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Never too cold for true Minnesotans

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Neighbors Beth Pilacinski and Marilyn Kaplan don’t let the cool temperatures keep them from enjoying lake life. The duo floats on White Bear Lake during the week until it freezes.

White Bear’s new police chief ready to partner with community

As medical bills mount, plea for help garners response

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Bruce and Janet Bushey return to White Bear Lake from a too-short RV adventure to reopen Olive Branch Oil & Spice Company.

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with a vengeance in 2022 after a two-year remission. Called cholangiocarcinoma, the cancer affects the bile duct. “It is rare,” shared Richards, and may be connected to years of taking an over-the-counter antacid to treat an ulcer. That was pre-olive oil store days when her husband worked in a demanding sales job, she said. “The Olive Branch was his solution; doing what you love to relieve stress.”

After months of chemo and off-and-on hospitalizations from serious blood infections, Bushey made the decision to forgo intervention care and entered

including the business, and hit the road in a 38-foot RV. That lifestyle took an abrupt detour when Bushey learned he had cancer and that the new owner was closing their beloved store. So they returned to their community’s welcoming arms and reopened the business at Fourth and Banning (“Bumps in road lead retirees back to olive oil business,” Oct. 7, 2020).

They did wish the RV adventure had lasted longer, admitted Richards, and both hoped to someday return to it full time, but that is not to be.

Bushey’s cancer, first diagnosed in a New York City emergency room, returned

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New White Bear Lake Police Chief Dale Hager is no stranger to the community.

“I’ve been in White Bear Lake since 2014 as a captain, and I have 26 years of experience in law enforcement,” Hager said.

Hager grew up in southern Minnesota near Fairmount.

“When I was a child, my mother owned a little country grocery store and my dad owned a trucking NOELLE OLSON company, which my brother New White Bear Lake took over,” Hager said. “I Police Chief Dale Hager. was a truck driver for a while, a bartender and a construction worker, but I knew I wanted to be a police officer since I was in high school. I just thought I’d be good at it.”

Hager began his career in North Dakota when he was 26 years old. He has served as a Narcotic Task Force member; firearms, field training and defensive tactics instructor; K-9 handler; investigator; and school resource and DARE officer throughout his career. Before being appointed administrative captain, Hager served as sergeant at the Lino Lakes Police Department.

Hager said he was honored and humbled when he was announced as the new police chief in August.

He began the position on Aug. 28, and says that everyone has been encouraging and supportive.

“A lot of police chiefs walk into the position with a lot of fixing to do and, luckily, I’m not in that position,” Hager said. “Our former chief, Julie Swanson, did a great job with the department and I think our current city administration does a fantastic job with the city. I’m in a really unique position, in that all I can do is improve it by taking incremental steps to try to make things a little bit better for as many people as I can, including our staff and our community.”

The number one priority for Hager is to get the department back to full strength.

“We’re pretty short in the police department right now, and I want to remedy that,” he said. “My goal is to deal with this systemic recruiting and retention problem that we have.”

Hager also wants to continue engaging with the community. He said it’s important for law enforcement to reach out to the public.

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A penguin plush toy hitched a ride on Temperance Reinhardt’s backpack while she and her family visited with her new kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Beth Johnson, during a recent back to school open house at Wildwood Elementary School.

Elementary school students in the Mahtomedi School District officially begin fall classes this Thursday.

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Para-athlete set for world meet

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feel very honored to be given this opportunity to represent the United States and compete Will Hamilton of White on a global stage.”

Bear Lake, a wheelchair Hamilton, whose disability athlete, is one of 22 people is Osteogenesis Imperfecta selected by Move United Type III (brittle bones), works Sport to compete in the 2023 as a concierge/front desk World Abilitysport Games in receptionist at Keystone Place Thailand in December. at LaValle Fields in Hugo, and Hamilton, 28, has been is a certified adaptive trainer. racing and training for seven He is seeking help in years. His events are the covering the personal costs of T52 para-athletes 100, 200, participating. Donations can and 400 meter sprints. After be made online at gofund.me/ competitions throughout the b324c872. country, he said he is ranked Hamilton has also qualified in the top five nationally and for the U.S. Paralympic Track 38th in the world. & Field Team Trials next July “This would be my first time in Chula Vista, California, competing internationally, where Team USA for the 2024 let alone being in another Paralympic Games in Paris country,” Hamilton said. “I will be determined.

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and the stories behind them, alive. She also wants to bring attention to the loss.

“Everything is changing so easily,” Nelson said. “We need to be thoughtful about these tear-downs and let neighbors know that is the intention.”

Her connection to the avenue and, in particular, to the blue Cape Cod on the corner of Lake Avenue and Second Street where Nelson lives, is personal.

The site was once the Hotel Chateaugay, built in the early 1880s by Frederick W.

White Bear Lake Police Officer Dan Swenson is sworn in

by City Clerk Caley Longendyke at a White Bear Lake City Council meeting.

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BEAR’ly Open participants use hockey sticks, baseball bats and golf clubs to propel tennis balls down the “fairways” of the frozen course at last year’s event. See page 8 for more information about Saturday’s BEAR’ly Open.

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White Bear Lake Police Officer Ryan Sheak shakes Chief of Police Julie Swanson’s hand in a recognition ceremony at a White Bear Lake City Council meeting. Sheak was shot three times while attempting to serve an arrest warrant earlier this year. He received the Medal of Valor award for his bravery.

One of the darkest days for the city of White Bear Lake and the White Bear Lake Police Department has a happy ending.

White Bear Lake Police Chief Julie Swanson and city officials recognized four police officers, seven firefighters and EMS staff for their heroic efforts in an officer-involved shooting earlier this year.

Officer Ryan Sheak was critically injured when he was shot several times by a suspect on Jan. 24 while trying to serve an arrest warrant in an apartment in the 3100 block of Karth Road.

Swanson said the suspect was well known to the officers and when officers arrived, the suspect was uncooperative and shut him-

BY DEBRA NEUTKENS STAFF WRITER

MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS MONTH: Local organization refreshes its mission PAGE 10

Civil War coming to life in special Memorial Day ceremony

Memorial Day remembered in letters

BY DEBRA NEUTKENS STAFF WRITER

Americans will be celebrating Memorial Day on Monday, May 29. It is one of history’s most solemn days honoring the men and women who died while serving in the United States military. Navy serviceman Greg Tardiff wrote his wife Suzanne every day for nine months while he was on the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga during the Vietnam War. Before he passed away their daughter’s Megan and Ashley compiled the letters into a book called, “Letters from the Saratoga.”

A military love story remembered in letters

BY NOELLE OLSON SHOREVIEW PRESS EDITOR

Imagine looking through your parent’s attic and finding a stack of love letters your dad wrote to your mom when he was serving in the U.S. Navy.

That’s what Greg and Suzanne’s Tardiff’s daughter Megan discovered, and she decided to put all of the letters into a book called, “Letters from the Saratoga.”

Greg wrote the letters to Suzanne when he was a parachute rigger on the USS Saratoga aircraft carrier.

“The letters are from the nine months he was on the ship,”

Suzanne said. “I just liked the fact that there was so much to learn about the war in the letters.

The thing that really got me was that he was on this huge aircraft carrier for nine months and yet he found something to write every day.”

One of Suzanne’s favorite excerpts from the book: “That’s all the new news I have. The ship’s schedule is still the same. The war is still the same.

Everything is still the same. Sure will be glad when things start being different. I love you, Greg.”

Greg grew up in White Bear Lake and Suzanne lived in Highland Park when they first met in the winter of 1970.

Bill Milashius and Eric Peterson display the handcrafted copper and brass bugles that are near completion. Final fitting, finishing and play tests will be completed prior to the Memorial Day ceremony.

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Before we say goodbye to 2023 and hello to 2024, it is a tradition of the White Bear Press to look back at some of the most memorable stories of the year.

In 2023, pages were filled with a variety of news, including stories about crimes, events, schools, churches, sports, businesses, city government and more.

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something that tries to kill you but doesn't, and you recover to almost 100%, it's like divine intervention," he’d shared in an earlier interview. “It was like living in a twilight zone, but I didn’t die. Although I thought Father (Ralph) Talbot (the priest at St. Mary of the Lake) was administering last rites one day in my hospital room.

I woke up after a vivid dream to see him looking in my eyes and putting something on my forehead. I tried to ‘will’ him my thoughts, to tell him, ‘I’m still here.’ We laughed about it later. He said he was giving me a blessing.”

The experience with the mysterious condition has given Auger a positive outlook on life, he said. He won’t chance driving again due to a disconnect between his feet and brain, but Auger is OK

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town on daily excursions.

As the self-proclaimed “boulevard superintendent,” the former mayor tools around

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Township hosts four-day hockeyfest this weekend

A humorous sign is among the items Paul Auger brought over to Knutson Auto Service, his new hangout now that Auger’s Garage is closed.

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with that. “After all the years I spent driving people around, I’m perfectly happy to sit in the passenger seat,” he said.

Of course, he does drive an electric wheelchair around

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Remembering 1st hockey tourney

BY DEBRA NEUTKENS STAFF WRITER

For a man of 93, John Resler has an uncanny memory for names and places.

For instance, he remembers the first player to score the first goal in the first-ever state high school hockey tournament: Bears defenseman George Kieffer. Or the tall Thief River Falls star forward (and future Olympian) who shot the

“A friend of mine from work had convinced me to attend a blind date of sorts — it was really a skating/broomball party with lots of people attending, and Greg was to be one of them,” Suzanne said. “At the time, my friend’s husband was driving a school bus for work and I needed a ride. So, I was picked up for our first date on a school bus standing on a snowy corner with a broom in my hand.

When Greg walked in, he had his arm around another girl and I said to my friend, ‘What kind of a date is this? He has a girlfriend!’

It was his sister.”

Suzanne said the night turned

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99

winning goal from the blue line to beat White Bear Lake 3-2: Bob Baker.

If there is consolation, it is that the Bears placed third in that history-making tourney. Thief River Falls lost to Iron Range powerhouse Eveleth, 4-3.

The year was 1945. Resler recalls the event clearly because he was there on the ice playing right wing for the Bears. He was 15.

His foremost memory though,

about that inaugural game? “Not winning,” Resler grumbled.

“I swear John remembers the day he was born,” quipped wife Virginia. “The tourney was a highlight of John’s life, and he’s never forgotten that they lost (twice).”

A well-thumbed scrapbook lovingly compiled by his late mother certainly helps jog any fading

WHITE BEAR TOWNSHIP — The biggest event to occur this year in White Bear Township is here.

The first puck of Hockey Day Minnesota 2023 drops Thursday evening, and the weekend-long athletic extravaganza will last through Sunday. All the action will take place at Polar Lakes Park, located at 1280 Hammond Road.

An estimated 10,000 people are expected to attend the annual hockey event based on ticket sales as of last week. Preparing for Hockey Day has therefore been a massive undertaking, according to White Bear Township Administrator Pat Christopherson.

“We're coordinating our staff and the whole volunteer group that's been working on this to pull this off. We have an appreciation for the people who have put a ton of time into this,” Christopherson said.

He added that pulling off the logistics for such a large-scale, public-private event is challenging but that Hockey Day 2023 has momentum behind it and people who are completely dedicated to making it a success.

Corey Roberts, who’s on the Hockey Day Minnesota 2023 volunteer committee, praised the committee members who have devoted countless hours and resources to making Hockey Day a reality. The committee is chaired by Jon Anderson and Nick Guzzo.

“Most of us started as strangers, and came together as a team to pull this off,” Roberts said.

He also noted how the tagline for the event is “more than a game.”

“This sport is so rooted in the community that it is more than a game; it's their lives, in a lot of respects,” Roberts said.

To anybody who hasn’t yet decided whether they’ll attend, Roberts said they won’t regret getting tickets and experiencing Hockey Day. “It’s going to be a spectacle,” he said.

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Two brass bugles painstakingly handcrafted with machinist precision will sound Taps at the culmination of this year’s Memorial Day ceremony at Union Cemetery.

What makes the event special is not just the one-of-a-kind instruments’ debut, but the fact the bugles will be part of the 160th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg.

Their maker, Bill Milashius, has enlisted two former Army musicians to play what’s referred to as “echo Taps” for the commemoration, meaning one bugle will answer the other.

Taps is a 24-note bugle call sounded to signal “lights out” at the end of a military day, honor the fallen at funerals and close patriotic memorial ceremonies.

Milashius, a machinist by trade with a passion for crafting entire brass instruments, as well as components, is current commander of the White Bear Lake American Legion Post 168. A veteran of the Army National Guard, he got the idea to build the bugles a few years back with the intention of donating one to the Legion and one to VFW Post 1782.

“I’m not someone who just decided to build some horns. I have a strong background in this,” said Milashius, who holds a music degree major and manufacturing minor from St. Cloud State. He also credits mentors who have helped him in his quest to create instruments suitable for the most discerning

Most days, White Bear Lake’s former mayor can be found in his happy place: peering under the hood of a car and listening to the musical sound of an impact driver.

Paul Auger is in his element at Knutsen Auto Service, his new hangout now that Auger’s Garage is closed. The business started in 1919 by his grandfather, Henry Louis Auger, on the corner of Fourth Street and Bald Eagle Avenue “sailed into the sunset” a year ago.

It was time, Auger said. He was 69 after all, and his scary bout with a paralyzing illness in 2017 left him debilitated.

Auger never regained use of his left hand, and although he can walk short distances

with the use of special braces on his lower legs, he is more comfortable in an electric wheelchair.

Contracting Guillain-Barre Syndrome six years ago was life-changing for Auger, the city’s mayor from 1995 to 2010. He spent months in the hospital, his entire body paralyzed.

It started with tingling in his foot. Within 24 hours, Auger was in intensive care hooked up to a mechanical ventilator to breathe. Every muscle in his body became immobile as white blood cells attacked the myelin sheath around his nerves, disrupting the electrical impulses to the brain and spinal cord. Even his eyes were stuck open, because he couldn’t blink.

"It's not something I want to remember, but to have

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self in the bedroom and refused to come out.

“The officers on the scene spent a great deal of time talking and negotiating with the subject to attempt to get them to come out of the room,” Swanson said. “This is not uncommon for any interaction that we've had with him, and officer Ryan Sheak, a SWAT negotiator, has great experience with that and had a great rapport with the subject.”

The suspect continued to yell at the officers and after several minutes he suddenly came out of the room and fired gun shots at the officers. Sheak was struck by the gunfire, and officers fired back as the they retreated from the apartment.

“There was quite a bit of chaos,

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A young Jud Marshall in Mahtomedi smiles at the camera.

pie baked by Marshall's mom. The gangster, John Dillinger, was reputed to have been fond of his mother's pies, Marshall said. But one evening, while the whole family was out in Grant visiting Marshall's grandfather, crooks backed a truck up to the store and stole the cash from the till, along with all the groceries. All the money his parents had borrowed from his grandparents was in that store and was lost, Marshall said.

As a youth, Marshall

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WHITE BEAR LAKE — A 33-year-old White Bear Lake man faces multiple felony charges, including attempted first-degree murder, after allegedly shooting White Bear Lake Police Department Officer Ryan Sheak last week.

Daniel Loren Holmgren Jr. was arrested early Jan. 25 and taken to the Ramsey County Jail after exchanging gunshots with police officers in the Lakewood Hills apartment building

in the 3100 block of Karth Road, according to court documents.

The officers arrived the night of Jan. 24 to arrest Holmgren on a felony domestic assault warrant in Ramsey County in connection with a March 2021 case, for which he had failed to make a court appearance.

Officers entered the apartment unit with the permission of Holmgren’s family members, who were also present. He was in his bedroom and became belligerent after the officers

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“Thank you for being here.”

That's what retiring Mahtomedi Mayor Judson Marshall would often say to people when he came upon them serving the community in any capacity.

Marshall, himself, has “been here” serving the community as mayor for the past 20 years. In fact, he has been here since he was born in 1932.

The Mahtomedi Street Car line was still running at that time, and Wildwood Amusement Park was also still operating – just.

“By the time I got to it in 1936, they were tearing the amusement park down,” Marshall said. The street car tracks, where people got out at the end of the line in Mahtomedi, were elevated at the south end of the lake, he said. “The amusement park and street car were historic icons for Mahtomedi, just as the Lift Bridge is an icon in Stillwater, except that Mahtomedi doesn't have theirs anymore because we couldn't wait to get rid of them and replace them with buses,” Marshall said.

The street car paid an important role in Marshall's life. His mother was from Grant, and his father from North St. Paul.

The two of them met at the street car stop in North St. Paul and later moved to Mahtomedi.

There they rented space in the Copeland building and ran a store that was noted for its candy and graham cracker crust

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The Kenneth Puffer house at 4669 Lake Ave. was torn down after the family sold it. Kenneth died in 2009 at age 90; his wife Patricia was 99 when she died. The civic-minded couple raised six children in the home.

