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Thisweekwww.thisweeklive.com

march 9, 2012 VOLUmE 33, NO. 2

Apple Valley-RosemountApple Valley-Rosemount

Photo by Rick OrndorfApple Valley’s Dayton Racer wrestles at the Class 3A state tournament last weekend. The Eagles won their 20th state team title last weekend, beating St. Michael-Albertville in the final. The team also had four individual state champions – Maolu Woiwor, Seth Gross, Brandon Kingsley and Mark Hall. For coverage of the state meet, turn to Sports.

Eagles claim another state title

by Tad JohnsonThisweek NewsPAPeRs

Roberta Gibbons can trace her po-litical aspirations to a state Capitol field trip when she was only a sixth-grader. Now that school child is embarking on a campaign to be the state representative of an area of Dakota County she’s called home for the past 20 years. Gibbons is the only DFL candidate to file to seek the house District 57A endorsement (the old 37A), which will be handed out at the March 17 convention. she would face Rep. Tara Mack, R-Apple Val-ley, who has served two terms in the house. Gibbons said she plans to tell the delegates that her message is about fairness, from tax policy to transpor-tation options and job opportunities to access to education. Gibbons has worked on political campaigns and with the local DFL senate district for about the past 10 years. she’s knocked on doors, served as associate chair and chairperson of the old senate District 37. while serving as the chairperson

of the senate district in 2003, she said she helped enhance the organization’s email and website communications. Gibbons and her husband lived

in eagan and inver Grove heights for seven years prior to moving to Apple Valley in 1992, in large part to be in school District 196. she said one of the major reasons she is running for elec-tive office is that school Dis-trict 196 has fallen from No. 1 in the state to No. 37, accord-

ing to one school-rating organization. Gibbons said the main reason the district has fallen in the rankings is that its state funding has been re-duced in recent years and that has ne-cessitated program cuts and teacher layoffs. “There is some kind of discon-nect,” Gibbons said. “we are not placing as much importance on edu-cation as we did in the past.” she points out that the financial situation in District 196 could have been much worse this year if it hadn’t received one-time stimulus money of $5 million from the Federal educa-tion Jobs Fund.

Longtime Apple Valley resident seeks DFL nod

Gibbons has history in local politics, schools

Photo by Andrew Miller

In January, longtime chef Kevin Huyck of Apple Valley opened R.A. MacSammy’s, a food truck specializing in macaroni and cheese dishes. In addition to classic mac and cheese, Huyck offers more esoteric fare such as Greek mac, which includes olives and feta cheese.

A new kind of mac truck

Rosemount-based R.A. MacSammy’s offers new twist to food truck trend

by Andrew MillerTHISWEEK NEWSPAPERS

Like a lot of chefs, kevin huyck toyed with the idea of opening his own restau-rant. he ended up buying a big yellow truck instead. The Apple Valley resi-dent is adding a new twist to the burgeoning Twin Cit-ies food-truck scene with R.A. Macsammy’s, which opened in January. Described by huyck as “comfort food on wheels,” R.A. Macsammy’s offers soups, sandwiches, desserts and, huyck’s specialty, macaroni and cheese. “i wanted to have some-thing different and i kind of came to, ‘who doesn’t like mac and cheese?’ ” he said. huyck, who has 17 years experience as a chef, adds a gourmet touch to the maca-roni dishes R.A. Macsam-my’s offers. in addition to classic mac and cheese, there’s more esoteric fare such as Greek mac, topped with olives and feta cheese, and Cape Cod mac, featuring artichokes and lobster. After debuting his food truck at the st. Paul winter Carnival in January, huyck

has been serving his spe-cialty lunches on weekdays, mostly at high-traffic spots in downtown st. Paul such as Rice Park and Mears Park. Like other food trucks, he gets the word out about his daily location through social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook, as well as his website, www.ra-macsammys.com. As for the business’ name, the letters R and A are the initials of his chil-dren – Randall, 13, and Avery, 16 – while “Mac” de-notes his signature dish and “sammy’s” denotes sand-wiches, he said. Based in Rosemount, the business is licensed through the Minnesota Department of health and the city of st. Paul. his licensing gives him leeway to operate any-where in Minnesota except Minneapolis. Thus far he’s logged one day of lunch service in Dakota County – a few weeks ago he set up shop in Burnsville at County Road 42 near Judicial Road – but plans to expand his service at south-of-the-river sites to one or two days a week once

Rosemount brings home the gold

Photo by Rick Orndorf

Jacob Stern won the state 100-yard breaststroke title at the Class 2A state swimming and diving meet last weekend at the University of Minnesota. The Irish won two events at the meet – the 400-yard medley relay of Braden McCormack, Stern, Luke Dowell and Conor Manning broke the Class 2A state tournament record with a time of 1 minute, 33.37 seconds. Stern won the state title in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 57.46, beating Burnsville’s Ben Albert by a second. The Irish finished with the fourth-best all around team score behind Eden Prairie, Maple Grove and Minnetonka. For coverage of the state swim meet, turn to Sports.

County jail tests distance video visits

Technology could expand to other jails

by Laura AdelmannThisweek NewsPAPeRs

Friends, families and children may never have to enter jail to visit an in-carcerated relative in Dakota County again. Under the first pilot program in Minnesota that may become perma-nent this spring, the Dakota County Jail has installed an electronic visita-tion system that allows people to visit jail inmates from home. Visitors call the jail on comput-ers at home using skype, a free on-line video telephone program, and inmates receive calls through a video system in the jail developed by Turn-key Corrections, the company that operates kiosks at the jail where in-mates can purchase snacks and toi-letries. The video calls cost 35 cents per minute, are limited to 15 minutes per hour and are monitored by Turnkey. if adopted permanently, correc-tions officers would also monitor calls on a screen, said Dakota Coun-ty sheriff ’s Office Lt. Lawrence hart. “we need to maintain security,” hart said. “Two sets of eyes are bet-ter than one.” Concerns include inmate access to graphic images or behaviors, or video visitors wearing inappropriate cloth-ing or sharing criminal information. if a violation occurs, the inmate and caller can be blacklisted from the system. since distance video visiting start-ed in January, there has only been one infraction, said Todd westby, Turnkey’s general manager. “The response has been over-whelmingly positive,” westby said. “kids can visit with mom and dad in jail and not have to come into the jail environment.” he said families have passed around a laptop at the dinner table to interact with an inmate, show them a holiday meal and bake cake while on the call. “One couple even got married,” westby said. Dakota County sheriff Dave Bel-

Truck, 6A

See Gibbons, 14A

See Skype, 6A

Roberta Gibbons

Home Free Vocal Band performs pop hits, sans instruments.See Thisweekend

Page 13A

2A March 9, 2012 THISWEEK

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by John GessnerThisweek Newspapers

Contrary to some offi-cials’ expectations, almost no one was home at Coun-try Village apartments in Burnsville on Monday morning. Only five units at the 138-unit complex were clearly occupied when inspection teams knocked on doors Monday morning, Deputy City Manager Tom hansen said. another few units may still be occupied, hansen said. sixteen more units contained some furniture and other leftovers that were likely abandoned by tenants who moved out, he said. March 1 was the city-imposed deadline for vacat-ing Country Village, whose

rental license the city re-voked on Jan. 19 after own-er Lindahl properties failed to meet a deadline for fire code improvements. The fire code improve-ments were the first in a series of required improve-ments at the troubled com-plex, which the city has wrestled with for nearly a year over disrepair, mold and pests. “i was thinking 30 or 40” units might remain occu-pied, hansen said. “This far exceeds my expectations.” eric Grumdahl, housing manager for Dakota Coun-ty Community services, fretted last week that up to 75 units might remain occu-pied. hansen said last week that Lindahl would be cited for each unit still occupied

at the time of the city in-spection. each citation car-ries a $1,000 fine, he said. a team including the county’s housing services and several nonprofits has worked to help relocate Country Village residents, many of whom are low-income and faced poten-tial barriers to finding new housing. The fact that few re-mained on Monday shows that the city was “patient” and “measured” and that residents were well-in-formed of their options, hansen said. Meanwhile, Lindahl properties is working to fix all code violations — an easier task when the units aren’t occupied, hansen has suggested — in hopes of be-ing re-licensed.

a license application will have to pass muster with a City Council clearly angered by the condition of Country Village and its owners’ slow progress on fixing the problems. “The property’s got a long history,” hansen said. “i feel confident in saying the council is very unlikely to approve any piecemeal licensing of the property. They really want the thing to meet code.” Teams that knocked on doors Monday morning included police, fire and building inspectors, as well as representatives from the county and the scott Carver Dakota Cap agency, han-sen said.

John Gessner is at [email protected].

