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www.SunThisweek.com January 3, 2014 | Volume 34 | Number 45

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INDEX

Opinion . . . . . . . . . . . . 4A

Public Notices . . . . . . . 7A

Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . 10A

Classifieds . . . . . . . . . 11A

Announcements . . . . 14A

ONLINE

NEWS

OPINION

THISWEEKEND

SPORTS

Columnists look back on 2013Don Heinzman and Joe Nathan provide updates and perspective on the topics they addressed in the past year.

Page 4A

Star Wars ExtravaganzaRosemount’s Steeple Center will be taking on a science-fiction atmosphere next week with a Star Wars-themed family event.

4A

Eastview’s holiday actionEastview and Apple Valley high schools’ teams competed in a range of tournaments and games over the holiday break.

Page 10A

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Reversing an overdoseState Sen. Chris Eaton has authored a bill that would make a drug available to law enforcement that could reverse the effects of a heroin overdose.

Page 5A

District 196 bids educators farewell, voters pass levy

Suspect charged in Chipotle robbery

Holiday radiance

Efforts bring change, plans in the county

by Jessica HarperSUN THISWEEK

DAKOTA COUNTY TRIBUNE

In District 196, 2013 was a time of many good-byes as long-time educa-tors retired and a time of relief with the passage of a new levy referendum. Laura Kay Allen was the first of several retirees in the Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan School Dis-trict this past year. The Apple Valley High School assistant principal stepped down in May af-ter working in education for 35 years. She began her career in 1978 as a physical educa-tion teacher at Arlington-Green Isle High School in Arlington. After a year, Allen be-came a physical education and health teacher and coach at Valley Middle School in Apple Valley. Allen remained at Val-ley Middle until 1984 when she moved to Vir-ginia where her husband,

Mike, was stationed as a naval officer. A year later the couple returned to the Twin Cities where she earned a mas-ter’s in education specialist from the University of St. Thomas. Shortly thereafter, Al-len landed an assistant principal position at Park High School in Cottage Grove. Allen returned to her hometown in 1987 as the assistant principal of Northfield Middle School and then of the high school three years later. By 1997, Allen had decided to return to the Rosemount-Apple-Valley-Eagan School District as an assistant administra-tor at Apple Valley High School. Eleven years later, Al-len was promoted to assis-tant principal and oversaw the high school’s special education department. Allen said she decided to retire at the end of the

school year to spend more time with her adult chil-dren and travel with her husband, who is also a re-tired teacher.

A winning team

leaves Within a month of Al-len’s retirement, Apple Valley High School bid farewell to a dynamic de-bate duo who, for the past two decades, have led the school’s debate and speech teams to victory. Pam and Joe Wy-coff retired in June after watching their team take its most recent of many national titles. Joe retired from coaching and his role as director of arts and activities at AVHS, while Pam retired from her role as director of the school’s speech and debate pro-grams. Pam already had a win-ning reputation when she took over Apple Valley’s

by Andrew MillerSUN THISWEEK


Police arrested an employee of Chipotle Mexican Grill fol-lowing an early-morning rob-bery of the Apple Valley restau-rant on Dec. 23. Richard S. Ri-ley, 22, of Apple Valley, has been charged with first-degree ag-gravated robbery in connection with the incident in which he al-legedly made off with nearly $9,000 from the res-taurant’s safe. According to the complaint, Riley entered the restaurant at 7638 150th St. W. at about 6:40 a.m. wearing a bandanna over

Plans bring cheers and jeers

in 2013 by Jessica Harper and

John GessnerSUN THISWEEK


There were many sto-ries in 2013 that emerged whose impact was felt throughout Dakota Coun-ty. Residents became im-passioned over green space when Dakota County Parks officials announced plans in June to create 8.5 miles of paved trails in Lebanon Hills Regional Park, a 1,842-acre park in Eagan and Apple Valley. The county’s proposed plan, which has met strong resistance from residents, includes 24.5 miles of un-paved trails, a new paved 6.5-mile connector trail that runs east and west and a 2-mile paved loop around Holland and Mc-Donough lakes. The plan would keep all existing

unpaved trails in Lebanon Hills the same, and would add six miles of unpaved trails. In total, the park would have 46 miles of un-paved trails. Parks officials envision the paved trails would provide four-season recre-ation for bicyclists, walk-ers and skaters. In the latest draft, officials are considering closing the western loop around Hol-land and McDonough lakes in the winter to al-low cross-country skiers to cross the trail. Several opposition groups claim the paved trails will harm the envi-ronment and the park’s aesthetics. Some people have voiced their support for the plan, including Mar-go Imdieke-Cross of the Minnesota State Council on Disabilities who said she believes the new paved trails would allow better access for people with dis-

Luminous choir boys, giant nutcrackers and a conclave of top-hatted snowmen are among the holiday eye-candy at this home on the 13400 block of Flagstaff Avenue in Apple Valley, which has been lighting up the night with its assortment of Christmas-themed decorations. (Photo by Rick Orndorf)

Fairview Ridges Hospital commenced a $60 million expansion this year. (File photo by John Gessner)

Voters at the Hayes Community and Senior Center in Apple Valley cast their ballots Tuesday, Nov. 5, when residents of the Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan School District approved a new operating levy and returned to office all three incumbent School Board members. (Photo by Rick Orndorf)

Richard S. Riley

2013YEAR IN REVIEW

See ROBBERY, 9A

See DISTRICT, 16A

See CHANGE, 8A

2A January 3, 2014 SUN THISWEEK - Apple Valley

Frozen Apple concerts return to Valleywood

Grand Marais-based acoustic artist Michael Monroe has become a familiar face in Apple Valley with regular performances at the annual Frozen Apple and Music in Kelley Park concert series. He returns to the Frozen Apple this year with a March 1 concert at the Valleywood Golf Course clubhouse. (Photo submitted)

by Andrew MillerSUN THISWEEK


The Apple Valley Arts Foundation is offering a remedy to the winter blues with its Frozen Ap-ple concert series. Now in its third year, the series held at the Val-leywood Golf Course clubhouse will feature some familiar faces this year. The three acts booked so far are all past performers at the Frozen Apple and the nonprofit arts foundation’s summer concert series, Music in Kelley Park. The concerts open Sat-urday, Jan. 18 with Latin and rhythm and blues music from the David Gonzalez Band, followed Feb. 1 by jazz singer Patty Peterson and her circle of musicians, who perform collectively as Patty Peter-son & Friends. Grand Marais-based acoustic artist Michael Monroe, a regular at both the Frozen Apple and Music in Kelley Park series, is set to perform March 1. Monroe, whose

music is a blend of folk, jazz and reggae, is keep-ing busy this winter with his Log Cabin Concerts, which were recently fea-tured on KSTP news in a segment hosted by Jason Davis of “On the Road with Jason Davis.” Admission is free to all the concerts, which run from 6-9 p.m. in the Valleywood clubhouse at 4851 McAndrews Road. Food and beverages, including a full bar, will be available for purchase at each of the performances. There also will be draw-ings for prizes donated by local merchants. A fourth concert in this year’s Frozen Apple series – tentatively scheduled for Feb. 15 at Eastview High School, with an as-yet un-named performer – is in the works, arts foundation president David Peter-son said. Visit the foun-dation’s website, www.avartsfoundation.org, for information on that and other concerts.

Email Andrew Miller at [email protected].

David Gonzalez Band opens free music series Jan. 18

Winners of businesswomen award selectedWomen represent a wide range of

pursuits, backgrounds by Tad Johnson

SUN THISWEEKDAKOTA COUNTY TRIBUNE

Ten women will be honored with the 2014 Exceptional Business-women Award during a recognition ceremony and breakfast Tuesday, Feb. 25, at Lost Spur Event Center and Golf Course in Eagan. This year’s winners in the fifth class of Excep-tional Businesswomen are: • Karen DeVaughn,

Life Wellness Center, Lakeville and Eagan; • Audrey Aronson Johnson, Johnson Com-panies, Lakeville; • Diane Lindo, Min-nesota School of Beauty, Lakeville; • Lara Kelley, Min-nesota School of Beauty, Lakeville; • Stacey Marmolejo, Minnesota’s School of Rock, Burnsville; • Kari Mitchell, Char-ity Events of Minnesota, Rosemount;

• Roz Peterson, Cerron Commercial Properties, Lakeville; • Linda Radue, Burns-ville Volkswagen, Burns-ville; • Jennifer Smith, In-novative Office Solutions, Burnsville; and • Karen Wentworth, HOBO Inc., Lakeville. The award, which has been given by the Dakota County Tribune and Sun Thisweek since 2010, rec-ognizes women who have distinguished themselves in Dakota County busi-ness and community ef-forts. “We are very excited to honor this group of wom-en who have a wide range of business pursuits,” said Krista Jech, ECM Pub-lishers marketing man-ager. “We are always im-pressed by the number of women in Dakota Coun-ty who are leaders in the business community and who are also giving back to others.” This year’s group rep-resents manufacturing, family-run small busi-

nesses, teachers, motiva-tors, organizers, innova-tors and barrier breakers. Nominations were re-viewed by a panel of judg-es from Sun Thisweek, the Dakota County Tribune and ECM Publishers. The newspaper group is organizing the r e c og n i t i o n p r o g r a m , which will include a Feb. 20 s p e c i a l print edi-tion pro-filing the winners and an awards breakfast at Lost Spur Golf & Event Center in Eagan that starts at 8 a.m. Feb. 25 with registration at 7:30 a.m. The event, which has previously been held in Lakeville, Apple Valley and Burnsville, will in-clude a panel conversa-tion with the award win-ners and a chance to meet past and present Excep-tional Businesswomen.

“This is the first year we will be having a panel discussion with our win-ners,” Jech said. “We feel this will be a great way for attendees to learn more about what has made each of these women suc-

cessful in their endeav-ors.”

A single ticket for

the event costs $25. A table of eight may be pur-chased for

$175. T i c k -

ets can be purchased on-line in early

January at www.SunThisweek.com/excep-tional-businesswomen. Sponsorship packages are available by calling Mike Jetchick at (952) 846-2019. Lost Spur and Lake-ville Trophy have already signed on as Premier Sponsor and Platinum Sponsor, respectively. Past winners of the Ex-ceptional Businesswomen award have been:

Class of 2013: Sharon Hoffman Avent, Smead Manufacturing Compa-ny; Ruthe Batulis, Dakota County Regional Cham-ber of Commerce; Cath-erine Byers Breet, AR-BEZ Inc.; Jeanne Hutter, Lakeville Convention & Visitors Bureau; Rosealee Lee, Dakota County Technical College; Deb-bie McConnell, Medi-Car Auto Repair; Patti McDonald, McDonald Eye Care Associates; Su-san McGaughey, Valley Natural Foods; Kristina Murto, Ensemble Cre-ative & Marketing; Linda Peterson, Beau Monde Salon; and Stacey Strat-ton, True Talent Group.

Class of 2012: Sunny Bhakta, Comfort Inn and Budget Host Inn; Connie Braziel, Minnesota Zoo; Jamie Dahlen, Holiday Inn and Best Western Premier Nicollet Inn; Mi-

chele Engdahl, Thomson Reuters; Carrie Guar-rero, Cornerstone Mort-gage Company; Chris Holtan, Lancet Software; Peggy Johnson, Dakota Electric; Sheila Longie, Shred Right; Sona Meh-ring, CaringBridge; Terri Shepherd, Xact Resourc-es Inc.; and Theresa Wise, Delta Airlines.

Class of 2011: Mary Ajax, 360 Communities; Jan Beeson, Lily Well-ness Inc.; Cheryl Caponi, Caponi Art Park and Learning Center; Jennifer Eisenhuth, Dr. Jennifer Eisenhuth Orthodontics; Elaine Grundhauser, One 2 One Marketing Inc.; JuliAnne Jonker, Jonker Portrait Gallery; Nicole Nogosek, Double N Equestrian Center; Wan-da Oland, Rascal’s Apple Valley Bar & Grill; Nan-cy Quinnell, Hollstadt & Associates; Barbara Toombs, First State Bank of Rosemount; Janie Tutewohl, Janie’s Home Team and Market on Oak; Denise Vogt; Twin Cities Ballet & Ballet Royale MN; and Linda Young, Lucky’s 13 Pub.