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Officer Dan Swenson is officially the newest police officer in the White Bear Lake Police Department.

“Dan is one of our own,” Police Chief Dan Hager said. “He was born here and raised here in the city of White Bear Lake. He graduated from White Bear Lake High School and he later graduated from Bethel University.”

Hager said Swenson’s first exposure to law enforcement was when he volunteered at the White Bear Lake Police Department in 2007.

“He worked both as a reserve and as a part-time community service officer for White Bear Lake for four years,” Hager said. “During that time, he not only worked as an employee for us, but he volunteered over 1,100 hours for the White Bear Lake community.”

According to Hager, Swenson stated that while serving as a reserve, he thought he was doing something meaningful for his community and it lit a spark in him to become a police officer.

He attended Century College to obtain his law enforcement certificate.

His first job as a police officer was with the Prairie Island Police Department, where he served 10 years.

“His time working for this department, located on a large reservation here in Minnesota, provided him with some very valuable and unique experiences, which has served him well over his career,” Hager said. “Dan left the Prairie Island

Nick and Benny Aberg carry their pumpkins down a path during a recent trip out to Pine Tree Apple Orchard. Other activities at the orchard include a corn maze and weekday wagon rides on Oct. 18, 19 and 20 from Noon – 4 p.m. The pumpkin patch is open through Sunday, Oct. 22.

There’s a sense of urgency now to Lynn Nelson’s ongoing research on Lake Avenue, a one-way thoroughfare she calls White Bear’s favorite walking path.

The public relations professional is working on a book that chronicles the changing face of the avenue, whose popularity dates back to horse-and-buggy days during the 1880s’ resort era.

As more of the avenue’s gems are torn down, Nelson hopes to keep their memory,

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Will Hamilton at the 2023 Gopher State Games in Lakeville.

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When life hands you lemons, you find a way to mix it with olive oil.

That’s been Bruce Bushey’s modus operandi as “Master of Olives” for the last 12 years, showcasing his knack for pairing oils and vinegars in recipes customers appreciate.

It’s been the proverbial labor of love for Bushey and wife Janet Richards, who owned the Olive Branch Oil & Spice Company in downtown White Bear Lake.

Yes, there was a short respite from ownership in 2018, when the couple decided to sell everything,

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To say that teaching is in the blood of the Hibbard family would be an understatement.

Allen Hibbard taught for 38 years in the White Bear Lake Area Schools. He was also a dean at College Spanish Language Village. He passed away in 2003.

“He was one of the founders of foreign language in the state, and he taught Spanish and history,” son Bill Hibbard said.

Allen’s wife, Clare Hibbard, was a media specialist for approximately 18 years and taught English for two years in the district.

“My favorite memory is when a former student told me I inspired her to be a librarian,” Clare said.

“I guess she admired my work.”

Deb Hibbard is married to Clare and Allen’s son Bill. She teaches third grade at Willow Lane Elementary.

“I think my favorite thing about teaching is the relationship you build with the kids,” Deb said. “All the hugs and stuff that you get when they see you or when they run into you somewhere. You’re a special person in their life and they’re special to me.”

She continued, “Another memory for me is how many people stop in my room and ask, ‘Are you related to Allen and Claire Hibbard?’ That’s kind of neat when they come in and share memories

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Boat builder plays role in retelling of Olympic history The exquisite cedar shell that carried eight young men to glory in the 1936 Berlin Olympics still hangs in a place of honor at the University of Washington rowing house.

Handcrafted by legendary boat builder George Pocock, the “Husky Clipper” is the last survivor of that historic day on the water

87 years ago, when members of an underdog rowing team competed for an Olympic medal in front of German Dictator Adolph Hitler.

The inspiring true story of the college kids who shocked the rowing world arrived on the big screen Christmas Day. The movie, directed by George Clooney, is based on a best-seller by Daniel James Brown called “The Boys in the Boat.”

And there happens to

be a local connection.

White Bear Lake grad Steve Chapin, a master boat builder who lives on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula, had a paid consulting role in the sports drama as an expert on the Pocock racing shell.

Chapin, class of ’75, grew up on Bald Eagle Lake. His affinity for wooden boats started at a young age, he said, always helping his father Tom maintain the

waterskiing family’s 16foot power boat.

Long story short, Chapin graduated as an engineer from the University of Minnesota, but his real passion was boat building. A layoff from his job in the cities was the catalyst to the Pacific Northwest and a master boatbuilding school in Port Townsend, Washington. That was 1989. He stayed, SEE BOAT BUILDER, PAGE 10

DIANNE ROBERTS | CONTRIBUTED

White Bear Township native Steve Chapin rows one of his self-built Pocock single shells in Port Townsend Bay.

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2 WHITE BEAR/VADNAIS HEIGHTS PRESS

DECEMBER 27, 2023

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1. Best Of White Bear Lake 2. Mahtomedi student dies from accident-related injuries 3. ‘Survivor’ contestant brings addiction recovery into spotlight 4. Missing man's body found in Bald Eagle Lake 5. Local falconer rescues baby eagle on White Bear Lake 6. White Bear Lake Area School District sets 2024-25 calendar, course changes 7. White Bear Hockey association sues former gambling manager 8. Construction underway at Big Wood Brewery's future home 9. Nightclub known as White Bear’s gangster headquarters 10. Roma remains open, offer on building pending

Thank You for your business!

Joe Anderson, Dave Rancour (Owner) and Dawson Sax

1. Vadnais Heights Post Office closed until further notice 2. Church celebrates 150th anniversary with change of ownership 3. Vadnais Heights Residents say price tag too high for assessment 4. Vadnais Heights couple share their love story 5. A mom who is there for moms — and dads 6. Vadnais Heights City Council puts moratorium on public use and sale of cannabis 7. City Council unveils vision for Vadnais Heights 8. Projects underway in Vadnais Heights 9. New public works director is coming home 10. Slow Mow May to replace No Mow May

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Manitou Bar and Grill will not be closed for renovations after all. Owner Dan Montpetit explained that the

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WHITE BEAR/VADNAIS HEIGHTS PRESS

3

DNR water permit restrictions: Golf courses reach agreement Like it did in 2022 for other non-municipal water permit holders, the court issued a second decision recently regarding golf courses.

“It has come to the court’s attention that certain amendments the DNR made to groundwater appropriation permits within a five-mile radius of White Bear Lake are not relevant to the operation of golf courses holding those permits or their uses of appropriated water,” wrote (retired) Judge Margaret Marrinan in her decision prior to the start of the appeals hearings (see separate story). She was referring to the White Bear Yacht Club, Dellwood Country Club and Indian Hills, which use private wells to pump groundwater.

In the settlement, the plaintiffs, described as also intervenors in the contested case proceedings, agreed to specific water conservation measures. The plaintiffs (White Bear Lake Restoration Association and intervening lake homeowners association) presented to the court a draft stipulation developed with the golf courses that contained amended conditions relevant to their operations.

Among the requirements are progressive irrigation bans tied to “trigger” elevations set by the court in 2017 of 923.5 feet; the DNR’s ordered protective lake

level of 922 feet; and levels down to 921 feet to the point of minimum soil moisture required for “viability of the most essential portions of the golf course turf.”

The plaintiffs contend that the administrative law judge has not been delegated authority by the DNR to amend the golf course permits in the contested case proceedings and motioned the judge to decide the matter.

Judge Marrinan agreed that the stipulated conditions imposed on the golf courses are more protective of groundwater and surface water than the water conservation conditions stated in pre-existing permits.

Attorney H. Alan Kantrud represented the golf courses, who “worked with each other to do what is best for the lake given their unique relationships to it.

Our clients are keenly aware of the necessity of conserving water and being good stewards of the lake,” he wrote in an email.

His clients are the only permit holders that return all appropriated well water back into the “system,” he added.

The self-imposed permit restrictions focus primarily on the science of plant health, the attorney explained. “To that end, the better operations around the country have very robust monitoring of growth rates and soil moisture to fine tune water usage. Our approach was to use a ‘tiered’ response to lake level conditions as they change.”

Kantrud said the “self-imposed, tiered restrictions approved by the plaintiffs were enthusiastically ordered by the judge.” The plaintiffs in the lawsuit were “grateful for our leadership and efforts to the extent that they actually moved the court to issue another order integrating our stipulations.”

Debra Neutkens

White Bear Lake

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OPINION

4 WHITE BEAR PRESS

www.presspubs.com

DECEMBER 27, 2023

How my first semester went

I

recently graduated from the University of St. Thomas in May of 2023. I had made the bold, and very ambitious, decision to apply for Graduate School right at the end of March. A few of my professors were a bit worried about me getting in, considering applications were due by the start of April. Nonetheless, I was determined to get in somewhere. I skipped past the schools with hard deadlines that had already passed for Fall 2023 and put my focus on schools that accepted rolling admissions.

I applied to the University of St. Thomas, and only the University of St. Thomas. After meeting with the graduate coordinator, he believed I would be a good fit for the Madeline’s that Creative Writing, Editing and Publishing program they offered Mail to Graduate Students. My dream Madeline Dolby career is to become an editor at the publishing house. I want to work with my own authors, have an office in the cities, and be surrounded by books till I retire.

After applying, it took two weeks for them to review my application. I got the acceptance email from the graduate coordinator on a Wednesday night. My eyes were as big as saucers as I read the “Congratulations” at the top of the page.

I took two classes for the Fall semester. One was documentary Poetics and the other was an Introductory course to English Studies. They were both three hours long from 6-9 p.m. Mondays and Tuesdays. After work, I would drive down to campus, go to class, drive back and do it all over again.

If I am going to be honest, balancing school, a fulltime job and a social life has been almost impossible.

Most of my weekends are spent in my bedroom, hunched over my desk, writing yet another 500–750word paper about the poetry book I had read for my Documentary Poetics class, or writing a research paper regarding different literary lenses for my Introduction class.

As the semester ramped up, so did my coursework and I began to question if I was doing the right thing.

I never saw my friends, I spent my whole weekend writing, and I felt the burnout slowly approaching.

The end of the semester came quickly, and I found myself faced with two 50-page final papers. You could only imagine the stress I was feeling. I spent the majority of my lunch breaks during the months of November and December writing as much as I could in the time that I had. Luckily, I finished both papers without a glitch. Thankfully, I have the month of January off to decompress.

Next semester, which starts in February, I am taking two classes again. One is a Writing Fiction workshop and the other is a diversity in literature class. I am excited for more opportunities to expand my knowledge of the literature world, and myself as a writer.

I felt the pressure of graduate school those last two months. My laptop keys are slowly wearing down, a few letters are evening popping off from all the writing I have been doing. But I wouldn’t change it for anything. I have a goal and I am determined to achieve it.

Madeline Dolby is a staff writer at Press Publications. She can be reached at 651-407-1226 or lowdownnews@presspubs.com.

News or advertising?

I

t’s the eternal quandary in our business. Is an item news or is it advertising, delivered in a news format?

Our companies have struggled with this over the years and after several months of internal discussions with staff, we have come up with some guidelines in an effort to more clearly delineate the line between the two.

Both are Movers & important to the reader, both are Shakers important to the newspaper. Like Tom Stangl the lyric from the song “Love and Marriage” says, you can’t have one without the other.

I want to highlight some of the things we will cover as news and the reasons why we are doing so. A copy of the policy can be obtained from me or this newspaper.

What is considered business news? What is considered a paid ad?

Business openings and closings are news.

Openings and closings running before or during the week a business opens or closes is most newsworthy. If you prefer to tell the public 30 days or more after it opens or closes, it is considered an ad. Story length is determined by the number of employees and

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DISCLAIMER: Paid advertisements appear in Press Publications’ publications, including print and other digital formats.

Press Publications does not endorse or evaluate the advertised product, service, or company, nor any of the claims made by the advertisement.

Advertising does not influence editorial decisions or content. Press Publications reserves the right to refuse, reject, or cancel any ad for any reason at any time without liability.

Business anniversaries are news at 10 years, 25 years, 50 years, 75 years, 100 years. To be fair to all, other anniversaries such as 30 years are considered ads. A photo and brief are provided for anniversaries less than 50 years.

Columns by for-profit businesses are considered ads. It isn’t fair to publish a column written by one for-profit business about planning for retirement, for example, and not publish similar columns from other for-profit businesses providing the same services. So, for-profit columns are considered ads.

Online-only story requests are considered ads.

Other business news, business data such as real estate transactions, building permits, interesting business data stories can be considered news depending upon the topic and request.

There you have it, our policies on what is considered news and what is advertising.

I also know policies can’t please everyone. I hope that by saying what we will do, it shows our commitment to our community through news coverage and the business sense to deliver an exceptional audience to advertisers. You can’t have one without the other.

The Amery Free Press is a publication of Sentinel Publications, an affiliate company of Press Publications.

WHITE BEAR PRESS | LETTER GUIDELINES • Limited to 350 words.

• Submissions must Include a full name, address and daytime phone number for verification.

• Letter writers must live, work or have another connection to Press Publications coverage area.

• Letter writers are limited to six letters per year and

Distributed weekly in:

size of the business. The story typically lets readers know the number of employees, location including details about building construction, remodeling, type of business, people leading it and the impact to community.

Grand opening information, special pricing, detailed product or service information are considered a paid ad.

Fundraisers, benefits, donations giving away $1,000 or more are news. Once your business has raised or given away $1,000 or more, let us know so we can tell our readers. Story length is determined by the size of the donation.

Appeals to raise money in advance are considered an ad.

Events are news and can run as listings in our 8-day event calendar, space permitting, the week of the event. Events may also be stories the week of the event, depending upon other news.

Ticket prices, early bird ticket discounts are ads. Detailed information about parking, seating, directions, entertainment are considered ads.

Business topics are news. Economic developments, building construction, new or expanded employment, trends in business are examples. These stories focus on the benefits to the community.

Business topic stories have more than one source. For example, if a story is written about banking, typically multiple banking sources are quoted.

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• Repeat letters by the same writer about the same subject • All letters are subject to editing. matter will not be published.

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Your voice makes a difference I love everything about the Christmas holidays, from decorating the day after Thanksgiving to baking our family’s favorite treats. For years, my brother and I have made Christmas lists of things we wanted and shared them with my parents. Miraculously, on Christmas morning, something we had asked for appeared! I never worried that I wouldn’t get anything from my list, let alone think about if we would have enough food or heat in the house on this special morning.

Through recent work I’ve been doing at the Borgen Project, a nonprofit group dedicated to fighting extreme poverty, I have learned that my expectation of food and shelter is a luxury for millions of young people worldwide. In fact, I was shocked to learn that almost half of the human race lives on less than $2 a day.

While it may seem like there are enough problems to focus on domestically, widening our scope and taking action around the world will seriously benefit the United States in the long run.

Reducing extreme poverty not only slows overpopulation and helps stabilize some of the most dangerous countries in the world, but it also grows the global economy, creating new jobs at home for Americans.

I urge you to email your senators and representatives and ask them to support poverty-reducing legislation.

It’s been proven that congressional leaders will often support a bill when

as few as 7-10 people in their district contact them in favor of it.

Your voice can make a difference, and this holiday season I ask you to use your voice for the people who need it most.

WBCA MEMBERS EXHIBITION

When: Through Jan. 17 Where: White Bear Center for the Arts Details: View the Members' Exhibition,visit with artists, and listen to live music. Free with registration.

Contact: whitebeararts.org

Outside the box I enjoy watching the propaganda preached to us daily on the television.

It raises so many questions. I’ll just share this one with you. What would a developer like Donald Trump do with the Gaza Strip? We’re talking about 20 miles of prime Mediterranean coastline. Trump would turn it into the vacation destination of the Middle East.

Billions of dollars would be generated.

The residents would live like kings.

Another capitalist success story.

No one supposes a thing like that on television. We’re not supposed to think about why the residents of Gaza spent their money to build a massive tunnel system under their homeland. Then spend who knows how much outfitting command centers with technology and weaponry to wage war on Israel. Which raises one more question. How was all that done while being oppressively occupied? It would have to be the most incompetent occupation in the history of the world. Smells fishy to me. I hope it makes you wonder.

Neal Philastre Vadnais Heights

BY MADELINE DOLBY STAFF WRITER

CONTRIBUTED

Thomas Rumreich

investigator.

Rumreich began writing the novel in 2015. The book was released in 2020 and the first edition sold out. Before he became an author, Rumreich had his private dental practice in Forest Lake and performed the crime scene and forensic photography for the White Bear Police Department.

During his dental career, he worked for the medical examiner and did dental autopsies.

This experience allowed him to gain knowledge of the workings of law enforcement and the medical examiner's officers.

“When the book came out, almost immediately a number of people said ‘Gosh, this would make a great movie,” said Rumreich, “but a lot of what happens in the book is going on in the mind of this killer, and that is very difficult to translate into a movie.”

The screenplay took a little over a year to write. The movie kept morphing and changing to make the book plot fit the film.