Few remain at Country Village Apartments

by John GessnerThisweek Newspapers

Burnsville-eagan-savage school Board members be-gan sifting March 1 through a menu of cost-saving op-tions that could bring big changes to District 191. and they’re not averse to discussing perhaps the big-gest change of all – a “nine-day schedule” that would lengthen the school day by 36 minutes while cutting the school calendar by 17 days. The measure would save an estimated $796,000 per year. “a nine-day schedule is intriguing to me,” Board Member Dan Luth said dur-ing a board workshop. it’s one of more than a dozen big-picture options administrators put on the table after soliciting ideas from employees and budget-level bosses in the district. eying an estimated $15 million in shortfalls over the next three years, the district is looking for ways to per-manently cut costs. One that didn’t find

board support is putting all ninth-graders at Nicollet Junior high. The idea is part of a larger proposal to include ninth grade in the Burnsville high school pro-gram. The plan would save about $207,000 while reserv-ing Metcalf and eagle ridge junior highs for seventh- and eighth-graders. Board members agreed to explore an employee self-in-surance plan that would save about $800,000. But achieving similar sav-ings by increasing walking distances and eliminating special bus routes for haz-ardous crossings was reject-ed. “You cannot do some-thing that violates a child’s safety on the way to school,” Board Chair ron hill said. increasing class sizes by an average of one student at both the elementary and secondary levels also met re-sistance. estimated savings are $700,000 and $336,000, respectively. “i think they need to stay on the table, personally, both

of them,” Luth said. Board Member paula Teiken said she’s not keen to raise class sizes. Board members also objected to eliminating sti-pends for athletics and ac-tivities coaches and supervi-sors. The district could save an estimated $641,575 by eliminating athletics and ac-tivities stipends in junior and senior high. senior high sti-pends alone cost $440,245. smaller savings are avail-able at the elementary level. Two options involving school closings remain on the table. They are closing an el-ementary school, maximiz-ing space in the junior highs by adding grade six, and making the nine remaining elementary schools grades kindergarten through five. That would save an estimat-ed $403,120. The other is closing one of the three junior highs, for a savings of $666,950. John Gessner is at [email protected].

District 191 eyes big cost-saving changesNine-day schedule remains on the table CSM to hold

neighborhood meeting about Lockheed Martin site CsM eagan LLC, a subsidiary of CsM Cor-poration, will hold an informationalneighbor-hood meeting 6:30 p.m. wednesday, March 14, at the eagan Commu-nity Center, 1501 Central parkway. The meeting, which will be in the south Oaks room, is open to all in-terested parties to discuss plans for the redevelop-ment of the Lockheed Martin property located at 3333 pilot knob road in eagan. This neighbor-hood meeting is being held in advance of CsM’s formal submittal to the city of eagan for its re-quest for a Comprehen-sive Guide plan change and rezoning of the prop-erty. representatives of CsM and its consultants will be at the meeting to provide a presentation and answer any questions.

THISWEEK March 9, 2012 3A

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by Jessica HarperThisweek Newspapers

an eagan woman is a suspect following a morn-ing fire in her home, police say. The woman called po-lice around 10:30 a.m. Fri-day, March 2, to report a domestic dispute between her and her husband. Upon arrival, officers noticed the home on the 1200 block of Deerridge Court was on fire and ran inside to search for the

homeowners, but found no one. One officer was trans-ported to a nearby hospi-tal for evaluation and has since been released. eagan firefighters quickly extinguished the small blaze. an investigation by the eagan police and fire de-partments and the state fire marshal determined arson caused the fire. The woman has since been taken into custody and transported to the hospital for a psychologi-cal evaluation, police say.

Jessica Harper is at [email protected].

Officer taken to hospital

following fire

Police suspect Eagan woman in home arson

Community Food Day is March 10 Community Food Day will be held saturday, March 10, at echo park elementary school, 14100 County road 11, Burns-ville. hosted by Valley Natu-ral Foods of Burnsville and homegrown south, the free event will include: • Community food dia-logue, 10 to 11 a.m. Learn about homegrown south and other healthy local food initiatives, explore individ-ual and community needs and help determine future steps. Discussion will be led by Lisa horn, executive di-rector, eagan and Lakeville resource centers. • Open house, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Meet local farmers, gardeners, food producers and activists representing Community supported agriculture (Csa), com-munity gardens and others committed to a healthy food network in the Twin Cities south metro. sign up for Csa shares and community garden plots. For more information, contact Gary Johnson, community relations devel-oper, Valley Natural Foods at (952) 891-1212, ext. 236, or [email protected].

Foundation 191 accepting grant applications Foundation 191 will of-fer grants of up to $8,000 to selected projects for 2012-13 in the Burnsville-ea-gan-savage school district. This marks the third year Foundation 191 has offered grants for projects in the schools. To be considered, applications must be sub-mitted by May 1. applica-tions and grant criteria are available at the Foundation website at www.founda-tion191.org.

photo submitted

Molly Goin is congratulated by Eagan High School representatives Matt Moore and Dr. Polly Reikowski at a Feb. 8 program honoring 4-H Key Award recipients.

Molly Goin, a Dakota County 4-h ambassador and a five-year youth lead-er with the Dakota ram-blers 4-h club in eagan, has been awarded the Min-nesota 4-h key award. The award is the highest honor a 4-h member can receive.

a junior at eagan high school, Goin is the secre-tary of the 2011-12 Dako-ta County 4-h Federation and is a leader in commu-nity service for her club. Goin received the award Feb. 8 at the southview Country Club in west st. paul.

Goin receives 4-H Key Award

Dakota electric as-sociation will celebrate 75 years of service to its mem-bers at its annual meeting on Thursday, april 12, in the social hall at st. Mi-chael’s Catholic Church,

22120 Denmark ave., Farmington (next to Da-kota electric’s office). The meeting begins at 7 p.m.; doors open at 6 p.m., and refreshments will be served before the meeting.

Dakota Electric celebrates 75 years


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Opinion

by Mark NesvigSpecial to thiSweek NewSpaperS

in the wake of the recent controversy surrounding the quarter-million-dollar buyout package given to former human resources director tania chance, i attend-ed the March 1 Burnsville-eagan-Savage School Board meeting hoping for, if not ex-pecting, some forthright answers from our superintendent and the rest of the board. Unfortunately, those answers did not come. in spite of the fact that hundreds of concerned residents were expected to and attended the meeting, the board chose to not put the issue on the agenda. instead, all public comments were rele-gated to the board-created “listening hour,” which precedes the official meeting, only has two board members in attendance due to the open Meeting law, and is not placed in the official record. Many people, myself included, spoke up, offering pointed comments or asking specific questions, all of which were met with mostly silence, as is the custom at all listening hours – which, of course, is why they were created. Board chair ron hill acknowledged prior to the start of the listening hour that he had a pretty good idea why so many people were there. Yet, even armed with that knowledge, hill and the rest of his colleagues didn’t see the need to allow a formal question-and-answer session at the official meeting. i don’t question the board members’ in-tegrity, but i do question their judgment. the judgment that led to the hiring of Ms. chance, led to giving her an unnecessary and ultimately costly contract extension this past summer, and that led to giving her more than a quarter of a million dollars of taxpayer money without any explanation to the citizens who are now forced to foot the bill. as they say, the cover-up is worse than the crime. local news outlets are challenging the district over their refusal to provide the “specific reasons” for the severance pack-age, as is required by the state’s Govern-

ment Data practices act if the amount paid out exceeds $10,000 of taxpayer mon-ey. Ms. chance had filed a claim with the Minnesota Department of human rights and another against Superintendent randy clegg with the Minnesota Board of School administrators. one of the terms of the settlement was that she drop all existing claims and agree not to bring future claims. the district has offered its own com-ment suggesting the claims were without merit, but they chose to settle rather than defend the claim, which could prove costly in and of itself. this shows more bad judgment. the board has set a dangerous precedent. if they believed the claims were without merit, why would they agree to such a large settlement? what happens now when the next district employee makes a similar claim? are they going to hand out quarter-million-dollar checks to anyone who asks for one? of course, this comes at the expense of the students’ enormous needs at a time when budgets are being slashed and more is being asked of teachers, parents and local taxpayers. the board members have breached the public trust and stained the reputation of the district. this misstep has served to give credence to the “anti-school” forces, those who vilify teachers and their union at every opportu-nity and feel that all public schools willfully waste taxpayer dollars and are accountable to no one. it’s time to hold accountable those truly responsible for this fiasco. the continued presence of the current leadership will only serve to further harm the district’s reputa-tion and delay the necessary repair of the damage done. i encourage all residents of the district to attend the next board meeting thursday, March 22, and demand accountability.

Mark Nesvig is a resident of Savage. Col-umns reflect the opinion of the author.

by Tad JohnsonthiSweek NewSpaperS

everyone seems to have opinions about the separation agreement be-tween the Burnsville-eagan-Savage School District and tania chance, the district’s former human resourc-es director. My opinion is that this was the best move for the future of the district and its human resources department. More than 160 district teachers and par-ents aired their frustration at last week’s District 191 School Board meeting over the lack of disclosure in the settlement agree-ment of the “reasons” for chance’s depar-ture and about the amount she was paid to leave – $254,815. after thisweek Newspapers obtained an unredacted version of the agreement and published its contents with an online story thursday, it shed light on the nature of those reasons, but questions still remain and probably will never be answered. the new information revealed that chance had filed charges with the Minne-sota Department of human rights and/or

the equal opportunity commis-sion and a complaint with the Min-nesota Board of School adminis-trators. we do not know the nature of the charges or the complaint. were they frivolous or did they have merit? we do know that the complaint

filed with the Board of School administra-tors was regarding Superintendent randy clegg. that complaint could be anything from a question about his qualifications to some-thing he said or did. Some have concluded that clegg was the target of the human rights/eoc charges, but the agreement does not name him or any party that the charges are against. Because both actions were dropped as part of the settlement agreement, their contents will not officially enter the public record. it is unfortunate that this disclosure will not come to light because it may inform our opinions of clegg, chance and other people in the district. the public body that knew the nature of

those complaints, the School Board, ren-dered the only decision that matters in this case. it decided to pay chance and avoid liti-gation, which could have cost as much as or more than the settlement amount and still leave the district on the hook for monetary damages. it also effectively cut off disclo-sure of the nature of the complaints. while the board members’ choice will mean they will face more questions at re-election time, this may have been their best decision. the school board separated immediately with chance, who apparently had concerns with the district and its leadership. chance reportedly also had her share of detractors, and there was a level of distrust between teachers and her department. the opportu-nity to hire a new human resources director can bring a new climate in this regard. the separation, though, will still con-tinue to dog clegg and the School Board. Many have questioned the amount of money the district paid. the board’s decision to enter into a two-year contract with the kind of severance

provisions included is hard to defend for an employee with only one year of service. the severance provisions are typical for top-level administrators, and $250,000 (of which about 30 percent could be taken out in taxes) is on par with other buyouts. School boards and city councils know that signing such contracts have met with public outcry. they should use that lever-age to push back against administrators on severance issues during negotiations. regardless, the cloud of the separation agreement between the district and chance will continue to hang over the district be-cause there is not satisfactory closure. one thing is for certain: the fallout from this episode will continue to be felt until all those involved move on in one way or another for the good of the district and its core mission to educate young people.

