February 2013

Volume 10

Number 2

Visit www.stpaulpublishing.com for expanded coverage!

Mark GallagherContributor

In the months following World War I a fledgling

printing company opened for business in South St. Paul, and like the com-munity that surrounded it, that company has evolved over the years. It has been bought, sold and renamed a few times in its 93 years but the original organization, now incorporated as Globe Publishing Company and located at 224 N. Con-cord Exchange, continues to prosper as a commercial

print shop and office supply store.

In its early days it went through significant chang-

es. During that time, Globe Publishing invested in the latest modern printing technologies, such as offset printing, and other services, including business machine sales, rentals and repairs. Those services were added to enhance the office supply side of the business.

Leading the company from 1955 to 1976 was Er-rett (Eddie) W. Horst, who will turn 104 in February.

“My father retired in 1976, and then, of course, he kept working,” said Horst’s son Dan. “After his retirement, my father came

into the office almost every day until just recently.”

Dan and his brother Bill now co-own the company. They purchased it in 1986 and continue to manage the day-to-day operations. Globe Publishing has nine employees, including Bill, who is the president and handles sales, and Dan, who manages the printing and production-related jobs.

As a publishing company, Globe’s main function is to print, or as printers might say, put ink on paper. The company has two offset presses — a Heidelberg

Cord and a Hashimoto, both sheet-fed presses; and four letter presses — a Kluge, a vertical Heidel-berg, a Windmill and a hand-fed press for scoring, die cutting and specialty work.

One of the unique things that Globe does, on occa-sion, is print on paper that’s made from about 40 per-cent elephant dung. Globe gets the paper from a New York-based company that imports the handcrafted paper from villages in Sri Lanka.

“The eco-friendly paper

isn’t cheap — about 40 per-cent more expensive than regular paper,” said Bill. “Nonetheless, it’s a unique product and attracts a cer-tain kind of customer.”

Printing on the paper can be challenging, according to Bill’s son Mike, who also works at Globe.

“The difference in the pa-per is that the thickness of the paper varies from sheet to sheet,” he said. “It is very hard to run on the press. We get it done, but it’s not simple. We have to adjust accordingly.”

Former owner of Globe Publishing turns 104

Errett (Eddie) Horst

Submitted photo

Students from the South St. Paul Kids Choice after-school program at Lincoln Center worked with the South St. Paul Mayor’s Youth Task Force to make luminaries out of recycled milk jugs and art supplies. A light bulb was added to each snowman to llluminate the path to the holiday tree during the Holidaze celebration. The project was co-sponsored by the South St. Paul Recycling Program.

Mary Diedrick HansenStaff Writer

It’s cold, it’s dark, it’s 7 a.m. on a Wednesday in

South St. Paul. While most people are shutting off their alarm clocks and just think-ing about getting out of bed, 50 South St. Paul high school students have already arrived at school to talk about teenage temptations: the kind that have serious consequences, like texting while driving, not wearing a seat belt, illegal drug use and underage drinking at parties.

These early-rising, action-oriented students are part of a thriving and energetic high school program called SADD (Students Against Destructive Decisions), an off-shoot of MADD (Moth-ers Against Drunk Driving). South St. Paul Mayor Beth Baumann and Deb Griffith, the city’s community af-fairs liaison, are also at the meeting representing the Mayor’s Youth Task Force, a service-oriented city youth program designed to en-

courage students to think about decision-making and the consequences of their action. Griffith has her fin-ger on the pulse of the city and recruits students of all ages to provide “kid-power”

to assist with community projects and events. For example, when 1,000 pres-ents needed to be wrapped for the Lioness’ Club Santa Store, South St. Paul stu-dents were there to help.

“They got those presents wrapped in two hours,” said Griffith.

Kindergarteners through 5th graders in the Kids Choice after-school pro-

A city that values its youth

Youth / Page 2

Packer grapplers gearing up for post-season

John E. AhlstromStaff Writer

The 2011-2012 season for the South St. Paul High School wrestling team was a memorable one. The

team finished second in the sectional team competition and qualified four wrestlers for the Class AA state tour-nament. In the process, Joey Munoz became the first wrestler in school history to capture three state cham-pionships. Munoz has moved on and is now part of the Ohio University wrestling team.

Don Nihart is in his tenth season as the head coach of the Packer wrestling team and continues to build a very successful, high octane program.

“It’s all about numbers,” said Nihart. “In order to de-velop a winning team, you need to attract good athletes into your program. We have started to do that and it is paying dividends.”

Early season tryouts attracted over 90 kids in grades seven through 12.

“It’s the most we have ever had,” said Nihart. “De-spite the ninth grade season coming to a close and the inevitable attrition factor, there continues to be 40-50 kids in the wrestling room on a daily basis.”

As we go to press, the Packers have a 10-4 dual meet record. One of their three losses was to perennial power, Simley, currently ranked #1 in AA. The margin appears to be closing a bit.

