Submitted photo

Author and librarian Nancy Pearl, who has her own action figure, will be featured at the Chanhassen High School Auditorium on Sept. 24.

 By Kathy Perschmann

Nancy Pearl, author, librarian and someone who has her own action figure, will be featured at a Club Book event at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 24, at the Chanhassen High School Auditorium.

Doors will open 45 minutes prior to event.

Photo by Richard Crawford

Carver County Sheriff Bud Olson explains details of a multi-county burglary spree in front of stolen property being inventoried in Carver County.

By Richard Crawford

Three men have been arrested in conjunction with home burglaries in Carver County and as many as 10 other counties around the state and Wisconsin, according to the Carver County Sheriff’s Office.

By Mark W. Olson

Carver County Republicans planned to endorse county commissioner candidates at a Wednesday night endorsement convention in Norwood Young America.

It’s apparently the first time in recent history that county Republicans have endorsed candidates for nonpartisan races – contests with no party affiliation listed on the ballot.

Photos by Unsie Zuege

 It's a pajama party! The Go Go Girls had a good run in the 2nd annual Volksfest Bed Races, sponsored by the Victoria Fire Department. The Go Go Girls were Linnea Lynum, Sydney Goggins, Emily Klinger, Ashley Hadden, and Amanda Hadden.

 By Unsie Zuege

By Carolyn Spargo

The Nordic countries, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, have high standards for their educational systems. The education system is similar among the countries. The literacy rate among the Nordic countries is 99 percent. The students begin school at age 6 with more than half of the population in daycare before they start the primary grades. School lunch is free for all Nordic students.

Photo by Unsie Zuege

Jill VeLure may be new to Victoria Elementary but she is no stranger to District 112. Victoria Elementary School’s new principal’s experience gives her a broader view of education and curriculum that can engender better teaching and learning.

By Unsie Zuege

The newest president of the Chanhassen Historical Society was born for the role. Paula Atkins, 53, grew up in Chanhassen, the proud progeny of the Roeser/Jorissen and Schneider/Notermann families.

“There were just over 250 people in Chanhassen when I was a kid,” Atkins said. “Both my parents came from large families who married into other Chanhassen families so it seemed I was related to everyone. I had many cousins in town around my own age and they were good friends. I met more cousins when I got into high school.

Photo by Forrest Adams

This TCF Bank was the site of an attempted bank robbery on Monday morning.

By Forrest Adams

The second attempted bank robbery in the past 13 months in Chanhassen was reported on Monday when Carver County Sheriff’s Deputies and Chaska Police Officers responded to a call from the lone-standing TCF Bank.

Cylists of all ages are invited to join the  Pied Piper Neighborhood Bike Ride. Cyclists are invited to gatherat one of three
starting points in the city: Watermark Park, the Victoria Recreation
Center, and Swiss Mountain, and heading to Kirche Lachen Park near
downtown for the 11:30 a.m. kickoff activities, followed by a bike parade into downtown Volksfest and Art Fair.

Photo by Unsie Zuege

Incoming senior Nicole Meyer consulted with Assistant Principal Mark Shoquist during registration at Chanhassen High School earlier this week. Students checked in  for identification pictures and parking passes at Chanhassen High School. With Nicole is her sister Robin, who will be an 8th grader at CMW.

Eden Prairie and Chanhassen have recently been identified as top places to live in the United States but there are still plenty of needs, according to Anne Harnack, the executive director of PROP.

This week PROP, a local food shelf and service agency for Chanhassen and Eden Prairie, completed its collection of backpacks and school supplies at Eden Prairie Center. PROP expects to serve more than 800 students in 2010, according to a recent newsletter.

The Carver County deputies assigned to the cities of Chanhassen, Victoria, and Carver and the townships of Laketown, San Francisco and Dahlgren responded to the following calls from Aug. 16 to Aug. 22.

Aug. 16

At 7:40 a.m., responded 9100 block of Fox Court, Victoria, for report of theft.

At 12:25 p.m., responded to 800 block of Lake Drive, Chanhassen, for report of property damage.

By Unsie Zuege

The school year hasn’t even started, and already, Chanhassen High School Principal Tim Dorway has the Class of 2011 commencement on his mind.

Just as having its first senior class this year is significant, its graduation for example, will be another “first” for the school. It’s important to pay attention to the details because it is one more way of exemplifying the “Chan Way.”

Photo by Unsie Zuege

Jeremy West picks a peck of peppers from his front lawn. Mowing the steep front yard was such a nightmare West swapped out a lush lawn for a lush garden.

By Unsie Zuege

By Sammy Wanyonyi

He is humble, he is joyful, and he works hard to make a difference among a Kenyan rural town’s community. That is Dr. Nathan Matasi, a gynecologist serving in Kitale town, Western Kenya.

