spv jan 10

The West Side Circulator was recognized in a new report by the National League of Cities as one of the nation’s four most innovative city models for improving after-school opportunities for children and youth. This free busing service transports children to after-school programs at recreation centers, librar-ies and other community centers. In November, the service reached the milestone of providing 10,000 rides since its inception in 2002.

The State of EducationArea schools create new programs to tackle educational challengesMary Diedrick Hansen

Staff Writer

For more than a quar-ter-century, local

schools have been seek-ing ways to improve the education provided to students after a scath-ing national report was issued demanding im-provements throughout the U.S. educational sys-tem.

In 1983 a red alert was sounded about the state of education in the Unit-ed States. A report called “Nation at Risk” was re-

leased by the National Commission of Excel-lence in Education. In it, educators were warned that “our once unchal-lenged preeminence in commerce, industry, sci-ence and technological innovation is being over-taken by competitors” worldwide. The report charged educational in-stitutions with medioc-rity and challenged them to make changes. It warned that in order for our country to function, “citizens must be able to reach some common un-

derstanding on complex issues, often on short no-tice and on the basis of conflicting or incomplete evidence.”

Today, the United States is having to deal with the complexities of a faltering economy, ris-ing health care costs, and a vast array of other so-cial, scientific and com-petitive market issues. The demand is great for well-educated, analytical minds.

Schools across Minne-sota have responded since the report was released.

In an analysis of 2007 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, Minnesota fourth- and eighth-graders sig-nificantly outperformed their U.S. peers. Interna-tionally in math, fourth-graders outperformed 29 nations, with four scor-ing higher. Eighth-grad-ers scored higher than 44 nations, but five na-tions scored significantly higher.

“While Minnesota leads the nation, the

State of Education / 0

Recreational amenities under review as WSP wrestles with budgetPage 2

New Mendota Heights businesshas tasty offeringsPage 4

Preparations underway for the ‘Coolest Celebration on Earth’Page 18

January 2010

Volume 44

Number 1

The St. Paul

- St. Paul Voice - January 2010

Your community news and information sourceC ity Government

The St. Paul Voice is published monthly and delivered to 16,500 homes and businesses in West St. Paul, the West Side, Mendota Heights, Lilydale & Sunfish Lake.

Publisher & Editor: Tim Spitzack Copy Editor: Leslie MartinReporter: Mary Diedrick Hansen Contributors: Renée C. F. MillerMasthead design by Nick GermanoAdvertising: Mario Polanco, Isaac Contreras Home Delivery: Independent Delivery Service Bulk Delivery: SC Distribution 651-285-1119

The St. Paul Voice assumes no responsibility for the opinions expressed by contributors and for the validity of claims or items reported. Copyright St. Paul Voice 2009. All rights reserved in compliance of Federal Copyright Act of 1978.

St. Paul Publishing Co.1643 So. Robert St., West St. Paul, MN 55118

Phone: (651) 457-1177 [email protected]

WSP City Council approves 5.9 percent tax levyMary Diedrick Hansen

Staff Writer

Welcome to the real dollars-and-cents

world of the recession, where home values are dropping yet property taxes rising. On Dec. 14, West St. Paul resi-dents learned that the city council approved a tax levy increase of 5.9 percent, or $520,000 in additional revenue from property owners, even though the average de-cline in home value in West St. Paul last year was 9.1 percent.

Why is this happening? In West St. Paul, it has to do with replacing funds promised to the city from a major funding source, the State of Minnesota. The State promised West St. Paul it would receive $1,558,714 in Local Government Aid (LGA) for 2010, yet all indica-

tions are that Minnesota will hold back $785,000 of those funds. That’s be-cause the latest budget projections for the state show revenue coming up short by $1.2 billion.

The recession is tak-ing a toll on state sales and income taxes, which are falling. The state is strapped for cash and will very likely forego funnel-ing the full amount of state dollars promised to cities across Minnesota for 2010. West St. Paul estimates it will only re-ceive $773,960 in LGA. The city needs to make up the difference through new or expanded revenue channels, such as prop-erty taxes or fees, or by cutting expenses. Sandy Christensen, city finance director, said the city will do a little of both.

About half of the city budget is funded by property taxes. However,

with an understanding of the financial struggles that many residents are enduring, the city coun-cil decreased the property tax levy from a proposed 9.5 percent in mid-Sep-tember to 5.9 percent. Households that have experienced a 9 percent drop in home value will see an increase of about $16 in city taxes, or about $1.38 a month.

By cutting the amount of the levy from the proposed 9.5 percent to 5.9 percent, the city will reduce its income by $209,000 compared to 2009, which means it will have to cut the bud-get by that amount.

Adjustments of $145,000 will come out of capital spending, with the city foregoing the purchase of maintenance vehicles and police equip-ment. Cuts will be made in the travel and train-

ing budget. A hiring and wage freeze is in place for city employees. Staffing at Thompson golf course has been reorganized, and some fees will be in-creased. The swimming pool is being assessed for possible closure, pending collection of more data.

The promised LGA funds would have sup-plied 14 percent of the city’s operations rev-enue, but will now fund about half that amount, with the impending cuts.

Property taxes pay for the city’s core services: public safety, public works and parks, code enforcement and the continuation of paying down city debt.

The approved 2010 budget is $18,077,293, a decrease of 1 percent compared to last year’s budget.

Sewer assessmentUsually, if you have

leaky pipes in your house, water is dripping

out. West St. Paul, on the other hand, had a case of leaky sewer pipes with water leaking in, and the Metropolitan Council is not happy about it. It told the city to fix it or face a $1 million fine.

Apparently, expand-ing tree roots poked their way through some of the aging sanitary sewer lines, allowing storm wa-ter to leak in. The added volume of rain water was increasing the cost of the waste water treatment process at the Environ-mental Services Plant in St. Paul.

“Storm water from a rainstorm finding its way into the sanitary sewer system is a problem be-

The West St. Paul swimming pool is being assessed for possible closure. It is one of many tough decisions facing the city council.

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Your community news and information sourceC ity Governmentcause it creates potential-ly huge volumes of influ-ent in need of treatment by the sewer plant,” said Sandy Christensen, West St. Paul’s finance direc-tor. “Storm water seep-ing into the sewer lines is often a symptom of older sewer systems and places a burden on all custom-ers. Parts of our system were nearly fifty years old and near the end of their lifespan.”

Over the summer the city repaired the worst of the city sewer lines at a cost of $1 million.

“Had we not made the repairs we’ve done so far, the Met Council would potentially fine us $1 million. We’d end up paying the money, and still have the problem,” said Christensen.

Now the city has to recoup those dollars for its sanitary sewer util-ity fund. Until now, this fund generated rev-enue by issuing a flat quarterly fee for water usage, regardless of vol-ume. Starting Jan. 1,

the billing system will be changed to a consump-tion-based model. A flat fee intended to cover the fixed costs of maintain-ing the sewer system will be charged to everyone. Additional charges will be based on how much water homeowners use. Those who take a lot of long, hot showers will be charged extra for their use of water, while those practicing conservation will be charged less.

“Low-consumption us-ers were subsidizing the high-consumption us-ers,” said Christensen of the former billing system. “This will be a more equitable fee. Over-all, if the city had main-

tained the flat structure, all accounts would have received a 20 percent increase to pay for the repairs. By going to the consumption-based bill, some accounts will see a higher rate increase; others will stay the same and others (will see) a decrease. You will have some control over your bill now because you can control how much water you use.” The last rate increase was in 2007. In addition to recouping the cost of recent work, the new billings will provide funding for future sewer repair work.

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Olive Grove offers a delicious new concept in Mendota Heights

Natalie Jaeger owns The Olive Grove at The Village of Mendota Heights.

Renée C.F. MillerContributor

With her new store, The Olive Grove,

Natalie Jaeger is con-vinced she can make your life more delicious. The store, located at 720 Main St., in the Village of Mendota Heights, is a European concept, of-

fering dozens of variet-ies of olive oil, balsamic vinegar and specialty oils such as truffle oil to be sampled and bottled to order.

The warm, welcoming space is filled with “fus-tis,” stainless steel casks that preserve the oil’s freshness. Freshness, says Jaeger, is the most impor-tant element in oil qual-ity.

“Fresh oil means you have a ton of flavor and a lot of antioxidants,” she said. “As olive oil ages, not only does it gradually lose its flavor, but it also gradually loses all the an-tioxidants. If you’re not using fresh oil, you’re re-ally not getting what you could get out of it.”

According to Jaeger, many people don’t realize the variety of olive oils and vinegars available.

“It’s very similar to wine,” she said. “There

are many types of olives, so you can have oil that tastes fruity, it can taste woodsy, it can have a pepper kick on the end of it. Our balsamic vinegars are at least 12 years aged in oak barrels. Our most popular item ,hands-down, is an 18-year -aged balsamic vinegar. It sounds weird, but it is re-ally good on fruit or on ice cream.”

Jaeger said her products can make meal choic-es easier. For example, chipotle-fused olive oil over rice with cilantro, or basil-fused olive oil with pasta make quick dinners full of flavor.

Jaeger, a Chicago trans-plant with a background in real estate, is pleased with her Mendota Heights location.

“I looked in a lot of areas, but I knew this kind of concept would have a regional draw, and

this space is right off of (interstates) 35, 494, and (highway) 110,” she said. “We have custom-ers coming into the store from hundreds of miles

away, every day. The re-ception from the com-munity has been really positive. There are many complementary business-es here.”

The store also has gour-met mustards, olives and locally-baked breads. For more information, call 651-686-4710, or visit www.theolivegroveoliveoil.com.

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West Sider’s passion is healing

Sarah Sawyer offers alternative therapies at

Beautiful Ama.

Beautiful Ama offers acupuncture, herbal medicine

Renée C.F. MillerContributor

In a cozy house on Ohio Street, Sarah Sawyer of

Beautiful Ama treats her clients with techniques from the other side of the world. After studying acupuncture and Chinese medicine for six years, Sawyer recently opened her home to offer these services.

Sawyer, a former bio-medical engineer, be-came interested in herbal medicine while living in Nepal. She contracted a serious skin infection, and, with no western medicine available, was treated with herbs. When she finally returned to the United States she found out that the infection was life-threatening and

that the treatments she received saved her life. Her curiosity about the herbal treatments soon turned into a passion for healing others.

“I knew when I was a biomedical engineer that I was helping people, but I just couldn’t see it,” said Sawyer. “Just yesterday a client who had come in for his first treatment called me and said he was feeling much better and that he couldn’t wait to come back next week. Now, I can really see the good I’m doing.”

Sawyer offers acupunc-ture, herbal medicine, and food therapy to her clients. Acupuncture is the adjustment of energy in the body using sterile hair-thin needles inserted in the skin.

“I have three special-ties,” explained Sawyer. “Number one is pain. Many people are suffer-

ing with pain — joint pain, headaches, sports injuries — and acu-puncture is really effec-tive. Another specialty is treatment of emotional disorders like stress, anxi-ety and bipolar disorder. I’ve also used what I’ve learned in developing my third specialty, a holis-tic weight-loss program using food therapy, nu-tritional counseling and herbs.”

Sawyer’s West Side home doubles as her business space. She’s ren-ovated several rooms into spa-like areas, complete with heated tables and soothing décor.

“I don’t think people realize how relaxing acu-puncture can be,” said Sawyer. “People expect it to be painful, but I’ve had people fall asleep on these tables during treat-ment.”

Sawyer finds the loca-

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Alice Villarreal and Christopher Romano

Villarreal receives Star AwardAlice Villarreal recently received a Star Award

from the Riverview Economic Development Asso-ciation (REDA) for her outstanding service to the organization. Villarreal, who grew up on the West Side Flats, works as a customer service manager at U.S. Bank in West St. Paul and has been a REDA board member since 2004. She currently serves as treasurer for REDA and is on its executive com-mittee, finance committee and the Cinco de Mayo Fiesta planning committee.

“Alice is a tireless advocate for REDA, and she’s a very important part of our work,” said Christopher Romano, executive director at REDA. “It is a great pleasure to honor her and her efforts with our Star Award.”