“We won three matches,” said Nihart, “and we lost

Wrestling / Page 3

Page 2 - South St. Paul Voice - February 2013

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gram at Lincoln Center and Kaposia elementary schools sprang into action when luminaries were needed to light the walkways during “Holidaze” in South St. Paul. They collected milk cartons, then decorated them to look like snowmen with ear muffs.

South St. Paul cares about its youth and has a host of programs aimed at encour-aging kids to make healthy lifestyle choices. The pro-grams address serious issues but employ fun methods to reach the students.

Mayor’s Youth Task Force

The Mayor’s Youth Task Force was started in 2008 as an anti-drug and alcohol prevention program geared toward fifth through 12th graders.

“It wasn’t created with community service in mind but that’s a big component of it now,” said Griffith, who connects community organizations with youth volunteer help. She also works with the kids on or-ganizing fun events, like a water balloon dodgeball

tournament. “The premise is that if

kids are busy they stay out of trouble,” said Griffith.

SADDSADD is one of the suc-

cessful youth programs that works in tandem with the Mayor’s Youth Task Force. With 100 students active in the senior high and 50 in the junior high, the pro-gram reaches out to the stu-dent body with the message of making smart choices. Leading the program are Senior High Spanish teach-er Lindsay Day and Se-nior High art teacher Russ Schahn. They are enthusias-tic, have the ability to easily connect with students and possess a passion for want-ing to keep them safe.

Day quipped that it was the donuts provided at the meetings that get students out of bed and at school for the 7 a.m. meetings, held the first and third Wednes-days of each month.

“Seriously though, SADD has a reputation as a positive group that spon-sors events that are fun and involve lots of student in-teraction,” she said.

She gave examples from the “Buckle Your Seat Belt”

campaign, which involved SADD members monitor-ing student drivers leav-ing the school parking lot. Those with their seat belts buckled received a prize. A “don’t text and drive” cam-paign involved a scavenger hunt around the school. As students work on activities and campaigns they develop leadership skills. Next up is an anti-bullying campaign, followed by a kindness and respect campaign.

Day said she was thrilled when some of her students told her they walked away from a party where alcohol was being served and went bowling instead.

“Beyond academics, these are choices they make when they are not at school,” said Day. “Student leaders can have an impact on other students when they are not in school.”

Jóvenes de Salud

Other youth programs are piggy-backing on the success of SADD by fun-neling their efforts into the SADD program. One of those groups is Jóvenes de Salud, which means “healthy youth” in Span-ish. The South St. Paul

group was formed in 2009 to help Latino students better engage in the com-munity. Tight funding led to the program dissolving, but Day said that one of the original Jóvenes de Salud members is now active with SADD. She hopes others will join them as well.

Healthy Youth Coalition

The Healthy Youth Co-alition is another group merging its resources with SADD. The coalition was responsible for the MOST of Us campaign, which highlighted the fact that most South St. Paul stu-dents are making healthy choices. The coalition also funded Project Northland, an alcohol abuse preven-tion curriculum for sixth through ninth graders, and Reconnecting Youth, a pre-vention program for at-risk youth in grades 9-12.

Gayle Knopik, Healthy Youth Coalition coordina-tor, teaches students about making decisions through leadership exercises using the Search Institute’s phi-losophy of 40 developmen-tal assets.

“We discussed their sup-port system, and who is

on their list,” said Kponik. “Many people were there that they had not thought about.”

Other topics discussed pertain to empowerment, how to care for others, con-flict resolution and their role at home.

“Studies show that when adolescents have skills and support they aren’t as vul-nerable to choosing to use drugs and chemicals,” said Knopik. “Early interven-tion is the most effective.”

Restorative Justice

Intervention is taking place in many forms at the two elementary schools. One is through Restorative Justice, which employs a “peace guide” at each school. Their mission is to work with students to re-solve conflicts and teach students how to peacefully and effectively communi-cate their needs, wants and emotions, not only in the classroom with their teach-ers but also with their peers on the playground and bus, and at home with their par-ents and family members.

Now in its 15th year in South St. Paul, Restorative Justice works closely with

the Dakota County Juve-nile Court system to make restitution between juvenile offenders and their victims.

Kids ChoiceStudies also show that

active kids are less likely to choose drugs and under-age drinking. This is where the before- and after-school Kids Choice program comes into play. Currently, the parents of 50-60 kids in each school pay weekly for their child to be enrolled in the program, which runs throughout the year.

“It has been evolving over its 27 years in South St. Paul Schools,” said Julie Kinsella, coordinator assistant of the Tri-District Community Education program.

The kids are organized into “learning clubs,” such as etching and painting, jewelry, “let’s move” ex-ercise, and construction. Clubs usually last for a month and are replaced with new ones. Kinsella is proud of the Kids Choice service/learning club. Last summer students held a craft fair and garage sale and were able to raise $2,000 to buy a “habi-hut” for a school in Kenya. This year the students are “walking for water,” which involves walking around a track at school for monetary dona-tions. Once they reach the 50-mile mark they will earn enough to purchase a water filter for a school in Kenya. The students also clipped coupons recently to allow Neighbors, Inc. to purchase food at discounted prices.

