‘Coffee Concerts’ return to the Lakeville Area Arts Center. See Thisweekend Page 10A
A NEWS OPINION SPORTS
Thisweek Burnsville-Eagan JANUARY 7, 2011
VOLUME 31, NO. 45
www.thisweeklive.com
Opinion/4A
Announcements/5A
Sports/6A
Classifieds/7A
Real Estate/11A
Legal Notices/12A
State reports case of sexual abuse at senior residence
Disappearing hotel will get new sign that pokes over noise wall
by John Gessner THISWEEK NEWSPAPERS
by John Gessner THISWEEK NEWSPAPERS
A Burnsville hotel that has literally disappeared behind a new sound wall along Interstate 35W has been granted permission to erect an extrahigh, extra-large sign to reannounce its presence to motorists. The City Council voted 3-2 Jan. 4 to allow a new pylon sign for the LivINN Hotel at 13080 Aldrich Ave. South, the west I-35W frontage road south of Burnsville Parkway. The new sound wall eliminates the view of the building from northbound I-35W and at some points blocks views of the hotel’s current pylon sign, which is 32 feet high. The council approved the request by hotel owner Rixmann-Burnsville LLC for a sign that’s 54 feet high, 3 feet higher than city code allows for pylon signs, and 288 square feet in size. Council members agreed that the hotel needs a sign that’s visible over the wall. They differed on the sign’s size. City code allows freestanding signs of up to 200 square feet. The company argued that’s too small for a sign that high.
Two-hundred square feet “has been a consistent standard for the community and has been applied to other freeway frontage sites,� said a city staff report. The deviation is justified because no other Burnsville business has suffered such a hardship, backers argued. “I was on my way to work one day and there I saw the fence,� said Kiley Lyke of Rixmann-Burnsville LLC, noting that the new sign will cost the company nearly $100,000. “No one notified us.� “If I were them, I’d be furious, absolutely furious, to be forced to spend a hundred thousand dollars because the state put a wall in front of my business,� said Council Member Dan Kealey, who joined Council Member Dan Gustafson and Mayor Elizabeth Kautz in voting for the sign. Burnsville officials have for years supported residents’ efforts to get noise walls along the freeway. State approval of 20-foot walls on both sides from Burnsville Parkway to McAndrews Road was finally triggered by plans to extend the northbound MnPASS Express Lane in
Photo by Rick Orndorf
The LivINN Hotel west of Interstate 35W in Burnsville has literally disappeared from the view of northbound traffic behind a new sound wall. The owner gained City Council approval to erect a new sign that’s visible over the wall. Burnsville. That’s a shame, the company says, Kautz said the walls are “much- because it invested “millions� in the needed for the comfort of our resi- building, a former Days Inn, after dents� but at a cost to LivINN, which buying it in 2005. is on a frontage road long plagued by “We had great curb appeal, and business vacancies. now, coming from the south, that’s “Yours is the only business you completely gone,� Lyke told the can’t see because the wall blocks your council. business fully,� Kautz said. See Sign, 12A
Vietnam veteran gets award, 40 years overdue Eagan resident Tim Callister receives the Distinguished Flying Cross for his service by Erin Johnson THISWEEK NEWSPAPERS
An Eagan man recently received a long-overdue honor for his service in the Vietnam War more than 40 years ago. In a ceremony held Dec. 29, Tim Callister was presented with the Distinguished Flying Cross as wife Barbara, daughter Jill, and father Gale looked on. “It’s a nice award to have,� he said. “It’s kind of the ultimate for a pilot to get awarded something like this.� Callister, an Army pilot from 1968 to 1971, was honored for his acts of heroism on Aug. 24, 1970. That day, Callister flew a Huey helicopter gunship to provide fire support for a transport chopper as it extracted a long-range reconnaissance patrol. As
his helicopter was hit with small arms and automatic weapons fire, he stayed and continued to fire at the enemy so the team could be safely extracted. Callister was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross more than 40 years ago, but never received the medal itself. He never really followed up on it, he said, because “you get busy with life and you don’t think about it.� Callister had also been the recipient of a Bronze Star and a handful of other medals, which he did receive back when they were originally awarded. But the Flying Cross never showed up. A conversation with John Dorle, senior veterans service officer for Dakota County, started the ball rolling.
ISD 196
“I explained to him, and he agreed, that it was time to get that taken care of,� Dorle said. Dorle said he’s not surprised that Callister never pursued the award. The Vietnam War was an unpopular one, and its veterans were not treated well when they returned home. “They just wanted to get on with their lives and be done with it,� he said. “They didn’t want anything to do with the military.� Callister is also a very humble person, Dorle said. “This is a man who saw war at is worst. The last thing these guys do is puff out their chests and say, ‘I deserve this,’ � he said. “They’re just happy to be See Award, 12A
Submitted photo
Tim Callister, who retired as director of the MinneapolisSt. Paul International Airport in 2004, finally received his Distinguished Flying Cross medal Dec. 29, 40 years after he was notified he would receive the award.
