www.SunThisweek.com NEWS Changes at the top in 191 The District 191 School Board was expected to choose a superintendent this week to replace the retiring Randy Clegg. Meanwhile, Assistant Superintendent Chris Lindholm has accepted the superintendent’s job in Pequot Lakes. Page 3A
OPINION Cooperation is key to success High schools and colleges working together on dualcredit course offerings benefits them along with students and businesses. Page 4A
THISWEEKEND
April 12, 2013 | Volume 34 | Number 7
Coming full circle Eagan’s second city administrator returns to city that gave him his start by Jessica Harper SUN THISWEEK DAKOTA COUNTY TRIBUNE
As a 22-year-old intern with the city of Eagan three decades ago, Dave Osberg aspired to be a city administrator but didn’t realize he would one day succeed his mentor, Tom Hedges. “I look at it not as filling Tom’s shoes — that can’t be done, but as filling a vacant position,” said the 54-year-old Hastings resident. Becoming a city administrator wasn’t on Osberg’s mind when he graduated from St. John University in 1980 with a bachelor’s in government. “I knew I wanted to couple government and business but wasn’t sure how,” the White Bear Lake
Dave Osberg native said. “I didn’t want to be in politics but wanted to dabble in government.” Shortly after graduating from St. John’s, Osberg was offered an opportunity to receive a scholarship for a master’s program at Mankato State University.
Burnsville getting a jump on emerald ash borer threat Will begin removing trees by John Gessner
Dreams of my youth, revisited Rosemount native Jim Trevis pays tribute to his family-farm roots in the debut novel, “A Mile of Dreams.” Page 21A
SPORTS
Hanson a big part of Blaze’s plans Burnsville, fourth in the Class AAA baseball rankings, has one of the state’s top players in senior Tyler Hanson. Page 15A
SUN THISWEEK DAKOTA COUNTY TRIBUNE
It’s uncertain whether the emerald ash borer has reached Burnsville. But city officials say that inevitability demands action to control potentially devastating tree losses. The Asian beetle, whose larvae feed on the inner bark of ash trees and disrupt their ability to transport water and nutrients, has already been discovered in Minneapolis and St. Paul. Last year, it was also found at Fort Snelling. Much of Burnsville, including residential areas closest to the Minnesota River Valley, is within an eight-mile danger zone for the beetle’s spread. The city has had an emerald ash borer plan since 2010 and has been setting aside money to fund pre-
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Burnsville | Eagan
treatments and removal of diseased trees. Now the pace is quickening, with removal of high-risk ash trees and hiring of an emerald ash borer technician set to begin this year. A public education campaign encouraging property owners to monitor, pre-treat or replace ash trees will begin early next year. The City Council voted to approve plan updates at its April 9 work session. If there’s any good news, it’s that newly completed tree inventories show that Burnsville has fewer ash trees than once thought. Officials now expect to pay about $3.5 million through 2023 in emerald ash borer-related costs, compared with a previously estimated $10 million. The city has 40,885 ash trees, 19 percent of its See ASH, 13A
He decided to enroll and pursue a career in city administration. “The appealing part of city management was that it broadened the scope of local government,” Osberg said. While working on his master’s in urban and regional studies, Osberg landed an internship with the city of Eagan. As a young graduate student, Osberg looked up to Hedges, who has been highly regarded among those in the field. “Tom helped shape who I am as an administrator,” Osberg said. Hedges taught Osberg more than the ins and outs of city government. He taught him how to be See OSBERG, 14A
Buses will paint the towns ‘Red’ Rapid transit to improve options for Dakota County residents
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INDEX Opinion . . . . . . . . . . . . 4A Public Notices . . 13A-14A Announcements . . . . 14A Sports . . . . . . . . 15A-16A Classifieds . . . . . 18A-19A
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SUN THISWEEK DAKOTA COUNTY TRIBUNE
Every weekday this winter, Lakeville resident Jean Abbott walked a half mile or so from her home to the Apple Valley Transit Station. There she would board a bus that would take her to the Mall of America where she would catch another bus that would drop her off near her office in 77 Mendota Heights. Her commute takes her “I love walking out the a little over an hour, but door and leaving my car Abbott wouldn’t trade it behind,” said Abbott, who for a possible shorter comhas been using transit to mute time by driving herSee BUSES, 12A self to work. Hwy
Sky-high fives
Paul “Tiny” Sturgess, left, and “Slick” Willie Shaw of the Harlem Globetrotters presented the Globetrotters’ program “The ABCs of Bullying Prevention” to an all-school assembly at Sioux Trail Elementary in Burnsville on April 9. The program focuses on action, bravery and compassion as the ABCs of promoting a positive message in the effort to stop bullying in schools. The players also allowed time to teach the students a few of their basketball tricks. (Photos by Rick Orndorf)
New store a homecoming for dry cleaning clan Clover Cleaners now open on Burnsville Parkway SUN THISWEEK DAKOTA COUNTY TRIBUNE
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by Tad Johnson
by John Gessner
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By day, 83-year-old Jane Heitzman runs her son’s dry cleaning store in Burnsville. If customers need alterations or tailoring, she does them by night at her Lakeville home. Jane’s long career in the dry cleaning business found yet another gear when her son, Jack, and his wife, Jody, bought the former Parkway Cleaners at 407 W. Burnsville Parkway and renamed it Clover Cleaners — a name that’s been in her family for more than 40 years. The store, which opened in January, is also a homecoming for the Heitzman clan. Tucked between Great
Members of the Clover Cleaners family clan are, from left, Becky Heitzman, Jody Heitzman, Jane Heitzman, Stephanie Hero and Jack Heitzman. (Photo by John Gessner) Clips and Burn Premium Cigar Specialists, the new Clover Cleaners occupies the exact spot in the same strip mall where Jane and her late husband, Al, opened a Clover Cleaners
25 years ago. In fact, they were the first tenants in Parkway Plaza Mall when it opened in 1988, said Jane, who views the new store as “just another challenge.”
“People say, ‘When are you going to retire?’ I say, ‘retire?’ That’s not in my vocabulary. I’d go crazy,” she said. But the new Clover Cleaners — the fifth in a
succession of Heitzman family-owned stores — isn’t a one-woman operation. Jane is ably assisted by two 25-year-old granddaughters, Becky Heitzman and Stephanie Hero, who each have a decade of experience in the business. Meanwhile, Jack and Jody look after their larger west Bloomington store on Ensign Avenue South, which they bought from Al and Jane in 1988. “You’ve got to work hard,” Jane said, “but it’s not a bad business to be in.” The Heitzman dry cleaning empire dates back to 1947, when Al’s parents started Oxboro Cleaners, Jane said. Al worked in the business but left to manage a dry cleaning store for the G & K Services chain, now a uniform-rental company. See CLOVER, 13A
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