December 2009

Volume 6

Number 12

INSIDE:• River Views ...................................... Page 4• News Briefs ...................................... Page 6• Sample St. Paul Event Guide ............. Page 8• Back in Time .................................. Page 12

Jumping from a perfectly good airplaneSSP couple earns award for dancing at13,000 feet

Mary Diedrick HansenStaff Writer

“Dancing with the Stars” takes on a whole new meaning when refer-ring to the South St. Paul husband and wife skydiv-ing duo, Karl and Merri-ah Eakins. They recently performed a swirling, twirling gymnastic/bal-let routine at 13,000 feet while competing in the 2009 United States Para-chute Association Na-tional Skydiving Cham-pionships in Houston, Tex., where the nation’s most daring skydivers displayed their proficien-cy in parachuting.

The Eakins’ highfly-ing 45-second routine snagged them a first-place gold medal in the championship freestyle event. Merriah pirouet-ted and did the splits while Karl, as camera-man, circled around her from top to bottom and side to side, filming the

performance while free-falling at 160 feet per second. The couple was judged on difficulty, exe-cution, acrobatic impres-sion and camera work.

In 2005 they “danced” across the sky to their first gold. They also have seven silvers and a bronze in their collection, after ten years of competition.

For Karl, with 5,200 jumps under his belt, and Merriah with 3,200, it’s

no wonder this parachut-ing pair is tops in the na-tion.

“I started hanging out at drop zones when I was seven,” said Merriah, who comes from a skydiving family. Both parents are skydivers and were own-ers of the Drop Zone in Hutchinson, Minn., un-til it closed in 2006.

“I was petrified, hyper-ventilating, absolutely panicked,” she said, re-

calling her introduction to skydiving at age 18. “It took me seven tan-dem jumps with my dad to feel comfortable.”

Karl’s first tandem jump was in 1993, dur-ing his senior year in high school.

“I was excited because I had been wanting to do it for so long,” he said. “Of course once you’re ready

Photo courtesy of Karl Eakins Merriah Eakins leaps into the record books at the skydiving champion-ships, held recently in Houston, Tex.

Skydiving Champs / Page 3

Holiday Events...Holidaze in South St. Paul

The 11th Annual Holidaze in South St. Paul celebration will take place Dec. 4-5. From 5-7:30 p.m., Fri., Dec. 4, a variety of activities are offered along Marie Avenue, between 5th and 7th avenues, including pictures with Santa, carriage rides, story time, crafts for kids, free refreshments and more. At 7:15 p.m., the South St. Paul Male Chorus will lead community car-oling as Mayor Beth Baumann and the South St. Paul Mayor’s Youth Task Force light the com-munity Christmas tree.

On Sat., Dec. 5, a holiday craft show is of-fered 9 a.m.-3 p.m., at Central Square Commu-nity Center, 100 7th Ave. N., featuring a wide variety of handcrafted items. Central Square Community Center will also offer free family swimming at the pool.

The event is sponsored by the South St. Paul Business Association and the city of South St. Paul. For more information, call Christina Thury at 651-289-2152 or Dave Gerkovich at 651-451-8563.

Lions Club Breakfast with SantaThe South St. Paul Lions Club is hosting a

pancake breakfast 9-11 a.m., Sat., Dec. 12, at the cafeteria at Lincoln Center Elementary, 357 9th Ave. N. Santa will be there handing out treats and visiting the children. Photos are of-fered for a small fee. Cost is $3. Children under age 6 eat free.  The Southwest Lioness’ Santa Store will also be open for children to shop for gifts. 

‘Christmas in the Stable’“Christmas in the Stable” is this year’s theme

for the annual Christmas in South St. Paul Cel-ebration, held Sun., Dec. 6, at Luther Memorial Church, 315 15th Ave. N. Shows are offered at 2 and 4:30 p.m., featuring holiday music per-formed by the South St. Paul Male Chorus, the South St. Paul Choralettes, the South St. Paul High School Varsity Singers and jazz band, and children from the community. Tickets are $7 for adults, $5 for seniors and $3 for students, and are available at Central Square Community Center, Key Community Bank, Pro Pharmacy, Luther Memorial Church and Southview 66. For more information, call Kathy Petrie at 651-457-7694.

Using her pain for a higher purposeMrs. South St. Paul sets sights on earning new title to help grief-stricken parents

Mary Diedrick HansenStaff Writer

Mrs. South St. Paul, Savannah Leyde, is

on a mission. She hopes to win the 2010 title of

Mrs. Minnesota/America in June and use it as a springboard to talk about something very personal to her, the devastating grief that parents and families feel with the loss of a child due to miscar-riage or stillbirth.

Two years ago, Leyde was pregnant with Taylor,

Taylored To You / Page 2 The Leyde Family

Page 2 - South St. Paul Voice - December 2009

Your community news and information sourceP eople

The South St. Paul Voice is published monthly and distributed to 8,500 homes and high traffic businesses in South St. Paul.

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her second child. She lost him at 35 ½ weeks due to a complication that cut off the nutrients and oxygen Taylor needed to survive. He was stillborn.

“My son Taylor was born silently at 8:29 p.m., weighing 4 lbs. 11.5 oz. He was 16 inch-es long and was noth-ing short of perfect and beautiful in every way,” said Leyde. “The loss of that magnitude, I can’t find the words to de-scribe it. It’s almost like there is a piece of time missing. Yes it happened. The baby was moving, he existed for a year. I have a baby body. I’m filling with milk. The nursery is ready, but I have no child. I am filled with guilt that somehow I could have prevented my baby’s death.”