Class of 2010: LaDon-na Boyd, Dakota Elec-tric; Marie DeNicola; Mainstream Boutique; Jackie Fritz, Sterling State Bank; Holly Hewitt, Holly’s Centre Stage Dance; Rachel Hollstadt, Hollstadt and Associ-ates; Kathy Klang, Cum-mings, Keegan and Co.; Beth Krehbiel; Fairview Ridges Hospital; Doris LaMott Hoel, Chateau Lamothe; Maggie Linvill, Linvill Properties; An-nette Marquez, The Per-fect Occasion; Amy May-er, BI Consulting Group; Darlene Miller, Permac Industries; Deb Thomas, Partners in Excellence; Julia Thompson, TAGS Gymnastics; and Janelle Waldock, Blue Cross Blue Shield.

Email Tad Johnson at [email protected].

SUN THISWEEK - Apple Valley January 3, 2014 3A

Public Safety

Eagan holiday party ends with stabbing What began as a holiday celebration in Eagan this week end-ed with one woman stabbed and another in jail. Arouna Mahachay, 30, was charged with felony second- and third-degree assault on Dec. 24 for allegedly stabbing a female relative.

According to the crim-inal complaint, several families gathered on Dec. 21 at an apartment on the 4500 block of Slater Road for a holi-day party. An argument started between Mahachay and another woman — both

of whom had been drinking. At one point, Mahachay picked

up a 12-inch butcher knife and slashed the other woman across the face, the complaint said. Another partygoer called police, who arrived a short time later. When they arrived, police noticed the victim had a deep gash that appeared to be down to the bone and extended from the right side of her nose to the left side.

Police found the bloody knife on a counter and arrested Mahachay. As she was being handcuffed, Mahachay told police the woman threw the knife at her and she threw it back. In an interview with police, Mahachay changed her story slightly, saying she was first arguing with her boyfriend, whom she claimed assaulted

her. Mahachay said the other woman started to pull her hair so Mahachay picked up the knife and cut her face. No one at the party corrob-orated Mahachay’s story. If convicted, Mahachay could face up to 10 years in prison for second-degree as-sault and up to five years for third-degree assault.

— Jessica Harper

Arouna Mahachay

Gas station hostage-taker sentenced to five years An armed man who took his former girlfriend and an-other employee hostage Sept. 7 at a Burnsville gas station was sentenced to five years in prison Dec. 27. Authorities described the incident at the Holiday store at Nicollet Avenue and Highway 13 as a domestic crime. Ariel Barnett, 31, of Burns-ville, pleaded guilty Dec. 18 to several felonies: two counts of second-degree assault, two counts of kidnapping and one count of being a felon possess-ing a firearm. “We are pleased to have brought the defendant to jus-tice for his violent criminal be-havior in this domestic-related incident,” Dakota County At-torney James Backstrom said in a news release. “We are also grateful that no one was seri-ously harmed during this tense standoff.”

Barnett brought a sawed-off shotgun into the store and fired into the ceiling, according to the criminal complaint. A customer ran outside. Barnett then ordered his former girlfriend and a male employee to call police because he was taking them hostage and their lives were in danger. Police arrived and sur-rounded the store. Officers contacted Barnett by phone, talking him into first releasing the male employee and eventu-ally surrendering. Barnett had been in a sev-en-year relationship with the woman. They had recently separated after he was jailed in Rice County for 53 days in an unrelated matter. He was sentenced in Da-kota County by District Judge Richard Spicer.

—John Gessner

Lakeville man was driver in fatal rolloverPolice say alcohol was involved

A Lakeville man was apparently drinking before he was involved in a Dec.. 28 rollover crash on I-35 near County Road 2 in Elko that killed an 18-year-old passenger and hurt another, both described as friends, according to a Minnesota State Pa-

trol report. Tyler D. Henry, 29, sustained non-life-threatening injuries after the 2005 Honda Civic he was driving was totalled in the 3:32 a.m. crash that killed Jordan R. Huver of Credit River Township, the report stated.

Police state that al-cohol was also detected in Huver’s system and both she and Henry were reported as wear-ing their seatbelts; air bags did not deploy, the report said. Henry was trans-ported to Burnsville Ridges Hospital. Police said the other passenger, Quinten D.

Watkins, 26, of Lons-dale, was also injured in the crash and was taken to the Hennepin Coun-ty Medical Center. The report said Wat-kins was also wearing a seatbelt and alcohol was detected in his sys-tem. The crash remains under investigation.

—Laura Adelmann

Stolen vehicle recovered in Lakeville Lakeville police re-covered a stolen vehicle and seized a bag of marijuana in a traffic stop Dec. 21 near Dodd Boulevard and 194th Street. Patrol officers stopped the vehicle and arrested the driver and sole occupant, 37-year-old David J. Monchamp

of Farmington, after a license plate check in-dicated the vehicle had been reported stolen. Monchamp told po-lice the car had been given to him by another man; Monchamp said he was aware the man had stolen the car from “a lady” when she went to a gas station about

five days prior, accord-ing to the criminal com-plaint. A search of the ve-hicle turned up a stolen iPod and a bag of mari-juana, the complaint said. Monchamp told police that the marijua-na was “good buds” but denied that it was his. Monchamp has been

charged with felony motor vehicle theft; if convicted, he faces up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine. Fol-lowing his arrest he was booked into the Dakota County Jail in Hastings, where he remained as of Tuesday morning with bail set at $100,000.

—Andrew Miller

Area BriefsTeen police academy in Apple Valley The Apple Valley Police Department is again offering a Teen Police Academy. The class will be held 6:30-8:30 p.m. Tuesdays, Feb. 4 through March 18, at the Apple Valley Municipal Center, 7100

147th St. W. More information and the registration form are available on the city’s website, www.ci.apple-valley.mn.us.

MNsure sign-up workshops Dakota County Community Servic-

es is holding several workshops to as-sist people in applying for new MNsure health care programs. Workshops will be held from 6-8 p.m. on the following dates in Apple Valley and Rosemount: Wednesday, Jan. 15, at Galaxie Li-brary, 14955 Galaxie Ave., Apple Valley;

952-891-7045. Wednesday, March 5, at Robert Trail Library, 14395 S. Robert Trail, Rose-mount; 651-480-1200. Registration is required by calling a specific library branch to sign up for its workshop.


Following logic To the editor: On social media this week, Rep. Pat Garofalo, R-Farmington, posted a simple message: “My policy for the Minnesota’s Budget Surplus. Give it back. Then adjourn. Mis-sion accomplished.” Seems logical I guess. But if it is logical, then it is also logical that when we have a deficit, like we had in many recent years, we ask taxpayers to cover the deficit. I pointed that out to Garofalo, but he was un-able to agree with me, say-ing “the (surplus) money belongs to taxpayers” and “the deficit wasn’t by a lack of tax revenue, it was caused by excessive spend-ing.” Regardless of whether it was excessive spend-ing, the bills were passed, the expenses encumbered, and taxpayers became re-

sponsible for covering the debts. If I were to follow Ga-rofalo’s logic, I could only say that we have a surplus today, so we didn’t spend enough? That doesn’t seem quite right. Finance is not always black and white, nor is there only one solution. It is time for legislators to start being more diplo-matic and to think outside the party box, not fan the flames of partisanship.

STEVE QUISTFarmington

Stop the over spendingTo the editor: There is a grant for a “greenway” bike trail sys-tem in Dakota County to connect to existing green-way trails in St. Paul and Hastings. The greenway plan’s cost far exceeds the

grant amount for both Lebanon Hills Regional Park and Spring Lake Park Reserve. Does the majority of the public want this spend-ing to occur, and do they have a choice? The wildlife, trees and nature that would be dis-turbed by this project is very sad. Dakota County claims to be “Forever Wild.” A less invasive and disruptive plan would be to build the bike trails along main roads and go-ing into but not through some of the parks. The personal property and land acquisitions would be lessened if the trails were along main roads. The Minnesota Department of Transportation and Da-kota County Parks could work together to create a better transportation sys-tem, including bike routes that are safe for people to use as transportation.

Park users pay for passes or permits. With the plan to add biking and walking trails (10-12 feet wide) of paved, lighted, year round, plowed and sweeping maintenance, will there be a use pass for bikers and walkers to help pay for these new trails and upgrades? How much of the cost will truly be taxpayer funded? The trails in Lebanon Hills and Spring Lake Park Reserve are proposed to go through the center of the parks or to remote land where it is costly to build and maintain trails. It is not defined how many miles of trails are required by the American with Dis-abilities Act and if these are grant requirements or if all parks are required to have paved trails. It is great to have paved trails, but how many miles can or will people with dis-abilities walk or bike through these parks. The cost of this project does not seem to make sense for the amount it would be used year round and it will bring even more debt. There are more important issues to address like im-provement to roads and bridges, etc.

PATRICIA LUETH Eagan

‘Getting Prepared’ a must read To the editor: Thank you for allow-ing Joe Nathan to bring attention to the “Getting Prepared” report (Sun Thisweek, Dec. 27). This eye-popping report should be read by all who care about quality education: voters, educators, educa-tion policy makers, par-ents, and – yes, even stu-dents. It is a reality check that every community needs. And, as Nathan points out, the Minne-sota Office of Education should not drag its heels. It should follow the law and produce it each year.

MARY SHERRYBurnsville

Lebanon Hills plan on the right pathTo the editor: One of the best rec-reational destinations in the metro area is Dakota County’s Lebanon Hills Regional Park in Eagan. Dakota County has a proposal to make it even better. When we moved to Eagan 30 years ago,

we heard about the park’s wonders from our Realtor. He also commented on the county’s commitment to sustaining this important natural resource. The county’s new Mas-ter Plan for the park pro-poses balanced recreation-al use and preservation of environmental resources. The park plan definitely promotes positive stew-ardship of these natural gifts. For people of all ages as well as people with dis-abilities, the plan offers enhanced access, protec-tion of natural space and wildlife habitat, and a year round venue for healthy outdoor activity. My fam-ily still enjoys all the park has to offer, and I look for-ward to visits now with my grandchildren. The public is invited over the next few weeks to get in touch with the coun-ty about the plan. Com-ments are requested by the county and by the Dakota County Board of Com-missioners. Dakota Coun-ty residents should get in touch with county leaders and resoundingly approve the new park plan.

SARA GALLIGANEagan

Letters

Letters to the editor policySun Thisweek 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. Sun Thisweek reserves the right to edit all letters. Submission of a letter does not guarantee publication.

Opinion

Andrew Miller | APPLE VALLEY NEWS | 952-846-2038 | [email protected] Shaughnessy | SPORTS | 952-846-2030 | [email protected] Johnson | MANAGING EDITOR | 952-846-2033 | [email protected]

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PUBLISHER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Julian AndersenPRESIDENT . . . . . . . . . . . . Marge WinkelmanGENERAL MANAGER . . . . . . . . . . . Mark WeberTHISWEEKEND/APPLE VALLEY EDITOR . . . . . . . . Andrew Miller

DISTRICT 196 EDITOR . . . . . . . Jessica HarperSPORTS EDITOR . . . . . . . . Mike ShaughnessyPHOTO EDITOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rick OrndorfNEWS ASSISTANT . . . . . . . . . . . Darcy Odden SALES MANAGER . . . . . . . . . . . . Mike Jetchick

2013’s memorable messages about education

Service dogs, Sunday sports, trapshooting highlight 2013

by Joe Nathan SUN THISWEEK


Looking back over 2013, I think Minnesota parents, policymakers, tax-payers and educators sent each other three major, memorable messages about public schools. Column readers sent me more than 1,000 comments in 2013. Your messages helped me reach these conclusions: • We’re willing to put more money into education, especially if it appears that additional funds will have a strong positive impact. • We need to broaden the way we as-sess students and schools. • Many people are looking for some-thing different than the traditional ap-proach to public education. Let’s take them one by one. First, Gov. Mark Dayton, Minnesota legislators and many local voters were willing to spend more money on educa-tion in 2013. For example, the Legisla-ture allocated more than $170 million to help support all-day, every-day kinder-garten and fund early childhood educa-tion scholarships for students from low-income families. Moreover, according to the Minneso-ta School Boards Association, local vot-ers approved 51 of 59 operating levies, and 23 of 26 requests for buildings or other capital expenses. The 86.4 percent local levy approval rate was the high-

est since the association began keeping track in 1980. Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan and the Lakeville Area School District were among the communities that passed some form of referendum. Second, we need to broaden the way we assess students and schools. The Leg-islature responded to concerns about over-reliance on traditional, statewide, standardized tests. Led by people such as state Rep. Carlos Mariani, DFL-St. Paul; Sen. Patricia Torres-Ray, DFL-Minneapolis, and Education Commis-sioner Brenda Cassellius, the Legislature eliminated its requirement that students must pass standardized tests in reading and writing before graduating from high school. Legislators substituted a mixture of assessments. Students will be asked to take tests designed to help them un-derstand how close they are to meeting expectations of Minnesota’s post-sec-ondary institutions that offer one-, two- and four-year programs. Students also will be expected to develop plans for what they plan to do after high school.

