Two murderers face sentences
Home field for Shakopee
Maddox punishment debated, Iracheta gets almost 22 years
Defending state champs, Jordan will square off
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www.shakopeenews.com
THURSDAY, JULY 28, 2011
SHAKOPEE
VALLEY
news
Derby Days 2011 on tap Changes mark annual event
What: Shakopee Derby Days.
Shakopee Derby Days parade route START
When: Wednesday, Aug. 3 to Sunday, Aug. 7. Where: Huber Park and other locations around town. Schedule: See a full schedule of events at shakopeederbydays.com. said Shakopee Derby Days President Jack McGovern. Instead of starting at Shakopee Town Square, the Fairy Tales-themed parade will stage at Sweeney Elementary. It will then run east from Adams Street to Spencer Street. The distance is now less than 2 miles.
FINISH 10th Ave.
Sweeney Elementary Shakopee Junior High
N
Spencer St.
It’s hard to believe, but it’s that time of year again — Shakopee Derby Days 2011. The annual summer festival runs next week, Wed nesday t h rough Sunday, with some changes and new events. Most notable may be the shorter Derby Days parade route, which runs along 10th Avenue. Sunday’s parade route has been shortened from 2.5 miles to a much more manageable walking distance,
If you go…
Adams St.
BY KRISTIN HOLTZ kholtz@swpub.com
Graphic by Lorris Thornton
Parade participants have been requesting a shorter route for years, McGovern said. The new route will avoid the street reconstruction project between west Sixth and 10th avenues.
Derby Days to page 13 ®
Don’t be clueless! Get the first Medallion hint here The annual Derby Days Medallion Hunt, sponsored by the Valley News, starts today. The fi nder will receive a $150 cash prize. The second clue will be published in the Southwest Saturday paper and will be posted on our website (www.shakopeenews.com) at 6 p.m. Saturday. The third clue will appear in next week’s Valley News, and at 6 p.m. Aug. 4 on our website. The fourth and fi nal clue will be posted in several locations at Huber Park by 9 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 6 and at 10 a.m. on our website. The prize, in the shape of a medallion, includes a phone number the finder can call to claim the prize.
Hunters can check to fi nd out if the medallion has been found by logging on to the newspaper website, or by calling (952) 345-7788. Clues must be obtained from the publications or the website; they will not be provided over the phone by the newspaper. The medal lion is located on public property. No digging is required.
Clue No. 1 Let the search begin for the prize you want to win. The medallion you are so eager to find will be on public land with no digging – keep in mind. Brown and green are all I see cross the line and you’ll pay a fee.
County: local taxpayers will pay for state’s folly
YEAR TWO AS HOSTAGES
Dad awaits word on son as trial slated
Expect huge property tax hikes ‘no matter what,’ says Shelton
BY KRISTIN HOLTZ kholtz@swpub.com
On the day marking their two-year anniversary in an Iranian prison, two American hikers will fi nally get their day in court. A July 31 trial date was set for Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal, according to their attorney Masoud Shafii. Bauer and Fattal were arrested July 31, 2009, with Bauer’s fi ancée Sarah Shourd, after allegedly crossing the Iranian border while hiking in northern Iraq. Bauer, 29, the son of Sand Creek Township resident Al Bauer, and Fattal, 29, remain in prison while Shourd was released on bail. “It’s been a hard two years,” Al Bauer said Monday. “We’re just kind of waiting and hoping that this will be over.” Iran has charged the hikers with crossing the border illegally and accused them of espionage. The families, however, say the trio accidentally crossed the border while vacationing in Iraqi Kurdistan. In September, Shourd was released on $500,000 bail. Last month, she told
$1
BY SHANNON FIECKE sfiecke@swpub.com
Sure there were gimmicks, borrowing and school payment shifts, but the state balanced its books without raising taxes. Right? Not so, says Scott County. Without even a drip of new revenue to the county, officials here say the average household would have to pay nearly $60 more in property taxes next year just to pay for the new state budget. The Scott County Board only planned to raise the 2012 tax levy by 0.9 percent, the amount of new construction (so essentially, only new homeowners pay additional taxes). But in a workshop Tuesday morning, Scott County commissioners
Shane Bauer is shown in a family photo.
Al Bauer BBC about physical abuse from Evin Prison guards. She said she feared the three were going to be executed shortly after their arrest when a guard began cocking his weapon.
Sarah Shourd
Josh Fattal
“My worst fear is that they’re not safe — especially when we haven’t seen them for so long,” Shourd, 32,
Hostages to page 12 ®
Gary Shelton
Dave Menden
learned the grim realty. Not only had legislators reduced county program aid by $1.1 million for 2012, they also eliminated the marketvalue homestead credit reimbursement (about $2 million).
Budget to page 16 ®
“How many average taxpayers out there understand? How do we get this message out, the state screwed us?” County Commissioner Dave Menden
SHAKOPEE BIRTHDAY CLUB
Lots of laughs for 48 years BY AMY LYON alyon@swpub.com
M
PHOTO BY AMY LYON
Birthday Club members, from left: Shirley Carlson, Carol Goebel, Shirley Reitmeier, Mary Lou Culhane, Rosie Thurmer, Diana Jelik and LaVonne Sorenson. Not pictured: Nadene Dueffert and Mickie Vohnoutka.
adison Street is the common thread that ties together a group of Shakopee women who first started meeting as a sewing club in 1963. The group transformed into the “Birthday Club” a few years later and has a current count of nine members — five “originals” and four
who joined between 1965 and 1976. A few others have come and gone along the way. “We would sew a little, some would write letters, but mostly it was just an excuse to get out of the house,” laughed Rosie Thurmer, 76. “We all had small kids at the time and sometimes we’d go until one or two in the morning.” The Birthday Club meets the first Monday of each month. After dinner and dessert, competitive rounds of
INSIDE OPINION/4 OBITUARIES/6 HAPPENINGS/6 SPORTS/17-18 CALENDAR/20 CLASSIFIEDS/26-29 TO REACH US SUBSCRIBE: (952) 345-6683 EDITOR: (952) 345-6680 OR E-MAIL EDITOR@SHAKOPEENEWS.COM.
the card game 500 ensue and the late nights are still fairly common. In fact, it is rumored that laughing can sometimes be heard from several houses away if the windows are open. “We’re definitely not dainty or quiet,” said Rosie Thurmer, who said that Shirley Reitmeier’s laugh is enough to set the whole group off on a tangent.
Birthday Club to page 12 ®
VOL. 150, ISSUE 30 © SOUTHWEST NEWSPAPERS
Wine Tastings Gift Shop FUN!
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