for clerical duties (such as data entry, filing,maintaining police and emergency management
records), telephone and special projects.Must have phone/computer skills.
Starting salary range is $13.70 to $14.86 per hour.City application required.
For a copy of the application materials,visit the city web site at: www.ci.enm.mn.us
or contact theCity of Elko New Market at 952-461-2777.
Submit completed application to theCity of Elko New Market, Attn: Sandra Green,
601 Main Street, P.O. Box 99,Elko New Market, MN 55020.
Completed application packet must be received by4:30 p.m., January 18, 2011.
Looking to earnextra money
I am looking to contractdependable and respon-sible adults to deliver theStar Tribune newspaperin the Burnsville/Savageareas in the early morn-ing hours. The perfectcandidates w i l l have agood work ethic and cando attitude. Profit poten-tial is from $400 to $800per mon th. For moreinformation contact John@ 952-895-1910.
Reader Advisory: the National Trade Asso-ciation we belong to has purchased the fol-lowing classifieds. Determining the value oftheir service or product is advised by thispublication. In order to avoid misunder-standings, some advertisers do not offeremployment, but rather supply the readerswith manuals, directories and other materi-als designed to help their clients establishmail order selling and other businesses athome. Under NO circumstance should yousend any money in advance or give the cli-ent your checking, license ID, or credit cardnumbers. Also beware of ads that claim toguarantee loans regardless of credit andnote that if a credit repair company doesbusiness only over the phone it is illegal torequest any money before delivering its ser-vice. All funds are based in US dollars. 800numbers may or may not reach Canada.
All ConferenceKellie McNeil, Lakeville North Taylor McNeil, Lakeville North Alyssa Goehner, Lakeville North McKell Anderson, Lakeville South Monica Turner, Lakeville South Kelly Davenport, Lakeville South Honorable MentionWhitney Abrahamson, Lakeville North Paige Leclerc, Lakeville North Nicole Latzig, Lakeville North Kaitlin Vanwinkle, Lakeville South Jazzmyn Tingelhoff, Lakeville South Abby Monson, Lakeville North
Girls SoccerAll ConferenceSimone Kolander, Lakev-ille North Taylor Brownrigg, Lakeville North Breanna Stelzer, Lakeville South Hannah Brown, Lakeville South Honorable MentionChelsey Neitzke, Lakeville North Gracia Boneshlo, Lakeville North Breanna Sollie, Lakeville North Kelsey Thulien, Lakeville South Candace Ulmen, Lakeville South Lexi Bernauer, Lakeville South
Boys SoccerAll ConferenceTorbjorn Morkeberg, Lakeville North Tyler David, Lakeville North Connor Revsbeck, Lakeville North Jon Daly, Lakeville South Honorable MentionColton Endrson, Lakeville North Josh Peterson, Lakeville South Jake Panzer, Lakeville South Lucas Gharib, Lakeville South Danny Johnson, Lakeville South Sid Smith, Lakeville South
Cross Country GirlsAll ConferenceAnnie Brekken, Lakeville South Kaytlyn Larson, Lakeville South Emma Johnson, Lakeville North Taylor Perkins, Lakeville North Megan Kilbride, Lakeville South Michelle Ferguson, Lakeville North Meghan Barry, Lakeville South Megan Lubow, Lakeville South Honorable MentionKelly Olson Bloomington Jefferson Jenny Machaj, Lakeville South Elle Severson, Lakeville North Sam Broughten, Lakeville North Haley Eskierka, Lakeville North
Cross Country BoysAll ConferenceBen Saxton, Lakeville North Joseph Brenner, Lakeville North Sam Bach, Lakeville North Honorable MentionMark Honetschlager, Lakeville South Jake Schneeman, Lakeville South Spencer Castillo, Lakeville North Kyle Froeber, Lakeville North Cash Rodamaker, Lakeville South
Girls SwimmingAll ConferenceElizabeth Kleiner, Lakeville North Julia Bodnaruk, Lakeville North Christen Young, Lakeville North Alena Bodnaruk, Lakeville North Erin Kleiner, Lakeville North Carrie Schrock, Lakeville South Brianna Alexander, Lakeville South Haley Chatelaine, Lakeville South Kelly Moore, Lakeville South Honorable MentionAlayna Gallegos, Lakeville North Monica Mitteness, Lakeville North Val Rappe, Lakeville North Brenna Smith, Lakeville North Shea Bougie, Lakeville South Alli McKennell, Lakeville South Taylor Perko, Lakeville South Maddie Turbes, Lakeville South
FootballAll ConferenceLakeville North: Al Erickson S; Alex Frost S; Bret Piekarski OL; Trey Heid QB/K; Sam Shreve LB; Karl Finkel DE; Lakeville South: Mitch Leidner QB; Brandon Meek DE; Trent Bertamus CB/WR; Ethan Miller LB; Zane Peter-son NG; DJ Hillier RB Honorable Mention Lakeville North: Mitch Johnson LB; Tanner Wiseman DE; Austin Streit LB; Jake Berg RB; AJ Miller OL; Lakeville South: Matt Heller WR; Dev-on Bzoskie WR; Sam Damico T; Alex Continenza LB; Adam Ruhl RB
FarmingtonFootball
All ConferenceCJ Record Cory JohnsonHonorable mentionEric McWright Tommy Korbein
Girls SoccerAll ConferenceDevyn Alberts Laine TrowbridgeShelby CalhounTaylor MeyerHonorable MentionKelli Harstad Elena Koch
Boys SoccerAll ConferenceJusten ThelenSam LeskeHonorable MentionChad Stivers Christian Thao
Girls Cross CountryHonorable Mention Maria Pacheco