The Minnesota Business Partnership and Minnesota Chamber of Commerce are very concerned about removing the requirement that students pass tests be-fore they graduate. This change is part of why I think it’s so important, as I wrote recently, for the Minnesota Department of Education to issue an annual report on the number of graduates taking remedial courses on entering colleges and universities. The Legislature requires this be done yearly. But the last report was released in Janu-ary 2011. There’s also growing discussion among educators about other things that need assessing. Paul Tough, a speaker at the annual Education Min-nesota conference in October, explained that successful students develop persis-tence and what he calls “grit.” Some al-ternative and charter educators in Min-nesota have been talking about how this could be measured. Third, many families are looking for something different than the traditional approach to public education. For ex-ample: • Increasing numbers of students are participating in some form of dual credit courses (for high school and col-lege credit). Marisa Gustafson of our (Center for School Change) staff did an analysis of Minnesota Department of Education data. Over the last sev-eral years, the number of Minnesota

students taking Advanced Placement courses has increased by 44 percent, those taking International Baccalaure-ate courses by 70 percent, those taking College in the Schools courses by 14 percent and those taking Post Second-ary Enrollment courses by 9 percent. • The number of Minnesota parents sending their children to charter public schools increased again, as it has over the past 20 years. Charter K-12 enroll-ment grew by more than 2,000 from the 2011-12 to the 2012-13 school year. Meanwhile, the number of K-12 stu-dents attending district public schools declined by about 4,800. Most Minne-sota K-12 students still attend district public schools. But during the past de-cade, the number attending charters has increased about 30,000, while the num-ber attending district public schools has declined by more than 40,000. A growing number of districts, in-cluding Farmington, Burnsville-Eagan-Savage, Lakeville and Rosemount-Ap-ple Valley-Eagan are offering options to their families. Minnesotans seem willing to spend more money on education, but not just for more of the same.

Joe Nathan, formerly a Minnesota public school teacher, administrator and PTA president, directs the Center for School Change. Reactions welcome, [email protected]. Columns reflect the opinion of the author.

by Don HeinzmanSUN THISWEEK


During the past year, I wrote columns that now need to be updated. Readers may remember the plea to buy 285 of the 1,000 “Rescued Heroes” calendars photographer Paul Sansale and Lynn Sansale donated to raise $15,000 to help a veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder? We said the money would be used to match and train a Minnesota war veteran with a service dog in Florida. Well, readers came through. The 1,000 calendars were sold and a veteran has been found who qualifies for the K-9s for Warriors program, and he will be trained in 2014. This year the Sansales have produced a service dog calendar featuring the dogs and the service members they are help-ing. Readers can find these new calen-dars in stores and online at www.Rescue-DogArt.com. Some of you responded to a column we did on Gary Tonsager, an optician from Elk River, who has collected used

baseball equipment and sent it to Benin, Africa, where residents there are starting American baseball. Tonsager received $500 from the Elk River Rotary Club to help fund the project, and now Benin residents are playing baseball. In a couple of columns, I was on a mission to stop traveling team sports tournament directors from scheduling games on Sunday mornings. Instead, as a reader suggested, why not save Sunday morning for family time and schedule the tournaments after noon on Sunday? This column got lots of comments, but I’m not sure tournament directors changed the Sunday scheduling. My point was that it’s hard for parents to prevent their kids from playing sports Sunday mornings, fearing there will be

backlash for their kids from the coaches. I also wrote about high school trap-shooting teams, the fastest growing team sport in Minnesota. At the end of this year, the league had 3,400 participants on 114 teams. Next year, a state high school trap-shooting tournament, sanctioned by the Minnesota State High School League, will be conducted, a first in the nation. Jim Sable, who organized the Minnesota State High School Clay Target League, said that since the league started, no shooter has suffered either an injury or a concussion. Last summer 2,039 high school trap-shooters competed in a tournament in Alexandria. One of my favorite columns was about the five free weddings Freshwater Com-munity Church sponsored during Valen-tine’s week at St. Bonifacius. Pastor John Braland performed the ceremony worth $1,500, complete with service, photogra-pher, wedding cake, printed program and reception. The church members, learning that expense was the biggest reason for cou-

ples not getting married, approved the free weddings. As the year ends, I need to correct something I wrote about Bloomington Kennedy High School observing the memory of John F. Kennedy’s 50th anni-versary of the president’s assassination. I wrote that the first high school in Bloomington was named Lincoln High School. The first high school was named Bloomington High School, and it was given the name Lincoln at the same time the second high school was named after John F. Kennedy. I failed to mention some of the illus-trious political figures that graduated from Kennedy, including Robert Matt-son, former state attorney general and Robert Benedict, who was elected mayor of Bloomington at the age of 23 and be-came one of the youngest state senators at the age of 26. Don Heinzman is a columnist for ECM Publishers and a member of the ECM Editorial Board. He is at [email protected]. Columns reflect the opinion of the author.

Sun Thisweek

ColumnistJoe Nathan

Sun Thisweek

ColumnistDon Heinzman


State senator wants to make counteracting drug available

by T.W. BudigSUN THISWEEK


Chris Eaton was at home the day the two po-lice squad cars pulled up to the house. That Brooklyn Cen-ter Police stopped by the house wasn’t that un-usual. Eaton’s husband, Tim Willson, was then, and still is, mayor of Brooklyn Center. When they blocked in her son, who, in the early summer of 2007, was graduating from high school, Eaton wondered if he’d gotten into trouble. When the police walked by him and came to the house, Eaton in-vited them in, thinking perhaps her 23-year-old daughter, Ariel Eaton-Willson, instead, had done something wrong. She had. “And they (the police) just said, ‘I’m sorry. Your daughter is dead. She died of a heroin overdose,’ ” Eaton said. “That’s about all I remember until the next day.” Eaton-Willson gradu-ated from Champlin Park High School in 2002. At the time, she might not have stood out. She was a good student, trailing off at the end, leaving high school with C’s and B’s. She liked to read, and she liked art. She loved chil-dren. Her graduation photo shows a young woman with straight, shoulder length hair, a reserved smile, softly looking at the camera. “She was beautiful,” her mother, standing in her state Senate office, said. The death of her daughter has influenced Eaton to sponsor legis-lation that would make the drug Narcan avail-able to law enforcement, families and even people on the street. Narcan can temporarily reverse the effects of an overdose if administered shortly af-ter the drugs are taken. Recently, appearing with Hennepin County Sheriff Rich Stanek at a state Capitol press con-ference, Eaton spoke of her daughter. She’s start-ing to be able to do that without crying, she said. Talking about it helps. Her story has gotten other people talking, Ea-ton explained. There’s still a certain embarrass-ment about drug addic-tion, she said. “It’s not something middle-class Americans expect their children to do. You don’t go around bragging, ‘My daughter is a heroin addict,’ ” she said. “But this is an epi-demic.” There were 37 hero-in deaths in Hennepin County in 2012, accord-ing to the county’s medi-cal examiner. It’s wrong to look at heroin addiction as a curse of the inner city, afflicting the homeless person on the street, she said. It can happen any-where. Jim Steinhagen, execu-tive director of Hazelden in Plymouth, agrees. “Addiction doesn’t dis-criminate,” he said. Dakota County her-oin-related prosecutions in the past two years have numbered 30 and 39, re-spectively, according to the Dakota County At-torney’s Office. In June, an Apple Valley woman and a man from Morton, Minn., were charged with murder last week in con-nection with the overdose death of a Lakeville man in Rosemount. Law enforcement made its largest heroin drug bust ever in April when an Apple Val-ley man was arrested in possession of slightly

Daughter’s heroin death inspires bill

by T.W. BudigSUN THISWEEK


It can be difficult to know whether someone is abusing drugs. Jim Steinhagen, ex-ecutive director of ad-diction treatment center Hazelden in Plymouth, offered advice: “Listen to the voice in your head. Trust your intuition.” Telltale signs of drug abuse include changes in personality, appear-ance, friends and school grades. Teenagers are vulner-able to drugs, Steinhagen said, because the ado-lescent brain isn’t fully developed, and young people have a hard time assessing risk. “Common sense is not a factor,” he said. Young people also see themselves cloaked in in-vulnerability. Further complicating the drug abuse picture can be mental health is-sues — a high percent-age of young people in Hazelden treatment pro-grams have accompany-ing mental health issues, Steinhagen said. “It’s extremely diffi-cult, maybe impossible, for a parent to sort this all out,” Steinhagen said. He strongly encourages parents to seek help from professionals.

“Things can get sort-ed out,” he said. “Treat-ment does work.” Parents, family and friends of adult drug ad-dicts confront different options. They can have much less leverage. Steinhagen urges fam-ily members and friends of adult addicts not to cover up for them. Don’t become “enablers,” he said, or people who al-low the addict to con-tinue their addiction by loaning money, covering unpaid rent or helping with legal problems. “Don’t protect them from consequences,” Steinhagen said. Con-sequences can cause change. Steinhagen showed support for making Nar-can, used to counteract the effects of narcotics, more readily available to first responders. “We can’t help some-body that’s dead,” he said. Hazelden, which of-ficially opened in Center City, Minn., in 1949, has five facilities in Minne-sota. Its Plymouth fa-cility offers residential and outpatient addic-tion treatment and ado-lescent and young adult services. Tim Budig is at [email protected].

Sen. Chris Eaton, DFL-Brooklyn Center, holds a photo of her daughter, Ariel Eaton-Willson, whom she lost to a heroin overdose in 2007. Eaton will be carrying legislation next legislative session dealing with the heroin epidemic in Minnesota. (Photo by T.W. Budig)

Ariel Eaton-Willson

Intervention, treatment available for drug addicts

more than 2 pounds of heroin. That’s more than twice the amount Dakota County law enforcement has ever seized in a year, according to County At-torney James Backstrom.

Steady decline Before her drug over-dose, Eaton-Willson had problems in her life. She suffered from de-pression and for a short time took antidepres-sants. With a teen’s impa-tience, she quit taking the medications before they really had time to work. Focusing on diet and exercise, they got Eaton-Willson through high school, said Eaton, a reg-istered nurse. Eaton-Willson seemed to be doing well for sev-eral years after gradua-tion. She worked at the Anoka treatment center, helping patients transi-tion into the community. She found the job stress-ful, Eaton said. Eaton-Willson re-mained close with a group of high school friends, and Eaton thought they were partying too much. She didn’t want to be the “stuffy” mom, so she tried not to be judgmen-tal. “She started getting more isolative, and her behavior got more bi-zarre,” Eaton said. Unknown to Eaton,

Eaton-Willson and her friends had moved from drinking to using heroin, a drug that would ravage them. “Even though I’m trained to look for that, you don’t look for it in your own kids,” Eaton said. Eaton enrolled her adult daughter into ther-apy, taking time off from work to rouse Eaton-Willson, a night owl, and get her to the therapist. Shortly before Eaton-Willson overdosed in the parking lot of a Brook-lyn Center Burger King, her therapist, because of family matters, had to leave the state. Eaton-Willson took that hard, refusing to see another therapist and saying she didn’t need therapy, Ea-ton said. On Memorial Day 2007, the day before Ea-ton-Willson died, Eaton

and her husband were out in their yard, sprucing it up in preparation of their son’s graduation and cel-ebration. Eaton-Willson came out and asked her mother for $20, saying she needed gas money to get to work. They talked about clean-ing up Eaton-Willson’s car, because Eaton-Will-son thought she could no longer afford it. And then she left. Eaton, a believer in personal responsibil-ity, bluntly speaks of her daughter’s own hand at

work in what happened next. Eaton-Willson text messaged a drug dealer all night long, trying to score heroin. “She was actively pur-suing heroin. She went down and got the needle. She picked up Rob (a girlfriend’s boyfriend). They went to the needle exchange,” Eaton said. The drug dealer was nervous. The Burger King was probably the third place they tried to arrange a meeting, Eaton said. This time they suc-

ceeded. “And he (the dealer) jumped in the back seat, grabbed the $20, which I probably provided, offered counsel, left the drugs in his place and jumped out,” Eaton said. Eaton-Willson shot up. She became nonrespon-sive – Eaton later learned that when her daughter did heroin, that was nor-mal. When it happened, her friends would slap her cheeks or spray her face with water. “But it didn’t work,” Eaton said. Injected heroin acts fast, and an overdose sup-presses the diaphragm, Eaton said. Eaton-Willson couldn’t breathe; she was asphyxiating. Eaton is less angry with the drug dealer than the friend’s boyfriend, who smoked a cigarette outside of the car, buried incrimi-nating evidence in the bottom of a garbage can and wasn’t truthful when a Brooklyn Center police officer, directed to the car by a restaurant employee, asked what was happen-ing. First responders ar-rived, eventually treating Eaton-Willson with Nar-can. It didn’t work. Too much time had gone by, Eaton said. The first re-sponders, sick over the idea of losing a 23-year-old, kept trying. Eaton-Willson was taken to North Memorial Hospital in Robbinsdale for further treatment, but to no avail. She was dead. “I spent the first couple of years after she died beating myself up,” Ea-ton said. “And I finally came to the point — I did the best I could with what I knew. And she was an adult. “She made decisions on her own. They were poor choices. She paid the ultimate price for them,” Eaton said. “I would do anything to get a ‘do-over.’ But you don’t get them.” Tim Budig is at [email protected].

