Your Wellness
Scott County Senior Expo
The essential guide to a healthier you
Blue-ribbon baker will headline event
Inside
Page 20
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SATURDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2011
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Foreclosure: Employment is No. 1 factor
Former Marine hopes book will help troops stay positive BY FORREST ADAMS fadams@swpub.com
Prior Lake resident Erik Therwanger served four years in the U.S. Marine Corps and got out in 1991, but there isn’t a day that goes by when he doesn’t dwell on the lessons he learned. For over 20 years, Therwanger has dedicated his life to the leadership training he received in the Corps. Now, having self-published three books and developed what he calls “a formula” for success, Therwanger says it’s time to get his third book, “The GOAL Formula: Completing the Big Picture of Your Life,” into the hands of everyone currently serving in the U.S. military. He’s just looking for a few good men, women and children to help him make it happen.
Upcoming Foreclosure Clinic aims to dispel myths, focus on solutions BY AMY LYON editor@savagepacer.com
Foreclosure factors
Until recently, subprime mortgages were pointed out as the central culprit in the majority of Minnesota mortgage delinquencies. A subprime mortgage is often characterized by high interest rates, unfavorable terms and, in many cases, awarded to an individual who will likely have difficulty with repayment. The blame has shifted, though, and unemployment and underemployment are the chief complaints in 60 percent of the home foreclosures in Minnesota, according to 2010 statistics compiled by the Minnesota Home Ownership Center. Payment increases related to adjustable-rate mortgages and tax increases account for only 6 percent of the mortgage defaults. “The Minnesota Home Ownership Center reported in 2010 that 90 percent of people getting services had prime mortgages, and only 10 percent had subprime mortgages,” said Melissa Hansen, homeownership coordinator for the Scott County Community Development Agency. “There has been a big shift.”
LOCAL HELP Carver and Scott counties are working in tandem to curb home foreclosures by offering foreclosure prevention services. Citizens of Scott County previously received foreclosure prevention services through the Carver County Community Development Agency (CDA); however, the agencies are currently in the process of transitioning foreclosure prevention and
Statistics from 2010 reveal that Minnesota homeowners overwhelmingly attribute default on their homes to unemployment or underemployment. 60 percent: unemployment or underemployment
THE FORMULA
12 percent: money management 9 percent: death or divorce 8 percent: medical expenses 6 percent: payment increase
The GOAL Formula is a system Therwanger developed to help him and his wife, Gina (Crosby), overcome hardships. It employs an
PHOTO BY FORREST ADAMS
Erik Therwanger is the founder of The Think Great Collection and author of “The GOAL Formula,” a book he hopes to get into the hands of all service members with the help of sponsors.
Goal to page 6 ®
5 percent: other factors Source: Minnesota Home Ownership Center
counseling services for Scott County residents to the Scott County CDA. During the transition, Scott County homeowners can be served by either the Scott County CDA or the Carver County CDA, but cannot be served by both. A Foreclosure Clinic will be held at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 27 at the Savage Library. “The clinic is open to everyone in both Scott and Carver counties,” said Mary Freyberg, manager of the Scott County Law Library. “We have found that people sometimes travel a bit farther from home to attend a clinic that might be embarrassing to meet a neighbor at.” Hansen will explain the foreclosure process in Minnesota and the rights of homeowners.
Foreclosure to page 3 ®
Heroin seized during high school search BY FORREST ADAMS fadams@swpub.com
A canine search of cars in the Prior Lake High School parking lot on the morning of Oct. 7 yielded heroin, marijuana, alcohol, tobacco and prescription drugs. An 18-year-old female student was arrested and jailed for fi fth-degree possession of heroin as a result of the sweep. This was the first time a drug search at PLHS has uncovered illegal drugs other than marijuana, according to Savage Police Captain David Muelken. Prior Lake High School Principal Dave Lund said school administration is interpreting the heroin discovery as an isolated incident.
PHOTO BY FORREST ADAMS
Prior Lake High School parking lot Muelken agreed, noting that only a “trace amount” of the drug was found. With it were tinfoil and a straw, both of which indicate personal use of the drug and no intent to distribute it to other students.
Muelken said he has not seen evidence that heroin is becoming a problem in the high school or in any other area high schools.
Heroin to page 12 ®
Local schools embrace positive reinforcement, offer rewards BY MERYN FLUKER mfluker@swpub.com
PHOTO BY MERYN FLUKER
A FIRE poster decorates the halls of Eagle Ridge Junior High, reminding students of positive behaviors: focus, integrity, responsibility and excellence.
Eagle Ridge Junior High School is an inferno. Throughout the halls are signs with the word “fi re” decorated with flames. But this fire isn’t a blaze, it’s an acronym: “focus, integrity, responsibility and excellence.” Eagle Ridge is just one of the local schools implementing Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS), an educational framework used to encourage, recognize and reward good behavior. “What we’re trying to do is change behavior so kids can learn more,” said Eagle Ridge Principal Donald
Leake. “If PBIS can keep our students in class, then we’ve succeeded on that front,” added science teacher Kerry Hoeschen, who is on the school’s PBIS team. PBIS works through a system of modeling, setting expectations and then rewarding students for exhibiting expected behavior. At Eagle Ridge, this is all exemplified in the FIRE theme – which came from Nicollet Junior High School, another Burnsville-Eagan-Savage School District building using PBIS. Burnsville High School has also jumped on the FIRE bandwagon. “We get students from Nicollet
and teachers who teach at both buildings,” Hoeschen said. “I think, as we go through the years, it will be nice to have that consistency.” “Having that consistency is always good for kids,” Leake added. “You don’t have to teach them new expectations.” The house areas at Eagle Ridge have bulletin boards adorned with FIRE posters, designed to concisely and explicitly tell students what types of behavior are appropriate and expected in various areas of the building – including the hallways, cafeteria and bathrooms. Then comes the fun part. When staff members see students
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exhibiting FIRE behavior, they can reward the students with FIRE cards – little slips of paper praise. Students can then redeem the tickets at the school’s FIRE Store. Similar to the prize counter at an arcade, the FIRE Store contains items – all donated – that students can get for certain amounts of FIRE cards. These gifts include having a teacher bring a student a Starbucks drink or make a student homemade brownies, or even an autographed photo of Hoeschen. “We try to reach a wide range of students with that,” Hoeschen said of the store. “Some of the kids are
PBIS to page 8 ®
VOL. 18 ISSUE 11 © SOUTHWEST NEWSPAPERS
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