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PRIOR LAKE
SATURDAY, JULY 30, 2011
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AMERICAN Residents struggle to understand roadway plan CR21/Arcadia design causes frustration PHOTO BY LORI CARLSON
Dylan Finley, 17, put his lifeguard training to good use on July 22 by saving his uncle from drowning in Loveless Lake in Balsam Lake, Wis.
Teen rescues drowning uncle BY LORI CARLSON editor@plamerican.com
L
oveless Lake is a bit of a misnomer, considering the heroic act 17-yearold Dylan Finley did there for his beloved uncle. Kevin Finley of Forest Lake – Dylan’s uncle – never imagined a lake would take him down, especially since he’d already survived a year of chemotherapy for a brain tumor. But on July 22 at the family cabin on Loveless Lake in Balsam Lake, Wis., Kevin had a brush with death. Dylan, fresh from lifeguard
t rai ni ng, was f loating on an inner tube with a c ou si n , R i ley. Five other teenagers – including Dylan‘s 14-year-old sister Kayla, plus cousins and friends – were Kevin at the cabin, and Finley Kevin was the only adult there at the time. Kevin had planned to take the kids tubing and jumped in the lake for a quick dip. “He has done that a thousand times,” said Kevin’s wife, Julie.
Finley to page 6 ®
Defense, prosecutor argue over upward sentence in murder case Maddox cruelty, concealment cited BY SHANNON FIECKE sfiecke@swpub.com
Was Charles Anthony “Tony” Maddox Jr. exceptionally cruel in the manner in which he killed his estranged wife, Shakopee Valley News reporter Ruth Anne Maddox, amid their bitter divorce in November 2008? Scott County District Cour t Judge Jerome Abrams will wrestle with that question as he considers prosecutors’ request that he sentence Maddox to a prison term longer than the state sentencing guidelines recommended for second-
degree murder. The Scott County Attorney’s Office is seeking an upward departure of up to 40 years, also because of a pur por ted lack of remorse and because Maddox tried to conceal his Charles crime. Maddox State sentencing guidelines for second-degree mu rder ca l l for a prison ter m ranging from nearly 22 years to about 30½ years. (A defendant can be granted supervised release after serving two-thirds of the sentence).
Maddox to page 6 ®
BY LORI CARLSON editor@plamerican.com
About 35 residents – many frustrated and some obviously angry – attended an informational meeting on Tuesday on the planned reconstruction of County Road 21 and Arcadia Avenue. Arcadia has long been pegged as the future full access into downtown Prior Lake off CR21. An extension of Arcadia south to Colorado Street, and a signal and turn lanes, are planned, with construction to begin as early as next spring. The cost is estimated at $3 million. Since 2003, county engineers and consultants have said Main Avenue eventually will cease to function as a main entrance to downtown, as traffic stacks up from CR21’s nearby intersection with state Highway 13. But despite years of warnings, many residents aren’t convinced the traffic will get as gridlocked as studies have claimed. A 2005 corridor study estimated traffic counts up to 30,000 cars per day on CR21 through downtown Prior Lake by the year 2030. Scott County Commissioner Barbara Marschall, who attended the meeting, said engineers and city leaders need to do a better job of explaining why Arcadia was chosen as the future access to downtown. “I don’t think it’s been explained well,” she said. “We need to tell people what is the benefit, what the purpose of this is.” Marschall said from the county’s perspective, safety is a major factor in adding a signal and turn lanes at Arcadia and CR21. Don Sterna, a project manager for WSB and Associates, which the city hired to do the fi nal intersection design, said Arcadia always has been the most obvious choice for full access to downtown Prior Lake when Main can no longer handle the traffic due to
PHOTO BY LORI CARLSON
Pat Heaney (left), who lives on Pleasant Street in downtown Prior Lake, talks with Don Sterna of WSB and Associates, the firm designing the CR21 and Arcadia intersection. backups from the 13/21 intersection. “Arcadia has jumped out as the place where we want to put in a new intersection,” Sterna said. “[Engineers] studied where to logically place access points.” Sterna and City Engineer Larry Poppler explained that as traffic gets backed up at 13 and 21, Main Avenue also gets congested.
CR21/Arcadia to page 6 ®
“I don’t think it’s been explained well. We need to tell people what is the benefit, what the purpose of this is.” Barbara Marschall Scott County Commissioner
Motorcyclist charged in high-speed chase A 19-year-old Lakeville man has been charged after leading police on a high-speed chase on his motorcycle through three different cities. On July 20 at about 3:25 p.m., a Prior Lake police officer clocked Aaron Schmitz going 136 mph on his motorcycle on County Road 42, a 55 mph zone. The officer signaled for Schmitz to stop, but instead Schmitz made a U-turn around the officer and began going east on County Road 42. The officer then also made a U-turn and began to catch up with Schmitz, who reportedly looked over
his shoulder and then accelerated even more. Schmitz was driving down the center white line in fairly heavy traffic, causing vehicles to pull to the side of the road, according to the report. He then blew through a red light at County Road 42 and Highway 13 in Savage. Police in Savage then began pursuing Schmitz. After going through another red light and nearly causing an accident, Schmitz arrived at Buck Hill Road in Burnsville, where he hit a curb and was thrown into a grassy area.
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Schmitz got up and proceeded to flee on foot to a wooded area. He eventually tried to hide under a deck at an apartment building, then tried to run up a hill until he fell and slid down it. Schmitz was then arrested and taken to Fairview Ridges Hospital in Burnsville, where he received stitches for an injury to his right elbow. He was transported to Scott County Jail. Schmitz has been charged with fleeing an officer in a motor vehicle and reckless driving. Alex Hall
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