As part of the healing process, Leyde is work-ing to establish a non-profit called, “Taylored To You,” which offers

maternity portraits and templates for birth an-nouncements free of charge to mothers who are expecting after a loss or experiencing a high-risk pregnancy. Leyde, who is a licensed day care provider operating South St. Paul’s Little People’s Day Care, also works as an amateur photogra-pher, and believes that through the creation of beautiful images, an ex-pecting mother will find faith, peace and joy with her pregnancy and with her new baby.

“There’s apprehen-sion at getting preg-nant again,” explained Leyde. “Some women can’t because emotion-ally or physically they aren’t able. Then when pregnancy occurs, some women worry about getting attached to the baby for fear of losing it again. They feel guilty for loving it and forget-ting about the baby that died.”

Leyde knows this from first-hand experience.

She was grief-stricken over the loss of Taylor, yet four months later became pregnant with her third child, Jenna Lee.

“Derek (her husband) and I were mixed with emotions. We were happy and elated to be expect-ing another baby, but still grieved for the loss of our son,” said Leyde. “But, it’s okay to have excite-ment. Grief should not override the new baby. It’s okay to love this baby, to love both of them.”

Leyde described the first maternity photogra-phy sitting she had with an expecting mother as a healing session for both of them.

“My first session of Ma-ternity Portraits with one of my clients was noth-ing short of amazing,” she said. “We had similar, yet different experiences and I could see both pain and joy in her eyes as she struggled to overcome the sorrow of losing her daughter, while trying to embrace the gift of the new life growing inside

of her. She was so full of fear and love at the same time. It was like tak-ing pictures of myself. By reaching out to oth-ers I am picking up the pieces of their broken heart. Seeing their smiles helps my broken heart, as well.”

Leyde is contemplat-ing beginning a nursery exchange for parents who have baby supplies for the child who never came home. If they have acces-sories for a girl’s room and then find they are pregnant with a boy, with her program they can ex-change bedding sets.

Strides are being made in society in dealing with the heartbreak that fami-lies feel when a baby is stillborn, she said. After Taylor was born, a pho-tographer from Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep (NILMDTS.org) pro-vided the Leyde family with portraits of them with their son. The pho-tographs are priceless re-minders to Leyde of her beautiful son.

The family also spent

Photo by Jason ColvinMrs. South St. Paul Savannah Leyde

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Taylored To You / from page 1

time at Faith Lodge, a retreat center in Wiscon-sin for families grieving the loss of a child. It was established by parents in memory of their still-born baby girl who died close to her due date. The Leydes also planted a tree on Mother’s Day in memory of Taylor and

placed a heart-shaped field stone with his name on it next to the tree.

“It’s bittersweet. But Taylor’s death has in-spired beautiful things,” said Leyde.

She has written and il-lustrated a book titled, “My Brother….he’s an Angel,” which is set for

South St. Paul Voice - December 2009 - Page 3

Your community news and information sourceP eople

to jump you’re thinking, why am I doing this?” He joined the St. Cloud State skydiving club while in college. Then, in 1998 he met Merriah at the Drop Zone. Two years later, dressed in traditional tuxedo and long flowing white wedding gown, the couple were wed on the Drop Zone tarmac.

When not at their day jobs — Merriah teaches music and Karl works as an engineer doing ar-chitectural testing of windows and doors at a laboratory in St. Paul — the two are licensed in-structors at Skydive Twin Cities in Baldwin, Wisc., where they also perfect their highfalutin skills and train for national championships.

As instructors, they join first jump students, who must be at least age 18, in a tandem jump from 13,000 feet, in

don’t call it falling, we call it flying.” Added Karl, “the parachute is shaped like a wing if you look at it sideways.”

The size of the para-chute plays a major role.

“A 230-square-foot canopy is very forgiving,” said Merriah. “Karl’s is 84-square-feet. He comes down fast and can ma-neuver better. It’s compa-rable to driving a station wagon versus a more re-sponsive Porsche.”

Karl puts his Porsche-like parachute to the test when competing in can-opy piloting (popularly known as “swooping”) when he swoops down along a body of water with his parachute wide open and maneuvers through a pre-arranged obstacle course. Merriah has clocked him coming in at 73 mph with his smaller chute.

“Yes, we often get peo-ple asking, ‘why do you sky dive? You’re crazy!’”

Skydiving Champs / from page 1

publication in March. In it, Leyde describes ideas that grieving families can do together to help heal, remember and move on. Sales from her book are intended to fund “Tay-lored To You.”

Leyde isn’t shy about talking about having three beautiful children, two of whom, as she says, she has the privilege and blessing to raise, and one safe in the arms of Jesus. Because of her open-ness many people have opened up to her about losing babies. It’s all part of the healing process.

Leyde believes attain-ing the title of Mrs. Min-nesota will allow her to elevate her cause even more and publicize the availability of her re-storative photography sessions. It’s her second time running. In 2005 she placed 6th without any pageant experience.

Check out Leyde’s me-morial to her son Taylor at www.taylorjeffreyger-aldleydegonetoosoon.org

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said Merriah. “We own an acceptable level of risk. But, just as down-hill skiing and bull-rid-ing are risky, it translates the same into skydiving.”

How about cost? When comparing the cost of good equipment, lift tickets and fees, the Ea-kins said skydiving is on a par with golfing and downhill skiing. The initial cost is $1000 - $1500 to complete a seven-level student jump program. After 25 suc-cessful jumps, a license is acquired that enables access to drop zones across the country. To be fully outfitted, equip-ment can cost anywhere from $1,500 (used) to $5,000. The lift ticket to jump from an airplane at 13,000 feet is $25.

