Bloomington
CURRENT minnlocal.com
June 23, 2011 • V41.25
In the Community, With the Community, For the Community
‘Cinderella’ season. Page 28
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Watching the skies, sounding the warning BY ROXI REJALI • CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Promoting peace ... Riders participating in the Tail Feather Woman peace ride make their way through Bloomington’s streets to Pond-Dakota Mission Park June 17 for Weekly lunch and rest. The group had been riding for more than a week from northeastern South Dakota to participate in the World Peace and Prayer Day Super Savings! ceremonies in Mendota. (Photos by Mike Hanks • Sun Newspapers)
Riding into Bloomington on horseback BY MIKE HANKS • SUN NEWSPAPERS They arrived by horseback with little fanfare, but attracting plenty of attention from those mowing their lawns and driving home from the grocery store. A Native American group found its way to Pond-Dakota Mission Park June 17, one of many stops on their journey from Pickerel Lake in north-
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Weekly Super Savings! eastern South Dakota. The riders, led by Chief Arvol Looking Horse, gathered June 5 and began their horseback journey the following day, heading east toward their destination of Mendota for International World Peace and Prayer Day, an annual W e to e k1996. ly Super S event that dates back The birth of the sacred white buffalo, “Miracle,” in 1994 was a signal to the Dakota, Lakota and Nakota com-
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munities of the prophecies that were spoken generations ago, about a time that the earth would be changing and the hope of mending all nations, according to the event website. Looking Horse, a spiritual leader, was directed to begin a spiritual joura ney v i .n g s !
S u p e r
PEACE MISSION: TO PAGE 24
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When skies turn dark and stormy, Mark Bloedow is on weather alert. As a severe storm spotter for the National Weather Service, Bloedow watches the skies for tornadoes, strong winds and hail and transmits his reports using a handheld, two-way radio. “You can’t change the weather, you can’t stop it,” he said. “Why not try and learn something from it?” Bloedow is prepared for any stormspotting emergency. A pager attached to his belt alerts him to weather warnings and a weather alert radio is switched on at night at his Burnsville home. When severe weather develops, he carries a “go bag,” a small backpack stocked with weather-spotting essentials. That includes two-way radios, spare batteries, a flashlight, bottled water and a pocket weather tracker that measures temperature, humidity, dew point and wind speed with a tiny built-in propeller. “If I need to go, I know where everything is, in one spot,” said Bloedow, 51, a self-described weather geek. STORM SPOTTER: TO PAGE 12