Friday, October 1, 2010

Homecoming King and Queen crowned


Jake Keefer was crowned as B-W Homecoming King and Megan Smith was crowned as Homecoming Queen under a tent at King Field where the Homecoming Dance was held Friday night.

Dr. and Mrs. Price to retire
Practice sold to Dr. James Purdy



Dr. James Purdy, left, will be taking over the practice of Dr. Raymond Price in October.

Dr. and Mrs. Price have announced they will be retiring from the dentistry practice effective this Thursday, September 30.
The Prices have been practicing in Baldwin for the past 41 years. Jan Price was the dental assistant for about 30 years, in addition to scheduling appointments, doing lab work and keeping the books.
“It’s time,” Jan said about the decision to retire. “Well take some time to unwind and decide what we really want to do (in retirement).”
Dr. James Purdy will take over the operation of the practice. Dr. Purdy has been offering dental services in Hudson for the past five years. He lives in Hudson with his wife, Brenda, their two children, Preston and Landon and their yorkie, Malibu.
Dr. Purdy grew up in southern Minnesota. He received an undergraduate degree (BS) and a graduate degree (MS) from South Dakota State University and his dental degree (DDS) from the University of Minnesota.
Dr. Purdy has participated in many outreach and social service programs, giving much in the way of time and service to others. In his free time, Dr. Purdy enjoys spending time with his family, reading, learning, and traveling.
Dr. Purdy said he will ease into the transition at the Baldwin location beginning in mid-October.

Board approves assessments

At a special Village of Baldwin board meeting on Wednesday, September 22 the board approved assessments for the work that accompanied the street reconstruction of the two block stretch of Curtis Street between USH 63 and 12th Avenue.
Village Engineer Mike Stoffel told board members that the assessments in most cases, were slightly lower than the initial estimates.
The board did not deal with a request for issuing a fireworks permit for the homecoming celebration on Friday night because the application was withdrawn because of cost and liability issues.
The board authorized submission of an application for a TEA grant for building a road and other infrastructure in the village’s I-94 industrial park. The application is complete except for the village board’s approval, Stoffel said. The grant will be used to extend the existing road about 1,600 feet, he added.
The board also authorized borrowing funds for the up-front costs of the road before the grant proceeds are disbursed to the village. Later, when the infrastructure work is completed, bonds will be issued to pay for the excess costs over the grant proceeds.

Baldwin-Woodville annual meeting held

Baldwin-Woodville School District electors approved a preliminary budget of $19,399,845 for the 2010-2011 school year, or a drop of 0.81% from last year’s budget at the sparsely attended annual meeting on Monday night, September 27.
Superintendent Rusty Helland cautioned those in attendance, which included two electors, including this reporter, other than school board members and district employees, that the figures presented at the meeting were preliminary because final state aid figures have not been received. He said the numbers presented were on the conservative side and would likely change for the better for district taxpayers.
The preliminary budget includes a total school levy of $6,675,769, or an increase of 4.92% over last year’s total levy of $6,362,820.
Superintendent Helland also noted that the district is still working on compiling the official first day enrollment figures but he said the number will increase even without including those students enrolled in four year old kindergarten.
The remainder of the meeting was routine and included the election of School Board President Jeff Campbell as chairman; approving last year’s minutes; presentation of the treasurer’s report; passage of a motion to authorize the board to make temporary loans and sell unneeded property.
A motion to increase the pay for school board members to $75 per meeting from the present $65 was passed. The 2011 annual meeting was set for Monday, September 26 at 7:30 p.m. at Viking Middle School.