2014 Tax

Guide


Top court reporterJanice Dickman of Burnsville earns lofty certification

Janice Dickman, of Burnsville, a court reporter in Dakota County, recently earned the nationally recognized Registered Merit Reporter certification. (Submitted photo)

by John GessnerSUN THISWEEK


Court reporters are a rare breed, known to most only through Hollywood courtroom dramas. Burnsville resident Janice Dickman, part of that rare breed, is rarer still. She recently earned a national certification that places her among the country’s nation’s top court reporters, according to the National Court Re-porters Association. Dickman, who works for Dakota County Dis-trict Judge Kathryn Mes-serich, earned the Reg-istered Merit Reporter certification. Only about 3,000 of the NCRA’s more than 18,000 mem-bers have achieved that status through a skills test measuring speed and ac-curacy. “It’s just something that I wanted to push myself a little bit more,” Dickman said. “I also have the Cer-

tified Realtime Reporter certificate. To me, this was sort of the next step.” She had to reach words-per-minute thresh-olds in three dictation cat-egories — literary (200), jury charge (240) and testimony/Q and A (260). After dictation, test-takers are given 75 minutes to transcribe their notes and must hit 95 percent accu-racy in each leg to pass. Dickman, 50, studied business and economics at St. Catherine University in St. Paul before training in court reporting at the former Northern Techni-cal School of Business in Minneapolis. “I thought it sounded fascinating, and actually it’s been a great job,” she said. The profession has changed since Dickman started working for Da-kota County courts in 1988. Today she works on a $5,500 digital “writer” (stenography machine)

that feeds real-time testi-mony to Judge Messerich, who can read and high-light the material on her bench screen. “It takes quite a bit of work to be able to do the real time, especially for the older reporters who weren’t trained that way,” Dickman said, adding that she has to program the machine’s digital dic-tionary herself. “We pay for all our own equipment,” Dick-man said. “It’s the way it’s always been set up.” Her keyboard has 23 keys, divided into banks of consonants and vowels. “That’s how we write, phonetically by syllable,” Dickman explained. The profession has tak-en her to places she never expected to visit. In 2008 and 2009, Dickman, then working for retired District Judge Robert Carolan, took leaves of absence to work in the Tanzania city of

Arusha. While Carolan was on leave as part of a global team of judges prosecut-ing war crimes in the Bal-kans, Dickman was part of a global team of court reporters serving United Nations-appointed judges prosecuting crimes from the Rwandan Genocide of 1994. Dickman made three

trips to Africa, working on eight trials of some of the “higher-ups” impli-cated in the slaughter, she said. “In fact, the first trial I did was a priest. ... There were people that had gone to the church to seek ref-uge, and he turned them down,” she said. Back home, Dickman does monthly volunteer

work, closed-captioning an AA meeting for a hear-ing-impaired person. “I’ve just been very for-tunate to have such great opportunities with this job that I wouldn’t get in any other job,” she said.

John Gessner can be reached at 952-846-2031 or email [email protected].

Pawn America’s Rixmann earns business honorsBurnsville-based business flourishing

by John GessnerSUN THISWEEK


Continual expansion and years of double-digit sales growth tell the Pawn America story better than any award. But those have been piling up, too. Brad Rixmann, founder and CEO of the Burnsville-based company, earned a rare twofer in Decem-ber. The Burnsville Chamber of Com-merce named him its 2013 Business Person of the Year, and the Dakota-Scott Work-force Investment Board added its Bob Klas Sr. En-trepreneur Award. Rixmann is also one of several Upper Mid-west regional winners of

the 2013 Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award. “It was boom, boom, boom. Awesome,” said the Prior Lake resident, who’s especially gratified by the local awards from business

peers and acquain-tances in Dakota and Scott counties. Rixmann is wide-ly known for his business success, philanthropy and political involve-ment — and for tirelessly promot-ing his industry

in cities including Burns-ville, where he opened his second Pawn America store two decades ago and planted his corporate headquarters in 2001. Rixmann has “built a culture of service and

professionalism” and “changed the image of his industry,” while “keeping community in a primary focus,” said Burnsville chamber President Bill Corby. 2013 was another good year for Rixmann and Pawn America. In the last 18 months the company has opened seven new locations in Minnesota and Wisconsin while adding a new retail concept, PA Exchange. PA Exchange stores, which specialize in selling used merchandise without the pawnbroker component, opened this year in St. Paul and Hopkins, Rix-mann said. The stores “offer a value-oriented retail shop-ping experience where maybe pawn stores aren’t allowed” by local zoning ordinance, he said.

The company now has some 50 operations in 27 locations in Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Da-kota and South Dakota. Its portfolio of business-es also includes Payday America, the CashPass prepaid debit card and MyBridgeNow, a special-ized pawn operation for customers seeking higher-valued loans on pricier collateral. “We’ve added several hundred employees this year, too,” Rixmann said. “Between all of our com-panies, we’re 750 team members deep.” The company is in “four states now and we’d love to be in seven,” said Rixmann, who launched Pawn America in 1991 af-ter visiting a pawn shop in Bloomington and decid-ing he could do it better. Having worked in his in his father Wayne’s mul-tifamily and commercial real estate business, Rix-mann knew something about curb appeal, and the

Bloomington shop didn’t have it. “I knew how impor-tant curb appeal was and how important presenta-tion was. And after seeing that first store, I knew they may have had the location down, but everything else kind of fell apart from there,” Rixmann said. He opened his first pawn store in Robbinsdale, followed by the Burnsville location on Grand Avenue that’s still there today. Rixmann said he officed in Burnsville and for a few years in Eagan before building the Burnsville headquarters. “You have to be laser-focused on what the vi-sion is,” he said. “As we’re opening up pawn stores, we’re always focused on creating a good, positive perception, both from the aesthetics of how the building looks and the curb appeal to how the store looks and is laid out inside.” By the late 1990s, Rix-

mann said, company of-ficials were intent on not only outshining pawn-industry competitors but on learning from the most successful retailers about branding, store layout and presentation. His local involvement includes a standing offer of $25,000 a year for 10 years to help fund a Boys and Girls Club meal pro-gram in Burnsville. Pawn America and the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Twin Cities co-sponsor the meal program, called Kids Feeding Kids, which Rixmann helped launch in 2006. He serves on the Twin Cities club’s board of trustees. Burnsville officials are studying a multiagency youth center that would replace the city’s GA-RAGE teen center and be built around a Boys and Girls Club.

John Gessner can be reached at 952-846-2031 or email [email protected].

Brad Rixmann

Worship DirectoryShare your weekly worship schedule or other activities with the

community. Email [email protected] or call 952-392-6875 for rates and informatilon.


LEGAL NOTICES

CITY OF APPLE VALLEYNOTICE OF PUBLIC

HEARING PROPOSED ZONING CODE AMENDMENT

IN THE CITY OF APPLE VALLEY

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the Planning Commission of the City of AppleValley, Dakota County, Minnesota, will meet at the Municipal Center, 7100 147thStreet W., on Wednesday, January 15,2014, at 7:00 p.m., or as soon thereafteras possible. The purpose of the meetingis to hold a public hearing on a proposedamendment to Chapter 155, Zoning, ofthe City Code of Ordinances regulatingthe keeping of animals in residential zon-ing districts.

NOTICE IS FURTHER GIVEN that these proceedings are instituted by the AppleValley City Council.

All interested parties will be given an opportunity to be heard at said time and place.

DATED this 27th day of December,2013.

/s/ Pamela J. Gackstetter Pamela J. Gackstetter, City Clerk

Published in Apple Valley

January 3, 2014158133

CITY OF APPLE VALLEYORDINANCE NO. 957

AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OFAPPLE VALLEY, MINNESOTA, AMEND-ING TITLE XV (LAND USAGE), CHAP-TER 155 OF THE CITY CODE, ENTITLED“ZONING,” BY AMENDING SECTIONS155.003, 155.246, 155.247 and 155.248REGULATING INSTITUTIONAL DIS-TRICTS

The following is the official summary of Ordinance No. 957 approved by the CityCouncil of Apple Valley on December 26, 2013:

Chapter 155, regulating the City’s In-stitutional (“P”) districts, was amended toadd a definition of governmental mainte-nance facility, adding provisions to permitincidental structures necessary for the operation of and directly serving park andpark facilities; regulate accessory build-ings and other structures and outdoorstorage

A printed copy of the ordinance is avail-able for inspection by any person duringregular office hours at the office of the CityClerk at the Apple Valley Municipal Center,7100 147th Street W., Apple Valley, Min-nesota 55124.


January 3, 2014157673


AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF AP-PLE VALLEY, MINNESOTA, AMENDINGTITLE V (PUBLIC WORKS), CHAPTER 51O C CO

OF THE CITY CODE, ENTITLED “WATERAND SEWERS,” BY AMENDING SEC-TIONS 51.08 AND 51.10 REGULATINGDISCHARGES INTO THE CITY SANITARYSEWER SYSTEM AND MAINTENANCEOF WATER HYDRANTS

The following is the official summary ofOrdinance No. 956 approved by the CityCouncil of Apple Valley on December 26,2013:

Chapter 51, regulating the City’s utilitysystem, was amended to revise Section51.08 regarding the City’s sanitary sewersystem by adding certain definitions,adding regulations against discharge ordisposal of certain wastes into the City’ssanitary sewer system, adding regulationsof and inspections for sump pump sys-tems, adding regulations for disposal offats, oil and grease waste, sand and flam-mable wastes, and other miscellaneousprovisions were amended or added. Sec-tion 51.10 was also amended to providefor the inspection, maintenance and repairof all water hydrants within the City.

A printed copy of the ordinance is avail-able for inspection by any person duringregular office hours at the office of the CityClerk at the Apple Valley Municipal Center,7100 147th Street W., Apple Valley, Min-nesota 55124.


January 3, 2014157670


AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF AP-PLE VALLEY, MINNESOTA, AMENDINGTITLE XV, CHAPTER 154, OF THE CITYCODE ENTITLED “SIGN REGULATIONS”BY AMENDING VARIOUS SECTIONS TOPROVIDE FOR AND REGULATE ELEC-TRONIC DISPLAY SIGNS

The following is the official summary of Ordinance No. 958 approved by the CityCouncil of Apple Valley on December 26, 2013:

Chapter 154 of the Apple Valley CityCode is amended to add regulations re-garding electronic message signs andelectronic graphic display signs and torevise regulations regarding changeablesign and illuminated signs, and to amend performance standards for signs in con-nection with permissible changeablesigns.

A printed copy of the ordinance is avail-able for inspection by any person duringregular office hours in the office of the City Clerk at the Apple Valley Municipal Center,7100 147th Street W., Apple Valley, Min-nesota 55124.