“It took us a good year to get the screenplay refined to the point where we felt like we could present it,” Rumreich said. “We did two trial runs down in St. Paul. We hired actors to say the speaking parts; we didn’t use a set or anything.”

It will be an independent film directed by Patrick Coyle, a Minnesota native. Coyle, an awardwinning playwright and screenwriter, has directed independent films such as “Into Temptation” and “Joe Somebody.”

There were about 30 people at both the first and second trial runs.

People were enthused by the film.

Filming will begin at the end of January and will feature local actors from the St. Paul area.

“It’s a story that needs to be told,” said Rumreich. “This story I think has just got to be told because people don’t talk about it when they’ve been abused.”

“Unholy Communion” is currently available for sale in Lake Country Books, located at 4766 Washington Ave., White Bear Lake.

5

WHAT’S HAPPENING

Eleanor Anderson Mahtomedi

Local author’s novel moves to the big screen Thomas Rumreich, a Scandia author, is looking ahead to seeing his book “Unholy Communion” come to life. Three years after the publication of his first book, he will be seeing it unfold this January in Scandia, Marine and, possibly, White Bear Lake.

A survivor of sexual abuse by a Catholic priest at St. John’s University, Rumreich struggled for quite some time to make sense of what happened to him.

He grew up in Grand Rapids and currently lives in Forest Lake.

“Those experiences gave me nightmares for years,” said Rumreich, “so it took a fair amount of counseling for me to get to the point where I was like ‘Hey, this is really not my fault.’”

The book takes place in Scandia and Marine on St. Croix. The story follows Washington County investigator, Chris Majek. Majek is called in to investigate the murder of a retired priest. He slowly begins to uncover a deeper plot by a serial killer who continues to confound the investigator and his team. The book pulls the emotions from Rumreich’s past and examines them from the perspective of a forensic

WHITE BEAR/VADNAIS HEIGHTS PRESS

LUNCH AND TABLE GAMES

When: noon Wednesday, Dec. 27 Where: Christ the Servant Lutheran Church, 3676 Centerville Road, Vadnais Heights Details: Bring a bag lunch and play table games with friends. Coffee provided.

Contact: 651-204-6000 or cityvadnaisheights.com/seniors

ST. PAUL HIKING CLUB

When: 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 31 Where: Rice Lake Elementary School, 575 Birch Street, Lino Lakes Details: Hike paved trails and neighborhood streets. Wear appropriate shoes and clothing.

Contact: stpaulhike.com

NEWS YEAR'S EVE COMEDY SHOW

KIDS NEWS YEARS EVE BASH

When: 5 - 9 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 31 Where: Rudy’s Redeye Grill, 1940 Highway 61 N., White Bear Lake Details: Families can ring in the new year with a Bear drop at 8 p.m., hot chocolate in the lobby and open rooftop.

Contact: rudysredeye.com

When: 6:30 & 9 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 31 Where: Running Ace's Laugh Your Ace Off Comedy Club, 15201 Running Aces Boulevard, Forest Lake Details: Performance by Headliner Larry Reeb aka Uncle Lar, with Elise Cole and Sarah McPeck.

Dinner optional. Ticket information online.

Contact: runaaces.com

Have an event?

Email it to calendar @presspubs.com

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SPORTS AND OUTDOORS

6 WHITE BEAR/VADNAIS HEIGHTS PRESS

www.presspubs.com

Zephyrs clip Cooper, look ahead to MEC defense BRUCE STRAND SPORTS CONTRIBUTOR

The Mahtomedi girls basketball team will take a 4-3 record and three straight wins into the holiday break after clipping Robbinsdale Cooper 71-53 in Robbinsdale.

The Zephyrs were led by sophomore forward Anna Greene with 25 points. Ella Kletti chipped in 11 points, Grace Prose seven and Delaney Dumermuth six as 10 players scored for the Zephyrs. Somah Komarah led Cooper (2-5) with 18 points.

Mahtomedi’s balanced attack is headed by Greene with 15.4 points per game, Kletti with 9.7 and Ella Frazier with 8.7.

The Zephyrs will resume pursuit of their third straight Metro East Conference title on Jan. 3, hosting Tartan. The Zephyrs have a 31-game conference win streak going. They beat South St. Paul in their MEC opener.

Their December losses came against Roseville (ranked No. 16 in Class 4A), Providence Academy (No. 2 in 2A) and Jordan (No. 6 in 2A).

DECEMBER 27, 2023

ZEPHYRS SPORTS BRIEFS WRESTLING

power play in OT. Zephyr goalie Wes Strub stopped 16 of 18 shots.

Mahtomedi is 3-7.

Mahtomedi defeated North St. Paul 52-21.

Winning by pin for the Zephyrs (2-7) were Aidan Carlson, Shelby McFetridge, Mac Schultz, Isaac Opitz, Samuel White, Alex Lavalle, Wyatt Herschbach and Evan McGuire, while Aiden Boex won 12-4.

GIRLS HOCKEY Roseville/Mahtomedi defeated Mounds View/ Irondale 8-2 at National Sports Center, outshooting MVI 58-18. Victoria Nelson and Addison Andre knocked in two goals apiece. Ruby Eskin, Lauren Eggleston, Olivia Hartman and Rylee Bogren had a goal each. Kylie Jones assisted on four goals.

The Marauders are 6-7 overall and 5-4 in the Suburban East. MVI is 2-8-1 overall.

BOYS HOCKEY

BRUCE STRAND | CONTRIBUTED

Anna Greene, who scored 25 points, battled a double-team against Cooper. She was fouled and made both free shots.

Mahtomedi lost to Delano 2-1 in overtime as Tiger goalie Evan Geyen stopped 32 of 33 Zephyr shots. Ryan Lipovitz scored for Mahtomedi in the first period. Scoring for Delano (6-2) were Daniel Halonen and Bryce Peterson, the latter on a

Bruce Strand

BEARS SPORTS BRIEFS BOYS HOCKEY

SWIMMING

White Bear Lake is 5-0 in the Suburban East, and 6-2 overall, after defeating Roseville Area 4-0. Nate Celski and Tyler Lalonde scored in the first period, and Kevin Laska and Blake Eckerle scored in the third period. Leo Gabriel made 29 saves in the shutout.

The Bears lost a non-conference game to Champlin Park 6-5 as Brent Solomon drilled four goals for the Rebels (5-3-1). Nolan Roed had his second straight three-goal game for the Bears with Rafa Bastida and Maverick Timmons also scoring. The Rebels outshot the Bears 34-21.

White Bear Lake edged Forest Lake 94-91 in a conference dual meet. It came down to the final event, the 400 freestyle relay, which was won by the Bears team of Benedict Hoefer, Calvin Weier, Angelo Roman and Brayden Kolb in 3:38.42. Placing first individually were Hoefer in the 200 free (1:55.26) and 500 free (5:26.11), Kolb in the 100 free (52.42) and backstroke (1:00.17), and Finnian McVeigh in the 100 breaststroke (1:09.72). The Bears also won the 200 freestyle relay with Dylan Grudem, Gabriel Gerlach, Roman, and Hoefer in 1:42.43. Tony Parada Romero placed 2nd in diving.

GIRLS HOCKEY

CONTRIBUTED

White Bear Lake picked up its fourth straight win, 4-0 over Park in Cottage Grove. Bear goalie Gabriella Casa de Calvo made 24 saves in the shutout. Gabby Hofeld netted two goals, and Lila Beck and Lily Howard one each. Talia Domschot and Hailey Dawe each assisted on two goals, and Madelyn Lee and Amanda Smythe one each. The Bears are 8-3-1 overall and 4-3-1 in the SEC. Park is 5-6 and 2-5.

WRESTLING White Bear Lake defeated Park 37-22 and lost to Stillwater 40-21 in a conference triangular at Stillwater. Posting two victories were Dalton Klamerus at 114 pounds, Christian Carlson at 133, Kesean Lipscomb at 152 and Zach Carnes at 285. Going 1-1 were Vin Nathanson at 121, Logan Arends at 127, Porter Cleary at 160, Charlie Woodcock at 189 and Joe Volk at 215. The Bears are 4-5 heading into the holiday break.

Leather and Laces takes 1st place The Leather & Laces adult synchronized skating team took first place at their first competition of the season at 3M Arena at Mariucci in Minneapolis. The team is now preparing for the Midwest Synchronized Skating Sectional Championships at the end of January in Wichita, Kansas.

This Week In

SPORTS

Bruce Strand

WHITE BEAR LAKE

ATHLETE OF THE WEEK

Sarah Poepard Brol Scherman White Bear Lake Girls Basketball Centennial Lacrosse

Sarah Poepard is the first eighth-grader be a starter Brol Scherman, Centennial junior lacrossetostandout, hasfor netted White Bear girls basketball in coach Post’s 22 goals andLake provided seven assists for theJeremy Cougars (4-2)18-year while tenure. The six-footballs wing(aischange makingof anpossession immediatestatistic). impact, notching 17 ground averaging 10.3 for the No. ranked Bears (7-3), and Scherman was points all-conference as a13sophomore with 36 goals adept both penetrating forwebsite close-range shots drilling and 28at assists.

The recruiting ILMCA saidand of him: “Endthree-pointers.

Her machine high games have beenconfidence 19 and 18 points, to-end playmaking with striking both on in wins overfield.

Forest Lake and Roseville, respectively.

Sheoutside was and off the Versatile offensive threat with strong on varsityand in seventh grade, too, averaging 6.8team points off the shooting crease finishing skills.

Magnetic leader and bench. influencer.” positive

We Buy Buy used used vehicles vehicles We FAMILY OWNED SINCe 1981 1981 FAMILY OWNED SINCe

3555 Hoffman Hoffman Rd Rd White White Bear Bear Lake, Lake, MN MN 3555 651-488-8400 || www.longsauto.com www.longsauto.com 651-488-8400

MAHTOMEDI

Thursday, Dec. 28

Thursday, Dec. 28

• 6 p.m. — Girls Hockey at Lakeview South

• All Day — Girls Hockey Tournament at Doug Woog Arena • 9 a.m. — Wrestling Varsity Invitational at University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire

Friday, Dec. 29 • 4:15 p.m. — Girls Basketball Tournament vs.

Lakeville North at College of St. Benedict

Saturday, Dec. 30

Friday, Dec. 29

• 11 a.m. — Girls Basketball Tournament vs.

Orono at St. Cloud Tech High School • 7 p.m. — Boys Hockey vs. Mounds View at TCO Sports Garden

• All Day — Girls Hockey Tournament at Doug Woog Arena • 10:30 a.m. — Boys Basketball vs. St. Paul Central at Northwestern College • 11 a.m. — Wrestling at Champlin Park

Wednesday, Jan. 3

Saturday, Dec. 30

• 3:40 p.m. — Nordic Ski Boys Varsity Meet vs. Multiple Schools at Lake Elmo Park Reserve • 4:20 p.m. — Nordic Ski Girls Varsity Meet vs. Multiple Schools at Lake Elmo Park Reserve • 5 p.m. — Alpine Ski Boys and Girls Varsity Meet vs. Multiple Schools at Afton Alps

• All Day — Girls Hockey Tournament at Doug Woog Arena • 10:30 a.m. — Boys Basketball vs. Austin at Northwestern College • 1 p.m. — Boys Hockey at Orono

Wednesday, Jan. 3 • 7 p.m. — Boys Basketball at Tartan • 7 p.m. — Girls Basketball vs. Tartan • 7:30 p.m. — Girls Hockey at East Ridge

DECEMBER 27, 2023 www.presspubs.com

WHITE BEAR/VADNAIS HEIGHTS PRESS

OBITUARY

7

NAMES IN THE NEWS

of White Bear Lake, MN passed away on Friday, December 15, 2023 at the age of 74. She was born on August 12, 1949 to Otto and Betty Grelk in Mason City, IA. She married her husband, Gregg Higgins, on September 20, 1972 and together had two daughters, Ashlee and Amanda. Grandchildren, Eligh “EJ” and Elliot “Ottie”, came later on and in addition to the titles of wife and mom, “Grandy” was added to the list. Her education included attending North Iowa Area Community College, Iowa State University and Michigan Technological University. She served in the United States Air Force from 1976 to 1982, achieving the rank of Captain. She was stationed in Mississippi, California, and Nebraska. Her and Gregg settled down in Minnesota after his retirement from the USAF and White Bear Lake became home from then on.

Her interests and hobbies were abundant, and only grew as she got older. So did her love of learning and desire to make an impact. An advocate for social justice and climate issues, she participated in classes and webinars, attended protests, and contacted her elected officials. Her quiet demeanor had a loud presence, and it was infectious. She found her people and she had various networks of friends, most of which turned into lifelong relationships. It was these friendships, and family, that brought her the greatest joy and she infused her life with the passions, activities, and interests of those she loved: A book recommendation given to her would be found on her shelf the following week, a trip destination idea would soon become a shared bucketlist dream (some of those dreams did in fact turn into reality - 26 states and 15 countries to be specific), and a schedule of EJ and Ottie’s hockey and baseball games were posted on her wall - in the event she

Housing First Minnesota recently inducted Art Pratt as the 2024 board chair. Pratt is president of construction operations for Pratt Homes. In this role, Pratt will lead a 17-member board and help provide strategic direction for the association's 1,200 members and affiliate partners.

STORAGE UNIT AUCTIONS ABLE STORAGE - MAPLEWOOD

01/24/24 Wed, 1:00. 1810 Gervais Ct, Maplewood, MN; Storage Unit Auction; classic car; Waylon Rembert, owner; Auction by Able Storage 01/24/24 Wed, 1:00. 1810 Gervais Ct, Maplewood, MN; Storage Unit Auction; car, household items, bikes; Antonio Flores, owner; Auction by: Able Storage

793663

couldn’t attend, an immediate recap of the game was required.

She was a “dog person” and had many canine companions throughout her life. She viewed her daughter’s dogs, Crockett and Yoda, as an extension to her grandchildren, and appropriately referred to them as such. Always up for a board game, however, it came with the condition that the rules were followed explicitly (no exceptions for children or novices!). In similar form and fashion, everything - and there were a LOT of things - had a label and a place. A comment made in passing would be thoroughly researched and a prompt delivery of information, resources, and suggestions would be forthcoming. She was prepared for everything.

Forever a lover of the arts and literature, her accomplishments included all kinds of artsy pursuits: She took up acrylic painting, encaustic, alcohol ink, pine needle basket, rope baskets, and the everyday doodling. She practiced tai chi, tai chi fan, and tai chi cane. She enjoyed attending local community theatre productions, off-Broadway performances, and the occasional concert. The list goes on, and we’re not even talking about how thick her book log was! Found with a book always in hand, you could anticipate an enthusiastic conversation about what she was reading.

She lived big, boldly, and unapologetically Andy.

She is preceded in death by her parents, Betty and Otto Grelk; and husband, Gregory L. Higgins. She is survived by her daughters, Ashlee (Ben) Loch and Amanda (Pete) Theis; her two grandchildren, Eligh and Elliot Loch; and sister, Janice Olson.

In her honor, Andy’s Charitable Art Show Gala (celebration of life) will occur: Friday, January 5, 2024, Mueller Memorial Funeral Home,4738 Bald Eagle Ave White Bear Lake, MN 55110, 2pm-6pm; Short remarks by family will be made at 4pm.

Pieces of Andy’s artwork will be displayed, and many items will be for sale with proceeds going to White Bear Center for the Arts, Planned Parenthood, or Freedom From Religion Foundation. In lieu of flowers, please consider a personal donation to one of the aforementioned nonprofits. A private burial service will take place at Ft. Snelling Cemetery. Mueller Memorial, White Bear Lake, www.muellermemorial.com 651-429-4944.

793332

Andrea “Andy” Higgins

White Bear Lake Area

Church Directory Find the church that fits your needs.

1660 Birch Lake Ave., White Bear Lake

www.stmarys-wbl.org

(Just off Hwy 96 & Otter Lake Road)

790352

Church: 4741 Bald Eagle Avenue, White Bear Lake Parish Life Center/School: 4690 Bald Eagle Avenue, White Bear Lake

787263

Masses: Saturday - 5:00 PM Livestream Sunday - 9:00 & 11:00 AM

All Are Welcome!

CHURCH OF ST. PIUS X

Daily Mass Tuesday, 6:00 pm, Wednesday & Friday, 9:00 am Thursday, 9:00 am (Jun - Aug), 9:15 am (Sep - May) Weekend Masses Saturday, 4:30 pm.

Sunday, 9:00 am.

CATHOLIC CHURCH & SCHOOL Sunday, 11:00 am.