There are hardly any hospitals in this part of the world. The one government-operated hospital in Kitale town serves a population of more than 1 million people from the town and the surrounding rural farm communities.

Annika Spargo

By Unsie Zuege

Annika Spargo draws on her own experience as a youngster in successfully teaching music to elementary school-aged children.

Average retail gasoline prices in Twin Cities have fallen 5.6 cents per gallon in the past week, averaging $2.60/g yesterday. This compares with the national average that has fallen 3.6 cents per gallon in the last week to $2.72/g, according to gasoline price website TwinCitiesGasPrices.com.

(Carver County news release)

Carver County learned this week it will receive nearly $6 million in
federal stimulus funds to expand its fiber optic ring project to provide
high-speed Internet connectivity to 86 community partners throughout
the county. The formal announcement of the competitive grant from the
National Telecommunication and Information Administration (NTIA) on Aug.
18 stated Carver County will receive $5,995,600 in federal funds.

It happened last year; it’s happened again.

One of the Adirondack chairs that is set to be auctioned during the Victoria Volksfest celebration on Saturday, Aug. 28 was reported stolen.

Deb McMillan of the Southwest Metro Chamber of Commerce sent an e-mail to the Chamber’s membership alerting everyone of the missing chair.

Volksfest and Art Fair 2010

When: Saturday, Aug. 28

Where: Downtown Victoria

What: Community celebration, from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. Family activities, food, beverages, art fair, contests, Battle of the Bands, Pied Piper Neighborhood Bike Ride, Fun Run, Adirondack chair auction, bed races, Canyon Cowboys band, and much more.

The Volksfest & Art Fair Bed Races are back for 2010!

Prizes are:

• First Place, $100 plus trophy (to be displayed with your team’s name in School of the Wise).
• Second Place $50.
• Most Creative Design, $50.

Rules may be downloaded HERE!

Sign-Up form may be downloaded HERE!

By Linda McNulty

 
Where has the summer gone? Suddenly, fall is in the air! After the storms and heat of the last week, Sunday was just perfect! But, the truth is--fall is not far away. With it comes Volksfest on Saturday, Aug. 28, Labor Day on Monday, Sept. 6, and then school begins.

My eldest grandchild will enter the hallowed halls of Chanhassen High School for his first year in the new school. It is hardly possible, since I was entering high school just a few short years ago, myself.

By Unsie Zuege

The Victoria City Council has two candidates running for the seat of mayor, and two candidates for two seats on the city council.

Thomas J. Strigel of 8975 Wedgemere Drive, Victoria, filed on Friday, Aug. 13, for a seat on the Victoria City Council. Strigel is the fourth resident to file for candidacy for city council in the upcoming election.

What: Community bike ride using the city’s bike trails

When: Saturday, Aug. 28, gathering at Kirke-Lachen Park at 11:30 a.m., then heading downtown using the Highway 5 underpass. Meet ‘Coney’ the Culver’s custard cone, get free giveaways, learn bike safety tips, and decorate your bike for a parade into downtown Victoria.

Who: All city residents and families.

By Unsie Zuege

There’s almost more than one Saturday can contain.

This year’s Volksfest in downtown Victoria is Saturday, Aug. 28. Festivities begin at 10 a.m. with the opening of the Art Fair, and ramps up with stirring music at 11 a.m. when the Minnesota Valley Community Band begins its concert, and continues through the evening with the Canyon Cowboys playing in the main tent.

Submitted photo

Tyson Forbes, left, and Sam Elmore, appear as Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau in the original play, “Nature,” at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum. “Nature” explores their friendship, writing, and mutual love of nature, with the outdoors as a backdrop.

By Unsie Zuege

Emerson and Thoreau are back.

Tamara Kangas Erickson

Photo by Mollee Francisco

Though they were born to different mothers, the two otters that arrived at the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Minnesota within a week of one another this June, bonded instantly.

By Mollee Francisco

They poked their heads out, cautiously at first, the water tempting them just a few feet away.

Thomas J. Strigel of 8975 Wedgemere Drive, Victoria, filed Friday morning, to run for a seat on the Victoria City Council.

Strigel is the fourth resident to file for candidacy for city council in the upcoming election.

Strigel joins candidates James Crowley who is running for a city council seat. Mayor Mary Hershberger Thun is running for re-election. Hershberger Thun was elected to a four-year term as City Councilor in 2002. In 2006, she ran for and won a two-year term as Mayor. She ran for, and was re-elected Mayor in 2008.

Mike Reiss,
head writer and producer for "The Simpsons" for over 20 years, will
speak at the Chanhassen High School Auditorium at 7 p.m., Friday, Oct.
22.

Reiss’s presentation is part of the Club Book program.

Here’s Reiss’s bio, as submitted by the Library Foundation of Hennepin County.