N COUPO ION T C CONNESection
Applause Community Theatre presents ‘Our Town’ at the Lakeville Area Arts Center. See Thisweekend page 7A
Thisweek Apple Valley-Rosemount SEPTEMBER 17, 2010
Special issue is inside th
VOLUME 31, NO. 29
A NEWS OPINION SPORTS
www.thisweeklive.com
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Legal Notices/16A
Woman charged Sheriff’s Office violated federal labor act Error could cost county thousands with assault of Apple Valley police officer by Laura Adelmann THISWEEK NEWSPAPERS
by Andrew Miller THISWEEK NEWSPAPERS
A Burnsville woman who allegedly kicked a police officer in the mouth while she was being placed under arrest for disorderly conduct outside an Apple Valley gas station is now facing charges in Dakota County District Court. Tajhet Angelete Horne, 19, has been charged with fourth-degree assault, disorderly conduct Tajhet Horne and driving after suspension following the Sept. 4 incident outside the Holiday gas station at 15550 Cedar Ave. A criminal complaint filed last week gives the following account: An Apple Valley police officer was dispatched to the gas station around 3:45 p.m. on a report that a woman had filled a gas can with gasoline and walked off without paying. As the officer arrived in the area, he observed a vehicle driven by a woman matching the description of the suspect pulling into the gas station. The suspect, Horne, told the officer she had returned to pay for the gas. The officer told Horne she was no longer a suspect in a gas theft, but issued her a citation for driving after suspension, as her license had been suspended in July. Horne called a relative to come to the gas station and drive the car away, but no one came and the officer called a tow truck to have the vehicle towed, and also called for another squad car to assist at the scene. Waiting for the tow truck, Horne “became verbally abusive and was swearing and calling the officers names,� the complaint said. When the tow truck arrived, Horne confronted the driver and began to swear loudly in front of several people who’d gathered outside the gas station. An officer advised Horne she was under arrest for disorderly conduct, at which point she “began to struggle with the officers and resisted attempts to restrain her,� according to the complaint. Horne was handcuffed and placed in the back of a squad car, but in the process kicked an officer in the mouth, splitting his lower lip and causing it to swell. While in the back of the squad car, Horne kicked at the windows and screamed profanities at the officers, the complaint said. If convicted of fourth-degree assault, a gross misdemeanor, Horne faces a maximum penalty of one year in jail and a $3,000 fine. Disorderly conduct and driving after suspension are both misdemeanors; each carries a maximum penalty of 90 days in jail and a $1,000 fine. Horne’s next court appearance is Dec. 20 in Dakota County District Court in Hastings. Andrew Miller is at andrew.miller@ecm-inc. com.
Dakota County will likely have to pay some Sheriff’s Office employees three years of back pay and interest or penalties for violating the federal Fair Labor Standards Act. County Attorney James Backstrom confirmed there is an investigation under way regarding pay issues involving eight clerks that work in the Dakota County Jail. He explained that in January of 2007, then-Sheriff Don Gudmundson implemented a new scheduling system involving 12hour shifts that resulted in some hourly employees working more than 40 hours in a week without
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Ex-newspaper publisher Dan Clay was a history buff who loved musty old archives and chatting with senior citizens about bygone days, says his wife, Faye. He was also a risk-taker who guided the staid family enterprise, the Dakota County Tribune, into a new way of doing business in an ever-more competitive market. In 1979, Dan and his brother, Joe, debuted Thisweek Newspapers, a free-circulation weekly for communities south of the river. Dan Clay, of Lakeville,
The law also states that employees may be able to recover double the amount of damages due them, or may be awarded interest. In addition, they may be able to recover any attorney’s fees accumulated in regard to the situation. Backstrom would not confirm the amount of pay owed, nor whether interest will be paid. “It certainly is my belief that the amount of dollars here is not going to create a significant issue concerning the county’s 2011 budget,� Backstrom said. A detailed investigation into each employee’s hours and pay has been going on for months, but a media representative con-
It’s time for booya
Two charged with stealing copper
File photo
Apple Valley firefighters will be dishing up the savory stew that is booya starting at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 18, at Fire Station No. 1 located at County Road 42 and Hayes Road. The 32nd annual booya fundraiser, a benefit for the Apple Valley Firefighters’ Relief Association, will also feature bingo, children’s games, a silent auction, bake sale and raffle; raffle tickets are $1 and the grand prize is a $300 gift card to Cub Foods. Firefighters are cooking an estimated 600 gallons of booya for this year’s event, according to Apple Valley Fire Chief Nealon Thompson.