January 3, 2014157677

Error leads to dismissal of felony charges against former coach Virgin pleads

guilty to misdemeanor

ordinance violation

by Jessica HarperSUN THISWEEK


Former Eagan High School basketball and soc-cer coach Kurt Virgin has been cleared of all felony charges related to his mis-management of team fi-nances. Dakota County Dis-trict Court Judge Thomas Pugh on Dec. 20 dis-missed the six felony theft by swindle charges after statements Virgin made to his employer, the Rose-mount-Apple Valley-Ea-gan School District, were wrongly used by prosecu-tors. Prosecutors admit they mistakenly used informa-tion gathered during con-versations between Virgin and school district offi-cials. “Sometimes inadver-tent mistakes are made during the course of a criminal investigation, particularly when it in-

volves internal statements being taken by an em-ployer who does not have knowledge of the crimi-nal justice system which are later shared with the police,” County Attorney Jim Backstrom said in a statement. School district offi-cials gave Virgin a Garrity Warning prior to inter-viewing him in 2011 about his management of the

sport program finances. A Garrity warning guarantees that self-in-criminating statements made during a disciplin-ary interview will not be used against the person in a criminal case. “Unfortunately, the cir-cumstances surrounding his interview were not giv-en to police and our office until after the prosecution had been initiated,” Back-strom said. Virgin was charged in May 2012 after a months long investigation. The 61-year-old Eagan resident was put on leave by the school district in late December 2011, but the criminal complaint reveals there was an inter-nal investigation a month earlier. He retired from the Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan School District on Jan. 9, 2012. During his time with the school district, Virgin had some discretion in compensation for his ser-vices and how participants registered for the events. District rules allow camps to be run in one of two ways. Camp directors can run the camps sepa-rately, in which the direc-

tor is responsible for fees associated with the camp, or the camp can be hosted by the district, in which the proceeds and expenses are managed solely by the district. District officials discov-ered Virgin had chosen to do both, which enabled him to accept checks made payable to him and avoid paying rental fees. Virgin also oversaw fundraising efforts for Eagan’s boys basketball teams. Prosecutors alleged that between April 2009 and December 2011, Viri-gin took $29,184.42 from accounts belonging to sev-eral youth sports camps and teams. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor ordinance violation for failing to ob-tain necessary permits for time at the district’s gyms and was sentenced to one year probation. Virgin spent several decades with District 191 prior to retiring. In addi-tion to overseeing sports programs at Eagan High School, he coached girls basketball and soccer for eight seasons at Apple Valley High School and

Seifert is latest Republican candidate for governor by Howard Lestrud


Former Minnesota House of Representatives Minority Leader Marty Seifert is brimming with confidence just days after entering the gubernato-rial race on the Republican side. Seifert announced his candidacy in late Novem-ber. His candidacy has been well-received, he said. Seifert, a candidate for governor in 2010, is one of six Republican candidates who have tossed their hats into the ring for 2014. He was edged for the party en-dorsement by Tom Emmer in 2010. Other announced Re-publican candidates are Rob Farnsworth, teacher and candidate for Min-nesota’s 8th Congressio-nal District in 2010; Scott Honour, investment bank-er; Jeff Johnson, Hennepin County commissioner and former state representa-tive; Dave Thompson, state senator and former radio talk host; and Kurt Zellers, state representative and former speaker of the House. It is speculated there may be more Republicans entering the race. They include Matt Dean, state representative and former House majority leader; Karin Housley, state sena-tor; Julie Rosen, state sena-tor; and Richard Stanek, Hennepin County sheriff. Seifert calls himself a unique candidate, one who, he says, can score the trifecta by winning the party endorsement, Re-publican primary and gen-eral election. “I am probably the only candidate who can pull that off,” he said. Seifert said he distin-

guishes himself from other candidates by being from the private sector the past four years “and living in the real world” and not in the bubble of the state Capitol building. Seifert served 14 years in the Min-nesota House. The No. 1 issue in this campaign will be leader-ship, Seifert said. There are lots of other issues to address, for ex-ample, taxes and budget, education and public safe-ty, Seifert said. Leadership has been missing from the governor’s chair the past three years, evident by the meandering, inconsis-tent attempted leadership of DFLer Mark Dayton, Seifert said. Seifert criticizes Day-ton’s lead in the adoption of “a horrifically” bad stadium bill and the rais-ing of taxes by billions of dollars. Seifert said Day-ton has shown the inability to lead his departments to reduce spending or to do anything different for the good of Minnesota. Seifert said he has the proven ability to get votes of non-Republicans, win-ning general elections in a House district that was carried by everyone from President Bill Clinton to Minnesota Attorney Gen-eral Lori Swanson, both Democrats. Seifert pulled 60-70 percent of the vote in the seven House elec-tions he won. It’s a simple fact that a candidate can’t win a state election in Minnesota with only Republican votes, Seifert said. Explaining his success, Seifert said: “I think people like straight talk and they like a sense of humor. People see me as a main street conserva-tive.” Seifert prides himself

with a mix of legislative and private-sector experi-ence. He has also been a public high school teacher at Marshall and a former admissions counselor at Southwest Minnesota State University. After retiring from the Legislature, Seifert ob-tained his real estate li-cense and has chiefly been a buyer’s agent for Real Estate Retrievers in Mar-shall. Seifert was also hired in 2010 to be the execu-tive director of the Avera Marshall Foundation. In his role, he built a Grate-ful Patient Program for this regional hospital and a Grateful Family Pro-gram for the Morningside Heights Care Center, over-saw an employee giving campaign, increased atten-dance at events and helped raise millions of dollars for the new Avera Cancer Institute Marshall, which conducted its ground-breaking in October 2013. “I understand when someone comes to the emergency room of a hos-pital and can’t pay their health care bill,” Seifert said. He said some people believe Republicans don’t care about the average per-son. “I do care,” Seifert said. “I grew up in a poor fam-ily, am a middle-class guy and understand Minneso-tans’ fundamental needs,” Seifert continued. Seifert said he under-stands the state budget because he chaired a bud-get committee during his terms in the Minnesota Legislature. He said, more importantly, he under-stands the middle-class family budget. Seifert said he has the skill and balance needed

Eagan High School basketball and soccer coach Kurt Virgin was cleared of all felony theft charges against him due to an error in the case. (File photo)

established the Eagles soc-cer program as a power in the mid-1980s. He started the boys soccer and basketball programs at Eagan High

School when it opened in 1990. Jessica Harper is at [email protected] or facebook.com/sunthisweek.

from a candidate running for statewide office. He said he believes Dayton is vulnerable and is not the popular leader some polls have indicated. Still early in the cam-paign, Seifert has visited more than 20 Minnesota cities, and he hoped to add a dozen more before the end of the year. His goal is to travel to all 87 Min-nesota counties before the primary election next Au-gust.

Howard Lestrud can be reached at [email protected].


abilities. County officials and opposition group Save Lebanon Hills Wilder-ness have held a number of public meetings on the matter.

Change The year kicked off with news that Ruthe Bat-ulis planned to leave the Dakota County Chamber of Commerce – which serves Eagan, Rosemount and Farmington – to start a new chapter in her life in Wisconsin. The 62-year-old stepped down as presi-dent of the chamber in April to move to her lake-front cabin in Spooner, Wis. With her three sons grown and the chamber running smoothly, Batu-lis said she felt the timing was right to move to the sleepy town. Batulis came to the DCR Chamber after gaining experience at both the Bloomington and Burnsville chambers of commerce. In 2005, the then Northern Da-kota County Chamber

expanded to include the former Farmington Area Chamber of Commerce, after which Batulis im-plemented a re-branding campaign that included a name change for the or-ganization. Batulis was succeeded by Vicki Stute.

Stute previously served as president of the Angel Foundation, a nonprofit organization that helps adults with cancer and their families. She began her career as a staff member at the South St. Paul/Inver Grove Heights Chamber

of Commerce (renamed the River Heights Cham-ber of Commerce). From there, she held various leadership posi-tion including president and CEO at Twin West, Red Wing Area and the St. Paul Area chambers of commerce.

Cedar Grove Plans to redevelop Ea-gan’s Cedar Grove neigh-borhood started to come to fruition this past year with the ground breaking of an outlet mall, which spawned other proposed developments in the area. Envisioned as Eagan’s gateway, the redevelop-ment project spans more than a decade and saw several plans, which were either revised or stalled when the recession hit in 2007. By June the redevelop-ment of Cedar Grove be-gan to progress with the construction of Paragon Outlet Mall near Highway 13 and Silver Bell Road. Once it opens in August 2014, the 400,000-square-foot retail complex will include about 100 upscale stores, such as Coach, Puma and J. Crew. Within hours of Para-gon’s ground breaking, Apple Valley developer Stonebridge Communities submitted a proposal — which was approved by the Economic Development Authority — to purchase a city-owned 4.8-acre parcel in Cedar Grove to build a

four-story apartment and retail complex. The City Council unan-imously approved prelimi-nary plans in September for the upscale complex — located at 3830 Sibley Me-morial Highway near Ce-dar Grove Boulevard and Cedar Grove Parkway. In December, Mor-rissey Hospitality Co., which manages the St. Paul Hotel, announced it plans to build a 123-room hotel next to the mall. The $14 million project is expected to bring in just under $1 million in annual tax revenue. The four-story up-scale, limited-service hotel would be a Hilton Hotel’s and Resorts Home2Suites brand and would include a fitness center, sizeable lobby and pool.

Ted Wachter The Eagan community was forced to say good-bye to two of its longtime community leaders this past year. In April, former Eagan City Council Member Ted Wachter died at age 89. Known to many as Mr. Tree, Wachter saw value in

CHANGE, from 1A

Local officials, including Eagan Mayor Mike Maguire, joined Paragon Outlet Partners during a groundbreaking ceremony Tuesday, June 4, to mark construction of Twin Cities at Eagan, the first major new development within the Cedar Grove Redevelopment District in the city of Eagan. (Photo by Rick Orndorf)


Please Bring Coupon. Expires 1/31/14



his face and pointed a BB gun resembling a handgun at another employee, saying “give me the money before I blow your head off.” Suspicion initially fell on a relative of Riley’s who had been fired from Chipotle in October, based on a description of the sus-pect’s voice and features provided to police by the employee who had been robbed. But when detectives went to the Ap-ple Valley address provided by Chipotle management, they encountered Riley and searched him, finding a large amount of currency in his pocket – 132 $20 bills to-taling $2,640. A shoebox containing about $5,300 was found near the garage. In a statement to police, Riley admitted robbing the restaurant, but also claimed he had dumped all the money from the robbery in a garbage can outside another restau-rant near Chipotle, the complaint said. He claimed the money police found when they searched him was from the sale of a car and from working. Police recovered a BB gun – which they described as “a very realistic looking gun” – near the restaurant in the snow. Following his arrest Riley was booked into the Dakota County Jail in Hastings, where he remained as of press time Tuesday with bail set at $30,000. If convicted of the felony robbery charge, he faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a fine of $35,000. His next court appearance is scheduled for March 25.


ROBBERY, from 1Apreserving green space long before “going green” was considered cool. Wachter, who spent 41 years in public office, had a passion for preservation and creating opportunities for area youth. The Rosemount native was a proponent of preserv-ing old trees and crafted for the city ordinances aimed at preserving old trees and planting new ones. An avid history buff, Wachter was a founding member, chair and resident storyteller of the Eagan His-torical Society. He was instrumental in restoring Eagan’s 1914 town hall, located on Pilot Knob Road, and in creating Holz Farm park.

Dan Shimek Longtime Eagan busi-nessman and Enjoy restau-rant founder Dan Shimek died of cancer at age 65. Shimek left his mark on a number of communities as a business owner and philan-thropist. His first venture was Heat-N-Glo, which he founded in Burnsville in 1975 with his brother, Ron Shimek, who died in 2002.

Shimek stayed on as president after the company merged in 1996 with Heati-lator to form Hearth and Home Technologies in Lake-ville. He retired in 2002, but that was short-lived. Within a year he found-ed Eagan-based Outdoor GreatRoom Company, which designs and manu-factures upscale fire pits, furniture and kitchens for outdoor living spaces. A year after opening Out-door GreatRoom, Shimek opened Enjoy and then

Paradise Landing restaurant in Balsam Lake, Wis., and a winery called Chateau St. Croix in St. Croix Falls, Wis. Seeing promise in Apple Valley’s Central Village, Shimek and his wife, Kay, opened Enjoy restaurant in 2004 at 15435 Founders Lane. The district was envi-sioned as a thriving down-town area, but by 2008 it was filled with empty storefronts and undeveloped lots due to the recession. A savvy busi-nessman, Shimek was able to beat the tide. Three years later, the restaurant’s future

became brighter as Central Village rebounded. In August, the couple temporarily closed Enjoy and sold the restaurant to Twin Cities restaurateur Bob Tinsley, who plans to reopen it under the name Vivo.