Through its various youth programs, South St. Paul is grooming its children to become good citizens who make wise choices and live peacefully with one another.

Youthfrom page 1

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two matches by one point and another that went into overtime.”

The three other losses were at the hands of Sha-kopee (ranked #6 in AAA) 39-29, Eden Prairie 37-31 and Henry Sibley (currently 15-0) 39-33.

The dual meet season is coming to a close and the next important date on the wrestling calendar is Satur-day, Feb. 16. On that date, South St. Paul will host the 11-team 4AA sectional team championship. The individual section tourna-ment takes place the follow-ing weekend at Minnehaha Academy and the Minne-sota State Wrestling Tour-nament will commence on February 28 at the Xcel En-ergy Center.

Here is a weight-by-weight analysis of the Pack-er squad as it gears up for the post-season. Current records for individual wres-tlers are in parenthesis.

106 – Eighth-grader Trevor Oberg (9-13) will likely move down from 113 to wrestle at 106. “Trevor

has faced stiff competition at 113,” said Nihart. “He won the Brooklyn Center Invite tournament and will be very competitive at 106.”

113 – Sophomore Curt Palodichuk (14-6) will move down from 120. Pa-lodichuk finished third in the sectionals in 2012 and will likely be the #2 seed. He placed fourth in the 53-team Bi-state Classic in La-Crosse, Wis.

120 – Eighth-grader Ryan Duffy (16-7), who was an All-Conference se-lection in 2012 and fin-ished third in the sectionals at 106 last year, is already a veteran as an eighth grader.

126 – Sophomore Austin Peper (6-13) picked up the sport just two years ago. He will likely drop from 132 to 126 for the post-season.

132 – Junior John Rankin (12-8) is also in just his second year of wrestling. “He comes from a judo background,” said Nihart. “He is an explosive attacker and a crowd pleaser.”

138 – Senior Andy Jack-son (11-5) is recovering from a leg injury. He is a two-time state tournament entrant and finished in

fourth place in the Bi-state Classic in LaCrosse. Junior Marcos Perez (6-8) is his backup.

145 – Junior Mike Ma-son (14-8), another return-ing letter winner, has had a solid season.

152 – Senior Austen Bau-er (18-7) was a state tourna-ment entrant in 2012. “His stay there was cut short by a concussion,” Nihart said, “but we think he is poised to return this season.”

160 – Ninth-grader Joe Luna, who was undefeated on the ninth-grade team and the JV sqaud, will likely challenge junior Zach Lissic (2-0) for this spot. “It will

probably come down to a wrestle-off,” said Nihart.

170 – Danny Rodriguez (11-6) has had a consistent season and should be very competitive in this weight class.

182 – Junior Hayden Cameron (14-7) has let-tered each year since eighth grade. He was a third place finisher in the section tour-nament last year and Nihart likes his chances of taking the next step.

195 – The sectional tournament entrant who emerges in this weight class will come from among ju-niors Jake Bintliff (10-9), Dechon White (8-5) and

Sam Pachl, who has been sidelined with a shoulder injury.

220 – Junior Jose Brito (13-7) finished third in the 2012 sectional and lost by decision to Simley All-American Jack Ryan at the Bi-state Classic.

Heavyweight – 285-pound junior Preston Woods (10-2), who was a state qualifier in 2012, is currently ranked fourth in the state. He was a highly valued lineman on the foot-ball team and has missed some meets due to football recruiting trips to Califor-nia and Iowa.

Nihart is not ready to boast that the Packers can realistically challenge Sim-ley for the section team ti-

tle, but he is confident that they will earn the #2 seed and represent the school in a very positive manner. He also knows that the indi-vidual competition will be robust.

“Medals are awarded to the top five finishers in each weight class,” Nihart said. “I believe that all 14 of our competitors have an oppor-tunity to go home with a medal.”

The top two wrestlers in each weight class advance to the state tournament.

“We should have as many as seven kids seeded either #1 or #2 in the sectional,” he concluded. “We are con-fident that we will have a solid representation at the Xcel Center.”

Wrestlingfrom page 1

Senior Andy Jackson is hoping to make his third trip to the state tournament this year.

Page 4 - South St. Paul Voice - February 2013

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Your community news and information sourceR iver Connections

Tim SpitzackEditor

There is a small tribu-tary of the Mississippi

River that takes its breath

from Lake Minnetonka and meanders 22 miles through the backyards of suburban and urban homes before it exhales into the river. It is likely the most famous of all

streams in the Mississippi National River and Recre-ation Area, most notable for the 53-foot-high waterfall that bears its name: Min-nehaha.

