COUNTRY
WEDNESDAY,APRIL 29, 2015
Serving Marine on St. Croix, Scandia, May Township
VOL. 31 NO. 52 www.countrymessenger.com $.75
MARINE ELEMENTARY: Multi-grade classroom plan questioned by parents. P2
Complaints logged about Landing BY KYLE WEAVER CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Discussing Log House Landing wasn’t on the Scandia City Council’s agenda last week, but issues with the landing access road surfaced anyway. Two Scandia residents, both members of the Friends of Log House Landing group, spoke during the public comment period of the council’s April 21 meeting. Pam Plowman-Smith, the de facto leader of the Friends, scolded city staff for having recently graded the road. Plowman-Smith said a gravel road expert with whom she has corresponded as part of her involvement in the proposed road improvement project had advised that any grading work would destabilize the road. Disturbing the road, Plowman-Smith warned, could put the whole project in jeopardy should a substantial rain occur. “I can tell you what will happen,” Plowman-Smith said. “It’s just going to be a mess.” The city had partnered with the Carnelian-Marine-St. Croix Watershed District to pave the landing and address run-off issues there last year. The two entities had obtained a Minnesota Department of Natural Resources grant for half the estimated $400,000 project cost. The project came to a halt earlier this year, though, amid public concerns. Plowman-Smith reminded the council that the watershed district is attempting to further quantify the storm water run-off issues at the landing. “This work was done without a plan,” she said. Scandia Public Works Director Tim Kieffer said the city graded the road after the city received complaints from landing users about its condition. Kieffer said the city graded, but did not add gravel to the road, then compacted it. “[After a recent rain] it was a great opportunity to grade it a little,” Kieffer said. For her part, Scandia resident Lisa Schlingerman reported a number of issues that have been occurring at the landing. Schlingerman said campfires and loud voices going late into the evenings, and littering have been recurring problems at the landing since the arrival of warmer weather. Though Schlingerman called the Washington County Sheriff’s Office to report the issues, because the landing is a city road and not a city park, the city’s park rules, i.e. closing times, are unenforceable. Schlingerman suggested the landing and its access road could be made a city park so that a curfew could be enforced. “I think it is something I can demand and I am going to demand it of you now,” Schlingerman said. The city council took no action on either request. SEE SCANDIA COUNCIL, PAGE 5
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Guns? Fake. Blood? Fake. Lessons learned? Very real. Active shooter training tests agencies’ resources, cooperation BY KYLE WEAVER CONTRIBUTING WRITER
It was a nightmare scenario, even if only a fictitious one. There wasn’t really an “active shooter” at Scandia’s Camp Lakamaga last week, but the Scandia Fire & Rescue Department and a host of other public safety agencies acted as if there had been one as part of a multi-agency training drill. Even for veteran officers and emergency services personnel, the scenario was a good test of the capabilities, training and teamwork in a worst-case scenario, Scandia Fire Chief Mike Hinz said.
KYLE WEAVER
Two Minnesota State Patrol Special Air Rescue medics take a Mahtomedi firefighter posing as a shooting victim out of a wooded area near Camp Lakamaga. The helicopter extraction was used as part of an active shooter training conducted by Scandia Fire & Rescue and several other agencies last week.
“It really pushed our resources,” Hinz said. “It was a great learning experience for us.” Organized over the course of several months
by Scandia firefighter Erich Kertzscher, a 25year veteran of the fire department, the scenario involved nearly a dozen agencies in all, in-
cluding North Memorial Ambulance Services, the Washington County Sheriff’s Office and SEE TRAINING, PAGE 2
Film Society secures grant for second season BY SUZANNE LINDGREN EDITOR@COUNTRYMESSENGER.COM
Just as Gayle Knutson and Paul Creager of the Marine Film Society were tying up a successful first season of documentary screenings, they received some good news. For a second year, the film society — in partnership with the Marine Community Library — was awarded a grant from the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council. The funding will allow them to host the free monthly documentary series again from October 2015 through March 2016, and support independent filmmakers while they’re at it. “We’re excited for year two,” said Knutson. “We know there’s a hungry audience and people are looking forward to this.” The popularity of the series’ first season surprised even Knutson and Creager. SEE FILM SOCIETY, PAGE 5
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SUBMITTED
A large audience gathered in Marine’s village hall to watch “Not Done Loving,” a documentary hosted by the Marine Film Society in its first season.
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