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Belle Plaine Jr., Sr. High Third Quarter
Town Tigers Begin Season Friday Night
BPHS’s Best Compete at Hamline Elite Meet
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ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-FOURTH YEAR
BELLE PLAINE, MINNESOTA, APRIL 29, 2015
75¢ SINGLE COPY
NUMBER 18
BPHS Prom Returns to MOA It will be a mega night for some 230 Belle Plaine High School prom-goers this Saturday. For the third time in five years, prom will take place at Mall of America in Bloomington. Unlike 2011 and 2013, the prom will not be held in the Great Room within the confines of Nickelodeon Universe on the main level. This year’s prom-goers will venture to the fourth floor to Suite 402, which is a large private events space. As was the case in 2011 and 2013, the prom dinner will be catered by MOA’s Crave Restaurant. From approximately 11 p.m. to 2 a.m., Nickelodeon Universe will be open exclusively The Belle Plaine Lions Club and city of Belle Plaine, with help from Waste Management per- for Belle Plaine’s post-prom participants. sonnel, held their annual City Cleanup and Recycle Day Saturday morning at the police department parking lot. There was another steady stream of vehicles and trailers filled with items to be disposed of. Pictured above is Lions Club member John Poitra, with help from Wyatt and Waylon Friendshuh, pushing a big, warn out tire onto a trailer.
Out With the Old
sought for prizes for the postprom participants. Individuals and businesses who would like to donate cash or prizes can contact Cindy Dikmen at 952873-5416. Prom Advisor Lyle Noah said prom-goers can take limos to MOA or ride in a coach bus that will depart the school after the grand march. Students will not be allowed to drive themselves. All post-prom bus riders will return to the high school at approximately 2:30 a.m. Noah said this year’s annual magazine fund-raiser generated about $3,000 for prom costs. The cost per person to attend the prom dinner, dance and a late night out at Nickelodeon Universe is $80. Donations are still being
Grand March Starts at 5 p.m.
Saturday's grand march will begin at 5 p.m. in the school's south gymnasium. Doors to the gym will open at about 4:15 p.m. The march normally lasts about 50 minutes, shortly after which students will depart for MOA. Note: Pre-grand march photos will be held at Front Porch Photography, which is located in Kingsway Retirement Liv-
BPHS Prom
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Mn/DOT Planning Changes Access to Highway 169 School Board OKs Budget Cuts for A driver’s ability to access Current plans call for the address that intersection. There
Classroom ‘Paras’ Will Take Brunt of Budget Cuts
With a stagnant enrollment that isn’t generating enough state aid to keep up with current and anticipated spending, Monday night, the Belle Plaine School Board approved a list of budget reductions and fee increases for the 2015-16 school year. The board spending down surplus funds in its general fund the past three years triggered the reductions. The current policy calls for the fund balance to be at 10 percent of the district’s budget. Board members debated reducing that policy to 6 percent, a move that would
allow them about $600,000 in spending. The existing policy gives the district two years to return to compliance. Superintendent Kelly Smith said not adjusting the policy could create an unmanageable financial challenge. “Rather than waiting to fully crash and burn, I’d rather make some adjustments, albeit it painful,” Smith said. Director Matt Lenz wanted to wait on the policy change and reductions until the end of the legislative session. The positions could be reinstated if the legislature approves 3 percent funding for each of the next two years. “There are so many unknowns. We’re trying to make definite decisions on something that’s not definite yet,” he said. “We’re reacting before we know. We’re dealing with people.”