Your community news and information sourceN ews Briefs

West Side Health names new CEO

Dr. Jaeson Fournier is the new chief executive officer (CEO) of West Side Community Health Services, the largest com-munity health service organization in Minne-sota. He comes from the Ingham County Health Department in Lansing, Mich., where he was deputy health officer. Since 2004, Fournier was

responsible for the De-partment’s Community Health Center Network, its correctional health unit and its special sup-plemental nutrition pro-gram for women, infants and children (WIC). Prior to this, he served as CEO of the Greater El-gin Family Care Center in Elgin, Ill.

“I am delighted with the opportunity to con-tinue West Side Commu-nity Health Services’ 38-year history of providing access to high quality and affordable health care services in the metro area,” said Fournier. “I am also excited by the opportunity to further cultivate the organiza-tion’s role as a safety net provider through the en-gagement of the board, the staff, and the St. Paul community.”

Student notesDavid Wallner and

Valeria deRusha of West St. Paul and Gregory Bauman and Kelsey No-ack of Mendota Heights graduated from Min-nesota State University-Mankato.

Joshua Brunmeier of West St. Paul graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Free workplace English classes

South Suburban Adult Basic Education (ABE) is offering Workplace Eng-lish classes to adults ages 18 and up who want to enter the workforce and wish to learn English language and job search skills. The classes are free and are open to residents of the West St. Paul-Mendota Heights-Eagan, South St. Paul and Inver Grove Heights school districts.

The Workplace Eng-lish classes will help students improve their English fluency, expand workplace vocabulary, improve reading and writing skills, practice filling out employment-related forms, learn basic computer skills, conduct

career research and prac-tice interviewing skills. Students are able to at-tend classes at a variety of times and locations throughout the West St. Paul, South St. Paul and Inver Grove Heights area. To enroll or to get more information, call 651-457-9441.

ABE, a program of Northern Dakota County TriDistrict Community Education, offers free GED preparation cours-es, basic literacy and math classes and English classes for adults. For more information or to enroll in any of the other classes ABE offers, call 651-457-9441 or e-mail [email protected].

Community calendar

• Optimist Club - The Optimist Club of West St. Paul meets 4:30-5:30 p.m., the first and third Thursday of the month, at the West St. Paul Ar-mory, 1346 S. Robert St. The meeting is open to the public. The Optimist Club sponsors youth ac-tivities in West St. Paul. For more information, call 651-457-0917.

• Veterans’ meet-ings - The Riverview-West St. Paul VFW Post 4462 hosts monthly meetings at 7 p.m., the first Wednesday of each month, at the West St. Paul Armory. For more information, call 651-437-4481. American Le-gion Post 521 also hosts monthly meetings at the Armory. Meeting times are 7 p.m., the fourth Tuesday of each month.

• Rotary Club - The West St. Paul/Mendota Heights Rotary Club hosts a weekly meeting at 7:30 a.m., Wednesdays, at Southview Country Club, 239 E. Mendota Road, West St. Paul. Each meeting features break-fast and a guest speaker. For more information, visit www.rotarywspmh.org.

• Kiwanis Club - The Kiwanis Club of West St. Paul hosts a weekly meet-ing at noon, Tuesdays, at Southview Country Club, 239 E. Mendota Road, West St. Paul. Each meeting features lunch and a guest speaker.

• Dakota County Regional Chamber of Commerce - The Da-kota County Regional Chamber of Commerce,

which serves West St. Paul, Mendota Heights, Eagan, Rosemount and Farmington, hosts a monthly meeting called “The Buzz,” at 7:30 a.m., the first Thursday of each month, at the Northern Dakota County Service Center in West St. Paul. Each meeting features networking, a guest speaker and refreshments. For more information, call 651-452-9872 or vis-it www.dcrchamber.com.

Volunteer opportunities

• DARTS, a nonprofit organization in West St. Paul that serves families and individuals through transportation and in-home services, has several volunteer opportunities available. For more in-formation, contact 651-455-1560 or www.dart1.org.

• Ramsey County Community Human Services has volunteer opportunities for people age 18 and older. For more information, con-tact Ramsey County Community Human Services-Volunteer Ser-vices at 651-266-4090 or [email protected]

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Your community news and information sourceN ews Briefs

Home Tour nominations

The nomination and application deadline for the 2010 Minneapolis & St. Paul Home Tour is Jan. 21. Homeowners and home improvement professionals are encour-aged to nominate homes for the tour, held April 24-25. Energy-efficient and historically sensitive remodels and expansions get special notice. Min-neapolis Neighborhood Revitalization Program (NRP) and the city of St. Paul Planning and Economic Development Department manage the tour, which is in its 23rd year. For more informa-tion, contact Natalie Fedie at 651-266-6549, [email protected], or Margo Ash-more at 612-673-5103, [email protected]. The appli-cation form is available at www.MSPHomeTour.com under “nominate.”

Ramsey County HHW waste site

Ramsey County’s household hazardous waste collection site at Bay West is open year-round. The site, located near the State Capitol at 5 Empire Drive in St. Paul, is open 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturdays, through March. Drop-off is free for residents of Ramsey, Washington, Dakota, Hennepin, Anoka and Carver counties. Must have a photo I.D. If you drop off an old mercury thermometer you can re-

ceive a new digital ther-mometer for free. You may also receive a free, reusable 2.5-gallon con-tainer to hold used motor oil.

Items accepted include, but are not limited to, aerosol cans (no empty cans), paint (no empty or dry cans), antifreeze, paint stripper and thin-ner, batteries, fluorescent lights, used motor oil and oil filters, gasoline, kerosene, weed killer, weed and feed, products with mercury, such as thermometers and wood preservatives. Appliances and electronics are not accepted. For more infor-mation, call the Ramsey County Recycling and Disposal Hotline at 651-633-EASY (3279) or visit www.co.ramsey.mn.us/ph (click on Home and Yard and then HHW In-formation and Collection Sites).

Clean ‘n’ Presswins award

Clean’n’Press, which has a location in West St. Paul, was recognized by the National Pollution Prevention Roundtable with the Most Valuable Pollution Prevention award for reducing en-ergy use. Clean’n’Press is owned by Dan Klasen, a mechanical engineer who for years has implement-ed the latest pollution-prevention practices, including using a water-based process to reduce the consumption of per-chlorethylene, a hazard-

ous chemical used in conventional dry clean-ing. By modifying and upgrading equipment, recycling and using heat exchange processes, Clean’n’Press was able to save $18,814 last year, or 30 percent of its energy costs. The company has 31 metro locations.

St. Paul ranked first for NNO

The National Asso-ciation of Town Watch Organization, which oversees and coordi-nates National Night Out (NNO) celebrations across the country, has awarded St. Paul its top ranking for community achievement. This is the third time in 26 years that St. Paul has received the top ranking. The oth-er years were 2005 and 2008. NNO is a nation-wide effort to promote community safety and involvement. The cel-ebration takes place this year on Tues., Aug. 3.

Prep athletes make metro rankings

As of press time, the following area athletes made the Pioneer Press prep metro sports rank-ings: At Humboldt High School, Bryale Winters, Keith Larocque and DaShawn Wright were ranked in basketball for scoring and Julian Lus-ter for assists. Winters was also ranked for re-bounding and Wright for assists. Girls basketball star Annessa Hicks was ranked for scoring.

The Henry Sibley boys basketball team was ranked #4, and the girls basketball team had sev-eral individual rankings, including Jilian Gangl, Jessica Kreuser and Lau-ren Turitto for scoring, and Chelsea Miller for assists. Kreuser and Gan-gl were also ranked for rebounding and Turitto for assists.

Tara Baago and Alex Cosgrove of Henry Sibley girls hockey were ranked for scoring.

The Henry Sibley wres-tling team was ranked #7. Tom Perrillat, 125 lbs., Mason Young, 130 lbs., and Zak Coates, 171 lbs. were each ranked second individually.

File photo by Marina Castillo, www.marinacastillophotography.comSandy Morris and her children, Catricia and Mychal, are flanked by Armando Camacho of Neighborhood House (far left) and Tom Budzynski of TJB Homes, Inc.

West Side home featured in January on ‘Extreme Makeover’Those who helped with or followed the “Extreme Makeover: Home Edi-tion” home building process on the West Side this fall will be happy to know that the broadcast date has been set. The show, featuring the construction of a 2,800-square-foot, 3-bedroom Victorian style home for West Side daycare provider Sandy Morris, will air at 7 p.m., Sun., Jan. 3, on Channel 5. A volunteer force of 3,000 built the home in 96 hours for Mor-ris, compliments of ABC’s “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” TV show, and local builder TJB Homes, Inc.

UnitedHealthcare, photo by Jonathan Chapman UnitedHealthcare Volunteer Jeanne Gosselin gives Lijia Brown a gift as part of the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Twin Cities Adopt-A-Family program while Lijia’s brother, Keyshawn, plays with Nordy, the Minnesota Wild mascot. The Adopt-A-Family event took place at the Boys & Girls Club on the West Side.

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903168 La Familia Event Guide:Layout 1 8/27/09 11:50 AM Page 1


Your community news and information sourceS ample St. PaulOrdway Center for Performing Arts

“Beauty and the Beast” is presented through Jan. 3, at the Ordway Center for Performing Arts, 345 Washington St., St. Paul. This Disney classic tells the tale of a hideous beast that is transformed into an en-chanted prince through the power of a young woman’s love. Experience the joy in an enchanted new produc-tion created just for the Or-dway. See Belle and all your favorite characters come to life onstage.

Tickets are $27-$75. For more information, call the box office at 651-224-4222.

History Theatre“Sister Kenny’s Chil-

dren” is presented Jan. 23-Feb. 14, at the History Theatre, 30 E. 10th St., St. Paul. This new play is a powerful retelling of how Sister Elizabeth Kenny bat-tled adversity to make her ground-breaking therapies the standard in polio treat-ment. Tickets are $25-$30 for adults, $22-$28 for se-

niors and $10 for children. For more information, call the box office at 651-292-4323.

Children’s Museum“Out on a Limb” is pre-

sented through Jan. 24, at the Minnesota Children’s Museum, 10 W. Seventh St., St. Paul. Visitors may explore the natural world in this original, interactive exhibition that encourages them to hear the sounds of the forest, use leaves to make beautiful art, and build big and little struc-tures from bark and limbs. The exhibits also provide practice with the physical skills of climbing and bal-ancing. Tickets are $8.95. For more information, call 651-225-6000.

Xcel Energy CenterCountry music star Brad

Paisley, with special guests Miranda Lambert and Jus-tin Moore, will perform at 7:30 p.m., Sat., Jan. 16, at the Xcel Center, 199 W. Kellogg Blvd., St. Paul. Tickets are $39.75-$59.75

“The World’s Toughest Rodeo” is presented Jan. 29-30, featuring bullriding, bareback, saddle bronc and barrel racing exhibitions, and more. Randy Houser will perform Saturday night for the “Party On The Dirt,” following the rodeo. Tickets are $17-$80 for adults and half price for children age 12 and under.

Park Square Theatre

“Rock ’n’ Roll” is pre-sented Jan. 15-Feb. 7, at Park Square Theatre, 20 W. 7th Place, St. Paul. Span-ning two countries and three generations, the music of revolution, protest, lib-eration and emotional sur-vival proves that love, and rock ’n’ roll, remain. Tick-ets are $36-$40 for adults, $31-$35 for seniors, and $15 for age 30 and under. For more information, call 651-291-7005.

Science Museum of Minnesota

“Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition” is presented

at the Science Museum through Jan. 3. This compel-ling exhibition takes visitors back in time to 1912 and tells a story of tremendous human drama. It brings to life the heroism and hu-manity of the passengers and crew through passenger stories, amazingly detailed room re-creations, and au-thentic artifacts recovered from the RMS Titanic, all in one of the largest exhibi-tions the Science Museum has ever hosted. Featured in the Omnitheater is “Titan-ica.” This giant screen film allows you to take a journey to the bottom of the North Atlantic to explore the fa-mous shipwreck. See stun-ning images of the Titanic as she now lies on the ocean floor contrasted with ex-quisitely-preserved archival photographs of the ship in all her splendor. Hear mov-ing commentary from Eva Hart who, as a seven-year-old girl, survived the tragic night but lost her father.