As far as safety, Mer-riah said technology has come a long way. If for some reason you are un-able to pull the rip cord of the chute, a computer

that senses altitude is in-side the rig and will de-ploy on its own at 750 feet.

Wouldn’t it be easy to get caught up in the mo-ment of doing freefall somersaults and forget to open the chute? Nope. Skydiving helmets are equipped with computers that beep at 5,000 feet alerting skydivers that acrobatic time is over.

Merriah said there is nothing like seeing the faces of her student sky-divers when they jump for the first time on their own.

“It doesn’t matter how old you are either, (the oldest is 93) or your oc-cupation,” she said. “You are never an expert. We are always learning and improving skills. We’re a close-knit group. Skydiv-ers are my family.”

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which they are securely harnessed onto the stu-dent and assist in steer-ing the parachute to the ground. Or they assist with an accelerated free fall, in which students, after four or five hours of intensive ground instruc-tion, jump solo the first time out. They are by the side of the student and ra-dio instructions to them, if needed, as they descend from 13,000 feet.

Usually there is one minute of freefall and one or two minutes of canopy (parachuting). That’s when the exit is at 13,000 feet. The higher you go, the longer it takes to touch down. The Ea-kins had to use oxygen masks when they jumped from 22,000 feet in Ari-zona, their highest exit to date.

“It’s windy and noisy, but there is no sensa-tion of falling, not until right before you land,” explained Merriah. “We

Page 4 - South St. Paul Voice - December 2009

Your community news and information sourceR iver Views

When winter descends on the river valleyTim Spitzack

Editor

A snowflake gently drifts by and catches

your attention from the corner of your eye. At first you dismiss it, thinking it’s simply a leaf or some-thing else blowing on the wind. Yet before long its companions arrive. They come in bursts like lo-custs through the fields, and then en masse. They multiply in size and tum-ble and twirl as they float to the earth, where they gather in small mounds on open grassy areas. The temperature drops, the wind picks up velocity and the mounds of snow quickly turn into drifted banks. It is then that you realize that winter has de-scended upon the Missis-sippi River Valley.

Winter in the river valley provides a scenic beauty unlike any other. After the autumnal splash of color disappears, early December is greeted with

a stark, brown landscape. And then the first snow storm arrives, which is typically filled with moist, heavy snow that coats the trees and bushes like frosting and unfolds a kingly white blanket over the earth.

If winter is to be en-joyed, it is to be em-braced. And to embrace it, you must get out into it. You must feel the sting of it on your cheeks, you must feel the wonder of it as you make footprints through it, and you must understand the joy that it produces within you when you come back in-doors to get warm by sip-ping coffee or hot cocoa, or sitting by a fire.

There are many ways to enjoy winter in the Mississippi River Valley. Here are but a few simple pleasures for you to con-sider.

The first big snowfall – Sure, by March you’re going to be sick of the stuff, but in December,

it’s magical. When the first big snowfall comes, cast aside your busy schedule and get outside to enjoy it. Look up-ward and get dizzy from watching it assault your senses. Catch a flake on your tongue. Remember the feeling the first snow-fall of the year produced within you as a child.

Skiing – Whether you enjoy rushing down the slopes at break-neck speed or gliding through wooded trails on a pair of skinny skis, skiing is an excellent way to enjoy winter. There are many miles of cross-country ski trails in the greater St. Paul area, and many that offer excellent views of the Mississippi River. Check with your city’s Park and Recreation de-partment for trails near you. The slopes at nearby Buck Hill, Afton Alps and Welch Village pro-vide a convenient option for thrill-seekers.

Ice skating – Once the temperature cooperates, city crews start flooding outdoor ice rinks to cre-ate surfaces smooth as glass. Visit a local rink, strap on a pair of skates and enjoy the glide on a moonlit night or on a weekend afternoon.

Read a good book – Winter is a time for plan-ning and dreaming. Visit your local library or book store to find a title that will help you do one or the other. For a glimpse of the Mississippi River through the eyes of one of Minnesota’s most famous sons, pick up a copy of “Lindbergh Looks Back: A Boyhood Reminis-cence,” by Charles Lind-berg. This title, pub-lished by the Minnesota Historical Society Press, was previously published under the title of “Boy-hood on the Upper Mis-sissippi.” It is Lindbergh’s memoir of his boyhood days on his family’s farm

on the banks of the Mis-sissippi River near Little Falls.

St. Paul Winter Carni-val – Of course there is no better way to celebrate the coldest season of the year than with the many events and activities of

the St. Paul Winter Car-nival, held Jan. 21-31, 2010. From parades to snow and ice carving con-tests, to outdoor sports, the Carnival always lives up to its billing as “The Coolest Celebration on Earth.”

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Back in Time / from page 12

men armed with rifles and bayonets and were an unstoppable force as they broke through the picket lines. Anticipating their arrival, some of the strik-ers showed up that morn-ing wearing their full mil-itary uniforms from the war in hopes of embar-rassing the Guardsmen sent to break the strike. Company “I” kept order on the site for a week.

Then the national union representatives agreed to a settlement in Chicago that earned workers a nine-cent an hour raise as opposed to the 20 cents they had requested.

In addition to the small wage increase, workers were successful in ob-taining extended vaca-tion benefits and senior-ity rights. Health and insurance benefits were increased and compen-sation was increased for workers injured in the

plants. Still, the 1948 strike affected South St. Paul in ways far beyond union concerns. Families and colleagues who lived and worked together without rancor for gen-erations faced the conse-quences of being forced to take sides during the bitter 10-week strike. South St. Paul was never quite the same after that strike, according to many who lived through those days of drama.

