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VOL. 18 NO. 20 www.readthecitizen.com $1.00
BONUS SECTION: October is Fire Prevention month PAGE 22
Pages 6-9
Missing masks ‘not tolerated’ at school board meeting
A new kind of police K-9 member of crisis response team
BY JACKIE BUSSJAEGER STAFF WRITER
SUBMITTED
The Washington County Sheriff’s Office is likely one of the first agencies in the state to have a certified therapy dog paired with a law enforcement officer working in the field. Detective Matt O’Hara is paired with Rookie.
In a less than five-minute meeting, the White Bear Lake school board canceled its public forum in response to members of the audience who chose to attend the in-person meeting without wearing masks. District policy currently requires face coverings for ages 2 and older, regardless of vaccination status. For those unable to wear masks, the district had provided a separate space within the District Center where attendees could watch a livestream broadcast of the meeting. However, maskless individuals still chose to be present in the main meeting space. On noticing this, the board quickly passed its consent agenda, explained the reason the public forum would be skipped, and then adjourned. The sudden ending of the meeting caused uproar in the audience, with one individual comparing the action to “Nazism.” “We needed to send a message that that’s not going to be tolerated,” Acting Board Chair Kim Chapman said after the meeting. “It’s a board policy. Students have to wear it, all staff have to wear it, everybody on school district grounds in the buildings wear masks.” The public forum has been a contentious space over the last few months, with the board passing new public forum rules at the beginning of last month’s meeting. The holding of a public forum is not a legal requirement for school board meetings, but is offered as a way for members of the public to bring information relevant to the function of the district directly to the board’s attention.
SEE ROOKIE, PAGE 14
SEE SCHOOL BOARD MEETING, PAGE 16
Grow systems designed by growers, for growers BY SHANNON GRANHOLM LEAD EDITOR
When Chris Ellis was searching for a warehouse facility to develop his indoor grow system, he stumbled across an apple orchard — the rest is history. “Rent on a warehouse is ridiculously expensive,” Ellis explained. “I was looking around at different properties available, and then this popped up and I asked Shelli, what do you think about
getting an orchard?” The husband and wife visited the property and immediately knew they had to have it. They purchased Applecrest Orchards, located at 7306 24th Ave. N. on the border of Hugo and Lino Lakes, in November 2019. A couple of months later, Chris officially launched his “day job” side of the business, AI Grow. AI Grow is a new division of Ellis’ company Assured
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grower can actually focus on the plant itself and not worry about timing, watering, lights, humidity. What we have found is that every grower has their own secret recipe. They know how to do what they do best.” Ellis has a team of 10 electrical control engineers, software developers and master growers. The
Integration, which he began in Georgia in early 2017. He was traveling a lot for work, mainly to Minnesota and Wisconsin, so the couple eventually decided to relocate to Minnesota. “The purpose is to perfect the growing environment and make it accessible for all people wanting to grow food or any sort of crops,” Ellis explained. “You take the process out of it. The whole point of automation is so the
SEE AI GROW, PAGE 17
SHANNON GRANHOLM | PRESS PUBLICATIONS
Chris Ellis, founder of AI Grow.
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