Sacrament of Reconciliation: www.stjudeofthelake.org Friday 7:45 - 8:45 am Saturdays 3:30 - 4:30 pm 651-426-3245 | 700 Mahtomedi Avenue, Mahtomedi By appointment

St.Jude OF THE LAKE

Sundays

777298

8:00am In-person Holy Eucharist 10am In-person & Livestream Holy Eucharist

stjohnwilderness.org

9am Traditions Worship 10:45am New Crossing Worship 10am Online ALL ARE WELCOME! Check our website for holiday hours wblumc.org 1851 Birch Street WBL 55110 White Bear Unitarian Universalist Church

A Welcoming & Inclusive Faith Community

785865

Sunday Services | In-Person & Online | 9 & 11am: https://wbuuc.org/sunday-worship office@wbuuc.org | www.wbuuc.org |   

785623

5th and Bloom Ave, White Bear Lake • 651-429-3381 • www.fpcwbl.org 5th and Bloom Ave, White Bear Lake • 651-429-3381• www.fpcwbl.org

787260

Children 5 years to 5th grade may participate in Children’s Church during worship.

2175 1st Street, WBL 55110 | 651.429.5351

788496

763244

Sunday Worship Join us on Sunday:

10:15 am in-person Worship Livestreaming on and Live-streaming on YouTube: YouTube:FPCWBL FPCWBL

office@ctkwbl.org | 651-429-4828 St. John in the Wilderness Episcopal Church

3878 Highland Avenue White Bear Lake • 651-429-5337 www.churchofstpiusx.org Masses: Sunday 9:30 AM & 6:30 PM, Monday, Thursday, & Friday, 8:00 AM, Wednesday 6:00 PM, Saturday 4:00 PM Reconciliation: Wednesday 5:00-5:45 PM, Thursday 8:45-9:15 AM, Saturday 3:15-3:35 PM, Sunday 6:00-6:20 PM

9 am worship in person & online at www.ctkwbl.org.

752983

3676 Centerville Road, Vadnais Heights, MN 55127 www.cslcvh.org / 651-429-6595 Sunday 9:30 AM worship in person/on-line Adult Bible Study 8:30 AM

Christ the King Lutheran Church

651-429-7771 Opt 1

787261

Christ the Servant Lutheran Church

757558

Service times are subject to change during the coronavirus crisis. Contact your local church or check church web sites for service time and online service information.

793656

rlcstpaul

785863

2425 White Bear Avenue • Maplewood • 651-777-5200

790969

Worship: Sunday, 9am & 10:30am Wednesday, 6:30pm Daily prayer meetings and Spiritual Growth classes throughout the week. Call the church office for more information.

751042

redeeminglovechurch.com

8 WHITE BEAR PRESS

DECEMBER 27, 2023

www.presspubs.com

Local author publishes first book Vadnais Heights resident Jenna Dill was inspired to write her first book, “Sheltered,” to send the message that people are not alone in life’s struggles. She describes it as a stirring work of realistic fiction following best friends Alex and Sarah as they navigate relationships and careers that are far from what they dreamt they would be. Press Publications recently sat down with Dill to learn more about her and her work.

CONTRIBUTED

John Guarnera and one of the sports stories from his time at The Press.

Reporter’s memory lives on ERIK SUCHY CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Although the life of John Guarnera may have reached its end, the legacy of his writing still lives on in the newspaper’s archives for readers to remember.

John Guarnera, a former writer/reporter for the White Bear Press, passed away Nov. 3 at Elkridge Memory Care in Maplewood at the age of 76.

The seeds for Guarnera’s early success were initially sown in high school, as he played with fierce skill and heightened perseverance for the Mahtomedi Zephyrs football team during his years of attendance. This sense of vigor and ferocity brought his home team victory in multiple games, cementing himself as a powerhouse athletic performer amongst his teammates.

Concentrating post-graduation with a knowledgeable, yet no less passionate, head full of sports, Guarnera brought this devotion to the forefront of his reporting for the White Bear Press, a tenure he began and continued throughout most of the 1980s. More often than not, his coverage primarily focused on the triumphs and occasional upsets of the team for which he brought conquest after conquest in his teenage years: the Mahtomedi Zephyrs.

From the New Prague Trojans to the Farmington Tigers, Guarnera remained steadfast in his determination to cover whatever team the Zephyrs

were taking on for the evening, regardless of the outcome of each game. It was this determination that was enhanced further in his writing, as well. Should a loss ever occur, no sense of frustration or disappointment ever clouded how he transcribed the detailed play-by-plays of these games from memory to paper. Instead, Guarnera, if nothing else, stayed a writer who exercised phenomenal patience and was a master of word choice for every article he composed. Additionally, whether or not the Zephyrs or said opposing team claimed a loss or win, he ensured that a headline perfectly summarizing either side’s achievements was a top priority for readers to note before diving into the piece, bias and animosity-free.

The character of John Guarnera was someone who can be summarized best as a figure of two parts. From his youth, he was a well-built team player, consistently maintaining a solid camaraderie and dedication with his fellow football stars, both on and off the field. In his reporting years, this same dedication he brought to his persistently wellcrafted writing helped cement his legacy of an earnest, headstrong devotee to Minnesota high school sports that will not be forgotten.

What remains for Shoreview readers to view within past editions is the work of a man with nothing short of integrity and immensely heightened talent to boot.

Q. Tell us a little bit about yourself.

A. I am a passionate person who is always learning. I love putting myself in environments where I can get to know people who are different from me. Learning from those who are different than me is why I wanted to become a teacher and I’ve been teaching high school (and sometimes middle school) for ten years. Every day, my students teach me something new about the world and I am so grateful for the opportunity to learn from them. I learn at home too. I am a mother of a blended family and I learn unique lessons from my relationships with all of my children. Some of those lessons are messy and painful and some are beautiful and peaceful. I definitely lead an adventurous life. Speaking of adventure-I grew up in Minnesota but I hope to someday move to a tropical climate. Winter and I never meshed well.

Q. Is this your first publication?

A. Yes. This is my first official publication.

However, I’ve been writing stories since college.

Q. Where did your inspiration come from for this book?

A. The inspiration for writing this book was the desire to send the message that we are not alone in our struggles to feel seen, heard and loved. Every day, we all face obstacles in our own minds and in reality that tell us that our dreams aren’t good enough, our best isn’t good enough and we will only find success if we put on a mask and play the role that’s asked of us.

Q. What do you hope readers take away from reading your book?

A. “Sheltered” is a realistic fiction novel based in the modern midwest. Many of the characters’ experiences are based on real-life injustices and trials that have occurred in the time period we are living in. My hope is that readers will identify with and learn from my main characters, Alex and Sarah. They are two people who are searching for where they belong, who they belong with as well as knowing their worth. Both characters experience loss, betrayal, heartbreak and healing. There are people in their world who are looking to use them for their own power and ego, and people who want to help- who set their own

PHOTOS CONTRIBUTED

Author Jenna Dill and her first book “Sheltered.” arrogance aside to see how they can create a more peaceful world by serving others. I hope that conversations about “Sheltered” will help readers, particularly female readers, as the book sends an important message about what American women and girls experience, to feel more connected with each other as they interpret the story. I want the peace, hope and connection that’s found in the book to extend to the real world. I also hope that some of the injustice that’s highlighted inspires readers to do the right thing and support those who have been victims.

Q. Do you have any other books in the works?

A. Yes! I have a novella coming out in February or March. I am also currently working on the sequel to “Sheltered.”

Q. Where can people find your book? Do you have a website?

A. My book is available on Amazon and barnesandnoble.com under the pen name J. Dill. My website is lovingcreatively.com where you can find more details about my work and upcoming releases.

Q. Is there anything else you want readers to know?

A. Believe in the power of stories. Our voices matter. Our stories matter. We have more power than we think to help each other and change the way the world moves. We just need to take the time to listen to, learn from and share with each other to find our connecting points.

Noelle Olson

PUBLIC NOTICES • PUBLIC NOTICES • PUBLIC NOTICES WHITE BEAR TOWNSHIP

NOTICE OF HEARING TO AMEND ORDINANCE NO. 54 (ESTABLISHING FEES) IN THE TOWN OF WHITE BEAR, RAMSEY COUNTY, MINNESOTA NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN, That the Town Board of the Town of White Bear, Ramsey County, Minnesota, will meet at Heritage Hall, 4200 Otter Lake Road, in said Town on Wednesday, January 17, 2024, at 7:00 p.m., to consider amending Ordinance 54, and to hear and pass upon objections and recommendations, if any, and to conduct any and all business incident thereto.

Given under my hand this 21st day of December, 2023.

PATRICK CHRISTOPHERSON, Clerk-Treasurer Published one time in the White Bear Press on December 27, 2023.

Polar Bear Drive, Bayberry Drive, Red Pine Boulevard, Norway Pine Drive, Norway Pine Court, Blue Bill Circle, Mallard Ponds Drive, Mallard Ponds Boulevard, Pintail Lane, and Sandterra Circle, Ramsey County, Minnesota.

The estimated cost of the improvement is $4,118,400.00.

The Board proposes to proceed under authority granted under Minnesota Statutes, Chapter 429.

All persons desiring to be heard with reference to the proposed improvement will be heard at this meeting.

Dated: December 18, 2023.

BY ORDER OF THE TOWN BOARD OF SUPERVISORS PATRICK CHRISTOPHERSON, Clerk-Treasurer Published three times in the White Bear Press on December 27, 2023, January 3 and 10, 2024.

WHITE BEAR TOWNSHIP

WHITE BEAR TOWNSHIP

NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING ON PROPOSED MALLARD PONDS STREET IMPROVEMENT 2023-2 IN THE TOWN OF WHITE BEAR, RAMSEY COUNTY, MINNESOTA NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN, that the Town Board of the Town of White Bear, Ramsey County, Minnesota, will meet at Heritage Hall, 4200 Otter Lake Road, in said Town on Wednesday, January 17, 2024, at 7:00 p.m., to consider the improvement. A reasonable estimate of the impact of the assessment will be available at the hearing.

The general nature of the improvement is set forth as follows: construction of bituminous paving, concrete curb and gutter, storm drainage and other appurtenances thereto.

The area proposed to be assessed for such improvement is every lot, piece or parcel of land benefitted by said improvement in the area of the Town of White Bear lying and being within the following area of the Township including:

NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING ON PROPOSED PARKVIEW COURT STREET IMPROVEMENT 2023-3 IN THE TOWN OF WHITE BEAR, RAMSEY COUNTY, MINNESOTA NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN, that the Town Board of the Town of White Bear, Ramsey County, Minnesota, will meet at Heritage Hall, 4200 Otter Lake Road, in said Town on Wednesday, January 17, 2024, at 7:00 p.m., to consider the improvement. A reasonable estimate of the impact of the assessment will be available at the hearing.

The general nature of the improvement is set forth as follows: construction of bituminous paving, concrete curb and gutter, storm drainage and other appurtenances thereto.

The area proposed to be assessed for such improvement is every lot, piece or parcel of land benefitted by said improvement in the area of the Town of White Bear lying and being within the following area of the Township including: Parkview Court, Ramsey County, Minnesota.

The estimated cost of the improvement is $659,700.00.

The Board proposes to proceed under authority granted under Minnesota Statutes, Chapter 429.

All persons desiring to be heard with reference to the proposed improvement will be heard at this meeting.

Dated: December 18, 2023.

BY ORDER OF THE TOWN BOARD OF SUPERVISORS PATRICK CHRISTOPHERSON, Clerk-Treasurer Published three times in the White Bear Press on December 27, 2023, January 3 and 10, 2024.

CITY OF MAHTOMEDI

NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING Notice is hereby given that on January 10th, 2024, 6:30 p.m. at City Hall, 600 Stillwater Road, the Mahtomedi Planning Commission will hold a public hearing to solicit public response to a request from property owners Joseph & Karen Bevins, for a minor subdivision resulting in two lots at 170 Bevins Ln. The application also includes a request for two variances, from the minimum required lot width and lot depth for the resulting buildable lot. The Planning Commission will make a recommendation regarding the proposed request to the City Council, for their meeting to be held on January 16th, 2024, 7:00 p.m. at City Hall. Those persons having an interest in said meetings are encouraged to attend.

If you have questions about this notice or if you would like further information regarding the project described above, please contact Hannah Rybak, Mahtomedi City Planner, at 612-269-3684. Written comments may be submitted to City Hall, or via email at hrybak@wsbeng.com.

Scott Neilson, City Administrator Published one time in the White Bear Press on December 27, 2023.

US STORAGE CENTERS - WHITE BEAR

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Published two times in the White Bear Press on December 27, 2023 and January 3, 2024.

DECEMBER 27, 2023 www.presspubs.com

WHITE BEAR PRESS

9

Court-ordered permit conditions criticized as counterproductive

BY DEBRA NEUTKENS STAFF WRITER

ST. PAUL — High-density housing will likely dot Hugo’s expanding skyline if court-ordered restrictions aren’t lifted on its water appropriations permit.

City Administrator Bryan Bear drove home that point again and again during daylong testimony before Administrative Law Judge Eric Lipman earlier this month.

The city is contesting amendments to its DNR permit that restrict residential irrigation and per capita water use, as mandated in the 2017 court order resulting from the lake level lawsuit.

Hugo is particularly focused on two of the four permit changes: That a residential irrigation ban be imposed when White Bear Lake drops below 923.5 feet and a phase-down of daily per capita residential water use to 75 gallons and total use to 90 gallons.

The city of Hugo views the directives as “dramatically punitive, arbitrary in scope, ultimately ineffective and fundamentally inequitable,” said city attorney Dave Snyder in his opening remarks to the judge.

Originally scheduled for Oct. 17 (five years after appeals were filed), the hearings were postponed due to an illness after several days of expert testimony, and the date pushed back to Dec. 11. The city of Hugo was first to testify.

It should be noted that permit amendments have not been activated during the contested case process.

The amendment regarding per capita use is particularly problematic for the city. As Bear explained, the condition “demands the city develop plans that can be enforceable to reduce per capita ratios down to 90 gallons per day total and 75 gallons for residential uses.

“The amendment is not reasonable in any regard,” Bear stated. “It will pull the city’s water use up instead of down. It is backwards and it is damaging.”

The city administrator said the regulation will result in land use decisions that would otherwise not be made in order to comply with the ratio.

“Certain land uses score very well in gallons per capita per day and certain ones score poorly,” Bear said. “That will dramatically affect decisions that are made. The city will understand quickly which uses will help us lower the per capita number. The clear winner are apartment projects. They solve the formula. Uses that score well will be the ones that tend to get approved, and they are the very uses that require a lot of water.”

On average, apartment dwellers use 30 gallons per capita per day, according to Bear.

“That sounds low,” attorney Snyder noted, “but the fundamental question about how much water is pumped overall from the aquifer is never asked.”

Bear offered a “real world” example in eastern Hugo regarding a proposed project.

The city has an application for a three-story, 90-unit apartment complex on vacant land currently zoned for office space. At this time, 90 units is the most the city allows on the site, but the Planning Commission has instructed staff to evaluate rezoning and higher density.

Again, assuming 30 gallons per capita per day, the 90 units will use 1,200% more water than a medical office building once proposed on the same parcel.

“On a gallons-per-capita basis, apartments on this site help the city meet this regulation,” Bear said. “This becomes the driving land-use decision, as the city does not want to exceed 90 gallons. But it will increase pumping, not lower pumping.”

Attorney Snyder asked Bear whether if the conditions are violated, by irrigating during a ban or surpassing per capita water use, could the city’s permit be revoked? “It’s a possibility,” Bear replied.

Next to question Bear was attorney Dick Allyn, who represents the White Bear Restoration Association, plaintiff in the lake lawsuit. He asked Bear several times if Hugo citizens will refuse to comply with the court’s conditions.

“Did Hugo notify the DNR that it is not feasible to comply with 75 gallons?” asked Allyn, who continues to defend the 2017 decision pro bono. “I don’t think they ever asked us,” Bear replied. Allyn repeated the question, asking if Hugo citizens have a different standard than the rest of the cities involved.

“The city of Hugo believes it can and will comply with the numbers, but not in a way you expected,” Bear said. “The real result is more water will get used through pumping due to unfortunate land-use decisions. I wouldn’t be surprised if other cities come to the same conclusion.”

According to Allyn, who labels Hugo a major water user, the statewide average is 52 gallons per capita per day. According to Bear, the city’s residents average 64 gallons.

Regarding an irrigation ban Banning residential irrigation if water levels drop below 923.5 feet is another sore point for the city.

Such a ban means no outside watering if White Bear Lake drops below that trigger point.

By definition, the ban would apply to some properties and not others.

Attorney Snyder maintains that neither side understood what was truly meant by a residential irrigation ban and its implications. “Have you ever heard of an irrigation ban on one class of property where people are likely to have green things growing?” Snyder asked Bear. “No,” he said. “There is a lack of clarity and that is unusual. There is also inequity. Residents will see others irrigating from a stormwater pond and won’t understand

CONTRIBUTED

This graphic was exhibited at the hearing to illustrate that the only way North Star Elementary can expand and remain in compliance with the gallons per capita per day rule is to build a 150-unit apartment complex on school property. A complex would fit in the white outlined area, according to city staff, and would meet per capita per day restrictions. Such a project would also result in significantly more water pumped from the aquifer.

why someone can water while others can’t.