Fairview Ridges Ground was broken this spring on a $60 million ex-pansion at Fairview Ridges Hospital on the Ridges Campus. It includes a 130,000-square-foot spe-cialty care medical office building, 40,000 square feet of hospital expansion and a 400-stall parking ramp. The five-story office building will have a skyway connection to the hospital. It’s the largest expansion in the history of Fairview Ridges, which opened in 1984. “We’re working to create spaces that are more conve-nient for patients at a lower cost,” Fairview Ridges Presi-dent Beth Krehbiel said.

Jessica Harper is at [email protected] and John Gessner is at [email protected].

Longtime entrepreneur Dan Shimek died at age 65 after a long battle with cancer. Shimek founded a number of area businesses including the Outdoor GreatRoom in Eagan, Enjoy restaurant in Apple Valley and Heat-N-Glo in Burnsville. (File photo)


Sports

Holiday roundup: games were everywhere

by Mike ShaughnessySUN THISWEEK


Two South Suburban Con-ference teams – Lakeville North and Apple Valley –will be part of the Timberwolves Shootout on Saturday at the Target Center. This year’s event features four high school boys games in advance of a Timberwolves game against Oklahoma City on Saturday night. Lakeville North plays Grand Rapids at 9:15 a.m. in a game that features two players with Division I col-lege futures. North guard J.P. Macura, who has signed with Xavier, leads the state in scor-ing with a 37.4-point average. Connor Flack (13.6) and Alex Reiland (11.4) also average in double figures for the Pan-thers, who are 7-1 overall. Grand Rapids junior Alex Illikainen, a 6-foot-9 for-ward, averages 26 points and 16 rebounds for the Thun-derhawks, who are 8-2. The University of Minnesota of-fered Illikainen a scholarship when he was a high school freshman, and he has since received offers from a number of other schools, including In-diana and Nebraska. It will be a difficult back-to-back for Lakeville North, which plays at Eagan in a South Suburban Conference game Friday night before hav-ing to get up early Saturday for the trip downtown. Reigning Minnesota Class 4A champion Apple Valley takes on Blue Valley North-west of Overland Park, Kan., in the final game of the Tim-berwolves Shootout at 2:30 p.m. Blue Valley Northwest was 25-0 in 2012-13 and won the Kansas Class 6A cham-pionship. One of Blue Valley Northwest’s victories last year was 57-52 over De La Salle in the Timberwolves Shootout. Apple Valley is 9-1 af-ter winning two games at the Granite City Classic last week. Four Apple Valley play-ers – Tyus Jones (28.2 points), Brock Bertram (11.3), Dennis Austin (10.9) and Gary Trent Jr. (10.1) – have scoring aver-ages in double figures. Ber-tram, the Eagles’ 6-11 sopho-more center, also averages nine rebounds a game. This is Apple Valley’s fourth consecutive appear-ance in the Timberwolves Shootout. Last year the Ea-gles defeated Robbinsdale Cooper 80-70.

Apple Valley will play Eastview at home in a South Suburban game at 6 p.m. Fri-day before playing at the Tar-get Center. The other high school games at the Timberwolves Shootout are Cretin-Derham Hall vs. Bettendorf, Iowa, at 11 a.m. and De La Salle vs. St. Rita of Illinois at 12:45 p.m. Tickets for the high school games are $15 at the Tar-get Center box office. Those buying tickets for the Tim-berwolves game will receive free admission to the Timber-wolves Shootout.

All-State Academic

football A number of players from Dakota County high schools received Academic All-State recognition from the Minne-sota Football Coaches Asso-ciation. Four players from East-view were honored – offensive lineman Paul Strey, receiver Dar Nwaudo, defensive back J.J. Grimm and linebacker Ja-cob Bechstein. Farmington linebacker Nick Ruark and defensive back Kade Kearney also were named Academic All-State, as were Lakeville South run-ning back Mark Ruhl, Lakev-ille North defensive end Greg Menard and Burnsville quar-terback/defensive back Will Reger.

Albers is all-

conference Eagan native A.J. Albers, a sophomore at the Univer-sity of New Hampshire, was named to the America East All-Conference men’s soccer team. Albers, a defensive mid-fielder, scored his first career goal Sept. 18 against Rhode Island. He also scored a game-winner in overtime Oct. 29 against Dartmouth. Top Drawer Soccer also named Albers one of the top 20 play-ers in the America East Con-ference, a league that includes eight Division I programs. New Hampshire was 14-5-1 this season and reached the semifinals of the America East Conference tournament. Albers, an Eagan High School graduate, is major-ing in business and pre-law at New Hampshire.

Email Mike Shaughnessy at [email protected].

Local teams kept busy during break

from classes by Mike Shaughnessy


Local sports teams got back to business as usual this week as school and normal practice schedules resume. During the holiday break, a number of them took part in tournaments. Here are a few highlights:

Apple Valley The boys basketball team improved to 9-1 by drubbing two opponents at the Gran-ite City Classic in St. Cloud. Tyus Jones had 34 points in a 112-81 victory over Roseville, with Brock Bertram scoring 14 and Trey Pipkins and Rob-ert Tobroxen scoring 12 each. Gary Trent Jr. had 10 points. The wrestling team easily won the Rumble on the Red tournament last weekend in Fargo, N.D. The Eagles scored 343 points, with West Fargo second with 187.5. Maolu Woiwor (132 pounds), Dayton Racer (152), Mark Hall (170), Bobby Steveson (182), Gable Steveson (195) and Paul Cheney (220) won their weight classes. Hall pinned five of his six oppo-nents.

Eastview The wrestling team fin-ished second in Division 1 at the Bi-State Classic held Dec. 27-28 in La Crosse, Wis. It’s the team’s best finish in the eight years it has attended the tournament. Seven Lightning wrestlers earned places, in-cluding Jacob Rukavina (third at 160 pounds) and George Farmah (fourth at 132). Eastview swept three games in the Coon Rapids girls hockey tournament to improve to 10-6-1 overall. Natalie Snodgrass scored twice and Ellie Cardinal, Kellie McGahn and Erika Geary had one goal each in the Lightning’s 5-2 victory over Totino-Grace in the final round. The girls basketball team had close games in the final two rounds of the St. Olaf Holiday Classic but won both to improve to 9-0. The Light-ning, ranked first in Class 4A, routed Providence Academy 56-11 in the first round before defeating Park Center 65-61 and Holy Family Catholic 66-60.


Notebook: North, Apple Valley are in Timberwolves Shootout

Jacob Bier-man (above) and Alex Perkins (left) were two of Apple Valley’s competi-tors in its annual boys swimming invitational at Valley Middle School on Saturday. Stillwater finished first and Lake-ville South second in the 10-team meet. Apple Valley fin-ished sixth. (Photos by Rick Orn-dorf)

Apple Valley’s Sam Larkin swam the 200-yard freestyle at the Eagles’ invitational meet Saturday at Valley Middle School. (Photo by Rick Or-ndorf)

Eastview claims another holiday trophyBoys skaters win their division at

Schwan Cup by Mike Shaughnessy


After winning their di-vision of the Schwan Cup hockey tournament, East-view’s boys were given, appropriately enough, a cup. The Lightning’s next mission was to find some-thing to put in the trophy. It’s still high school hockey, so no champagne. Just a couple dozen cook-ies the Lightning passed around its locker room Saturday night. Eastview defeated Cen-tennial 3-1 in the Silver Division championship game of the Schwan Cup at Ridder Arena. A year ago, the Lightning won a holiday tournament in Rochester that helped pro-pel the team to a strong second half of the season, and eventually a place in the state tournament. Eastview’s players and coaches are hoping this year’s tournament victory will lead to something similar. “We’re hitting our stride now, 10 games into the season,” said forward John Snodgrass, a senior captain. “Schwan said they wanted us here, so

to come here and win is a big honor. We feel pretty confident coming out of this.” Solid defense was a sta-ple of the Lightning’s play at the Schwan Cup. East-view gave up only one goal in each of its three games. Eastview defeated Ando-ver 4-1 in the quarterfinals and Roseville 2-1 in over-time in the semifinals. Eastview (8-2) has al-

lowed 13 goals in its eight victories. In its two losses (to Burnsville and Bloom-ington Jefferson), the Lightning had 10 goals against. “We knew coming in this was a big tourna-ment, and tightening up the D zone was a big thing for us,” said goalie Zach Driscoll, who has played all 10 of the Lightning’s games and saw his goals-

against average drop to 2.08. “We’ve been talking about that for a while, get-ting better on defense,” Eastview coach Drey Bradley said. “We were taking it for granted that Zach was going to make the save and we’ve been letting guys get behind us, get to rebounds, and we’ve been screening our own goalie.

“You learn a bit about yourselves as a team with three games back-to-back. We had some confidence going into the season, but we also had some things to reinforce, like D-zone.” The Silver Division probably was the second-strongest among the four boys divisions at the Schwan Cup. State pow-ers such as Edina and Hill-Murray played in the Gold Division, but the Silver had teams such as Centennial, which defeat-ed seventh-ranked Duluth East in its season opener. “There are some very good teams here,” Bradley said. “We knew we were going to get three good games and we played three good ones.” Centennial scored 27 seconds into the champi-onship game on the first shot it took at Driscoll. The Eastview goalie stopped Centennial’s other 19 shots while the Lightning staged a come-back. Cole McDevitt scored on a power play with one second remaining in the first period. The score re-mained 1-1 until Tommy Hutsell scored on a wrist shot with 5:06 remaining. In the final two minutes, defenseman Keith Mue-hlbauer chipped the puck

off the glass and McDevitt reached it in the Centenni-al zone. Centennial goalie Blake Miller stayed back in his net instead of trying to reach the puck before McDevitt, and paid for that decision when McDe-vitt fired a wrist shot be-tween his pads. “Those were a couple of big goals,” Driscoll said. “We buried at op-portune times during this tournament.” Hutsell’s overtime goal against Rosemount sent Eastview to the champion-ship game. Brendan Ku-kowski scored in the first period, and Driscoll made 22 saves. Snodgrass, the Light-ning’s scoring leader, had a hat trick in the Ando-ver game. Mitchell Cer-rato assisted on all three of Snodgrass’ goals, and Kukowski had two assists. Muehlbauer had a power-play goal in the first pe-riod. Eastview stands fourth in the South Suburban Conference at 3-2 and will return to league play when it faces Bloomington Ken-nedy at 2 p.m. Saturday at Apple Valley Sports Are-na.


Eastview’s Tommy Hutsell celebrates a Lightning goal against Centennial during the Silver Division championship game at the Schwan Cup hockey tournament. (Photo by Rick Orndorf)


s o u t h m e t r o

BOYSBASKETBALL

GIRLSBASKETBALL

SENIORLAKEVILLE NORTHHIGH SCHOOL

JUNIORFARMINGTONHIGH SCHOOL

To submit items for the Business Calendar, email: darcy.odden@

ecm-inc.com.

Apple Valley Chamber of Commerce events: • Tuesday, Jan. 7, 7:30-9:30 a.m., Chamber Coffee Connection, Augustana Health Care Cen-ter, 14610 Garrett Ave., Apple Valley. Information: Kristy Cleveland, 952-432-8422, [email protected]. Burnsville Chamber of Commerce events: • Thursday, Jan. 9, 4:30-6:30 p.m., Business After Hours, Park Chrysler Jeep, 1408 W. Highway 13, Burnsville. • Wednesday, Jan. 15, 8-9 a.m., AM Cof-fee Break, Contour Clinic, 150 E. Travelers Trail, Burnsville. Information: Tracey Rudolph-Lakin, 952-882-9292, [email protected]. Dakota County Regional Chamber of Commerce events: • Tuesday, Jan. 7, 8-9 a.m., Rosemount Coffee Break, Winters Pediatric Dentistry, 3410 151st St. W., Rosemount. Information: Jessy Annoni, 651-288-9202, [email protected]. • Thursday, Jan. 9, 8-9 a.m., Eagan Coffee

Break, Home Federal, 2805 Dodd Road, Suite 160, Eagan. Information: Jessy Annoni, 651-288-9202, [email protected]. • Wednesday, Jan. 15, 8-9 a.m., Farmington Coffee Break, Family Fresh Market, 115 Elm St., Farmington. Information: Jessy Annoni, 651-288-9202, [email protected]. • Friday, Jan. 17, 7:30-9 a.m., Legislative Breakfast Series – Economics of 2014, The Com-mons on Marice, 1380 Marice Drive, Eagan. State economist, Dr. Laura Kalambokidis, will speak on the economic realities for business growth in 2014. Cost: $25. Registration required. Information: Jessy Annoni, 651-288-9202, [email protected]. Lakeville Area Chamber of Commerce events: • Wednesday, Jan. 8, 7:30-8:30 a.m., Morning Brew, GrandStay Hotel & Conference, 7083 153rd St. W., Apple Valley. • Friday, Jan. 10, 8:30 a.m., Teacher Apprecia-tion Visit, Lake Marion Elementary. • Thursday, Jan. 16, 4-6 p.m., Business After Hours, Rudy’s Redeye Grill, 20800 Kenrick Ave., Lakeville.

