Dakota County
Tribune
Farmington | Rosemount and the surrounding areas www.dakotacountytribune.com
NEWS Rosemount’s changemaker Rosemount High School student Erich Hoffmann was honored at The Arc’s Volunteer Celebration. Page 3A
OPINION Improving schools Columnist Joe Nathan offers four ideas to legislators that he says would improve schools. Page 4A
May 14, 2015 • Volume 130 • Number 11
Fire destroys Farmington home, damages another Four fire departments help by Andy Rogers SUN THISWEEK DAKOTA COUNTY TRIBUNE
Four fire departments and 17 support vehicles responded for a house fire during the early morning hours on May 9 in Farmington. Farmington Police Chief Jim Larsen said people who were jogging discovered the fire at 19826 Devrie Path, banged on the doors and woke the Noland family, who got out safely. “Luckily they were passing by in the neighborhood,” Larsen said. “There were no injuries. We were able to get two of the three cats out. I don’t know if they found the
third, but they said that cat was primarily an outside cat.” There was a vehicle in the garage and two in the driveway, which were leaking gasoline, adding to the flames. The garage fire extended to the house, and the fire became so hot that it spread to the neighbor’s house at 19820 Devrie Path. The first house was deemed a total loss and the family is displaced. Larsen said firefighters were able to retrieved wedding albums and home computing systems from the second home. Both homes’ residents have insurance, Larsen said. The cause of the fire is still under investigation. See FIRE, 7A
A house fire off Devrie Path in Farmington on May 9 destroyed one residential home and damaged another. Four fire departments were on hand to help control the fire and stand by in case of other emergencies. (Photo by Andy Rogers)
THISWEEKEND
School Board wants to get levy questions right District 192 conducting a survey to see where residents stand
Zoo welcomes monk seals Five Hawaiian monk seals will be making their public debut over Memorial Day Weekend at the Minnesota Zoo in Apple Valley. Page 17A
SPORTS
The Rev. Paul Kammen will start as lead pastor at St. Joseph Catholic Church on July 1. Kammen grew up in Minneapolis and Champlin. He said he enjoys spending time with his dog, traveling and nature photography. (Photos submitted)
by Andy Rogers SUN THISWEEK DAKOTA COUNTY TRIBUNE
Goodbye, Father Paul; hello, Father Paul New lead pastor to start at St. Joseph Catholic Church by Tad Johnson SUN THISWEEK DAKOTA COUNTY TRIBUNE
Irish lacrosse competitive The Rosemount boys lacrosse team is ranked fourth in the state. Page 10A
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PUBLIC NOTICE The Dakota County Tribune is an official newspaper of the Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan School District.
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While St. Joseph Catholic Church members will have a new leader in a few weeks, they won’t have to address him any differently than the current lead pastor. The Rev. Paul Jarvis, who has been with the church for the past four years, will be replaced by the Rev. Paul Kammen, who also prefers to be called Father Paul.
Kammen was announced as Jarvis’ successor last week as Jarvis is stepping down at the advice of his doctors who said he needed a calling with reduced stress after having emergency heart surgery in April 2013. Jarvis will start his work as pastor at Christ the King Church in Minneapolis on July 1. “I have been blessed with four years of ministry and friendship within this extended family of St.
Joseph’s,” Jarvis said. “Please keep me in your prayers; I always need them.” In Kammen’s message to St. Joseph parishioners, he said, “I was honored to be asked, and with great joy accepted,” the calling from the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis Archbishop John Nienstedt. Kammen said he has been impressed with all he’s heard and seen See PAUL, 6A
Pitcher back to normal after cancer scare Farmington council member’s chest pains reveal large, rare cancer in chest by Andy Rogers SUN THISWEEK DAKOTA COUNTY TRIBUNE
Tim Pitcher has been a lot of things in his life. An engineer. A husband. A father. A Farmington City Council member. He never thought he’d add “cancer survivor” to the list. But one day while shopping Pitcher started to experience extreme chest pain and shortness of breath. He drove to a clinic in Farmington where he was given some medication and a sonogram of his heart, but the doctors didn’t find anything. An ambulance took him to Fairview Ridges Hospital where a CT scan found a large tumor near his
heart. “I’ve been a picture of health my entire life,” he said. “So this really caught me off guard.” A biopsy at Mayo Tim Pitcher Clinic in Rochester revealed thymoma cancer, a rare cancer of the thymus gland located in the space between the lungs. Surgeons at Mayo Clinic removed the 11-centimeter wide cancerous tumor March 4. Pitcher said he was calm throughout the process. “The entire time leading up to the surgery, I didn’t worry one bit because of my faith in God and my trust in the surgeons,” Pitcher said.
He said he used to worry all the time, but gave it up about 16 years ago. “Nothing good happens from worrying,” he said. Pitcher was thankful doctors caught the cancer at Stage 1. “That was quite a relief,” Pitcher said. “I required no chemotherapy. No radiation. I recovered quite quickly.” It turned out the chest pains were serendipitous. The doctors told Pitcher the chest pains and shortness of breath had nothing to do with the cancer. Most people don’t find out they have thymoma cancer until it’s more advanced, he said. Without the random chest pains, See PITCHER, 6A
The Farmington School District is the midst of putting together three levy questions for the fall election to help with its budget issues. There are two parts to the equation: How much does the district need? How much do they think the voters will approve? The administration and Farmington School Board are trying to find the right numbers. They are hoping to get some answers from voters. The district will survey residents in the coming weeks and present its findings at a June School Board meeting. At Monday’s board meeting, administrators got a feel of where the Farmington School Board was at in terms of numbers. An overriding theme was they wanted to be proactive and ask for enough funds to fill the district’s needs. They didn’t want to keep going back to voters in the future for more. Board members were comfortable surveying the public regarding three potential levy questions that would amount to about $6.8 million per year. Using an average of a $250,000 house, that would increase property taxes by $335 per year, or $28 per month. The three levies would be for technology, facilities and general operations. One unknown variable is what level of school funding the Minnesota Legislature will approve. District 192 is planning See LEVY, 7A