Omnifest 2010, a giant screen film festival, is pre-sented Jan. 29-Mar. 11, at

Photo by Scott Pakudaitis“Sister Kenny’s Children” is presented Jan. 23-Feb. 14, at the History Theatre, 30 E. 10th St., St. Paul.

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The West St. Paul Commercial Club, sponsors of youth activities, wishes everyone a safe and

Happy New Year!

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Neighborhood Development Alliance (NeDA) is currently taking applications for the Minnesota Urban & Rural Homesteading Program (MURL) program. Home must be owner-occupied and will be sold under a contract for deed, no down payment required, zero percent interest rate on the mortgage. 30% of homeowner's gross monthly income will cover taxes, insurance and monthly mortgage payments.

MURL Program Guidelines:1. Eligible homebuyer must be a “First Time Homebuyer” HUD defined, not have owned a home in the past three years.2. Eligible homebuyers must provide proof of income and that they are not able to qualify for a conventional loant.3. The eligible homebuyer must complete Home Stretch, a 9-hour Homebuyer Education workshop offered by NeDA.4. The eligible homebuyer's household gross annual income cannot exceed the following household size: 1 Person 2 Persons 3 Persons 4 Persons 5 Persons 6 Persons $44,800 $51,200 $57,600 $64,000 $69,100 $74,250

5. The long-term goal of the program is to work with families so they are able to secure a mortgage on their own.

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Your community news and information sourceS ample St. Paulthe Omnitheater. The fea-tured films are “Africa’s Ele-phant Kingdom,” “Into the Deep,” “Van Gogh: Brush with Genius,” “The Great-est Places,” and “Ski to the Max.” Tickets are $8 for adults and $7 for children.

Museum tickets are $23 for adults and $18 for se-niors ages 60 and older and children ages 4-12, or $29 and $24 respectively with admission to “Titanica.” The Science Museum is located at 120 W. Kellogg Blvd., St. Paul. For more information, visit www.smm.org, or call 651-221-9444.

Minnesota History Center

“Benjamin Frank-lin: In Search of a Bet-ter World” is presented through July 4, at the Minnesota History Cen-ter, 345 W. Kellogg Blvd., St. Paul. You know about Benjamin Frank-lin’s famous experiment with a kite, a key and some lightning, but did you also know about his

rebellious youth? That he pioneered wind surfing and invented swim fins? That he helped found the nation’s first hospital, was an environmentalist and charted the Gulf Stream to assist in ocean travel? In many ways Benjamin Franklin is the founding father nobody knows – misunderstood because of the sheer breadth and diversity of his accom-plishments. Discover the many ways Franklin has affected our world today in this new exhibit.

“Minnesota’s Great-est Generation: The Depression, The War, The Boom” - This ex-hibit features more than 6,000-square-feet of arti-facts, interactive displays and innovative multime-dia experiences that re-veal the lives and stories of the men and women who came of age dur-ing the Depression and World War II, and who went on to create the phe-nomenal postwar boom. The exhibition features

“The World’s Toughest Rodeo” is presented Jan.

29-30, at the Xcel Energy Center, St.

Paul, featuring bull riding, bareback, saddle bronc and

barrel racingand more.

first-person narratives in recorded interviews, im-ages, film and audio.

“MN 150”- Meet 150 people, places, events and things that have sparked significant change within Minnesota and beyond.

Tickets are $10 for adults, $8 for seniors and college students, and $5 for children ages 6-17. The Center offers free admission on Tuesdays from 5-8 p.m. For more information, call 651-259-3000 or visit www.mnhs.org.

Lowry Theatre“Hockey Mom, Hock-

ey Dad!” is presented Jan. 14-April 26 at the Lowry Theatre, 16 W. 5th St., St. Paul. Comedy and drama collide in this romantic comedy about two lonely, single par-ents who meet and fall in love while watching their kids play hockey. Tickets are $14.50-$27.50 and can be ordered by calling Ticketmaster at 1-800-

982-2787. For more in-formation, call the box office at 651-227-2464.

Artists’ QuarterThe Artists’ Quarter,

located in the Historic Hamm Building at 7th Place and St. Peter in downtown St. Paul, of-fers live entertainment throughout the month, including jazz bands, poetry nights and the popular B-3 organ night, held at 9 p.m. every Tuesday. For a complete schedule of events, call 651-292-1359 or visit www.artistsquarter.com.

Copyright 2009 Toughest Cowboy LLC.

Save the date!

2010-2011 Saint Paul School Options

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it’S Free!Admission is free. Free park and ride is provided to and from the RiverCentre from 9 a.m.-2:30 p.m. from the following locations: • Sears south parking lot — 425 Rice St., Saint Paul • Saint Paul Public Schools Administration Building — 360 Colborne St., Saint Paul

iNterPreterS availableGo to the Information Booth for an interpreter: Hmong, Spanish, Somali, Vietnamese, Oromo, Amharic, Khmer, Karen and American Sign Language.

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Your community news and information sourceE ducation

U.S. lags behind other countries in important educational indicators,” said Alice Seagren, state commissioner of educa-tion. “We must continue to increase expectations and rigor for all students, and grow the percent-age of students who are college-ready if we are to compete in a competitive global economy.”

To push educators along, in 2001 the feder-al program No Child Left Behind (NCLB) was im-plemented. It is designed to hold schools account-able for raising students’ test scores by monitoring 33 sub-groups of stu-dents for performance. Loss of federal funding is at stake for schools with low test scores.

Educators are feeling the heat to produce high-er test scores, sometimes at the expense of using teaching methods they believe will better edu-cate their students. Re-

cent budget projections for 2011 show a $1.5 bil-lion loss in state revenue due to lower sales and income taxes. Will the state education budget be spared when the gover-nor starts slashing dollars to balance the budget? School administrators are wondering how they will be able to meet the demands set by NCLB if their budgets are cut.

Partnerships for success at ISD 197

To counteract the fickle nature of government fi-nance, schools are resort-ing to more innovative educational practices and have begun to rely greatly on collaboration between nonprofits and busi-nesses. Public school ad-ministrators in St. Paul, West St. Paul, Mendota Heights and Eagan, along with educational institu-tions across Minnesota, have responded over the years in a variety of ways, with positive results.

Rising test scoresISD 197 (West St. Paul-

Mendota Heights-Eagan) Superintendent Jay Hau-gen said he is proud of the achievements made at Moreland, Garlough and Pilot Knob Elemen-tary Schools over the past year. The three Title 1 Schools were experienc-ing a rising level of stu-dents living in poverty, and subsequently, fall-ing test scores. Since last year, however, the three schools had an average increase of 14 percentage points in the number of students meeting or ex-ceeding expectations. The current achievement rate for the district’s elemen-tary schools is 20 percent higher than would be expected given its pov-erty level. The schools were recently recognized by Education Commis-sioner Seagren for their success. The district’s el-ementary school students have outperformed their Minnesota peers by six percentage points, with

83 percent of elementary students meeting or ex-ceeding expectations in reading and math.

Haugen attributes the big turn-around, in part, to a federal grant for the “Kindness Proj-ect,” which allows every school to have a counsel-or. When a student is not achieving academic suc-cess, the school counsel-or will intervene. Dakota County Community Ac-tion Council provides a half-time family support worker at every elemen-tary school to serve as a liaison between home and school. Haugen said the combination allows students to leave “out-side school” issues at the door. He also cites the collaboration between Dodge Nature Center and Garlough Environ-mental Magnet School as outstanding.

“It’s a school of choice now, which brings added revenue to the district,” he said.

Environmental academy coming to Heritage

The district hopes to bring the “green success” of Garlough to Heritage Middle School in West St. Paul, by creating an Environmental Academy for the 2010 school year. Helping bring the acad-emy to fruition would be an even stronger re-lationship with Dodge Nature Center, and using the city of West St. Paul’s Wolters Greenhouses for classroom projects. Gerten’s Farm Market has also expressed interest in working with the district on the budding Environ-mental Academy.

Another business part-ner is Lockheed-Martin, which has taken students at Pilot Knob Elementary in Eagan under its wing.

“Over 100 volunteers give of their time to Pi-lot Knob Elementary,” said Haugen. “You go in at midday and see young engineers in groups of one, two, three or four mentoring every week.

They also assist on the high school robotics team. The amount of time and expertise from their staff and employees is phenomenal.”

New pilot programThe district hopes to

add another piece to its innovative educational approach through a col-laboration with Search Institute, a Minnesota-based company that is a pioneer in uncovering what children and ado-lescents need to become caring, healthy and re-sponsible adults. The key, according to Search, is for students to find their passion. Then they need to learn that their “spark” of interest is worthy of being offered to the world. Search Institute is piloting a program with ISD 197 to learn through specially designed inter-est surveys, the “spark” in each of its students. District staff are being surveyed as well so those with common interests can team up and possibly

State of Education / from page 1

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Your community news and information sourceE ducationform after-school clubs or develop lesson plans that have teacher appeal. Haugen said the goal is to “teach the whole child.”

‘Branch Out’ helps with life-transition

“Branch Out,” a new district program designed to educate youth with disabilities as they tran-sition into adult life, ap-plies some of the “spark” theory by offering indi-vidualized student-driven programs that identify skills each student needs to reach future goals. For “Branch Out” students, that includes being able to make decisions about self, development, inde-pendent living skills, and finding employment af-ter graduation.

Innovative program reduces Latino drop-out rate at Sibley

Passionate teachers are making a big difference in ISD 197. One of those is Henry Sibley High School Spanish teacher Rob Hanson. A decade ago, larger numbers of Latino students were en-tering the district. The challenges of language and cultural barriers were so high that many could not surmount them. At the time, the dropout rate for Latinos at Henry Sibley was 26 percent. In 2001, Hanson set out to change those statistics when he approached the school administration about starting a Latino retention program. He arranged for students in advanced Spanish classes to tutor Latino students having trouble with their school work. The pro-gram was so popular that by 2004 it evolved into ALMAS (Anglos, Lati-nos, Motivados A Su-perarse – Anglos Latinos Motivated to Succeed) and expanded to include business partnerships. Now, 90 percent of the school’s Latino popula-tion participates in the program. The dropout rate among this group at Henry Sibley is down to 3 percent. The success of ALMAS has garnered state and national atten-tion, and the program is being replicated in sev-

eral metro high schools. In 2007, the organization received the “Order of the Star” award from MInne-sota’s Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer, and re-cently was recognized by Gov. Tim Pawlenty.

Joint ventures help cut costs

In these turbulent eco-nomic times, the district is examining further cost-cutting measures, beyond its current part-nership with District 917 in Rosemount, where special education, voca-tional education and legal services are now shared. Joint meetings are tak-ing place between school board members and su-perintendents from Inver Grove Heights and South St. Paul to investigate ways to collaborate on services such as transpor-tation and gifted and tal-ented programs. Haugen said the district is proud to be a leader in the “Live Green Effort,” which urges students and staff to conserve energy and resources. The newly up-dated high school build-ing has energy efficient light bulbs and windows. Haugen said the district saves $500,000 on ener-gy efficiency each year — money that is put toward the classroom.

“We work through troubled times, to be cre-ative and give students every opportunity to be successful,” said Susan Brott, chief marketing and communications of-ficer for ISD 197. “You try new things because you have to, and look at it as an opportunity.”

St. Paul – District 625

In St. Paul, Mayor Chris Coleman has made education the core of his agenda and is work-ing with ISD 625 in its educational efforts. The mayor’s Second Shift after-school-initiative is designed to enhance the lives of children by extending social and academic opportunities beyond the school day. The mayor acknowledges that competition and the talent pool for Minne-sota businesses has gone global, and realizes that

for St. Paul schools to produce global leaders, educators must bench-mark themselves against the best in the world.

Circulator cited in national report

One obstacle overcome on St. Paul’s West Side was how to transport stu-dents from after-school activities. The West Side Circulator was devised. It consists of free busses that travel throughout the West Side neighbor-hood, connecting chil-

dren to after-school and summer learning camps and tutoring programs. Funded by the McKnight Foundation and Travel-ers, the Circulator has been recognized by the National League of Cities as one of the four most innovative city mod-els for improving after-school opportunities for children and youth. The city and ISD 625 are working on expanding the circulator model to other neighborhoods in St. Paul.