The falls are the signature attraction of Minnehaha Regional Park, located along the Mississippi River near the intersection of Hi-awatha Avenue and Min-nehaha Parkway in South Minneapolis. More than 850,000 people flock to the park annually to gaze upon the majestic falls. I have been among the sum-mer throngs but have never viewed the falls when they are gripped by the hand of winter. I decided to visit them when the solstice moon waxed on one side of a new year and waned on the other.

As I planned my ad-venture, I realized I didn’t know much about the lore

behind their namesake so I purchased a copy of “The Song of Hiawatha” by Henry Wadsworth Long-fellow. It was my intention to read the poem while sit-ting near the falls. Once I got my copy, I knew that wouldn’t happen. The poem is oft referred to as epic, not only for its content but also for its length: 256 pages. Rather than take the risk of having someone find me frozen to a bench with Longfellow’s masterpiece in hand, I chose instead to read it in the comfort of my home over the course of a week. Reading classic litera-ture beside a crackling fire is an enjoyable way to wile away the longest nights of the year.

“The Song of Hiawatha” was published in 1855 and weaves together the folklore and myths of the Native Americans who first occu-pied this land. Longfellow drew much of his research for the poem from the writings of Henry Rowe Schoolcraft, who extensive-

ly studied Native American cultures. Schoolcraft passed through this area in 1832 on his famous expedition to discover the source of the Mississippi River.

I visited the falls twice recently: first when I pur-chased a copy of the poem and then after I had read it. On my first trip I mar-veled at what freezing temps can do to the outflow of a tiny creek that plunges off a 53-foot high precipice. That day the falls were a half-moon of a hundred columns of jagged blue ice and were indeed an awe-inspiring sight to behold.

A tiny trickle of water bubbled from them and quickly retreated beneath the crust of ice that covered the creek. I followed the frozen stream about a half-mile through the wooded ravine until I reached its confluence with the Mis-sissippi River. As I stood on the shoulder of ice near the open water of the river I could envision Hiawatha making his solitary way through the valley.

It wasn’t until my return visit that I truly understood the significance of this area to Native Americans. On that day I paid little atten-tion to the falls because I

was more interested in the life-size bronze statue of Hiawatha and Minnehaha that is perched on a tiny island in the creek just up-stream from the falls. Hi-awatha is carrying his lover in his arms, his right leg outstretched, toes pointed down, as he is ready to en-ter the stream. He and Min-nehaha are both looking at the stream as if pondering the distinct danger of slip-ping and being swept over the falls. Nonetheless, the young Hiawatha appears confident and virile. He has “crossed the Mighty Mis-sissippi” to the “land of the Dakotahs, where the falls of Minnehaha Flash and gleam among the oak trees, laugh and leap into the valley” to take Minnehaha back to the “shore of Gitche Gumme, by the shining Big-Sea-Water.” This statue captures the heart of a couple who are just beginning their lives together, with vast possibili-ties before them. They don’t know what the future has in store for them but they are determined to carve out a life together and leave their mark on the world. And they know that sharing their journey together will make it that much better, come what may.

Every mile is a memorySearching for Hiawatha

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The 72 miles of Mississippi River that flow through the Twin Cities hold a treasure trove of memories in the making. In celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area this November, we are publishing a series of articles that explore how the corridor has changed over the past quarter-century and how it continues to strengthen our relationship with the river and improve our quality of life. Read the series at www.stpaulpublishing.com/mississippiriver.html.

South St. Paul Voice - February 2013 - Page 5

Your community news and information sourceC ommunity Columns

Wipaire named Business of the YearOn Thursday, Jan.17 Wipaire, Inc., of South St. Paul was

named Business of the Year at the River Heights Cham-ber of Commerce and Progress Plus 110th annual meet-ing. This award has been presented since 1995 to recognize the accomplishments of River Heights Chamber member businesses with over 20 employees. It acknowledges an or-ganization’s commitment to the community, its employees, and excellence in service, business ethics, friendliness and

business operations.Wipaire is a third generation, family owned general avia-

tion company that manufacturers aircraft floats, skis and STC kits for an extensive variety of aircraft. In the 1960s, Ben Wiplinger had a strong interest in aviation long before he began working on Wipline Floats. At age 25, he was one of only six certified aircraft mechanics working in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area. He began converting surplus military aircraft into corporate aircraft at the South St. Paul Airport.

Fast forward to the present. Wipaire now has 140 em-ployees, most of them full time, and provides resources and time for them to focus on continuing education and to earn new certifications to further develop their skills. One of the company’s challenges has been competition for me-chanics from unionized shops.

Wipaire’s introduction to the Chamber began when for-mer Senator Norm Coleman visited their hangar to talk about jobs on a Chamber-led visit. The company is com-mitted to the community and supporting elected officials who work to keep Minnesota competitive. They are proud to be a member of the River Heights Chamber of Com-merce and to participate with many other associations and

non-profits. Chamber involvement helps them stay con-nected with the local business community and their neigh-boring communities and create relationships that are fun-damental to their ability to operate.