Tad Johnson is managing editor of Thisweek Newspapers and the Dakota County Tri-bune. He is at [email protected]. Columns reflect the opinion of the au-thor.

Backed into a corner, District 191 board may have made the best decision

Bullying should be against the law to the editor: Did you know that the main cause of preteen-teenage deaths is because of bullying? well it is. Bul-lying has increased drasti-cally since 2008. So here is some important informa-tion about this life-threat-ening harassment. on many different so-cial networks such as Face-book, twitter, tumblr, and My Space, you can see that a big number of the com-ments are cruel and ter-rorizing. this is a form of bullying called “cyberbul-lying.” it is like bullying someone over the phone, internet, or any other tech-nological device. But, it causes just as many suicides as regular bullying. it can take peo-ple’s lives away … and it will. Fifty-six percent of stu-dents have been cyberbul-lied at least once, if not on a regular basis. So, bullying is practically like a death sentence to someone who didn’t deserve it. also it’s

like a long and painful mur-der. Murder is against the law, isn’t it? why shouldn’t bullying be? Now here are some of the bullying situations that happen at school. when at school a student can be physically, verbally, and even in some cases, sexually harassed. each type of bul-lying is as effective as the next. when you are being bul-lied, you feel like there is no way out. the bullies use that weakness against you. Statistics show that ev-ery teen has either been bullied or was a bully at least once in their life. these days harassment can spread around like a disease; like a disease that we need to find a cure for. every day we are los-ing lives that can never be found again. if you have ever been bullied, speak up. Don’t be silenced by voices that don’t know what it is like. every fight is a battle but in the end, no one wins the war. Bullying should be against the law so that

all the victims can rest in peace.

carrie waGNerapple Valley

Litigation could have turned out worse for district to the editor: i can understand the people of Burnsville are upset about the recent set-tlement that was given the human resources director and as much as they want an explanation the one as noted by the School Board should be the end of it. can you imagine if the real reason came out and the school district was sued for $1 million and in the end the verdict was in her favor. if the district did not have to issue her a con-tract then shame on them. Based on how court settle-ments are done these days “i would be careful of what you want as you may not like the outcome.”

richarD DaNielSrosemount

Thisweek Columnist

Guest Columnist

Letters

Letters to the editor policythisweek Newspapers welcomes letters to the editor. Submitted letters must be no more than 350 words. all letters must have the author’s phone number and address for verification purposes. anonymous letters will not be accepted. letters reflect the opinion of the author only. thisweek Newspapers reserves the right to edit all letters. Submission of a letter does not guarantee publication.

Thisweek Newspapers

publisher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Julian andersenpresident . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Marge winkelmanGeneral Manager/editor . . . . . . . . . . larry wernerapple Valley/thisweekend editor . . andrew MillerBurnsville/District 191 editor . . . . . . John Gessnereagan/District 196 editor . . . . . . . . . . Jessica harper

rosemount editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .tad Johnsonphoto editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .rick orndorfSports editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . andy rogersSales Manager. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Mike Jetchickoffice Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ellen reierson

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Demand accountability from District 191


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Drees - SpringerBrianna Lynn Drees, daughter

of Troy and Kim Drees of AppleV a l l e y , a n d S t e v e n J e f f r e ySpringer, son of Jeff and LyndaS p r i n g e r o f C r e s c o , I o w a ,announce their engagement.

Brianna is a 2005 graduate ofApple Valley High School and a2009 Graduate of University ofWisconsin-Madison. She cur-rently is employed as a ScientificServices Specialist with NationalMarrow Donor Program in Min-neapolis. Steve is a 2004 graduateof Crestwood High School and a2008 graduate of University ofW iscons in-Madison. He cur-rently is employed as a SeniorMarketing Specialist with TargetCorporation in Minneapolis.

A June 23 wedding is planneda t Mayowood S tone Barn inRochester.

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Joseph J.LaBonne

Age 57 of Rosemount passedaway unexpectedly Feb. 26, 2012.Survived by his children; Leslie(Br ian) Hanley , Chr istopher(Katy) LaBonne, 5 grand-chil-dren, mother Evelyn LaBonne,sisters Bonnie (Peter) Noll andDeborah LaBonne. Serv icesMarch 9th, 11:00am at Crema-tion Society, 7110 France Ave S.Edina, MN.

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by Jessica HarperThisweek Newspapers

The U.s. postal service has taken its union to court over employee lockers in eagan. a lawsuit was filed this week in hopes of overturn-ing an arbitration ruling that requires the postal ser-vice to install larger lockers at its processing and distri-bution center in eagan. Though it may seem in-consequential, the expense of installing larger lockers would be $200,000, accord-ing to a Minneapolis-st. paul Business Journal re-port. The issue surfaced two years ago when the ameri-can postal workers Union filed a work-condition grievance against the post-al service. in it, the union claimed employees’ exist-ing lockers were too narrow and short to accommodate winter gear. in December, arbitrator hamah king ordered man-agement at the center to in-stall lockers at least as large as those at the facilities the new center replaced. The postal service argued it would create too great of a financial burden. The federal lawsuit filed March 2 by the U.s. attor-ney’s Office alleges king’s ruling “ignored relevant contract language and …

disregards the applicable regulation.” it contends that the facil-ity’s lockers abided by feder-al regulations, but the arbi-trator said those regulations didn’t apply to the plant in eagan. The suit states king also failed to properly consider the collective bargaining agreement between the postal service and the union when forming his opinion. apwU spokeswoman sally Davidow said she has not yet seen the lawsuit, and declined to comment fur-ther. peter Nowacki, spokes-man for the U.s. postal ser-vice, also declined to com-ment on the litigation. The postal service an-nounced in late February it plans to move mail pro-cessing to the eagan facil-ity from Duluth and roch-ester in Minnesota, and La Crosse and eau Claire in wisconsin. its consolidation plan is aimed at reducing the post-al service’s growing deficit, which is predicted to be ap-proximately $12 billion in 2012.

Jessica Harper is at [email protected].

Postal Service sues union over lockers at Eagan location

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lows said video visiting saves jail staff from hav-ing to escort inmates to visitation areas, and keeps visitors from having to find transportation to see their friend or family member in jail. To use the system, visi-tors register at Inmatecan-teen.com, set up an account and provide a credit card to call the jail. During daytime hours, inmates are allowed to re-ceive calls in their housing unit, unless they are in a class or on lockdown. Inmates are limited to one call per hour, and if be-havioral issues arise, phone privileges are taken away. Funds raised through the phone and canteen system are shared between the jail and TurnKey. Hart said the jail’s can-teen funds are used for re-habilitation programs in-tended to expand inmates’ options once released from jail. “I’m not one that is go-ing to spend a lot of money on cuisine, but I’m going to put it into programs,” Bel-lows said. Since the system went live, the jail has received between $2,800 and $3,300 per month, according to Westby. He said visitor traffic is down at the jail, while 44 percent of visitors are us-ing the system, and monthly

spending on phone calls more than tripled from $30 per month to $100 to $120 per inmate. “The inmates love it, be-cause it’s not 9 to 5 Sunday only,” Westby said. Bellows said the jail will continue to offer on-site visitation, which also takes place using video screens. The 20-year-old system is being updated at a cost of about $12,000 to $15,000. Whether the distance video visiting remains a part of the upgrade is still undecided, Bellows said. “I want to make sure the technology is working right for us,” he said. TurnKey President Pat-rick McMullan said tech-nology is eliminating older modes of communication,

and predicted Skype-like systems will appear in oth-er jails across the state and country. “You’ll never have ‘Jail-book’ like ‘Facebook,’ ” he said. “But if you look, inmates only have the abil-ity to communicate by the U.S. Postal Service and tele-phone. Five years from now, the desk phone won’t exist anymore.” Bellows said at a jail ad-ministrator’s meeting that Dakota County’s distance video visiting experiment drew a lot of interest. “Sherburne County is coming here to look at the system tomorrow,” he said.

Laura Adelmann is at [email protected].