But a proposal to change the policy failed by a 3-3 vote. School Board Chairman Mike Ludvik said the board would discuss fund balance and finance at its next workshop Monday May 11. The school board approved reducing its anticipated spending for next year by $222,050. The reductions mean two paraprofessional positions at Chatfield Elementary School will be eliminated, one for student in the Title 1 program and the other for students in the response to intervention (RtI) program. At the junior-senior high school, the board eliminated an overload teaching hour, a reduction in a staff person’s work schedule and could impact class
School Board
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Highway 169 in Scott County will change in the next few years and beyond as the Minnesota Department of Transportation (Mn/DOT) enacts plans to control access to the busy highway. For the past two years, a group of elected officials, city and township officials have been intermittently discussing ideas for safer access to Highway 169. The product of their work will be on display during an open house later this summer, tentatively scheduled for the SCALE Regional Training Facility on Valley View Drive north of Jordan. A date has yet to be finalized. Many of the plans the group has discussed remain without a concrete funding source, said Tod Sherman, a planning supervisor with Mn/DOT’s metropolitan area district. One proposal that is funded is a three-quarter intersection at the junction of Highway 169 and Delaware Avenue (County Road 59), adjacent to the former OK Corral. It’s the same configuration as the intersection of Highway 169 and County Road 3 (Meridian Street) in Belle Plaine. The intersection configuration is designed to prevent broadside crashes.
three-quarters intersection at Highway 169 and Delaware Avenue to be installed during the $18 million Highway 169 mill/overlay project currently slated for the 2018 season, Sherman said. Between 2010 and 2012, the intersection saw 10 crashes, including one fatality and another severe injury crash. That crash rate is higher than the statewide average for intersections like it, Sherman said. “We feel it’s very important to
have been many crashes at that intersection,” he said. “We’re trying to provide low-cost, high-quality improvements.” The Highway 169 Access Management Study group was divided into two sections, one from Highway 19 north to Jordan, and from Jordan north to Shakopee. Highway 169 has seen steady growth in the volume of traffic
Mn/Dot
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Farmers Market Opens for Season Next Wednesday The Belle Plaine Farmers Market will open for its seventh season next Wednesday, May 6. It will again take place Wednesdays (rain, snow or shine) from 3:30-6:30 p.m. at Court Square Park, 410 North Cedar Street. The park is located adjacent to the Hooper-Bowler-Hillstrom Historical House property. This year’s market is scheduled to continue through Oct. 14. Diane Skelley and Lisa Fahey, who organized the market in 2009, hope to see many returning vendors as well as a lot of
new ones this year. Skelley said there are still vendor spots to fill, so if you have any homegrown or homemade items to sell, contact Skelley at 952-873-2467 or Fahey at 952873-5665. You can also check out the Belle Plaine Farmers Market Facebook page, which contains market information as well as some helpful gardening information and recipes, etc. You can also check out the Farmers Market Corner column in this edition of the Herald.
Prepping for Planting Daniel Krentz of Belle Plaine worked an 80-acre field along County Road 59, just south of County Road 64, in Belle Plaine Township Sunday afternoon. He expected his boss, Mark Koepp, would be planting corn that evening or Monday. About 38 percent of the state’s anticipated corn crop was planted as of Tuesday (April 28), according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Scott-Carver Threshers Auction, Swap Meet and Flea Market This Saturday The Scott-Carver Threshers Association will hold its 33rd annual Consignment Auction, Swap Meet and Flea Market this Saturday on the Threshers Grounds adjacent to the Scott County Fairgrounds in St. Lawrence Township. This year’s event, which will be just one day, will take place from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Grounds will open at 7 a.m. with a pancake breakfast taking place from 7-11 a.m. The
Threshers Kitchen will open at 7 a.m. and close at 5 p.m. There will also be other various food stands. The County Store will open at 8 a.m., as will the Book Store, flea market and garage sale, etc, The consignment auction, featuring antique cars, trucks, tractors and farm equipment, will start at 9:30 a.m. For more information on the auction, call Fahey Realtors Appraisers
Auctioneers at 952-467-3799 or visit www.faheyraa.com. For more information about becoming a vendor at this year’s event, contact Sue Quatmann at 952-292-0515. There is free registration for all flea market vendors. More information can also be found at www. scottcarverthreshers.org. Chatfield Elementary School students helped plant a prairie fire flowering crab tree in the courtyard on the south side of the school building Friday (April 24, Arbor Day) in honor of their former schoolmate, Emma German, who passed away last fall. “It is going to be beautiful when it blooms,” said Chatfield Principal Kim DeWitte. After the planting, students applied mulch around the base of the tree.
Remembering Emma on Arbor Day