Forgot a – bleeat! – hair there, partner
Please, don’t eat the daisies
Family organizes first goat show over the weekend, drawing goats and owners from far and wide
Students take pride in the gardens they help maintain behind a Jordan school
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JORDAN
THURSDAY, JULY 7, 2011
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www.jordannews.com
INDEPENDENT HOTEL MARKETING
Three years to save paradise The feel of a public park is a goal of the new management. The orchard opens Aug. 1, and visitors are invited. Top left – With the orchard open again this fall, sweetness can be expected – and some tartness, depending on the apple. Top center – The iconic logo appears on a freshly painted wall on the main building. Top right – These apples are just entering their fawn stage – white spots in their youth. PHOTOS BY DAVID SCHUELLER
T
he memory of one man looms large in the rows of apple trees and buildings at Minnesota Harvest apple orchard. John “Topper” Sponsel, who passed away from a heart attack during a 2006 hiking trip, ran the orchard – and for many epitomized the family-oriented generosity that they found there over the years. Memories, in general, may help keep the orchard from becoming a housing development, as people who remember visiting the orchard as children come back with children of their own.
Orchard to page 17 ®
Minnesota Harvest continues into 2011: By the numbers
280 30,000 27 3
3
years for the new management to get the orchard up to speed
acres
tiers to a fireplace in the main building that’s under renovation or so miles is the orchard’s distance from Jordan (at 8251 Old Highway 169 Blvd., St. Lawrence Township)
N Minnesota Harvest St. Lawrence Township
Jordan
Graphic by Lorris Thornton
Hanging on for dear life Police pull teen from Lagoon Park waterfall using new ResQ Disc BY DAVID SCHUELLER dschueller@swpub.com
A na r row rescue on Monday, June 27 prevented a swimmer from being swept over the Lagoon Park waterfall. At around 3 p.m. a call came in to the Jordan Police Department reporting that a girl was about to go over the falls in Sand Creek. When officers and the Jordan Fire Department responded, a teenage girl was hanging onto a log at the edge of the falls, the current swift after recent rainfall.
Rescue to page 6 ®
Jordan wi l l throw another $ 3,50 0 to Hospitality Marketers Inc. consultants when they update a market study meant to encourage hotel development in town. On Tuesday, the Jordan City Cou nci l voted 6 - 0 to fol low a Jordan Economic Development Authority (EDA) recommendation to refresh the city’s hotel market study. Councilmember Mike Shaw was absent from the meeting. Two years ago, the EDA and Jordan City Administrator Ed Shukle got serious about drawing a hotel to the city, releasing a market study that affi rmed that Jordan could support a $3 million, 50-room, brand-name hotel. “Right now, we’re trying to get one,” Shukle said, “and (the study) is extremely valuable.” HMI’s phase-one study identified two key areas of Jordan’s Triangle business district – the former site of the Trimart gas station, or another piece of land near the intersection of Seville Drive and Creek Lane – as the most attractive potential sites for a hotel. It recommended the size, style and amount of investment. The city-commissioned study said that the nearby attractions – such as the Renaissance Festival, Scott County Fair, Heimatfest, apple orchards, baseba l l and other sports tournaments and the Jordan Art Festival, among other things – would help any new hotel business become viable.
Hotel to page 17 ®
varieties of apples
2
BY MATHIAS BADEN editor@jordannews.com
or more trees
Aberdeen Ave.
BY DAVID SCHUELLER dschueller@swpub.com
Your backyard orchard
Delaware Ave.
Apple orchard’s fate depends on the people working to turn the place around – and visitors
2-year-old info needs refresher
PHOTO BY DAVID SCHUELLER
Without this device and the strong arm of the law, a swimmer could have been swept over the waterfall. Jordan Police Officer Shane Schultz demonstrates how a ResQ Disc was thrown into Sand Creek in an emergency on Monday, June 27.
INSIDE OPINION/4 PUBLIC SAFETY/5-6 SPORTS/8-9 CALENDAR/10 OUR SCHOOLS/21 DAYBOOK/22 TO REACH US SUBSCRIBE: (952) 345-6683 EDITOR: (952) 345-6571 OR E-MAIL EDITOR@JORDANNEWS.COM.
Open the book on proposals for new library BY MATHIAS BADEN editor@jordannews.com
Read it, and believe it: Jordan has an offer on the table for financing a new, larger library. After years of talk and inaction on the inadequacies of its library, the Jordan City Council set up a meeting with the Scott County Community Development Agency’s Bill Jaffa and Scott County Administrator Gary Shelton, who are offering to help the city fund the construction of a new facility. A workshop will take place at the end of summer. “As part of the same meeting, other options would be discussed,” City Administrator Ed Shukle wrote in a memorandum to the council. “For your information, the SCCDA recently purchased all four lots owned by Charles Vig at Seville Drive and Creek Lane. This transaction is set to close on July 31, 2011. SCCDA is working with St. Francis (Regional Medical Center) to locate its clinic in the proposed senior living facility or to have a stand-alone building on the property with a connection to the housing project. St. Francis is considering these options but also is looking at other sites within the city.
Library to page 17 ®
VOL. 128, NO. 9 © SOUTHWEST NEWSPAPERS