Photo by Andrew Miller

After debuting his food truck at the St. Paul Winter Carnival in January, Kevin Huyck has been serving his specialty lunches on weekdays, mostly at high-traffic spots in downtown St. Paul such as Rice Park and Mears Park. Based in Rosemount, the business is licensed through the Minnesota Department of Health and the city of St. Paul; his licensing gives him leeway to operate anywhere in Minnesota except Minneapolis.

the weather improves. “It went OK,” he said of his first foray into Dakota County. “I don’t think peo-ple are really accustomed to looking for food trucks out here, especially this time of year. Because I live down here I really want to develop a presence here.” When it’s not in opera-tion, Huyck stores the truck at parking lot space he rents from a real estate office in downtown Rosemount. He does his kitchen prep work at Rosemount’s Fireside Restaurant, which charges him an hourly rate. The advantages of own-ing a food truck, as opposed to a restaurant, are many, according to Huyck, who is

the business’ sole employee. “I’d been thinking about a restaurant of my own, but the financial outlay was too much for where I am right now,” he said. “The food truck is a more inexpensive way to get into owning my own business. … Before (the food truck), I had done real estate for four years, and I really liked the idea of being my own boss.” Unlike with a restaurant, “you’re not married to a location. If one place isn’t working I can just drive to another place.” One drawback, he said, is the effect inclement weather can have on business, espe-cially in a state as subzero-prone as Minnesota. Last week’s flurries kept Huyck at home all but one day.

“Weather’s a big factor, but once we get into the 40s I’ll be out every day,” he said. Huyck’s vehicle, origi-nally a DHL delivery truck, is fitted with a full kitchen that includes a four-burner stove, charbroiler and fryer. As a chef who likes meet-ing the people enjoying his culinary creations, Huyck said a food-truck business is ideal. “It puts me in touch with my audience – I’m taking their order and then cook-ing their food right here,” he said. “I’ve got to say, I’m not making money at it yet, but this is the best job I’ve ever had.”

Andrew Miller is at [email protected].

Truck/from 1A

Skype/from 1A

Photo submitted

A kiosk, like this one, is used by Dakota County Jail inmates to order commissary, request services, receive messages and conduct video visitation.

by Tad JohnsonTHISWeeK NeWSPAPeRS

The city of Rosemount is emerging from the Great Recession with an eco-nomic development surge. Mayor Bill Droste highlighted this burst of new businesses moving to or ex-panding in Rosemount during his State of the City Address on Tuesday at the Steeple Center. The event, organized by the Dakota County Regional Chamber of Com-merce, served as a way for Droste to emphasize the positive gains, which includes plast ic -proto-type manufac-turer Proto Labs projecting to add 300 jobs to a Rosemount Business Park location. The gains also listed are a projected 82 new housing units this year from three different home builders; plans continuing for a new senior housing building and a park-and-ride location; and other new jobs at Hawkins Inc., Rosemount Clean energy, Origination Inc. and the Federal Aviation Admin-istration. Ruthe Batulis, chamber presi-dent, said Rose-mount has been a quiet hotbed and that Droste’s speech was a way to highlight that positive news. “It is a touchstone of the times,” Batu-lis said. “It shows that Rosemount has a business-friendly environment.” Other businesses that have reinvested in the community in the past year include TOPS Pizza, which roughly doubled the size of its restaurant, and Terry’s Hard-ware, which is in the a process of renovat-

ing its “main street” location. “Giving those businesses our support will ensure that they are present and able to support our community,” Droste said. Much of the suburban economy relies on a strong housing market. While Rose-mount still has vacant homes due to fore-closure, there are signs that the housing market is rebounding. “We are hearing from Realtors that there is an uptick in their business,” Batu-lis said. “Rosemount has a great location,

which is a few miles from the airport, Min-neapolis and people still love the small-town feel.” From a city government per-spective, Droste noted the city’s efforts to reduce the tax levy, which has fallen over the past four years, as residents have felt the effects of the sour econo-my. “We’ve held that line – ac-tually, we’ve moved that line down – while still funding a prudent list of added items,” Droste said. He also point-ed to the future as he says the city could be a prime site for a hotel develop-ment, according

to a recent market study. In addition to that, he said, the city’s goals include bringing recreational facili-ties downtown and into other neighbor-hoods. Droste will record the speech for broadcast later this month on govern-ment access cable television channels.

Tad Johnson is at [email protected].

Rosemount sees surge in economic development

Mayor highlights accomplishments in the past year

Photo by Tad Johnson

Rosemount Mayor Bill Droste talks with attendees after the State of the City Address on Tuesday at the Steeple Center.

Dakota County wetland program is seeking volunteers Dakota County is seek-ing people to help monitor the health of community wetlands through the Wet-land Health evaluation Program. Volunteers work with a community-based team to monitor and collect infor-mation that is used to help protect area wetlands. A sci-ence background or previ-ous monitoring experience

is not required. All training and equipment is provided. Volunteers commit be-tween 10 to 30 hours, in-cluding training, field work and lab analysis. For more information about volunteering, visit www.mnwhep.org or call the Dakota County Water Resources Department at (952) 891-7000.

Senior Day at IMAX Theatre Senior Citizen Day is Tuesday, March 13, at the Great Clips IMAX Theatre at the Minnesota Zoo, 12000 Zoo Blvd., Apple Valley. Complimentary coffee and refreshments will be served at 9 a.m. The film, “Sea Monsters 3D,” will be-gin at 10 a.m. Cost is $6.50. For questions or group reservations, call (952) 997-9714 or email [email protected].

PUBLIC NOTICE(Official Publication)

In accordance with Section 346.37 of theMinnesota Statutes, South Metro AnimalEmergency Care (SMAEC ) , located at14690 Pennock Avenue, Apple Valley, MN55124 is hereby providing notice that Lily, afemale intact tan and white American Pit-bull Terrier weighing 19 pounds which goodSamaritan said was found at the intersec-tion of Pennock Avenue and 143rd Street inApple Valley was delivered to SMAEC'sclinic on February 18, 2012 and will bedeemed abandoned by the State of Minne-sota if this animal is not picked up from ourclinic (located at the address above) withinten (10) days of the pub l icat ion of thisNotice. If the owner does not pick up theanima l and pay a l l expenses ow ing toSMAEC within ten (10) days of the publica-tion of this Notice: (i) the owner is deemedto have abandoned the anima l; ( i i ) theowner will have no further rights or claim tothe animal; (iii) the animal will become theproperty of SMAEC; and (iv) SMAEC maydispose of the animal in the manner con-sidered proper by SMAEC, without anyl iab i l ity for the disposa l of the anima l .Please contact us immediately to makearrangements to redeem this animal bystopping at our clinic at the address locatedabove or by calling (952) 953-3737.2925711 3/9/12

PUBLIC NOTICEINDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT 196

Rosemount-Apple Valley-EaganPublic Schools

Educating our students to reachtheir full potential

PINEWOOD ELEMENTARY BUILDINGAUTOMATION SYSTEM REPLACEMENT

Notice is hereby given that sealed bidswill be received for the Pinewood Elemen-tary Building Automation System Replace-ment by Independent School District 196,at the Facilities and Grounds Office locatedat 14445 Diamond Path West, Rosemount,MN 55068, until 2 p.m., March 22, 2012, atwhich time and place bids will be publiclyopened and read aloud.

Complete instructions on how to obtainB idding Documen ts can be found a t :http://www.district196.org/District/LegalNotices/index.cfm.

If you should have any questions regard-ing this bid you may contact the FacilitiesDepartment at (651) 423-7706.

Joel Albright, Board ClerkIndependent School District 196

2924431 3/2-3/9/12

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ernment Data Practices Act.” Elsewhere in the agree-ment, Chance relinquishes rights to any claims, “past and present, known or un-known,” against the district for a range of possible vio-lations, including violation of the state Human Rights Act, the Equal Employ-ment Opportunity Act, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act and other civil rights laws. Discrimination was the charge in the Department of Human Rights case. Chance “contacted our office to begin the pro-cess of filing a charge of discrimination” with the department, Hernandez, the department’s legisla-tive and communty affairs director, wrote in an email response to the newspaper. “Prior to the charge being filed, Ms. Chance decided not to pursue her charge of discrimination.” Stan Mack, executive director of the Board of School Administrators, said he couldn’t confirm or deny the existence of a complaint. He cited state data privacy law. Under the agreement, which the School Board ap-proved in January, Chance resigned voluntarily on Feb. 1. She was paid $254,815 to sit out the last 18 months of a two-year contract, which the agreement says includes salary, leaves and other benefits due her. Interest in the already inflamed case was height-ened by a stormy School Board listening session March 1 (see related story) attended by about 200 peo-ple, many of them teachers. Speakers blasted the board for making such a large payout without explaining the circumstances of the settlement. Some called for all board members to re-sign.

Hill, one of two board members conducting the session, told the crowd the board is seeking an advi-sory opinion from a state agency on whether it prop-erly interpreted the Min-nesota Data Practices Act when it redacted part of the agreement on the advice of its attorney. The district said on its website an opinion is forth-coming on or before April 17.