Longer school day at Humboldt

Humboldt High School Principal Mike Sodomka reports that the district has implemented a lon-ger school day next year for students in grades 7-12. Students will arrive on school busses at 7:30 a.m. and not be taken home until 4:40 p.m. Sodomka said students must be involved in some type of after-school activ-ity, whether it be a class retake, sports, fine arts or enrichment classes.

Humboldt is an ex-ample of what a school district can do to meet the needs of struggling students. In response to tumbling test scores, the district redesigned the school to have an envi-ronmental focus, and transformed it into an academy-style school, with smaller class sizes and grades 7-12 in one building. The school receives financial and volunteer support from

State of Education / Page 12



Ecolab, which covers tu-toring expenses and the cost of environmental field trips. College stu-dents from St. Olaf and Hamline volunteer as tu-tors, boosting the chanc-es for students to move into Advanced Placement (AP) classes, which is the goal of the United States Department of Educa-tion. Minnesota recently received a 3-year, $4.5 million federal grant from the department to increase AP participation

for low-income students. “The economy of both

our state and our coun-try requires us to increase the involvement and pro-ficiency of traditionally underrepresented stu-dents in advanced aca-demic preparation that allows them to become self-sustaining and con-tributing citizens,” said State Education Com-missioner Seagren.

Achievement requirements

It is imperative for schools such as Hum-

boldt to use every tool available to move their students forward since the state is not slowing down in advancing its academic requirements.

In response to a plea from the United States National Academies in 2006 to improve the de-clining state of science, technology, engineer-ing, and mathematics (STEM) fields, by 2015 Minnesota students will be required to take alge-bra by eighth grade and second year algebra and chemistry or physics in

order to graduate from high school.

The state has opened a metro area teacher cen-ter to train instructors on how to effectively prepare students to meet the new mathematics re-quirements. The Teach-ing Center is part of the Minnesota Math and Sci-ence Teacher Academy, which consists of nine centers throughout the state.

To further STEM growth in the state, an interactive website, www.getSTEM-mn.com, has

State of Education / from page 11

been launched to provide educators with a tool for requesting resources or connecting their STEM-related coursework to college or career oppor-tunities. Businesses are also provided a way to support and collaborate with local educators in helping prepare tomor-row’s workforce for suc-cess in STEM-related fields.

Minnesota has also joined The National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and the Council of Chief State School Officers in a Common Core State Standards Initiative sets an internationally bench-marked core of standards in English language arts and math for grades K-12. The standards will be developed and aligned with college and work ex-pectations.

Minnesota has rec-ognized China as an emerging economic pow-

erhouse, and in 2005 formed the Minnesota-China Partnership. The collaboration is intended to improve the qual-ity of Chinese language and cultural education for Minnesota students, which is deemed neces-sary for success in the global marketplace.

Homeschooling becoming morepopular

In June 1982, accord-ing to the Minnesota De-partment of Education, about 1000 children were being educated at home. By 2005, 17,000 chil-dren were reported being home schooled in Minne-sota. Home schooling co-operatives have emerged across the state. Minne-sota businesses have be-gun to target the home school population, and sell educational materi-als at a discount to home schooling parents.

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Adjacent to Harriet Island

Celebración de comunidad12 de enero6:30-8 p.m.Se sirva la cena



Academia Cesar Chavez, founded in 2000, is a community-based school with a strong dual-language program and an emphasis on Latino culture. Academia Cesar Chavez K-6 academic program offers the following services for families:

All students receive language development in both Spanish andEnglishdailybasedontheirlevelofproficiency.Nocostalldaykindergarten.An arts program integrating Latino culture and incorporating vocal and instrumental music, theateranddance.Strong emphasis on developing students’ math, readingandwritingskills.Transportation is provided to students who live within St.Paulandsurroundingsuburbanareas.

A tuition free charter elementary school

ACC, a true community school where we always put your child first.

1800 Ames Ave., St. Paul

Call 651-778-2940

Currently Enrolling!

Visit our booth at the St. Paul Schools

Parent Information FairSaturday, January 9

Academia Cesar Chavez admits students of any race, color and national or ethnic origin.

For further information, call Sharon Hendrix, principal

651-293-8610

Cherokee Heights Elementary West Side School of Excellence

•English/SpanishPreK-2 BilingualProgram•SwimmingPool•ArtSpecialistClassK-6•ScienceSpecialist•Greenhouse•GETREADYprogram grades 4-6•StudioProductions•Band/Orchestra•Pre-kindergartenclass•Acomputerlab•Readers’andWriters’ Workshop,EveryDay Math•PartnershipwithBaker RecreationCenter•ALCprogramfor1-6

694 Charlton St. Paul, MN 55107

School Choice /Page 14

Shopping for a new school?Discover many options at the St. Paul parent information fair

Parents shopping for a new school can learn

about the many choices available to them at the 2010 Parent Information Fair, held 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., Sat., Jan. 9, at St. Paul RiverCentre, 175 W. Kellogg Blvd. The event is free.

All St. Paul public schools, as well as many charter, private and pa-rochial schools, will be represented. The fair will also offer information on early childhood educa-tion, English language learner programs, ser-vices for gifted students, special education services and more. Families may receive individual help from St. Paul Schools Student Placement Cen-ter staff regarding the school choice process and completing an applica-

tion. Interpreters will be available in Spanish, Hmong, Somali, Viet-namese, Khmer (Cambo-dian), Laotian, Oromo, Amharic and American Sign Language.

Applications for the 2010-2011 school year are available Jan. 10. The St. Paul Schools applica-tion deadline for middle/junior and senior high schools is Feb. 28, and the deadline for elemen-tary schools is Mar. 5. A school choice catalog is available at www.spps.org.

Open enrollmentUnder Minnesota state

law, families may trans-fer their child to another public school for any reason, such as finding a school with a particu-lar educational focus or teaching method, or sim-ply for convenience, such as being closer to their home or daycare. In addi-tion, families may enroll

students in advanced and specialized courses not available through their school, as well as in ad-vanced placement oppor-tunities through colleges and universities.

School visitsMany schools will be

hosting open houses in the coming weeks. This allows parents to explore schools before arranging a formal visit. St. Paul Public Schools offers the following tips when mak-ing a school visit.

• Attend the school’s open house or showcase. If you like what you see, call the school and make an appointment for a visit. Do not stop by unannounced and ex-pect a tour. As you walk through the school, ask yourself these questions:

• Is the building clean, attractive and well-main-tained?

• Is the atmosphere pleasant and inviting?

Ask questions about the school’s curriculum and services:

• What subjects are of-fered?

• How are classes orga-nized?

• What services are of-fered for special interests or needs?

• What after-school programs are available?

• Does the school’s phi-losophy fit your family’s

needs?• Does the school nur-

ture and enhance cultural diversity?

• Are the activities at the school consistent with the school’s philoso-phy and goals?

• Will the facilities for special enrichment classes (for example, art, physical education, mu-sic, technology) meet your child’s needs?

• Ask questions of teachers, students, ad-ministrators, secretaries and custodians.

• Ask yourself if the school is organized around the needs of stu-dents.

• Put yourself in your child’s shoes and imagine how you would feel going to this school.



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Franklin Music Magnet Elementary School offers K-6 students the opportunity to explore and experience music to its fullest in addition to providing a strong academic environment, with an emphasis on math, reading, music instruction and performance.

690 Jackson St., St. Paul • 651-293-8620 • www.franklin.spps.org

Now Accepting Applications!

Call 651-293-8620 today to arrange a tour!

• Find out from teach-ers and administrators what is most important

in their school. Is this what is most important to you?

• Attend a parent event and ask other parents

what they like best and least about the school, and any challenges they’ve experienced at the school.

• Are any application or entrance tests required?

Transportation • How will your child

be transported and how long is the bus ride?

• Is transportation available for after-school activities?

• How will the distance from school affect your family?

• Will the distance af-fect your involvement as a parent in the school?

• Will the distance from home affect your child’s friendships and participation in other ac-tivities?

• Does the school have formal and informal

means of communicat-ing with parents?

• What opportuni-ties exist for parent in-volvement in decision-making, planning, fund raising and volunteer activities?

• What child care ar-rangements will be nec-essary?

College-boundThis winter, many

high school juniors and seniors will be visiting colleges and universities. The Minnesota State Colleges and Universi-ties offer the following suggestions for making the most of those visits:

• Call the college or

university admissions of-fice to schedule a campus tour. If you want to know more about particular programs, activities or sports, ask to meet with someone in those areas.

• Write your questions in a notebook and take it along.

• On the tour ask about academic programs, clubs and activities, study-abroad programs, special services you might need, tuition and other costs, and where to find out about financial aid and scholarships.

• Talk to students, fac-ulty and staff as you tour the campus.

• Check out the library, computer labs, book-store, cafeteria and the campus neighborhood.

• If you plan to live on campus, ask to see a typi-cal dorm room. Also, ask about off-campus hous-ing options.

• Ask about part-time jobs and if help is avail-able to find them since many students also work.

School Choice /from page 13

Come see what our close-knit community of schools offers…• Personalized Learning - from early childhood through high school, every student’s learning experience will meet their individual needs and challenge them to excel. • Right-sized schools – small schools focus on the whole child, serving the academic, artistic, athletic and emotional needs of all students.• Focus on Innovation – efforts engage students and staff in critical thinking and creative problem solving.• Rich Diversity – world language instruction and cultural explorations offer students a global perspective.• Technology Leadership – digital learning initiatives prepare all learners for a changing world.

West St. Paul – Mendota Heights – Eagan Area Schoolswww.isd197.org • (651) 403-7000

Las familias que habla español están bienvenidas

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1575 Charlton St.West St. Paul,651-450-6693

OPEN HOUSE: Tues., Jan. 26 ~ 4:30-7 pmFor more information, visit our website: mvmontessori.org,

call 651-450-6693 or email: [email protected]

Committed to the practice of authentic Montessori philosophyAffordable tuition, environmental focus

A community school and resource for over 40 years Serving children ages 33 months to 6 years

Learn more! www.cybervillageacademy.org

Email us! [email protected]

Call us! 651-523-7170

Unique Fusion of On-Campus & Distance Learning

Serving Grades 3-8

Age & Ability Placement

Small Classes

Challenging Curriculum

Supportive Learning Community

Inspiring Young Minds

Visit us!

Open House: Thursday, January 14, or March 18, 2010 6:30-8:00pm

Questions?

1336 Energy Park Drive, St Paul MN, 55108

International Baccalaureate World School

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Humboldt name change?Humboldt has become a 7-12th grade combined campus in one building. As a result of our restructuring, we need a new name for our school. We are surveying our students, families, staff and community.

Please go to our website and vote on the possible names.

http://humboldt.spps.org/

Possible names include: • Humboldt High School • Humboldt Secondary School • or you may suggest a new name

Voting ends February 1, 2010.



WSP Days seeks royalty candidatesOrganizers of the West St. Paul Days celebration

are seeking candidates for the 2010 Royalty schol-arship program. Contestants must be age 17 or older and live or work in West St. Paul or the sur-rounding suburbs. The winning queen candidate will receive a $2,000 educational scholarship, and two princesses will each receive a $1,000 scholar-ship. There is also a Junior Miss and Little Miss West St. Paul contest. Candidates must attend School District 197 and be age 7-10 for Little Miss or age 11-15 for Junior Miss. Each winner will re-ceive a $500 savings bond. Applications are due March 13 and are available at Plaza TV & Appli-ance, 946 S. Robert St., West St. Paul, or at www.wsproyalty.com.

Inver Hills is a member of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system, and is an equal opportunity educator and employer. For info call 651-450-3000 or visit www.inverhills.edu.

REGISTER FOR

SPRING TERM

There are many ways to get started:

• Apply online

• Meet with an admissions rep

• One-Stop Registration Day:

Tuesday, Jan 5, Noon - 6 p.m.

For complete admissions info, visit:

www.inverhills.edu/admissions or

call 651-450-3000.

Tuition that’s lower.Credits that will transfer.Career programs that deliver.