Girls TennisHonorable Mention Maggie Rudorfer
Individuals shine for Farmingtonby Andy RogersTHISWEEK NEWSPAPERS
Farmington had sev-eral standout athletes in 2010. The school even had a state champion come through its doors in June. Logan Hussung won the state discus competi-tion with a toss of 178 feet, 6 inches. He also brought home the silver in the shot put. He was one foot behind the win-ner at 58 -4.35. In the girls meet, Alys-sa Parco was seventh in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 45.46 sec-onds. She was also part of the 4x200 relay with Erin
Hickey, Maria Kiminski and Amy Kiminski that was seventh best in the state. The Tiger wrestling team sent three grapplers to the state tournament: Carl Elmer, Eric Adrian and Nick Albano. Adrian had the best finish, wres-tling his way to fifth at 160 pounds. Tyler Magalis had an exciting year on the div-ing board. He had the sixth-best score at the state meet in March. Elizabeth Wolfe was also seventh in the 100-yard breaststroke and Kaitlyn O’Reilly was eighth in the 100 back-stroke at the state girls
swimming and diving meet in November. They both joined Caitlin and Kristen Kracke in the state-qualifying 200 med-ley relay, which was ninth best. The girls hockey team won the Missota Confer-ence title with a 12-2 re-cord (18-8-1 overall), led by Krystal Bauman and Hannah Alexander. The girls soccer team tied for third in the Missota, averaging two goals per game in the fall. The softball team also swung to third in the Missota in the spring. Terra Klima showed off her routine on the bars at the state gymnas-
tics meet in February. She earned a spot on the po-dium, coming in sixth. Elliot Fenske finished in 40th place at the Class AA state cross country meet. The Tiger girls basket-ball team had 11 wins in 2010; the team started out the 2010-11 season winning seven straight. C.J. Record topped 1,000 yards rushing on a football team that went 1-8. Varsity lacrosse saw its first action in 2010 for Farmington.
Farmington’s Terra Klima performs her bar routine at the state meet in February.
Lakeville North has banner year in 2010by Andy RogersTHISWEEK NEWSPAPERS
Of all the schools in Min-nesota, few had a more ex-citing 2010 than Lakeville North. Lakeville North girls bas-ketball started things off winning a state title and go-ing undefeated during the 2009-10 season. The Panthers defeated White Bear Lake 57-47 in the state finals in March thanks to the coach-ing of Andy Berkvam and the play of girls such as Cassie Rochel, Rachel Banham and Apiew Ojulu. The girls went the entire season without a loss and earned some national recog-nition for their efforts. The Panthers weren’t done showing off some of the best players in the country. During the fall, the volleyball team took fans on a fantastic ride all the way to a state title. The Panthers capped of their season with a convincing 3-0 victory against Wayzata in the state finals in November. The Panthers used a mix of Alyssa Goehner and Kellie and Taylr McNeil to pound opponents into submission, going 31-1 on the season. The win was particularly refreshing for coach Milan Mader, who had coached in five state title matches before without bringing home the gold. Another Mader-coached team brought home smiles in 2010. The Lakeville North gymnastics team landed in fourth place at the Class AA state meet in February. Ashley Meyers, Nicole Meyers, Kelly Blake and Dani Andrusko all had some important scores during the meet. Ashley Meyers also fin-ished in 16th place all around
in the individual meet. The boys hockey team continued its tradition of
strong play come playoffs with an appearance at the Class AA state meet. The
Panthers beat Lakeville South by a score of 5-0 in the Sec-tion 1AA finals but lost to No. 1 seed Minnetonka 6-1 in the first round at state. The girls hockey team also moved on to the Xcel Energy Center in February. The girls defeated Lakeville South 2-0 in the Section 1AA finals to play at state, where they lost to Irondale 4-1 in the quarter-finals. The boys soccer team turned heads in the fall, quali-fying for state by holding op-ponents to an average of .7 goals per game all the way up to the state semifinals, where it gave Apple Valley a serious run. The Panthers beat Bloomington Jefferson 2-1 (4-2 shootout) in the quarter-finals and lost to the eventual state champions Apple Valley 2-1 in the semifinals. Defend-er Torbjorn Morkeberg and goalkeeper Connor Revsbeck were named to the all tourna-ment team. The Panther football team gave Lakeville plen-ty to cheer about. North went 7-3 during 2010 thanks to players such as Jake Berg, Trey Heid, Tyler Brekke, Alex Frost, Sam Schreve and Mitch Johnson. Two of its three losses came against Rosemount and Lakeville South, two teams that played at the state tournament. The Lakeville North boys Alpine team finished fourth at the state meet in early Feb-ruary, and Wes Traub tied for eighth place individually. The Panther girls swim-ming and diving team was seventh at the state meet in November thanks to Eliza-beth Kleiner, Erin Kleiner, Christen Young and Julia and Alena Badnaruk.
