Like coming home all over again Traditional homecoming events include Monday coronation
Return of a yummy event
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Top culinary expert comes to local high school
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JORDAN
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2011
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INDEPENDENT Iran releases two American hikers
COOL JOBS: MIKE RIKER, WILDLAND FIREFIGHTER
Bauer, Fattal spent two years in prison for alleged spying BY KRISTIN HOLTZ kholtz@swpub.com
ONLY THE
TOUGH NEED APPLY SUBMITTED PHOTOS
No computer, no cell phone, 16- to 20-hour days of manual labor in smoke, wind, rain and heat. Jordan High School senior Mike Riker found his calling. Inset – This controlled burn was performed by Mike Riker’s North Star Fire Crew in Alaska. Many of the firefighters in the crew advance to Hotshot crews, like those deployed last week to fight a northern Minnesota wildfire.
Jordan High School senior’s summer job could fuel his career fighting wildfires BY DAVID SCHUELLER dschueller@swpub.com
T
he wildland firefighters worked fast with chainsaws. If they didn’t, fire could get out in front of their crew of about a dozen, putting them in danger. Among them was Mike Riker, an 18-year-old Jordan High School football player and wrestler chosen to be part of the North Star Fire Crew in Alaska.
The crew often spent two to three weeks at a time in the Alaskan wilderness after flying into isolation to work 16- to 20hour shifts cutting wide swaths through the forest to rob a blaze of the fuel to rage on. Firefighters subsisted mostly on military-style ready-to-eat meals, carrying 50-pound packs, striking camp around 3 miles from their saw lines. “Sometimes the nearest road’s 100 miles away,” Riker said.
Only the physically and mentally tough can make it and thrive in such a crew, where members deal with what Riker called “long hours, little sleep and crappy food.” Some firefighters “broke” and had to be taken back to civilization. “They’d get sent back,” he said. Not Riker. This was pretty close to his dream job.
The mayor’s proposal to pull the mercury-fi lled teeth of the deceased grew legs but didn’t fly. On Monday, Senior City Planner Joe Janish presented a proposed city ordinance defi ning a funeral home. The ordinance would allow a crematory as an accessory use to a funeral home, which is a conditional use in downtown Jordan. Almost immediately after discussion opened, the council struck
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down the Jordan Planning Commission’s proposal to require funeral homes to pull amalgam fillings (those containing mercury) before cremations. This is the second time such a measure has made its way to the council table – it was
BY DAVID SCHUELLER dschueller@swpub.com
Tests to page 6
No teeth-pulling necessary after council discussion
“The case is over. The court has ordered that they be freed on bail.” Masoud Shafiei Attorney for Shane Bauer, the jailed hiker whose father lives near Jordan
Students see more letters in math classes
Crematory to page 8
CREMATORY
Josh Fattal
Emphasis on algebra might be paying off
originally suggested by Mayor Pete Ewals and turned down during the conditional-use permit (CUP) process for Reflections Crematory, which is located in Ballard-Sunder Funeral Home. Advocates for the funeral home successfully argued against the proposed requirement, which the pl a n ni ng com mission c a l led a compromise with residents who spoke at a Tuesday, Sept. 13, public hearing.
Wildfires to page 27
Shane Bauer
STANDARDIZED TESTS
There was an X factor in last spring’s round of state testing, and it equaled algebra. Last year, eighth-graders were required to take algebra. Fittingly, a new version of the state math test included more algebra. Jordan eighth-g rade students ended up surpassing the state average on the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment-III (MCA-III) tests: 66.41 percent earned a proficient score on the math test, compared to 53.27 of eighth-graders statewide. “They did great work, and they are significantly above state average,” Jordan Curriculum Director Carol Lagergren said. Lagergren said the district is also pleased with the math results in general, although not every grade level bested the state average and more work is needed in some areas. Jordan High School’s 11th-graders lagged below state test scores in math, at 37.5 percent proficient compared to the state’s 48.59 percent, in a similar margin to last year. In reading, the district as a whole again showed higher scores than the state, and compared similarly to district scores the previous year.
Editor’s note: This is an occasional series focusing on residents’ interesting, unusual or even oddball occupations.
BY MATHIAS BADEN editor@jordannews.com
The Associated Press is reporting that two Americans jailed as spies in Iran were released from prison Wednesday. Reporters saw vehicles of Swiss and Omani diplomats leave the Tehran prison, where Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal have been in custody for more than two years. They headed to Tehran International Air por t, according to the Associated Press. T he hi kers’ I ra ni a n at tor ney said earlier Wednesday a $1 million bail-forfreedom deal had been approved by the courts, clearing the way for the release of the men. “The case is over,” Masoud Shafiei said. “The court has ordered that they be freed on bail.” Bauer’s father, Al, lives in Sand Creek Township. His voice mail was full Wednesday morning.
INSIDE OPINION/4 OUR SCHOOLS/5-6 PUBLIC SAFETY/7 SPORTS/10-11 DAYBOOK/12 CALENDAR/13 TO REACH US SUBSCRIBE: (952) 345-6683 EDITOR: (952) 345-6571 OR E-MAIL EDITOR@JORDANNEWS.COM.
Compare the numbers on reading tests This graph shows the percentage of students in all tested grades who met proficiency standards on the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment-II (MCA-II) test in reading. Students in Jordan are compared to the statewide average. In the seven grade levels tested, 881 students took the test in Jordan. 80%
78.5 ● 75.1
75%
●
75.6 ●
●
72.6 ●
70%
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●
●
65% 20072008
20082009
20092010
Jordan
20102011 State
Source: Minnesota Department of Education Complete results are available on the Minnesota Department of Education’s Web site, www. education.state.mn.us.
VOL. 128, NO. 20 © SOUTHWEST NEWSPAPERS
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