Year in Review
A male caregiver partially disrobed and sexually assaulted a female client at a senior residence in Burnsville, according to a Minnesota Department of Health investigation. The alleged incident occurred the evening of July 14 at The Rivers, an independent and assisted-living campus at 11111 River Hills Drive. The man hasn’t worked there since the incident, according to Administrator Kathy Johnson, who declined to say whether he’d been fired. Burnsville police and the Dakota County attorney have an ongoing criminal investigation of the incident, said Stella French, director of the health department’s Office of Health Facility complaints. A decision on charging the man is forthcoming, said Monica Jensen, spokeswoman for the county attorney’s office. The woman alleges that the caregiver came into her apartment late at night, removed her clothes, rolled her from side to side, exposed himself and ejaculated, according to the newly released investigation report. Another employee entered the dimly lit bedroom to find the male caregiver standing next to the woman’s bed, where she lay with her nightgown pulled up and her incontinence brief around her ankles, the report said. “He’s hurting me,� the woman told the second employee. The second employee reported that the male caregiver was defensive when he saw her and pretended that he was putting the client’s incontinence brief on her. The client had clear specifications that she be seen by female caregivers only. The male caregiver was in her room even though she hadn’t pressed her See Abuse, 12A
ISD 191
2010 sees controversy, change, Boundaries, magnet school, achievement in District 196 retirements were highlights in 191 by Jessica Harper THISWEEK NEWSPAPERS
Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan School District 196 faced many hills and valleys in 2010.
Comic-book controversy Dissension ensued in April when an Apple Valley mother demanded a popular comic series be banned from school district libraries. The “Bone� series by Jeff Smith is comprised of nine volumes about the adventures of the Bone family – bald, white, big-nosed cartoon characters – whose epic journey begins when they’re exiled from their hometown of Boneville. It has won multiple awards, including 10 Eisner and 11 Harvey awards for comic books.
Twelve of the district’s 18 elementary schools currently have at least one of the “Bone� books in their libraries. Ramona DeLay, an educational assistant with the Burnsville-Eagan-Savage School District, discovered them when her fifth-grade son checked one out from the Southview Elementary library. DeLay objected to the fact that one of the main settings of the books is a pub and that some characters smoke cigarettes and pipes, fix races and take bets. DeLay told the district the books were too mature for children in elementary school and insisted the district remove them from its libraries. Library advocates claimed that she was taking her objections too far. They insisted that the library must contain a variety of books to suit the needs of
varying ages and interests. In a 10-1 vote, a committee of teachers, parents, a principal and two school media specialists decided to keep the books on library shelves. The committee concluded after reading a letter from the book’s author that the series sends a valuable message: Bad behavior and stupid choices result in bad things happening.
New boundaries, building In addition to controversy, the district saw several new developments. The School Board approved a proposal in February to change some school boundaries in hopes of opening space at its two magnet schools, Diamond Path and Glacier Hills. See District 196, 4A
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THISWEEK NEWSPAPERS
This past year was filled with changes and acknowledgements in the Burnsville-Eagan-Savage School District. The district said adieu to two veteran administrators — Sue Grissom and Sandi Novak — who retired last summer. Grissom, executive director of human resources and Novak, assistant superintendent Sue Grissom for instructional leadership, had a combined 65 years of experience. Grissom began her career in District 191 as a preschool speech pathologist.
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Her career choice was influenced by having a cognitively impaired younger sister who worked with a speech therapist. After 18 years of teaching speech, she worked for three years as a special education director. Eleven years ago, Grissom moved to executive director of HR. In this position, Grissom helped lead efforts to adopt a new employee health insurance plan. Combining a high deductible and other new features, the plan will save the district $1.8 million this year after years of skyrocketing premiums. Grissom was succeeded by Tania Chance, who was human resources coordinator and equity director in Spring Lake Park School District.
Novak was a classroom teacher whose fascination with curriculum pulled her into leadership jobs, finally as assistant superintendent for instructional leadership. She was hired by the district 33 years ago as a science specialist for several grade levels. She left briefly in 1992 for an interim principal’s job in Owatonna, but returned to the district in 1994 to serve as principal of Sioux Trail Elementary. Novak became district curriculum director in 2000, served briefly as interim principal of Metcalf Junior High, and was appointed assistant superintendent in 2004. Novak was succeeded by Chris Lindholm, who was former principal and assisSee District 191, 12A
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