Smart.

Saving for college when it’s just around the cornerPaying for college has

never been easy. But in this era of economic uncertainty, when retire-ment accounts and hous-ing values have taken a turn for the worse, the ability to finance a col-lege education has moved beyond the reach of many parents and students. Further complicating an already difficult situa-tion is the fact that many colleges and universities have lost sizeable chunks of their endowments, making scholarship mon-ey harder to come by. If you have a child who is a few years away from entering college, it pays to learn as much as you can about the options to ensure that your college-bound son or daughter ends up at a school that is both appropriate and affordable. Here are some things to consider.

• Get the facts. If you

have some money put away for college or in-vested in a 529 college fund, you’ll want to get an idea of how those sav-ings stack up against po-tential tuition and what level of financial aid you can count on. There are many resources available on the web, but you can start with the financial aid calculator at http://www.finaid.org/. To get the clearest picture of what’s in store, do the calculations used by both private and public insti-tutions.

• Apply to a wide range of schools. De-spite the downturn in college endowments, some schools still have more scholarship mon-ey than others. In fact, some of the financial aid packages available at the nation’s most elite uni-versities are among the best in the country. As a

result, parents of top-tier students should not au-tomatically rule out top-tier colleges. However, thanks to fierce compe-tition among applicants, parents should encourage even the brightest of chil-dren to apply to several institutions, including a few “safety” schools that might be delighted to of-fer your child a scholar-ship.

• Stay informed. Don’t rule out financial aid and scholarships, even if you think your income may be too high. Complete the FAFSA — the Free Application for Federal Student Aid — because it is used by many schools as the primary basis for determining merit schol-arships.

• Borrow wisely. Your best bet may be federal loans given directly to students, which are not only easier to qualify for,

but come with a much friendlier interest rate. There are also federal loans for parents.

• Think outside the box. Creativity is a key asset when planning for college. If loans, schol-arships and savings still come up short, consider some alternative routes, such as beginning at a good community or ju-nior college and then transfering to a four-year college or university.

www.farnsworth.spps.org

PreK – 4th Grade Campus

1290 Arcade Street. St. Paul, MN 55106

651.293.8675

5th – 8th Grade Campus

1000 Walsh Street. St. Paul, MN 55106

651.293.8880

Open House February 10, 5:30-7:30pm

A giant leap starts with the first small steps.

We engage a child’s imagination and provide a

nurturing environment to ask “what if”. We learn

to solve problems using creativity and teamwork.

We develop confidence — so when we do fly,

we reach for the stars.

What If



How to get a better financial aid packageArticle courtesy of the Min-nesota Society of Professional Certified Accountants

College costs have be-come an enormous

outlay for many families, and they seem to rise by larger amounts every year. In fact, tuition and fees at private four-year colleges jumped 5.9 per-

cent last year, according to the College Board, and they rose 6.4 percent at public four-year colleges. Many families rely on fi-nancial aid to help them cover some or all of the costs of higher education. The Minnesota Society of CPAs (MNCPA) ad-vises that there are several steps families can take to

be sure they get the most aid possible.

Apply early - Most families use the Free Ap-plication for Federal Stu-dent Aid (FAFSA) to ap-ply for the money they need. The form is typi-cally not due until June, but many colleges that rely on the form have their own deadlines that fall earlier in the year. In order to ensure that your request is considered on a timely basis, be careful to apply early in the year, and at least no later than your chosen schools’ own deadlines.

Get it right - This may seem obvious, but the first best step for ensur-ing fair consideration for your financial aid request is to make certain that you read the directions on the form carefully and that you enter all your in-

formation correctly as re-quested. Any errors could cause delays or otherwise hinder the process. When you’re finished, be sure to sign the form and keep a copy for your own re-cords.

Offer up-to-date in-formation - Schools of-ten base their financial aid awards on a family’s most recent tax return. In this uncertain econo-my, however, that return, which covers last year’s income, may no longer reflect your current fi-nancial situation. If one parent has lost a job or if you have suffered a similar economic hard-ship, write the college financial aid office to let them know exactly where you stand today. (Send this letter separate from the FAFSA form, which should be submitted on

its own.) The school may ask you to document the problem, so be prepared to do so. If you don’t tell the school about your current situation, they won’t take it into account in calculating aid.

Don’t give up - After you receive the details of the financial aid package the school is offering, you may find that it is not enough to cover your child’s total expenses. There’s no reason to give up hope. It’s a good idea for the student to contact the financial aid office and explain exactly what he or she needs and ask for additional aid. As part of this conversation with the financial aid office, it is appropriate to men-tion more generous offers you’ve received from oth-er schools. The financial aid office may ask you to

fax copies of these offers to them. After consider-ation, they may be able to offer additional aid if, for example, other can-didates who were offered aid decide to go to school elsewhere. Of course, there’s no guarantee that the college will raise its offer, but it’s worth mak-ing your case.

Consult your CPA - Applying for financial aid can be a confusing and frustrating process, but remember that you don’t have to go it alone. Your local CPA can offer ad-vice on college planning and financing as well as any other financial con-cerns facing your family. Turn to him or her when-ever you need expert ad-vice on managing your money.

Take a closer look . . .H challenging academics and support for personal growthH a Christian community rich in opportunity H an international perspective St. CroixLutheran high SChooL and MiddLe SChooL

1200 Oakdale AvenueWest St. Paul, MN 55118www.StCroixSchools.org

651-455-1521

Open HOuse TOurs

Saturday, Feb. 1310:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Showcase/Open House - Thursday, February 18, 6 p.m. All are welcome. Merci!

Help expand your child’s educational and global horizons by considering enrollment in L’Etoile du Nord French Immersion School of the Saint Paul Public Schools, located at 1363 Bush Avenue, Saint Paul, MN 55106. We offer tours to prospective families Thursday mornings at 9:30 a.m. Please call us to register for a tour at 651-221-1480.

We rank extremely high in state and national standardized tests. We offer a rigorous curriculum plus the gift of a second relevant language—French! We have a solid enrichment and gifted services program. Our school has met Adequate Yearly Program (AYP) since the No Child Left Behind AYP law was enacted in 2001.

Check out the exciting educational opportunities for your children at L’Etoile du Nord French Immersion School!

We were recently validated as a Minnesota School of Excellence!

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497 Humboldt Ave. St. Paul

www.st-matts.org

St. Matthew’s SchoolTHE Catholic School on the West Side

• Small, Catholic, Pre-K - 8• Affordable - Tuition Assistance Available• Preschool and school-age care with flexible scheduling options.

Call 651-224-6912 today to schedule your personal tour

or for more information.

No student is turned away due to lack of ability to pay.

Saint Bernard’s heart of the city

It’s where we are. And who we are.

open house!Thursday, January 14, 6:30 p.m.

Saint Bernard’s School Grades 9-12170 Rose Avenue WestSaint Paul, Minnesota 55117651.489.1338www.saintbernards-school.org


Your community news and information sourceR iver ConnectionsExploring river history

New riverfront exhibit offers glimpse of past and present

Tim SpitzackEditor

Thirty one days. Thir-ty one dark, cold

days. January has arrived,

and with it comes the need for movement to shake off that desire to hibernate until warmer days arrive. For those of us who love the Missis-sippi River, January is an ideal time to explore the vast history associated with one of the greatest rivers in the world. One great way to do that is by viewing a new photo exhibit at the Mill City Museum, 704 S. Sec-ond St., Minneapolis. This exhibit, which runs through Mar. 28, offers a fascinating look into the development of our sister city’s riverfront over the past 150 years.

To commemorate Min-nesota’s sesquicentennial in 2008, photographer Jerry Mathiason set out to document changes along the riverfront. He selected 17 historic photographs, researched the vantage point of the photographer and then attempted to set up his camera in roughly the

same location. The result is an interesting display that shows how much change has taken place over the past 150 years.

Included in the exhibit are several images of St. Anthony Falls. In his book, “River of History: A Historic Resources Study of the Mississippi National River and Rec-reation Area (MNRRA),” National Park Historian John Anfinson says there is no other feature of the river in the MNRRA corridor — the 72-mile stretch of river in the Twin Cities that is man-aged by the National Park Service — that can match the regional, national and international significance of St. Anthony Falls. The falls, which are the only major falls on the upper Mississipppi, gave rise to Minneapolis’ dominance in the saw milling and flour milling industries and also the first com-mercial hydroelectric plant in the country.

Today, the falls look commercial, man-made, with water flowing smoothly and evenly over the concrete spillways that were created to help harness the falls for en-

ergy. One of the photos in the exhibit shows the stunning natural beauty of the falls before man tapped them for indus-trial use. They were rug-ged and chocked with rock and timber, and water spilled over them and roiled below, amidst foam and spray. They looked beautiful, yet dangerous, dropping over 16 feet and then flowing into an 8-mile stretch of rapids below.

A plaque next to this photo has a quote from the Minneapolis Tribune from Aug. 12, 1869 that aptly expresses the senti-ment many must have felt when they saw prog-ress altering the natural falls:

“Now is the time for all those who wish to take a final look at old St. An-thony Falls… Its natural beauty, of which poets and writers throughout the world have said so much, will soon be gone forever, and nothing will be left but a continuation of rapids, made by a great apron. It is a stupendous work to accomplish; yet engineering skill…will overcome all obstacles, and so the mighty Falls

of St. Anthony have been made to succumb to man, and are now as subject to his will as a child.”

Other notable pho-tographs in the exhibit show the river filled with timber during the height of the logging era, the 20th Avenue Bridge, which collapsed in 1859 following a heavy storm, the first suspension bridge across the Missis-sippi River, the Steam-boat Governor Ramsey, and a string of Red River ox carts, which were used to transport furs.

The Mill City Museum is one of the points of in-terest on the Great River Road and contains a Na-tional Park kiosk in the lobby that offers infor-mation on other ways to explore the MNRRA cor-ridor. The photo exhibit is also located in the lob-by of the museum, so no admission fee is required to view it.

Historic then-and-now Mississippi River photos are featured in a new exhibit at the Mill City Museum.

Voted Top 5Farmers’ Markets

in U.S.American Farmland Trust

Always 100% Fresh Locally Grown

Come to the Year-roundIndoor/Outdoor Market

Downtown Saint Paul at the Saint Paul Farmers’ Market 290 E 5th Street, And across the street in Golden’s Deli

Saturdays, 9am - 1pm

To download valuable coupons, visit us at www.stpaulfarmersmarket.com. While there, click on “Receive E-mail Updates” to be among the first to know when new products arrive and to download more valuable coupons.

Voted Top 5Farmers’ Markets

in the U.S.American Farmland Trust

• Courteous, professional staff • State-of-the-art equipment• Chairs with a built-in massage feature • Open evenings • Family friendly clinic • Much more!

Have you lost company benefits?

Serafimov Dental Clinic is now offering a new, innovative dental plan to help you receive affordable dental care and the preventative care you need. Our plan is simple and straightforward. For an annual fee of $119 for individuals or $209 for families, patients receive two cleanings and two exams each year. For a family of four, this can be a savings of nearly $800 on those services alone. Family eligibility includes both spouses and all unmarried children under age 21, and full-time students under age 23.

Dental plan available to uninsured patients only. 20% discount not valid with other specials or offers. Membership fees must be paid to activate plan and any additional services must be paid the day of services for the discount!

Enroll today in our affordable dental plan.

Dr. Serafimov Family Dentistry

We offer mercury-free dentistry& world-class customer service!

20% off all dental work

250 E. Wentworth Ave., West St. Paul • www.drlusmiles.com • 651-455-1601

Financing AvailableAffordable Plans: $119 for individuals, $209 for families

“Get to know your community bank”

• Freshly baked cookies and brewed coffee daily

• Experienced, personal, friendly service

• Gateway Bank donates time and money to

community schools and events

• You get a banker not just a bank

• Locally owned and operated

Located at Dodd Road and Highway 110

in the Village at Mendota Heights

(651) 209-4800 phone (651) 209-4899 fax

www.gateway-banking.comAn equal housing lender

Member FDIC

STATE FARMSteve Stremski

Insurance

20 Thompson Ave. E.West St. Paul

Home, Auto, Business, Financial Services.651-457-6348


Your community news and information sourceA rts & CultureWinter Carnival Preview

Get ready for the ‘Coolest Celebration on Earth’Mary Diedrick Hansen

Staff Writer

So what’s a little snow? What’s a little below

zero temperature? It just means ponds freeze up faster for skating and the snow is deeper for snow-mobiling and skiing. We love it! In St. Paul we have the “Coolest Celebration on Earth” — our Win-ter Carnival — where we bask in festivities associ-ated with this frosty time of year.

