Update: House fire
Lakefront Days photos
Three firefighters treated at hospital
See if you recognize anyone
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Pages 8-9
PRIOR LAKE
SATURDAY, AUGUST 13, 2011
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PHOTOS BY LORI CARLSON
SWAT in action M
Two schools get more kindergarten classes BY MERYN FLUKER mfluker@swpub.com
embers of the Tri-City SWAT Team attended a day-long training activity at Hidden Oaks Middle School in Prior Lake on Tuesday. The 29-person team’s training included a scenario in which a “shooter” had been killed and another suspect was holding a woman hostage. Officers spent more than two hours combing the school for threats. Prior Lake Officer Mark TO SEE A SLIDESHOW Tabone, commander of the team, led FROM THE SWAT the training with Deputy Todd Beck TRAINING, SEARCH “SWAT” AT of the Scott County Sheriff’s Departwww.plamerican.com ment and Fred Radde of the Shakopee Police Department.
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Above – SWAT Team members begin entering the school for the training exercise. At top – Careful planning is critical in ensuring SWAT team members are ready for any type of crisis. Far left – Deputy Todd Beck of the Scott County Sheriff ’s Department (center) goes over the mechanics of a pellet rifle with officers in training. Police can use the pellet rifles for quietly shooting out a headlight of a car or a porch light. At left – After an extensive sweep of the school, officers in training apprehended their “suspect” in a classroom. Volunteers acted as the suspect and a hostage for the activity.
Future kindergarten students at two local elementary schools can anticipate plenty of breathing room beginning Tuesday, Sept. 6. At Monday’s regular meeting, the Prior Lake-Savage Area School Board unanimously approved the immediate addition of an extended-day kindergarten class at Grainwood Elementary School. The board also gave Superintendent Sue Ann Gruver latitude to add another kindergarten section at WestWood Elementary School. The moves will cost $100,000 total. The money will come from the district’s remaining $350,000 in the Education Jobs Fund. The district received $1.08 million from the federal government last fall as part of the program, which provided the one-time dollars for districts to spend on schoollevel salaries, benefits and services in early childhood, elementary and secondary education. The funds must be allocated by September 2012. L a st f a l l , t he d i st r ic t sp ent $ 3 5 0,0 0 0 of t he Educ ation Jobs Fund dollars for additional staffi ng.
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“I believe this is the investment needed at the time to bring families to our district.” Sue Ann Gruver Superintendent
Economic development committee supports County Road 21 realignment Group takes stance that downtown ‘bypass’ would spur new development BY LORI CARLSON editor@plamerican.com
A city economic development committee has recommended the “bypass” option for County Road 21, putting support behind a controver-
sial realignment of the road. Economic Development Advisory Committee member Deno Howard said the group believes that a realignment project – one of two options the Prior Lake City Council will decide on in September – “has the most potential for new economic development.” The committee met jointly with the city’s Economic Development Authority on Monday. City and county officials have talked for years about how to reconfigure CR21 in anticipation of traffic increases. The county road will be extended west to Highway 169, which
could bring 30,000 cars per day down CR21 through downtown Prior Lake, according to a 2005 corridor study that has been criticized by some as being out-of-date. A realignment option would move CR21 further south than its current position, taking out 34 homes and costing in excess of $20 million. Some say the bypass would be just that – a road around downtown Prior Lake, leaving local businesses holding the bag. Others insist the realignment would open up opportunities for new development. At public hearings, no one from the
community has spoken in favor of the realignment project. “The realignment has been seen as a negative thing by those who have turned out,” Howard said. “We want the public to know there’s support for the bypass option.” A stoplight at CR21 and Arcadia Avenue is planned for construction next year. City and county leaders see Arcadia as the future full access to downtown off CR21. Scott County plans to eventually place a median at CR21 and Main Avenue, an intersection that is “failing” to keep up with traffic flow, according to Lezlie Ver-
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million, Scott County public works director. However, Vermillion also said at a recent public meeting that she doesn’t foresee a “dramatic” increase in the county road’s traffic as a result of its connection to Highway 169. Mary Bujold, a consultant hired by the city to study commercial and industrial demand, backed up the Economic Development Advisory Committee’s stance that new development would come from parcels opened up by the realignment project.
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