White Bear Press

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WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2018 VOL. 123 NO. 08 www.presspubs.com $1.00

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HOUSE FIRE: Owner injured saving dogs PAGE 7A

B Section!

At this trade school, students earn while they learn BY DEBRA NEUTKENS EDITOR

Every day, hundreds of vehicles pass the old Gall Elementary School on White Bear Avenue. Many of those drivers don’t realize the job opportunities that await inside. The building is home to the Sheet Metal Workers Training Center, a trade school that quietly churns out journeymen tinners, as they are called, who earn up to $42 an hour, plus benefits. Sheet metal can be a pretty good gig for kids who don’t choose college. “If apprentices behave themselves, everything is paid for,” said Darryl LeMire, a welding instructor at the school and a retired tinner. Once accepted to the program, an apprentice is indentured for three to five years, depending on prior schooling. They are expected to attend the school two

days a month while working full time in the industry. Tuition is reimbursed through the union at the end, as long as the apprentice attends class and stays in their employer’s good graces. It takes 8,000 hours to become a journeyman and there is 100 percent placement, according to Pat Alfonso, an instructor at the school since 2001. A career bending and shaping metal offers many specialties. “Tinners do multiple things and the jobs are good,” noted LeMire. Apprentice tinners at the school are exposed to specialties like architectural sheet metal, heating and ventilation, or commercial stainless steel fabrication. Fire life/safety is a newer specialty and a lucrative one. LeMire said a 24-year-old can be a journeyman making $80,000 inspecting and testing SEE SHEET METAL, PAGE 8A

DEBRA NEUTKENS | PRESS PUBLICATIONS

Instructors Darryl LeMire, left, and Pat Alfonso show a sample of architectural work students do at the school.

Battle with invasive weed successful this summer on White Bear Lake BY DEBRA NEUTKENS EDITOR

WHITE BEAR LAKE — Good news on the Eurasian watermilfoil battlefront. About 70 acres of the invasive weed was treated successfully this summer. “There was no heavy nuisance growth of milfoil in August,” reported aquatics scientist Steve McComas. For 20 years, the White Bear Lake Conservation District has hired McComas to survey the lake for hot spots of the pesky plant. A company that specializes in herbicide application does the treating, and a follow-up survey is conducted late summer to monitor the effectiveness. “Treatment was excellent, for the most part,” said McComas, owner of Blue Water Science in St. Paul. In his annual report to the conservation district Nov. 20, the invasive weed expert displayed a map of the lake showing 11 areas of treatment, before and after. Three herbicides were used this year: liquid triclopyr, 2,4-D and a new product called Depth Charge, which is a combination of 2,4-D and flumioxazine. The latter is a potent cocktail of herbicides that

PAUL DOLS | PRESS PUBLICATIONS

Encouraging donations Above: Megan Cherry watches over draft horses Noname and Marvel while riders disembark after a trolley ride around downtown White Bear Lake Saturday, Dec. 1. The rides and also visits with Santa will be offered again on Dec. 8 and 15 and are free with a donation to the White Bear Area Emergency Food Shelf. Lion Lynn Farley, at right, shuttles a barrel filled with donated items across the street to the armory. Visit downtownwhitebearlake.com for more information.

SEE WATERMILFOIL, PAGE 9A

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