The 124th St. Paul Winter Carnival will take place Jan. 21-31 at loca-tions throughout down-town St. Paul and sur-rounding areas. For more detailed information on the following events, vis-it www.winter-carnival.com. All events are free, open to the public and held in the city of St. Paul, unless noted.

Pre-Carnival events:

• The Klondike Kate Contest, 6:30 p.m., Jan. 6 , Prom Center, 484 In-wood Ave N., Oakdale. Tickets required.

• “The Hunt is On: Winter Carnival Trea-sure Hunt History and Tips,” 2-3 p.m., Jan. 17, St. Paul Public Library. Improve your chance of locating the Winter Car-nival medallion by at-tending this free lecture by librarian James Mori-arity.

Highlights of this year’s 11-day event in-clude:

• Ice Carving - Multi Block Competition, Rice Park. The ever-popular carving begins at 9 a.m. Thurs., Jan. 21, and ends at 9 a.m., Sat., Jan. 23. Viewing through Jan. 31.

• Snow Sculpture Competition at the State Fairgrounds. Begins at 9 a.m., Jan. 21, and ends at 9 a.m., Sat., Jan. 23. Viewing through Jan. 31.

• Royal Coronation and Reception, St. Paul RiverCentre, 6 p.m., Jan.

21. Visit www.winter-carnival.com for tickets, which are required for the social and dinner. The coronation and re-ception are open to the public, space permitting.

• Ice Carving - Single Block Competition, Rice Park, 9 a.m.-3 p.m., Sun., Jan. 24. Viewing through Jan. 31.

Fri., Jan. 22• Senior Royalty Cor-

onation 3 p.m., Well-stone Center, 179 E. Ro-bie St.

• NEW: Moon Glow Pedestrian Parade, 5:30 p.m. – the public kick-off to the 11 days of the carnival. Join friends, neighbors, business and consulate representatives as they stroll, with lumi-naries, from the James J. Hill House up John Ireland Boulevard to the State Capitol, where they will be greeted by an as-semblage of tethered hot air balloons.

• Klondike Kate Cab-aret, 7:30 p.m., Hilton Garden Inn, 411 N. Minnesota St. Visit www.winter-carnival.com to purchase required tickets.

Sat., Jan. 23• NEW: Hot Air Bal-

loon lift-offs will take place a half-hour before sunrise and sunset. Visit www.winter-carnival.com for location.

• Securian Frozen 5K and Half Marathon, 7:30 a.m., downtown at 6th and Jackson

• Vulcan Coming Out Party, 10 a.m., State Fairgrounds, near snow sculptures.

• Sleigh & Cutter Fes-tival, 11 a.m., Phalen Golf Course. View some of the most ornate and antique sleighs from the Midwest.

• “Bear-ly” Open Golf Tournament, 11 a.m. on White Bear Lake. Regis-ter at www.winter-carni-val.com.

• NEW: Rugby and LaCrosse exhibition, 11 a.m., McMurray Fields.

• The King Boreas Grande Day Parade, 2 p.m., downtown, starting at 5th and Wacouta.

• NEW: St. Paul Win-ter Carnival Beer Dab-bler, 3:30-7:30 p.m., Mears Park. There will be 40 different beers to sample at this inaugural event. Embrace winter by enjoying a cold one out-side. Visit www.winter-carnival.com for required tickets. Must be age 21 or older to participate.

Sun., Jan. 24• Hot Time in the Park

with the Vulcans, noon-2 p.m., State Fairgrounds, near snow sculptures.

• NEW: St. Paul Win-ter Carnival Kids’ Day and Parade, 2-4 p.m., Rice Park and Landmark Center Cortile. Activities for kids. Kids may deco-rate their own sleds and join a parade around Rice Park.

Fri., Jan. 29• Hot Time in the Park

with the Vulcans, 11 a.m., State Fairgrounds, featuring fire truck rides, a snow maze and more.

• NEW: Minnesota Kite Association Frosty Fingers Fly. 11 a.m., Lake Phalen.

• NEW: “History on Ice: Winter Carnival Ice Palaces,” a lecture by historian Bob Olson, 2 p.m., Landmark Center, Room 430.

• NEW: St. Paul Win-ter Carnival Has Talent Finals, Crowne Plaza Hotel, 11 E. Kellogg Ave. Time to be determined.

• Vulcan Victory Torchlight Parade, 5:30 p.m., downtown starting at 5th and Wacouta.

• Overthrow of Boreas. See the Vulcans overtake the Royal Fam-ily on the steps of the St. Paul Public Library, im-mediately following the parade.

• NEW: Carnival Fire-works off the banks of the Mississippi, right af-ter the overthrow event.

• Vulcan Victory Dance, 8 p.m., Crowne Plaza Hotel. Visit www.winter-carnival.com for required tickets.

• NEW: St. Paul Win-ter Carnival ice fishing contest, noon, on White Bear Lake. Visit www.winter-carnival.com for registration form.

Multi-day events• Historical Society

celebrates Winter Car-nival, Ramsey County Historical Society (Land-mark Center), showcase of Winter Carnival cos-tumes, buttons, photos, programs and more; runs through Feb. 12.

• NEW: Inaugural St. Paul Winter Carnival juried art show at the Black Dog Café, 308 E. Prince St. in Lowertown. Artists have been asked to envision the Winter Carnival and all of its fun and frivolity, from royalty to parades to ice carvings. Opens Jan. 4. Opening reception at 6 p.m., Jan. 8; closing re-ception at 6 p.m., Jan. 29. Show open through Jan. 30.

• Jan. 8-9, 15-16: NEW: St. Paul Winter Carnival Has Talent Pre-liminaries. Visit www.winter-carnival.com for registration form.

• Jan. 16-17: Snow block building for the snow sculpture competi-

tion, State Fairgrounds. • Jan. 16-31: Winter

Carnival memorabilia display presented by the Ramsey County Histori-cal Society and the St. Paul Public Library.

• Jan. 21- 31: Public ice skating at the Land-mark Ice Rink, 5th and Washington.

• Jan. 21-31: The Great Winter Carnival Scavenger Hunt.

• Jan. 25-28: 3M St. Paul Education Day, Science Museum, school activity.

• Jan. 22-29: NEW: Broomball Challeng-es - Corporate Broom-ball Challenge begins at noon daily; Happy Hour Broomball Challenge starts daily at 5 p.m., both at Landmark Ice Rink. Watch your favor-ite team compete for the St. Paul Winter Carnival Cup.

• Jan. 22-30: St. Paul Elementary Art Display, A-Z Gallery in Lower-town, 308 E. Prince St.

• Jan. 22-24: Mixed Curling Bonspiel, St. Paul Curling Club, 470 Selby Ave.

• Jan. 30-31: Fire and Ice Sailboat Racing, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Phalen Lake.

• Jan. 22-24: Fire and Ice Boys Hockey – Pee Wee Tournament, Fair-grounds Coliseum.

• Jan. 23-24: Saintly City Cat Show, St. Paul RiverCentre.

• Jan. 23-24: Gotta Go Gotta Throw disc golf tournament, Como Park.

• Jan. 23-24: Orchid Show at the Marjorie McNeely Conservatory at Como Park.

• Jan. 23-24: An “au-tonomous” bus pre-sented by the Institute of Navigation, University of Minnesota. Located near Rice Park on 5th Street.

• Jan. 23 and 30: NEW: Memorial Blood Drive in Rice Park, 9 a.m.- 5 p.m. daily.

• Jan. 29-30: Family Days, Landmark Center and Rice Park. Variety of entertainment, includ-ing a giant saber-toothed tiger slide. Friday, 4-8 p.m., Sat., 9 a.m.-5 p.m.

• Jan. 29-30: Winter Carnival Memorabilia Display and Sale, Land-mark Center Cortile. Fri., 4-8 p.m.; Sat., 9 a.m.-5 p.m.

• Jan. 29-31: Fire & Ice Girls Hockey Tour-nament, State Fair-grounds Coliseum.

• Jan. 30-31: Family Day “Green” events, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Lake Phalen. Variety of events, includ-ing Minnesota Kite As-sociation members flying the largest kites in the state, on Lake Phalen.

Photo by Peter WorthThe popular ice carving begins in Rice Park at 9 a.m. Thurs., Jan. 21, and ends at 9 a.m., Sat., Jan. 23. Viewing through Jan. 31.


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Your community news and information sourceA rts & Culture

Make a new year resolution to practice personal safety

The West Side Safe Neighborhood Council works to promote a safe community environment for all resi-dents on the West Side. Here are some personal safety tips that can be used as precautions to help you stay safe and keep you from becoming a statistic. If you notice anything out of the ordinary or if something happens to you or to someone else, call 911 immedi-ately, as it is important to report these incidents.

• Listen to and act on your intuition. Trust your gut feeling. If you feel uncomfortable or unsafe in a situation, get out. It’s better to be safe and risk a lit-tle embarrassment than to stay in an uncomfortable situation that may be unsafe. Even if you’re unsure, if something tells you a situation isn’t right, it isn’t. When in doubt, get out. Be alert to your surround-ings and the people near you. Keep your eyes and ears open and your hands free. Learn to identify what is normal in your surroundings so that you can easily identify what is not normal. This could include vehi-cles, strangers, etc. Practice memorizing license plates and identifying different characteristics of strangers. The more you are aware of your surroundings, the less vulnerable you are.

• Create a safety plan. Don’t overload yourself with extra bags, packages, etc. If you must have your hands full, visualize how you would respond if you were ap-proached and how you would get your hands free. If

you wear a purse with a shoulder strap, be prepared to let it go if it gets snatched, otherwise you could get hurt or dragged by the mugger. Do not keep your social security card or your passport in your purse. Keep your wallet on your person as opposed to in your purse. Be careful when talking on your cell phone or listening to headphones as you leave or enter build-ings as this could also make you an easy target. Your ears may help you avoid dangers that your eyes may miss. Make sure to carry your ID, a cell phone and spare change to make a call in the event of an emer-gency.

• Be prepared. Know where open businesses and safe houses are in case of emergency. Vary your dai-ly routine. Drive or walk different routes regularly. Change those routes routinely. Wear bright reflective colors if you’re out alone and avoid dim, unpopulated areas and shortcuts. Be visible. If you suspect that someone is following you, never go straight home. Go to a trusted neighbor’s house, a public place to call for help or drive straight to the police station.

• Keep them guessing. Walk assertively and with confidence. Look directly in the faces of others mak-ing eye contact with you and be observant. Keep your distance and keep moving. Attackers often look for someone who appears vulnerable. Making eye con-tact can potentially scare off an attacker as they fear being identified. Ignore verbal harassment. Use dis-cretion in acknowledging strangers. If someone asks you for directions be courteous but keep at least two arms length away and keep moving. Don’t be overly sympathetic. If you are being followed on foot, cross the street, change direction, vary your pace and walk quickly to a well-lit, populated area. If the follower persists, go to a business and call 911 immediately. If you are followed by a car, turn and walk in the op-posite direction. Avoid danger, but don’t be afraid to scream if a stranger persists. If you are in danger of being attacked and need help, yell “CALL 911” or “HELP.”

• Defend yourself. Have your keys ready when ap-proaching your car or your house. Make sure to al-ways leave a light on in entryways. Have good locks on all doors and windows. Don’t hide extra keys in easily accessible places. Keep your doors locked when leaving, even if it is for a short time. If you live alone, do not let strangers know. Check who is at the door before opening it and do not open the door to an un-expected visitor. Only invite people into your home that you know very well. If a stranger asks to use your phone in an emergency, do not let them in your house to the use the phone. Offer to make the phone call for them and keep them in sight while doing so. Know which neighbors you can go to in the event of an emergency. Consider creating a safe room with strong locks and a separate telephone line or cell phone. If someone breaks in you can retreat there with your family and call for help.

