The city of Richfield is moving forward with condemnation proceedings to acquire easements along Portland Avenue for a reconstruction project. Of the 85 affected properties, agreements have been reached for 46, while the city continues negotiations. The project is on schedule to be completed next spring.
1. City has voluntary agreements for about half the affected properties
BY ANDREW WIG
SUN CURRENT NEWSPAPERS
In order to keep the project on schedule for spring, the city of Richfield is proceeding in a condemnation process that will provide the required easements for the reconstruction of
Portland Avenue.
The project, covering 67th Street to 77th Street, calls for the addition of boulevards that require 4-foot permanent easements along properties where adequate right-of-way doesn’t exist. Eighty-five parcels along the stretch are affected, according to a city staff report presented during a Tuesday, Nov. 10, Richfield City Council meeting. The council unanimously approved the condemnation process, although the city is still trying to minimize the number of properties where such action will be required.
Out of the 85 parcels affected, voluntary sale agreements have been reached for 46 as of Nov. 10. The commencement process must begin now, the staff report states, in order to keep the project on schedule for spring. All project documents for the county road are due to MnDOT by March, in order to have time for a review regarding federal funding.
The number of property owners who are not cooperating in ceding their land is “clearly in the
String of vehicle break-ins a reminder to take precautions
Sun Current
10917 Valley View Rd.
Eden Prairie, MN 55344
952-829-0797
Current.mnsun.com
Current
Thursday, Nov. 20, 2014 Current.mnsun.com Vol. 44, No. 47
Cop impersonations
Ending on a high note
Richfield Police warn of a scammer who masquerades as a police over the phone while requesting money.
The Richfield Spartan swimmers were well represented Nov. 12-14 at the State Class A Meet.
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Page 12
Richfield
$1
Public Notices
The city of Richfield has established a 12-month moratorium on indoor
sampling of tobacco products.
Page 14
City enters into preliminary negotiations with developer
BY ANDREW WIG
SUN CURRENT NEWSPAPERS
A suitor for the old Richfield city garage site has surfaced.
The Richfield City Council on Tuesday, Nov. 10, unanimously gave staff the go-ahead to enter into preliminary negotiations with the Edina-based Donald James Group for the sale of the 3.25-acre site on the 7600 block of Pleasant and Pillsbury Avenues.
The developer has proposed 44 owner-occupied townhomes for the property, which was cleared late last summer when the vacant garages, once used by Richfield’s public works department, were demolished.
The negotiations mean the city is a step closer to selling a piece of property it has been trying to unload since the new public works facility opened near Cedar Avenue and 66th Street in 2008. Those efforts came with heated controversy in 2011 and 2012, when a developer proposed an apartment building with all its units classified as “affordable housing.”
The complex, dubbed Pillsbury Commons, would have been reserved for tenants qualifying under an income cap, prompting some neighbors to rally against the proposal, arguing that no apartment complex should consist of 100 percent “affordable” units. The city council nixed the proposal, citing Richfield’s Comprehensive Plan that calls for medium density housing such as townhomes on the site.
Members of the city council and the Richfield Housing and Redevelopment Authority supported the townhome proposal during a work session last month, a city staff report notes.
They did, however, express concerns about a number of features of James’ proposal. Those included the site layout, building materials and architecture, according to the staff.
“This is a much better looking development than I proposed the first time,” James said last week.
He added, “I listened, and I agreed” with the critique.
Councilmember Sue Sandahl was glad to see the revision.
“I think it’s a substantial improvement,” Sandahl said.
In the new concept, two-car garages, facing in toward an alley, are placed behind each of the two-story townhomes. Plans also call for a park-like area and a gazebo on the premises, the developer said. The units, according to James, will be 1,800- 2,200 square feet and retail for $240,000-$290,000.
“We are looking to get started
Townhomes proposed for old city garage site
HOMES - TO PAGE 3
Richfield’s John Teslow promotes cultural exchange through art
BY ANDREW WIG
SUN CURRENT NEWSPAPERS
In American homes, dogs are considered part of the family, a fact that some consider hilarious.
That was one cultural difference between America and Jamaica highlighted through a program founded by Bob Teslow, a Richfield resident and recently retired high school art teacher from Blake School in Minneapolis.
After the island’s influence took hold during his formative years, Teslow founded his nonprofit Drawing Connections Inc. to establish long- distance relationships between students in Jamaica and their counterparts at Blake.
After the program began in 2011, Teslow recorded short video interviews with fifth-graders from Robbins Bay, a small fishing and agricultural village on the northern coast of Jamaica. He also recorded fifth-graders at Blake Lower School in Wayzata, asking the same questions as those posed to the Jamaicans.
Having answered queries about their daily lives, each group of students viewed the others’ interviews, and for the Jamaicans at least, hilarity ensued. When they got to the subject of family arrangements, the Blake students didn’t think twice about including their dogs when listing members of their family.
They would list off parents, siblings, maybe some extended family members, and “when the American kids would say, ‘and my three dogs,’ the Jamaican kids would start laughing,” Teslow said.
Dogs are not considered part of the family in Jamaica. It was one of the differences, in addition to the similarities, uncovered through the video project. Having retired from teaching last spring, Teslow now has more time to focus on making those kinds of connections.
As he enters his newest chapter of life, Teslow is receiving some formal recognition for his 45-year career as an art teacher. The Art Educators of Minnesota named Teslow Art Educator of the Year for 2014, honoring the 67-year-old Edina native at a conference Nov. 7 in Rochester, Minn.
Born out of sorrow
Teslow doesn’t believe his new venture would have happened if it weren’t for a personal tragedy. His wife Denise – he called her “Denny” – succumbed to cancer about two years ago. She got sick in 2011. That summer, Teslow founded Drawing Connections during a solo trip to Jamaica.
In the past, the couple had travelled together to Robbins Bay, the site of their 1976 marriage, but this time Denny was too sick to go. She told her husband to go alone. He proceeded to connect with Robbins Bay Primary School and join students there for their EnvironFrom
Jamaica to Minnesota: Retired art teacher is ‘Drawing Connections’
During a community event in Robbins Bay, Jamaica, Bob Teslow painted this girl’s face before snapping her photo. (Submitted photo)
Fifth-graders at Robbins Bay Primary School in Robbins Bay, Jamaica, paint Styrofoam as part of an art project led by Bob Teslow, who makes regular service trips to Jamaica for his non- profit organization, Drawing Connections, Inc. (Submitted photo)
TESLOW - TO PAGE 9
BY ANDREW WIG
SUN CURRENT NEWSPAPERS
A 24-hour period busy with vehicle break-ins has prompted Richfield Police to tell residents: Be mindful when parking.
Police received eight reports of vehicle break-ins or thefts from vehicles on Nov. 7, mostly from residential areas in the northeast section of the city. Three of those incidents took place on Lyndale Avenue, near both 65th Street and 76th Street. Additionally, a map posted on the police department’s Facebook page shows a total of 14 recent vehicle break-ins across the city.
“We don’t know if they’re related for sure, but we are trying to take steps to prevent them,” said Lt. Mike Flaherty, public information officer for Richfield Police.
Flaherty added that police are distributing informational pamphlets in areas that have been hot spots for vehicle break-ins, such as The Hub shopping center and LA Fitness.
Police are working with Bloomington Police, who Flaherty said have also been hit with an uptick in thefts from vehicles. Richfield Police have been in contact with Edina Police regarding the thefts as well, Flaherty said, along with the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office, which is assisting in the investigation.
Police have the following advice for residents:
• Lock your vehicle.
• Don’t leave your keys in the vehicle.
• Don’t leave valuables in your vehicle, including laptop computers, GPS devices, briefcases, cash or change, sunglasses, CDs, iPods, cell phones and gym bags. All these items are tempting to a thief.
• If you must leave valuables in your vehicle, leave them out of view. Hide them before you reach your destination so that would-be thieves do not see you putting away the valuables.
• Close and lock your garage or park as close to your residence as possible.
• Report suspicious activity while it is happening. Police response to the string of vehicle break-ins on Nov. 7 began when officers responded to the 6400 block of 11th Avenue on a report of a prowler in progress. Residents are advised to call 911 and stay on the line if they see something suspicious.
• Try to get a description of the suspects and their vehicle, but do not confront the suspects.
• Be extra careful when parking at places such as movie theaters, shopping malls and fitness clubs because thieves have a good idea how long you will be away from your vehicle.
• Park in well-lit or highly visible areas.
Richfield Police have produced a video outlining these tips. It can be found at CityofRichfield. org/TheftfromAutoPrevention.
Contact Andrew Wig at andrew.wig@ecm-inc.com or follow him on Twitter @ RISunCurrent.
Condemnation process begins for Portland Avenue project
PORTLAND - TO PAGE 2
Portland Avenue in Richfield is set for reconstruction next year. (Sun Current staff photo by Andrew Wig)
2. 2 Richfield Sun Current • Current.mnsun.com Thursday, Nov. 20, 2014
minority,” Public Works Director
Mike Eastling said.
Acquiring the property is particu-larly
difficult for parcels subject to
foreclosure, probate or title con-cerns,
the staff report states. Mean-while,
some property owners simply
disagree with the road reconstruc-tion.