“There is a major fundamental problem with fairness,” Bear continued. “Can non-residential property be irrigated?

The use of the term ‘residential’ is a bomb.

“People also understand that certain classes of residents HUGOTX01717 don’t have a ban. Properties close to the lake, like Dellwood for example, aren’t served by municipal water. They have wells. They can irrigate.”

The ban will also be unenforceable, the city administrator said. “The public will not agree with it because they will see it as unfair. They will see that an irrigation ban is not effective at restoring lake level, and they will not comply.

Residents can power-wash a driveway or fill a swimming pool, but they can’t irrigate.

That isn’t restricted.”

Fines will not be effective, he added.

‘Use of the term residential is a bomb.’

Bryan Bear Hugo city administrator

Noted during Bear’s testimony was a calculation from a U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) expert who figured a residential irrigation ban in Hugo would have an impact on the lake of a tenth to a third of an inch over 10 years.

Any entity owning a well within a 5-mile radius of White Bear Lake was impacted by the court order. Of the 17 permit holders, including 10 munic-

ipalities, three country clubs and several businesses contesting the amendments, six cities remain in the fight.

White Bear Township, North St. Paul and three golf courses, White Bear Yacht Club, Dellwood and Indian Hills, recently settled. District Court Judge Margaret Marrinan (retired) agreed in May 2022, that Saputo Foods, H.B. Fuller and Whirlpool were exempt from DNR permit amendments as conditioned in her original court order.

Hugo’s city attorney took issue with the golf courses’ settlement during testimony, mentioning the yacht club’s “unrestricted” water use several times. (See separate story).

“The plaintiff intervenors demand conditions of residents of Hugo but when the time came for them to impose regulations on their own golf courses, like the White Bear Yacht Club, they will continue pumping regardless of lake level,” Snyder remarked.

“You can suggest there is a watering restriction on golf courses (per the settlement),” he scoffed. “The reality is that nonessential use takes a higher priority in this scenario than the watering of gardens, trees or lawns.”

Snyder asked Bear: “Even if the lake drops below 922 feet, they (the three golf courses) will continue to irrigate with drinking water because that is what the settlement provides, is that right?”

“That is correct,” the city administrator replied. “I don’t think there’s any point where they will stop irrigating.”

Hugo’s pioneering water reuse program, first implemented in 2012 before the lawsuit was filed, was also brought to the judge’s attention. A

third court-ordered permit requirement is to implement a contingency plan to convert to surface water. Since starting the reuse program 11 years ago at Hugo’s Oneka Ridge Golf Course, 25% of the city’s annual water consumption, or 100 million gallons, has been converted to surface water used for irrigation.

HUGO000022 “Citizens are using stormwater to irrigate rather than drinking water,” Bear pointed out, “which means water we didn’t pump out of the ground stayed in the ground.” He’s puzzled, he said, why the amendment was added to Hugo’s permit when a program is already in place.

“We are managing water in an admirable way,” Bear maintained. “An irrigation ban would replace our reuse systems and, as a result, we will use more water.”

Snyder asked him to explain: “The city will find it impossible to predict when a ban will be in place and when it won’t,” Bear said. “You better plan on needing water for times when the ban is not in place. If that is true, the water reuse program as we know it would not continue.”

“An irrigation ban is a bad idea,” concluded Bear. “A responsible discussion about water demand reduction measures and responsible use of resources is something we’d love to do. But this regulation, this rule, is not the right answer.”

The deadline for final briefs is mid-February for all parties involved in the contested cases.

Judge Lipman has 90 days to issue a decision, which should be out mid-May.

10 WHITE BEAR/VADNAIS HEIGHTS PRESS

DECEMBER 27, 2023

www.presspubs.com

BOAT BUILDER: White Bear grad’s connection to film ‘The Boys in the Boat’ FROM PAGE 1

eventually marrying a fellow outdoorswoman he met on Minnesota’s Gunflint Trail (in the winter).

Chapin is the exclusive boat builder of the Pocock classic rowing shell, a boat famous for its delicate but solid, steam bent cedar hull. “Too beautiful to row, far too beautiful not to,” is a description attributed to an owner of one of his shells.

The Pocock family was so impressed with his skills that they bequeathed the patriarch’s plans, tools and remaining inventory of old-growth cedar to Chapin, who has been lovingly building single-person shells a few at a time for 20 years. Buyers consist of purists who appreciate the craftsmanship, the beauty of the wood and the idea that the boats have changed little in more than 120 years.

“It’s a small niche market,” Chapin admitted, noting the red cedar shells sell for $20,000. “But building boats that George Pocock built on his apparatus, with his tools and his wood, is akin to reproducing a piece of history.”

an apprentice through four generations of the Pocock family and others working with George.

“Nothing was ever written down or recorded on how they were built,” he said.

But back to the movie. A couple years ago, Chapin received a call from the executive producer who was looking for someone knowledgeable about boats rowed in the ’30s.

His name came up. “They asked a lot of detailed questions on the anatomy of the boats, dimensions, wood species and what makes a shell a George

“It’s a great art, is rowing. It’s the finest art there is. It’s a symphony of motion. And when you’re rowing well, why it’s nearing perfection. And when you near perfection, you’re touching the Divine. It touches the you of yous. Which is your soul.”

George Yeoman Pocock “The Boys in the Boat” Chapin explained that the method for building the special craft has always been handed down in oral tradition with a master working with

Pocock,” Chapin recalled.

“I was impressed over how much concern people high up in the movie bureaucracy had over minute detail. That was

Thank you, Mary…

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Give Mary your well wishes and to enjoy some cake from 1 pm – 4 pm.

important to them. I was pleased with that. They wanted to locate boats from that period, though, which wasn’t possible.

They ended up building their own shells, which were made to look like a Pocock.”

The movie was filmed on the Thames River in England, where Clooney happens to have a home, Chapin said. There is an interesting connection with the location — Pocock grew up on the river near where the film was made. He later moved to Seattle building wooden floats for Boeing during World War I. The University of Washington’s rowing team did something unexpected in the rowing world in 1936.

They competed against the richest, most elite schools in the sport — and won. They were told they couldn’t beat the Germans, so they “rowed like no one else, rowed out of need” (as declared in the movie trailer) and (spoiler alert) beat the Germans for gold while the crowd chanted for Deutschland and the Fuhrer watched.

Their astonishing feat, accomplished by kids from poor, blue-collar families who farmed, logged and fished for a living, is described as a “compelling and inspiring tale of resilience, determination and the power of teamwork.”

The coach of that Olympic team called eight-man crew the most difficult sport in the world. Chapin, who rowed for the University of St. Thomas, would agree.

“Eight people must act as one in the boat. They must be completely in

UW SPECIAL COLLECTIONS | CONTRIBUTED

George Pocock, 1891 to 1976, built state-of-the-art shells for many U.S. Olympic crews, dominating the shell-building world. He is at the ASUW Shell House, circa 1937. The Husky Clipper is visible in the background.

unison. That involves a huge amount of trust in your teammates. If you’re not in unison, it throws the whole boat off.

It’s an amazing thing,” he exclaimed. “It also requires athletes with large muscles combined with fine motor skills.

There is no room for error. If you do it wrong, you can get launched (out of the boat). That’s called ‘catching a crab.’”

Chapin and members of the university’s rowing community were invited to an advance screening of the movie in Seattle last week. What did he think? “I liked the movie.

They took a few liberties, but it’s always a problem converting a book to a movie. I understand that.

For the most part, it was good at conveying the drama of lead character Joe Rantz, drama in the boat and the drama of the races. The story is not just about rowing

or one boy growing up in hardscrabble times.

It brings in the history of totalitarianism in Germany and growing up in the Depression.”

There were few dry eyes in the audience at the viewing. “It’s pretty moving,” he said.

Rantz’s daughter Judy, who lives in Seattle, was also in the audience at last week’s viewing.

Chapin knows her through the Associated Students of the University of Washington (ASUW) shell house restoration project. The building, where the Olympic shell is displayed and Pocock housed his workshop, was built by the Navy in 1918 as a seaplane hangar and donated to the rowing team at the end of WWI. Although Chapin couldn’t stay as movie credits rolled, he was told his name is there as a consultant. He plans to see it again with fellow

oarsmen in the Rat Island Rowing Club, and will look for the credit.

Chapin’s sister, Evelyn Duvall, said she’s proud of her brother’s talents and can’t wait to see the movie. The Bald Eagle family participates in about every sport on the water and has been on Press pages before. “It’s in our blood,” Duvall said.

She and husband Mark were given a fiberglass two-place shell by a friend, and they’re still learning to row it. “It’s tippy,” she exclaimed.

“You have to get into it very gingerly.”

As a sidenote, the entire 1936 Olympic rowing crew was inducted into the Rowing Hall of Fame in 1971. Joe Rantz died in 2007.

IF YOU GO:

The movie is in theaters now. It stars Joel Edgerton, portraying coach Al Ulbrickson, and Callum Turner, portraying Joe Rantz.

Watch the trailer at youtube.com/ watch?v=dfEA-udzjjQ

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DIANNE ROBERTS | CONTRIBUTED

Steve Chapin works on a classic Pocock shell at his Point Hudson Boat Shop in Port Townsend, Washington. It takes about 200 hours to build the 12-inch wide, 26.5-foot single shell.

Its solid cedar hull is 3/32nds of an inch thick. An eight-place shell like the one in the Olympics is 64 feet long and 24 inches wide.

DIANNE ROBERTS | CONTRIBUTED

Chapin took on learning to build the shell with the good grace of the Pocock company. “I felt an awesome responsibility to do my very best,” he said.

WHITE BEAR/VADNAIS HEIGHTS PRESS

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FEBRUARY Year in Review 2023

DEBRA NEUTKENS | PRESS PUBLICATIONS

Water Gremlin, a manufacturing company in White Bear Township.

• Ninety-five law- suits were recently filed against Water Gremlin accusing the

company of causing cancer and other chronic illnesses as a result of its previously documented emission of trichloroethylene (TCE).

• Vadnais Heights couple, Don and Nancy Glewwe, NOELLE OLSON shared their love story spanning over Don and Nancy Glewwe at their 50 years in honor home in Vadnais of Valentine’s Day. Heights.

The couple met on a blind date in 1970, their junior year at White Bear Lake High School.

• Longtime Council Member Richard

MARCH

Year in Review 2023

CONTRIBUTED

The Mahtomedi Zephyrs take home the class 1A Championship in boys hockey.

• The most exhilarating set of backto-back victories in their 69 years of hockey lifted the Mahtomedi Zephyrs to the state Class 1A championship.

The Zephyrs prevailed 6-5 in a double overtime championship game over topseeded Warroad, which was previously

69 Years

119 Years Years 110

Pine Tree Apple Orchard Established 1904 Happy Holidays!

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Brainerd is sworn in as the new mayor of Mahtomedi.

• City Council approves design services for potential chamber renovation. The council meets in a chamber CONTRIBUTED space that hasn’t been Richard Brainerd renovated since its original construction in 1988. That’s why the council recently OK’d a contract with Wold Architects & Engineers of St. Paul for design services related to a proposed renovation of the council chamber. The design proposal from Wold totaled $21,000.

• Area legislators have introduced bills into the House and Senate to provide $2

scrambling back.

• White Bear Lake resident Chris Beard enjoys himself when the Deaf Poker Tour rolls around. “It’s an opportunity for me to catch up with news on my old friends that I knew from college and to make some new friends,” Beard, 55, said. This is Beard’s third time taking part in the Deaf Poker Tour and will be the 55th tournament the poker league has hosted since it got started in 2006 under the title of National Deaf Poker Tour. In 2017, the organization switched to its existing moniker. The occasion is a rare opportunity for Beard to socialize with other deaf people who communicate using American Sign Language.

• White Bear Lake gymnast Lily Pederson scored the first perfect ten ever recorded for a Level 10 gymnast in Minnesota. Pederson, who committed to University Oklahoma, hit every element of her routine flawlessly in the uneven parallel bars event while competing in the Twisted Moose Meet at Minneapolis Convention Center.

• People around the globe enjoyed the spectacle of the northern lights this month, but astronaut, physicist, U.S. Navy test pilot and White Bear Lake graduate Josh Cassada had a bit of a different view. Cassada, one of the four astronauts in the SpaceX Dragon Endurance crew, is currently aboard the International Space Station.

• Council Member Jeff Charlesworth

4750 Washington Square White Bear Lake 651.429.3379 www.whitebeareye.net

CONTRIBUTED

The vintage poster look is a signature style of Forest Lake artist Steve Thomas, who designed this year’s Hockey Day Minnesota poster.

FILE

Bipartisan bills in the Minnesota Legislature would provide funding for the Lake Links Trail through Dellwood. million in additional funding to complete the Dellwood section of the Lake Links Trail.

was sworn in for the second time at the March 7 Mahtomedi City Council meeting to fill the seat left vacant

by Richard Brainerd, who was appointed mayor at the Feb. 7 council meeting.

NASA | CONTRIBUTED After longAstronauts aboard the time mayor International Space Jud Marshall Station, including White resigned Bear Lake graduate Josh on Jan. 17, Cassada, captured the everyone aurora borealis activity moved up a from space. seat, including Charlesworth, who was serving as chair of the Parks Commission.

• Casa Lupita, a White Bear Lake staple for 22 years, announced it was closing. The Mexican restaurant celebrated its last day May 5, which coincidentally is Cinco de Mayo. Owner Gabriela Castellanos said the family restaurant is being forced to close, or relocate. “Our landlord gave us 60 days to vacate this location. It breaks our heart to announce this as we have remained in the same place for so many years,” she wrote in an online post.

50 Years

56+ years

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the night of Jan. 24 to arrest Daniel Loren Holmgren on a felony domestic assault warrant in Ramsey County in connection with a March 2021 case, for which he had failed to make a court appearance. Officer Ryan Sheak was shot multiple times and admitted to the hospital.

60 Years

62 YEARS

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unbeaten and led by three of the state’s premier players, leaving the Channel 45 announcers gushing about an “instant classic.” Jonny Grove delivered the game-winner and Charlie Drage ripped a trio of third-period goals as the Zephyrs trailed all the way but kept

FILE

Lleyton, Nolan and Nash were photographed at the family rink a few years back.

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• The biggest event to occur this year in White Bear Township hosted Hockey Day in Minnesota. The four-day event took place at Polar Lakes Park for four days of hockey fun. An estimated 10,000 people attended the annual hockey event based on ticket sales.

• Racquetball star Ava Kaiser, a Mahtomedi High School junior, competed in the world juniors meet recently and brought home bronze medals in 16U singles and doubles.

• Latin American creators talk artwork and identity at White Bear Center for the Arts.

CONTRIBUTED • White Bear Ava Kaiser Lake resident

Jill Mikelson and her fellow musicians perform at their annual “Happy Birthday, Janis” concert. The live show returned for a 16th year at First Avenue in Minneapolis after a two-year hiatus.

• A new semester started at White Bear Lake Area High School North Campus addition on Jan. 30. Students, faculty and staff at the grades 9-10 building began their first day of classes in the newly built addition.

• Peter Roed was a Bear standout in the mid-1990s and an NHL draftee who played six pro seasons, although he didn’t reach the National Hockey League (NHL).

He grew up skating on a backyard rink put in by his dad, Chris, who had played youth hockey. In turn, Peter Roed and his wife, Kelly, installed a rink in their backyard for their three sons — Lleyton, who starred for the Bears and now plays for Bemidji State; Nolan, a Bear forward who’s led the team in goals for two years; and Nash, a sixth grader who, his mom said, uttered “hockey” as one of his first words.

• White Bear Lake Police officers arrived

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APRIL

Year in Review 2023

DEBRA NEUTKENS | PRESS PUBLICATIONS

American Legion 168 SAL member John Strohkirch holds the bugle during Taps to honor the dead following a three-volley rifle salute on the VFW deck.

• Vadnais Heights resident and Vietnam veteran Dave Adams said it struck him that not one news channel mentioned the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War. But he wasn’t surprised. “Vietnam veterans are used to that,” he shrugged. “We never asked for this day in the first place.” Adams was one of several veterans who spoke at a special VFW remembrance event March 29

commemorating the anniversary.

Fifty years ago, on March 29, 1973, the last combat troops left South Vietnam after a decades-long conflict that took 58,275 lives. Seven of them were from White Bear Lake. He had second thoughts about speaking at the event, Adams admitted. He’s only talked publicly once before about his Vietnam experiences since returning home 54 years ago and he didn’t think he could get through it.

• Bears debut indoor state-of-the-art track facility. The White Bear Lake Fieldhouse, cavernous indoor complex on the North Campus with an orange Mondo oval track surrounding three basketball courts, pole vault and high jump setups inside the track, and a long jump pit in the corner. Shot put was held on the second floor. There’s also a new outdoor stadium south of the school with a 10-lane track with the same surface used at the Olympics. The new facility comes from a $326 million building bond request that passed in 2019.

