COUNTRY
WEDNESDAY, JULY 29, 2015
Serving Marine on St. Croix, Scandia, May Township
VOL. 32 NO. 13 www.countrymessenger.com $.75
INTERNATIONAL RACQUETBALL GAMES : Local youth compete. PAGE 2
Scandia native researching pathogenic bacteria wins scholarship
Veterans memorial sited in Lilleskogen PAVING BID ACCEPTED FOR PARK’S LOT BY KYLE WEAVER CONTRIBUTING WRITER
electricity bill. The council’s interest was sparked after companies approached city officials to consider solar energy as part of the Scandia community. Whether the commercial interest came from Scandia’s role as a GreenStep City is uncertain.
A new memorial dedicated to Scandia and Marine on St. Croix area military veterans now has a home in Scandia. Scandia’s Lilleskogen Park, at the corner of Highway 97 and Oakhill Road, will play host to a walkway with engraved pavers, benches, a flagpole and flag, and a granite centerpiece and columns etched with the names of area veterans. “It will make, I think, a tasteful and appropriate memorial for our veterans going forward,” said Tom Triplett, a member of the Scandia Marine Lions Foundation. The Lions Foundation plans to raise the entire $23,000 cost of the monument, including a $10,000 donation to the city to help pay for sidewalks and other park infrastructure. The 150 square foot monument will be placed near the park’s main entrance off Oakhill Road. Dave Wilson, president of the Lions Foundation, said the intent of the monument is the blend in with the park and its butterfly garden. “The plan is to work with the [Parks and Recreation Committee] and get a memorial in there that everyone is going to be proud of that (also) blends with the park,” Wilson said. Not everyone who spoke at the council’s July 21 meeting was thrilled with the location, though. City resident Karen Schick, a former chair of the city’s Parks and Recreation Committee, said Lilleskogen Park is intended to be a place to relax and to learn about ecology and nature. Siting the veterans memorial there would essentially change the character and perception of the park, she said. “The entrance of the park is what gives it its identity,” Schick said. “[The memorial] seems like it’s of a different sort of character for the place.” City resident Janie O’Connor, a leading advocate and volunteer for the park’s butterfly garden, agreed. “It’s the wrong venue, the wrong genre,” O’Connor said. Triplett said he initially didn’t favor putting the monument in Lilleskogen either. Design and location ideas for the monument were considered for well over a year. Sites considered included Barton Johnson Memorial Park near Gammelgarden Museum and Scandia Marine Lions Park near Hay Lake. But Lilleskogen seemed to be the best fit, Triplett said, because people will visit the butterfly garden and see the monument or vice versa. “Frankly, I think they’ll reinforce each other,” Triplett said.
SEE SOLAR ENERGY, PAGE 2
SEE COUNCIL, PAGE 2
SUBMITTED
Bridget Eklund feeds an antibiotic solution to a Madagascar hissing cockroach. Earlier, Eklund infected the roach with Francisella tularensis bacteria so that she could test the effectiveness of the antibiotic. Eklund was recently awarded an Astronaut Scholarship for students working toward careers in science. BY SUZANNE LINDGREN EDITOR@COUNTRYMESSENGER.COM
Dressed in a lab coat and blue latex gloves, Bridget Eklund careful-
ly infects a Madagascar hissing cockroach with bacteria, Francisella tularensis. Although the live-vaccine strain she uses isn’t deadly, just 10
cells of another strain is enough to kill a human. The lethal strain of Francisella tularensis was more common in the 1800s, says Eklund,
known among hunters and trappers as “rabbit fever.” Rabbit hunting has become less SEE EKLUND, PAGE 5
Solar energy comes to Scandia BY AUNDREA KINNEY CONTRIBUTING WRITER
On June 22, Scandia City Council passed an ordinance amending the development code to allow construction and use of community solar gardens on properties five acres or larger in the agricultural core, agricultural preserves and rural zoning districts.
A community solar garden is a system that generates electricity from the sun through the use of solar panels either installed in the ground or on a roof for the use of community members or businesses. The electricity is sold to a public utility under a contract and subscribers (who may or may not own the property the solar array is on) receive a credit on their
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