Good Samaritans

Developer announces tenant for downtown project

BY SHANNON GRANHOLM LEAD EDITOR

HUGO — A 7,000-square-foot restaurant with a 2,500-square-foot patio overlooking Egg Lake may be coming to downtown Hugo.

The developer of the project, Dennis Properties, announced last week that it has entered into a letter of intent for leasing the restaurant and patio to Patrick Conroy. Conroy, a Hugo resident, owns 11 restaurants in the Twin Cities, including Muddy Cow, Muddy Chicken, Mad Cow and MC’s Tap House.

“We are a family-friendly establishment where good food and family fun are served daily,” Conroy said. “We look forward to broadening our dining services with youth sports and other community organizations around Hugo.”

The City Council approved a purchase agreement for $1 for the city-owned property across Highway 61 from City Hall last December. At that time, the plan included 89,000 square feet of building space with 200 parking stalls. Some key features of the project could include a downtown pier and a pedestrian-friendly Main Street.

“We are very excited that Patrick Conroy will be opening a restaurant in downtown Hugo. We believe his concept is a great fit with the project, and we have no doubt this will be a very successful location,” said Denny Trooien, CEO of Dennis Properties.

Dennis Properties is working with SRF Consulting to assist with planning and permitting and with Collage Architects for the design of the buildings and the site.

The Downtown Hugo proposal is still in the planning stages, and needs to go through a myriad of approvals and permits. The development would likely be built in five phases, with the first phase to include the restaurant. Trooien said

SUBMITTED

Here is an architect’s rendering of what downtown Hugo may look like by 2022.

construction is expected to begin later this year and be complete in 2022.

Community Development Director Rachel Juba said Dennis Properties has not applied for any land use approvals as yet, but is working on a plan and meeting with various entities.

“This is an exciting and ambitious project” Trooien said. “We’re going to do this right and when we’re done these buildings will look very historic.”

Lead Editor Shannon Granholm can be reached at 651-407-1227 or quadnews@presspubs.com.

Good Samaritans perform random acts of kindness

PHOTOS SUBMITTED

The Forest Lake Area Good Samaritans at one of their cleanup events in April. Founder Mike Kaiser is holding their Community Involvement award the group received in March.

BY NOELLE OLSON STAFF WRITER

While taking a morning run through Forest Lake after a stormy night four years ago, financial adviser Mike Kaiser had an inspirational idea.

“I noticed a bunch of trees and branches down and thought to myself, ‘It would be fun to randomly show up at someone's house and clean up their yard and say, ‘It's on the house,’” Kaiser said. And that's just what he did.

He went home and told his wife, Sonja, about getting a group of volunteers together to help with the cleanup from the storm. She loved the idea, so her husband sprang into action.

“I went and posted on Nextdoor and asked if anyone would be interested in helping out, and 37 people responded — and that's how it all started,” he said. The Forest Lake Area Good Samaritans group was established with Kaiser as the founder of the group.

Jackie Loose was one of those people who responded to the Nextdoor post. “I went to the first meeting and I’ve been hooked ever since,” she said. She is currently a board member and the treasurer of the group.

When Kaiser’s longtime friend Melissa Lundmark heard about the group, she said she definitely knew she wanted to join. She is now the vice-president of the nonprofit organization.

“I remember one time when my youngest son Chase, who was 16 at the time, came with me to volunteer and he wasn’t having a very good morning. But when we left the job he said, ‘Mom, that really feels good, doesn’t it?’” Lundmark said. This inspired one of the group’s slogans, “It feels good to do good.”

The group doesn't have a hard time finding people in need. They find projects through social media, the news and members of the community. “What we’ve found out is that a lot of people don’t like to ask for help, so neighbors or family members will contact us if someone needs something done,” Lundmark said.

The group has been growing and helping people not only in Forest Lake, but in the cities of Wyoming, Columbus, Stillwater, Hugo and surrounding communities throughout Washington County.