“There are some that don’t like
the project, don’t want to cooper-ate,”
Eastling said.
If condemnation is necessary, he
believes it would be a first for the
city.
“I don’t believe we’ve ever had to
go through the end of the condem-nation
process,” Eastling said.
That process will proceed along
with efforts to acquire the property
through voluntary agreements.
In addition to the permanent ease-ments,
the Portland Avenue project
also requires temporary easements
that would remain under ownership
of the property holder and turned
back over when construction is
complete. Property owners will re-ceive
compensation for the tempo-rary
acquisitions.
In total, the project widens the
roadway from 60 feet to 71 feet.
The 6-foot boulevards, in addition
to providing pedestrians a buffer
from traffic, will also help with snow
removal, noted Jeff Pearson, trans-portation
engineer for Richfield.
The extra space allows for to snow
pile up when plowed from the road.
While the new Portland Avenue
corridor will require more land, the
roadway itself is getting narrower.
Portland Avenue was once exclu-sively
a four-lane road, until much
of the stretch was recently re-striped
for two travel lanes, a left-turn lane
and bike lanes.
The reconstruction will take on
that configuration. In addition to
the 6-foot boulevards, it will be lined
with a 6-foot sidewalk on one side
and an 8-foot multi-use recreational
path on the other.
Contact Andrew Wig at andrew.
wig@ecm-inc.com or follow him on
Twitter @RISunCurrent.
Portland
FROM PAGE 1
Structure is
‘buttoned up’
for winter
BY ANDREW WIG
SUN CURRENT
NEWSPAPERS
The expansion of Rich-field
Bloomington Honda
is ahead of schedule, with
the structure sealed up for
winter.
As the cold sets in, con-struction
crews are now
working on the inside of
the building as they look
toward a July or August
2014 ribbon cutting, ac-cording
to the dealership’s
president Tim Carter, who
gave the Richfield City
Council an update on the
project late last month.
The 160,000-square-foot
expansion, built of precast
concrete, is set to standout
in Richfield at its location
on 77th Street between
Nicollet and Penn avenues.
It will reach three stories
tall, its most notable fea-ture
a two-story “jewel
case.” The display case will
hold 10 vehicles at a time
and be visible from Inter-state
494, 70 feet above the
ground.
“It’ll bring a lot of atten-tion
to the city, without a
doubt,” Carter said.
Construction is two
weeks ahead of schedule,
Carter added, noting the
city has helped the proj-ect
hum along. Richfield’s
building inspectors and
public works department
– the project involved the
replacement of a 50-year-old
water line – have been
patient, according to Bob
Harlan, superintendent
of the project. In his view,
Richfield has been more
accommodating than
some other cities when it
comes to the various proj-ect
matters.
“I have worked with
other cities where it takes
three weeks to get some-thing
done,” Harlan said.
Aside from the “jewel
case,” also bringing dis-tinction
to the expanded
dealership will be roof-top
parking, a two-story
service department and
a two-story show room.
“No other Honda dealer-ship
has that in the state,
and very few have it in the
country,” Carter said.
Further setting the deal-ership
apart is the posi-tioning
of the building up
close to 77th Street, he
said.
“Most dealerships have
a sea of cars, and the
building way in the back,”
Carter explained.
With the building up
against the street, Carter
is aiming for a “window
shopping effect.”
Renier Construction, the
project’s general contrac-tor,
is based in Columbus,
Ohio, but the construction
workers are contracted lo-cally,
Carter noted.
Contact Andrew Wig at
andrew.wig@ecm-inc.com
or follow him on Twitter @
RISunCurrent.
As winter sets in, expansion of
Honda dealership ahead of schedule
The structure in place for the expansion of Richfield Bloomington Honda has been “buttoned
up” for the winter, as workers turn their attention to the interior of the project. (Submitted
photo)
3. Police reports
For Nov. 5-11, Richfield Police answered the following calls:
Nov. 5 – Police responded to the 7600 block of Cedar Avenue around 3:30 a.m. on a report of a stolen vehicle.
Around 2:30 p.m., police took a report of a party who had not returned a rental vehicle from a business on the 1400 block of East 78th Street. State Patrol stopped the Dodge Charger and arrested the occupant.
Police responded to Fairview Southdale Hospital around 8:45 p.m. on a domestic assault report pertaining to the 7100 block of Chicago Avenue.
Nov. 6 – A car prowler was reported in the area of 11th Avenue and 64th Street around 11:30 p.m.
Nov. 7 – A vehicle break-in was reported on the 6800 block of Third Avenue around 6:45 p.m. Damage to the vehicle was $150. The theft amount was $170 but the stolen items were later recovered.
Police responded to a theft from a vehicle on the 6600 block of Clinton Avenue around 7:30 a.m. The theft amount was $150.
A vehicle break-in was reported on the 6500 block of 13th Avenue around 7:45 a.m. More than $500 worth of items were stolen.
Two vehicles were reported damaged on the 300 block of Apple Lane. The damage amount was less than $500.
Police responded to a vehicle break-in on the 6200 block of Third Avenue around 9 a.m. Damage to the vehicle totaled $200. A $200 camera was stolen.
Two laptop computers were taken from underneath a vehicle seat in a break-in on the 7644 block of Lyndale Avenue, reported around 3:15 p.m.
A wallet was stolen in a vehicle break-in reported on the 6500 block of Lyndale Avenue around 3:45 p.m. Another vehicle break-in was reported at the same address about an hour later. The theft amount in that break-in was under $500.
Around 7:45 p.m., the Woodbury Police Department requested assistance from Richfield Police in catching a fleeing suspect, who was later located and arrested.
Nov. 8 – When police responded to an undisclosed location around 2:15 a.m. on a report of a finger being bitten, one of the involved parties said a sexual assault had occurred. A witness on the 6300 block of Lyndale Avenue reported seeing a male punch a female several times. After a physical struggle with officers, the uncooperative male was arrested for assault and obstructing with force.
Nov. 9 – A reporting party on the 7500 block of 17th Avenue told police around 8:45 a.m. that her unlocked vehicle had been rummaged through and her iPod stolen.
Several items were stolen from a vehicle on the 7400 block of Lyndale Avenue, it was reported around 11 a.m. Those items included subwoofers, an amplifier and an iPod – all stolen from a vehicle with a partially open window. The estimated loss was $150.
A victim on the 6600 block of Fifth Avenue reported around 5:45 p.m. that an unknown person had been placing nails under his vehicle tire.
A burglary was reported on the 7500 block of Chicago Avenue around 4 p.m.
Nov. 10 – A stolen vehicle was recovered on the 7600 block of Cedar Avenue around 11 p.m.
Nov. 11 – Police arrested a driver for second- degree DWI at East 66th Street and 15th Avenue around 9:30 p.m.
In a series of scam attempts, someone has been calling residents falsely claiming to be from the Richfield Police Department.
According to a police press release, someone was making calls the morning of Thursday, Nov. 13, telling residents there was a warrant for their arrest and if they wanted to take care of it, they would need to send the caller money. Making the scam more believable, Richfield Police’s phone number, 612-861- 9898, was displayed on residents’ caller Ids.
“Richfield Police would not make this kind of phone call,” the release says.
Police are issuing the following tips for residents to protect themselves against similar scams:
• Be wary. Con artists are friendly, smooth talkers. Bank and law enforcement agencies do not conduct financial crime investigation by asking customers to withdraw cash from an account.
• Verify Identity. Call the business or organization the caller is claiming to represent, using a phone number you have found in the phone book or online.
• Never give out personal information. Think twice about giving account numbers, social security numbers and/or any financial information. Those numbers are just like handing the scammer cash.
• Trust your instinct. If something doesn’t sound right, it probably isn’t. Hang up and call the Richfield Police Department to report the scam.
If you receive a call from 612-861-9898 and the caller claims to be with Richfield Police, call Edina dispatch at 952-826- 1600 to make sure the call was legitimate. If you are a victim of the scam, call Edina dispatch to report the crime.
For more information on protection from scams, call Jill Mecklenburg, Richfield Police crime prevention specialist, at 612- 861-9845.
Technology used for compliance, evidence and complaint resolution
BY ALYSSA MCCOY
MURPHY NEWS SERVICE
Richfield Police have kept up with technology trends in law enforcement by implementing a body camera program for officers.
The department implemented these advances in March. The experimental program for wearable video cameras is in the infancy stage, and the department currently owns five body cameras.
“It seems to be an up- and-coming trend across the country, especially with so many highlighted police cases,” Lt. Mike Koob said.
The cameras are simple to use, said Koob.
The camera clips onto an officer’s shirt. The officer has to manually flip down a cover on the device and begin recording.
The device measures two inches by two inches, and the microphone is built into the component.
Richfield’s cameras do not turn on automatically, unlike the Minneapolis Police Department’s cameras that turn on in critical incidents.
Officers can check out and use a camera during their shift, Koob said.
An officer turns the camera on and off at the conclusion of the event. It is up to the officer’s discretion if they want to use the camera. Officers are not required to wear a camera or turn them on; the cameras are for their own protection, Koob said.
The department is implementing this new technology for three reasons: compliance, evidence and resolving complaints.