Do everything you can to stay safe. Stay in groups and take care of your friends. Get training in self de-fense and practice these techniques and tips regularly. The West Side Safe Neighborhood Council, along with the Jason de La O Karate School, offers self de-fense classes. To sign up for a class, contact us at 651-298-9727 or [email protected].

Graffiti vandalism on the West SideThe St. Paul Police Department has noted a signifi-

cant number of graffiti vandalism incidents on garag-es, homes, commercial buildings and public property on the West Side. In nearly all instances the word “RIOT” appears. Investigators believe this crime is being committed by one or more local residents. As of now, there is nothing to indicate that the graffiti tag-ging is gang related. It is believed that the person(s) responsible has put this “tag” on his/her own prop-erty or belongings. If you have information as to the identity and/or whereabouts of the of the person(s) responsible for these crimes, contact Sergeant Tony Spencer at [email protected].

“My commitment to preschool education can be traced back to one visit to a family’s home. The family had a four-year-old-who did not know the name of colors, in Spanish or English. He could not count at all. That kid, months away from kindergarten, would be at a tremen-dous disadvantage when he started school. I knew then that I needed to do whatever I could to prevent children coming to school as unprepared as he would be.”

Alejandra Reyes, Neighborhood House Family and Children Services director

“There are huge gaps in what some of these kids know. I’ve volunteered about 10 hours a week for the past four years helping kids fill these gaps. When I succeed, when a child proudly shows me his report card, all that work is worthwhile.”

Gary Steinman, Homework Help tutor

“Having adults learn to read children’s books in Eng-lish in our classes at Neighborhood House empowers them not only as learners themselves — they can bring

the books home and share Dr. Suess, Corduroy and Har-old and the Purple Crayon with their own kids. They report more trips to the library as a family and more confidence in themselves as learners and as parents.”

Nancy Meyer, English Language Learner teacher

“After attending the workshops, I realized my school district had a lot to learn about helping Latinos, Hmong and Somalis succeed in school.”

Neighborhood House cultural proficiency workshop attendee

The most effective antidote against poverty is edu-cation. Neighborhood House education programs serve people of all ages, education levels, income lev-els and of most cultures represented in the Twin Cit-ies.

During the school week, Neighborhood House of-fers tutoring five days a week for students in all grades. Dedicated tutors help students grasp their studies and make them believe that they can and will succeed. Tu-tors also strongly encourage parents to take an active role in their children’s education.

For children age five and under, the School Readi-ness program helps children learn the basics — num-bers, colors, letters and proper school behavior — so they enter school better prepared than the four-year-old mentioned above. Many of these children have parents who, because of economics or war, received a limited education. Some parents are learning to read for the first time; they are not literate in their native language.

Parents of these children often study in our Eng-lish Language Learner program, one of Neighborhood House’s largest programs. Their primary goal is to learn English as part of a comprehensive approach to making a better life for themselves and their families. The English Language Learner program will enroll over 1,000 students this year. This is a record num-ber and is evidence that new arrivals understand the importance of learning English. The award-winning program stresses practical knowledge and skills, in-cluding computer skills and workplace related exer-cises. Citizenship and GED preparation classes are also popular.

It is also important that people who work with im-migrants and refugees understand the cultures of the new arrivals. In our Cultural Proficiency Workshops, professionals from social service agencies, health care organizations, educational institutions and govern-ment learn about the fastest growing cultural groups in the Twin Cities: Latinos, Hmong and Somalis. These workshops drew over 2,000 attendees in 2009, more than tripling the 2008 total. Attendees included doctors, professors, school principals, military per-sonnel, teachers and social workers. Workshops held in Thief River Falls, Duluth and Rochester have en-abled our presenters to share their culture statewide.

Our comprehensive approach to education not only prepares the new workforce but prepares the people who will be their colleagues, supervisors and employ-ees. You can be part of this important work that is both rewarding and fun. If you want to learn, teach or do both, we want to hear from you. Contact me at 651-789-2572 or [email protected].


Your community news and information sourceC ommunity Organizations

Cinco de Mayo Fiesta Planning Committee begins meetingBy Brian Gioielli, REDA marketing manager

I still find it hard to believe that our Cinco de Mayo Fiesta planning starts in September of the year be-fore the event, but as one of the ten largest Cinco de Mayo celebrations in the country, there is much to be done to continue to be successful, set standards and ultimately help promote our local businesses. Surveys consistently show that over 90 percent of attendees plan to return to shop or eat in District del Sol within 12 months. Cinco de Mayo Fiesta remains unique as the most diverse festival of its size in Minnesota and a leader among the festival community. In 2010 we will be taking our “Cinco Verde” concept even fur-ther by implementing an entirely “green” section at the event. We are also hoping to have some exciting new youth and family activities. More details to come soon.

One group that deserves much of the recognition for putting all the pieces of Cinco de Mayo Fiesta to-gether each year. The Cinco de Mayo Fiesta planning

committee has approximately 30 dedicated volunteers that spend many hours making sure that Minnesota’s Spiciest Celebration is the best it can be. From the salsa-tasting competition to the low-rider car show to coordinating the efforts of over 300 volunteers, the committee does it all. This unique group is made up of a variety of individuals, including community members, leaders in the Hispanic/Latino community, and others devoted to the mission of the festival.

Being part of the planning committee not only provides unique insight into the inner workings of festival planning, but helps members develop special skills and opens up wonderful opportunities for them throughout the year. However, in my humble opin-ion, the best reason to join the planning committee is because it’s fun. Throughout the planning process, the committee becomes a family, and there is nothing as gratifying as working so hard on this event and then seeing it come together on that one special weekend.

If anyone is interested in learning more about REDA, the Cinco de Mayo Fiesta or the planning process for Minnesota’s Spiciest Celebration, call REDA at 651-222-6347, or email me [email protected]. It takes many hands working together to make it happen and we are always open to having a few more join us.

Happy wishes for the New Year, and remember that warm weather and Cinco de Mayo Fiesta are just around the corner!

Carlos Garcia-Velasco Community Organizer

WSCO’s 36th annual meeting was a success! Over 150 people came together to meet their neighbors and enjoy a bowl of Captain Ken’s chili. The primary or-der of business for the day was electing a new board of directors. Please join us in congratulating the new leaders of WSCO: Pablo Basques, Gjerry Berquist, Monica Bryand, Consuelo Gutierrez-Crosby, Robert Dubuc, Frank Emanuelson, Christopher Kirk, Wendy Nemitz Kramer, Ruth Janisch Lake, Chuck Lentz, El-len Miller, Tess Rizzardi, Sandra Rosario Morris, Don Oberdorfer, April Oddie, Ariana Ortega-Castrellon, Mauricio Plata, Tatiana Rosario, Megan Thomas, Sarah Sarzoza, Roxanne Young, and alternates Philip Gracia, Frederic Nobello, and Willard Hodge. We look forward to working together on issues that mat-ter to the residents of the West Side.

WSCO would also like to thank all of the volun-teers who generously donated time, energy, money and supplies to our meeting. Your contributions are invaluable: Captain Ken’s Chili, Bread Coffee and Cake, collaboration and the individual efforts of Christopher Kirk, John Traxler, Carlos Amado Velas-co, Jason Wanna, Gjerry Berquist, Aliya Rivera, Remy Nobello, Kevin Cornell, Barb Lentz, Walt Watkins and Jerome Graf.

As we move into the New Year, there are plenty of opportunities to become more involved with the West Side community. WSCO is inviting West Side resi-dents to join one of our action committees to help us move forward on issues relating to the growth, health and expansion of the West Side.

The Building and Land Use committee focuses on how construction, development and building im-provements affect our quality of life on the West Side. This group regularly makes recommendations to the zoning board of the St. Paul Planning Commission.

The Riverfront and Development committee works to coordinate the physical development efforts on the West Side with a particular focus on the Flats and the river corridor.

The Environment committee works on a wide range of environmental issues, such as transportation, housing and energy, food and health, “green” living wage jobs, and land and natural resources.

The West Side 100 committee is dedicated to en-couraging 100 percent voter participation among West Side residents. It leads activities to educate citi-zens and encourage their participation in voting and other decision-making processes.

Youth initiatives work to invest in their leadership development and get youth involved in our commu-nity, bringing the voices of young people to the many issues on the West Side.

As always, we seek community leadership and sup-port toward sustaining and expanding the work of WSCO through fundraising and individual giving campaigns in support of our operations. Please visit www.wsco.org for meeting dates, times and locations. For more information, call us at 651-293-1705,or visit us at127 W. Winifred St.

And finally, join us in congratulating Hokan Miller, our 2009 West Sider of the Year.

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CONSTRUCTION ENGINEERINGINTERNSHIP

PCL Construction Services, Inc. is seek-ing an Engineering or Construction Manage-ment student to fill a full-time internship opportunity during the summer of 2010.

Position details & ap-plication can be found online at www.pcl.comJob ID # 1530No phone calls or walk-ins please.PCL is an Equal Opportunity

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M & E COORDINATOR

PCL Construction Services, Inc. is seek-ing a full-time M & E Coordinator to work from our Burnsville, MN office. Travel required. Degree in Engineering or Construction Man-agement required & 7-10 years experience preferred.Position details & ap-plication can be found online at www.pcl.comJob ID # 1642.No phone calls or walk-ins please.PCL is an Equal Opportunity

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CONSTRUCTION ENGINEERINGINTERNSHIP

PCL Construction Services, Inc. is seek-ing an Engineering or Construction Manage-ment student to fill a full-time internship opportunity during the summer of 2010.

Position details & ap-plication can be found online at www.pcl.comJob ID # 1530No phone calls or walk-ins please.PCL is an Equal Opportunity

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M & E COORDINATOR

PCL Construction Services, Inc. is seek-ing a full-time M & E Coordinator to work from our Burnsville, MN office. Travel required. Degree in Engineering or Construction Man-agement required & 7-10 years experience preferred.Position details & ap-plication can be found online at www.pcl.comJob ID # 1642.No phone calls or walk-ins please.PCL is an Equal Opportunity

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Live Music in JanuaryJanuary 1 ....................................................................Iron HorseJanuary 2 .............................................................. Hillbilly MafiaJanuary 8 ....................................... Rockin Hollywoods, $5 coverJanuary 9 ..............................................Killer Hayseeds, $5 coverJanuary 15 ...........................................................Fire Rose BandJanuary 16 .......................................... Chain Lightning, $5 coverJanuary 19 .............................River City Jazz Orchestra, 7-10 pmJanuary 22 .................................................................Dixie HicksJanuary 23 .......................................The Mason Dixons, $5 coverJanuary 29 .................................Jonah and the Whales, $5 coverJanuary 30 ........................................................... The Big Twang

Food & Drink SpecialsSundays - Beer, drink & food specials during the Vikings games; Open mic and jam session 6-10 pm , open until 10 pm;Commanders & Color Guard Breakfast, second and fourth Sunday each month, 8 am-1 pm. Free food for Viking games.Mon - Fri - Happy hour, 4-6 pmMon - Texas Hold 'em at 7 p.m. Free to play. $100 cash 1st place; Chicken wing night, 5-9 pm, 5 for $2, no take-outsTues - $1.50 Burger Night; 2nd Tuesday Turtle Lake Casino Trip, 9 am, $5, get two free drinks upon return from casinoNEW - Fourth Tuesday of each month is Comedy Nite, featuring Dennis Carney & his comedy troupe, 7:30-9 p.m., FreeWed - Bar and Mega Bingo, 7 pm startWed & Thur - 7" Coney Night, 2 for $5, biggest & tastiestThurs - Karaoke, 8-close; Ladies Night, $2 drinks and beers for the ladies, 9-closeFri - open until 2 amSat - Mega Tacos $3 and meat raffle,noon-4 pm, open until 2 amSun - Build your own Bloodys @ Happy Hour prices, 10-2 pm., open until 10 p.m.Burger Kitchen - open Mon-Sat, 4-10 pm

Hall rental & special packages available for fundraisers.

www.vfwpost295.org

V.F.W. POST 295South St. Paul • 651-455-1505

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Receptionista Oficina Legal busca una receptionista para una posicion medio-tiempo. Esta persona debe proveer servicios recepcionales eficaces, profe-sionales y corteses además de ayudar de una manera general en la oficina. Es requirido hablar ingles y español. Sueldo es proporcional a expe-riencia. Se debe sometir resume a la recepcioni-sta de Oficina Legal, 450 N. Syndicate St., Ste. 175, St. Paul, MN 55104 o por corre electrónico a [email protected].