The organization relies on funding through sponsors and fundraisers that include a winter plunge and raffles, but they mostly rely on their volunteers.

“It’s a good way to meet your neighbors. You not only get to keep your city clean, you get to meet people that you normally wouldn’t get to meet in your daily routine,” Sonja Kaiser said. “We give free T-shirts to all our new volunteers who come out to help, and so far we’ve given away at least 300 shirts. Also, after our cleanup events, the volunteers get a free lunch provided by the Forest Lake Lions,” Kaiser added.

Back in March, the Forest Lake Area Good Samaritans received a Community Involvement award from Community Thread. The nonprofit also launched a “March into Spring” event, where they challenged people to perform a random act of kindness for someone every day for 31 days.

“One of the challenges was a gas pump giveaway, where I paid for a lady’s gas with our Good Samaritan debit card,” Kaiser said. “I filmed the whole thing live on Facebook, and Jackie called me and said, ‘I can clearly see our PIN number when you punched it into the pump.’”

Needless to say, the PIN number has changed.

The group is part of a “cleanest city in America” competition that began with the city of Salisbury in Maryland. Now, there are approximately 35 cities throughout the country who participate in the “just for fun” competition. With the help of 55 volunteers in April, the group collected 187 bags of trash in two hours and was consequently crowned the cleanest city in America. Group members were featured on KARE 11 News.

Since the organization began, group members have left May Day baskets and plants on random people's doors throughout the community. “It’s just great seeing their faces, and they are so thankful,” Lundmark said.

“We now donate a plant each month to the Cherrywood and Birchwood senior centers (in Forest Lake),” Kaiser added.

The group has attracted the attention of the Forest Lake Police Department, Mayor Mara Bain, Fire Chief Al Newman and other city officials who are very supportive of the nonprofit’s cleanup efforts. “The city is using us as a resource now if someone needs something,” Kaiser said.

The next cleanup event will take place right after the Forest Lake Fourth of July celebration on July 1-4. Kaiser wasn't certain of the exact date at press time but noted that people can find that information on the group’s Facebook page.

The group is always looking for sponsors, volunteers and anyone who needs a helping hand. “It’s nice when they sponsor or volunteer, because they feel a part of it and it becomes a part of them,” Loose said.

Part of the mission of the Forest Lake Area Good Samaritans is to create a stronger community through doing good deeds for its neighbors and help spread kindness to surrounding communities. “It's really about doing something nice for someone else — pay it forward,” Kaiser said.

For more information on the Forest Lake Area Good Samaritans visit its Facebook page or website at goodsamaritansfla.com.

Forest Lake Area Good Samaritans volunteers Antonio Pleitez, Mike Kaiser, Kathy Garry and Melissa Lundmark wearing their “Pay it Forward” t-shirts.

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This graph shows how many days it would take for the entire world to receive a random act of kindness if everybody who received one random act of kindness and reciprocated with three acts of kindness.

SOME OF THE GOOD DEEDS PERFORMED OVER THE YEARS BY THE FOREST LAKE AREA GOOD SAMARITANS:

• Gave financial assistance to a single parent of two special needs children, one in the middle of an extended hospital stay. • Moved a man from Chisago to Forest Lake. • Replaced broken blinds in a veteran’s home. • Shoveled snow for those who needed help. • Provided financial assistance to a family suffering the loss of a child who was struck by a snowmobile. • Worked with the watershed district to paint warnings by storm drains to protect the lakes from problem discharges. • Performed yard work — mowing, raking and clearing overgrown paths for a neighbor. • Painted a deck. • Raised money to help purchase hearing aids. • Helped families with auto repairs. • Provided transportation. • Replaced a furnace and fixed two roofs. • Assisted four families involved in house fires with gift cards and cash donations.

Deciphering the origins of ‘Da Fishi Code’ with Dan Brown

BY ROY HEILMAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Taylors Falls author Dan Brown has a story to tell. Actually, lots of them. That’s not unexpected for an avid hunter and angler, trout fishing guide and father. But it never hurts if you’ve gotten good at telling your tales.

