White Bear Press

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VOLUME 119 115 NUMBER 47 26

WEDNESDAY, WEDNESDAY,SEPTEMBER JANUARY 26, 23,2011 2015

(P) 651 323 2078 (W) whitebearareaymca.org

At a

Glance

News inside See inside for the following news stories: White Bear Lake Conservation District discusses zebra mussels monitoring and welcomes a new member, cable access programs and a Mahtomedi National Guard member receive honors, and law enforcement are looking for a White Bear Lake man suspected of invading a home and stealing a van in Vadnais Heights.

Upcoming events See inside for details on the following upcoming events: scam prevention presentation for seniors, Gregg Rochester art exhibit opening, senior transportation forum, St. Andrew’s block party, Kwanggaeto Samulnori Percussion Ensemble performance, historical society’s historic house tour and White Bear Lake Police Department citizen academy.

www.whitebearpress.com

by Debra Neutkens Regional Editor Hopefully the possible move to Polar Lakes Park will be the last for the township's old Town Hall. The meeting place, or townhouse as it was sometimes called, has already moved twice, which was not uncommon for buildings, according to historian Sara Markoe Hanson. In a presentation called "How did the White Bear Town Hall get here?" Hanson recapped the odyssey of White Bear's oldest municipal building. Mention of the Town Hall first appeared in township minutes March 13, 1883. Residents attending the annual town meeting, held the second Tuesday of March since 1858, approved a tax levy of 3 mills on the dollar for

road purposes; 1 mill on the dollar for town governance and 1 mill on the dollar for a town hall. One mill equals one-tenth of a cent, Hanson explained, or 1 penny for every $10 in property value. Nothing happened for two years. Then in 1885, a committee was formed to find a location for a Town Hall that included Valentine Rapp, William Auger and his brother Leopold, the local blacksmith. Before a meeting place was built, the Town Board met regularly at the Leip House, a hotel on the shore of White Bear Lake in Cottage Park. Owned by Col. William Leip, the hotel was located where Kowalski's Market and the White Bear Shopping Center now sit.

Town Hall/see page 7A

– File photo

This photo appeared in the White Bear Press in 1954. It is the only known picture of the Town Hall before a fire occurred in 1923.

Hockey association, bar appeal council actions by Kristine Goodrich Editor

The last Mahtomedi farmers market of the season is 8 a.m. to noon Saturday, Sept. 26 at Triangle Park. The White Bear Lake market runs through Oct. 30 from 8 a.m. to noon Fridays on Washington Square.

Public notices See pages 7B-8B for public notices, including a White Bear Town Board hearing on a proposed residential development near the airport.

- Photo by Paul Dols

Week of SEPT. 23 - 29, 2015 Weather tidbit: Severe thunderstorms hit southeastern Minnesota on September 24, 2005. Owatonna totals 3 inches of rain and the city of Minnesota Lake is hit with 1.75 inch hail. Year Ago this week: Unseasonable mild temperatures. High temperatures hit 82° and 81° on September 27 and 28. Rain totals .19 inch with high of 65° on September 29.

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RIP Town Hall

Farmers markets

Weather Tidbits

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Race rewards After successfully running in Gloria’s fourth annual White Bear Lake Shortest Marathon Saturday, Sept. 19, Anna Hauber, 4, and her brother Henry, 2, enjoy fudgesicles supplied by the Street Treat Peddler. Find more photos of the event on page 1B.

VADNAIS HEIGHTS — The White Bear Lake Area Hockey Association and the business that owns Jimmy's Food and Drink have filed legal appeals to Vadnais Heights City Council decisions involving a pull-tab booth application. The hockey association and Jimmy's ownership had applied for a city permit to take over the pull-tab booth at Jimmy's. The booth is currently operated by the Vadnais Heights Fire Relief Association with proceeds benefiting the city's fire department. The agreement between Jimmy's and the fire association expires at the end of the month. A divided City Council last month denied the hockey association's permit because a form that was part of the application was not the most current version. There was no substantial difference between the forms. The council then adopted a moratorium indefinitely blocking any new charitable gambling permit applications. The hockey association and Gerald Inc. (the company that owns Jimmy's) on Sept. 16 both filed appeals with the Minnesota Court of Appeals. Their filings ask the court to decide whether the denial of the application and the moratorium are “arbitrary and capricious, oppressive, unreasonable, supported by an erroneous theory of law and without evidentiary support.”

Pull-tabs/see page 7A

Weekly Averages High Low %Sun PCP 66° 47° 61% 0.46” (More weather on sports page)

Look Inside Letters......................... 5A Legals .................... 5B-6B Sports .................... 3B-4B Classifieds ........... 7B-10B

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VT

The lake has some new friends by Debra Neutkens Regional Editor WHITE BEAR LAKE — A newly minted group has stepped forward to address lake level woes. Called the Friends of White Bear Lake, the seven-member nonprofit corporation has one mission: To "save the lake" through augmentation. Its chairman is Harry Melander, a Mahtomedi resident who also happens to represent District 12 on the Metropolitan Council. District 12 includes all of Washington County except Hugo, Landfall and Oakdale. His role on the Friends board of directors is strictly a result of his interest as a resident, Melander said. "We are a group of people who have a passion

and love for the lake; what it has provided for the region for generations past and future," stated the new chairman. "We hope to create awareness and advocacy for the challenge that the lake is facing. We believe the interim solution is augmentation." The seven members include some of the same people involved in the lake level lawsuit: Greg McNeely, chairman of the White Bear Lake Restoration Association, plaintiff in the suit against the DNR, and Jim Markoe, president of the White Bear Lake Homeowners Association, an intervenor in the litigation. The remaining four members include Matt Kramer, president of the St. Paul Area Chamber of Commerce, Tom Snell, White Bear Lake Area Chamber of Commerce executive director, Beau Montgomery, a White Bear

resident, and Sue Keswani of Mahtomedi. One of their first formal actions is to hire James Clark, the lobbyist used by the White Bear Lake Restoration Association last session to be its "eyes and ears" at the Capitol. The Friends group will be working to enlist political support for augmentation, with help from the Legislature via the bonding bill next session. Melander, who was first appointed to the Met Council in 2011 by Gov. Mark Dayton and reappointed in 2015, hopes to get support from Minnesota's chief executive as well. Several members of the group met with the governor and his staff Sept. 11 to "share personal experience and concerns about the lake," Melander said. "We came away from that meeting,

I'm not going to say optimistic, but we had a good feeling in our gut." Markoe added that the meeting in the governor's mansion was "very cordial." "The governor was gracious with his time," he said. "We had a great conversation that we look forward to continuing." Friends of White Bear Lake is also working with Short Elliott Hendrickson, the Vadnais Heights engineering firm that did the augmentation feasibility study for the Met Council. SEH engineers also did the permitted augmentation systems for Snail Lake in Shoreview and Gilfillan in North Oaks. "We have a plan," Markoe said, "but nothing is finalized for publication. As far as cost, it's

Friends/see page 1A

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