The department does not require, but encourages, officers to notify subjects when they are being recorded. When confronting a person on duty, that person can become agitated, Koob said.
“When they’re not cooperating with you, you tell that subject that they’re being filmed,” Koob said. “All of a sudden, the mood swings completely, changing from irritable and not cooperating to cooperation.”
Any video recording is put into evidence, and the equipment assists with recalling facts and details. Video evidence helps officers accurately describe the chain of events in a recorded incident. This is helpful when resolving complaints, Koob said.
“If I get a citizen’s complaint on how an event was handled, I’ll pull it up and I can see the merit of the complaint,” Koob said.
Alyssa McCoy is studying journalism at the University of Minnesota.
on these as soon as possible,” said James, who hopes to have the units on the market by next summer.
The next step for the city is to draft a preliminary agreement granting the developer exclusive rights to make a proposal. It would also agree to compensate the city and HRA – which also owns part of the property – for staff and consultant expenses as the process plays out, the staff report notes.
Pending the HRA’s approval in November, the agreement would come to the city council for ratification on Tuesday, Nov. 25 or Tuesday, Dec. 9.
Contact Andrew Wig at andrew.wig@ecm-inc. com or follow him on Twitter @RISunCurrent.
Homes
FROM PAGE 1
Public Safety
Thursday, Nov. 20, 2014 Current.mnsun.com Page 3
Police department uses body cameras
Richfield Police impersonated over the phone
5. Thursday, Nov. 20, 2014 Richfield Sun Current • Current.mnsun.com 5
violence among shoppers, and
you’d think you saw the worst
that capitalism had to offer. But
wait! There’s more! Enter “Gray
Thursday.”
In the last couple years, de-partment
chains have started to
move up their Black Friday fes-tivities
from early Friday morn-ing
right into Thanksgiving eve-ning.
That’s right, your friends
at Walmart, JCPenney, Macy’s
and other fine establishments are
starting their Black Friday sales
a full 12 hours earlier. Macy’s
has announced that sales will be-gin
at 6 p.m. the night of Thurs-day,
Nov. 27, and Kohl’s and
Sears have followed suit. Not to
be outdone, JCPenney is going
all out with a 5 p.m. opening.
Look, I’m all for making mon-ey
and sweet, sweet deals, but I
think we’ve officially found the
line and crossed it. It’s one thing
to overwork store associates on
Black Friday, but to yank them
away from their families and
loved ones on Thanksgiving
as early as 4 or 5 p.m. reeks of
sheer callousness. Luckily, some
chains such as T.J. Maxx, Me-nards,
Costco and others have
publicly refused to open their
stores on Thanksgiving, but it
seems like the tides are slowly
changing in Gray Thursday’s fa-vor
regardless.
Ever since I first worked in
retail, I have refused to go shop-ping
on Black Friday. I stay in
my home and stay away from
the chaos of pre-Christmas
cheer, not only to physically
avoid the masses of frenzied
shoppers willing to punch you
over a PlayStation, but as a way,
however minimal, to give those
poor souls working on Black
Friday one less person to deal
with.
I can only predict the day
when Black Friday bypasses
Thanksgiving, stretches ahead
of the week, and begins the min-ute
after Halloween ends. I’m
calling it now. In the meantime,
I can only hope that the brass in
charge of your friendly neigh-borhood
retail stores see the er-ror
of their ways and come to
the inconvenient realization that
the millions of low-wage peons
working their registers, mopping
their floors and enduring ver-bal
abuse from their customers
are human beings with dignity,
families and a desire to take a
load off on Thanksgiving just
like everyone else in the country.
Extending Black Friday hours
doesn’t make consumers any less
hungry. Starting at 6 a.m. on Fri-day
worked 15 years ago. It can
work today.
Or, you know, you can just do
your Christmas shopping some
other day. But who am I to be
sensible?
Contact Christiaan Tarbox at
christiaan.tarbox@ecm-inc.com
or follow the Sun Post on Twitter
@ecmsunpost.
Tarbox
FROM PREVIOUS PAGE
want “all the attention fo-cused
on this, which can be
a toxic topic.”
Torres Ray is hopeful. In
2015, “We can get so much
done.” She hopes “we don’t
get stuck as they are in
Washington, D.C.”
There will be disagree-ments,
some of them po-tentially
deep disagree-ments.
As mentioned in
last week’s column, leading
Republicans such as Reps.
Pat Garofalo and Sondra
Erickson want to examine
teacher tenure rules. They
may well disagree with
some Democrats about
considering changes in ten-ure
and “last in-first out
layoff provisions.”
But there also is agree-ment
between leading Sen-ate
Democrats and House
Republicans on the need
to, as Wiger explained,
“streamline testing” and
improve school funding.
The debate and discussion
in these shared areas can
focus on what should be
done.
It’s encouraging to see
that there is an agree-ment
on several priorities
for public schools. Read-ers
who have suggestions
for revisions in these areas
might want to share them
in the next month. It’s far
easier to reach legislators
now, before the legisla-tive
session begins early in
January.
Joe Nathan, formerly a
Minnesota public school
teacher, administrator and
PTA president, directs the
Center for School Change.
Reactions are welcome at
joe@centerforschoolchange.
org.
Nathan
FROM PREVIOUS PAGE
welcome the opportunity to
end their day with holiday
shopping.
Plenty of people enjoy going
to a movie on Christmas night,
requiring movie theater em-ployees
to work on a holiday.
That’s OK, but those interested
in shopping on Thanksgiving
night should be condemned?
According to whom?
Let’s drop the selective out-rage
at the idea our retail stores
choose to be open on Thanks-giving.
It’s embarrassing, and
fraudulent.
Thank you, retail America,
for giving consumers the choice
to shop on Thanksgiving. If the
vocal minority is right, your
stores will be empty.
Contact Mike Hanks at mike.
hanks@ecm-inc.com or follow
him on Twitter @suncurrent.
Hanks
FROM PREVIOUS PAGE
BY CHRISTIAAN TARBOX
SUN POST NEWSPAPERS
A new initiative created
by Hennepin County is
aiming to be more aggres-sive
in ending the sexual
exploitation of youth,
placing higher penalties
on the traffickers and
protecting and support-ing
the children affected.
This August, after pass-ing
the Safe Harbor Act
in 2011, the State of Min-nesota
fully implemented
its “No Wrong Door”
initiative, which no longer
defines a sexually exploit-ed
youth under the age
of 18 as a “delinquent,”
but rather as survivors
and victims of sex crimes.
In response to the state-wide
plan, the Hennepin
County Board of Com-missioners
enacted their
own No Wrong Door
work plan in October that
will set out to identify vic-tims,
prosecute offenders
and give victims resources
and safe harbor needed to
recover from their ordeal.
“It’s a high-priority
initiative of the county
board to tackle a very
significant public health
crisis,” said Dave Nuck-ols,
who coordinates the
county’s No Wrong Door
program. “This follows a
fairly recent trend in ju-risprudence
to (recognize)
teenagers who get caught
up in prostitution as vic-tims
in need of our help,
rather than as delinquents
or criminals.”
Nuckols, who accepted
the coordinator job in
early October after serv-ing
as an aide to County
Commissioner Jan Cal-lison
for six years, saw
this program as a prime
opportunity to ad-dress
a serious problem
that, according to the
National Center for
Missing and Exploited
Children, affects 100,000
children in the United
States every year. In 2008,
Minneapolis was identi-fied
by the FBI as second
among the country’s 13
highest-intensity child sex
trafficking areas. Accord-ing
to Nuckols, Minne-sota
was the fifth state to
change its laws to recog-nize
a sexually exploited
child as a victim rather
than a criminal.
“We don’t talk about
‘child prostitutes’ any-more,”
said Nuckols. “We
talk about ‘prostituted
individuals,’ or ‘sexually
exploited youth,’ because
‘prostitute’ isn’t who they
are, it’s something bad
that’s been done to them
by a criminal perpetrator.
It’s important that we as
a society step up to the
recognition that they’re
victims deserving our
compassion and our sup-port.”
The county’s initia-tive
in particular has the
multi-departmental co-operation
of more than
40 staff members, as well
as participation from
HCMC and law enforce-ment
officials, and Nuck-ols
asserts that the county
in partnership with the
city of Minneapolis has a
comprehensive strategy in
battling this crisis.
“It’s everything from
prevention, to provid-ing
safety net services,
to prosecuting the bad
guys,” said Nuckols. “The
prevention techniques are
aimed at both reducing
the number of kids that
are involved and the num-ber
of people who are
seeking to buy sex from
kids.”
Nuckols stated that
children are, on average,
recruited into commer-cial
sexual exploitation
between the ages 12-14,
with the junior high years
being their most vulner-able.
Homelessness is
another major factor in
the trafficking business,
said Nuckols, as recently
homeless children have
a one-in-three chance of
being approached by an
exploiter within the first
two to three days of leav-ing
home. Although pros-ecution
of adult offenders
is crucial, the county will
serve first and foremost
Hennepin County sets out to end sex trafficking
YOUTH - TO NEXT PAGE
Former Callison aide is now coordinating county’s ‘No Wrong Door’ program
6. 6 Richfield Sun Current • Current.mnsun.com Thursday, Nov. 20, 2014
as a social safety net for
children that have been
prostituted.