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Page 6 - South St. Paul Voice - December 2009

Your community news and information sourceN ews BriefsFree workplace English classes

South Suburban Adult Basic Education (ABE) is offering workplace English classes to adults ages 18 and up who want to enter the work-force and need to im-prove English language and job search skills. The classes are free and open to residents of the school districts in South St. Paul, Inver Grove Heights and West St. Paul-Mendota Heights-Eagan. The classes will help students improve

their English fluency, ex-pand workplace vocabu-lary, improve reading and writing skills, practice filling out employment-related forms, learn basic computer skills, conduct career research and prac-tice interviewing skills. Students are able to at-tend classes at a variety of times and locations throughout the area.

ABE, a program of Northern Dakota County TriDistrict Community Education, offers free GED preparation cours-es, basic literacy and

math classes and English classes for adults. For more information or to enroll in any ABE class, call 651-457-9441 or e-mail abe@sspps.org.

Lessons and Carols at First Presbyterian

First Presbyterian Church of South St. Paul, 535 20th Ave. N., will have a Service of Lessons and Carols at 10 a.m., Dec. 20. The program will feature cel-ebrated musicians and soloists from the Rose Ensemble, a nationally

award-winning choral group based in Minne-sota, as well as the First Presbyterian Church Festival Choir under the direction of musi-cian and composer Linda Kachelmeier. Included in the program are Shaker carols, American Shape Note songs, harp music, classic Christmas carols, and readings of scripture, poems and prose.

The congregation is having its Christmas Eve services at 5 and 10 p.m., Dec. 24. For more infor-

mation, call 651-451-6223.

SSP Garden Club programs

The South St. Paul Garden Club will hold a meeting at 7 p.m., Jan. 4, 2010, at VFW Post #295, 111 S. Concord. Registration and sign-ups begin at 6:45 p.m., and refreshments will be served.

The speaker is nation-ally renowned gardener, speaker and author Don Engebretson of Deep-haven, Minn. Enge-bretson is a field edi-tor, writer and garden scout for Better Homes and Gardens magazine. He writes the perenni-als column for North-ern Gardener magazine and is a contributor to Midwest Living, Gar-den Deck & Landscape, The Seattle Times, and numerous other publi-cations. From 1999 to 2006 he was the garden editor and monthly col-umnist for MplsStPaul Magazine, a position he had to give up when his summer landscaping business morphed into a thriving business. Enge-bretson appeared on HGTV for four seasons as the gardening expert on “TIPical MaryEllen,” and has been the on-camera landscaping ex-pert on PBS TV’s HO-METIME program. He is a featured speaker at home and garden shows across the United States.

In addition to a 1999 Minnesota Newspaper Publishers Award and a 2000 Minnesota Maga-zine Publishers Silver Award, Engebretson is a six-time winner of the Garden Writers Associa-tion’s national Garden Globe Award for excel-lence in garden writing. He has published four books on gardening and landscape design and is a University of Minne-sota Extension Service Master Gardener. He also operates Renegade Gardener Landscaping in Minneapolis, spe-cializing in residential landscape renovation and custom stonework.    Membership to the South St. Paul Garden Club is $10 per year

but meetings are open to non-members at no charge. For more infor-mation, call Lois Glew-we at 651-457-3403.  Library notes

For more informa-tion on South St. Paul library events, call 651-554-3240 or visit www.southstpaul.org/library.

Teen Book Club sur-vey - Teens ages 12-18 are invited to visit the library to fill out a brief survey to judge interest in organizing a teen op-erated book club, which is expected to start in January.

Introductory Inter-net class - A free class is offered at 6:30 p.m., Thurs., Dec. 3, for any-one who wants to learn more about the World Wide Web. Topics in-clude search engines, web addresses, printing tips and more. Call the library to register.

Book discussions - “A Green Journey,” by Jon Hassler, is the title dis-cussed in Dec. Discus-sions are held at 1 p.m., Wed., Dec. 16, and 7 p.m., Thurs., Dec. 17, in the library meet-ing room. Information packets are available at the library and at www.southstpaul.org/library. Participants are asked to bring a non-perishable food item for Neigh-bors, Inc.

Hot Reads for Cold Nights - Now in its tenth year, this program offers the chance to win gift certificates, books, calendars, mittens, ice scrapers and totes, in return for reading books of your choosing. Reg-istration packets will be available at the library Mon., Jan. 4. This free program runs through February 27.

December Food Drive - Library patrons are asked to bring non-perishable boxed or canned goods to the li-brary during December. The items will be do-nated to the food shelf at Neighbors, Inc.

Open House - The li-brary is hosting its holi-day open house 11 a.m.-2 p.m., Mon., Dec. 21, featuring hot beverages, holiday cookies, harp

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Your community news and information sourceN ews Briefsmusic and a Mardi-Gras-themed tree.

Holiday hours - The library will be closed Dec. 24-25, and Jan. 1. The library will close at 5 p.m., Thurs., Dec. 31.

Junior Book Club - “Al Capone Does My Shirts” by Gennifer Choldenko is the title to be discussed at 4 p.m., Mon., Dec. 7. The event will include a tour of the South St. Paul Police station.

Gingerbread House program – A free gin-gerbread house making and decorating program is offered at 6 p.m., Mon., Dec. 7. Space is limited so sign up early. Children under age 8 must be accompanied by an adult.