Letters ofrecommendation Hill’s letter of recom-mendation, dated Jan. 13, said he “highly” recom-mends Chance for “any leadership position in the area of human resources.” She managed a “com-plete overhaul” of the dis-trict’s human resources op-eration “with a great deal of professionalism. “This type of change can be difficult for staff and employees to understand and accept. She was able to move the district to a more effective structure that will benefit employees, and also enhance the district’s abili-ty to provide more effective service to our employees. Her collaboration with the school board, staff and the utilization of outside re-sources were all part insur-ing (sic) success.” Clegg’s letter, dated Jan. 16, also lauded Chance, who came to the district in July 2010, as an effective change agent. “Dr. Chance’s attention to detail was evident as she successfully managed re-structuring of the human resources department while simultaneously supporting major changes in the dis-trict health insurance plan, changes in contracting substitute services, imple-menting significant staff reductions due to budget

reductions, and coordinat-ing department software system upgrades,” it reads. When confronted with “a variety of challenging and unique employee situ-ations,” Chance was “clear and forthright in address-ing the specific situation while maintaining a sharp focus on the district’s edu-cational mission.”

District respondsto Thisweek story The district said in a statement after a version of this story was posted on Thisweek’s website March 2 that it “cannot confirm or deny that the newspaper has printed redacted infor-mation from the separa-tion agreement, because to do so would release private data.” “Complaints can be made to state agencies, and they must be accepted for processing regardless of whether or not there is any merit to the allegations. If fact, most complaints made to agencies are dismissed. “But to get a dismissal, the employer must spend significant money and time — even for claims that have no merit whatsoever. When employers are faced with potential litigation, they have to consider the cost of defense versus settlement — and that is especially true for a public school district. To do otherwise would be acting irresponsibly.” The district redacted part of the agreement to protect it from liability should the state or a court determine that the data is private, it said. In that case, the district’s liability would be “in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.”


by John Gessner and Tad Johnson

THISWEEk NEWSPAPERS

In the wake of the Ta-nia Chance controversy, a Burnsville legislator has in-troduced a bill that expands the definition of govern-ment-employee separation agreements requiring disclo-sure. Rep. Pam Myhra, R-40A, introduced the legisla-tion amid an uproar over a separation agreement with Chance, the former head of human relations in Burns-ville-Eagan-Savage School District 191. The agreement gives Chance $254,815 to es-sentially sit out the last 18 months of her two-year contract (see related sto-ries). Under terms of the agreement, she resigned on Feb. 1. The district has come un-der fire for not disclosing the reasons behind the buyout. At the advice of its attorney, the district concealed nine lines of the document that exposes the existence, but not the nature, of charges Chance had filed against the district. “The point here is that people want to know what public funds are being used for,” Myhra said. “There is quite an outcry regarding the situation that’s happen-ing in Independent School District 191, with over a quarter of a million dollars settlement. People want an-swers. They also really want education funding to go to pay for what’s happening in the classroom, for students to be learning.” The bill, which amends the personnel-data section of the Minnesota Data Practices Act, may not be lawyer-proof. It adds to the definition of public data “a settlement agreement for a lump sum payment made in lieu of sal-ary or other compensation, or any agreement settling

any dispute.” The bill makes public the terms of any agreement “or other arrangement” arising from an employee relation-ship, including a buyout. That phrase replaces one which says that the terms of any agreement “settling any dispute” must be public. The law already requires “specific reasons” for buy-outs that exceed $10,000 in public money. That’s where disclosure becomes tricky, according to Mark Anfin-son, general counsel for the Minnesota Newspaper As-sociation. The law is ambiguous in setting forth what kinds of “reasons” should be dis-closed in a separation agree-ment, he said. District 191’s lawyer, Maggie Wallner of ken-nedy and Graven, maintains that, for example, the fact that Chance and the district “wish to terminate their em-ployment agreement” con-stitutes a reason. It’s hardly the kind of “reason” angry residents and teachers in the district are clamoring for. But government bod-ies often cite reasons such as “save on legal fees” or “end the dispute” to dodge controversies in separation agreements, Anfinson said. “That way the public bodies don’t have to discuss the bad stuff,” he said. Strengthening the law to provide a wider definition of “reasons” is also tricky. That could violate data privacy law by disclosing employee information that is private under the law, according to Anfinson. Myhra’s bill passed the House Education Finance Committee on Tuesday and was headed for the Civil Law Committee, Anfinson said.


Ex-Burnsville school administrator had filed charges and complaint

Bill would widen net for disclosure

by John GessnerTHISWEEk NEWSPAPERS

Tania Chance, the School District 191 admin-istrator who was paid near-ly $255,000 in a separation agreement, had earlier filed charges with the Minneso-ta Department of Human Rights and a complaint with the Minnesota Board of School Administrators. The board of administra-tors complaint concerned district Superintendent Randy Clegg, according to the separation agreement. Chance, the district’s for-mer human resources direc-tor, withdrew the charges and claim as a condition of the buyout, the document said. Thisweek obtained an unredacted copy of the agreement last week. Cop-ies released earlier by the Burnsville-Eagan-Savage district had nine lines blacked out on the advice of its attorney. District-supplied copies also didn’t include letters of reference for Chance sup-plied by Clegg and School Board Chair Ron Hill. Thisweek has obtained the letters. The agreement re-quired the two officials to write letters of recommen-dation. The redacted lines in-clude references to “charges pending with the Minne-sota Department of Hu-man Rights and/or Equal Opportunity Commission” and “complaint(s) made on or about Dec. 8, 2011 to the Minnesota Board of Administrators regarding Randall Clegg.” The agree-ment doesn’t elaborate on the charges or complaint. The unredacted copy says: “Chance has submit-ted documentation to the School District that she has withdrawn all charges pend-ing with the Minnesota De-partment of Human Rights and/or Equal Opportunity Commission, including but not limited to the Charge referenced in the e-mail dated Dec. 9, 2011 to Mario Hernandez at the Minneso-ta Department of Human Rights.” It continues: “Chance has submitted documenta-tion to the School District that she has withdrawn complaint(s) made on or about Dec. 8, 2011 to the Minnesota Board of Ad-ministrators regarding Ran-dall Clegg.” Another condition in the redacted portion of the agreement is that Chance withdraw “all data requests made to the School District under the Minnesota Gov-


Sports

by Andy RogersThisweek Newspapers

No surprises here. apple Valley high school’s wrestling team brought home several pounds of hardware after winning its 20th state team title last weekend, and eagle grapplers lined the podium at the individual tourna-ment. The eagles had four in-dividual champions, one runner-up, three third-place finishes, one fourth and one sixth at the Class aaa state individual tournament. Few wrestlers were as excited after their wins as Brandon kingsley, who claimed his fourth state title. as a senior, he knew this would be his last chance to go out on top in high school. “it’s what you train for,” kingsley said. “all the years spent in the practice room to the point where you can barely walk out, it’s been worth it.” he defeated eastview’s Mitch rechtzigel, one of his best friends, by a score of 6-3 in the final. Mark hall won his sec-ond state title. as an eighth

grader he’s well aware there’s potential to win six in Min-nesota. he went 43-0 this season, finishing it off with a pin over a senior in the

state final. “i’ll wrestle bad if i get ahead of myself,” hall said. “My coaches told me i can’t win six state titles this year. i can only win my second.” Two wrestlers won their first state titles for apple Valley. Maolu woiwor won at 106 pounds and seth Gross was the champion at 120. Dayton racer was the runner-up at 138, losing a close match by two points in the final. Dakota Trom placed third at 132 after losing to the eventual state champion, Forest Lake’s Ben Morgan, in the quarter-final. Mason Manville (152) and Ben sullivan (170) both brought home the bronze, and shamar williams wres-tled to fourth at 126. Daniel woiwor dropped to sixth as the result of two injury de-faults. apple Valley may not have reached the win total of the past two years when sev-en individuals won state ti-tles in 2010 and 2011, but of the team’s 13 state entrants, just three (Trom, kingsley, sullivan) are seniors. The

rest of the team’s place win-ners were eighth, ninth and 10th graders along with ju-nior Daniel woiwor. “we’re a young team,” eighth-grader hall said. “You never know what’s go-ing to happen. people say that last year apple Valley had the best wrestling team Minnesota has ever seen. Next year we have to work hard to become the best team the nation has ever seen. even though we were young, we still wanted to be the most prepared team in the state.” while the atmosphere in the locker room was intense as ever, kingsley noticed a difference this year in the youthful mood. “This was one of my fa-

vorite teams i’ve been on,” kingsley said. “The energy is so much more. people say i talk so much. having these kids with such high energy and keeping the mood up was great. i’ve had to be a leader this year. You’ve got the eighth and ninth graders walking in with high school kids. … They worked just as hard as everybody else.” hard work was a com-mon theme among all the apple Valley wrestlers. wrestlers often comment on how it’s steel sharpening steel. “You look left and there’s a three-time state champi-on,” hall said. “Look right and there’s a four-time state champion. ... we work by far the hardest. One of the

hardest practices i’ve ever been through in my life. My first practice i cried.” The eagles won their sev-enth consecutive state team title on March 1, defeat-ing st. Michael-albertville 49-24 in the final. in the final, Maolu woiwor (106 pounds), williams (126), Trom (132), racer (138), hall (145), Manville (152) kingsley (160), sullivan (170) and Daniel woiwor (182) were victorious. williams, Trom, hall, Manville, kingsley, Maolu woiwor and Daniel woiwor were named to the all-tour-nament team in Class 3a.

Andy Rogers is at [email protected].

Four Apple Valley wrestlers earn individual titles

Eagles win seventh straight state title

photo by rick Orndorf

Apple Valley’s Mark Hall won his second state title over the weekend at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.