died of cancer Sept. 8, more than a decade after the brothers sold their successful enterprise Dan Clay and eased See into early retirement. related “ T h e y column on page were just a wonderful 6A pair of business partners and brothers that probably wouldn’t have worked if they hadn’t been brothers,� said Jeff Athmann, former president and chief operating officer of Coon See Dan Clay, 3A
Some District 196 parents encourage support for operating levy this fall by Aaron Vehling THISWEEK NEWSPAPERS
Molly Wellik sees an intrinsic value in public schools. “If you don’t have a good school system you don’t have a healthy community,� said Wellik, vice chair of the Eastview Community Foundation Board and parent of one child at Eastview High School in Apple Valley and of two children at Falcon Ridge Middle School, also in Apple Valley. Wellik hopes others agree this November when voters have the opportunity to approve or deny an operating levy referendum to reduce the more than $20 million in projected cuts in the Rose-
mount-Apple Valley-Eagan school district for 2011-12. She is not the only one. Sandy Obarski, a 25-year veteran of the nursing ranks in the district, has raised two sons who are themselves raising kids in the district. Obarski, of Apple Valley, will vote for the levy because she feels “the education of our children is important for their future.� “District 196 has always provided good education for children and I don’t want to see that change,� she said. One of the biggest differences Obarski sees today is an increasing student-toteacher ratio.
“When I began working in the district as a school nurse, the ratio was at a more acceptable lower level,� she said. “As the classrooms became more crowded, the stress level for staff and students increased and there were more visits to the nurse’s office.� To be sure, Wellik can be expected to support a levy given her involvement with the schools. The Eastview Foundation is designed to fill the persistent funding gaps in that high school and its feeder schools. But she insists this actually gives her a better insight. “I see it from an insider perspective,� she said. “(The administrators) are so fru-
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Kimmes was arrested after it was determined that he was suspected in other ongoing copper-related thefts. Deputies also pulled over Daniel Floyd Seifert, 49, of Cannon Falls, who was driving a grey Cadillac DeVille nearby residents had reported as suspicious. Seifert told deputies he had just come from work and was in the area to look for a truck that was for sale. But deputies learned from Seifert’s employer that Seifert had called in sick the last two days. A gas can and wire bolt cutters were also found in the trunk of the car. Seifert was arrested and admitted to dropping off Kimmes to remove wire from an irrigator, and said both men took the wire to the wooded area and burned it there. The wire was recovered and the end matched a wire that had been cut earlier that day from an irrigator owned by a Castle Rock Township resident who had also seen a vehicle similar to the one Seifert had been driving near his home. Both Kimmes and Seifert have been charged with felony criminal property damage and gross misdemeanor theft.
Early morning black smoke in the sky signaled the apparent end of a copper crime spree that occurred in rural Dakota and Goodhue counties over the past several weeks. During that time, about $15,000 worth of copper wire was stolen from large irrigation systems left in rural crop land, and officials presumed the material was being sold for scrap metal. The theory apparently proved true, according to complaints from the Dakota County Sheriff’s Office. On Sept. 8, a Goodhue County Sheriff’s deputy noticed the smoke in a rural area of Randolph, and a Dakota County deputy also responded to a call about it. They investigated and discovered burning wire in a wooded area; often plastic casing is burned off to get at wire, according to Dakota County Sheriff Dave Bellows. Deputies also found several suspicious men in the area, including Matthew Steven Kimmes, 24, whom deputies spotted walking on the rural roads. He told deputies he was taking a “nature walk,� but when he spotted smoke decided to see what was burning. However, smoke was not Laura Adelmann is at dcedivisible from where they were tor@frontiernet.net. standing.
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Laura Adelmann is at dceditor@frontiernet.net.
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tacted about the situation was not informed about it until after questions were raised. Backstrom said the county plans to soon meet with union officials to prepare a plan that will be presented to federal officials with the U.S. Department of Labor. He added that an investigation commenced as soon as it was brought to the county’s attention in early 2010. “We have every intention to fully comply with the federal Labor Act,� Backstrom said.
by Laura Adelmann
Dan Clay, former Thisweek publisher, dies at age 58 by John Gessner
being paid overtime. Backstrom said the result was an inadvertent violation of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act. “These employees were entitled to some overtime compensation and didn’t receive it, so we’re in the process of looking into how to resolve it,� he said. Confidential sources within the Sheriff’s Office said based on salaries and overtime, some clerks could be getting about $10,000 each in back pay. According to the law, employees owed overtime but not paid it can recover the time-and-a-half back pay they are owed for the last two years if it was an unwillful violation of the FLSA.
gal and so smart with their money. There’s no waste and a lot of need.� Kris Callahan volunteers in a certain capacity with the district: She is a parent and site council member at Eagan High School (EHS). After witnessing the state’s withholding of funds from District 196 and the district cutting 144 full-time equivalent positions for 2010-11, Callahan said she has seen the writing on the wall. “I’m not surprised,� she said. “I expected it would come to this. I think with the state being in the situation it is, the money just isn’t there.� See Levy, 2A
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