“We build roads and
libraries, but the largest
group here is the social
safety net,” said Nuck-ols.
“Child protection is a
core function of ours, and
that’s why we’re in this so
deep now, because this
is about protecting our
kids.”
The No Wrong Door
program has laid out
several goals to execute
its plan efficiently. One is
prevention and address-ing
the core root of what
causes sex trafficking and
how to sever it, provid-ing
early intervention for
homeless, runaway or
otherwise at-risk youth,
as well as collaborating
with school districts and
youth advocacy agencies
to identify any signs of
sex trafficking.
Another goal is train-ing,
education and public
awareness. County em-ployees
will be trained
to identity red flags and
recruiting techniques of
traffickers and regularly
raise awareness in public
community sectors that
interact with at-risk kids
on a regular basis.
Services will also be at
the ready for victims once
they’ve been identified,
assessed and triaged by
the county’s Children and
Family Services team.
Services include health
care, counseling, chemi-cal
rehabilitation, emer-gency
housing and family
support.
“We talk about services
that are victim-centered,
so you’re building up the
kid’s sense of agency and
self-determination,” said
Nuckols. “It’s very im-portant
to their healing.
There are a range of ser-vices
that we’re develop-ing
to help kids recover
from that experience.”
The county will also
place a higher and more
aggressive emphasis on
the identification and
prosecution of sex traf-fickers,
working with lo-cal
law enforcement agen-cies
and creating its own
human trafficking task
force.
“We’re no longer pun-ishing
the kids,” said
Nuckols. “There are in-creased
penalties, and we
will be increasingly ag-gressive
with the traffick-ers
... and the purchas-ers.”
When the state passed
its Safe Harbors legisla-tion,
it funded various
shelters and created a
set of positions known
as “regional navigators,”
who work with children
one-on-one to counsel
them and direct them to
needed services.
“I personally will be
working very closely with
the navigator assigned to
this region,” said Nuck-ols.
“She’s with a youth
services agency called
‘The Link.’ You really
can’t do justice to explain-ing
the community-wide
response that’s coming
together without combin-ing
the navigator and the
county response togeth-er.”
As the county’s No
Wrong Door plan gets un-derway,
Nuckols is confi-dent
that the initiative will
make a positive difference
in saving children from a
life of exploitation.
“I believe Hennepin
County is the first county
to have a comprehen-sive
multi-departmental
plan,” said Nuckols. “It’s
really a tribute to the vi-sionary
leadership of our
County Board of Com-missioners.
It’s pretty im-pressive
what’s happening
here.”
To learn more about
Hennepin County’s No
Wrong Door program,
visit tinyurl.com/phk4ljg
(link shortened), or call
612-543-2086. For local
one-on-one help from
The Link youth services
agency, call 612-636-4260
or visit thelinkmn.org.
For 24/7 crisis or shel-ter
services statewide,
call Day One Services at
1-866-223-1111.
Contact Christiaan Tar-box
at christiaan.tarbox@
ecm-inc.com or follow the
Sun Post on Twitter @ec-msunpost.
Youth
FROM PREVIOUS PAGE
BY CHRISTIAAN TARBOX
SUN POST NEWSPAPERS
The Minnesota branch
of the Children’s Defense
Fund brought its Kids
Count Coffee Tour to
Brooklyn Center to discuss
its latest findings on the fi-nancial
and educational
well-being of Minnesotan
children.
The Northwest Henne-pin
Early Childhood Net-work
welcomed Fund Re-search
and Policy Director
Stephanie Hogenson on
Thursday, Nov. 13 as she
went over its 2014 Kids
Count Data Book, which
detailed topics such as
child poverty, graduation
rates, economic instability
and racial disparity.
“We’re really focusing on
family economic stability,
and what happens when
children aren’t able to have
access to their basic needs
and opportunities for them
to thrive,” said Hogenson.
“We want to ensure that
children have everything
they need in childhood so
that they’re able to become
successful adults. And we
know that is important not
only to the child and their
family, but to our commu-nity
as a whole.”
Hogenson started by
talking about the “recipe
for success” that ensures
a stable future for chil-dren,
such as basic needs
like food, housing, health
care, transportation and
child care.
“If a low-income family
is struggling to meet basic
needs, it’s very difficult for
them to connect with these
opportunities,” said Ho-genson.
According to the Data
Book, about 15 percent of
all Minnesotan children
live in poverty. Though the
latest data for this particu-lar
statistic came in 2012,
Hogenson said that child
poverty today has seen a
slight decrease.
“We did see a slight de-crease
from 2012 to 2013,”
said Hogenson. “We see
that as a positive thing,
especially because since
the start of the recession,
we’ve seen a large increase
in child poverty from 11.3
percent in 2007 to 15 per-cent
in 2012.”
In the seven-county met-ro
area, Ramsey County
has the highest percent-age
of child poverty with
24 percent, with Hennepin
County coming in second
with 17.3 percent. The
Children’s Defense Fund is
placing more focus on low-income
families and their
inability to maintain even
the most basic needs.
“We estimate that the
most basic needs bare-bones
budget is about
$50,000 on average across
the country,” said Ho-genson.
“About one third
of all children in Min-nesota
live in low-income
families, and when we
break it down by race and
ethnicity, we see those dis-parities
again with nearly
three quarters of Ameri-can
Indian and African-
American children living
in poverty. Two-thirds are
Hispanic and Latino, and
about half of all Asian
children.”
It’s a wage issue,
not a work issue
Hogenson emphasized
that many low-income par-ents,
in spite of their work-load,
are suffering mainly
due to low wages, forcing
such individuals to rely on
government programs to
support their families.
“Ninety-seven per-cent
of low-income chil-dren
lived in households
where at least one parent
worked full- or part-time
in the previous year,” said
Hogenson. “It’s not only
that low-income families
want to work, (but) they
are working and they’re
working hard and often
for very low wages. This
kind of shows the dilemma
that happens between low
wages and a basic needs
budget.”
According to Hogenson,
the median wage for avail-able
jobs in Minnesota in
the fall of 2013 was around
$13 per hour, but a single
parent with two children
would need to earn $19 an
hour in order to afford a
basic needs budget. There
were three population
groups described as being
the most at-risk for eco-nomic
instability: children
of color, children in single-parent
households and
children in families access-ing
the Minnesota Family
Investment Program, the
state’s welfare-to-work re-form
program. Children
of color, for example, face
a multitude of barriers in-cluding
the achievement
gap, structural racism and
higher parental unemploy-ment.
“We have some of the
greatest disparity rates of
employment for adults of
color and especially young,
black males,” said Hogen-son.
“Children of color are
also living in poor, unsafe
neighborhoods at higher
rates, and there’s been a
lot more research out there
recently that talks about
what happens to children
when they live in poor and
unsafe neighborhoods.”
According to the Data
Book, the median annual
income of white families
is between $70,000 and
$80,000. Asian families
make around the $70,000,
Hispanic families earn
around $40,000, African-
American families make
$30,000 and American
Indian families bring in
$25,000 and $30,000.
Compounding these trou-bles
are the scholastic
woes for Minnesota chil-dren.
Fifty-four percent
of 3-to-4-year-olds don’t
attend preschool.
“That number always
shocks me a little bit,”
said Hogenson. “We have
a lot of work to do there
overall, but then of course,
if you’re a child of color,
you’re less likely to be at-tending
preschool. Only 53
percent of all Minnesota
children in fourth grade in
2012 were not proficient in
reading.”
Enrolling in the Min-nesota
Family Investment
Program has proved to be
a positive means of sup-porting
low-income and
impoverished families,
though the difficulties in
enrolling in work sup-port
programs – includ-ing
school meal programs,
food assistance programs,
and child care assistance
– have made it frustrating
for many involved.
“You do have to meet
pretty rigorous work re-quirements,
and if you
don’t meet those require-ments,
you could get sanc-tioned
(and) your benefits
could get slashed,” said
Hogenson. “It can be frus-trating
or difficult to apply
for, there’s long applica-tion
processes ... but even
though there’s a lot of
things we could complain
about the programs, when
a family is enrolled in the
programs, they do ben-efit
them economically and
improve their economic
stability.”
One way that the Chil-dren’s
Defense Fund is
helping families in need
is the Bridge to Benefits
program, a multi-state
initiative meant to link
low-income families to tax
credits and support pro-
Children’s Defense Fund presents financial findings
FUND - TO PAGE 8
‘‘
‘‘
“It’s not only that low-income
families want to work, (but) they
are working and they’re working
hard and often for very low wages.
This kind of shows the dilemma that
happens between low wages and a
basic needs budget.”
– Stephanie Hogenson
Children’s Defense Fund research and policy director
7. Arc’s offers new merchandise on Black Friday
Arc’s Value Village Thrift Stores & Donation Centers will be offering new merchandise in its original packaging at discounted rates beginning 9 a.m. Friday, Nov. 28, at all of its locations.
The event will extend throughout the weekend while supplies last.
Each location has a different selection.