Children’s story times – Story times for children ages birth through 6 are offered at 10 a.m. on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. The events are filled with puppetry, props, poetry, music, learning and lots

of great books. In De-cember, the story times are offered only the first week of the month.

Read to Lulu – Chil-dren are invited to come to the library 6:30-7:30 p.m., Mon., Dec. 14 and 28 to read to Lulu and her compan-ion John McCaughtry. The duo is part of the Reading Education As-sistance Dogs (READ) program. Lulu, a Rott-weiler, has impressive credentials and a lovable personality.

Book BINGO - Book BINGO is offered 2-3:30 p.m, Tues., Dec. 29. Everyone wins at least once.

Winter recreationThe South St. Paul

Parks and Recreation department and Cen-tral Square Community Center will be mailing its winter brochure to all households in South St. Paul in mid-Decem-ber.  This publication highlights programs,

activities and events for all ages. Programs of-fered include gymnas-tics, karate, Target Cen-ter trips, fitness classes, swimming lessons and more. For more in-formation, visit www.southstpaul.org or call 651-306-3690.

South St. Paul’s out-door skating rinks will open in late December, weather permitting. The winter brochure offers a list of rink locations, amenities and hours. This information is also available at www.south-stpaul.org.

Walk to End Hunger

Neighbors, Inc. is looking for participants for the Walk to End Hunger, held Thanks-giving Day at 7 a.m., Thur., Nov. 26, at the Mall of America. The walk is part of an effort to end hunger in the Twin Cities. For more information, contact Dan Russell at 651-306-

2148, dan@neighbors-mn.org, or visit www.walktoendhunger.org or www.neighborsmn.og.

Holiday mitten and hat drive

Join Mayor Beth Bau-mann and members of the South St. Paul Mayor’s Youth Task Force at 7 p.m., Fri., Dec. 4, for the official holiday tree lighting cer-emony on Marie Avenue. This year, the task force is hosting a mitten and hat drive to decorate the tree. Instead of placing orna-ments on the tree, the com-munity is asked to bring hats and mittens to place on the tree. These items will be donated to Neighbors, Inc.

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Your community news and information sourceS ample St. PaulOrdway Center for Performing Arts

“Sisters Christmas Catechism: The Mystery of the Magi’s Gold” is presented through Dec. 27, at the Ordway Cen-ter for Performing Arts, located at 345 Washing-ton St., St. Paul. In this latest addition to the “Late Nite Catechism” series, Sister employs techniques from her fa-vorite TV show, “Foren-sic Files,” to discover the whereabouts of the Ma-gi’s gold. Sister creates a living Nativity using au-dience members dressed as the Holy Family, magi, shepherds, sheep, cattle...and of course, an ass. The performance features au-dience interaction, musi-cal highlights and wacky prizes. Tickets are $35. For more information, call the box office at 651-224-4222.

“Beauty and the Beast” is presented Dec. 15-Jan. 3, 2010. This Disney classic tells the tale of a hideous beast

that is transformed into an enchanted prince through the power of a young woman’s love. Experience the joy in an enchanted new produc-tion created just for the Ordway. See Belle and all your favorite charac-ters come to life onstage. Tickets are $27-$72.

History Theatre“Sisters of Swing” is

presented through Dec. 20, at the History The-atre, 30 E. 10th St., St. Paul. Revisit the Ameri-can experience during World War II through the finger-snapping, Big Band music of Minne-sota’s own Andrew Sis-ters, including “Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree,” “Boogie-Woogie Bugle Boy,” “Rum and Coca Cola,” and many more. Tickets are $28-$32 for adults, $25-$30 for se-niors, $15 for students and $10 for children. For more information, call the box office at 651-292-4323.

Minnesota Children’s Museum

“Trash Bash” is pre-sented through Nov. 29. This exhibit encourages visitors to increase their knowledge, skills, at-titudes, motivation and commitment toward sus-taining a healthy environ-ment. Children will use recycled and reused ma-terials to create art, mu-sic and imaginative play activities. The exhibit features Trash Mountain, an interactive exhibit that includes a simulated collection of trash from a family of four for one year, a Tot Spot, an art studio with recycled ma-terials, an interactive mu-sic instrument and more.

“Out on a Limb” is presented through Janu-ary 24, 2010. Visitors may explore the natural world in this original, in-teractive exhibition that encourages them to hear the sounds of the forest, use leaves to make art, and build big and little

structures from bark and limbs. The exhibits also provide practice with the physical skills of climb-ing and balancing.

Tickets to the Minne-sota Children’s Museum are $8.95. The museum is located at 10 W. Sev-enth St., St. Paul. For more information, call

651-225-6000.

Xcel Energy CenterDisney On Ice Prin-

cess Classics is present-ed December 10-13, at the Xcel Center, 199 W. Kellogg Blvd., St. Paul. This production fea-tures the popular Disney princesses in a kingdom

under the sea, a magi-cal palace in France, an Arabian castle, a garden where pumpkins turn into coaches, and more. The musical score fea-tures memorable Disney songs such as “So This Is Love,” “Beauty and the Beast,” “Part of Your World,” “Whole New

Photo by Petronella Ytsma“Jacob Marley’s Christmas Carol” is presented Dec. 3-20 at Park Square Theatre in the Historic Hamm Building, 20 W. 7th Place, St. Paul

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St. Paul VoiceLa Voz LatinaDowntownSouth St. Paul

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South St. Paul Voice - December 2009 - Page 9

Your community news and information sourceS ample St. Paul

World,” “Reflection,” “Once Upon a Dream,” and “Someday My Prince Will Come.” Tickets are $13-$72.

