Falls fourth grader Nick Bernath, left, holds a pose a Zenon Dance Company instructor is demonstrating Tuesday as part of a dance class.
Dance the day away
Falls students take dance workshop
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Rhys Truty, left, and Gage Wallander, act as young directors during their winter concert Friday.
These kindergartens had no problem belting out their songs. Pictured in the front row are Nicholas Schrock and Brooklyn Dowty and in the back row are Ava Silvers and Adien Lehman.
Payten Rousseau plays an instrument during Friday's concert.
Falls Elementary first-grade students sing songs Friday.
Second-grade students Keaton Maish, left, and Carter Fisher, hold props during one of their songs.
Kindergarten students entertain family, friends and the community Friday.
Lucia Fougner spots her family in the crowd Friday and smiles for a photo.
Cooper Jensen sports a festive tie for Friday's performance.
Second-grade students hold up holiday props during a song.
Falls Elementary music teacher Jeannie Strand and students hosted the annual winter concerts Friday for family, friends and the community. The youngsters sang a variety of popular holiday tunes as well as played some handheld instruments.
An anticipated $1 billion surplus in Minnesota’s budget released last week should not be viewed as pennies from heaven, said Borderland’s state lawmakers.
Instead, Rep. David Dill and Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk said the anticipated surplus is the result of making the right decisions in the past few years and will help make up for inflation.
Both Borderland lawmakers said inflation cannot be ignored. Without the surplus, the state would have to come up with an additional $1 billion or cut $1 billion from the budget.
The lawmakers recalled during the Pawlenty administration a law approved prohibiting inclusion of inflation in the semi-annual budget on the spending side, but includes inflation anticipated in income.
Gov. Mark Dayton will propose a budget based on the November budget and economic forecast released Thursday. In February, the Legislature will receive the final budget forecast and propose its budget on those numbers. The Legislature is scheduled to convene Jan. 6.
“Yes, it’s a good thing and is based on some of the principals we put in place in the last two years: Cutting the budget, creating more inefficiencies and increasing the taxes on the 2-percent of the state’s wealthiest people,” Dill said.
Further, he said the surplus is also due to closing foreign corporate loopholes that avoided Minnesota income tax. He also pointed to an increase in economic activities in the state, record-high stock markets, and changes in capital gains taxes paid.
“But I don’t want people to think we have easy money,” Dill said. “There are always wish lists that people come in with, but what will rise to the top of the priorities we don’t know.”
Bakk also said the surplus is a result of efforts over the last two years to end a surplus-deficit cycle.
“It’s good news, but people are going to come in and advocate to get some of the money and we need to remind people $1 billion in a $40 billion budget is a razor thin margin,” Bakk said. “But we won’t have to go to accounting gimmicks and borrowing from schools and that’s good.”
Bakk said transportation is expected to be a big issue this session and he’d rather use a permanent source of funding such as a gas-tax increase, rather than the one-time surplus to provide funding for transportation.
“That’s the challenge: There isn’t enough surplus to make a appreciable dent in the transportation backlog, but it’s better than doing nothing at all,” Bakk said. “We need to be careful so we don’t slip into the deficit cycle again.”
Dill said he anticipates there will be some legislators who push to use the surplus for all-new programs.
“Not me,” Dill said. “There may be some things that deserve a closer look, but we have to live within our means and we made the right adjustments in the last two years.”
Bakk said he’s already considering money needs of the state. He said he’ll meet this week with Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice Lorie Gildea to talk about a request for new money in the court’s budget, and he believes more money must be found for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources forestry and parks divisions.
“We can’t cut wood if we don’t have enough foresters putting paint on the trees,” he said. “The forestry budget needs a few more million. I guess you call it inflation.”
Meanwhile, Dill will serve in a Republican-dominated House and he said he looks forward to the start of the session.
“I get along very well with the Republicans,” he said. “They have, I suspect, a rural agenda they will want to implement and I will make sure that will benefit us.”
Bakk said the Republican-dominated House will bring challenges, but he said he has a good relationship with House Speaker-designate Kurt Daudt, R-Crown.
“He’s a pretty good guy,” Bakk said.
Natural resources issues should see cooperation between Republicans and DFLers, he said.
Bakk said Dill and others in the state have been working to make changes to the wetland laws.
“I expect something pretty significant will probably happen on wetlands,” Bakk said. “Restoring wetlands in Koochiching County if you build something doesn’t make a lot of sense, when elsewhere it could be used for flood mitigation or something like that.”
Minnesota teenagers anxious to become licensed drivers will have to wait a little longer before hitting the milestone after the first of the year.
And, their parents will need to be trained, too.
Teens are now required to log 30 hours of behind-the-wheel training with a licensed adult. The new statewide driver’s license law that takes effect Jan. 1 requires teens to have an additional 10 hours of practice before securing their license.
The law also says parents must complete a 90-minute public safety awareness class. And if they don’t? The teen will need to put in another 10 hours behind the wheel, driving the total up to 50 hours.
The changes are getting a mixed reaction locally.
