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
Category: The Latest From Forest Lake Times
Firefighters jointly extinguish truck blaze
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.
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.
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
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
Forest View Suns are top team in Community Ed League
The Forest View Suns stand together after a victory. From left: Ashlee Carlson, Dahlia Berg, Haley Hohenstein, Natalie Krutzig, Ava Bauer, Sadie Fearing, Savannah Syring, Ava Jendersee, Savanna Puent, Bailey Zauner. Back: coach Jenny Simon.
The Forest View Suns have dominated their division in the Forest Lake Community Ed girls basketball league so far. Jenny Simon’s squad of second- and third-graders have lost only one game in their six-team circuit, which brings together elementary-school players from throughout the Forest Lake Area school district.
“We try to not only teach the girls the necessary skills, but also practice fun,” Simon said.broadstreet.zone(48036);
Because the girls in the league are all future Rangers, every squad uses maroon and gold as its team colors. The “home” side in each game wears maroon and the “away” side wears gold, though all the teams share the same home floor.
At the beginning of each half, the girls on the court
Nordic teams place second at conference meet
Sophomore Regan Duffy finished second overall in the girls race.
Duffy, Mead lead Rangers in individual standings
The Forest Lake boys and girls Nordic teams earned nearly identical results in the final standings at the Suburban East Conference championships on Feb. 1. Both squads placed second of eight (Cretin-Derham Hall does not particpate in Nordic) behind Stillwater, with the girls scoring 457 points and the boys 454, and both Ranger squads were well clear of double third-placers Roseville.broadstreet.zone(48036);
“Conditions were a little icy, which doesn’t hurt a team like Stillwater who is used to skiing in questionable conditions,” coach Deno Johnson said.
The conference races were contested in two parts. In the morning, skiers particpated in a 5-kilometer classic-style race. In the afternoon the skiers raced skate-style, with racers leaving the starting area at intervals equal to their time differences in the first race.
Ranger junior Jenna Parent (16:27) and sophomore Regan Duffy (16:30) were
Wrestling drops Mounds View
After coming back from a five-point deficit, Parrish earns his pin against Mounds View’s Rowan Morgan in overtime.
Parrish’s up-class pin highlights victory
With under a minute to go in his match at 182 pounds on Feb. 2, Forest Lake’s Grant Parrish was trailing Mounds View’s Rowan Morgan 9-4. He then pulled off an aggressive sequence against his opponent, forcing him to the mat and nearly pinning him. The Mustang was saved because the action took the wrestlers out of bounds, but Parrish earned five points, sending the match into a one-minute overtime period in which he finally pinned Morgan.broadstreet.zone(48036);
That result is remarkable for two reasons: Morgan is rated as the state’s third-best wrestler at 182, and Parrish is actually a 170-pounder – he wrestled up 12 pounds to get a match with Morgan.
“Those guys are rivals, they wrestled a great match,” head coach Joe Kunshier said. “We talk to Grant about