Though he grew up in Golden Valley, Brown says, “I did half my growing up in Remer,” at the family’s lake home. Year-round visits there fostered independence and discovery: “My brother and I were set free … doing the Huck Finn bit.”

No doubt those idyllic times jump-started Brown’s love of fishing and collecting stories. Over hundreds of installments to his column in the Chisago County Press, he has connected readers to his experiences, ranging from introspective to silly. Seventyfive selections make up his new book, “Da Fishi Code,” published by Beaver’s Pond Press of Saint Paul.

I got to know Dan a little last week and learned that his pool of experiences is probably deep enough to land another book or two.

RH: What makes your inner outdoorsman tick? DB: I have always felt that getting outdoors and enjoying nature through fishing and hunting is the necessary counterbalance I need in my life. Life and work and other factors can cause stress and a measure of anxiety, so it seems like I have something internal that tells me it is time to get outdoors and ‘reset’ my mind. RH: Do you have a favorite trout fishing destination? DB: Favorites include a number of the Lake Superior tributaries, such as the Bois Brule River up near Brule, Wisconsin, as well as a number of rivers from Duluth right on up the North Shore of Lake Superior on the Minnesota side. Also, the fall chinook salmon run on the Pere Marquette River in Michigan is a favorite. Thirty-pound salmon on the fly rod is an experience like no other.

RH: What is the best part of helping a fly rod first-timer? DB: I am eternally pleased when past clients keep in contact and let me know they have continued with fly-fishing. There have been many folks over the years who were profoundly affected by their experience catching their first trout on a fly rod. It is gratifying.

RH: How did you wind up guiding anglers? DB: I began guiding for trout in 1999 at Seven Pines Lodge in Lewis, Wisconsin. I knew the owners of the lodge and one day, while I was there fishing for fun, they asked me if I'd like to become the trout guide for their guests. I did that for about 12-13 years, and it was there my two sons, Anders and Augie, really learned to cast and fish with a fly rod.

RH: Are your sons as hardcore as you? DB: Anders (22) is absolutely crazy about fly-fishing. He has taken steelhead fishing to a whole different level. Augie (18) is quite the angler as well but has not yet gone completely ‘round the bend’ like Anders. I wrote a piece that appears near the end of my book titled, “Steelheading the North Shore.” In that story I recount a memorable afternoon catching a number of steelhead with Anders and Augie on the Split Rock River and Stewart River along the North Shore. On that day, I had an opportunity to occasionally sit down and observe them working the water together, and it really struck me how accomplished they both are as fly anglers.

RH: What do they do that makes you proud? DB: Both Anders’ and Augie’s academic careers have made Su and me very proud. Anders begins his doctorate of physical therapy program at the University of Puget Sound in the fall, while Augie will begin his undergraduate studies at the University of Minnesota-Duluth. Anders played baseball for UMD, and Augie will do the same. Both of them have grown to be thoughtful and kind young men.

RH: What has been your favorite thing to communicate to readers? DB: Allowing readers to vicariously join me on my fishing and hunting adventures ranks high with me. The process of sitting down in front of the computer and writing a true recollection of fishing and hunting experiences is immensely satisfying to me.

RH: What do you think has resonated most with readers of your column? DB: I discovered that the ‘how to’ fishing and hunting articles don't resonate nearly as much as a wellcrafted descriptive story about fishing and hunting. I also discovered humorous writing has a broad appeal with readers. I made sure to include a fair number of humorous pieces in the book.

Brown acknowledges a truth of authorship: “I am not getting rich selling these books.” All the same, since October he’s been busy with book signings and adding retailers to his roster. They’re listed on his website, danbrowntrout.com.

The public is invited to pick up a copy of “Da Fishi Code” and meet the selfdescribed “best fish fryer in the universe” when he will be signing books at Lake Country Booksellers in White Bear Lake from 10 to 11:30 a.m. July 9.

