Eagan’s weekly, summer-long Market Fest kicks off June 8. See Thisweekend Page 11A.
Thisweek Farmington-Lakeville JUNE 3, 2011
VOLUME 32, NO. 14
A NEWS OPINION SPORTS
www.thisweeklive.com
Announcements/5A
Opinion/6A
Real Estate/9A
Classifieds/14A
Sports/18A
Public Notices/19A
Longtime Lakeville administrator to retire this year Terry Lind served as teacher, principal at several schools in district since 1968 by Aaron Vehling THISWEEK NEWSPAPERS
On a sunny day recently, the venerable Lake Marion sparkled with delicate reflectivity as a comforting breeze shot over its surface and across the street toward Lakeview Elementary School. As the school year comes to a close, Lakeview’s students showed tangible excitement about their upcoming summer vacation. Teachers are poised to tie up loose ends and spend some precious remaining days with the energetic youths who so define their lives. But amid that hustle and bustle, a bit of sadness punctuates: Terry Lind, principal of Lakeview and former leader of several other elementary schools in the district, is retiring after 43 years in Lakeville. “I work with a lot of great people here,” Lind
said. “They’re excellent teachers and staff.” Lind’s influence as a teacher and a principal stretches generations. “I have the grandchildren of kids I’d had when I was a teacher,” he said. “I know probably 20 percent of the parents here (at Lakeview) were students of mine 20 years ago.”
An interrupted start The Rochester-raised Lind first stepped foot in Lakeville in 1968. To say it was a different city – and school district – back then is no hyperbole. “When I started, there were only three buildings,” Lind said. “There was half of JFK Elementary, Orchard Lake Elementary and the junior-senior high school, now known as McGuire Middle School.” That tight-knit environment meant Lind had “every kid in seventh grade, so
Photo by Aaron Vehling
Noah Lind (center-left) and his grandfather (and principal) Terry Lind work on a computer assignment in his kindergarten class at Lakeview Elementary on May 31. The senior Lind is retiring after 43 years working in education. I knew almost every parent seventh-grade communi- during the height of the in the community.” cations and social studies. Vietnam War, Lind was He started out teaching After about six months, drafted. The school district
was able to delay his conscription until the close of the school year. Lind then entered the Air Force as a Chinese translator. “You could say I was a radio spy,” he said. The People’s Republic of China was offering assistance to its Communist brethren in North Vietnam at the time, as part of the wider Cold War. Lind, trained in Mandarin Chinese in California, would monitor China’s air force radio transmissions from a U.S. Air Force base in Thailand. When he returned from Thailand, Lind jumped back into teaching at the junior high school. He maintained his connection with the military, though, joining the Air National Guard as a historian for another 30 years. In the late 1960s, ChiSee Lind, 8A
Farmington’s Fogarty helps bridge the gap to dental care for the poor Fogarty new graduate in state’s first class of dental therapists by Laura Adelmann THISWEEK NEWSPAPERS
Photo by Laura Adelmann
Farmington Boy Scouts and their leaders saluted the flag as several Farmington High School band members, including senior Bryan Hyde-Olson, played “Taps.”
Farmington City Council Member Christy Jo Fogarty needed political action before she could pursue her professional ambitions and fulfill her desire to help poor children receive dental care. Fogarty, a dental hygienist, said she grew concerned when she consistently saw the poor and uninsured delay dental care because they were unable to afford it. In most cases, pain would eventually force them into a dentist’s chair, but the severity of the problem and financial constraints reduced their options to pulling the tooth. “Ultimately, that is not good dental health. I have a desire to help those people get basic dental care,” Fogarty said. She was also interested in growing professionally, but as a City Council member, active volunteer, wife and
Photo submitted
Christy Jo Fogarty works on a patient’s teeth. mother of three children, realistic option. multiple years of college to Instead, she wanted to become a dentist wasn’t a See Fogarty, 21A
District 194 plans for fiscal uncertainty For more Memorial Day photos go to Page 10A Photo by Rick Orndorf
VFW Post 210 was part of Lakeville’s Memorial Day program at Aronson Park on May 30.
Many gather to remember those who served, gave all Memorial Day marked in tribute, honor by Laura Adelmann THISWEEK NEWSPAPERS
Beneath cloudy skies, a large crowd gathered at the Corinthian Cemetery in Farmington to reflect on General 952-894-1111 Distribution 952-846-2070 Display Advertising 952-846-2011 Classified Advertising 952-846-2000
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the sacrifice soldiers have made for American freedom on Memorial Day, May 30. Members of the Farmington American Legion and VFW carried the American flag into the cemetery, and several Boy Scout troops, also carrying flags, followed. The Farmington High School Wind Ensemble played, and Rev. Jamie Thompson delivered the invocation. In his tribute to the flag, Hugh Swift said those who live under it are loyal to liberty and truth.
Annette Kuyper, director of military outreach with the Minnesota Department of Military Affairs, spoke in tribute of 21-year-old U.S. Army Ranger Ben Kopp of Rosemount, who died in 2009 of combat wounds suffered while serving in Afghanistan. Kopp was a hero in life and death, as the 2006 Rosemount High School graduate was an organ donor. Kuyper also described how Ben’s mom, Jill Stephenson, donated some See Remember, 10A
Potential state government shutdown leads to temporary borrowing by Aaron Vehling THISWEEK NEWSPAPERS
Budget battles at the Capitol are spilling over into the Lakeville school district. “The state is shorting us on property taxes,” Mark Klett, director of business services, told the school board at a recent meeting. Combine that with the potential for a government shutdown, and what exists is a caustic concoction for those who have to run a school district. Typically, Klett said, the state distributes money from property taxes to the school districts in May and into June. Recent years, however, have been different. In order to balance the state books, the state has withheld the money until July and August. But a shutdown would come at the exact time the deficits from that arrangement would occur. The result is that the district needs to open up a line of credit to cover that temporary shortfall and also sell
some aid anticipation certificates to cover longer-term scenarios. For the line of credit, the needs are very temporary, Klett said. The period of borrowing would be about seven to 10 days. “It could be we need that money for a short period of time to pay bills on June 28 and payroll on June 30,” Klett said. “This is new territory for us.” If the state government does close its doors on June 30, Klett said, the line of credit could be used to pay district employees who receive paychecks over 12 months (and thus June), which most opt to do. Under the terms of the temporary line of credit, the advance cannot exceed 95 percent of the district’s average operating expenditures per month in the previous fiscal year (or about $8.8 million). In addition, the loan has to be repaid within 45 days of its advancement with an interest rate not to exceed 2.95 percent. In the broader picture, the district will also sell $9 million in general obligation aid anticipation certificates
of indebtedness on June 14. This would serve the district’s cash flow needs for the remaining deficit period should a state shutdown occur. The district would receive the money on July 7, repay any of the short-term borrowing it had to do with the line of credit and use the balance for cashflow needs, Klett said. The district gets to use the money for 14 months, well into next school year. But when the state pays back what it borrowed from the schools, the aid anticipation can then be paid back, Klett said in a recent interview. At the meeting, the school board and administrators were frustrated about the prospect of having to borrow money to cover what they are owed; but the apparent inevitability of legislative dysfunction seems to have yielded some lamentations. “This is a position I don’t like being in,” Board Member Kathy Lewis said. “This is something of concern to me.” Aaron Vehling is at aaron. vehling@ecm-inc.com.