The Panther boys cross country team made an ap-pearance at state, finishing 10th as a team with the help of Joey Brenner and Ben Sax-ton. The Panther girls team was also welcomed to the state cross country meet, coming in 15th as a team. Emma Johnson led the way, finishing 26th in the team competition. The Panther boys golf team made another appear-ance at the Class AAA state meet, taking sixth this round. Tyler Goss was the team’s top placer at 17th. The Lakeville North boys Nordic team was seventh best at the state meet in February. Ben Saxton was a big reason for the strong finish as he had the second-best time in the pursuit. Several other individuals stood out in 2010. • Erik Sood and Tim Mitchell led North to a 26th-place finish at state swim-ming. • Briar Smith was 49th at the state Alpine meet. Allie Kastner was 56th. • Keandra Brion was 42nd at the state girls golf meet in June. • At the state Nordic meet in February, Michelle Fergu-son was 33rd, Amanda Wil-son was 88th and Amy Fergu-son was 109th. • The throwers had a field day at the girls state track meet. Caitlin Caraway was fourth in the discus and Jen-nifer Svobodny was fourth in the shot put. The 4x100 relay also finish in fifth place. • Mike Larson qualified for the state wrestling tourna-ment.
Lakeville South sports didn’t disappoint in 2010, especially the football team and girls Alpine ski-ing. The Cougars won their third straight Alpine state title in February, beating the likes of Bloomington Jefferson and Stillwa-ter. Niki Larson won her third state title and Paula Moltzan was sec-ond fastest individually. It was the fourth year in a row one of the two won the state title. One of the biggest stories in Lakeville always seems to come from the football field. The Cou-gars went 8-4 during 2010 and qualified for state by winning the Section 1-5A title. The Cougars de-feated Lakeville North 21-7 in the semifinals and Rochester Century 49-17 in the section finals thanks to a potent offense that featured D.J. Hillier, Trent Bertamus, Matt Hell-er and Mitch Leidner. At state, the Cougars hung with Rosemount, but ultimately lost 24-14. The defense was also a big factor in the team’s success, led by Ethan Miller, Alex Continenza, Donny Mattia and Zane Petersen.
The Lakeville South girls cross country team continued its fast pace during 2010. The girls team finished in third place in the Class AA state meet in November. It was a real team effort as six varsity run-ners finished in the top 50. Annie Brekken led the way at 15th, and Megan Kilbride was 23rd. The Lakeville girls lacrosse team, a combination between North and South, went 15-1 on its way to the state tournament for the first time in history. The girls lost 13-6 in the state semifinals to eventual state champions Blake. Morgan Pieri was the second-best high jumper in the state in 2010. She took the silver at the state track and field meet in June. Kayla Uphoff ran to sixth in the 1600-me-ter run at state track. Kayla Widmar polished off a solid gymnastics career in 2010, coming in third in the all-around competition at state. She also brought home the bronze in the floor exercise. The wrestling team had its best season yet, sending three grapplers to the state tournament. Kevin Bright wrestled his way to fourth place at 160 pounds. Eric Hensel also pushed his way to a fourth-
place standing at 171 pounds. Pe-tersen finished in fifth place at 215. The girls hockey team won the Lake Conference title and played for the Section 1AA title. The 4x100-meter relay consist-ing of Trent Bertamus, Tyler Sklu-zacek, Casey Troop and Blair Rie-gel finished second at state track in June. Several other individuals left a mark at South. • Alex Nord was 10th in diving at the state swim meet. • The softball team upset top-
ranked Bloomington Jefferson dur-ing the playoffs. • The volleyball team spent most of the season ranked in the top 10. • Carter Holmquist finished 76th at the Class AAA state golf meet in June. • Jordyn Ross was third across the finish line at the state Nordic meet in February. Albany Zweber-Langer was 96th. Andy Rogers is at [email protected].