Taylors Falls resident and fi shing guide Dan Brown recently published “Da Fishi Code,” a collection of 75 essays from his column at Chisago County Press.

MMCD: Surveillance key to mosquito control

BY ROY HEILMAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

In Minnesota, few things are more synonymous with summer than mosquitoes. Fortunately, those in the seven-county Metropolitan Mosquito Control District (MMCD) have been getting a break from those tiny pests for more than 60 years.

Since 1958, MMCD has been fine-tuning mosquito control in an area which now encompasses more than 3 million residents. The days of spraying clouds of chemicals — which target adult mosquitoes— are a thing of the past here. Instead, control efforts are aimed at mosquito larvae in the ponds, ditches, swamps and other stagnant waters where they develop.

Each of more than 200,000 such sites in the district is classified by factors such as location, size, depth, duration of water retention and even the type of mosquitoes that breed there. Treatments are then tailored to site characteristics, rainfall and data collected by on-the-ground monitoring.

That data collection process is what Alex Carlson, MMCD public relations coordinator, refers to as “surveillance.” Mosquito control would probably grind to a halt without it. “Surveillance is one of the first steps of our integrated pest management program,” he said.

What the public may not know is that surveillance takes multiple forms and is conducted nearly yearround. In the fall, MMCD field technicians survey in certain areas for larvae of one variety, the “cattail mosquito.” Their larvae overwinter, unlike most mosquito varieties. In spring and summer, technicians disperse almost daily in their familiar white and green trucks to retrieve samples of larvae. Also, throughout the summer they set traps and use nets to collect adult mosquitoes, canvassing for varieties known to transmit diseases to humans.

The larvicides used by MMCD are known as methoprene, spinosad, and Bacillus thuringiensis var. israelensis (Bti). Carlson explains they are all compounds that interrupt the development between larval and adult stages and “don’t harm non-target insects, pets or humans.” In fact, spinosad and Bti are derived from naturally occurring bacteria. All are applied in dry, pelletized form and are relatively shortlived in the environment.

Carlson underscores how heavily environmental concerns weigh in the decision-making process: “The most common misperception is probably how much research and data goes into every decision that MMCD makes. We consider a lot of factors before making a treatment, and choose the most environmentally friendly method to do it.”

Helicopters take to the skies in May to begin applying pellets to larger water-collecting basins. These products are designed to deliver insecticides quickly and have a rapid impact on developing larvae. Smaller sites are usually treated on foot by field technicians.

Additional applications occur over the course of the season as needed, which may be as often as every major rain event.

Results are generally good, according to Carlson: “[Treatments are] 80 to 100 percent effective, depending on the site.” He explains that since the MMCD encompasses such a large area, it can achieve better mosquito suppression by utilizing widespread larval control. This is in contrast to spraying for adult mosquitoes, which is more localized and doesn’t account for their ability to travel miles from their source.

But while modern mosquito control efforts may concentrate on the larval stages, that doesn’t mean they never use sprays. When surveillance discovers certain disease-carrying varieties, MMCD personnel will apply insecticides such as Permethrin via backpack sprayer in order to kill adult mosquitoes.

Varieties of particular concern are those that have the potential to transmit devastating diseases like LaCrosse encephalitis, Eastern equine encephalitis (fatal in 30% of cases), and West Nile virus. Carlson credits MMCD’s surveillance and control measures in part for the fact that Minnesota reported zero cases of West Nile in 2020.

In addition to rigorous mosquito control, the MMCD conducts monitoring of ticks and tick-borne diseases. Specifically, deer ticks and the locally rare Lone Star tick have the potential to spread a variety of diseases like babesiosis, Lyme disease, and ehrlichiosis.

MMCD also treats select rivers annually with Bti for biting gnats. Media attention has been focused recently on biting gnat concentrations in the south metro area, which Carlson describes as “no public health risk, really, just a nuisance.”

More information about the work of the Metropolitan Mosquito Control District, including daily helicopter activity updates and interactive maps, can be found at its website, mmcd.org.

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