“For us in northern Minnesota, I’m not in favor (of the new law),” said Leon Ditsch, owner of Border Driving School.
Ditsch, who has owned the company for 6 years, said in his experience most teenagers in the area “have been driving long before they get to driver’s ed.”
“This law would be more pertinent to students in larger cities,” he said. “I don’t see an advantage to it.”
As more people become aware of the law, Ditsch said there is a rush to get in required training before the new law takes effect.
“I’m booking weekends and after school every night,” he said. “Students are students and they feel its ridiculous to do more time.”
Tony Casareto, owner of Falls Driving School, thinks the new law will change the way families look at learning to drive.
“It’s going to ensure their child is getting adequate time behind the wheel,” Casareto said. “But, parents will need to become more involved.”
Tthe veteran driving instructor is unsure, however, whether parents will be on board with the class.
“I took a survey of kids in my class right now and not one of them said their parents would take the class,” he said.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the leading cause of death for teens is fatal crashes. The new requirements hope to cut down on the number of wrecks reported annually.
Last year, the Minnesota Department of Public Safety reported there were 12,384 crashes caused by Minnesota teen drivers. The crashes resulted in 38 deaths and 8,784 injuries.
While Casareto is unsure how he feels about the new law, he said he is hopeful parents will take an active role in participating in the class. He said when he is in a vehicle with a driving student, he sees the specific difficulties they experience. By having parents take a class, Casareto said he can relay to them factors that will produce safer drivers.
“The biggest issue is distracted driving, especially with cell phone use,” he said. “A lot of kids say their parents do the same thing. The key factor is setting a good example.”
The Journals’ Facebook readers also had varied vies of the law change.
“I don’t have a teenager yet, but seriously think this is needed,” Jaci Klaphake wrote of the new requirements. “There are more distractions out than when we were kids.”
Kelly Barg said it’s the kids who need more training, not the parents.
“My time is stretched to the limit as it is,” she wrote. “Then I have to find time for a class...totally disagree...I think the extra time for kids is a great idea.”
Casareto said he understands time is precious, but added teaching a safe driver is important, too.
“I know people have busy lives,” he said. “But I am hopeful they will take the 90-minute class and take an active role in making their child a better driver.”
Casareto will offer the first parent class for free Jan. 27. The class will run from 6:30-8 p.m. in room 115 at Falls High School. Depending on participation, he said he may offer three our four classes each year.
It’s been a busy time for people involved in laying the groundwork for work intended to help guide the community into the future.
“There’s tons going on,” Mike Wellcome said about Voyage Forward, an initiative developed after the layoffs of 265 people at the local paper mill, followed by a string of other local layoffs.
Wellcome, who serves as the group’s spokesman, encouraged community members to visit www.voyageforward.org to subscribe to emails that will keep people abreast of the happenings geared toward building a stronger economic future for the community.
“It’s a great way to keep informed of what the folks at Voyage Forward are doing just by opening an email,” he said.
In addition to asking community members and others with a connection to Borderland to stay informed, he also asks people to be engage, and that can happen a number of ways.
New teams
Since an Oct. 8 meeting attended by 65 people volunteering to be community stewards, three additional teams have been created, Wellcome said.
The Public Engagement Team, the largest team made up of about 35 members, is charged with asking community members questions about what’s important to residents and business owners that live and work here what they would like the future to look like.
This group will ask average citizens throughout the region four questions that will remain top secret for now, he said.
“The questions will help the engagement team identify issues most important to our community,” he said. “It’s a chance for folks to talk about what they like, don’t like and what they would change.”
Wellcome said he’s ready to start on the effort.
“I can’t wait, I want to jump forward and look at it,” he said.
He encouraged people to visit the website to find out who those people are that will ask the four questions and seek them out.
“This is an opportunity for your unfiltered suggestions and concerns to be heard,” he said.
The outcome of asking the questions will be designing a more in-depth process to identify the issues important to the county, and individual cities or areas within the county.
“Those will be our destiny drivers,” he said. “They will be the actionable items that residents and leaders in the community can take on to make this a community of choice and a great place to live.”
Members of the newly formed Buzz Team want to create a buzz around the community, Wellcome said. Members are charged with increasing the profile of Voyage Forward and serve as the public relations and marketing effort.
The original long-term vision and strategy team has morphed into what’s now known as the Asset Team, Wellcome said.
This team is charged with managing a group of consultants that will visit in January to conduct in-depth research on how the community can better compete through an economic assessment of what is available and what is missing. An industry analysis to identify potential industries that may be a good fit based on the community assets will also be conducted, he said.
This team will also complete an inventory of the workforce to provide information on numbers of people with certain skills, Wellcome said.
“The economic development folks armed with that information can sell the community,” he said. “Everybody has land, but not everybody has the skills to be a welder. It’s a great resource to have in your back pocket when trying to sell this community.”
Another team is planning a retail analysis to identify areas that may provide opportunity for business group. A number of initiatives are underway to help local businesses grow, which Wellcome called “very cool.”
Joys of growing old
Author writes of experiences
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Rep. David Dill
Sen. Tom Bakk