Apple Valley’s Maolu Woiwor celebrates after winnning the state title at 106 pounds.


The rosemount boys swimming and diving team brought home gold med-als in the 200-yard medley relay and 100 breaststroke from the Class aa state meet last weekend at the University of Minnesota. at the beginning of the season, rosemount’s 200 medley relay had a goal of winning a state title. Last season the same four swim-mers – Braden McCor-mack, Jacob stern, Luke Dowell and Conor Man-ning – were second in the state behind eden prairie. “it was quite the sto-rybook ending for a great season,” head coach patti wegner said. “The major-ity of our guys at the state meet were seniors, so i am happy that they could all end their careers on such a high note. all of their hard work really paid off.” McCormack, stern, Dowell and Manning swam the relay in 1 minute, 33.37 seconds, breaking the Class aa state meet record set by eden prairie last year. rosemount went in hoping for a rematch with eden prairie, but the eden prairie swimmers that set the Class aa record last season switched to the 200

and 400 freestyle relays. The lineup change worked for eden prairie as the eagles won the two freestyle relay events and took the state team cham-pionship by more than 100 points, but for one event it was all rosemount. The relay was nearly stroke for stroke with Minnetonka at first, but stern’s breaststroke ability gave the irish the lead on the second leg, and Man-ning left everyone in his wake in the final leg. Their time nearly broke Minnesota’s all-time state meet record, missing by six hundredths of a second. stern was also the star in the 100 breaststroke. he won the gold medal in 57.46 seconds, a lifetime best and one second ahead of Burnsville’s Ben albert. “he really wanted it and went after it right away,” wegner said. “he went out fast and then just kept going. he is the hardest worker i have ever met and i am glad that he could go out on top. he of course wished he could’ve gone faster, but it was his best time ever and he broke his

own school record again.” stern was also 14th in the 200 individual medley. The 200 freestyle re-lay won the silver medal thanks to the efforts of sheldon hatlen, Dowell, stern and Manning. eden prairie won the event and set the all-time state meet record. hatlen, Urness, Braden McCormack and Dowell finished sixth in the 400 freestyle relay. Braden Mc-Cormack charged to third in the 100 backstroke. Manning earned another spot on the podium by fin-ishing fifth in the 50 free-style, about a half-second out of first. hatlen swam in the 100 freestyle finals, finishing seventh. Urness was 16th in the 200 free-style and 13th in the 500 freestyle. Dowell was 11th in the 100 butterfly and Matthew McCormack was 15th in the 100 backstroke. The team placed fourth overall, 28 points behind Minnetonka and Maple Grove, which tied for sec-ond.


Stern champ at the breaststroke, 200 medley relay

wins gold

Irish win two events at state


Rosemount’s Luke Dowell swims the butterfly at state.


when the eagan high school boys hockey team’s first line steps onto the ice this weekend at the Class aa state tournament at the Xcel energy Center, friends will be watching from the best seat in the house: the bench. with several brothers on the team, the wildcats of-ten feel like one, big, super-competitive family. “i feel like our team is one big brotherhood,” se-nior captain will Merchant said. “we’re all so close. we hang out. we have two sets of twins. we feel like we’re all brothers.” The story of the boys’ hockey careers together is about to reach its climax. The senior-heavy wildcats will play in the state tourna-ment this weekend for the second straight season. it’s one last opportunity for the seniors to play the game they grew up with to-gether and go out on top. “This group of seniors is so special,” head coach Mike Taylor said. “They are so tight. They are such good friends and they love to compete. Our small-area games in practice are way more hatchet fests than (games). They battle. They work hard at their skills. They love to compete.” Many of the wildcats have been on the ice togeth-er since their youth hockey days in Mites. Taylor is also a middle school teacher in eagan, so he knew what was in store as the head hockey coach years ago. “They were the rat pack of our whole school,” Tay-lor said. “some teachers like that. some teachers, it drives them crazy. They’ve been like this since they were 10.” The 2011-12 season has been their playing peak, with just three losses in the 2011-12 season. “it’s been the most fun season i’ve ever had,” senior captain Michael Zajac said. “These guys are unbeliev-able to play with. we’re all

such good friends. One thing eagan also has this year is experience. Last March the wildcats lost to eventual state cham-pions eden prairie 5-1 in the semifinal. “hopefully they’ve learned that the first one isn’t the only one,” Taylor said. “we threw all of our energy in that first one last year. i think we were flat against the second one and we got mad and played a team that was flat. i would hope they understand it takes three good perfor-mances, not just one big day.” eagan bounced back to defeat edina for third place. The experience was worth the effort to get back to state again this season with nearly every player back. “we get to play in front of 18,000 people,” Zajac said. “we just have to go in with full confidence. There’s so many people who want to play in the state tourna-ment. i’m just lucky enough to get to play it twice.” The wildcats advanced to the state tournament after winning the section 3aa title on March 1 at the Coliseum at the Minnesota Fair Grounds. The section final was quite a bit different the past two years for the wildcats. in 2010 and 2011, the wild-cats played two tight games against apple Valley that

weren’t decided until either overtime or late in the third period. This time around, the outcome looked inevita-ble by the end of the first period. eagan defeated hastings 10-1. The wildcats made quick work of the section 3aa field, outscoring teams 29-2 in three games. “i think we’re playing our best hockey of the season,” Zajac said. “everyone from the goalie to our fourth line are playing great.” Tommy Nowariak, Cody Mason, Derick kuchera, Nick kuchera, eric peter-son, Cullen willox, will Merchant, and Zach Glien-ke all scored goals while will peterson had two. Tommy Muck had three assists, and sam wolfe and Nick smal-lidge each had two. as the No. 3 seed, eagan is scheduled to play Moorhead, the team’s same quarterfinal opponent in 2011, at 1 p.m. at the Xcel energy Center on Thursday. Last season eagan shut out Moorhead 4-0. with a victory, the wild-cats would move on to play the winner between No. 2 Maple Grove and hill-Mur-ray at 6 p.m. on Friday. Visit www.ThisweekLive.com for updates. Andy Rogers is at [email protected].

Eagan boys hockey team qualifies for

state for second straight season

Brotherhood of Wildcats hopes to make weekend special


Eagan boys hockey players celebrate after winning the Section 3AA title last week for the right to play at the state tournament this weekend.


Mitch rechtzigel is the highest finisher at the state wrestling tournament that eastview high school has had in more than a decade. rechtzigel left the Xcel energy Center in st. paul on saturday night wear-ing the silver medal after coming in second in the 160-pound weight class be-hind apple Valley’s Bran-don kingsley. it was rechtzigel’s first trip to state. Last year he was third in section 3aaa behind the eventual state

champion and state run-ner-up. “i worked hard to get up to their level,” rechtzigel said. “i was hoping to close the gap a little more – get a little closer. “i have no complaints. it’s been a lot of hard work and it’s been worth it.” On his way to the state final, rechtzigel defeated Centennial’s Blake solberg 17-2, st. Cloud Tech’s Bry-ant amundson 10-1 and Lakeville North’s anton kalista 6-0. it was nice for rechtzigel to hear the an-nouncer say eastview at the state tournament for once. “people aren’t used to seeing somebody from the other side of apple Valley in the finals,” he said. “it was nice to see. i hope it’s just the start.”

kingsley, who won his fourth state title last week-end, said it was special to see rechtzigel there. “we’ve wrestled togeth-er ever since we were five,” said kingsley, who beat rechtzigel 6-3 in the final. “it’s always been back and forth. i’m so glad he finally made it to state this year.” rechtzigel went down as the career wins and take-downs leader at eastview. he broke adam Fokken’s record set in 2001 when he won a state title; rechtzigel is the highest state place winner since then. Teammate BJ Groskreutz went 0-1 and Jacob rukavina 0-2 at state.


Senior leaves high marks in

the record books at Eastview

Rechtzigel brings home the silver medal

THISWEEK March 9, 2012 9A��

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Photo by Brian Nelson

Burnsville’s Tyler Sheehy, No. 22, gets physical against Edina in the Section 2AA final last week. The Blaze lost to Edina 6-3 in the Section 2AA championship game Feb. 29 at Mariucci Arena, marking the third time in five years a playoff loss to the Hornets has kept Burnsville out of the state tournament. Despite being outshot 37-14, Burnsville (17-10-1) pulled even at 3-3 when senior forward Cory Chapman beat Edina goalie Willie Benjamin with a sharp-angle shot at 4:46 of the third period. But the Hornets took control later in the period with two goals 33 seconds apart, then added an empty-net goal with 53 seconds remaining. Jake Maxson and Tyler Sheehy scored the other two goals. “I feel bad for the kids,” head coach Janne Kivihalme said. “They’ve been so close the last couple of years, worked so hard, but they haven’t been able to get past Edina. All we can do next year is work hard and hopefully we’ll get to this game again.”

Blaze fall in the section final by Mike Shaughnessy

Thisweek NewsPaPers

he was facing a wres-tler who had beaten him just one week earlier, but Burnsville’s andy Under-hill went in with confi-dence in his game plan and ability. “You’ve just got to have confidence and have your head in the game,” he said. “Otherwise, you can’t re-ally expect to win.” Underhill almost closed his high school career with the biggest victory of all. he had a three-point lead over apple Valley’s seth Gross in the second period before losing 5-4 in the 120-pound championship match at the state Class 3a individual tournament March 3. Gross and Underhill went into the tournament ranked first and second in that weight class by The Guillotine. Leading 2-1 in the sec-ond period and starting in the down position, Under-hill narrowly avoided be-ing put on his back, then scored a reversal for a 4-1 lead. Before the period was over, however, Gross escaped and then scored a takedown to tie the match.