Bridal shop moves to Cedar Grove in Eagan Luxe Bridal Couture, a bridal bou-tique specializing in plus size wedding gowns, has moved its store from Minne-apolis to 3918 Cedar Grove Parkway in Eagan. The new larger location has three dedicated bridal suites with their own viewing area, two designated bridesmaid fitting rooms with a viewing area, and an increased amount of space for bridal, bridesmaid and mother of the groom or bride gowns. More information is at lux-emn.com.

Burnsville company an elite dealer Coordinated Business Systems, an office technology and services provider based in Burnsville, has been selected for the second year in a row as an Elite Dealer by The Week in Imaging, an on-line information and news publication for resellers of imaging technology, sup-plies and services. Coordinated Business Systems has branches in Red Wing, Rochester, St. Cloud, Minneapolis and Hudson, Wis.

AmericInn adds Burnsville hotel AmericInn has expanded in Burns-

ville with the addition of a new location at 14331 Nicollet Court. The new Am-ericInn Burnsville was previously a Days Inn. The 75-room hotel will feature signa-ture AmericInn hospitality concepts and services that are being incorporated into all AmericInn hotels nationwide. It will undergo extensive renovations including the installation of a new pool and spa. The hotel will also begin offering a free hot breakfast and a 24-hour coffee bar. Additional AmericInn offerings in-clude free high-speed wireless Internet and a guest loyalty program.

Evans named to new bank role Greg Evans has been appointed Mer-chants Bank president/chief banking of-ficer. Evans is a Winona native and spent the first 18 years of his banking career in Winona, ending as the senior vice president of marketing before moving to Cannon Falls in 2007, where he currently serves as Merchants Bank’s northern regional president with oversight of the Cannon Falls, Red Wing and Hampton locations. A date has yet to be set for Evans to take over his new role, which will include a broader role in providing direction and oversight to all of Merchants Bank’s 20 locations.

Business Calendar

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theater and arts calendar

family calendar

To submit items for the Arts Calendar, email: darcy.

[email protected].

Auditions “Snow White and the Sev-en or Eight Dwarfs” auditions for youths in grade one and above, Friday, Jan. 3, and Sat-urday, Jan. 4, by Giant Step The-atre. To sign up for an audition or for more information, email [email protected] with the child’s name, grade level and preference for a Friday evening or Saturday afternoon audition time. Registration fee is $98. Information: LakevilleAreaCom-munityEd.net, 952-232-2170.

Books Burnsville author Rich-ard Kuehn, 7-8 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 7, Burnhaven Library, 1101 County Road 42 W., Burnsville. Kuehn will sell and sign his new book, “Perfection: The Aban-doned Key.”

Comedy Adam Ray, featuring Nick Turner, 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 17, and Saturday, Jan. 18, at Mystic Comedy Club in Prior Lake. Mature audiences only. Tickets: $19. Information: mysticlake.com, 952-445-9000.

Exhibits Best of Bonnie Feather-stone & Friends exhibit will be on display through Feb. 1 in the art gallery at Burnsville Perform-ing Arts Center, 12600 Nicollet Ave. Information: 952-895-4685, facebook.com/bonn ieand-friends. Winter Art Experience, an exhibit sponsored by the Ea-gan Art Festival and Eagan Art House, is on display through

February at the Eagan Byerly’s, 1299 Promenade Place. Infor-mation: 651-675-5521.

Music Cedar, “Human/Nature” CD release show, Saturday, Jan. 11, Amsterdam Bar and Hall, 6 W. Sixth St., St. Paul. Doors open at 6 p.m., music at 7 p.m. Ad-mission: $7, $10 with pre-order of CD. Ticket link: ticketfly.com/event/447515. Minnesota Opera Resi-dent Artists featuring Victoria Vargas, mezzo-soprano, and John Robert Lindsey, tenor, 2 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 12, Lakeville Area Arts Center, 20965 Holyoke Ave., Lakeville. Part of the Cof-fee Concert Series “Straight from the Heart.” Tickets: $15 adults, $12 seniors and students; www.lakevi l leareaartscenter.com, 952-985-4640. “Hope is Alive” benefit concert for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, 7 p.m. Sat-urday, Jan. 18, at the Burnsville Performing Arts Center, 12600 Nicollet Ave. Silent auction and activities begin at 5 p.m. Elvis tribute artists Steve and Tommy Marcio perform at 7 p.m. Tick-ets: $25 at the box office, by phone at 800-982-2787 or at Ticketmaster.com.

Theater The Church Basement La-dies in “A Mighty Fortress is our Basement,” 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 9, at the Burnsville Performing Arts Cen-ter, 12600 Nicollet Ave. Tickets: $30 and $40 at the box office, by phone at 800-982-2787 or at Ticketmaster.com. “A Christmas Carol Scrooged,” presented by Heart-beat Performing Arts Center, 1

p.m. and 6 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 11, at Eastview High School, Apple Valley. Tickets available at the box office 30 minutes prior to performance or by phone at 952-432-7833 by Jan. 8. “Tarzan,” presented by Chil-dren’s Castle Theater Jan. 17-19 and Jan. 24-26, at Lakeville Area Arts Center, 20965 Holy-oke Ave., Lakeville. Tickets: $10 adults, $8 seniors and children 12 and younger; www.lakevil-leareaartscenter.com, 952-985-4640.

Workshops/classes/other Winter art classes are open for registration at the Eagan Art House. A class list is at http://www.cityofeagan.com/images/recreat ion/EaganArtHouse/Fall_2013.pdf. Information: Ea-gan Parks and Recreation at 651-675-5500 or the Eagan Art House at 651-675-5521. Teen Poetry Jam/Rap Bat-tle, 4-5 p.m. the first Tuesday of each month at Apple Valley Teen Center, 14255 Johnny Cake Ridge Road, Apple Valley, 952-953-2385. Ages 12-18. Adult painting open stu-dio, 9 a.m. to noon Fridays at the Eagan Art House, 3981 Lexington Ave. S. Fee is $5 per session. Information: 651-675-5521. Drawing & Painting (adults and teens) with Christine Tierney, 9 a.m. to noon Wednesdays, River Ridge Arts Building, Burns-ville. Information: www.christine-tierney.com, 612-210-3377. Teens Express Yourself with Paint, 5-7 p.m. Mondays at Brushworks School of Art in Burnsville, www.BrushworksS-choolofArt.com, 651-214-4732. Drama/theater classes for ages 4 and up at River Ridge

Arts Building, Burnsville, 952-736-3644. Show Biz Kids Theater Class for children with special needs (ASD/DCD programs), In the Company of Kids, 13710 Nicollet Ave., Burnsville, 952-736-3644. Broadway Kids Dance and Theater Program for all ages and abilities, In the Company of Kids, 13710 Nicollet Ave., Burnsville (Colonial Shopping Center), 952-736-3644. 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 1-3 p.m. In-formation: 651-675-5500. Soy candle making class-es held weekly in Eagan near 55 and Yankee Doodle. Call Jamie at 651-315-4849 for dates and times. $10 per person. Present-ed by Making Scents in Minne-sota. Country line dance class-es held for intermediates Mon-days 1:30-4 p.m. at Rambling River Center, 325 Oak St., Farm-ington, $5/class. Call Marilyn 651-463-7833. Country line dance class-es on Wednesdays at the Lakev-ille Senior Center, 20110 Holy-oke Ave. Beginners, 9-10 a.m.; Intermediate, 10 a.m. to noon. $5/class. Call Marilyn 651-463-7833. The Lakeville Area Arts Center offers arts classes for all ages, www.lakevillemn.gov, 952-985-4640. Rosemount History Book Club meets 6:30-8 p.m. the second Tuesday of each month at the Robert Trail Library. Infor-mation: John Loch, 952-255-8545 or [email protected].

To submit items for the Family Calendar, email:

[email protected].

Friday, Jan. 3 Forever Wild Family Fri-day: Fun on the Ice, 7-8:30 p.m., Lebanon Hills Visitor Cen-ter, 860 Cliff Road, Eagan. Bring your own ice skates or try out the Visitor Center’s kicksleds. All ages. Free. Registration request-ed at www.co.dakota.mn.us/parks.

Saturday, Jan. 4 Winter Farmers Market, 9 a.m. to noon, Eagan Community Center, 1501 Central Parkway, Eagan. Items for sale include lo-cally produced food items such as honey, jams, sauces, sweet treats, artisan bakery items, stru-del, root vegetables and more. Ross Sutter – Animal Folk-lore, 11 a.m. to noon, Schaar’s Bluff Gathering Center, Spring Lake Park Reserve, 8395 127th St. E., Hastings. Have fun danc-ing, singing and learning about animals. A Minnesota Legacy Program. All ages. Free. Reg-

istration requested at www.co.dakota.mn.us/parks.

Tuesday, Jan. 7 Community Night – A Lunchbox & Snowshoe of Healthy Habits, 5-7 p.m., Val-ley Natural Foods, 13750 County Road 11, Burnsville. Free family event that encourages healthy habits in the new year. Includes free tastings and activities. Infor-mation: valleynaturalfoods.com/community/ lunchbox-snow-shoe-healthy-habits-community-night-january-7/.

Friday, Jan. 10 “Beyond the Torah: What Happens After Moses?” with guest speaker Rabbi Norman Cohen, during 9:30-11:45 a.m. Bible study at Mary, Mother of the Church, 3333 Cliff Road, Burnsville. Information: Julia Taube at [email protected] or 952-890-0045, ext. 236.

Monday, Jan. 13 “Mary of Nazareth,” private showing, 6:30 p.m. at Rose-

mount Theatre, 15280 Carrousel Way, Rosemount. $5 suggested donation for Rosemount Family Resource Center. Tickets avail-able at St. Joseph’s parish office; contact Patty at 651-423-4402. Sponsored by Snyder Orthodon-tics, Apple Valley.

Ongoing Alpha, 6-8:15 p.m. Mon-days, Jan. 13 to March 24 (no class Feb. 17), Hosanna Church, 9600 163rd St. W., Lakeville. Ex-plore the meaning of life through the Christian faith in a relaxed and friendly environment. No cost. Register online: www.ho-sannalc.org.

Blood drives The American Red Cross will hold the following blood drives. Call 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767) or visit red-crossblood.org to make an ap-pointment or for more informa-tion. • Jan. 7, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Messiah Lutheran Church, 16725 Highview Ave., Lakeville.

• Jan. 7, 2-7 p.m., American Legion, 12375 Princeton Ave., Savage. • Jan. 8, 1-7 p.m., Wal-greens, 2200 Highway 13 E., Burnsville. • Jan. 9, 1-6 p.m., Hope Church, 7477 145th St., Apple Valley. • Jan. 10, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Paideia Academy, 7200 147th St. W., Apple Valley. • Jan. 10, 12:30-5:30 p.m., Easter Lutheran Church – By the Lake, 4545 Pilot Knob Road, Ea-gan. • Jan. 10, noon to 6 p.m., Culver’s, 3445 O’Leary Lane, Eagan. • Jan. 11, 10:15 a.m. to 4:15 p.m., Burnhaven Library, 1101 W. County Road 42, Burnsville. Memorial Blood Centers will hold the following blood drive. Call 888-GIVE-BLD or visit MBC.org to make an appointment or for more information. • Jan. 8, 8-11:45 a.m., US Federal Credit Union, 1400 Riv-erwood Drive, Burnsville.