Park Square Theatre

“Jacob Marley’s Christmas Carol” is presented Dec. 3-20. This is not the same old Christmas Carol! Move over Scrooge, it’s time for Jacob Marley to tell his story.

The flip side of a clas-sic Christmas tale, Jacob Marley’s story begins in the afterlife, where Scrooge once again deter-mines his future. Tickets are $15-$40.

“Of Mice and Men” is presented through Dec. 18. A poignant sto-ry about the American Dream told through the friendship of two men: George, a shrewd, fast-talking man of the road, and Lennie, a man built like an ox but with the mind of a child. As they struggle to make a living as migrant workers, they dream of owning their own ranch. Before they get their wish, however, life’s harsh realities com-bine to test the limits of their friendship.

Tickets are $15-$36.

For more information, call 651-291-7005.

Science Museum of Minnesota

“Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition” is presented at the Science Museum through January 3, 2010. This compelling exhibi-tion takes visitors back in time to 1912 and tells a story of tremendous hu-man drama. It brings to life the heroism and hu-manity of the passengers and crew through passen-ger stories, amazingly de-tailed room re-creations, and authentic artifacts recovered from the RMS Titanic, all in one of the largest exhibitions the Science Museum has ever hosted. Featured in the Omnitheater is “Ti-tanica.” This giant-screen film allows you to take a journey to the bottom of the North Atlantic to explore the famous ship-wreck. See stunning im-ages of the Titanic as she now lies on the ocean floor, contrasted with exquisitely preserved ar-chival photographs of the ship in all her splendor. Hear moving commen-tary from Eva Hart who, as a seven-year-old, sur-vived the tragic night but lost her father.

Museum tickets are $23 for adults and $18 for se-niors ages 60 and older and children ages 4-12, or $29 and $24 respec-tively with admission to “Titanica.” The Science Museum is located at 120 W. Kellogg Blvd., St. Paul. For more informa-tion, visit www.smm.org, or call 651-221-9444.

Minnesota History Center

“Benjamin Frank-lin: In Search of a Bet-ter World” is presented through July 4, 2010, at the Minnesota History Center, 345 W. Kellogg Blvd., St. Paul. You know about Benjamin Frank-lin’s famous experiment with a kite, a key and some lightning, but did you also know about his rebellious youth? That he pioneered wind surfing and invented swim fins? That he helped found the nation’s first hospital, was an environmentalist and charted the Gulf Stream to assist in ocean travel? In many ways Benjamin Franklin is the founding father nobody knows – misunderstood because of the sheer breadth and diversity of his accom-plishments. Discover the many ways Franklin has

affected our world today in this new exhibit.

“Minnesota’s Greatest Generation: The De-pression, The War, The Boom” - This exhibit is the capstone of the Min-nesota Historical Soci-ety’s Minnesota’s Great-est Generation project and features more than 6,000-square-feet of arti-facts, interactive displays and innovative multime-dia experiences that re-veal the lives and stories of the men and women who came of age dur-ing the Depression and World War II, and who went on to create the phe-nomenal postwar boom. The exhibition features first-person narratives in recorded interviews, im-ages, film and audio.

Tickets are $10 for adults, $8 for seniors and college students, and $5 for children ages 6-17. The Center offers free admission on Tuesdays 5-8 p.m. For more in-formation, call 651-259-3000 or visit www.mnhs.org.

Artists’ QuarterThe Artists’ Quarter,

located in the Historic Hamm Building at 7th Place and St. Peter in downtown St. Paul, of-fers live entertainment throughout the month, including jazz bands, po-etry nights and the popu-lar B-3 organ night, held at 9 p.m. every Tuesday. For a complete schedule of events, call 651-292-1359 or visit www.artist-squarter.com.

‘Fezziwig’s Feast’A special adaptation

of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” will be served up with a holi-day feast in Wigington Hall on Harriet Island in St. Paul. This beauti-fully renovated banquet hall will be transformed into Mr. Fezziwig’s Ware-house, with guests wel-comed by a roaring fire, hot-spiced cider, Victo-rian carolers, a seven-course gourmet feast

and a performance of Dickens’ beloved “Ghost Story for Christmas.” The premise of the new staging is that Fezziwig’s dear friend Charles Dick-ens has written a little Christmas ghost story and Fezziwig and his staff decide to act it out at Fezziwig’s annual Christ-mas party.  Performances are offered Dec. 3-6, 10-13 and 17-20. Tickets are $74.50 and can be pur-chased through Ticket-Master at 800-982-2787 or TicketMaster.com.  Reservations are strongly recommended. 

‘Fezziwig’s Feast’ - A special adaptation of Charles Dickens’ “Christmas Carol” will be served up with a holiday feast in Wigington Hall on Har-riet Island in St. Paul.

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Page 10 - South St. Paul Voice - December 2009

Your community news and information sourceC ommunity

Dear South St. Paul Mayor’s Youth Task Force

There are a lot of orga-nizations and community members that do some re-ally cool things for youth in South St. Paul. Is there any way that these in-dividuals can be recog-nized?

Mary and Peter 10th grade

Dear Mary and Peter,What a great question!

We agree. There are a lot of businesses, organiza-tions and individuals that do great things for youth in South St. Paul. The answer to your ques-tion is, yes. The South St. Paul Mayor’s Youth Task Force sponsors an award program called The Red Wagon Award. The Red Wagon Award program was started in 1999 by the South St. Paul Communi-ty of Promise Task Force

Jennifer L. Gale, president

lice officer Steve Gravem, the South St. Paul Police Reserves, Mayor Beth Baumann, the South St. Paul Parks and Recre-ation Department, the South St. Paul Lion’s Club, Mizpah Lodge #191, the VVA #636, Kelly Casey Spavin, the South St. Paul High School Key Club, Emily Laliberte, Deb Griffith, Gallagher -Hansen VFW Post, Rainbow Readers, the Packer Pad, the Lin-coln Center Playground Group, DARE, Chip Jansen and the South St. Paul Open.

