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BEAR BOOSTER: ‘We have lost a local treasure’ PAGE 10A
Let the ordinance writing begin; irrigation ban takes effect BY DEBRA NEUTKENS EDITOR
WHITE BEAR TOWNSHIP — After 18 years in the irrigation business, Gus Gustafson is ready to sell. Unfortunately, his timing is bad. Eighty-five percent of his business is within a 5-mile radius of White Bear Lake, the area under a court-ordered irrigation ban. If the lake reaches 924 feet, owners of lawn care businesses will be singing in the rain, but that hasn't happened in 13 years. The Department of Natural Resources (DNR) had a Feb. 28 deadline to issue a court-ordered directive to 10 communities within the circle. The agency amended appropriation permits for the municipalities, imposing restrictions on residential irrigation and per capita water use. Gustafson owns Aquatec Irrigation Service Inc. on Leibel Street in White Bear Township. Health issues are forcing him to retire. “It's hard to sell a business to begin with,” he said, “but the value of my company went down the drain with this deal.” An irrigation ban is one of several requirements mandated by District Court Judge Margaret Marrinan in her Aug. 30 ruling in the lake level lawsuit. She sided with the plaintiff, the White Bear Lake Restoration Association, which blamed excessive groundwater pumping, permitted by the DNR, for low lake levels. Implementing the new permit language is now up to the 10 municipalities. They will be writing ordinances to enforce the changes to water appropriation permits. “We have to comply with the new language,” said Bill Short, White Bear Township clerk/treasurer. The township will draft a plan and share it with residents as to how an amendment will be enacted and enforced, he noted. “The only reasonable way to enact anything like this is through an ordinance.” Key issues, added Short, is whether SEE WATER PERMITS, PAGE 9A
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About 250 White Bear Lake Area Schools high school and middle school students demonstrated against gun violence in schools outside the White Bear Lake City Hall Feb. 23.
White Bear students join nationwide walkouts protesting school violence BY SARA MARIE MOORE VADNAIS HEIGHTS EDITOR
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Mayor Jo Emerson and Councilman Dan Jones listened to student concerns, including a speech from demonstration organizer Zack Weiman inside White Bear Lake City Hall.
WHITE BEAR LAKE — Every hand was raised when Mayor Jo Emerson asked a group of high school students who had walked across town to meet with her whether they felt unsafe at school. “I am very upset with this. … That is not acceptable,” Emerson said, telling the students that she was not afraid to go to school when she was growing up. “I want you to have that.” About 250 North and South Campus students walked from their respective campuses to White Bear Lake City Hall near the end of the
school day Feb. 23, joining a nationwide student movement petitioning for change in the wake of a school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High in Parkland, Florida Feb. 14. North Campus and Central Middle School students carried signs and chanted outside City Hall for about half an hour while waiting for South Campus students to make the 3-mile journey. The long walk was led by junior Zack Weiman, playing guitar, and senior McKenzie Brown. Mayor Emerson and Councilman Dan Jones were ready to talk when they arrived. More police officers at
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school, better lockdown procedures, more school mental health counselors and stricter gun regulations were the requests from the group. Emerson outlined where students should go with their requests and provided a list of politicians to contact. She also asked students to put their requests in writing so she could take their concerns to politicians in Washington next month when she attends a National League of Cities meeting. “Stay with this,” Emerson told the students. “Don't stop next week after it comes out in the paper, because I firmly believe you guys are going SEE WALKOUT, PAGE 8A
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