ReceptionistImmigrant Law Center of Minnesota seeks a part-time receptionist to provide professional, courte-ous, and effective reception services plus general office support. Spanish and English language fluency required. Salary is commensurate with experience. Submit resume to ILCM Reception-ist, 450 N. Syndicate St., Ste. 175, St. Paul, MN 55104 or by email to [email protected].


Your community news and information sourceF uller Files by Roger Fuller

New liquor store planned

Mike Lokowich, owner of the Bulldog restaurant at Sixth and Wacouta, plans to open Vines and Steins off-sale liquor store at 266 E. Seventh St. The store will feature high end wines and im-ported beers and an ad-joining cheese shop. The store has met the approv-al of CapitolRiver Coun-cil/District 17.

CCP organizes holiday lights

Capitol City Partner-ship (CCP) has taken over the Christmas sea-son lighting in down-town parks. Sarah Fossen of CCP said the organi-zation has contributed to the project in past years but decided to take it over this season because a non-profit organiza-tion can negotiate better terms for labor and pur-

chases than the city.The lighting includes

trees along downtown streets and in Mears Park, Rice Park, Landmark Pla-za and Kellogg Park. The lit figures of reindeer and other animals in Mears Park are provided by the Friends of Mears Park.

First Friday event bumped back

The First Friday social for January will be held

4-6 p.m., Fri., Jan. 8, at Loto restaurant in Gal-tier Plaza. This event is always held the first Fri-day of the month but was moved back one week due to the New Year’s Day holiday. First Fridays are sponsored by Capi-tolRiverCouncil/District 17 to provide a way for downtown residents to get acquainted.

CRC supports banners

CapitolRiverCouncil/District 17 voted to sup-port the use of temporary banners on the parking ramp of St. Joseph’s Hos-pital. Kimberly Morgan of St. Joseph’s said the banners have a life span of 90 days and either ad-vertise a service provided by the hospital or an award received.

Bike Walk planThe Bike Walk Cen-

tral Corridor Action Plan has a framework for cy-clists and pedestrians in the downtown area and along the LRT route. The downtown priori-ties include expanding the western sidewalk on Kellogg, creating shared bus and bike lanes and increasing bike capacity on Jackson. Bike parking at LRT stations is also in-cluded in the plan.

A & T relocatesThe A & T conve-

nience store has moved from the ground level of the US Bank building to the ground level of the Endicott building at 142 E. Fifth St. The store moved because the land-lord had another use for the space. A & T, which has been in business for about six years, has more product space at its new location.

New wine bar coming soon

The Bin Wine Bar, owned by Lowertown resident Rebecca Illing-worth, is scheduled to open soon at the ground level of the Park Square Court building, 400 Sib-ley. It will occupy space that formerly housed In-sty Print shop, The bar will also serve sandwiches and light fare but will not have a full kitchen.

Zeitgeist hosts CD release concert

Zeitgeist will perform a concert at 8 p.m., Jan. 14-16 to celebrate its new CD called “In Bone Colored Light.” The concert will be held at the Zeitgeist studio at 275 E. Fourth St. and will feature a decade of work written for group members Heather Bar-ringer, Patti Cudd, Shan-non Wettstein and Pat O’Keefe.

New deli to open in January

D. Brian’s deli is sched-uled to open a new loca-tion in January on the first floor at 180 E. Fifth St. building (formerly the First Trust building). It will replace the Great Northern Bistro, which closed in October. The food will be prepared on site. D. Brian’s also oper-ates a deli on the skyway level of Town Square.

City PassportThe January schedule

of events for the City Passport senior citizen center, located on the mezzanine level of the Al-liance Bank building, in-cludes an accordion sing-along at 10:30 a.m., Fri., Jan. 8, an ice cream float social at 1:30 p.m., Fri., Jan. 8, a current affairs discussion at 11 a.m., Fri., Jan. 15, a Scrabble tournament at noon, Tues., Jan. 19, a ladies tea at 2:30 p.m., Mon., Jan. 25, a quilting group at 9 a.m. each Monday, and a yarn, loom and crochet group at 2 p.m. each Tuesday. The movie schedule for Thursdays at 1 p.m. includes “The Fifth Element” on Jan. 7, “Frequency” on Jan. 14, “Lara Croft Tomb Raider” on Jan. 21, and “Proof ” on Jan. 28.

New park name discussed

The Pedro Luggage site at Tenth and Robert may become Pedro Park, named in honor of the Pedro family that donat-ed land where its luggage factory is located to the St. Paul Parks and Rec-reation Department. The company closed in 2008 after being in business for nearly a century.

Central Library events

The Central Library will present a concert by the Rose Ensemble at noon, Wed., Jan. 27, in the third floor magazine room.

• The Central Library book club will discuss “The Pleasure of My Company,” a novella by Steve Martin, at 10:30 a.m., Thurs., Jan. 14.

• A program on the Winter Carnival Treasure Hunt will be presented at 2 p.m., Sun., Jan. 17.

• The History Book Club will present a pro-gram on “Theodore Roosevelt, the Wilder-ness Warrior” at noon, Thurs., Jan. 21.

• A photo exhibit, “America the Beautiful: The Monumental Land-scape,” by Clyde Butch-er, will open at 7 p.m., Thurs., Jan. 28 and run through April 15. Ex-hibits will be at both the Central Library and the James J. Hill Library.

Bakery opens in Alliance Bank Food Court

Jerabek’s Bakery has opened a new location in the Alliance Bank Food Court. Russell Spangler, co-owner, said selections include pastries, cook-ies, cakes, pot pies, sau-sage rolls and quiche. Jerabek’s also accept ca-tering orders, which are prepared at the bakery’s main location on the West Side and picked up at the downtown store. Spangler eventually plans to have a cake decorator at the downtown loca-tion.

Sinfonia concertMinnesota Sinfonia

has moved its January concert to First Covenant Church due to a schedul-ing conflict at the Metro State University audito-rium. The concert, held at 7:30 p.m., Fri,, Jan, 15, will feature violinist Erin Keefe who will play the Violin Concerto 2 in G Minor by Max Bruch. Other selections include “Reverie” by Debussy and Symphony No. 104, The London Symphony, by Haydn.

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SPP is an NCA accredited, private college preparatory school enrolling students from around the world in grades 9 through 12. Our students have the unique opportunity to prepare themselves for future success through quality academics and personal interaction with world cultures. Scholarships and financial aid available.

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651-288-4610 • www.StPaulPrep.org

Open House: Feb. 18, 6:30-8 p.m.

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Your community news and information sourceV iewpoints and Opinion

There was nothing particularly rational about my fear and anxiety but it was there all the same. My brothers and I shared a bedroom on the ground floor. The bathroom was on the second floor. Between the ground floor and the second floor was a window look-ing out into the darkness of the night.

On those nights when nature demanded a trip to the second floor, there was no escaping the perceived danger of passing by that window. Sometimes I would pause just in front of the window, readying myself to make a quick dash. Other times I would duck down low, hoping that whatever lurked in the darkness would not sense my presence. We lived in the coun-try, before the days of tall yard lights illuminating the night. Darkness was very dark. There were times when you were literally unable to see your hand in front of your face.

Letter to the Editor: You choose your child’s proficiency very early

More experts agree every day that each child has the capacity to be ready to read, count and understand positive direction before kindergar-ten. In the definition of high quality, this has to be a first-thing-first, right-the-first time el-ement. This links back to the gap between the children behind at all ages. Kindergarten teach-ers see and must work the gap within 30-45 days and the best of them are challenged to keep each child growing.

It is a 21st century thought that communities can “even start” children who are about equal in intellectual opportunity at age two. This is new capacity that must stop irreparable slippage to-ward a gap and it must contribute to lower to-tal cost. We can go to Steven Covey and Philip Crosby literature to make sense of this in a total cost of development, time and process perspec-tive. Conceptually, it includes a new industry of communication urgency and individual capac-ity-building getting cash flow from the defini-tions of 21st century customers and customer re-quirements. Development in children age birth through 6 is now subject to brain synaptic sci-ence. Some of the brain’s synaptic closings of our youngest children will be on empty, behind, and gapped in comparison to what is possible with the right attention. Moms decide (they choose) this development level and many moms (50 per-cent) under-deliver to some degree with their choice.

Arguably, this is the first, second or third most important first-thing element missing in the area of economics, education, ethics and emotional developments of those at risk. The taxpayer picks up the tab for the shortfall but really just ex-pects a high quality delivery because it makes too much sense. But under the surface, the powers of change are gridlocked. School choice should also be viewed in the concept of high quality first-thing-first, right-the-first time elements under mom’s or a mentor’s direction before kindergar-ten. Business has proven this “newer concept” of high quality in the last 60 years.

Thomas Wolfgram, West St. Paul business owner and president of USA VALUES

946 S. Robert St.West St. Paul

(4 blocks north of Butler)

651-457-1196

1918 Beam Ave.Maplewood

(across from Maplewood Mall)

651-731-3603

2749

Lowest Pricesof the Year!

It is no wonder that for people worldwide the dark-ness of the night often represents our fears, worries and potential threats. In response, people of virtually all faith traditions light candles as a sign of hope, insight and promise. Together, the symbols of dark-ness and light become helpful images of the internal struggles we all face.

In the Western world these symbols were compro-mised, if not seriously impaired, when they were “ra-cialized” by attributing positive and negative values to people based on the lightness or darkness of their skin. The same irrational fear I had going to the bath-room in the middle of the night becomes the same irrational fear that undergirds racial profiling and empowers white supremacy.

Yet, in spite of these limitations, for those in the Northern hemisphere, January is a time of the year when the darkness of the night becomes an inescap-able reality. For some, the diminished light takes an

emotional toll, contributing to lack of energy, sad-ness, even depression.

Perhaps in addition to lighting one more candle, if that feels necessary, it is helpful to remember that darkness is an essential component of life. The cre-ation story in the book of Genesis tells us darkness is the womb out of which all life eventually emerg-es. It was there at the very beginning. The Psalmist proclaims, “clouds and thick darkness are all around, righteousness and justice are the foundation of God’s throne.” (Psalm 97:2) It is, after all, darkness that enables us to rest and restore our bodies and our souls. There are times when light streaming into our bedroom windows is unwanted.

It may be that rather than making a mad dash past the window of our fears or ducking down hoping we will sneak by undetected that in this month of dimin-ished light, we rediscover that darkness is also a gift.


For more than two decades, making quality health care accessible to everyone has been our goal. Bridging the language gap, developing culturally respectful approaches to care, and fostering innovative services and partnerships across communities are just a few of the ways we’re working to achieve that goal. When it comes to your health, we always start with you.

Twenty-fi ve years ago we startedwith one thing in mind:

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Firefighters’ union establishes education fund for local girlThe South Metro firefighters have created an education fund for Kimberly

Fuentes, 8, who lost her mother in a multi-vehicle accident Oct. 31 on Rob-ert Street in West St. Paul. Kimberly is a third grade student at Garlough Elementary School and was living with her mom in West St. Paul at the time of the accident. To donate to this fund, make contributions to: International Association of Firefighters Local 724/1059, Attn: Kimberly Fuentes Fund. Contributions are accepted at any of the nine Anchor Bank locations in the Twin Cities, including the branch in West St. Paul. For more information, call South Metro Fire at 651-552-4176.

Kimberly Fuentes received an American Doll and accessories from mem-bers of the South Metro Fire Department on Dec. 22. It was an early Christmas present for Fuentes, who lost her mom in a car accident this fall. South Metro responded to the accident and pulled Kimberly from the wreckage. She suffered minor injuries. Her response to the firefighters was a heartfelt, “Thank you (for the gifts), and thank you for rescuing me.”

spv jan 10

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