As you can see, this is a great list of recipients, and one that we should say thank you to again.

If you know of some-one or an organiza-tion that deserves a Red Wagon Award, please nominate that person or organization. The nomi-nation form is available at www.southstpaul.org under the South St. Paul Mayor’s Youth Task Force, or by contact-ing Deb Griffith, com-munity affairs liaison, at 651-554-3230 or deb.griffith@southstpaul.org. The Youth Task Force will review nomina-tion forms at its January meeting and present the awards in February.

P.S. Why a Red Wagon? The Little Red Wagon is a symbol of childhood. It can be filled with a child’s hopes and dreams or weighed down with burden. Children need our help to push or pull their wagon along. (Gen-eral Colin Powell)

to recognize outstanding projects, group efforts or individual accomplish-ments that benefit the youth of South St. Paul. The program is opened to all residents, busi-nesses, schools and com-munity organizations. Two awards are presented quarterly by the mayor at city council meetings.

In 2008, the South St. Paul Mayor’s Youth Task Force took over facilitat-ing this program. The Task Force solicits re-quests for recipients, re-views nomination forms and determines who will receive a Red Wagon Award. Think about it. Who better to decide who should receive a Red Wagon Award than a group of youth?

Here’s a Who’s-Who list of some of the great or-ganizations, business and individuals to receive the award: South St. Paul po-

Local business perspectives on the state of our economy

On Oct. 28, the Riv-er Heights Chamber of Commerce hosted a “Coffee with Your Leg-islators” listening session at Waterous Company in South St. Paul. This was an opportunity for local business members to share their successes and challenges with leg-islators before they enter into the 2010 session. Business owners and rep-resentatives from vari-ous industries attended to discuss topics such as employment, real estate, energy and taxes. Attend-ees were asked to share their experience on issues that are strongly affecting their business; and the legislators came prepared to listen. Here are some of the issues discussed:

Employment – Em-ployee COBRA insur-ance forms for laid-off workers are lengthy and overwhelming for both the employee and em-ployer. Employers, such as Waterous Company, expressed the importance of streamlining the forms and procedures.

Businesses expressed concerns with, and op-position to, the Paid Sick Leave Mandate being discussed at the Capitol. Employers asked that paid sick leave be left up to the individual com-pany to determine what is most appropriate to

the employee and em-ployer, or employer and union. Businesses owners said they did not want to designate specific “sick” time, as many businesses have personal time off for their employees.

Health insurance ben-efits were also discussed. Rising health care costs of 10-30 percent a year are making it more diffi-cult for businesses to cov-er health insurance plans. Employers said they would like more choice in their plans. Many said they pay 70-90 percent of their employees’ health insurance premiums, and that it is very difficult to pay for the large increases that result from one em-ployee’s serious illness or medical condition, which spikes the entire compa-ny’s rate.

Real Estate - ReMax specialist Kevin Kraus said that residential home prices are way down, but that the number of sales is increasing. However, there are not many sales above $200,000 in South St. Paul. Foreclosures and short sales (where a seller owes more on their home than what is it is worth) are still high, but the tax credit for first time home buyers has been a huge benefit for buyers. Realtors said they would like to see that tax credit opened up to everyone in the entire country. Dave

Langer with Langer Real Estate Services addressed the need for less govern-ment involvement in the commercial market to help cut down the pro-cess time.

Energy - Concerns were raised about how various policies would af-fect the energy industry and lead to higher fuel prices for consumers and businesses, including a proposed Low Carbon Fuel Standard and the current federal cap and trade bill, which dispro-portionately affects the Midwest.

Meghan McDaniel, of Flint Hills Resources, noted that despite the challenging economy, Flint Hills has added to its 900-person workforce.

Investments - Invest-ment representatives, such as Steve Doody with Edward Jones, said in-vestments have been con-servative, that many are optimistic that the reces-sion is slowly going away, that the unemployment rate is decelerating, and that we should let the market fix itself.

Taxes - The consen-sus was unanimous that people can’t afford an in-crease in taxes if they are not getting an increase in wages. Businesses rep-resentatives said they do not want a hidden new energy tax.

Thank you to State Senator James Metzen and state representatives Joe Atkins, Karla Bigham and Rick Hansen for at-tending, listening and giving your insight on our local business issues. For more details on the River Heights Chamber of Commerce, call 651-451-2266 or visit www.riverheighs.com.

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South St. Paul Voice - December 2009 - Page 11

Your community news and information sourceC ommunity

By John Kemp Executive Director of

Neighbors, Inc.

Neighbors, Inc.

I attended a conference recently that dealt largely with social media and its place in the non-profit world. I heard people talk about Twitter and Tweets, Facebook, Linked In, Bit.ly and Ping, and on and on with a whole bunch of names and acronyms that were Greek to me.

I’m so confused.I still remember what

a joy it was to go from a manual typewriter to electric! And then when they invented typewriters with built-in correction tape, why we thought we’d died and gone to heaven.

The pace of techno-logical change is way beyond my ability to comprehend. One of the speakers at this confer-ence gave some statistics to illustrate how rapidly things change. She said it took 38 years for 50 mil-lion people to get a ra-dio; 4 years for the same number of people to use the internet, and only 4 months for Facebook to reach 50 million users. Today, there are over 300 million users of Face-book.

