Photo courtesy of Ed Stec
Forest Lake and Wyoming firefighters responded to a truck fire Jan. 24 on Interstate Highway 35 near the border of the two cities. The fire was called in shortly before 2 p.m., and the response temporarily shut down the freeway. The 26-foot box truck started on fire due to an undetermined mechanical issues, burning up the cab and engine and penetrating slightly into the trailer area. No one was hurt in the fire.
Category: The Latest From Forest Lake Times
WSC preparing to move operations
The Wildlife Science Center is preparing to move from its current Columbus site to a new property in Linwood. WSC has until March 31 to move the operation.
“The show of support from friends in the community has been amazing, and just as the cold hit, our contractor finished laying the ground fencing for 14 gorgeous habitats,” Executive Director Peggy Callahan said in a press release. “The first group of wolves will be moved in the next few weeks.”broadstreet.zone(48036);
The wolves got extra help from the students at Northwest Passages High School. The students constructed a sturdy wolf den that will provide shelter and privacy for some of WSC’s resident wolves.
For more information, contact Callahan at peggy@wildlifesciencecenter.org or 651-464-3993.
Council rankled by ongoing overrun dispute
Forest Lake City Council members told staff they preferred a speedy resolution to the Daniel DePonti Airport’s paving project cost overrun situation as frustrations continued to mount with the engineering firm responsible for the disparity.
The council discussed the issue at a special Feb. 6 work session, which was attended by members of Dresel Contracting, a Chisago City-based firm that contracted with the city to perform excavation work last fall during the paving of the airport runway. As the project was nearing completion, the city was told by SEH, the engineering firm that designed the runway for the city, that an error in its estimation of how much fill would be needed to replace topsoil at the site had led to an overrun that would add hundreds of thousands of dollars to the project – 90 percent of which is likely to be paid by the Minnesota Department of Transportation Aeronautics
Girls hockey wins conference title with tie against Stillwater
Brieja Parent fires on the Stillwater goal in the third period.
Kayla Kasel clinches crown with late equalizer
To borrow a phrase from baseball, and slightly alter it for local hockey purposes, the tie goes to the Rangers. A 2-2 draw with Stillwater on Feb. 4 was all the Forest Lake girls hockey team needed to secure sole possession of the Suburban East Conference championship for the first time in school history.broadstreet.zone(48036);
The Rangers entered Saturday’s road tilt tied atop the SEC standings with Cretin-Derham Hall at 24 points each, meaning the Rangers had already earned at least a share of the conference title.
Stillwater, a clear underdog, peppered the Ranger goal in the early going, but the Rangers soon turned the tide and controlled the game for most of the opening period, outshooting the Ponies 15-6. The Rangers made their breakthrough with 4:35 to go in the period. Freshman Brieja Parent played senior
NLA girls chase promotion to upper division
North Lakes center Maggie Thiele is averaging a double-double with 10.2 points and 10.4 rebounds per game.
The North Lakes Academy girls basketball team beat a short-handed co-op of St. Paul Prep and High School for the Recording Arts 51-36 on Feb. 3 to bring their regular season record to 9-11.
As she normally does, junior center Maggie Thiele achieved a double-double, leading the Huskies with 20 points and 15 rebounds. Sophomore guard Katelyn Ozment scored 15 points, and senior guard Isabel Thompson put in eight. Freshman forwards Annika Johnson and Alena Miller each collected seven rebounds; junior forward Emma Tiedeman pulled down six and Ozment five. Ozment and Thompson led the Huskies in assists with five each.broadstreet.zone(48036);
St. Paul Prep dressed only five players, forcing the starters to play the entire game. Predictably, a close early matchup tilted slowly but surely in favor of the Huskies, who had 17 players to choose
Sports Briefs – Feb. 9, 2017
Local police honored before Lakers game
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Sgt. Jake Ayers, Sgt. Mark Richert, Detective Nancy Carlson and officers Pat Ferguson, Trevor Johnson, Sean Lafferty, Troy Meyer, Megan Olstad, Nathan Olstad and Maryrose Warke of the Forest Lake Police Department are honored on the ice as part of Law Enforcement Night at the Forest Lake Lakers game on Feb. 3. Carlson also performed the ceremonial puck drop. Through a silent auction the Lakers and their fans helped raise more than $1,000 for the Minnesota Law Enforcement Memorial Association. The Lakers lost the game to the Dells Ducks 4-1, but they got their revenge a day later, beating the same opposition 3-2. The Lakers are 20-15-5 on the season and will play at home against the Chicago Cougars on Feb. 17 and 18, with both games beginning at 7:30 p.m.
