Press Publications 4779 Bloom Avenue White Bear Lake, MN 55110
Dr. Dustin Carlson, DC
CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED
Your local Award-Winning Chiropractic Experts 651-762-8040 carlsonchiro.net 4717 Clark Avenue White Bear Lake
PRESORTED STANDARD U.S. POSTAGE PAID PERMIT NO. 9 CIRCLE PINES, MN
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 15, 2016 VOL. 120 NO. 35 www.presspubs.com $1.00
WATER CONSERVATION: Local program honored PAGE 11A
Starbucks will be the new brew in town
Looking forward to a bright future
BY SARA MARIE MOORE VADNAIS HEIGHTS EDITOR
VADNAIS HEIGHTS — The name of Punch Neapolitan Pizza’s twin has been announced — Starbucks. The cafe will be located next to Punch Neapolitan Pizza at the intersection of Highway 96 and Centerville Road. Construction will begin in July, said Jim Volp, owner of the building in Heights Plaza. Punch Pizza has been under construction this spring, and its sign went up a few weeks ago. Starbucks hopes to open shortly after Labor Day. Punch Pizza plans to open in mid-October. The new Starbucks will have a layout similar to its chain of stores, said Volp. But Starbucks plans to outfit the store with higher-grade products than some of its stores due to the prime location. It will have higher-grade upholstery and better furniture, said Volp. “The corporate [leaders] wanted the store pretty bad,” Volp added.
Coffee and pizza There are also business connections between Punch Pizza and Starbucks, in a roundabout way. “Co-owners of Punch were the original starter-uppers of Caribou,” said Volp. John and Kim Puckett co-founded Caribou in 1992 and sold it in 2000. They partnered with John Soranno of Punch Pizza in 2001. The Italian pizza place had always been their favorite restaurant. So why not a Caribou next door instead? John Puckett explains himself: “The funny connection is my wife and I started Caribou Coffee,” he said. A real estate development staff member whom they
PAUL DOLS | PRESS PUBLICATIONS
Kelsey Westveer (wearing mortarboard shaped sunglasses with tassels) keeps her cool while she waits outside Aldrich Arena in the heat and humidity with her classmates before the start of the White Bear Lake Area High School Commencement Exercises Friday, June 10. Find more photos on page 1B.
SEE STARBUCKS, PAGE 8A
37 years after his trans-Atlantic voyage, where is Gerry Spiess BY DEBRA NEUTKENS EDITOR
The mariner who put White Bear Lake on the map has not lost his sense of humor or his keen intellect. There is still the wanderlust gleam in his eyes. But Gerry Spiess has taken his last big adventure. At 75, the world-class voyager is content to teach his dog Boomer new tricks and tinker in his workshop. He tires easily and isn’t much for company. Spiess has also been living with Parkinson’s disease for the last decade. Spiess, of course, is the celebrated sailor who crossed the North Atlantic in 1979 aboard Yankee
Girl, a 10-foot plywood boat he built in his garage on Floral Drive. That was followed in 1981 with a solo trek from California to Sydney, Australia, in his beloved vessel. Now living quietly on 600 acres near Hinckley, Spiess and his wife Sally enjoy the solitude of a personal nature preserve that extends far beyond their living room windows. In a rare interview with Gerry near the anniversary of his June 1, 1979 crossing for England, the Press sat in that living room to talk about his life, his adventures and the challenges he’s faced. A National Geographic World Atlas sits on a glass coffee table. The atlas is one of his two favorite books, Spiess said. The other is the
dictionary, something he reads frequently. It was among the myriad items he carried on his ’79 voyage. It’s obvious this is a man who loves books. Also among the 1,500 pounds of cargo was a Bible, 40 issues of Reader’s Digest, “A Dictionary of Fishes,” Goode’s World Atlas, “Water and Marsh Birds of the World,” “Walden and Other Writings” by Henry David Thoreau, “Don Quixote” by Miguel de Cervantes and Mark Twain’s “Roughing It.” “Give me an atlas and a dictionary and you can put me in a box right now,” Spiess joked. That’s essentially what he did in Yankee SEE SPIESS, PAGE 9A
SUBMITTED
Gerry Spiess, 75, still enjoys puttering in his workshop. Maps showing routes from his adventures hang on the wall along with a wooden airplane prop and a large poster of “Yankee Girl At Dawn.”
3001 Hwy 61 N., Maplewood, MN 55109
651-483-2601 • www.venburgtire.com
NEWS 651-407-1233 whitebearnews@presspubs.com
ADVERTISING 651-407-1200 marketing@presspubs.com
CIRCULATION 651-407-1234 ppcirc@presspubs.com
CLASSIFIED 651-407-1250 classified@presspubs.com
PRODUCTION 651-407-1239 ppcomp@presspubs.com