• White Bear Hockey Association sues former gambling manager due

MAY

Year in Review 2023

• White Bear Lake elevation measured on the day ice-out was declared was 922.77 feet, one foot below this time last year. The official keeper of ice-out dates, Mike Parenteau, announced both ice out and elevation at the White Bear Lake Conservation District’s April meeting. He is the city’s representative on the board and has reported lake stats for years.

• For over five decades, Manitou Days has been a staple event in White Bear Lake, bringing the community together. The three-week festival took place from June 15 to July 4, comprised of various events located throughout

SHANNON GRANHOLM | PRESS PUBLICATIONS

Tiffany Dittrich, WBLAE president, congratulates the 20232024 Teacher of the Year Mark Domschot.

the city. This year’s theme is “A Century of Community.” One new event this year was an art fair in West Park.

• Out of 540 nominations, one has risen to the top. Mark Domschot, a social studies and Advancement via Individual Determination

(AVID) teacher at North Campus, is the 2023-2024 White Bear Lake Area Educators (WBLAE) Teacher of the Year. “I’m unbelievably humbled ...

It’s the greatest profession in the world. I couldn’t be more proud to be a teacher,” Domschot said.

“There are so many great

WHITE BEAR/VADNAIS HEIGHTS PRESS

BRUCE STRAND | CONTRIBUTED

Katelyn Porter of the Bears leads the pack early in the 800-meter race at the new White Bear Lake Field house.

to allegedly “egregious actions.” “Her unlawful and tortious actions have not only intentionally and willfully harmed the association, and thereby its 800 youth who participate in its nonprofit programming, but will continue to irreparably harm the association,” read a lawsuit filed April 3 in Ramsey County District Court, six days after Christine Olson

teachers in White Bear.”

• Mahtomedi now has two more courts for its ever-growing population of pickleball players — if you can score one. The Mahtomedi City Council at its May 2 meeting approved the quote from Bituminous Roadways in the amount of $129,888.40 to lay out two pickleball courts. The proposal was the lowest of nine competitive bids received on April 20 and was lower than the engineer’s estimate of $149,937.38.

The amount to install the pickleball courts will still be higher than what was called for in the city’s capital improvement plan, but the city has sufficient money in its parks fund to add this amenity. The new pickleball courts will be located in the Wedgewood Park playground on CSAH 12.

Year in Review 2023

• While Eva Tao worked her shift at the Comfort Inn and Suites front desk in Vadnais Heights, a young woman passed her a note that said “I am not from here. He is my boyfriend.

He’s sex trafficking me.” Tao read the note and called law enforcement. For her actions, Tao was recognized by the Arden Hills-Shoreview Rotary Club. The organization honored Tao by naming her a Paul Harris Fellow—one of the highest honors at Rotary International. The local club donated $1,000 in Tao’s name to the Rotary Foundation, which will go to accomplish even more good in the world.

• Led by three sophomores, the boys Mahtomedi golf team captured team and individual championships in the Section 4AAA boys golf meet at Bunker Hills. The Zephyrs and sophomore Jacob Wilson previously placed first in the Metro East Conference as well. Mahtomedi shot 293 and 297 for a 590 total at sections, winning by five strokes.

• The Friends of North Korean Refugees in Minnesota (FNKRM) will hold a North Korean Family Summer Camp at the YMCA Camp Ihduhapi.

The Minnesota-based civic initiative was originally born out of the White Bear Lake Rotary Club. This year, the

CONTRIBUTED

White Bear Lake Area High School seniors who attended Lincoln Elementary School prepare to march through the halls of their former school prior to the official graduation ceremony.

club provided support with volunteer help. Club members led different classes at the camp. “The concept is to get a group of North Korean refugees in a non-threatening environment.

We’re using summer camp to do that.

It seems to be an effective way for them to build community, and that’s what we’re trying to do, let them connect,” said Jim Hunt, member of the White Bear Lake Rotary and present of FNKRM. • Owen Carlson closed out his brief high jump career as an unbeaten state champion for 2023. The Mahtomedi senior captured the Class 2A gold medal with a leap of 6 feet, 6 inches at St. Michael-Albertville. Carlson finished atop the state honor roll for

abruptly quit. It wasn’t until after Olson’s resignation that the board of directors learned she had been planning her resignation and “the demise of the nonprofit’s gambling revenue for months,” according to the complaint. That’s when the board discovered Olson, 54, had formed her own company, Minnesota Gambling Consultants LLC, six months earlier.

The company, which has the same address as Olson’s Hugo residence, is named co-defendant.

• The Central Middle School project scope includes renovating the district office to create additional classroom space, a gym addition, kitchen and cafeteria renovation/expansion, updated classrooms, media center and flex areas, and safety and security upgrades. The total cost for the project is approximately $33.13 million.

• A black bear was reportedly ransacking bird feeders in search of food in Birchwood Village. The Birchwood bear has also been spotted climbing up trees, hanging out on decks, and drinking from bird baths.

• Americans celebrated Memorial Day on Monday, May 29. It is one of history’s most solemn days honoring the men and women who died while serving in the United States military.

Navy serviceman Greg Tardiff wrote his wife Suzanne every day for nine months while he was on the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga during the Vietnam War. Before he passed away their daughter’s Megan and Ashley compiled the letters into a book called, “Letters from the Saratoga.” Greg wrote the letters to Suzanne when he was a parachute rigger on the USS Saratoga aircraft carrier. “The letters are from the nine months he was on the ship,” Suzanne said. “I just liked the fact that there was so much to

JUNE

PAUL DOLS | PRESS PUBLICATIONS

Volunteer of the year and Vietnam war veteran Darryl LeMire and his wife Sandy ride along the parade route in a 1951 M38 classic military Jeep driven by Joe Remley.

the season with a 6-10 leap in May and won all his meets.

• Manitou Days Chair Paul Carlson and Marketfest Director Dan Perry lead a kiddie parade through downtown White Bear Lake during the first Marketfest installment of the season, which also helped kick off the annual Manitou Days summer celebration featured a variety of family-friendly activities and events.

• Jim Hauth started his new job as the Vadnais Heights public works director at the end of July. Hauth replaced former Public Works Director Jesse Farrell, who resigned in the spring. His professional

15

CONTRIBUTED

Navy serviceman, Greg Tardiff

learn about the war in the letters. The thing that really got me was that he was on this huge aircraft carrier for nine months and yet he found something to write every day.”

experience includes Duke University’s Water Innovation Leadership Development program and the Public Works Leadership Academy at Hamline University. “He’s passionate, very intelligent and has gone on and pursued, you know, education and learning and really seems to be a lifelong learner,” said Kevin Watson, city administrator. “He’s bringing a different perspective on the operation side and not necessarily the engineering side. So there will be a little but of a change in how we’ve done things, but I’m really excited to bring him on board. He seems like he’s gonna fit right.”

• Norm Setnicker, a longtime softball standout at age 82, was a recent inductee to the Minnesota Senior Sports Association Hall of Fame. A Mahtomedi resident for 23 years, and a White Bear Lake resident for 34 years before that, he was among eight senior athletes recently inducted. He is also a member of the Minnesota Softball Hall of Fame and the Minnesota High School Coaches Hall of Fame for softball.

He started playing softball at age 17, then switched to soft pitch at 24. He has been playing senior softball since he was 55. “I have stayed physically fit, playing softball, biking, and light weightlifting at the YMCA. I have to stay active.”

16 WHITE BEAR/VADNAIS HEIGHTS PRESS

DECEMBER 27, 2023

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Year in Review 2023

JAY RENDALL | CONTRIBUTED

Inland Lakes Yachting Association hosted the 2023 E Invitational with the White Bear Lake Yacht Club.

the neonatal intensive care at Children’s Hospital. Her White Bear mom, Lacie Morgan, had to wait a month to snuggle her daughter. This year’s Tour De Bar benefit recipient was diagnosed with congenital pulmonary airway malformation (CPAM) inutero at 24 weeks. A mass was detected growing on the inside of one of Teigan’s lungs in place of normal tissue during a prenatal checkup. All proceeds

AUGUST

Year in Review 2023

• The White Bear Lake Fire Station announced that it will be receiving a new fire truck in 2025. Fire Chief Greg Peterson said rescue truck #923 has been in service since 2003 and has reached it expected 20year life span. Its replacement is part of the Capital Improvement Plan and Financial Management Plan in 2025. The department will purchase the truck from Houston-Galveston Cooperative. “The city’s mechanics enjoy working on the ladder truck and are impressed with how it is built,” Peterson stated. “Having a similar rescue truck with the fleet would be beneficial for the fire department and public works mechanics.”

• William Kent Krueger, a New York Times bestselling author, visited Lake Country Booksellers in downtown White Bear Lake to celebrate the release of his latest book “The River We Remember.”

• The 38th annual Pine Tree Apple Tennis Classic at Lifetime Fitness in White Bear Lake took place this summer. It featured over 175 of the top adult and junior players in the Upper Midwest. The gala is an event fundraiser benefiting cancer research initiatives locally at Children’s Minnesota and over 200 other hospitals in

49 countries. During its history, the tournament has raised over $7 million. Both the White Bear Lake girls and boys’ tennis coaches were highlighted at the tournament.

• One of the darkest days for the city of White Bear Lake and the police department had a happy ending. White NOELLE OLSON | PRESS PUBLICATIONS Bear Lake Police Chief White Bear Lake Police Officer Julie Swanson and city Ryan Sheak and his wife officials recognized four Amber are moving forward after police officers, seven going through the worst six firefighters and EMS months of their lives. staff for their heroic efforts in an officer-involved shooting earlier this year.

Officer Ryan Sheak was critically injured when he was shot several times by a suspect on Jan. 24. Sheak was awarded the Medal of Valor for his bravery. The Medal of Valor honors an act of bravery that demonstrates obvious self-sacrifice in the face of death or serious physical injury. “Officer Sheak exemplifies this award,” Swanson said. “He suffered three gunshot wounds

SEPTEMBER Year in Review 2023

•White Bear Lake welcomed a new police chief who is no stranger to the community. Dale Hager, a White Bear Lake resident since 2014, was sworn in as the new White Bear Lake Police Chief in September.

NOELLE OLSON Hager began his career New White Bear Lake Police Chief in North Dakota.

Dale Hager.

He has 26 years of experience in law enforcement. Hager wants to continue to engage with the community. He said it’s important for law enforcement to reach out to the public.

•Will Hamilton of White Bear Lake, a wheelchair athlete, was one of 22 people selected by Move United Sport to compete in the 2023 Word Ability sport Games in Thailand in December.

Hamilton, 28, has been racing and training for seven years. His events are

50 Years!

the T53 para-athletes 100, 200 and 400 meter sprints. “I feel very honored to be given this opportunity to represent the United States and compete on a global stage.” Hamilton said.

•Township days celebrated its 15th anniversary this year. The annual community festival took place from Sept. 16 and included something for all festival-goers. Activities included live music, food trucks, craft and vendor market, a car show and Bingo.

•Craig Sorely, of White Bear Lake, 35 Years

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refugee camp in Kenya is headed for the 2024 Olympic Games as a member of the South Sudan national team.

South Sudan qualified for the games by winning three of the five games in the World Cup held in August in The Philippines. “No one imagined this,” said Omot, “now we have a chance to walk across the Olympic stage with our flag. It’s one of the best sports stories to come out in a long time. I’m so blessed to be a part of it.”

•Solid Ground’s premiere fundraiser this year was the Bring it Home Gala.

The event was held at Norths Oaks Golf Club this year. “The focus of the gala is to raise awareness and funds for Solid Ground’s permanent supportive housing projects (PSH),” said Andree Aronson, director of advancement. Last year, the organization was able to raise $231,000 at the gala. This year, the gala included over 25 baskets in a silent auction, desserts from cakes and pies from local bakeries, a wine toss, a live auction and a raffle for Thurston Jeweler’s 14-carat yellow gold diamond stud earrings, donated by Thurston Jewelers.

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and Raptor Center volunteer John Arent, returned two rehabilitated juvenile bad eagles to White Bear Lake.

In the previous summer months, one of the eagles was found on the shoreline and brought to the Raptor Center.

An additional eagle from a separate location was also brought to the site. Following their trip across the lake, the eagles quickly embraced their newfound freedom and natural surroundings after being released.

• Residents gathered at Podvin park to socialize during Night to Unite, also known as National Night Out. The purpose of the annual event is to build and foster community bonds between citizens, businesses and public safety organizations.

that evening, spent over a week in the hospital and has endured six and a half months of surgeries, physical therapy and healing.”

• Paul Auger, the White Bear Lake’s former mayor can be found in his happy place: peering under the hood of a car and listening to the musical sound of an impact engine. Auger is in his element at Knutsen Auto Service, his new hangout now that Auger’s Garage closed. After experiencing a scary bout with a paralyzing illness, called Guillain-Barre, Auger won’t have the chance to drive again due to the disconnect between his feet and brain, but he is OK with that.

• Big Wood Brewery moved its taps from White Bear Lake to Vadnais Heights this year. The new location will have 16 beers or seltzers on tap, a more extensive patio, a bonfire pit and live music. “We’re going to have great music,” said brewery owner Jason Medvec, “It’s going to go top-notch, and it’s going to be the best in the area.”

Big Wood Brewery had its first event in the new location at Oktimberfest, from Sept. 29-Oct. 1.

• For 46 years, the White Bear Lake Area Food Shelf has served the community of White Bear Lake and the communities within the White Bear Area school district. It opened a second location this 2023 due to the number of people the food shelf has to help serve. The reason behind the increase in food demand is due to the inflation and pre-pandemic levels of SNAP Benefits.

is the founder and Kenya Director for Creation Stewards International (CSI).

This September, he went on a journey to walk 500 miles around the Twin Cities chain of lakes to help raise money to help the people of Kenya beat hunger. He said that with every step he thinks and prays for those he knows in Kenya who are hungry. His desire for the people of Kenya is not only to grow enough food to provide for their families but for more trainers who can empower people to learn how to farm more sustainably.

•White Bear Lake said goodbye to a group of 30 Ukrainian exchange students who spent five weeks exploring the city and learning about civic engagement. The students were part of a nonprofit leadership exchange program through the Global Synergy Group. The exchange program has been sending students from Ukraine to the United States since 2012. Kelly Clement and Steve Bucher stepped up to host a going away party in their home on Stewart Avenue for the White Bear Lake exchange students.

•Nuni Omot, a former Mahtomedi basketball star, who was born in a 30 Years

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• When Sara Grace heard that Salon 4862 was up for sale in her hometown of White Bear Lake, she called her former boss Franny Pardee and said “I want to buy the salon.” Pardee opened the salon 34 years ago.

She was ready to retire and was having a hard time finding a buyer for the salon. Sara Grace worked at the salon while in high school and was influenced by the hair stylists who worked for Pardee. Grace is excited to start this new chapter in her life and loves being back in her hometown. “I am looking forward to keeping Salon 4862 going for another 30 years.”

• Wildlife specialists, including master falconer

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• White Bear Police Chief Julie Swanson announced that she would be retiring at the end of August. Swanson served as the chief of police since 2014 and the White Bear Lake community for 23 years. During her tenure, she served as a DARE instructor, field training officer, school resource officer, sergeant and captain. She began her career as a Ramsey County sheriff’s deputy. She worked there for three years and then wanted to be a patrol officer. “I learned a lot from the former chief and how I wanted the department to be,” she said. “It was just fun to become chief and be the person that could make changes so the department could thrive.”

• Baby Teigan spent the first 32 days of her life in

raised from the Tour De Bar were donated to Teigan’s family. “I never even knew this was part of our community,” Morgan admitted. “I feel so blessed and grateful.”

• The Mahtomedi boy’s hockey team got special recognition from the StarTribune at the paper’s AllMetro Sports Awards program at Target Center. Among the state champion teams in all the sports, the Mahtomedi skaters were chosen as Team of the Year, in recognition of the Zephyrs remarkable back-to-back upset of the top two ranked teams for the Class A crown at the Xcel Energy Center in March.

• A new “All Abilities” playground was completed at Polar Lakes Park in White Bear Township. According to public works officials, the facility

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17

OCTOBER Year in Review 2023

Catholic elementary school in Mahtomedi for grades kindergarten through sixth grade.

“I really enjoy working at St. Jude’s and was really surprised because some teachers at school have been teaching for like 24 years and I’ve only been teaching for seven years.

We just have some really awesome teachers here,” said Vitullo about receiving the award.

•White Bear Lake welcomes new firefighters during Firefighter Appreciation Month.

The city of White Bear Lake welcomed four new firefighters/paramedics to the White Bear Lake Fire Department.