Store hours are 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
• 6330 Brooklyn Blvd., Brooklyn Park; 763-503- 3534
• 2751 Winnetka Ave., New Hope; 763-544-0006
• 6528 Penn Ave. S., Richfield; 612-861-9550
Info: arcsvaluevillage. org.
Business
Thursday, Nov. 20, 2014 Current.mnsun.com Page 7
BY MIKE HANKS
SUN CURRENT NEWSPAPERS
A name that is well known across the country has found its first home west of the Mississippi River.
L.L.Bean, a Maine-based retailer known to many through its catalog and online sales, opened its 21st store Nov. 14 in the southeast corner of Bloomington’s Mall of America. The company, more than a century old, has long held a national presence through its catalog sales, but is only now venturing westward with its retail stores, and identified Minnesota as a logical choice for a company that was founded in 1912 by Leon Bean, selling boots for hunters.
“I think Maine and Minnesota have a lot in common,” said Mac McKeever, a public relations representative for the company.
Both states have four dynamic seasons, an abundance of natural resources and active populations that engage in a variety of outdoor activities, according to McKeever.
Besides the similarities between the markets, “We know we have a strong customer base here through catalog and web sales,” McKeever added, calling the company’s Mall of America store “a great way to present the brand in 3D.”
The Mall of America store, at more than 30,000 square feet, features a fraction of the merchandise that can be found through the company’s website and catalog.
“We sell tens of thousands of products,” McKeever said.
A variety of footwear, from casual shoes to active wear, including the company’s signature “Bean Boot,” is available at the new mall store. The Bean Boot has changed little since its inception 102 years ago, and it continues to be hand stitched at a production facility near the company’s corporate offices in Freeport, Maine, according to Greg Elder, a Minnesota native and the vice president of stores for L.L.Bean.
The store also carries a variety of clothing, from outerwear for outdoor recreation to casual apparel. Sporting goods, including fishing equipment, kayaks, snowshoes and bicycles are featured in the store, as well as ancillary equipment for such activities. Camping gear, including tents and sleeping bags, were also on display when the store opened its doors to the public last week.
The company prides itself on its return policy.
“We’re one of the only companies I know of that lets the customer define what satisfaction means to them,” McKeever said. “Everyone’s perception of what satisfaction is is different,” he explained. “If you don’t feel you’re satisfied with a purchase, we don’t want you to have the product,” he added, noting that the company accepts returns without a receipt and doesn’t have a time limit for accepting returns.
Besides its products, the store hosts a variety of demonstrations and clinics throughout the year, featuring topics such as knot tying, knife sharpening and how to pick the best kayak for you.
“We want people to come away learning something,” McKeever said.
The store will also host programs, such as snowshoeing, where for a fee participants meet at a pre-determined location to try the activity, with expert guidance and equipment provided by the store, McKeever noted.
An events calendar, store hours and other information is available online at bit.ly/moabean.
Contact Mike Hanks at mike. hanks@ecm-inc.com or follow him on Twitter @suncurrent.
L.L.Bean makes Minnesota debut at Mall of America
An L.L.Bean “Bootmobile” found its way to the grand opening of the company’s Mall of America store last week. The vehicle travels around the country, and the boot is estimated to be a size 708. A person with a foot of that size would be taller than the Statue of Liberty. (Sun Current staff photo by Mike Hanks)
Eden Prairie business uses the new technology
BY JENNY HANDKE
MURPHY NEWS SERVICE
Foreverence, an Eden Prairie-based urn company, uses 3D printing technology to produce creative and memorable final resting spaces for people who chose cremation.
Since opening in June 2014, the company has made custom-designed 3D- printed urns that vary in shapes in sizes – from ballet shoes and cars to garden gnomes and top hats.
Cofounder Pete Saari said that the company aims to add innovation and creativity to the funeral service industry.
“I have a background in additive manufacturing as well as start-up business ventures,” Saari said. “I read an article that said that cremation was becoming more popular than burial, and by 2017 more people will choose to be cremated.”
After careful research, Saari learned that funeral service professionals were interested in providing their clients with custom- designed 3D-printed urns that were more innovative – and more importantly – more meaningful, than traditional urns.
“I think the idea here is that we’re not determining whether a client’s request is strange, but to meet the wants and needs of the families who make these requests,” Saari said.
Six employees work for Foreverence. Designer Noah Miwa said that the customization options are essentially unlimited.
“We can print in 9 million colors and can print in virtually any shape,” Miwa said. “We can virtually make anything.”
Since its official opening, the company has been operating very well, Saari said.
“[The] urns are made for the families left behind, not necessarily to the people passed away,” Saari said. “If we can bring a little bit of happiness to those families, that’s what really drives us and what makes us excited about it.”
Jenny Handke is studying journalism at the University of Minnesota.
Urn company uses 3D printing to create custom memorials
Community Notes
8. 8 Richfield Sun Current • Current.mnsun.com Thursday, Nov. 20, 2014
grams.
“It’s a website with an
online screening tool that
takes about five minutes to
complete and tells families
if they’re eligible for the
programs (listed),” said
Hogenson.
Basic needs
The most important de-cider
of any child’s future,
said Hogenson, was their
access to basic necessi-ties
of life, including food,
housing, health care, child
care, early education and
transportation. Accord-ing
to the Data Book, one
in six children live in food
insecure households, and
nearly 40 percent of kids
are enrolled in the School
Meal program.
“When a family doesn’t
have access to all the food
they need, it doesn’t just
affect a child’s nutrition,”
said Hogenson. “It really
has compounding effects
on their development. It
affects their ability to fo-cus
and their behavior
in school. It affects their
health.”
Six percent of all Min-nesotan
children lack
health insurance. In Hen-nepin
County, the aver-age
monthly enrollment
in medical assistance pro-grams
is 77,184. Accord-ing
to the Minnesota De-partment
of Health, 63
percent of children ages 24
-35 months were up to date
on vaccinations.
“Those with less access
to care as children are
more likely to have poor
outcomes as adults,” said
Hogenson. “It’s not just
low-income families that
struggle to afford health
care … it’s a wide range of
families.”
Child care also served as
a difficult achievement for
underprivileged families.
The Children’s Defense
Fund reported that Min-nesota
is the third most ex-pensive
state for child care
in the country. The cost of
child care for one infant is
nearly 19 percent of the
household’s income, even
for families earning the
annual median income of
$73,900. And development
of assets was described as
being key in moving fami-lies
out of poverty and
into a successful financial
future.
“It’s very difficult for
families to develop assets,”
said Hogenson. “A little
over a quarter of Minne-sota
families live in liquid
asset poverty, which means
they don’t have three times
the monthly poverty level
for their family size.”
Present and
future advocacy
Hogenson relayed
the Children’s Defense
Fund’s mission statement
of positively molding
children’s outcomes and
helping families achieve
financial stability. One
means of achieving that
was drafting the Family
Economic Security Act in
2009, which would focus
on increasing the mini-mum
wage, fully funding
and expanding eligibility
for child care assistance,
creating a state version
of the Child Tax Credit
and expanding the Work-ing
Family Credit. So far,
one of those goals was
achieved this year when
the minimum wage was
increased to $9.50, which
will go into effect in 2016.
“There was a lot of
study done by the Ur-ban
Institute that showed
how this would not only
reduce poverty by about
twenty percent, but it
would also increase jobs
and economic stimulus
to our communities,” said
Hogenson. “The reason
why CDF was involved
with (the minimum wage
campaign) is because
137,000 children will ben-efit
from an increase to
the minimum wage. We
know that income im-proves
outcomes, so that’s
why we were supportive
of that campaign.”
In the meantime, Ho-genson
appealed to visi-tors
that if they desired
to see change for low-income
families and their
children, they should take
the first step by calling
their representatives.
“We could take a four-step
approach to improv-ing
family economic secu-rity,”
said Hogenson. “We
do hope you can join us at
the Capitol to improve the
outcomes for children.”
For more information
on the Children’s Defense
Fund’s Kids Count data
for 2014 in the state of
Minnesota, visit cdf-mn.
org/kidscount.
Contact Christiaan Tar-box
at christiaan.tarbox@
ecm-inc.com or follow the
Sun Post on Twitter @ec-msunpost.
Fund
FROM PAGE 6
Annual Mall of
America event
raises money for
hunger relief
BY MIKE HANKS
SUN CURRENT NEWSPAPERS
Call it practice for that early
morning shopping spree on
Black Friday.
The seventh annual Walk to
End Hunger begins 7:30 a.m.
Thursday, Nov. 27, at Mall of
America. Yes, Thanksgiving
morning, a day when many peo-ple
don’t have to rise before the
sun does.
The annual walk raises money
for 14 area hunger relief orga-nizations
and has raised more
than $1.5 million in its six years.
Last year the walk raised about
$350,000, and this year’s goal is
to raise at least $365,000 to help
Twin Cities families put food on
their table during the holiday
season, and beyond.
“We’re still seeing continued
growth in the need for food in
the suburbs,” according to Mar-cia
Fink, a Greater Twin Cities
United Way director.
United Way brought together
the organizations that benefit
from the walk in 2006 when
the Twin Cities Hunger Initia-tive
was formed to increase the
quantity and quality of food
available for distribution in the
nine-county emergency food
system and increase the capac-ity
of hunger relief organiza-tions
to serve their clients. The
TCHI created the annual walk
as a way to not only raise money
for area food shelves, but to help
increase awareness of the ongo-ing
needs of the hunger relief
organizations, Fink noted.
