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CITY COUNCIL: New members sworn in and other happenings PAGE 20
‘Keep moving forward’: Event honors vision, values of MLK Jr. BY RANDY PAULSON STAFF WRITER
Nearly 55 years after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s death, the civil rights movement leader’s legacy continues to inspire progress toward social justice and equality. Hedy Lemar Walls hopes people will reflect on the importance of finding shared moral values with others this Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Lemar Walls — the executive vice president for social responsibility for the YMCA of the North in Minneapolis — will be the keynote speaker at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Breakfast for the Northeast Suburbs Monday, Jan. 16, at Parkview United Church of Christ in White Bear Lake. Parkview is hosting the event in partnership with White Bear Unitarian Universalist Church and Interfaith Action of Greater St. Paul. Doors for the event open at 6:30 a.m., and a free continental breakfast will be served at 6:45 a.m. Lemar Walls will deliver her address at 7:15 a.m. and Minneapolis-based vocal ensemble Cantus will perform afterward. There will later be a linked broadcast of the 33rd annual Dr. Martin Luther King
Jr. Holiday Breakfast that will be taking place that morning in Minneapolis. “One thing that he was very well known for was his strong values,” Lemar Walls said of King. “What we have to do as a people, I believe, is instead of focusing on the way people look or the way they dress or even the color of their skin, how do we move to a position of really wanting to engage and understand how others are feeling and seeing the world?” “It may be different from us, yet we can all learn from each other.” Lemar Walls is a Baton Rouge, Louisiana, native who lived in Minnesota for 48 years before moving to Florida in 2020. After she earned her bachelor’s degree from Southern University in Baton Rouge, Lemar Walls’ mother insisted she continued her education by getting a master’s degree. Lemar Walls applied to several universities around the country and received a full scholarship from the Carlson School of Business at the University of Minnesota. That’s where she received her master’s degree in business administration. She later went on to earn a doctoral degree in education in leadership from St. Mary’s University in Winona and a specialist degree in education administration from Minnesota State University in Mankato. Lemar Walls recalled how people in her life told her
she should be grateful for living in Minnesota because they believed there would be more racial equality and opportunities for Black people there than in the South. “That was not true,” Lemar Walls said, noting how most of the students of color at the University of Minnesota at the time were international pupils. Therefore, she had to learn to navigate a new cultural setting surrounded mostly by white people. That was in contrast to the segregation she’d grown up in living in Louisiana, where most people in her social circles were
CONTRIBUTED
Hedy Lemar Walls will be the keynote speaker at this year’s Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Breakfast for the Northeast Suburbs Monday, Jan. 16. She is the executive vice president for social responsibility for the YMCA of the North in Minneapolis.
SEE MLK JR DAY, PAGE 8
Projects underway in Vadnais Heights
TIM MCGUIRE | CONTRIBUTED
Mikelson taking stage for 16th annual Janis Joplin tribute concert White Bear Lake resident Jill Mikelson and her fellow musicians perform at their annual “Happy Birthday, Janis” concert. The live show returns for a 16th year on Jan. 21 at First Avenue in Minneapolis after a two-year hiatus. See story online at presspubs.com
There are seven developments in the works in Vadnais Heights. One is Big Wood Brewery, located at 3429 Centerville Road. “Their zoning and land use permits have been issued, so they will start the construction process here soon and you'll start to see some changes out on the site hopefully in the spring,” said Planning/ Community Development Director Nolan Wall. Wall said construction at Bluebird Grove — a 21-lot single-family home development — is coming along. “There's a handful of houses there now,” Wall
January 26 - 29
said. “All infrastructure is in as well as the portion of an off-street trail. There's a couple of minor items that they have to follow up with in the springtime, but for the most part what you're going to see out there continuing is single-family home construction as well as the boardwalk trail south into Bear Park in the near future, hopefully in the spring.” Mondello Shores is a 42lot single-family home development. “Infrastructure is mostly complete,” Wall said. “We are just waiting to install the second lift of pavement sometime in the future.” Another project is Luther Cadillac, a new dealership on the east side of Highway 61 north of Willow Lake Blvd. Wall said the com-
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mercial building permit is valued at $12.5 million. “They are also constructing a new traffic signal at Highway 61 and constructing a new frontage road that will allow for future connection into Gem Lake to the north,” Wall said. Other developments in the city include: • Buerkle Hyundai – remodel (11,000 square feet). • Merrick – remodel at 1239 Willow Lake Blvd. • Vincent Estates – 22-unit twin-home development off County Road F. The next Vadnais Heights City Council meeting is at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 17, in council chambers at City Hall, 800 East County Road E in Vadnais Heights. There will be a presentation on the County Road E Action Plan during the meeting.
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