Wipaire’s vision is to be a general aviation industry leader of diversified service and to be recognized for its quality products and technological innovations. Its mission is “to meet selected needs of the general aviation industry, our customers, and our employees while making a profit to be reinvested in people, products and technology to better serve the industry.”

Wipaire’s three main goals are to keep the company go-ing for the next generation, gain and keep a competitive edge, and protect its leadership position in their niche mar-ket. Essentially, they want to develop and produce innova-tive products for their customers and continue innovating.

Congratulations to the River Heights Chamber of Com-merce’s 2013 Business of the Year, Wipaire, Inc., a com-pany committed to excellence. For more information about the River Heights Chamber of Commerce, visit www.river-heights.com or call 651-451-2266.

By John Kemp Executive Director of

Neighbors, Inc.

Neighbors, Inc.

Jennifer L. Gale, president

There’s always a big sigh of relief at Neighbors when Christmas is over. The month of December is extremely hectic here, for staff and volunteers alike. Not only are we trying to serve the folks who come for our regular pro-grams, like the food shelf, the Clothes Closet, etc., but we are also trying to serve our Christmas program applicants as well. If you haven’t lived through it, you can’t appreciate the amount of time and energy it takes.

This year we took Christmas applications from 1,001 families. That’s 1,001 families for whom we organized the acquisition and distribution of toys, clothing and gifts for each member of the family, and the food needed to pre-pare a traditional Christmas meal, including a turkey or a ham. Thankfully, nearly half of the families we serve are adopted through our Adopt-A-Family and Adopt-A-Senior

programs. That makes it a little easier, but it still leaves over 500 families to be served through our Love Your Neighbor program.

None of this would be possible without a wonderfully generous community, a community that supplies us with the toys, clothing, household and gift items to serve these families, and a community that adopts families and seniors and shops for them like they are their own family members.

It would also not happen without our large number of incredibly dedicated, hard-working volunteers. It’s an amazing experience to walk through our building in De-cember and see all of the volunteers busily engaged. Some of them are receiving, sorting, selecting and packing gifts for the Love Your Neighbors program. Some are helping people complete their applications. Others are accepting boxes packed with gifts from adopters and getting them into a safe place, and then turning around and bringing them back out to give them to the adopted family. It’s or-ganized chaos most of the time. It starts by 8 a.m. and often doesn’t end until after 7 p.m., even though our doors close at 4:30 p.m.

The food shelf is also quite chaotic. We continue to pro-vide our regular service to about 450 families each month, but we also acquire, pack and distribute food for most of the 1,000 families we serve in the Christmas program. And, of course, December is one of the busiest months of the year for food donations. The folks working in the food shelf wind up buried in food! It’s amazing to me that most

of the work is done by volunteers, with the exception of a few staff members whose primary job it is to make sure everything is in place for the volunteers to do their work.

One morning in mid-December I met one of our Christ-mas volunteers on her way in to our office. We chatted as we walked and she told me how much she enjoyed volun-teering with the Christmas program. She had a big smile on her face and a spring in her step, and she couldn’t wait for the doors to open so she could start helping people again. She said, “I just love this program! I can’t wait for it to start each year so I can come in and work.”

That made my day. And I think she spoke for all of the volunteers who help us at Christmastime. It may sound cli-ché, but Christmas really is about giving, and there’s some-thing very special about giving to someone you don’t even know. Neighbors, Inc. is deeply grateful to all who helped make our 2012 Christmas programs a success. If you or your business or organization adopted families or seniors, thank you. You made their Christmas much brighter. If you donated toys, clothing, gifts or household items for our Love Your Neighbor program, thank you. You also made people’s Christmas much brighter. If you donated money, thank you. And if you volunteered in any of our other pro-grams, thank you. Volunteers are Neighbors. Without you we would not exist.

And just think, we only have to wait about nine months until we get to do it all over again.

Gearing up for another great year After taking a few weeks off for the holidays, the South

St. Paul Mayor’s Youth Task Force is back at it. We are now planning events and activities for 2013, and it looks like

we’ll have another exciting year. Here are a few highlights. In February, we’ll work on a recruitment campaign for

new members. Task force members will form a sub-com-mittee and develop a campaign on how to recruit new members. In addition, we’ll be back in the studio and out around town for the FYI – For Youth Information TV show.

In March, the task force will host the community-wide food drive for Neighbors, Inc. We invite the entire commu-nity to participate. More details will follow. The task force will also assist at the Easter Skate.

In April, we plan to introduce a new event for South St. Paul pre-teens and teens. Stay tuned for more information. The task force will also join forces with the South St. Paul High School SADD organization and the theater depart-ment to host the “Look What I Can Do Talent Show.”

In May, we will host the annual River and Park Cleanup, followed by an ice cream social at Wakota Arena.

In June, we will host the 2nd Annual Water Balloon Dodgeball Tournament and Water Wars Tournament. We are currently meeting with Kaposia Days organizers to see if this event will be part of the Kaposia Days weekend. We will also host Swimming under the Stars parties on Wednesday evenings at Northview Pool. The parties will be held 8-10 p.m. during the summer.