In what has become an an-nual
Thanksgiving tradition,
the walk draws thousands to
the mall and raises funds from
those who cannot participate.
Adults are asked to pay $25 to
participate in the walk through
the hallways of the mall and are
encouraged to collect pledges
for their effort, Fink explained.
Donations to the walk are
collected in advance through
the Internet and through a
phone bank during the walk on
Thanksgiving morning. As of
last week, the walk was on pace
to exceeded last year’s fundrais-ing,
according to Fink.
“We’re ahead of where we
were last year at this time,” she
said.
More than 3,500 people par-ticipated
in last year’s walk, and
participants are welcome to
walk as much or as little as they
like between 7:30 and 10 a.m.,
Fink noted.
Along the way participants
will find a variety of activities
as they loop through the mall. A
make-and-take art activity, bal-loon
animal artist, photo oppor-tunity
and display area featuring
the participating hunger relief
organizations will be found on
the first floor of the mall. On
the second floor will be family-oriented
activities and a “break-a-
sweat” route for participants
that want to increase the fitness
benefits of their participation.
Organizations benefitting
from the walk are Aliveness
Project, Catholic Charities,
Hunger Solutions Minnesota,
Intercongregation Communities
Association, Keystone Commu-nity
Services, Loaves and Fishes,
Metro Meals on Wheels, Min-nesota
FoodShare, Neighbors,
Inc., Salvation Army, Second
Harvest Heartland, The Food
Group, The Open Door and
Volunteers Enlisted to Assist
People.
Information about the walk
is available online at walktoend-hunger.
org.
Contact Mike Hanks at mike.
hanks@ecm-inc.com or follow
him on Twitter @suncurrent.
Thanksgiving begins with Walk to End Hunger
BY ELIZABETH FECHTER
MURPHY NEWS SERVICE
Mobile food shelves are
becoming more popular
throughout Minnesota,
allowing individuals who
face transportation bar-riers
a new way to receive
food support.
In 2013, 42,166 peo-ple
were served through
mobile food support in
Minnesota, according to
Peter Woitock, Commu-nity
Organizer for Hun-ger
Solutions Minnesota.
Hunger Solutions Min-nesota
is a third-party
organization that focuses
on working with groups
throughout the state that
want to enter the mobile
food shelf scene, accord-ing
to Woitock.
“We help to identify
those needs and give
them the tools to start
their own program,” said
Woitock. “We’re a one-stop-
shop to help them
get started on their own
mobile food shelf pro-gram
and get expanded.”
Successful mobile food
shelf organizations such
as The Open Door and
East Side Neighborhood
Services (East Side) are
using refrigerated vans
filled with fresh and
packaged goods to trans-port
food to those who
are not able to visit a
food shelf on their own.
Both organizations
focus on allowing their
clients to shop for their
groceries, rather than
pre-packaging their food
for them.
“It is much more dig-nified,”
said Lisa Horn,
executive director at The
Open Door, formerly
known as The Eagan and
Lakeville Resource Cen-ter.
“It also dramatically
reduces food waste.”
The Open Door start-ed
The Mobile Pantry in
2012. The van’s shelves
are lined with bins that
keep meats, fruits, veg-etables
and dairy prod-ucts
at the appropriate
temperature. This allows
clients to shop from the
shelves, such as at a regu-lar
grocery store.
The Mobile Pantry
currently visits five sites
throughout Dakota
County. The organiza-tion
follows a healthy
food policy, which means
70 percent of their inven-tory
is fresh and perish-able.
Similar to The Open
Door, East Side is bring-ing
food support to those
who are not able to make
it to food shelves on their
own, focusing on elders
and handicapped citizens
living in high-rises.
East Side has been pro-viding
services through
their High Rise Mobile
Food Shelf since 2012.
It visits 35 different lo-cations,
including Yor-ktown
Continental and
South Haven Apartments
in Edina, and has served
over 5,795 individuals.
The program allows cli-ents
to shop from a room
set up by volunteers, ac-cording
to Greg Ritter,
senior development di-rector
for the organiza-tion.
The shorter distance
also makes it easier for
clients to transport their
grocery bags home.
“It’s more like a su-permarket,”
Ritter said.
“They fill their bags, but
what they put in is up to
their particular diet or
needs.”
Large suppliers, such
as Cub Foods and Whole
Foods, and some smaller
suppliers, such as Chipo-tle,
provide support to
help East Side offer a
wide variety of foods.
“Some of it we buy,
and much of it is donat-ed,”
Ritter said.
Of course, having the
food is one thing – but
the volunteer opportu-nity
is also an attraction.
“When people hear
that there is this service
going on right down
their block somewhere,
that’s when we have vol-unteers
sign up,” Rit-ter
said. “Spreading the
word is really great for
us.”
For more information:
The Open Door:
theopendoorpantry.org/
Administration and
education: 651-688-3189
Eagan appointment
line: 651-686-0787
East side: esns.org/
612-781-6011
Elizabeth Fechter is
studying professional
journalism at the Univer-sity
of Minnesota.
Mobile food shelves making a difference in Minnesota
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us on Twitter @
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9. Thursday, Nov. 20, 2014 Richfield Sun Current • Current.mnsun.com 9
mental Summer Camp.
Teslow doesn’t think he would
have done so if he was traveling
with his wife, and believes if
she were still living, he wouldn’t
need to fill the void through his
new mission.
“I needed to develop some-thing
that was important to me
and others. I would imagine
that if my wife were still living
that I wouldn’t be doing this,
but that’s not the case,” he said.
“This has helped me a lot, find-ing
a real mission.”
After first visiting the island
by tagging along with a friend
in 1971, Teslow has of late in-creased
the frequency of his
travels south, his most recent
trip coming within the past
month. Students there, especial-ly
the boys, “are always enthu-siastic”
about Teslow’s appear-ances,
wrote school principal
Erica Williams in an email.
Teslow occupies an otherwise
unfilled role at the school, which
has no true art department.
“We try to engage students in
art work, but it’s not in-depth,”
Williams wrote.
The teachers there don’t have
the kind of art background that
Teslow has, she explained.
‘A great career’
After graduating from Colo-rado
State College in Greeley,
Colo., Teslow took a student-teaching
job in Aspen, Colo.
After that – and after once run-ning
into of the locals, Hunter
S. Thompson, at the author’s
famous haunt, Woody Creek
Tavern – Teslow took his first
real teaching job, at Blake
School.
It was 1969, and he was 22
years old. Teslow proceeded to
build Blake’s visual arts depart-ment
“from scratch,” Christine
Saunders, Blake’s Arts depart-ment
chair, wrote in the letter
of nomination that led to the
Teacher of the Year honor.
“While at Blake,” Saunders
wrote, “Bob maintained a deli-cate
balance between tradition
and innovation.”
One example of the innova-tion
was Teslow’s decision to
include QR codes in students’
art displayed at the school.
The codes, when scanned by a
smartphone camera, give the
viewer a description of the art
as narrated by the artist.
The connections being made
with Robbins Bay mark fur-ther
innovation. In addition to
the video project that elicited
laughter from the Jamaicans,
last year Teslow organized a
cooperative art project between
the two groups of students.
He took portrait photographs
of the Jamaican fifth-graders
and brought the pictures back
to Blake, where high-schoolers
made silk-screen prints from
the images. The prints were then
given to the Jamaicans as gifts.
The lessons learned through
those kinds of connections are
part of Teslow’s holistic ap-proach
to art instruction.
“I really thought I’ve been
teaching life skills as much as
I’ve been teaching art,” he said.
Those lessons include an em-phasis
on having control and
the importance of seeing things
clearly. Regarding the latter te-net,
Teslow had the Robbins
Bay students collect Styrofoam
that washed up on the beach,
drop the pieces in a bag and
draw the irregular shapes solely
by touch.
The drawing lesson, Teslow
explained, was, “Don’t think
too much, just feel.”
After drawing the pieces, the
students painted the chunks
and used toothpicks to create
a sculpture. This was all for the
environmental camp and was in
keeping with the theme of “re-duce,
re-use, recycle.”
Art lessons like this come at
a time when the fifth-graders’
brains are in a state of transi-tion,
Teslow said. It was the rea-son
he chose to work with that
age group.
Teslow notes that young chil-dren
draw – it’s something they
just do. But that tends to change
at a certain point, when their
brains move away from holistic,
non-linear processing to a more
analytical, sequential approach.
“Then all of a sudden there’s
some point where either you
continue or you don’t,” Teslow
said.
Teslow’s imprint on Robbins
Bay, which he called a “poor
but wonderfully happy commu-nity,”
continues to grow. He’s
established an annual art award
named after Jamaican art-ist
Allan Richards and Green
Castle Estate, the name of the
working plantation where he
stayed during visits through-out
the years and also where he
married Denny.
Drawing Connections got a
boost in February when Teslow
partnered with St. Paul-based
Springboard for the Arts, which
acts as the nonprofit’s fiscal
agency and makes it easier to
receive donations for the trips,
which cost $3,000 to $5,000 a
piece, Teslow said.