Gross escaped early in the third period and held the lead until the final whistle. Un-derhill was trying to lift Gross for a takedown attempt when time expired. One week earlier, Gross pinned Underhill in the second period in the Class 3a, section 3 champion-ship match. in the rematch, “i thought i did Ok, but it could have been better,” Underhill said. “even though he was pinned the last time they wrestled, we knew if andy was able to stay off his back, he’d have a good chance to win this match,” Burnsville coach sam sand said. “he believed he was going to win, too.” This was Underhill’s third trip to the Xcel en-ergy Center for the state tournament but the first time he has medaled. he was 31-12 as a sophomore and qualified for state at 112 pounds. Last year he was 29-10 and reached state at 119. “he’s only been wres-tling since eighth grade, which is later than a lot of other kids (at the state tournament) started,” sand said. wrestling in the high school off-season after

his junior year – the first time he has done so – ap-peared to pay off for Underhill. he finished fifth in a loaded bracket at 130 pounds in the state junior free-

style championships in april 2011. sand, the Blaze’s first-year head coach, said “it’s really all about confidence with him. he’s the best wrestler i’ve had in four years as a coach, and he needed to know how good he was.” although he came up just short in his effort to be Burnsville high school’s first state wrestling cham-pion since 1977, another Underhill has two more years to take a shot at it. sophomore Billy Under-hill had a 30-win season and finished third in sec-tion 3 at 106. “i think he will be a state champion,” andy Underhill said of his brother. Burnsville senior harry Bramley qualified for state at 145 but lost his two matches to finish 26-19.

Eagan wrestlers fourth, fifth eagan senior Mitch Johnson, making his third appearance at the state

tournament, earned his first medal by finishing fourth at 220. Johnson, who went into the tournament ranked fifth in the weight class, defeated No. 1-ranked Nick edling of st. Michael-albertville 2-0 in the first round. he beat Justin wheaton of robbinsdale armstrong 4-0 in the second round before losing to hastings’ isaac eichmann 4-1 in the semifinals. Johnson, 31-3, won one wrestleback match before losing to Owaton-na’s Coyte kuefner for third place. The previous two sea-sons, Johnson wrestled at state as a heavyweight. This year eagan junior Colin Fisher reached state in that weight class and finished fifth. Fisher (33-7) beat Tanner Lowe of Coon rapids 3-2 in overtime in the fifth-place match. it was the last of three overtime victories for Fisher at the state tourna-ment. he was 4-2 at state, with his losses by one and two points.

Mike Shaughnessy is Da-kota County sports editor for Sun Newspapers

Andy Underhill battles for

120-pound title

Blaze wrestler just misses out on championship

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Wedding workshop set March 18 The Eagan CommunityCenter will host the eighthannual Wedding Workshopfrom 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday,March 18. Admission is$2 at the door. The EaganCommunityCenterislocat-edat1501CentralParkway.Call(651)675-5550orvisitwww.eagancommunitycen-ter.comformoredetails.

City seeks advisory commission members The city of Eagan islooking for applicants forseveral commissions thatadvisetheCityCouncil. Thereareupto12open-ings on Eagan advisorycommissionsandtwoopen-ings on a multi-city water-shed management board.Terms are for two yearseach. Applications are dueMarch 28 for vacancieson the Advisory PlanningCommission, the Advisory

Parks Commission, theAirportRelationsCommis-sion,andtheEnergy&En-vironment Advisory Com-mission. If interested, thesame application form canbe considered for appoint-menttotheGunClubLakeWatershed ManagementOrganization. Applicationformscanbefound on the city’s websiteat www.cityofeagan.comunder the “About Eagan”taborformsmaybepickedupat theEaganMunicipalCenter, 3830 Pilot KnobRoad. Descriptions of eachcommission are also avail-able on the website. Forquestions,callassistantcityadministratorDianneMill-erat(651)675-5014.

Home & Leisure Show is March 16-17 The Eagan Civic Arenawill host its 13th annualHome & Leisure ShowMarch 16 and 17. Admis-sion and parking are free.There will be a variety offree seminars throughout

the two days. Show hoursare11a.m.to7p.m.Fridayand9a.m.to3p.m.Satur-day.More than80vendorswill showcase their homeand leisure products andservices. Visit www.eagan-civicarena.com for a com-plete list of vendors and ascheduleoffreeseminars.

Peer support group offered in Eagan A NAMI Connectionpeer support group foradults recovering frommentalillnessmeetsweeklyinEagan.Thefreegroupissponsored by the NationalAlliance on Mental Illness(NAMI) of Minnesota.TrainedfacilitatorswhoarealsoinrecoveryleadNAMIConnection groups. Thegroupmeetsat7p.m.Mon-days(exceptthethirdMon-day) at Advent MethodistChurch, 3495 LexingtonAve.S.,Eagan.Formorein-formation,contactCristinaat (651) 283-4821, or callNAMIat(651)645-2948.

U.S.Rep.JohnKline,R-Lakeville, honored Eaganresidents Clint and GloriaRacineandmembersoftheUnited Methodist Churchwith Congressional Certifi-catesofSpecialRecognitionathissixthannual“StaroftheNorth”ceremonyattheLakevilleAreaArtsCenter. Eagan Culver’s franchi-seeownersClintandGloria

Racine sponsor a numberof blood drives each yearto benefit the Red Cross.Additionally, they provideother incentives for peopleto give blood, including a“PintforPint”promotion. Kline honored membersof the United Method-ist Church who traveled toHaititohelprebuildhomesdestroyedbythe2010earth-

quake. A team has beenmakingthetripsince2001.TeammemberMaryDoranacceptedtheaward. To nominate a residentof the 2nd District for a“StaroftheNorth”award,visit http://kline.house.govandclickonthe“StaroftheNorth Nomination” linkunder“ContactUs.”

‘Stars of the North’ recognizedMary Doran Clint and Gloria Racine

Eagan Briefs


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Pop hits, sans instruments A cappella group Home Free plays the Lakeville arts center March 10

by Andrew MillerThisweek Newspapers

Don’t be surprised if some of the guys in Minne-sota-based home Free Vo-cal Band are sporting some very un-Minnesotan tans at their concert this weekend at the Lakeville area arts Cen-ter. as regular performers on royal Caribbean cruise ships, they’ve been get-ting plenty of sun in recent months. Last week saw the band visiting Jamaica, honduras and other tropical locales. “every three of four weeks we’ll go out on a cruise – we perform two shows on one night, and the rest of the week we’re pas-sengers,” said home Free tenor Matt atwood. “we get to kind of be tourists for a living. it’s a pretty good deal.” The a cappella group will be taking the Lakeville arts center stage at 7:30 p.m. saturday, March 10, for an all-ages concert that features classic and contemporary pop hits, performed with only the human voice and microphones. home Free’s set list in-cludes songs by bands rang-ing from the Beatles and the Beach Boys to Jason Mraz and Train. “we try to do a show that appeals to everybody,” atwood said. “we’ll take a song like ‘rockin’ robin’ – the parents and the grand-parents love it, but because we’re a cappella we do it with a beat-boxer so it ap-peals to young people, too.” home Free formed in 2001 when atwood, his

Mankato east high school classmate adam rupp, and rupp’s brother Chris de-cided to put together a vo-cal group in order to enter a church talent show. it’s snowballed from there. “Our first incarnation was just that church talent show thing, but after that we found people wanted to hire us for Christmas par-ties, nursing home shows and company events,” at-wood said. “we were like, ‘wow, maybe we can make money at this.’ Now it’s a full-time gig for all of us.” Tickets for the home Free concert are $15 for adults, $8 for seniors and students, and are avail-able in person at the arts

center, by calling (952) 985-4640 and online at www.ci.lakeville.mn.us under the “Lakeville area arts Cen-ter” link. More about home Free

is at www.homefreevocal-band.com.

Andrew Miller is at [email protected].

ShamROCKS and Shenanigans music festival Best western premier Nicollet inn, 14201 Nicollet ave s., Burnsville, will pres-ent shamrOCks and she-nanigans, an all-day rock ’n’ roll irish celebration on March 17, st. patrick’s Day. performances will include Momentary Lapse of Floyd, ipso Facto, wishful sinful featuring Jef Cerniak, saints of Circumstance and more. a pool party will begin at 3 p.m. with a special musical guest. all-night music in the ballroom will start at 5:30 p.m. with doors opening at 5 p.m. Tickets are available at www.jambasetickets.com, $10 in advance, $15 at the show. adults only. a special room rate will be available. Call (952) 435-2100 for more information.

Art Fete opens in Burnsville The Burnsville Visual arts society will hold its 30th annual member art show, art Fete, March 8 through april 14 at the Burnsville performing arts Center, 12600 Nicollet ave. This year’s exhibit will feature the artwork of more than 65 BVas artist mem-bers. artwork on display at

the show can be purchased by calling (952) 895-4685. The exhibit is free and open to the public during gallery hours: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Fri-day and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. saturday.