From the Exchanges
Interesting items from
surrounding communities


THE SUN (OSCEOLA): After squabbles between Osceola Village Board members held up the process by six days, Christian Community Homes & Services has received the go-ahead to begin constructing a new 56-bed nursing home in Osceola. Discussion over the plans culminated Monday night during a special village board meeting held at the behest of Don Stocker, who raised questions about the hospital/nursing home site plans during the September 15 regular board meeting. In particular, Stocker objected to the idea that the nursing home and Osceola Medical Center were proposing to share a lateral water and sewer pipe while still dividing the property into two lots with separate ownership. Stocker cited a number of “creative things done with this hospital” while it was being constructed in 2007-08 and cautioned the board to be wary of rubber stamping the project. But Village Administrator Neil Soltis told the board that the Village had no legal authority over the location of the companies’ water and sewer laterals, which run under private property from the public mains. Soltis consulted with both the state and the Village’s attorney to review the plan. They both found no issues with it, citing a legal agreement between the hospital and the nursing home.

CENTRAL ST. CROIX NEWS: The hottest topic at Monday’s regular monthly meeting of the Warren Town Board was the proposed Salvation Army Transitional Living Program to be located at 881 Hwy. 65. Although the property is located in the Town of Warren, it borders a development that lies within the village - specifically the homes on the west side of Hillcrest Drive. There were about a dozen residents from both Roberts and Warren at the meeting who wanted to be heard. Speaking on behalf of the Hillcrest neighborhood was Stacy Phillips, who lives within 200 yards of the proposed home. “I don’t want to live in that neighborhood anymore,” Phillips said. “My house will go up for sale.” The residents have started a petition that they plan to bring to the special exception hearing at the St. Croix County Zoning Department in Hudson on Thursday, October 28. “We have 300 signatures so far and counting. We’re going to be going all this weekend as well,” Phillips said. “I would say about 98 percent of the people we have talked to so far are opposed to this… We want to maintain that country small village feel to that area, that’s why we moved there. We are the ones directly affected by the home.” Town Chair Rich Meyer said there isn’t anything the board can do. “This is one of those things that we really have no control on,” Meyer said. “The state institutions are allowed on Ag-res.”

HUDSON STAR~OBSERVER: A lawsuit has been filed in Federal Court in Madison against the St. Croix County Sheriff’s Department and others alleging that they used excessive force when a police dog was released on a Hudson teenager last October. The lawsuit alleges that Nate Livermore, then 15, was bitten by the department’s dog “Ace” as he ran to escape from a home in St. Croix Heights where he and three other friends were being threatened by the armed homeowner, Daniel Christenson, the night of October 17, 2009. According to the complaint, the four teens who escaped the house through the basement window were given conflicting reports to both “run” and “get down” by police on the scene. The complaint says the dog was released and bit Livermore, who was on the ground at the time, on the right arm, and refused to let go of the teen when commanded to do so by the St. Croix County Deputy handling him. Treated the night of the incident and allowed to go home, Livermore was hospitalized the next day with a serious infection and underwent at least two surgeries to repair the injury. The suit states that as a result of the dog attack, Livermore has limited use of his arm and continues to deal with some mental health issues.

PIERCE COUNTY HERALD: A teacher convicted of sexually assaulting a 13-year-old Pierce County boy can’t mitigate her responsibility by claiming his parents failed to adequately supervise him, according to an appeals court decision. In a five-page decision filed Tuesday, the District III Court of Appeals upheld a decision by Pierce County Judge Robert Wing and rejected Ann Knopf’s claims against the parents. “Knopf’s assignment of blame to the (boy’s) parents represents convoluted reasoning reminiscent of Lewis Carroll,” wrote the three-judge appeals panel. “We will not follow down the rabbit hole and open the door for a child molester to sue the victim’s parents for their failure to lock their child away or for their ineffectiveness in trying to stop their child from being sexually abused. Knopf, now 42, whose address at the time was N5820 950th St., Ellsworth, worked as a substitute teacher at the boy’s school in Prescott. In July 2008, she pleaded guilty to second degree sexual assault of a child and was sentenced to nine months in jail followed by five years probation. In October 2008, the boy and his father filed a civil lawsuit, asking for monetary damages from Knopf and her husband, Wade (John) Knopf, and their insurance company. The lawsuit alleged Knopf negligently and intentionally harmed the child. Knopf subsequently filed a counterclaim and claim, alleging the boy’s divorced parents were negligent in supervising their son because they focused on learning with whom the boy was involved rather than stopping the contact.