The partnership with Spring-board
could help him accom-plish
his new dream: to expand
the program into other commu-nities.
Teslow called his 45 years as a
teacher a “great career.” It’s one
that is not over.
Contact Andrew Wig at andrew.
wig@ecm-inc.com or follow him
on Twitter @RISunCurrent.
Teslow
FROM PAGE 1
Left: Retired art teacher Bob Teslow founded Drawing Connections, Inc. as part of his work with students in Jamaica. Right: Teslow married his late wife,
Denise, in Robbins Bay, Jamaica, in 1976. He founded his Jamaica-inspired program, around the same time his wife was diagnosed with cancer in 2011.
(Submitted photos)
Community Notes
‘Democratic
Visions’ gets funny
With mid-term elec-tions
out of the way, cable
program “Democratic Vi-sions”
can focus on being
funny this month.
The current edition of
the show features a lineup
including KQRS Morn-ing
Show personality
Mike “Stretch” Gelfand
and Tane Danger, direc-tor
of the improv comedy
troupe, The Theater of
Public Policy.
Joining them is author
Mary Stanik and humorist
Jon Spayde, both of whom
will help Minnesotans fig-ure
where they’re headed
with new leadership tak-ing
over next year – in
the form of Republicans
regaining control of the
Minnesota House of Rep-resentatives
and Paul Mo-litor
becoming the Minne-sota
Twins’ new manager.
“Democratic Visions”
airs in Minnetonka, Hop-kins,
Edina, Eden Prairie
and Richfield on cable
channel 15 Sundays at
9 p.m., Mondays at 10
p.m. and Wednesdays at
5:30 p.m. The show airs
in Bloomington on cable
channel 16 Sundays at
8:30 p.m. and Mondays at
3:30 a.m., 9:30 a.m. and
2:30 p.m.
Segments and full epi-sodes
are archived at You-tube.
com/user/Democrat-icVisions.
Crafters needed for
Holiday Boutique
Mainstreet Village is
looking for crafters to take
part in its upcoming Holi-day
Boutique.
The senior living com-munity
hosts the event 10
a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday,
Dec. 20, at Mainstreet Vil-lage,
7601 Lyndale Ave.,
Richfield.
Crafts and other items
will be for sale at the facil-ity.
Those looking to sell
their wares may contact
Mary at 612-866-4469 to
make arrangements.
10. 10 Richfield Sun Current • Current.mnsun.com Thursday, Nov. 20, 2014
BY DEREK BARTOS
SUN SAILOR NEWSPAPERS
It happened more than
three decades ago, but Pas-tor
Don Anderson remem-bers
well the moment he
noticed a glaring issue in
the communities around
him.
While there were many
programs available to assist
with recreational needs for
people with disabilities, the
same could not be said for
their spiritual needs.
“Less than 5 percent of
churches in the country
were ministering to people
with disabilities,” Ander-son
said, citing a survey by
Moody Press.
To help address the issue,
the pastor founded Christ
for People with Develop-mental
Disabilities in 1979.
The ministry aims to reach
out to people who are iso-lated
from church commu-nities
because of their dis-abilities.
“What we wanted to do
from the beginning was
have a Christ-centered, Bi-ble-
based church program
that really met their spiri-tual
care needs,” Anderson
said. “We felt that was what
was missing.”
Christ for People with
Developmental Disabilities
began in the Wayzata and
Plymouth and has grown
to serve the greater Twin
Cities area.
As it celebrates its 35th
year, the organization now
serves more than 750 par-ticipants
through a variety
of efforts.
“While we’ve come a
long way, it’s just scratch-ing
the surface,” Anderson
said.
To meet the needs of
many of its participants, the
ministry offers weeknight
church group services at
Wayzata Evangelical Free
Church in Plymouth and
Anoka Covenant Church
in Anoka. Each evening
includes opportunities for
praise and worship, prayer
and a variety of Christ-cen-tered
activities.
“In many church com-munities,
there’s a limit to
the participation that peo-ple
with disabilities can ex-perience,”
Anderson said.
“They may be able to help
with the offering, but when
it comes to singing in the
choir, they might not have
the best voice.
“In our groups, the
neat thing we always hear
people say is that it’s their
church. They don’t have
to worry about being dis-ruptive.
They can get up
on stage and sing and not
worry about someone tell-ing
them to be quiet.”
There are many other
ways the individuals partic-ipate,
said Margaret Knox,
ministry board member
and volunteer, and even the
smallest activities can have
a big impact.
“After one of our church
groups, a man came up to
me and said, ‘Thank you
for letting me be an usher.
My dad was an usher, and
this is the only place that
would let me do that,’” she
said. “It just touches your
heart, because he would
not have had that opportu-nity
at his family’s church.
That’s the type of thing we
hear over and over.”
Anderson said about
300 total people attend ser-vices
at the church groups,
and that includes more
than just the participants.
Caregivers, parents, family
members and volunteers all
join the experience.
“It reaches beyond the
participant and touches
other people,” Knox said.
“One of the participant’s
caregiver was not able to
bring him any longer, and
his dad knew how much
he liked coming, so he
started bringing him. What
he found brought him to
tears on a couple occa-sions,
because he saw how
much love and attention is
brought to his son.”
In addition to the church
groups, Anderson offers
outreach services to more
than 50 group homes in the
Twin Cities area on a regu-lar
basis. His visits include
Bible study, praise and
worship and other spiritual
care.
“A lot of these homes
and the people that live
there have no church in-volvement,”
Anderson
said. “If someone is sick
in the hospital and needs
a visit, or someone passes
away and they need a me-morial
service or counsel-ing
— whatever the spiri-tual
needs are — we build
a bridge to these facilities
so they feel they have a pas-toral
connection for their
clients and the people they
support.”
The pastor noted that
much has changed since
he began the ministry, and
more church communities
now offer ministry to peo-ple
with disabilities. How-ever,
finding a home is still
a concern for many.
“We’ve come a long way,
but we still have families
talk about how they haven’t
found a church that accepts
them and their children,”
he said. “Some churches
accept people and welcome
them regardless of their
abilities, but that’s not the
rule still.”
Anderson attributed that
to the fact that many peo-ple
do not have regular in-teraction
with people with
disabilities.
“When they come across
someone, they think of
their appearance, behavior
and limitations. There’s an
apprehension that comes
with being in a situation
if you’re not used to it,” he
said. “I was a little appre-hensive
too when I started,
but what I’ve found over
the years is that it’s re-ally
about getting to know
people, regardless of abil-ity.
Until you take the time
to meet with people and
learn about them, anybody
would be apprehensive.”
To help spread its mes-sage,
the ministry offers as-sistance
to other individu-als
and groups interested in
implementing similar pro-grams.
Anderson said such
ministries have reached
other states, and resources
have been sent to other
countries as well.
“They’re not affiliated
with us, but we’ve been able
to plant some programs
over the years,” he said.
Christ for People with
Developmental Disabili-ties
also holds activities
throughout the year, not
only to engage participants,
but also to expose the pub-lic
to its work. Events in-clude
ice cream socials,
praise celebrations and
Christmas pageants.
“We try to do inclu-sion
in reverse,” Anderson
said. “We try to find events
where the people can come
in and get a feel for what we
do. People will say, ‘That
must be rewarding. You
must be a special person for
doing that.’ But really, any-body
can participate and
be blessed. We try to find
ways to get people to come
in, even once, and a lot of
times people keep coming
back.”
The ministry will hold its
annual Plymouth Christ-mas
pageant 7 p.m. Tues-day,
Dec. 9, at Wayzata
Evangelical Free Church,
705 Highway 101 N.
Anderson invites anyone
to attend the pageant and
the ministry’s other activi-ties.
Volunteers are always
needed as well, he said.
“Showing up is the big-gest
part,” Anderson said.
“The more people you
have, the more connections
can be made. It’s about be-ing
part of someone’s life
that needs friends and wel-coming
and love.”
For more information,
contact Anderson at 612-
408-7736 or visit christfor-people.
com.
Contact Derek Bartos at
derek.bartos@ecm-inc.com
Ministry celebrates 35 years serving people with disabilities
Pastor Don Anderson along with Patrick Anderson, cofounder and executive director of Christ
For People With Developmental Disabilities. Along with a volunteer team, the organization
reaches hundreds of individuals with disabilities throughout the greater Twin City metropolitan
area. (Submitted photo)
The annual Christmas pageant by Christ for People with
Developmental Disabilities is a highlight for participants, family
members and ministry friends. As many as a hundred actors
and singers don costumes and take the stage as angels, shep-herds
and wise men. Pictured are Joy and Robert as Joseph
and Mary. (Submitted photo)
12. Sports
Thursday, Nov. 20, 2014 Current.mnsun.com Page 12
Sun Current Newspapers welcomes announcements and news story ideas from local athletic organizations. Send directly to greg.kleven@ecm-inc.com; fax to 952-941-5431; mail to Sports Editor Greg Kleven, 10917 Valley View Rd, Eden Prairie, MN 55344.
Spartan girls go to the state meet
BY JOHN SHERMAN
SUN CURRENT NEWSPAPERS
Richfield High’s girls swimming and diving team is young this season, but even so the Spartans were well represented in the State Class A Meet Nov. 12-14 at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center.
