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VOTER GUIDE: Q&As with Mahtomedi, White Bear Lake and District 624 School Board candidates. PAGE 6B
'Eyesore' station ordered razed BY DEBRA NEUTKENS REGIONAL EDITOR
WHITE BEAR LAKE — Saying his time was up, Councilman Dan Jones admonished the owner of a vacant gas station for not better protecting his property. "You had 60 days to get rid of that graffiti garbage that people had to drive by every day," a perturbed Jones told Bob Mack, who appeared before the City Council Oct. 13 to ask the building be spared. The councilman took issue with the fact the absentee owner did not take appropriate steps to secure the building after it had been vandalized despite a directive to do so. Jones also didn't like the fact old signage was left up that advertised gas at $1.98 per gallon. It was like rubbing salt in the wound to keep seeing cheap gas prices, Jones said. Building inspector Ben Eggan ordered Mack Investments Inc. to repair and secure the building in a certified letter mailed last July. After several attempts to deliver the letter failed, the post office returned it to the city unopened. Eggan informed Mack he had posted the city's directive on the building at 2502 County Road E. The inspector told the council the deadline to make required repairs, including fixing a caved-in roof, had expired. The city considers the building and three underground fuel tanks hazardous and wants it razed. Nothing inside the building is functional; thieves stripped all the copper wiring and coils in the electrical and refrigeration systems. "The coolers and deli
PAUL DOLS | PRESS PUBLICATONS
Spooky skating event Above: Kara Payne scrambles to catch up with her daughter Kennedy and Isabella Markoe during the Spooky Skate event at the White Bear Lake Sports Center Sunday, Oct. 18. Costumes were encouraged at the event, which also featured music and prize drawings. At right: Olivia Pyle, Jaden Duncanson and Tommy Norman (front) stop for a quick rest as they make their way around the rink in their hockey gear.
SEE EYESORE, PAGE 7A
Otter Lake pupils plant a prairie BY KRISTINE GOODRICH EDITOR
Nearly 600 Otter Lake Elementary students stomped native grasses and wildflowers into the soil, much like the bison once did centuries ago. In a few years a 2-acre piece of land behind the school will become a haven for wildlife and an outdoor classroom for young pupils. Inspired by a professional development class he took last spring, fourth-grade teacher Thom Green is the arranger of the prairie project. He wrote grant applications and acquired $3,200 from the White Bear Lake Area Educational Foundation and $2,500 from the Ramsey County Chapter of Pheasants Forever (which distributed proceeds of the state Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund). Prairie Restorations Inc. readied the formerly weeded area, completed the planting and will care for the prairie as it gets established.
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“This project really shows the power of working together,” Green said, giving thanks to the grant providers, Prairie Restorations and his Otter Lake colleagues. “I look forward to seeing future partnerships develop in this prairie as students work together to learn about the important habitat of the prairie.” Last spring Prairie Restorations burned away the non-native plants, then applied a few treatments of herbicide to keep the weeds from growing back. This fall every teacher gave a lesson, developed by Green, providing their classes a basic understanding of what are native prairies and how they benefit the environment. In music class students learned a Native American-inspired dance and made percussion and rhythm instruments. Before the students spread the first seeds and danced them into the earth last week, there was a ceremony with officials reminding students of what they'd learned in class.
VT
SEE PRAIRIE, PAGE 8A
KRISTINE GOODRICH | PRESS PUBLICATIONS
Students spread the first seeds on the prairie on Oct. 14. The future prairie was cordoned into sections and each class had its own area to seed.
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