Top entries in this year’s shamrock Film Festival will be shown saturday, March 10, at the steeple Center in rosemount. The Best of show event runs from 6 to 9 p.m. and fea-tures screenings of winning films in the festival’s various categories, followed by an awards ceremony. admission is $5. The judging this year is being done by a panel of three local filmmaking pro-fessionals, and they’ll be present at the Best of show event to give feedback on

their choices. The festival includes cat-egories for amateur and professional films, local and foreign films, and movies by youths 15 and under. Money, movie tickets and filmmaker-association mem-berships are among the priz-es that will be handed out to winning filmmakers, accord-ing to festival director Beth adams. More about the festival, now in its fourth year, can be found at www.shamrockfilm-fest.com.

photo by submitted

The Dakota Valley Symphony will present Baroque Bash concerts at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Sunday, March 18, at the Burnsville Performing Arts Center, 12600 Nicollet Ave. Baroque music fans will have the opportunity to hear Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 4. Solo pianist Elise Molina, pictured above, will play Bach’s Piano Concerto in F minor. Tickets range from $5 to $15 and can be purchased in person at the box office, or via Ticketmaster at (800) 982-2787 or Ticketmaster.com.

photo submitted

Locklin Road will celebrate the cultural heritage of Ireland with live Irish music in a pub-like setting at the Lakeville Area Arts Center at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, March 17, St. Patrick’s Day. The venue will provide an assortment of Irish-influenced appetizers, dessert, coffee, and a cash bar. Tickets are $15 and are available at the Lakeville Area Arts Center, 20965 Holyoke Ave. Advance purchase is recommended. Call (952) 985-4640 for more information.

theater and arts briefs

A bit of the Irish

Bach featured at Baroque Bash

Shamrock Film Fest’s mainevent is Saturday, March 10 photo submitted

Home Free’s family-oriented concerts feature classic and contemporary hits, performed with only the human voice and microphones. The a cappella group covers songs by bands ranging from the Beatles and the Beach Boys to Jason Mraz and Train.


by Matthew HankeyThisweek Newspapers

rosemount native Dan McCarty has finally found a way to merge his military, police and writing experi-ence into one. McCarty, who graduated in the first class at eastview high school in 1999 – joined the Minnesota army National Guard that same year and served out of west st. paul, completing two full-time call-ups. McCarty worked at the Minneapolis-st. paul in-ternational airport for eight months following the sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the world Trade Center in New York City, providing security augmentation for the airport. afterward, he served an 11-month deploy-ment in kosovo in late 2003 and early 2004. McCarty was honorably discharged as a sergeant in 2005. in september 2005, Mc-Carty was hired by the eagan police Department and has served there for more than six years. Through all his life expe-riences, McCarty has main-

Military, law enforcement work merges on paperRosemount native, Eagan police officer writes first novel

photo submitted

Eagan Police Officer Dan McCarty shared some time with children in Lescovika, Kosovo, in early 2004 while serving with the Minnesota Army National Guard in the country in early 2004.

tained a passion for creative writing, but did not always have the time to pursue it until recently. McCarty self-published his first novel, “a soldier reborn,” with the help of the edina-based Beaver press in November 2011. McCarty, 30, lives in Lakeville with his wife and two young boys. he took time recently to answer a few questions about his first novel. What made you decide to write your first novel? i began reading suspense novels at a young age. i loved the idea of getting en-grossed in the story and fol-lowing along with the twists and turns. after six years in the military and six years as a police officer i felt i had enough experience to try and fabricate a unique sto-ry and write it in the voice of someone who has lived through some amazing ex-periences. In a nutshell, what is the book about? The book is about a spe-cial forces soldier, william Connelly, who is mortally

wounded during a raid on a terrorist compound. his dying body is flown back to america where he un-dergoes a top-secret surgery that implants his brain into a donor body. Five years lat-er a police detective investi-gates a murder that uncov-ers the top-secret program. with his life in danger, he must survive long enough to solve the murder and dis-cover what really happened to Connelly. How did your experiences in law enforcement, the mili-tary and as an emergency medical technician shape this book? The book is a mix of military action, law enforce-ment action/investigation and medical science-fiction. as a former fire team leader in the army infantry, i used my training and experience to shape the military ac-tion using real methods and language. as a crime scene technician and police offi-cer, i employed basic crime scene techniques with in-vestigative reality to create a realistic investigation and my time as an eMT helped

me shape the lethality of certain wounds and some medical terminology used in the book. What has been the feed-back so far from friends, family and other readers of the book? what has impressed me most about the feedback has been the general audi-ence’s reaction to the book. i wrote the book for the enjoyment of fellow offi-cers and military veterans, but i’ve had great response from both males and fe-males from all walks of life. Most people have a hard time putting down the book

and my two biggest com-plaints are people getting engrossed in the book and people wanting more books. Do you have plans to write a second or follow-up novel? The story of william Connelly is only one-third of the way complete. when i started writing the story i had no idea how long the book would be. i knew most novels come in around 300 pages so i aimed to stop writing at that point and i feel like i have another two-thirds to go. i believe this book will be the first of a trilogy about william Con-nelly and i plan to write ad-

Dan McCarty

ditional novels after the tril-ogy is complete. “a soldier reborn” by Dan McCarty is available for purchase at local Barnes & Noble Bookstores and beaverspondbooks.com, barnesandnoble.com and amazon.com. e-versions of the book are available on amazon.com and barne-sandnoble.com.

Matthew Hankey is a com-munity editor for Sun News-papers.

“(education) is so impor-tant because they are going to be taking care of us when we get old,” said Gibbons, who directed fundraisers while serving on the Cedar park elementary school Fi-nance Committee. she views stable funding for k-12 and higher educa-tion as investments in job creation as local employers get skilled workers. she is concerned about the rising cost of tuition as state funding has been reduced to the Minnesota state Colleges and Univer-sities system. “every kid should be able to afford college and they shouldn’t have to break the bank to do it,” she said. another focus of Gib-bons’ campaign will be on job creation. she said the state needs to work with MnsCU colleges to make sure they are offering the kinds of programs and de-grees that employers will re-quire. “when i was on the door steps of people in the cam-paign, one overriding theme i heard from people is get-ting jobs,” Gibbons said. Job creation and re-tentionare keys to solving many current problems, ac-cording to Gibbons. when more people are

working, Gibbons said, it reduces the tax burden on everyone, it helps support local businesses because people now have money to spend, and home ownership increases to fuel the proper-ty-tax base, which funds lo-cal governments. she said she supports Gov. Mark Dayton’s idea of funding road and other construction projects as a way to create jobs. in response to the criti-cism that such job creation is only temporary, Gibbons said construction work is already a cyclical kind of employment and the sector needs a bridge to when she says the economy will im-prove. Gibbons will be taking her message to the delegates of 57a, which now includes a south portion of apple Valley and a northeast por-tion of Lakeville. it’s a demographic that is largely the same as the old 37a that she served as a senate District party leader. she’s hoping that familiar-ity will help her as the cam-paign takes shape. Thisweek Newspapers will run a series of stories about local political candi-dates in the coming weeks, including Mack.

Tad Johnson is at [email protected].

Gibbons/from 1A

police say a 47-year-old apple Valley man is facing possible criminal charges after pulling a knife on offi-cers dispatched to his home on a report that he was sui-cidal. police arrived at the home on the 8700 block of west 135th st. at about 3:30 p.m. Feb. 22 and confronted the man as he was exiting the

garage. he got into a verbal altercation with the officers when they ordered him to stop, and when he turned to face them he flipped open a knife, according to police. Officers used a Taser on the man, but it proved inef-fective because he was wear-ing a heavy jacket, police said. after the Taser was de-

ployed, however, the man surrendered without further incident and was transport-ed to regions hospital in st. paul for psychological evaluation. apple Valley police have forwarded the incident re-port to the Dakota County attorney’s Office for pos-sible criminal charges.

—Andrew Miller

Robertson Capt. Colin robertson and his wife, Capt. kath-erine robertson, recently returned to Germany fol-lowing a 12-month tour of duty in afghanistan. Both are members of the U.s. army’s 170th infan-try Brigade Combat Team stationed at Baumholder, Germany. Colin robert-son is a 2002 graduate of apple Valley high school and is the son of Frank and Tamara robertson, apple Valley.

Ingebritson to be deployed

Lt. Jacob Ingebritson

Taser used on man who pulled knife on police Service News

KCs host fish fry The rosemount knights of Columbus will host fish fry suppers Fridays, March 16 and 30, at st. Joseph Church, 13900 Biscayne ave. w., rosemount. start time will be approximately 6 p.m. The menu will include fresh fish and a variety of fixings. a free-will offering will be accepted.

Book drive starting Donations are needed for the second annual Friends of robert Trail Library Book Drive to be held april 19-21. Books, CDs and DVDs may be dropped off through april 13 at the robert Trail Library (lobby) and the fol-lowing businesses: Fireside restaurant, suzi’s kitchen restaurant, starbucks and Caribou. receipts will be available.

Lt. Jacob inge-britson, an apple Valley high school graduate, is an apache pilot with the Utah National Guard. after a few more weeks at Ft. hood, Texas, his unit will be de-ployed to afghani-stan until January 2013.

District hosts fair District 196 high schools will host an education Fair from 4 to 6:30 p.m. Thurs-day, March 22, in the stu-dent Commons at eastview high school, 6200 140th st. w., apple Valley. attendance is free and is open to all District 196 high school students and par-ents, as well as families from other area high schools.

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