COUNTRY
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2015
Serving Marine on St. Croix, Scandia, May Township
VOL. 32 NO. 31 www.countrymessenger.com $.75
LUCIA DAGEN: Lighting the dark PAGE 7
St. Paul man charged with trafficking Forest Lake teen
EMILY CHARAIS
Carolers sing from a hay bale stage. Weekend events include both performance and community singing.
Kerstmarkt returns to Marine COURTESY WASHINGTON COUNTY SHERIFF
BY SUZANNE LINDGREN EDITOR@COUNTRYMESSENGER.COM
Organizing any a festival is a feat. Doing it as a volunteer project in the flurry of the holiday season, especially so. But after scaling back last year, Kerstmarkt organizers Jody and Kevin Nyenhuis – with a team of helping hands – are bringing the Dutch-inspired Christmas market back to downtown Marine.
“It’s really about the magic of Marine and the small town community,” said Jody Nyenhuis of the motivation behind Kerstmarkt. “It’s simple. I just want it to be enjoyable for people participating.” The Nyenhuis family was first inspired to replicate the open-air winter markets after traveling to Vienna with the Christ Lutheran Church choir. “There are Christmas markets
everywhere,” said Nyenhuis. “They’re very community oriented and it was a fantastic way to enjoy the season outside.” At Marine’s smaller-scale Kerstmarkt, which debuted in 2012, kids play Giant Jenga and search for treasure in a haystack, carolers greet the season and locals vend their wares in colorful booths.
Damon Michael DiMartino BY SUZANNE LINDGREN EDITOR@COUNTRYMESSENGER.COM
Less than a week after announcing a new coalition working to stop juvenile sex trafficking in Washington County, County Attorney Pete Orput announced new charges for a St. Paul man who allegedly acted as a pimp to a Forest Lake teen. Damon DiMartino, 40, was charged Nov. 23 with promoting prostitution of a minor after investigations into an October domestic disturbance call revealed that he was prostituting the 17-year-old caller, acccording to the criminal complaint. The girl said she’d been kicked out of her mother’s home in June and, under instructions from DiMartino, had stripped on party buses and eventually had sex with men, with DiMarino keeping most of the money. In one instance cited by Orput, DiMartino allegedly brought the girl to a hotel in St. Paul, where she was paid $250 to perform sexual acts, of which DiMarino took $210. If convicted, DiMartino faces a 20-year prison sentence. He has two prior convictions for criminal sexual conduct and is on probation in Ramsey County.
SEE KERSTMARKT, PAGE 5
DNR approves groundwater area plan The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has approved a plan designed to ensure adequate supplies of groundwater within the state’s first designated groundwater management area. The area includes all of Washington and Ramsey counties along with portions of Anoka and Hennepin counties. “Here in the land of
10,000 lakes and hundreds of streams and rivers, it’s easy to take water for granted,” said DNR Commissioner Tom Landwehr. “But in some parts of Minnesota, such as the north and east metro area, growing demands on groundwater could place our aquifers and other resources at risk if we’re not careful. This plan explains how the DNR
will work to make sure our use of groundwater remains sustainable.” The North and East Metro Groundwater Management Area Plan lays out five broad objectives and describes actions the DNR will take to ensure adequate groundwater supplies meet human needs while protecting lakes, streams and wetlands. The plan was developed
over two years by DNR staff and an advisory team of nearly two dozen representatives of local government, industry and other agencies. A statewide analysis of groundwater resources identified the north and east metro region as an area of concern because it has many surface waters connected to and
Coalition to stop sex trafficking
Washington County has three active underage prostitution cases and, according to Orput, there are almost certainly more lurking. The Internet has allowed sex trafficking to move off the street, said Orput, making it more difficult to recognize.
SEE DNR, PAGE 9
SEE TRAFFICKING, PAGE 2
Acupuncturist joins OMC David Sullivan, LAc, has joined the medical staff at Scandia Clinic and Osceola Medical Center. For more information or to schedule an appointment, call us at 651-433-8080 or 715-294-2111. Free seminar January 5; space is limited, call 715-294-4936 to register.
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