In August, the task force will sponsor the annual Fill the Backpack campaign. Our goal is to fill over 200 backpacks

for students in need in South St. Paul. September will take us back to school and we’ll gear up

for a new school year and new members.October is always a busy month with On the Road Again

and Halloween events, including the Annual 5th and 6th grade Halloween Party, the Halloween Skate and the Great Halloween Get Together. In addition, we have adopted 5th Avenue and will pick up litter one afternoon along the av-enue.

On Saturday, Nov. 2, the task force will recycle pump-kins the task force way. It’s fun to see the pumpkins fly.

In December, we will kick off the holiday season with Holidaze in South St. Paul by collecting hats and mittens for Neighbors, Inc. If you know someone who might be interested in knitting or crocheting hats or mittens for the drive, contact Deb Griffith, community affairs liaison, at deb.griffith@southstpaul.org or 651-554-3230. We will also assist at the SouthWest Lioness Santa Store and with the Skate with Santa at Wakota Arena.

This is a snapshot of what will be taking place in 2013. Throughout the year we will add more events, but we think this is a good start. For more information on the task force or to find out how to get involved, visit www.southstpaul.org and click on SSP Mayor’s Youth Task Force, like us on Facebook at South St. Paul Mayor’s Youth Task Force or contact Deb at 651-554-3230 or Griffith@southstpaul.org.

Page 6 - South St. Paul Voice - February 2013

Your community news and information sourceN ews BriefsStudent Notes

Gary Weseman of South St. Paul graduated from Harding University in Searcy, Ark.

Library happenings

For more information on library events, call 651-554-3240 or visit www.southst-paul.org/library.

Book Discussions - Feb-ruary’s title is “Pope Joan” by Donna Woolfolk Cross. Debated time and again, this novel explores the story of 9th-century Pope John Anglicus, who some be-lieve was actually Joan of Ingelheim. According to legend, following a Viking raid in which her brother was killed, Joan assumed his identity and traveled to Fulda to study, becom-ing such a great healer that the papacy took note. The Wednesday discussion is at 1 p.m., February 13 and the Thursday discussion is at 7 p.m., February 21. Infor-mation packets are available at the library and at www.southstpaul.org/library under Adult Book Discus-sions.

Presidents’ Day - The library will be closed Mon-day, Feb. 18 in honor of Presidents’ Day.

Story Times - Story times for ages one and un-der are offered at 6:30 p.m., Monday, Feb. 4, 11 and 25. Family story times are held at 10:15 a.m., each Tuesday in February. These events include books, mu-sic, rhymes and more. Some story times may be followed by a short craft project.

Music and Movement is held at 10:15 and 11 a.m. each Wednesday in Febru-ary for ages five and under. The event includes music, dance and book. Registra-tion is required.

Teen Writing Club – Teens age 12-18 are invited to join the Teen Writing Club to practice writing skills, learn new techniques, read what other teen writ-ers are working on and hear helpful comments on their own writing. The group meets at 3:30 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 6.

Game Night - Level Up Games will present a game night at the library 5-7 p.m., Friday, Feb. 22.

Hot Reads for Cold

Nights - The adult reading program continues through February 23. Participants may read or listen to what-ever book they choose and register to win prizes. Par-ticipants will have the op-portunity to win books and drawing slips during Hot Reads Book Bingo, held at 6:30 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 7. Additionally, participants can win drawing slips by being the first to correctly answer trivia questions on the library’s Facebook page.

eBook Basics - Infor-mation sessions are offered Monday, Feb. 4 to learn more about downloading free library eBooks onto an eReader. Session 1: iPad, 5:30-6:15 p.m.; Session 2: Kindle, 6:15-7 p.m.; Ses-sion 3: Nook, Kobo, Sony and others, 7-7:45 p.m. If you are unsure about which session is right for you, call Honora at 651-554-3243.

Origami Workshop - Children’s book illustrator and origami expert Lauren Stringer will host a work-shop on the traditional art of Japanese paper folding 6:30-8 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 21. Open to all ages. Regis-tration is required.

Job Resources @ the Li-brary - An informational class on the job-seeking tools available through the library is offered at 10:30 a.m., Wednesday, Feb. 27. Registration is required.

Outdoor skating rinks and trails

South St. Paul operates five outdoor ice skating rinks and over six miles of trails for winter use. Har-mon Rink at Spruce Street and Henry Avenue has a hockey rink and indoor warming facility.  Rinks with both hockey and plea-sure skating and a warm-ing facility are Lorraine Rink, Third Avenue South and Seventh St. South, Jefferson  Rink, 21st Av-enue North and Southview Boulevard,  and Bromley Rink, 22nd Avenue North and Bromley. Seidls Rink, Fourth Avenue South and 14th Avenue South, is open for pleasure skating, but there is no warming facil-ity at this location.  Warm-ing house hours are 4:30-8 p.m., Monday-Thursday; 4:30-8:30 p.m., Friday; noon-8:30 p.m., Saturday;

1-6 p.m., Sunday. Special hours apply during holiday and non-school breaks. 

