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Apple Valley | Rosemount May 11, 2012 | Volume 33 | Number 11
Grand jury indictment likely today
Special Section
Backstrom seeks to prosecute right-to-die case related to Apple Valley death by Laura Adelmann Sun Thisweek ING A D V E RT I S ENT SUPPLEM
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Summer Sensations Inside this special section is a calendar of events in all of the communities Sun Thisweeek covers.
An indictment is expected today (Friday, May 11) from a grand jury convened Wednesday by Dakota County Attorney Jim Backstrom’s office regarding the 2007 suicide of an Apple Valley woman. Doreen Dunn, then 57, suffered a decade of chronic, debilitating pain until she killed herself using a
hood over her head gation search warand inhaling helium rant detailing evigas, May 30, 2007. dence forwarded to Because Dunn the Dakota County contacted Final Exit Attorney’s Office Network, a national and obtained by nonprofit organiSun Thisweek. zation accused of Jim The warrant states assisting suicides, Backstrom the county is askBackstrom is seeking the grand jury to ing the indictment to pros- consider charges of aiding ecute some of its members, suicide, conspiracy to comaccording to a March 20 mit the crime of aiding suiGeorgia Bureau of Investi- cide and interference with a
dead body. In an April interview with Sun Thisweek, Backstrom confirmed he planned to convene a grand jury and predicted great media interest, but said he is not permitted to discuss specifics of the investigation. After Sun Thisweek broke the story online Monday, Backstrom issued a news release stating the grand jury investigation in-
volved Final Exit Network and he would share further information with the media when it becomes public. Robert Rivas, attorney for Final Exit Network, said the organization provides a person suffering intolerable pain or a terminal illness information to end their suffering, but does not assist them in the physical act of See dunn, 6A
Rosemount police chief to retire
sports
Kalstabakken led department while most reported crimes declined by Tad Johnson Sun Thisweek
Old teammates face off Rosemount defeats Eagan in girls lacrosse after playing as a combined program for years. Page 12A Rosemount resident Bennett Olson purchased his Minneapolis “HIRE ME” billboard spot last month.
thisweekend
Photo submitted
Billboard lands unemployed man a job Rosemount resident’s clever idea captured worldwide attention by Tad Johnson Sun Thisweek
World War II comes alive Mock battles, soldier encampments and more come to Dakota City Heritage Village’s annual living-history event. Page 10A
Online Look for an update to the Dakota County grand jury’s decision regarding an Apple Valley suicide case. Action is expected Friday. Check out the Reader News feature, which allows people to submit stories and photos for the website.
Index Opinion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4A ThisWeekend. . . . . . 10-11A Sports . . . . . . . . . . . 12-13A Classifieds. . . . . . . . 14-17A Public Notices. . . . . . . . 18A Announcements . . . . . . 18A General Information 952-894-1111 Distribution 952-846-2070 Display Advertising 952-846-2011 Classified Advertising 952-846-2000
Once he hatched his big idea, it didn’t take unemployed Rosemount resident Bennett Olson long to get noticed. It was 8 seconds to be exact. That’s how long his smiling face, his website address and the words “HIRE ME” appeared on an electronic billboard facing northbound Interstate 35W just south of downtown Minneapolis last month. Within a week of his every minute or so frequency on the day-long billboard buy, Olson had landed a job with Laser Design & GKS Services, a Bloomington-based 3D scanning company, as a sales and marketing associate. Of course, that was after his un-
usual idea landed his face, voice and story on local, national and worldwide newspaper pages and radio and television stations. “I was doing a radio interview with John Williams on WCCO and he was giving me a hard time for all this free publicity I was getting,” Olson said. Call it a sign of the times. Olson says he didn’t expect a media circus to broadcast his need for a job, but it allowed him to parlay his $300 billboard buy into thousands of dollars of air time to tell his story, including a phone interview on CNN. “I didn’t think it would be this big,” said Olson, who was sent words of job-search encouragement from as far away as South Africa and Bulgaria. “It was just something that popped into my head. It was an in-
expensive way to do it. I thought it could be worth the money.” It sure was. Laser Design contacted Olson based on the media stir. During his interview with the company, he said the company’s managers wanted to talk to him about the billboard and all the buzz that followed. Olson’s billboard created a built-in ice-breaker during the interview after which Laser Design was impressed. “It feels good to be settled into something,” he said. “There is a lot for me to learn. … There is a lot to know about this job and this industry.” In his position, Olson says he will be problem solving with engineers See olson, 6A
Rosemount was a much different place in 1998 when Gary Kalstabakken was selected to lead the city’s police department. The city’s population hovered around 13,000 and had 12 officers working the streets when the former Richfield Police Department lieutenant assumed his new role. Now the city boasts over 22,000 r e s i d e n t s Gary and has 22 Kalstabakken officers, the newest of which started just last month. Kalstabakken said on Monday when his retirement announcement was made that it was time to move on to another challenge in his life, which will be managing the information delivery system for the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. “This allows me to stay in criminal justice field but working in a different capacity,” said Kalstabakken, whose last day on the job will be May 31. See Chief, 7A
Apple Valley mayor Party time announces bid for County Board seat collaborations such as the Cedar corridor project and Apple Valley Mayor creation of the Dakota Communications Center, Mary HamannH a m a n n - Ro l a n d Roland announced said her decision Tuesday she will seek to run for county election to the Dakocommissioner was ta County Board of motivated by a deCommissioners. sire to continue the The four-term partnership-focused, mayor’s announcecommunity-building ment came just Mary approach Branning hours after longtime Hamannbrought to the board. county Commis- Roland “This county is a sioner Will Branning county of Apple Valley made public forward-thinking his decision to not seek re- that’s very efficient in its use of the public dollar,” Haelection in the fall. Hamann-Roland will be mann-Roland said. “I’d like seeking the District 7 seat on to be part of making it even the County Board, currently better.” held by Branning, which After serving six years serves the cities of Apple on the Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan School Board, Valley and Rosemount. Having worked with Branning on city-county See mayor, 8A by Andrew Miller Sun Thisweek
Photo by Rick Orndorf
Apple Valley High School students let loose on prom night, which was held at International Market Square in Minneapolis on Saturday, May 5.
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