CONTRIBUTED Greg Wheelock, Alex Weil, Shannon Vitullo with her first-grade Ben Horner and Chris Dvorstudents at St. Jude of the Lake. She was ak. All four bring plenty of voted the best teacher in the Best of the experience to the departPress Contest ment. The fire department has 16 full-time firefighters/ •Shannon Vitullo (Globenparamedics and 21 part-time sky) was selected the Best employees.

Teacher in 2023 Best of the •The Mahtomedi High School Press Readers’ Choice Convolleyball team rallied behind test. St. Jude of the Lake is a

CONTRIBUTED

Celebrating a goal in the section finals against St. Anthony Village were Nils Lande (10), Nick Clarke, Mason Kipp (9), and Riley Burke (6)

three students in the school district who are each battling leukemia. During a volleyball match against North St. Paul, the team held an Orange Out for Leukemia event. There was a silent auction and raffle baskets. The Orange out for Leukemia raised $4,005 and the Zephyrs won the match 3-0.

All proceeds from the event

were donated to Children’s Minnesota and Fairview Masonic Childrens.

•The White Bear Lake boy’s cross-country team won the Griak Invitational. They ran better than 38 other teams in the Maroon division of the University of Minnesota Griak Invitational. Luke Williams was the highest placing Bear

NOVEMBER Year in Review 2023

• A memorial bench was put in place on the trail near Bellaire Beach along South Shore Boulevard in remembrance of a popular downtown bartender.

Efrain Santiago was a Washington Square Bar & Grill employee who loved to bike around White Bear Lake. After Santiago died in 2019, his friends started a GoFundMe campaign to pay for the bench to be put in his memory.

• The White Bear Lake City Council unanimously approved edible cannabinoid product licenses for businesses that have active liquor or tobacco licenses.

Some businesses that have a cannabinoid license are Cub Wine & Spirits, Cellars Wine & Spirits, MNJ Tobacco, Summit Liquor and more. The police department did a background investigation for the applicants and found nothing to preclude the issuance of the licenses.

• The Zephyrs volleyball team returned to the state tournament for the second straight season. The Zephyrs fended off St. Paul Como Park in the

DECEMBER Year in Review 2023

PAUL DOLS | PRESS PUBLICATIONS

Vendors display a variety of locally grown and crafted items

• Vendors displayed a variety of locally grown and crafted items including ap-

CONTRIBUTED

The Mahtomedi High School girls volleyball team celebrates their section 4AAA title.

Section 4AAA finals in a noisy, packed gymnasium.

• White Bear Lake resident, Paul Bolstad, went “bikepacking” in Australia after retiring from the University of Minnesota in May. The ride was approximately 840 miles and included 58,000 feet of climbing. Bolstad completed the journey in 16 days. “The animals and plants are sometimes something out of a Dr. Seuss book,” he said. He also said the journey was a great experience and the people he met were kind.

• To say that teaching is in the blood of the Hibbard family would be an understatement. Allen Hibbard taught for 38 years in the White Bear Lake Area

Schools. His wife, Claire Hibbard, taught English for two years in the district. Deb Hibbard is married to Clare and Allen’s son Bill. She currently teaches third grade at Willow Lane Elementary. “I think my favorite thing about teaching is the relationship you build with the kids,” Deb said. “All the hugs and stuff that you get when they see you or when they run into you somewhere. You’re a special person in their life and they’re special to me.”

• GoodThings celebrated their 50th anniversary in November. It also expanded. Tyler Conrad, the current owner of GoodThings, didn’t want to lose the Grandma’s Bakery located in down-

ples, bread, meats, cheese, eggs, micro greens and maple syrup at the Winter Farmers Market that took place both indoors and out. The indoor portion of the market took place inside at the CONTRIBUTED Normandy Park Pat and Carol Education Center. McFarlane • Pat and Carol McFarlane have been deeply involved in White Bear Lake for more than 50 years as volunteers and leaders. They were honored for their philanthropy at the Share the Joy event of the Greater White Bear Lake Community Foundation. The McFarlane’s have been involved in the

Rotary, YMCA and White Bear Education Foundation and are longtime local business owners of Venberg Tire. “We love our community,” Pat said. “I will speak for Carol, and she wants to thank each and every one to the Greater White Bear Foundation because with those funds and with the people out in the fields working, we can keep our communities great and up to date.”

• Approximately 152 seniors and 30 Santas headed to the White Bear Country Inn for a magical night of dinner, entertainment and fun. The Dinner with Santa event was organized by White Bear Country Inn owner Bill Foussard.

The dinner event was a collaborative effort between the hotel, community organizations and business sponsors. The goal for the Dinner with Santa is to help the seniors feel special, have fun and

21 years in Business

24 Years

24 Years in Business 2022

town White Bear, so he bought it and renamed it GoodThings Café. In 1973 Sharon Conrad, Tyler’s mom started a little boutique, which measured about 500 feet. In 1998, Tyler joined his mother in the family business, and they looked to expand. In 2003, they opened a second location at The Shoppes of Arbor Lakes in Maple Grove. Since then, in 2014, they opened a GoodThings in downtown White Bear Lake.

• The White Bear Area School District will offer new secondary courses and will have a different beginning to the 2024-25 school year. The first day of school will be Tuesday, Sept. 3 for sixth and 12th graders. Grades one through five will head back to school on Wednesday, Sept. 4. Kindergarteners, sophomores and juniors will go back to school on Thursday, Sept. 5. New courses being offered are classes such as DECA, Beginning Instrumental Ensemble, Rock Band 101 and 201 and other opportunities. “I like the fact that we’re giving our students more opportunities, especially in different career fields so that they can experience some of the things they would see in that field,” said Scott Arcand, school board member.

leave the event with joy in their hearts.

• Mahtomedi changed their polling place for the 2024 elections. Originally, the community went to the District Education Center to cast their vote. Now, all Mahtomedi voters will vote at St. Andrew’s Lutheran Church. The council was collectively unhappy at the short notice to move forward with a decision that probably had to be made. The council wanted more time, perhaps even one more meeting, to make the decision.

• The White Bear Lake varsity and middle school cheerleading programs each took first in their respective divisions at the University of Minnesota Cheerleading Championship held at Williams Arena. Varsity placed first out of seven teams, and middle school placed first out of five teams.

Happy Holidays from

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•White Bear Lake welcomed a new police officer to the White Bear Lake Police Department. Officer Dan Swenson joined the force in October.

He volunteered at the White Bear Lake Police Department in 2007, he worked both as a reserve and as a part-time community service officer for White Bear Lake for four years. After being an officer at Prairie Island for 10 years, he returned to his hometown’s police force.

•The Zephyrs boys’ soccer team won the section finals against St. Anthony Village in overtime. Mahtomedi upset the top two seeds in the Section 4AA boys soccer playoffs.

Mason Kipp delivered the overtime game-winner with eight seconds left on the clock.

The Zephyrs made their ninth state appearance following the overtime victory.

PHONE: 651-407-1250 | EMAIL: classified@presspubs.com

CLASSIFIEDS

18 WHITE BEAR/VADNIAS HEIGHTS PRESS

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DECEMBER 27, 2023

Press Publications suggests that you be aware of advertisers requesting payment for shipping merchandise. Confirm and verify all contact resources prior to sending any money. Take caution when responding to text messages that are not local numbers.

Early Deadlines Press Publications will have early ad deadlines in observance of the Christmas and New Year’s holidays starting the week before Christmas.

Classified ad deadlines: All papers

Tuesday, December 19th; 10 AM for ads to run the week of 12/26-12/28, 2023 Tuesday, December 26th 10 AM for ads to run week of January 2-4, 2024

651.407.1250

Happy Holidays!

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• Employment • Employment •

Rentals/ Commercial EQUAL HOUSING OPPORTUNITY, all real estate advertising in this newspaper is subject to the Fair Housing Act which makes it illegal to advertise “any preference, limitation or discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin, or an intention, to make any such preference, limitation or discrimination.” Familial status includes children under the age of 18 living with parents or legal custodians; pregnant women and people securing custody of children under 18. This newspaper will not knowingly accept any advertising for real estate which is in violation of the law.

Our readers are hereby informed that all dwellings advertised in this newspaper are available on an equal opportunity basis. To complain of discrimination call HUD toll free: 1-800-669-9777.

The toll-free number for hearing impaired is 1-800-927-9275.

Are you looking for something to keep your child(ren) busy? How about something that gives them cash? Talk to them about delivering newspapers!

ROUTES AVAILABLE FOR WHITE BEAR PRESS: NOW HIRING Morning Day Shift Leadership positions available for flexible candidates.

651-653-9845 4687 Bald Eagle Ave., WBL 55110

Rte 114 – S of Cnty Rd F – E of Bellaire Rte 122 – S of Cnty Rd F – E of McKnight Rte 123 – S of Cnty Rd F to W of McKnight Rte 124 – N of Birch to E of Hazel Rte 125 – N of Cedar to W of McKnight Rte 232 – N of 96 to W of 2nd Ave Rte 235 – S of 4th St – E of Otter Lake Rd Rte 262 – Lake Ave – E of Hwy 61 Rte 284 – S of Otter Lake – W of Otter Lake Rd Rte 294 – N of 96 – E of Portland Main Street Business District – downtown White Bear Lake Other Routes available, call our Circulation Dept. at 651-407-1246.

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Celebrations

Dr. Joy Johnson

Happy 65th Anniversary Dan and Barbara Richter!

Dan and Barbara were married on December 27, 1958, in West St. Paul, MN. They have been residents of White Bear Lake for over 60 years and still reside in their original home. They have five children, 10 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

I have many new clients because they have seen my branding ads in the White Bear Press over the years. I have found that consistency builds trust and familiarity which gives us an advantage when people are deciding on which dentist to call.

Congratulations Mom and Dad! Thanks for being such a good example of a long and loving relationship. We love you!

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DECEMBER 27, 2023 www.presspubs.com

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WHITE BEAR PRESS | VADNAIS PRESS | QUAD COMMUNITY PRESS | SHOREVIEW PRESS | NORTH OAKS NEWS | THE CITIZEN | THE LOWDOWN

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K. Olson Construction provides full service contracting from start to finish or will come into a project and work with the homeowner and do a portion of the work. Any successful remodeling project requires a detailed plan and timeline, as well as attention to detail. Kevin is a contractor that is on site doing the work and controlling the entire process from start to finish. For more information please visit their website at www.kolsonconstruct.com Kevin can be reached at 612-868-6837 or Kolson40@frontiernet.net Licensed, Bonded & Insured, Lic. # BC-516217

20 WHITE BEAR/VADNAIS HEIGHTS PRESS

COPS&COURTS www.presspubs.com

DECEMBER 27, 2023

WHITE BEAR LAKE POLICE REPORTS The White Bear Police Department reports the following selected incidents:

SHANNON GRANHOLM | PRESS PUBLICATIONS

Gov. Walz, Sen. Gustafson visit north metro to talk public safety aid Gov. Tim Walz, Senator Heather Gustafson (District 36, DFL), and public safety officials visit a fire station in Lino Lakes to highlight how local cities are planning to use the public safety aid they will receive from the state.

This year, Gov. Walz signed $300 million into law to help communities meet their local police, fire and emergency management needs. The Department of Revenue will send the funds to local governments this week.

Of the $300 million, $17 million will come to the northeast metro. The city of White Bear Lake received $1,096,939; Vadnais Heights received $572,385; and White Bear Township received 480,707. The city of White Bear Lake plans to purchase a new ambulance, annual mental health checkups for firefighters, additional training opportunities as well as the hiring of more full-time staff.

YEAR IN REVIEW ‘SIGHS OF RELIEF’ CALLS FOR 2023 Everybody breathes easier when citizens are active in reporting suspicious sitations. Suspicious vehicle/person reports yielding nothing when liberally mixed in among the occasional arrested or cited offender reports mean that the system is working. Your Washington County Sheriff's Office deputies love it when the public is observant and reports suspicious situations and ask us to keep it up.

Suspicious incident reports help deputies collect information to solve crimes. Below are some of the best "sighs of relief" calls in our reading area over the past year.

Birchwood

• A suspicious light switch turning off and on above the complainant's deck on Wildwood Avenue at 11:17 p.m. April 29 turned out to have been caused by the wind activating a motion sensor, after Washington County Sheriff's Office deputies checked the area and found nothing.

Dellwood

• Suspicious trespassers reported Jan. 21 at a home under construction on Dellwood Avenue turned out to be a member of the construction crew showing off the home to friends and family.

• A passerby at 3:55 p.m. March 21 reported a suspicious line hanging down from a power pole in the 200 block of Dellwood Road N. that turned out to have been coming from the phone line section. The line was not causing a road hazard and had been down for a few days.

• A suspicious person reported for walking in the roadway in the area of Dellwood Road and Quail Road March 24 turned out to be a daily walker and of no concern, after Mahtomedi deputies checked their mental files and advised the caller.

• A suspicious occupied vehicle reported at 5:14 a.m. Oct. 18 on Dellwood Road turned out to be a driver who had pulled over to write a text.

Grant

• A suspicious abandoned vehicle parked Jan. 13 in the lot at the Loggers Trail Golf Course in the 11000 block of 80th Street N. turned out to belong to an employee of the golf course with permission to park the vehicle there for the winter.

• A suspicious vehicle parked in the area of Lansing Avenue N. and 105th Street N. Jan. 13 turned out to belong to a nearby resident and legally parked.

• A suspicious wounded deer that needed dispatching Feb. 2 in the 10000 block of Inwood Avenue N. turned out to be only slightly wounded and not ready to leave this world, after it sauntered away under its own power when Washington County Sheriff's Office deputies arrived on scene.

• A runner along the Gateway Trail at Mile 10 at 7:32 a.m.

May 25 reported two suspicious people hanging a bike from a tree. Deputies arriving on scene reported seeing nothing of interest, and the case was turned over to agencies “downstream” in Lake Elmo and Oakdale.

• A suspicious slumper reported May 31 in the 11000 block of 60th Street N. turned out to be a male who was in the process of moving and had just stopped to take a break. Slumpers are persons found asleep at the wheel of a parked motor vehicle, usually due to being under the influence.

• A license plate reported stolen July 8 from the front of a truck in the 8000 block of Jewel Avenue N. turned out to have been ripped off in the car wash, after the entire mounting mechanism was discovered missing.

• A suspicious person entering the complainant's property in the 11000 block of Julianne Avenue N. July 23 turned out to be Amazon delivery personnel, after deputies conducted a traffic stop on the vehicle. The occupants of the vehicle said they were delivery people, and packages in the back confirmed their statement, as did a phone listing of all their drop-off addresses.

• A report of a large pile of rocks on the roadway Aug. 9 in the 8000 block of 60th Street N. turned out to be only a small pile of rocks.

• A suspicious male in a suspicious vehicle reported at 9:27 a.m. Sept. 11 near 110th Street and Manning Trail N. turned out to be an elderly man resting in his driver's seat because he had been driving earlier and had become very sleepy.

• Suspicious noises reported at 2:39 a.m. Sept. 30 coming from the 9000 block of 60th Street N. turned out to be workers entitled to be on scene. They were ultimately given the nod of approval from the complainant.

• Sometimes suspicious parked vehicle complaints turn out to be helpful, after deputies responded to a such a complaint Sept. 30 in the 11000 block of 80th Street N. After doing some checking, deputies discovered the vehicle to be abandoned and stolen.

• A suspicious vehicle reported for lurking around the 11000 block of Julianne Avenue N. at 2:33 p.m. Nov. 29 turned out to be a woman who had stopped to gawk at the zebra in the pasture. Deputies assure us that there really was a zebra in that pasture.

Mahtomedi

• A suspicious vehicle reported at 12:51 a.m. Jan. 1 on Bertha Court turned out to belong to a friend of the next door neighbor, celebrating New Year's Eve. • Two white males wearing backpacks reported standing near mailboxes on Woodland Drive at 10:22 p.m. Jan. 1 turned out to be known teens from the neighborhood who were visiting with friends and walking in the dark. At 10:32 p.m. that evening, the complainant called dispatch to thank deputies for their quick response and speak at length about his support for law enforcement.

• A suspicious red van parked on Dunbar Way off and on during the past week and occupied by a suspicious male turned out to be a private investigator conducting surveillance of a residence in the area, after deputies responded to the report at 8:35 a.m. Feb. 2. A half hour later, the spying was reciprocated anew when neighbors called in wondering what the vehicle was there for, upon seeing the squad car on their street alongside the red van.

Loretta Harding

• An officer took a report Dec. 13 of an attempted theft in the 2600 block of County Road E. • Officers were dispatched Dec. 14 to the 3500 block of Ebba Street on a person acting disorderly.

• Officers were dispatched to a domestic assault Dec. 14 in the block of 2700 Cedar Avenue.

Officers arrived and found family members to have assaulted one another. A 47 year-old man of White Bear Lake was arrested for domestic assault. He was transported to the Ramsey County Law Enforcement Center to be processed.