Dakota County will re-move snow from the river-front trail (4.5 miles; park-ing is available at the South St. Paul Municipal Service Center, 400 E. Richmond St., and Simons Ravine trailhead, 1308 N. Con-cord St.), Kaposia Landing (1.6 mile loop) at Concord Street North and Bryant Avenue, and the McMor-row Field  trail (.5 mile) at South Street and Henry Av-enue.

Registration for winter programs

The South St. Paul Parks and Recreation Depart-ment and the Central Square Community Center, 100 Seventh Ave. N., are accepting registrations for winter programs, includ-ing non-school day field trips, gymnastics, karate and swimming lessons, and a wide variety of fitness and wellness classes.  Program brochures are available at Central Square and at www.southstpaul.org (click on Parks and Recreation De-

partment/Central Square Community Center).

Program on historical state atlas

Mary Hawker Bakeman, owner of Park Genealogical Books, will present a pro-gram on “The Illustrated Historical Atlas of the State of Minnesota – 1874” at 7 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 21 at the Dakota County Histor-ical Society, 130 Third Ave. N., South St. Paul. The pro-gram is free and open to the public. This unique volume, produced by Alfred T. An-dreeas, can be used to trace farm families that settled in Minnesota during the early pioneer times. The atlas contains 70 pages of county maps and plans of cities and towns, along with 100 pag-es of historical description, statistical tables and bio-graphical data. Bakeman is a graduate of the Univer-sity of Minnesota, as well as the National Institute on Genealogical Research of the National Archives. She has written several fam-ily histories and numerous aids for researchers seeking

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South St. Paul Voice - February 2013 - Page 7

Your community news and information sourceN ews Briefsancestors in Minnesota, for which she received the Pioneer Explorer Award by the Minnesota Genealogi-cal Society. The program is sponsored by the Dakota County Genealogical Soci-ety. For more information, call 651-452-5926.

Gotham Tax opens new South St. Paul branch

Gotham Tax Service re-cently opened new branch offices in South St. Paul and West St. Paul. The South St. Paul office is at 1317 South-view Blvd. and the West St. Paul office is located in the Doddway Shopping Cen-ter near Bernard and Dodd Road. Both are owned by Mendota Heights resident Steve Gotham, who has provided tax services for more than 20 years. He opened his first office in In-ver Grove Heights in 2002 and moved it to its present location at 6428 Cahill Ave. in 2006.

The South St. Paul of-fice is managed by South St. Paul native Jody Dal-ske (nee Trealoff), who has worked as a tax preparer for nearly 20 years. All tax pre-parers at Gotham have the latest federal certification and specialize in individual, small business and rental returns, filing for all states, back year filing and resolv-ing problems with the IRS. For more information or to schedule an appointment, call the West St. Paul office

at 651-552-9320, South St. Paul at 651-457-5090 or Inver Grove Heights at 651-455-4150, or visit www.go-thamtax.com.

Floats and Flicks Party

A Floats and Flicks party is offered 6-8 p.m., Fri-day, Feb. 22 at the Cen-tral Square Community Center pool, 100 Seventh Ave. N. All ages are invited to watch a movie on a big screen while floating in the pool. Cost is $3.25.  For more information, call 651-306-3690.

Park shelters and pavilion reservations

The South St. Paul Parks and Recreation Department is accepting reservations for its three facilities that are available for rent for picnics and special events. The shel-ter at Lorraine Park and the shelter and pavilion at Ka-posia Park are available for rent daily May 5-October 14.  All other public picnic facilities are available on a first come, first served basis. For more information, call 651-306-3690

Free GED prep classes

South Suburban Adult Basic Education offers free

classes to help adults age 16 and older learn English and prepare for the GED test. Classes are offered at various times and locations. Free childcare is available for some classes. To enroll or receive more informa-tion, call 651-457-9441 or visit South Suburban Adult Basic Education at 517 Ma-rie Ave., South St. Paul.  

Off-leash dog area permits

Permits are now available for the Kaposia Landing off-leash dog area, located at 800 Bryant Ave., South St. Paul. This 6.3-acre fenced parcel offers dogs and their owners the only legal area to run, recreate and train without a leash in the city. Users must have a permit to use the park. Cost is $20 for residents and $30 for non-residents. The fee supports ongoing maintenance and development of the park. For more information, visit www.southstpaul.org  or call 651-306-3690.

Fury Motors helps raise funds for local elementary

Fury Motors of South St. Paul helped raise $2,760 in funding for Holy Trin-ity Elementary with Chrys-ler’s “Drive for the Kids” program.  The fundraising event was held this fall. Participants earned a $10 contribution to the school from Chrysler by test driv-ing a Town & Country minivan. Fury supplied the vehicles and volunteers for the event.