The latest production in the Church Basement Ladies musical comedy series is coming to the Burnsville Performing Arts Center next week. “A Mighty Fortress is Our Basement” will be presented at 2 and 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 9, in the Burnsville venue’s main hall. Tickets are $30-$40 and can be purchased in person at the Burnsville PAC box office and through Ticketmaster at 800-982-2787. (Photo submitted)

Thirteen-year-old Jillian Jacobson of Burnsville is now appearing on stage in Minneapolis in the Children’s Theatre Company production of “Cinderella,” which runs through Jan. 5. After getting involved in theater at age 6 as an actor with Lakeville-based The Play’s The Thing Productions, Jacobson has been performing regularly with a host of Twin Cities theater groups, including a featured role last October in Chameleon Theatre Circle’s “Ruthless! The Musical.” In “Cinderella,” she joins nine other student-actors in the ensemble, playing both a palace page and a mouse. (Submitted photo by Dan Norman)

Church Basement Ladies

Young actor in

‘Cinderella’

Rosemount event harnesses the power of ‘the Force’

Star Wars Extravaganza is Jan. 11 at Steeple Center by Andrew Miller


Light sabers are optional, though encounters with Imperial Storm-troopers are virtu-ally guaranteed. R o s e m o u n t ’ s Steeple Center will be taking on a science-fiction atmosphere next week with the Rosemount Area Arts Council and the Robert Trail Li-brary teaming up to present Star Wars Extravaganza. The free fam-ily event from 1-4 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 11, features video game and trivia contests, Lego and action figure dis-plays, character appearances and a costume parade – all centered around the classic George Lucas film set a long time ago in a gal-axy far, far away. “We wanted to have

something for kids and adults of all ages,” said John Loch, one of

the event’s organiz-ers. “The highlight of the whole thing is the 501st Legion – it’s a volunteer group of fully costumed Storm-troopers.” The Stormtroop-ers – and Darth Va-der – will be marching in the 1:30 p.m. cos-tume parade. Guests are encouraged to come dressed as their favorite Star Wars characters and march alongside the Storm-troopers. The Robert Trail Library will be dis-playing its collection of Star Wars books at the event, and there

will be an assort-ment of crafts and games related to the science-fiction film. There’s even a “build your own droid” activity sta-tion. There also are Star Wars-themed events in the week leading up to the Jan. 11 main event. The Robert Trail Library is hosting a Star Wars scavenger hunt Jan. 6-11, with the idea be-ing to get kids familiar with the library and its services. Young li-brary patrons can stop by the main desk anytime dur-ing regular hours to get started on the hunt. And on Jan. 9, Rosemount art-ist Craig MacIn-tosh, longtime il-lustrator of the

syndicated comic strip “Sally Forth,” will be hosting a workshop on drawing Star Wars characters. The class starts at 1 p.m. at the Robert Trail Library and those interested are asked to register in advance at the library because space is lim-ited. Admission is free for all the activities. More about the Star Wars Extravaganza is at www.rosemountarts.com.


Obituaries


ThisweekendThisweekend

Mystery dinner theater The Rosemount Area Arts Council will host its sixth annual Mystery Din-ner Theater on Saturday, Jan. 18, at the Steeple Cen-ter, 14375 S. Robert Trail. Guests are encouraged to dress in Western apparel for the presentation of “The Return of Diamond Jim,” and a costume contest will be held as part of the event. Tickets are $39, which includes dinner, and can be purchased at the arts council’s website, www.rose-mountarts.com, and in per-son at the Steeple Center.

Coffee concerts return Jan. 12 Minnesota Opera resi-dent artists Victoria Var-gas, mezzo-soprano, and John Robert Lindsey, tenor, will perform at 2 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 12, in the first of four concerts in the “Straight from the Heart” Coffee Concert Series at Lakeville Area Arts Center, 20965 Holy-oke Ave. Tickets are $15 for adults, $12 for seniors and students. Call 952-985-4640 for informa-tion.

Visual review A collection of A&E images from the pages of Sun Thisweek in 2013Compiled by Andrew Miller

IMAGE INDEX (LEFT TO RIGHT, TOP TO BOTTOM, PHOTOS SUBMITTED UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED): AFRICAN PENGUINS AT THE MINNESOTA ZOO (PHOTO COURTESY MN ZOO) | BURSNVILLE SCHOOL OF ROCK MUSICIANS (STAFF PHOTO) | APPLE VALLEY SINGER-SONGWRITER DUSTIN HATZENBUHLER APPEARING ON NBC’S “THE VOICE” | EASTVIEW HIGH SCHOOL ACTORS CUONG DUONG AND JAKE SPEIKERS IN “THE COMPLETE WORKS OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE (ABRIDGED)” (STAFF PHOTO) | PERCUSSION ENSEMBLE CRASH | “THE VOICE” CONTESTANT NICHOLAS DAVID MROZINSKI AT ST. JOSEPH SCHOOL IN ROSEMOUNT (STAFF PHOTO) | JOHNNY CASH TRIBUTE ARTIST PHILIP BAUER | ROSEMOUNT HIGH SCHOOL MARCHING BAND (STAFF PHOTO) | PROMO IMAGE FOR “EXPLORERS OF LIGHT” PHOTO WORKSHOP (PHOTO BY ADAM JONES) | BAGPIPE PLAYERS AT THE MINNESOTA SCOTTISH FAIR IN FARMINGTON | JESSICA LEOUNG OF THE APPLE VALLEY HIGH SCHOOL MARCHING BAND (STAFF PHOTO) | HEAVY GAMES COMPETITOR AT THE MINNESOTA SCOTTISH FAIR IN FARMINGTON | KETZAL COATLICUE DANCER | CAST OF EXPRESSIONS COMMUNITY THEATER’S PRODUCTION OF “WAGE WARFARE” | SINGER-SONGWRITER JAMES SCHATTAUER | HISTORICAL RE-ENACTORS WITH THE WORLD WAR II EVENT IN FARMINGTON (FILE PHOTO) | PORTRAIT OF NGOC LAN TRAN BY LESLIE BOWMAN | CAST OF CHAMELEON THEATRE CIRCLE’S “COMPLETELY HOLLYWOOD (ABRIDGED)” | “MOMMY & ME WINTER DRESS UP FUN,” PHOTO BY CHRISTIE KROELLS, FIRST PLACE WINNER IN THE LIFESTYLE CATEGORY OF THE ROSEMOUNT PHOTO CONTEST | CAST MEMBERS OF “PSST!” | GUITARIST TOMMY EMMANUEL | CAST OF “OLE & LENA’S FAMILY CHRISTMAS” | TAYLOR RIENTS OF EAGAN IN “DISNEY’S THE LITTLE MERMAID JR.” | SHANA EISENBERG AND PHIL GONZALES IN CHAMELEON THEATRE CIRCLE’S “SWEENEY TODD” | BONGO CALF AT THE MINNESOTA ZOO (PHOTO COURTESY MN ZOO)

theater and arts briefs


speech and debate pro-gram 24 years ago. Pre-viously, she directed the speech and debate pro-gram at Loyola Catholic School in Mankato for 10 years. Under her guid-ance, it became a Divi-sion A champion school. In 1989, Pam was re-cruited by Apple Valley High School to fill its speech and debate direc-tor position. She was unfamiliar with debate at the time, but decided to meet the challenge. Since then, Apple Val-ley has held the record for most state champion-ships and the most state medals in the history of the Minnesota State High School League’s state speech tournaments. As a result, Pam was inducted into the Min-nesota State High School League Hall of Fame. Joe also has a history of nurturing winning teams. Prior to coaching at AVHS, he was the di-rector of speech and de-bate at Chesterton High School in Chesterton, Ind., where his team won 15 state championships. While there, Joe was in-ducted into the Indiana Hall of Fame. Joe and Pam are mem-bers of the National Fo-rensic League Hall of Fame. After teaching and coaching in Chesterton for 31 years, Joe took a teaching job at Apple Valley High School in 1998 and joined Pam as a speech coach. One year later, the couple were married. Though Pam retired from the speech and debate programs, she continues to direct the school’s mentorship pro-gram.

Promotions While bidding sev-eral long-term educators

farewell, District 196 saw several others move up within their field. In March, Assistant Administrator Michael Bolsoni was promoted to assistant principal at the high school. The 41-year-old pre-viously split his time be-tween the high school and Valley Middle School in Apple Valley. Bolsoni began his ca-reer in the Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan School District in 1996 as a social studies teacher at the School of Environ-mental Studies in Apple Valley. The job was his first full-time teaching posi-tion since earning a bach-elor’s in history from Gustavus Adolphus in St. Peter a year earlier. Prior to landing the job at SES, Bolsoni worked as a stu-dent teacher at Patrick Henry High School in Minneapolis. Since starting his ca-reer, Bolsoni has earned a master’s in education from the University of Minnesota and a special-

ist degree in education leadership from Min-nesota State University, Mankato. The Minneapolis resi-dent said he was drawn to the School of Envi-ronmental Studies, which had opened a year earlier, because of its unique fo-cus. The optional high school integrates environ-mental themes into all its studies and partners with the Minnesota Zoo to provide real-world learn-ing opportunities. As one of the school’s earliest teachers, Bol-soni takes pride in being among those who shaped the school into its current state. After teaching for 11 years, Bolsoni decided to try his hand in adminis-tration and was hired in 2011 as an administrative assistant. As assistant princi-pal, Bolsoni oversees the school’s operations and collaborates on instruc-tional leadership. District 196 welcomed another new administra-tor in the beginning of

the 2012-13 school year with the hiring of Ni-cole Frovik as principal of Parkview Elementary School in Lakeville. The 39-year-old Apple Valley resident grew up in the district, and her father, Mike Egstad, was a social studies teacher at Rosemount and Apple Valley high schools. Shortly after earning a bachelor’s degree in el-ementary education from Augsburg College, Frovik began her career in 1996 as an intern at Valley Middle School in Apple Valley. A year later, she was hired as a teacher at Parkview. In 2012, Frovik left Parkview to become the magnet coordinator and instruction assistant at Glacier Hills Elementary School of Arts and Sci-ence in Eagan. Though she enjoyed her position at Glacier Hills, Frovik yearned to once again connect with families on a more inti-mate level. Becoming Parkview’s principal enables her to do just that, Frovik said. Frovik, who has a mas-ter’s degree in education and education adminis-tration, had considered becoming a principal for several years.

Levy passage In addition to changes in school administration, District 196 saw the pas-sage of a $30 million levy

referendum in November. The 10-year levy, which gained 66 percent of votes, will help ease fu-ture budget cuts, district officials say. By generating $1,486 per pupil, the levy is a $375 per pupil increase from the previous operat-ing levy, which brought in $20 million annually. The previous levy was set to expire in 2015. Passage of the levy referendum will prevent the district from cutting $6 million from the bud-get in 2014-15. These cuts would have included cuts to curricular and co-curricular programs, in-cluding the gifted and tal-ented program, increased co-curricular fees, and the elimination of fifth-grade band. District 196 would have faced another $20 million in adjustments in 2015-16, which is equiva-

lent to approximately 300 teaching positions, according to district offi-cials.

Looking to 2014 As District 196 begins a new year, it will contin-ue to face a challenging budget while working to build a new facility. After enduring three years of budget cuts, dis-trict officials plan to make $4 million in adjustments to maintenance and op-erations costs in 2014-15. Though the district continues to endure fi-nancial woes, it will re-ceive some relief in 2014 with state funding for all-day, everyday kindergar-ten programs. While planning for po-tential adjustments next year, District 196 will also be moving forward with plans to build a 54,076-square-foot, two-story building to house early childhood and adult education programs. The plans were met with some resistance this past year from nearby residents who expressed concerns about traffic. The district’s early childhood and adult learning programs are currently housed in two separate leased buildings on County Road 42 in Apple Valley and Rahn Road in Eagan. In prepa-ration for their lease to expire in August 2014, district officials looked in late 2012 at the feasibility of moving the programs to a new building. Officials say the new center will better accom-modate those programs and save money in the long term. The project is estimat-ed to cost $13.5 million. Officials plan to accept construction bids in early January.

Jessica Harper is at [email protected] or facebook.com/sunthisweek.

DISTRICT, from 1A

Apple Valley High School speech and debate director Pam Wycoff, and husband and fellow speech coach, Joe Wycoff retired in June after 24 years and 15 years, respectively, at the school. During their tenure, the team has produced 81 state champions and 105 national finalists in debate and speech. (File photo)

Nicole Frovik Laura Kay Allen

Michael Bolsoni

Twar 1 3 14

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Transcript of Twar 1 3 14