COUNTRY
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2016
Serving Marine on St. Croix, Scandia, May Township
VOL. 33 NO. 27 www.countrymessenger.com $.75
MARINE FILM SOCIETY: Documentaries to continue. PAGE 6
Frontier’s upcoming projects in the area BY JESSICA ANDERSON INTERIM EDITOR
TERESA HOLMDAHL | COUNTRY MESSENGER
Scandia-Marine Lions dinner honors sponsors The Scandia Marine Lions held a dinner at the Scandia Community Center on October 27. Present were 65 Lions and 17 sponsors with 11 guests. Sponsors had contributed to either/and Lions ChickenDinner, Fat Cat Triathlon or Taco Daze in 2016. Pictured: Adrian Franssen, Lion Janie O’Connor, Mary Franssen, and Jan Lynn. The Frasers own Scandia Olde Towne Liquor and Lynn is the owner of Crabtrees. This special event in honor of the sponsors was organized by O'Connor.
Stillwater school board candidates in Marine
COURTESY OF LINDA TIBBETTS
BY JESSICA ANDERSON INTERIM EDITOR
Recently Marine residents were able to speak, first hand, with many of the Stillwater school board candidates right in the Marine Town Hall. This open question-and-answer session included each present candidate giving an opening statement. The candidates that could not attend the session were Amy Burback, Robert Craggs, Donald Hovland, and Jennifer Pelletier; all sent written statements that were read to the audience. When asked their opinions of possible options for the Marine Elementary school property all present candidates stated that they would support a Marine charter school, apart from Michael Pta-
cek who said he feels “it’s for the people of Marine to decide” what’s best for the city. Another resident wanted to know how, should they be elected, they would go about healing the community after it has been through this difficult situation. Tom DeGree stated that “we have to get people together, not on Facebook, not online. We have not yet had a dialogue on this… and I think if we could hear each other out and understand a little more then we could probably work together.” Michelle Deziel expressed a lot of mistrust of the current school board saying “there has been a lot of misinformation.” Answering the same question Chad Gamradt stated “the biggest issue facing us is the lack of trust with the administration, the lack of
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open honesty. How may school district websites do you know of that have a fact check portion? I think it’s one, I think it’s ours.” Sarah Stivland stated later that “the concept that each of our schools, each of our elementary schools in the district, have their own personalities, their own history, their own colorful story” should be brought back. The hour and a half long meeting took place Oct. 20 with several more questions from residents both online and from the audience. Hopefully this question-and-answer session helped Marine residents to understand the candidates more fully, in order to make an informed decision on Election Day.
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Lately there have been murmurs around town about Scandia possibly receiving a speedier internet, an idea that surely excites many residents. In order to quell any ambiguity surrounding the subject, I spoke with Frontier General Manager Tom Murn. During our conversation Murn shared Frontier’s current plans and hopes for their input in the Scandia, Marine, and Taylors Falls area and what exactly is being considered by the Scandia City Council. “Right now Frontier is working on multiple aspects” in the area, according to Murn. They’re going to update the core network, otherwise known as the backbone of any telecommunications network. They have also applied for and received approval to begin work contributing to the Connect America Fund (CAF), a government program established to help bring better internet connections to rural areas of the country. This project should improve connections for Center City, Lindstrom, Chisago, and Wyoming, with more detailed work on Scandia, Marine, and Taylors Falls. Work on these projects hasn’t begun, but Murn says they hope to begin in 2017. “We’re pushing for those funds for next year, we still have to secure the funding, equipment,” and any other resources necessary. As for the matter the Scandia City Council is considering, that is something possibly less important to residents, but more innovative. Frontier is hoping to get approval from the council to update their equipment in the area in order to begin providing Vantage TV. This service is a “very modern delivery of all you would get from Dish, Direct TV, and cable” via the internet, according to Murn. As of right now, the City Council will make their decision on this project at an unknown date. For more information on the service, which has already been set up in Burnsville and Lakeville, visit www.getvantage.com.
Community School receives official charter school designation Community members attending the Marine Area Community School (MACS) board meeting on October 15, 2016 heard a number of updates regarding the school, including official word that the school has earned charter school designation status from the Minnesota Guild of Public Char-
ter Schools. MACS is now the 254th charter school in Minnesota. The designation is another milestone in the charter school’s efforts to establish a community school in time for the 2017-2018 school year. Marine Elementary School is slated to close at SEE SCHOOL, PAGE 2
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