Volunteer opportunity

Neighbors, Inc., a so-cial service agency serving Northern Dakota County, has a number of volunteer opportunities to assist local residents. It is particularly looking for volunteers to as-sist 1-4 p.m. on Saturdays in its thrift store sorting and organizing clothing and as-sisting customers. For more

information, contact David at 651-306-2145 or at vol-unteer@neighborsmn.org.

Fare for All Express

Fare for All Express will be held 4-6 p.m., Tues., Feb. 5, at Central Square Community Center, 100 7th Ave. N. Fare for All Express is a program of the Emergency Foodshelf Network that partners with organizations around the Twin Cities metro area. It is a cooperative food buying program that allows people

to save up to 50 percent on monthly groceries by pur-chasing “express packages.” No advance payment or pre-registration is needed to purchase packages and there is no limit to the number of packages that can be pur-chased each month. Fare For All is open to everyone. There are no income-based requirements for participa-tion. Participation does not affect eligibility to receive assistance from a food shelf. For more information, call 651-306-3690 or visit www.southstpaul.org.

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Page 8 - South St. Paul Voice - February 2013

Your community news and information sourceB ack in Time

Chief Big Thunder learns to plowLois Glewwe

Contributor

In 1834 Samuel and Gideon Pond, two broth-

ers from Connecticut, ar-rived at Fort Snelling. They made the trip west for the sole purpose of helping the Dakota people. They had no official sponsor and did not refer to themselves as missionaries, although they were both Congregational-ists. When they presented themselves to the acting agent at the fort he per-mitted them to occupy a vacant room in one of the agency houses. However, he charged them rent and gave them no encouragement.

They were soon sum-

moned to appear before Major Bliss, commander of the fort. The brothers decided that Samuel would represent them at this meet-ing. The commander in-formed Samuel that he and his brother had no author-ity to be at the fort or any-where in the area, which at the time was only open to military troops and licensed traders. After reading a let-ter of recommendation and being convinced of the brothers’ character, Bliss in-quired of their plans. When he learned that their only goal was to help the Indi-ans, Bliss told Samuel that the Kaposia band had oxen and a plow but no one to plow for them. Samuel im-

mediately volunteered to help.

The chief of the Kaposia Village was Wakinyantan-ka, translated as Big Thun-der. He was the hereditary chief of the band and was thus also known by the name Little Crow. Born in about 1785, he was the fa-ther of the most famous Lit-tle Crow, Taoyateduta, who would become the leader of the warring faction of the Dakota in the U.S. Dakota War of 1862.

When Big Thunder learned that a white farmer was going to come to his village and plow their fields, he immediately took the plow from the fort to Kapo-sia in a canoe, while Samuel drove the oxen there. While there is no description of where the plowing took place, it is most likely that it was on top of the bluffs above the riverfront village, near present day Thompson Avenue, between 12th and 15th avenues.

Samuel recalled in his journal on May 25, 1834 that he spent a week in the village, lived in Big Thun-

der’s house and ate with him. The chief had two wives and a house full of children. Communication was difficult since Samuel knew only a few words of Dakota at that time and Big Thunder didn’t speak English. Still, Samuel con-sidered the experiment a success. He recalled that the chief and his lead soldier, Big Iron, alternated hold-ing the plow while Samuel drove the oxen to break the ground. He remarked that they seemed very pleased with the result.

In reality, Big Thunder and the Kaposia people had no need for a plowed field. They were already successful growers of corn, potatoes, beans and other vegetables. The women of the village tended the crops, planting them very practically with one corn stalk in a small mound, surrounded by the other plants at the base. This style of planting kept the weeds away, allowed the plants to share nutrients, made watering each indi-vidual mound possible and did not require the breaking

of the ground or the remov-al of trees. For eager white men, however, teaching the Dakota to plow like white settlers was a priority.

Fortunately for Samuel Pond, he and Gideon were soon much more involved in creating the first written Dakota alphabet and learn-ing the language than they were in plowing for Big Thunder, who abandoned the idea of plowed fields as soon as Samuel returned to the fort.

The chief lived another 11 years. In October 1845, he was fatally wounded while following a wagon up the Bryant Avenue hill. His rifle was in the bed of

the wagon and discharged, shooting him in the chest. The doctor at Fort Snelling was immediately brought to the village but was unable to help. The chief died the next day. Taoyateduta, the first in line to succeed him, was at Lac Qui Parle when his father died. He showed up at Kaposia in April 1846 and claimed his right to lead the Kaposia band. Two of his half-brothers chal-lenged him and shot him, shattering the bones in his forearms. He survived the attack, his brothers myste-riously ended up dead, and the rest, as they say, is his-tory.

Samuel Pond, shown here in his final years, was a young man when he was sent to the Kaposia Village to teach Chief Big Thunder how to use a plow in 1834. Pond said he believed that Big Thunder was the first Dakota ever to handle a plow.

Photo courtesy of the Blooming-ton Historical Society

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