Dance team falls short of state
The Forest Lake dance team competed in the Section 4AAA
Name and location change on the horizon for LAYSB
Submitted photoThe renovation process has begun as volunteers with the Lakes Center for Youth and Families (formerly LAYSB) prepare to move into a new space in the Town Square building.
In 2013, after 20 years of occupancy in the same space, the Lakes Area Youth Service Bureau was given notice from the city of Forest Lake that an option to sell the group’s city-owned building was being exercised. There was no specific timeline, but Executive Director Jeanne Walz knew that time was running short.
“This was going to be the biggest thing that has ever happened to us, and so we wanted to make sure that we did it right,” she said. “We began exploring options to either build or rent or possibly purchase.”broadstreet.zone(48036);
In September 2016, LAYSB was told that it would need to be gone from its current space at 244 N. Lake St. by March 1.
“The key was to find
A watershed approach to cleaning lakes
Angie Hong
Guest Columnist
On Friday, Jan. 27, the Comfort Lake-Forest Lake Watershed District broke ground on a $536,605 wetland restoration project in southern Chisago County that will ultimately improve water quality in Moody Lake (Chisago Lake Township) and Bone Lake (Scandia). The project will serve as an example for how to work at a watershed scale, as well as how to target water quality improvement projects to get the biggest bang for the buck.broadstreet.zone(48036);
The district began a five-year project to improve Bone and Moody lakes in late 2010 when it harvested more than 23,000 pounds of carp from Bone Lake and 3,600 small bullheads from Moody Lake. In 2012, the district installed low-velocity fish barriers to prevent rough fish from migrating in and out of the two lakes. Last year, the district installed a winter aeration system in Moody Lake to prevent winter fish kills and help keep the bullhead population
LILA works with U of M on athletic program
Lakes International Language Academy recently collaborated with the Sport Management capstone class of Dr. Lisa Kihl at the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities to explore best practices in developing and expanding the Upper School (grades 6-12) athletic program.broadstreet.zone(48036);
“This is the students’ opportunity to demonstrate that they are prepared academically and professionally as graduates to contribute meaningful work for real-world sports concerns,” Dr. Kihl said in a press release. “I set the expectations high, and every time, these students amaze me.”
The university students worked in groups to study concerns related to developing an athletics department operational manual, such as policies, sports offerings and facilities, league schedules and transportation, recruiting and training coaches, and marketing. Each university group presented its recommendations at a culminating class meeting, which included LILA Director Shannon Peterson and Athletic and Activities Director Jenni Muras.
“We were thrilled to participate in this capstone project,” Muras said in a
Nominations open for inaugural Minnesota Job Honor Awards
The Minnesota Job Honor Awards is accepting nominations for its first awards event set for May 10 in the Twin Cities. The awards will celebrate “A New Kind of Hero” – Minnesotans who have overcome significant barriers to employment and the employers who hire them. Deadline for nominations is Feb. 15.broadstreet.zone(48036);
The awards will be presented in partnership with the Minnesota Chamber’s workforce conference “The Hidden Labor Pool: Are you looking in the right places?” This half-day program will examine Minnesota’s workforce shortage and introduce employers to frequently-overlooked talent pools. Speakers and panelists will challenge participants to think differently about where they look for employees, sharing “best practices” of companies that are finding great talent in Minnesota’s untapped workforce.
“Minnesota employers continue to seek new solutions to our state’s workforce shortage,” Minnesota Chamber president Doug Loon said in a press release. “Finding qualified workers is a persistent challenge among companies of all