File photo by Rick Orndorf
Both the Lakeville North girls basketball and volleyball teams won state titles in 2010.
File photo by Rick Orndorf
The Lakeville South football team, playing against Rosemount, made head-lines in 2010 by qualifying for the state tournament.
Lakeville North boys hockey website The Lakeville North boys hockey team has a new home on the Internet at http://lnhshockey.ihigh.com. The site has player and coach profiles, photos from recent games, live game up-dates via Twitter, and online videos of previous games. One of the site’s features is the ability to stream live home games directly to the Internet free of charge.
Photo by Rick Orndorf
The Lakeville North boys bas-ketball team went 18-10 dur-ing 2010 with Devon Knopke, Dajon Newell and Alex Moore the leading scorers.
Photo by Rick Orndorf
Farmington High School’s boys basketball team went 7-20 in 2010 with Kyle Win-kelman and Alex Michels the lead-ing scorers.
ISD 194 School Board Following is the agenda for the 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 4, special meeting of the ISD 194 School Board in the Board Room.
1. Preliminary Actions a. Call to Order b. Roll Call c. Public Comment d. Agenda Additions2. Discussion a. School Board Reorganiza-tion Topics3. Additions to the Agenda4. Adjournment
ISD 194 School Board Following is the agenda for the 4:30 p.m. Wednes-day, Jan. 5, study session of the ISD 194 School Board in the Board Room.
1. Preliminary Actions a. Call to Order b. Roll Call c. Public Comment d. Agenda Additions2. Discussion a. 2011-13 Budget Adjustment Draft Presentation3. Additions to the Agenda4. Adjournment
Agendas
Education
Registration begins at Berean Preschool and kinder-garten registration for 2011-12 has begun for currently enrolled families at Berean Education Cen-ter (BEC) in Burnsville. An open house will be held from 12:30 to 3 p.m. Friday, Jan. 14. Registra-tion will open to the pub-lic on Jan. 24. BEC is located in Ber-ean Baptist Church on County Road 42 and Plymouth Avenue in Burnsville. Call Pam or Marilyn at (952) 223-1814 for more information.
Fall registration at Kindernook Preschool Kindernook Preschool in Lakeville will hold an open house and registration for fall 2011-12 classes from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, Jan. 15. Kindernook enrolls chil-dren ages 3-5 in two differ-ent age groups. The curricu-lum focuses on kindergarten preparation in a Christian setting. Kindernook is located at 20088 Kenwood Trail. For more information, visit www.kindernook.com or call (952) 469-4126.
Immunizations Dakota County Public Health provides reduced-fee immunizations for people eli-gible for Minnesota Vaccines for Children. There is a $14 administration fee per immu-nization, but eligible people will not be refused service for inability to pay the fee. January clinics are: • Tuesday, Jan. 18, 4 to 6:30 p.m., Dakota County Western Service Center, 14955 Galaxie Ave. Apple Valley. • Thursday, Jan. 20, 4 to 5:45 p.m., Dakota County Northern Service Center, 1 Mendota Road W., Suite 410, West St. Paul. For more information, call the Immunization Hotline at (952) 891-7999.
Chiropractic offices add acupuncture Back to Wellness Chiro-practic and Rozmarin Fam-ily Chiropractic – located on the second floor of Citizens Bank in Lakeville – have added White Lily Acupunc-ture to their practice location. Christine Keller, licensed Minnesota acupuncturist and board-certified herbalist, will see patients on Thursday mornings. Acupuncture ap-pointments can be made by calling Rozmarin Family Chi-ropractic at (952) 898-4491 or Back to Wellness Chiroprac-tic at (952) 693-3736.
ESL classes offered English as a Second Lan-guage (ESL) classes are now being offered from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. Saturdays at Trin-ity Evangelical Free Church, 10658 210th St., Lakeville. Experienced teachers for both beginner and intermedi-ate classes help students im-prove on grammar, vocabu-lary, and everyday use of the English language. Students will practice writing, reading and speaking English in ev-eryday situations they would encounter in the market-place, at work or with friends and family. The classes are free and open to the public. For more information, call the church office at (952) 435-5548.