Coupled with a strong performance the previous week in the Section 4A Meet, the Spartans showing at state brought the 2014 season to a positive conclusion.
“We had some nice efforts and also some nice time drops,” said Richfield head coach Marc Hamren. “And we qualified six events for the state meet.”
The Spartans earned 14 points at state to finish 30th in the team standings. The top five finishers in Class A were Visitation, Sartell-St. Stephen, Albert Lea, Breck School and Mankato West.
Richfield’s top finisher on the final day of the meet was senior Leah Boldt, who took 12th place in the 100-yard breaststroke.
“Leah’s time is the third- fastest in school history,” Hamren noted. “She came very close to the school record.”
The Spartans placed 14th in the 200-yard freestyle relay with the team of Cori Benson, Hannah Hintermeister, Claire Magno and Lorna Pederson. Their time was 1:42.78.
Richfield’s medley relay of Abby Stok, Hintermeister, Magno and Benson placed 16th in 1:55.90.
The other Spartan entrant still swimming on Friday afternoon was Benson in the 50-yard freestyle. She finished 16th with a time of 25.06.
“Four of our six entries made the top 16,” said Hamren. “Of our eight relay splits and our four individual events [in prelims], we had eight new life-best times. This is excellent, considering they had to be their best at the section finals the previous Saturday just to make qualification for the state meet a possibility.”
There were numerous Richfield highlights during the Section 4A Meet Nov. 8.
The most notable time drop was by Stok. Prior to the section meet, her best 100-yard backstroke was 1:05.23. She had an amazing swim in the prelims to surface at 1:02.45. Another big drop came in the finals when the ninth- grader swam 1:00.71, a full second under the state-meet cut.
Boldt and Hintermeister earned their way to state in the breaststroke with outstanding swims. They tied at 1:09.98 to beat the state standard.
“It was a race that will be remembered and talked about for years to come,” said Hamren.
Benson swam her fastest time of the season (24.96) in the section meet’s 50- yard freestyle finals. Then in the 200 free relay, she swam an even faster split of 24.94.
“Cori showed she is the ultimate team player,” said Hamren. “She came back after the 50 free to lead off our 200 free relay. Often a sprinter will fade, go sl–– ower in this situation. But not Cori. In an effort to help her teammates qualify for state, she achieved her new best time.”
Contact John Sherman at john.sherman@ecm-inc. com
Richfield swim season ends on high note
Abby Stok of the Richfield High girls swimming and diving team competes in the 100-yard breaststroke during Section 4A competition earlier this month. Richfield’s Hannah Hintermeister and Leah Boldt qualified for the State Class AA Meets with identical times in the 100-yard breaststroke during sectionals. (Photos Courtesy of Keith Larson)
Vaughan Ahrens
The Minnesota Magicians hockey team is 11-10-0 this season. Ahrens has five wins in goal along with a save percentage of 91.8. His goals-against average is 2.82.
Cori Benson
Benson concluded her swimming career with Richfield High School by finishing 16th in the 50-yard freestyle and 14th in the 200-yard freestyle relay at the State Class AA Meet. Her prelim time in the 50 freestyle was 24.83 seconds. Her time in the finals was 25.06.
Leah Boldt
The Richfield High girls swimming team finished 30th in the State Class A Meet last week. Boldt led the Spartans with her 12th- place finish in the 100- yard breaststroke. Her time was 1:08.41.
Fernando Cardenas
The Richfield High School senior recently became the all-time leading scorer in Spartan boys soccer history. Cardenas, an All-State forward, finished his prep career with 44 goals. He led Richfield to an 8-10 record this fall.
RHS Relay
Richfield High’s 200- yard freestyle relay team took 14th place in the State Class A Swimming and Diving Meet with a time of 1:42.78. The Richfield team consisted of seniors Cori Benson and Claire Magno, seventh-grader Hannah Hintermeister and junior Lorna Pederson. Their performance helped the Spartans to 30th place in the team standings.
Stars
of the week
Prep Bowl
Minnesota Prep Bowl football championships will be decided in seven classes this week.
In the large school class, 6A, Eden Prairie (12-0) will meet Totino- Grace (11-1) for the title at 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 21, at the University of Minnesota’s TCF Bank Stadium.
The Class 5A championship game at 4 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 22, will pit Simley (10-3) against Mankato West (11-1) at TCF Bank Stadium.
In the 4A title game at 4 p.m. Friday, Nov. 21, DeLaSalle (11-1) will play Becker (11-1) at TCF Bank Stadium.
Hockey action
A busy schedule is coming up this week for Bloomington’s prep girls hockey team.
The Jefferson-Kennedy co-op team will play White Bear Lake at 7:15 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 20, at Vadnais Sports Center. Jefferson-Kennedy will also be in action at 3 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 22, in a 3 p.m. game against Dodge County at Four Seasons Arena.
Soccer forward is named All-State
JOHN SHERMAN
SUN CURRENT NEWSPAPERS
Fernando Cardenas has a knack for scoring goals on the soccer field, and that talent has made him the all-time leading scorer in program history.
Cardenas netted 44 goals in three varsity seasons. Along with Minnehaha Academy, Richfield is the oldest boys soccer program in the state, so this record encompasses 50 years of soccer at RHS.
“Fernando is a very skilled player, who is passionate about soccer,” said Richfield head coach Mike Harris, who has worked with Cardenas the last two seasons.
So where did that skill come from?
Well, for one thing Cardenas has been playing in men’s soccer leagues since he was 11 years old.
“The pace is faster, and that makes it harder,” he said. Speed has always been one of Cardenas’ strong suits, and he used that speed to get past defenders, Harris said.
By playing against older players, Cardenas learned lessons he needed to become an All-Metro West Conference and All- State first-team player this season. The All-State award was no surprise, based on Cardenas’ leadership of a very young Richfield team.
“There were a lot of times when we had four sophomores and four freshmen on the field,” Harris noted. “We started out 4-1, but in the middle of the season, when we started playing tougher competition, we kind of hit a wall and lost seven in a row. Late in the season, we came back to win four in a row. We beat St. Louis Park, which was ranked sixth in the state at the time.”
This was a year of growth for the RHS program, as the Spartans finished 8-10
Fernando Cardenas sets Richfield scoring mark
Senior forward Fernando Cardenas is Richfield High’s all-time leader in boys soccer scoring with 44 goals in three seasons. (Photo by Mark Trockman - trockstock.com)
RECORD - TO NEXT PAGE
Prior to the Eden Prairie- Maple Grove prep football playoff game Nov. 14, a temperature sign near Hopkins High Stadium showed 14 degrees. And by the time the game ended, with Eden Prairie winning 13-7, the temperature had slipped to 10 degrees.
Severe weather? Sure, it was. But don’t expect Eden Prairie head coach Mike Grant to grumble.
When he was growing up in Bloomington in the 1970s, Grant learned how to cope with the cold from one of the most successful coaches in NFL history, his father Bud Grant.
So what advice did Bud give his son about playing in the cold Friday night?
“I talked with my dad, and he said forget about it,” Mike Grant said.
The Eagle head coach, who is seeking an unprecedented 10th state championship this week, never mentioned the cold to his players.
But he kept one of his dad’s old axioms in mind.
Bud Grant was perhaps the greatest cold-weather coach of all-time - first with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the Canadian Football League and then with the Vikings. He couldn’t control the temperature or the windchill. However, he could control the way his team played the game.
The old axiom?
Simple: The team that controls the ball controls the game.
Mike Grant had that axiom in play against Maple Grove. He put the ball in Will Rains’ hands as often as possible and the big back didn’t disappoint with 152 yards on 29 carries. For the first time this season, Rains did not score a touchdown. But even so, I thought he was Eden Prairie’s MVP.
Look what he did on the Eagles’ 96-yard touchdown drive in the fourth quarter. He carried the ball 10 of 16 plays. Maple Grove head coach Matt Lombardi knew Rains was going to get the ball, but sadly for the Crimson, there was nothing he could do
about it.
Grant had a pretty good idea how Maple Grove would play. He was familiar with Lombardi’s defensive schemes from seeing Lombardi as Wayzata’s defensive coordinator. When Lombardi moved over to Maple Grove, his philosophy didn’t change.
“Wayzata always had quick kids on defense,” said Grant. “So does Maple Grove. Their two safeties are great players.”
Hitting hard
One of the differences that comes with playing in extremely cold weather is the effect of the hitting.
No doubt many players from Eden Prairie and Maple Grove were sensing more than their share of aches and pains the
morning after Friday night’s game.
“You feel the hits more in cold weather,” Grant assured.
While there were snow banks around the field at Hopkins, I was amazed to find the field in good shape. Hopkins athletic director Dan Johnson and his staff worked long and hard to give the teams the best possible playing surface for the big game.
Swim finals
Wayzata High’s girls swimming and diving team won another state Class AA title Nov. 14.
Although Edina put up a good fight, setting two
Cold weather can’t stop Bud Grant’s Eagles
COLUMN - TO NEXT PAGE
JOHN SHERMAN
SUN CURRENT
NEWSPAPERS