• A traffic stop near 4th and Bald Eagle Avenue Dec. 15 found a 21 year-old woman of White Bear Lake to be impaired by alcohol. She was arrested without incident. She provided an evidentiary test that returned a 0.20 BrAC and was booked at the Ramsey County Law Enforcement Center on 3rd Degree DWI charges.

• Officers took a report of a burglary that occurred Dec. 15 in the 1900 block of County Road E. No suspect information.

• Officers responded to the report of an assault Dec. 15 in the 3500 block of Century Avenue.

• Disorderly conduct was reported Dec. 16 in the 2600 block of County Road E. • An officer took a harassment report Dec. 16 in the 1700 block of County Road E. • Officers conducted a traffic stop near White Bear Parkway and Highway 96 Dec. 16 for a red light violation. The male driver was found to have active warrants for his arrest out of Ramsey and Hennepin counties. He was arrested on his warrants and cited for driving after revocation and failure to obey a traffic control device and was booked at the Ramsey County LEC without incident.

• Officers conducted a traffic stop near I-694 and McKnight Road Dec. 20 for speeding. The male driver was found to be impaired by alcohol. He performed poorly on SFST’s and provided a PBT sample of a 0.16 BrAC. He was arrested and later refused a DMT sample. He was booked at the Ramsey County LEC on 3rd Degree DWI charges.

Noelle Olson

YEAR IN REVIEW LIFE ON THE DAY SHIFT...

OR NIGHT SHIFT... IN 2023 The citizenry sees their public safety personnel serenely patrolling the street each day or racing through town on a mission. Washington County Sheriff's Office deputies respond to hundreds of calls each week. Some of those calls turn out to be false alarms, while others are real headshakers. Below is a selection of reported incidents in Birchwood, Dellwood, Grant, Mahtomedi, Pine Springs and Willernie that may have had deputies talking over coffee in 2023.

Pine Springs

• A motorist at 8:55 p.m. June 5 reported a mother duck and her ducklings for crossing Highway 36 at the eastbound ramp to southbound I-694 in non-motorized fashion, which is prohibited. Although deputies were part of a previous parrot-onthe-freeway rescue team, they advised the complainant that it would have been too dangerous to halt traffic on an actual highway to issue a citation to the duck family and escort

them across safely.

Deputies reassured the complainant, saying that while they valued natural life, they also valued their own lives and providing for their own families. It was not reported whether the duck family made it across safely.

Willernie

• A Clyde Place resident reported the neighbor Nov. 6 for cleaning up items near the property line fence that belonged to the complainant. The neighbor said he had been instructed to dispose of the items.

However, deputies advised the neighbor to just leave the fence alone for now, as it was part of a civil dispute.

• A Clyde Place resident on Nov. 8 reported the company doing work on the house next door for stealing his wire fence. Deputies spoke to workers of the company, who stated they thought the fence was garbage.

The wire fence was then returned to the complainant.

Loretta Harding

DECEMBER 27, 2023 www.presspubs.com

WHITE BEAR/VADNAIS HEIGHTS PRESS

21

Arts Culture and

2023

hen Ada Limón, the Poet Laureate of the United States, visited the University of Minnesota last month to read from her latest collection, she drew a crowd of 600 people. Opening for her was White Bear Lake Senior Jordan Humphrey, winner of the Walter Nathan Poetry Contest.

“Poetry is important because it unites us,” explains Humphrey, “Poems can express big ideas and feelings in relatively few words.

There are so many different kinds of poetry which makes it a great way to communicate.” Expression and communication are particularly important in Jordan’s case because, just 18 months ago, he felt voiceless.

“In June 2022, I experienced a hate crime motivated by homophobia,” Jordan recounts, “I struggled for many months after that. I felt like nobody understood what it's like to be me.” Reading works from LGBT+ writers during this time kindled

M

Jordan’s burning desire to speak out.

Humphrey shares, “Authors such as Elliot Page and David Levithan gave me confidence in my identity as a young bisexual and transgender man.

The profound impact that LGBT+ role models have had on my life encourages me to share my story, and I hope to inspire others to share their voices.”

“Poetry is important because it unites us.”

Jordan Humphrey Emerging Artist Discovering one’s voice essential for any writer—but it’s not easy. To forward this process, Jordan uses a tried-and-true piece of advice: write every day. “I find that the more I write, the better my writing is. I like how pushing myself to write every day gives me new perspectives,” Humphrey tells. This maxim,

THE STEWARDS OF OLD STEWART

any in White Bear Lake consider the church building on Stewart Avenue and 6th Street a local icon. Originally built in 1889 as the Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Church, most current residents likely remember the building as the old site of Lakeshore Players. In 2020, however, the building became slated for demolition—that is, until Kelly Clement and Steve Bucher bought the site and remodeled it.

“The back windows were in bad shape,” recalls Clement, “Everything ended up having to be totally gutted—down to the stud walls!” Though the remodel took place during COVID, the building seemed busier than ever. “We had three-to-four groups of people a day just watching the work happen,” Clement laughs. These onlookers saw the culmination of Clement and Bucher’s dreams.

“We’ve always been interested in…building something new on an old foundation,” explains Steve. In keeping with this reclamation theme, Kelly and Steve transplanted late1800s stained-glass windows from a demolished church in Minneapolis. Then, they needed to figure out how to fill the space with their other passion: music. “That’s where the stage came in,” Bucher chuckles.

Finished with the restoration, Kelly and Steve hosted an open house. “We had over 400 local residents come,” Clement exclaims, “Then, we did another open house, and

“T

conversely, does not extend to his writing environment. “For me, writing in a new location or at an unusual time of the day is the best way to get past writer's block,” Humphrey continues, “Some of my favorite places to write are the study rooms at the WBL library and at home with my guinea pig.”

Home is where Jordan has figured out that his voice is kid-friendly.

“I've written and illustrated over a dozen books for my little brother, and my dream would be to one day publish a children's book professionally,”Humphrey beams.

That doesn’t mean, however, that his writing is childish. “In my eyes, children's books and poetry are some of the most important types of writing,” Jordan imparts, “When a kid learns to read, countless opportunities become available to them.”

Besides authoring books, Jordan has another plan to help kids read—by teaching them! “I'm going to become an elementary school teacher,” Jordan

another 400 people came!” This is when the couple realized their predicament.

“This building longs for community gathering…” Bucher states, “people feel historical and emotional ownership of the space.”

Kelly points out the other side of that coin: “To be clear, Old Stewart is not a venue. This is our house. But how do we continue that community tradition?” The stage presented a novel solution. “We discovered that we can do large private parties and fundraisers,” Kelly declares, “We don’t charge for the events we host, but we require reservations and rely on free-will donations. Then, we choose a non-profit each year to give the proceeds to.”

Fascinating in the best way, this original path forward seems to please the site’s inhabitants, their neighborhood, and even the building itself.

So why the name “Old Stewart”? “In Ireland,” Bucher extolls, “it’s tradition to give every house a name…no matter what. We wanted to use that custom here, too.”

“It’s on Stewart Avenue and it’s the oldest church in White Bear Lake,” Kelly laughs, “Old Stewart’s pretty selfexplanatory.”

For information on future events, as well as reservation details, visit oldstewart.com

COMMUNITY DAY AT WBCA

his will be our third time since COVID, but it was a long tradition before that,” says Sara Nephew.

She’s referring to the White Bear Center for the Arts’ (WBCA) annual Community Day, held on Saturday, January 13th, 2024 from 1-3pm. “It’s an opportunity for people to gather, have conversations, and see what Minnesota has to offer in winter,” Nephew continues. That offering, it turns out, is higher than January’s snowbanks.

First, the 2023 Members’ Exhibition is in full swing, with over 200 locally made pieces featured. Second, just outside the west doors, is an outdoor augmented reality exhibit, experienced via a smartphone’s camera, by visionary artist Marlena Myles. Third, visitors can explore a

wheelchair-accessible labyrinth— assuming conditions aren’t too icy.

“The dress code is very casual,” Nephew assures, “but, obviously, bundle up if you’re doing the outside portions.” In addition to installations and exhibits, WBCA has plenty of winter activities planned for the open house. “We’ll have sled dogs, hot cocoa, and a snowflake project,” Nephew reports. When asked more about the snowflake project, Nephew explains, “It’s a demonstration run

by H2O for Life, a local non-profit dedicated to water conservation—of all kinds, mind you, not just lakes.”

Those looking to warm up inside will find face painting, artist demos, live music, and even a make-and-take art experience! With so much to do, Sara recommends getting to the event early because, while free parking is offered, it might be difficult to find. 500 people

attended last year. In the next breath, she especially encourages new visitors to attend—or those who haven’t been since before COVID. “We love to bring new people in the door,” Nephew emphasizes, “I strongly encourage people to visit the new portion of the building.” That’s right— WBCA added the Ford Family Gallery, Exhibition Hall, and Atrium in 2021, so visitors can experience the Members’ Exhibition in a brand-new space!

With so much to explore, visitors may feel inspired to visit WBCA on a regular basis. To that demographic, Nephew suggests, “Check out the full class schedule while you’re here!”

To learn more about WBCA’s Community Day along with their other events, go to whitebeararts.org

proclaims, "The most influential people in my life have been teachers.”

This path makes sense for Jordan because, now that he’s using writing to speak about his experience, he’s discovered his passion: “helping others share their voices.”

JANUARY EVENTS

Explore upcoming Avenue of the Arts events with CPA, LPT and WBCA LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE: THE MUSICAL Location: The Hanifil Performing Arts Center

Date: Jan. 26 - Feb. 10

The timeless story of Laura’s real childhood offers a unique glimpse of life on the American frontier and tells the heartwarming, unforgettable story of a loving family. As the Ingalls family journeys westward and settles in South Dakota, Laura grows from a wild child who loves to run free into a woman who embraces the responsibilities of her own future while remaining true to herself. Having since swept the nation, come see this hit musical that originated in Minnesota.

PINOCCHIO

Location: The Hanifil Performing Arts Center

Date: Jan. 8, 5:30 p.m. – 9 p.m.

COMMUNITY DAY AT WBC

Location: White Bear Center for the Arts Date: Jan. 13 from 1-3 p.m.

BEYOND THE BASICS: WHEEL THROWING

Location: White Bear Center for the Arts Date: Jan. 2 - Jan. 30 (Tuesdays), 10 a.m.

- 12:30 p.m.

Take your throwing skills to the next level. Explore different forms, while learning new throwing techniques.

Perfect for those ready to go beyond the fundamentals to unlock their pottery potential.

BLOOMING CREATIVITY: LEARNING THE ART OF HOME GARDEN DESIGN

Location: White Bear Center for the Arts Date: Jan. 3 - 17 (Wednesdays), 10 a.m. -

12 p.m.

This class is designed to provide students with an understanding of the principles and techniques of designing gardens. The class covers a range of topics from site analysis and plant selection to garden design concepts and principles. Students will learn how to create beautiful and functional outdoor spaces, incorporating elements of design and horticulture to create a unique and personal garden.

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EMERGING ARTIST JORDAN HUMPHREY

22 WHITE BEAR/VADNAIS HEIGHTS PRESS

DECEMBER 27, 2023

Mahtomedi Evening Star Quilters - FREE Sew Day: Tuesday, Jan. 16, 10:00 AM-4:00 PM Meeting: Tuesday, Jan. 23, 5:30-8:00 PM Bingo: FREE! Monday, Jan. 29, 1:30-3:00 PM. Please bring items to donate to the prize table!

Every Every step step of of the the way. way.

The following requires registration: mahtomedi.ce.eleyo.com Strength & Balance - $219 (for 24 sessions) Tuesdays & Thursdays, Jan. 2-March 21, 2:15-3:00 PM Barre Basics - $99 Wednesdays, Jan 3-Feb. 21, 6:00-6:45 PM Painting with Deb - FREE ($10 supply fee) Therapy services at Cerenity White services Mondays, JanTherapy 8-29, 10:00-11:30 AMat Cerenity White Bear Lake- $65 help you return to what you Easy Partner Dancing Bear Lake help you return to what you Tuesdays, Jan. 16-Feb 6, 7-8:30PM in Woodbury,of orhighly Thursdays, do best. Our combination best. PM Ourin combination Jan. 18-Feb. 8,do 6:30-8:00 White Bear Lake of highly trained compassionate staff and the Zumba - $85 trained compassionate staff and the Fridays, Jan most 19-March 22, 9:00-9:45care AM in the area make innovative most innovative careMedicarein the area Everything You Want to Know About FREEmake community your best choice for Monday, Jan.our 22, 6:30-8:00 PM our community your best choice for 5 Keys to Retirement - FREE professional therapy services. professional Tuesday, Jan 23, 6:00-8:00 PM therapy services.

Coffee, Core Pelvic Floor - $40 • &Aquatic Therapy Friday, Jan. 26, AM-12:00 PM • 10:00 Aquatic Therapy Occupational Therapy Landmark •Tours & Travel Presentation - FREE • Occupational Therapy Tuesday, Jan•30, 1:00-2:00 PM Physical Therapy Dr. Mark Seeley: Distinguishing El Nino from El Nonsense - $20 • Physical Therapy Speech Pathology Tuesday, Jan.• 30, 6:30-7:30 PM

MAHTOMEDI COMMUNITY EDUCATION ADULT ACTIVITIES AT THE MAHTOMEDI DISTRICT EDUCATION CENTER (DEC) 1520 MAHTOMEDI AVE. ALL ACTIVITIES ARE HELD AT THE DEC UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED. MONDAYS: Stitchers 1-3:00 PM, 2nd/4th Monday of Month TUESDAYS: Mah Jongg, 9:30-11:30 AM, Cribbage 1-3:00 PM WEDNESDAYS: Bridge, 1-4:00 PM THURSDAYS: 500 Cards, 12:30-3 PM FRIDAYS: Games, 12:30-3 PM; Bridge, 1-4 PM; Book Club, 2nd Friday, 10-11:30 AM

Every step of the way.

The Gathering group respite provides brain-stimulating activities for adults living with memory loss and four hours of respite for their caregivers. We have weekly meetings on Thursdays at St. John in the Wilderness Church in White Bear Lake and – starting in late January! – on Wednesdays at the Lyngblomsten campus in Lino Lakes. To learn more or to be services at Cerenity White placed on our interest list, contactTherapy Lisa Brown at (651) 632-5320 or caregiving@lyngblomsten.org. Bear Lake help you return to what you do best. Our combination of highly trained compassionate staff and the most innovative care in the area make our community your best choice for professional therapy services.

• Speech Pathology Register at Call mahtomedi.ce.eleyo.com.

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10 Signs of Dementia Online: Join us via Zoom on Wednesday, January 10, from 1:00 – 2:00 p.m. for a discussion about the 10 signs of dementia and the importance of brain stimulation early on in a person’s journey with dementia. Presented by Lyngblomsten Community Services. Free. To receive a link to the Zoom session, call Cyndy Rudolph at (651) 632-5330 or email communityservices@lyngblomsten.org.

Powerful Tools for Caregivers: This class will give you the tools you need to take better care of yourself while caring for others and help you increase your self-confidence in coping with the demands of caregiving. Class meets virtually on Thursdays, January 18 – February 29, from 3:30 – 5:00 p.m. Free, but voluntary contributions are appreciated. For more information, contact Lisa Brown at (651) 632-5320 or caregiving@ lyngblomsten.org.

Lyngblomsten Community Services is supported, in part, by gifts made to the Lyngblomsten Foundation and is funded under an award with Trellis as part of the Older Americans Act.

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Meals on Wheels: Hot or Frozen meals delivered MondayFriday. If you or someone you know may need meals or have questions, call 651-653-3123.

For more information on programs or to receive “The Voice” newsletter, call us at 651-653-3121.

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SP TTED

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1. For more than 30 years a group of guys have been meeting for breakfast. Celine Dinaure, owner of Keys Cafe in downtown White Bear Lake. Wanted to serve a special breakfast to the group for Christmas. The prayer was followed by Keys’ cinnamon rolls, poached and scrambled eggs, bacon, and toast served on fine china. Back row, from left: Keys’ staff Kathy Schiller, Heather Moore, Celine, Kris Weber and Amy Miranda; front, from left: Gene Johnson, Dan Jensen, Ron Schilla, Ray Richardson, Wayne Swearingen, Dick Locke, and Don Moore. – Carter Johnson | Press Publications

2. Ice boats at dawn– ready to go! — Michael Lovett | Contributed 3. Members of the locally-based Little Dickens Carolers were spotted in Stillwater singing along with a colorful group of “Furries.” According to Merriam-Webster, a furry is a person who identifies with and enjoys sometimes dressing as anthropomorphic animals especially as a member of a fandom devoted to the practice. — Paul Dols | Press Publications

Send us your photos for possible inclusion in Spotted Around Town. Please email your best shot to whitebearnews@presspubs.com. Please include information about when and where it was taken and who is in the photo.

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