www.SunThisweek.com news A safer intersection The City of Lakeville and Dakota County are teaming up to revamp one of the city’s most dangerous intersections. Page 3A
Farmington | Lakeville April 6, 2012 | Volume 33 | Number 6
Teens battle against
addiction
opinion Sun Thisweek’s new home Larry Werner, general manager and editor of Sun Thisweek, writes about the newspaper’s new location in Apple Valley’s Central Village. Page 4A
Synthetic marijuana dangers shift to Internet
thisweekend
Drug has disappeared from tobacco shop shelves in Dakota County
Teens take comfort in sober school County, local organizations work toward prevention
by Jessica Harper Sun Thisweek
Lakeville violin virtuoso returns Seventeen-year-old musical prodigy Chad Hoopes is returning to his hometown April 29 for a concert at the Lakeville Area Arts Center. Page 3B
sports
Meg Chevalier will never forget the night her brother brought her home from a late-night drug binge. The Dakota County teen had lived away from home for some time and quickly felt ashamed upon seeing the disheartened look upon her mother’s face. It was then, at age 15, she hit rock bottom. “It hurt to see what I was doing to her,” Che-
valier said. “My mom is so important to me. She’s always been supportive of everything I did.” Though she remained at the bottom for a short time, Chevalier attempted to get sober on her own during her sophomore year of high school. Soon temptation became too great and Chevalier relapsed several times. Many of her friends at school also abused substances, making sobriety nearly impossible.
Chevalier, now 17, decided to start over by enrolling in Alliance Academy, a public charter school that provides a sober environment for teens who struggle with drugs and alcohol. “I found exactly what I was looking for in this school,” said Chevalier, who has been sober for 16 months. While attending the Burnsville school, ChevaSee teens, 7A
by Andrew Miller Sun Thisweek
For parents concerned about the prospect of their kids trying synthetic marijuana, there’s good news and bad news. The good news is that, at least in the south metro area, it appears the drug is no longer available at tobacco shops, gas stations, or “head” shops. The bad news: Illegal or not, synthetic marijuana is still availFile photo able online. Apple Valley Police Officer Legislation was passed Mike Eliason testified at in Minnesota last year that the state Capitol last year outlaws sale and possession in support of legislation outof synthetic marijuana, lawing the sale and possession of synthetic marijuana. See synthetic, 10A
Youth drug trends: Meth use declines; pot, heroin on the rise by Laura Adelmann Sun Thisweek
Tigers on track for another run The majority of the athletes off last season’s fourth-place Farmington girls track and field team are back. Page 12A
Online Check out the new Sun Thisweek website at www.SunThisweek.com. Read an update to today’s story about a third McDonald’s proposed in Lakeville. Read guest editorials from Secretary of State Mark Ritchie, U.S. Sen. Al Franken and a Yellow Medicine county commissioner. Like the Sun Thisweek Facebook page at www.facebook.com/ sunthisweek.
Index Opinion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4A Announcements . . . . . . . 9A Public Notices. . . . . . . . 13A Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12A Classifieds. . . . . . . . . . . 14A General Information 952-894-1111 Distribution 952-846-2070 Display Advertising 952-846-2011 Classified Advertising 952-846-2000
For four years, one Dakota County juvenile sustained his prescription drug addiction by raiding other people’s medicine cabinets. People don’t realize that the bathroom is the one room in a house that gives people complete privacy to snoop, to gather, to take, says one Dakota County chemical health social
Carol James Falkowski Backstrom worker. Prescription drug abuse among teens is a growing trend in Dakota County that officials say is a lead-
ing cause for the rise in heroin addictions among young adults. Past-year use of prescription pain killers was reported by 6.3 percent of Minnesota 12th-graders in 2010, according to a January 2011, National Institute on Drug Abuse report. Those types of prescription narcotics, like Oxycontin and Vicodin, are highly
Felony charge follows drunken standoff with police by Andrew Miller Sun Thisweek
A Farmington man has been charged with a felony after a standoff with police that reportedly saw him clutching a pistol in one hand and a bottle of tequila in the other. Police say Cameron B. Ackland, 46, was showing signs of “extreme intoxication” when he pointed a gun at officers during the standoff March 11 alongside a quiet country road in Empire Township. The criminal complaint gives the following account of the incident: A Dakota County sheriff ’s deputy was dispatched to the area of Blaine Avenue and 17th Street around 2:30 p.m. March 11 on a report of a man staggering around a vehicle parked near a grove of trees. The deputy located the
vehicle and ran a license plate check, which gave emergency alert that the driver was possibly suicidal and in possession of a gun. Additional sheriff ’s deputies, police officers, and an armored vehicle arrived and were positioned about 50 yards behind Ackland’s vehicle. Police observed a liquor bottle in Ackland’s right hand, from which he occasionally took a drink, and a silver handgun in his other hand. Ackland was repeatedly ordered to put down the gun but did not respond. Ackland gestured with the gun toward officers “in a jabbing motion,” the complaint said. He staggered toward them, lurched to the side of the road and fell down. The gun remained in Ackland’s hand, and police used the armored ve-
hicle to approach him. Ackland was taken into custody and transported to Regions Hospital in St. Paul for evaluation. Police recovered from the ground an unloaded .38-caliber revolver and an empty bottle of tequila. Ackland has been charged with second-degree assault for allegedly threatening police with the handgun. The felony is punishable by up to seven years in prison and a $14,000 fine. He also was charged with carrying a pistol while under the influence of alcohol and carrying a pistol without a permit, both gross misdemeanors. Andrew Miller can be reached at andrew.miller@ecm-inc.com or facebook.com/sunthisweek.
addictive opiates that produce a placid euphoria. Youths who try them may not realize their inherent danger, said Carol Falkowski, Minnesota Department of Health drug abuse strategy officer, because they have grown up in a pill-popping culture. “Eighty-five percent of our population takes pills every day for one reason or another,” Falkowski
said. “Children growing up are very used to seeing pill-taking. They see parents and relatives take pills, they may have siblings on medication. They see kids in grade schools line up at lunch time at the nurse’s office to take pills. It’s part of the culture.” Apple Valley High School resource officer Michael Eliason said some See meth, 6A
Steady enrollment decline projected in District 194 Next five years see potential revenue decreases
by Aaron Vehling Sun Thisweek
According to the estimate of State Demographer Tom Gillaspy, by 2020 the number of Minnesotans of retirement age will exceed that of children in the K-12 age bracket. Lakeville’s public school system is already experiencing that dynamic change. Demographic consultant Hazel Reinhardt projects the district will lose between 143 and 651 students over the next five years, with the weight toward the larger number. She attributes the decline to the aging of the residents in the district’s attendance area. “The district’s population is aging out of the
prime childbearing years,” she said in a presentation to the Lakeville School Board earlier this month. So with more emptynesters and an increasing focus on senior housing, there are fewer children to attend the schools. To add to that, Reinhardt said that fewer single-family, detached houses are being built. This poses a problem for the district because “90 percent of resident students come from the single-family detached units.” An additional issue is reduced “migration.” Depressed housing prices means that fewer people are likely to sell their homes elsewhere to moved to Lakeville. Director of Business See decline, 10A