No hiding from anyone
Topping charts, thrice
Alex Hancock and Jordan Jaguars basketball team go on 10-1 roll
Luke Betchwars and Scott West Panthers wrestling bring home three tourney wins from three different states
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JORDAN
THURSDAY, JANUARY 12, 2012
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www.jordannews.com
INDEPENDENT Drivers escape crushing burden of fines Program lets people get licenses back as they pay off delinquent fines Returning to the road can be a costly cycle for drivers who get cited for driving with suspended or revoked licenses.
If they accumulate fines they can’t pay, they might choose to drive anyway to keep a job or pick up their children. If they get caught by police, they accumulate more fines
and lessen their ability to pay. Meanwhile, governments looking to collect on the fines sometimes never see the money. In Scott County and in several cities including
Jordan, a private, for-profit company called Diversion Solutions has been asked to step in to make sure all the parties settle up. Drivers who are accepted into the Driving Diversion
AS SEEN AT HALFTIME
Districts staying put may help cooperative get out of statutory operating debt
With $604,000, city can connect ‘trail to nowhere’ BY MATHIAS BADEN editor@jordannews.com
With another $ 604,000, the city of Jordan can connect up its trail to nowhere. A $100,000 state grant will go toward completing a longawaited, piecemealed trail project extending from Aberdeen Avenue to Highway 21, following Old Highway 169 (aka County Road 66). This month, City Administrator Ed Shukle touted Senior City Planner Joe Janish’s work on the grant, the award of which was announced in a letter last month from Courtland Nelson, director of the parks and trails division of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR).
Define debt The Minnesota Department of Education defines SOD as the following: Districts and charter schools exceed their expenditure limitations when their net unreserved general fund operating fund balance (NUGFB) at year end (June 30) is a negative amount that exceeds 2.5 percent of their unreserved/ undesignated operating expenditures. Units that exceed this operating debt limitation are in statutory operating debt (SOD).
BY DAVID SCHUELLER dschueller@swpub.com
Dramatic cuts, a building sale and district user fees could be on the horizon for a local educational cooperative that’s running $1 million in the red. The Carver-Scott Educational Cooperative is in statutory operating debt (SOD), a serious budget situation that could force member districts, including Jordan, to make changes or even help pay. “We’re not just in statutory operating debt. We’re hunkered down,” Executive Director Darren Kermes said.
PHOTO BY RON MORNSON
Jordan Adrenaline Dance Team performs a high kick routine during halftime at a recent basketball game. “It’s a lot different than any other sport,” said Coach Katie Herrmann, a former member of Belle Plaine’s Explosion dance team. “Unlike basketball or other team sports, everybody does the same thing.” In its first year of existence, the dance team has two of its three competitions remaining on its schedule and more halftime shows on the docket. Members of the dance team are: seniors Kallie Trutnau and Rilee Cole; juniors Sierra Degree, Allison Mediger, Emily Soeffker, Emily Schmitz, Ashleyn Moriarty and Lizzie Hagen; sophomores Hannah Hofstad and Mandy Krautkremer; and freshmen Crista Lambrecht, Megan Kelly, Merada Greeson, Ashley Koenig, Kaelie Bronk, Selena Rios and Abbie Lewis. Not pictured are freshmen team members Abi Thorn, Lizzy Lloyd and Sarah Dorey, as well as coach Herrmann. I TO SEE THE DANCE TEAM COMPETITION SCHEDULE, GO TO PAGE 14.
Trails to page 7 ®
I How in the red is the CarverScott Educational Cooperative? It’s at about a 12 percent negative amount.
Debt to page 5 ®
Streetlight topples onto parked vehicle BY DAVID SCHUELLER dschueller@swpub.com
Soundly constructed fiberglass lamp poles do not generally fall down without cause. So why did a lamp pole fall on a parked vehicle in the 300 block of S. Broadway St. on Dec. 26 during high winds? T h e a n s we r i nvolve s more than weather. Jordan Public Works Director Dave Bendzick said someone likely hit the pole before it fell. “They don’t fall over unless someone hits them,” Bendzick said. There looked to be prior damage to the pole, he said. It’s a rare to have poles fall in the fi rst place, he said, and also rare that a person who hits a pole decides to report the damage.
Fines to page 10 ®
Carver-Scott wallows in debt
BICYCLE TRAILS
$100,000 grant goes 3/4 mile
the program have acquired numerous citations, to the point that it’s beyond their ability to pay without a payment plan. The average is eight citations, totaling $1,700, he said.
Map changes affect funding for Valley View Drive, bridge
Jordan’s Municipal State Aid Street System 9 169 Ervin Industrial Blvd. Valley View Dr. Syndicate St.
BY MATHIAS BADEN editor@jordannews.com
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Strike one: likely a vehicle. Strike two: high wind. And, strike three meant a fallen pole and damage to a parked sports-utility vehicle on Dec. 26. “Then they would have to pay $2,500 to fi x the light pole. That’s why they don’t call,” Bendzick said. Luckily, nobody was injured when it fell. The Jordan
Police Department reported no injuries after responding to the call around 11 a.m. “That wind was pretty strong that day,” Bendzick said.
195th St.
A city cannot stop semi-trailers from using the roads designated on its Municipal State Aid collector-street system. S o t h i s mont h , Jor d a n changed its official MSA map to ref lect its intent to limit potential gravel-truck traffic on Valley View Drive, should a proposed gravel pit in Sand Creek Township come to fruition. Valley View Drive is no longer eligible for MSA funds, nor will it be available as the primary route for gravel trucks coming to or leaving
Fourth St. Triangle Lane Creek Lane
Varner St. Mertens St.
Riverside Lane
City streets designated as Municipal State Aid (MSA) routes
21 Old Highway169
N
MSA to page 7 ®
INSIDE OPINION/4 OUR SCHOOLS/5 DAYBOOK/9 PUBLIC SAFETY/10-11 SPORTS/13-14 CALENDAR/15 TO REACH US SUBSCRIBE: (952) 345-6682 EDITOR: (952) 345-6571 OR E-MAIL EDITOR@JORDANNEWS.COM.
282
First St. Water St. Rice St.
Aberdeen Ave.
BY DAVID SCHUELLER dschueller@swpub.com
program pay an up-front fee of $300, are put on a nointerest payment plan for their fines – with a maximum term of 1-1/2 years – and can get their license back before paying off their fines. Scott Adkisson, president of Diversion Solutions, said most of the people in
Graphic by Lorris Thornton
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