No wonder I’m con-fused!

I chaired the Board of the Dakota County Re-gional Chamber of Com-merce a dozen years ago and I remember a dis-cussion with a very suc-cessful entrepreneur who owned a mid-size distri-bution business that had

conducted business in several states. I remem-ber him saying that he did not have a website, and saw no reason to ever have one.

Well, obviously if a business doesn’t have a website today, and if it doesn’t actively work at keeping that website cur-rent, it won’t be in busi-ness very long. Nearly everyone has a web pres-ence today, including that businessman who saw no reason to have one. There is a tremendous amount of daily business activity that occurs either on or because of the Web.

Social media like Face-book, Twitter and Linked In are today’s version of this same change. If a business or organization doesn’t have a presence on these new social me-dia outlets it will fall be-hind. I’m told that there are colleges and universi-ties in the United States today that no longer give out email addresses for students because the students don’t use email anymore. They text or use Facebook, Twitter or MySpace (although I hear that MySpace is on its way out) to get and sub-mit assignments to their professors, and carry on conversations with their

friends and acquain-tances. It’s their primary form of communication. Email is already passé for this generation of stu-dents.

So what’s the point of all this? We at Neighbors already have a presence on Facebook and Twit-ter, and by the time you read this, I hope we’ll also have a presence on Linked In. I seriously doubt that I, person-ally, will even know how to access these various social media, much less make practical use of them, but then I’m a Luddite and I know it.

However, we have sev-eral people who work, volunteer or have a vest-ed interest in our orga-nization who use social media to communicate. We’ll use social media to let people know what we are doing as an orga-nization, inform them of our meeting dates and events, and let them know what we need in the way of support, such as food, clothing or gifts for our Christmas pro-grams.

In order to do this, we need a special kind of volunteer who is con-versant with the various social media, who knows how to use them and how to keep them fresh and interesting, and who is willing to lead our ef-forts. We think it will take a few hours a week at first and then a little less time once we’re up and running, and we hope they’ll commit to

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at least a year so we can have some continuity as we get ourselves up the learning curve.

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We know we need to do this and we want to do it right, but we need help to make that happen.

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Page 12 - South St. Paul Voice - December 2009

Your community news and information sourceB ack in Time

The 1948 Meatpackers Strike in South St. Paul

Lois GlewweContributor

The arrival of the United Packing

House Workers union to the South St. Paul stock-yards in 1945 brought the benefits of the na-tional organization to local packing plant em-ployees with a series of dramatic changes. The meatpacking plants were now required to provide equipment like knives, steel, stones, clothes and safety equipment, rather than making workers provide their own. Pro-duction requirements had grown to extremes during World War II and those levels were now re-duced to more manage-able numbers.

The war also changed the face of meatpacking. Hundreds of women were hired to fill jobs that were held by men who left to

join the Armed Services. Women were always paid less than the men they re-placed, and when the war ended women were im-mediately told to return home, as jobs were given back to the veterans.

In many ways, World War II also changed the expectations of labor-ers in America. Having fought side-by-side in the trenches and flown mis-sions over war-torn Eu-rope and Japan with men from elevated economic and social cultures, many were not willing to re-turn to minimum pay jobs in an industry that promoted the upper class to management positions while keeping laborers at low-wage levels. The industry was primed for revolution and conflict as the post-war economy brought a huge financial boom to America.

In 1946 and 1947,

strikes in the steel, coal and railroad industries brought massive changes to workers in those areas. South St. Paul in 1947 had more than 6,000 union meatpackers em-ployed by Swift’s and Armour’s. They earned approximately $9 a day. A national strike by the United Packing House Workers was called on March 6, 1947, and within minutes South St. Paul workers with hand-lettered signs were walk-ing picket lines outside the entrance to Swift’s at Grand and Concord.

The biggest and most bitter strike to affect South St. Paul, however, was the United Packing House Workers walkout in March 1948. The na-tional strike lasted 67 days and tensions rose steadily as unpaid plant workers formed picket lines each morning. Ray

Allen, who worked in the plants for years, provided the following memory of the 1948 strike for the South St. Paul Centen-nial history: “The spring snow, rain and cold seemed to go on forever. A soup kitchen was set up in a building on Pitt Street where I was in charge of tickets for soup or chili, whatever was available, and food for the needy. This food was donated. A committee was in charge of making the rounds every week to local merchants to do-

nate, which they freely gave, like canned goods. Hubert Humphrey, then mayor of Minneapolis, came over to see. He sat with the men around the fires along the railroad tracks and later came up to the Union Hall and donated $50 to the soup kitchen; that was a lot of money for time.”

As the strike entered the third month, in May 1948, a group of strik-ers allegedly beat some of the guards, and ru-mors of vandalism at the Cudahy plant across the

river spread throughout the crowd.

In a dramatic and deci-sive action, Gov. Luther Youngdahl called up the National Guard on Fri., May 14, 1948, to break the strike lines in South St. Paul. Company “I” of Litchfield, Minn., formed a truck convoy the next morning and headed into the packinghouse area, with their tanks rolling down the Grand Avenue hill. The Guard had 400

Federal agents inside the meatpacking plants took photos such as this one to identify individuals on the picket lines during the 1948 United Packing House Workers strike. Many South St. Paul families were torn in two over loyalty to the union and loyalty to the meatpacking plants. Violence broke out in the third month of the strike and the National Guard was called in to break the picket lines on May 15, 1948.

Back in Time / Page 5

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