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Few changes needed to budget

By Avery Cropp on May 24, 2013 at 11:42 am

New legislation’s impact studied Minimal changes have occurred in the Independent School District 834 final 2012-13 budget, according to district …
 
Small, Zirbel to lead strong women’s, men’s fields Defending Nature Valley Grand Prix women’s champion Carmen Small and men’s titleholder Tom Zirbel return to defend their titles when the 15th annual race rolls through central Minnesota and western Wisconsin next month. The heart of the 10-day Nature Valley Bicycle Festival that features amateur and professional races and community events is the June 12-16 Grand Prix that concludes in Stillwater on Father’s Day Sunday. The Grand Prix is considered the most prestigious race on the men’s and women’s USA Cycling national racing calendar. “This is an extremely talented field and we are excited to have several racers with international experience participate in the Nature Valley Grand Prix,” said David LaPorte, festival executive director. “It will give our fans a chance to see some of the world’s best athletes compete right here in the Midwest.” The Nature Valley Grand Prix donated $30,000 to the Children’s Lighthouse pediatric hospice project last year. Visit www.childrenslighthousemn.org for information From 2003-2011, the Grand Prix raised more than $160,000 for Children’s Hospital Pain and Palliative Care Unit. The Race The Grand Prix starts with a June 12 time trial along St. Paul’s Mississippi River Boulevard and an evening criterium, or short circuit race, surrounding Rice Park in downtown St. Paul. Cyclists then face a June 13 revamped and extended road race in and around Cannon Falls. Racers compete over a 93-mile course finishing with a circuit through Cannon Falls with three separate bridge crossings and a finish on the Cannon River. That is followed June 14 with an evening criterium in Minneapolis’ Uptown neighborhood. The race moves to western Wisconsin June 15 for the Menomonie Road Race. The Grand Prix concludes June 16 with the Stillwater Criterium that includes the 24 percent grade climb up Chilkoot Hill, the most difficult climb in North American cycling. Who to Watch Women l Team Specialized lululemon: Ranked No. 2 in the world. Includes Small, Taylor Wiles and Olympian Evelyn Stevens. l Team TIBCO: Shelley Olds, 2010 Nature Valley Grand Prix champ and 2012 Olympian; Grand Prix veterans Meredith Miller and Amanda Miller l Team Colavita: Tina Pic, six-time U.S. National Criterium champ; Lindsay Bayer, 2012 Nature Valley Pro Chase team member. l Team OPTUM: Jade Wilcoxson, 2011 Nature Valley top amateur; Brianna Walle, 2012 Nature Valley top amateur, now a pro cyclist. Men l Team OPTUM: Zirbel; Jesse Anthony, 2011 Grand Prix men’s champ; Scott Zwizanski, 2010 runner-up; Chad Haga, 2013 Joe Martin Stage Race winner, top-ranked U.S. Racer and 2011 Nature Valley Grand Prix Top Amateur. l Team Jelly Belly: Fred “Fast Freddie” Rodriguez, four-time U.S. Champ. Won 2012 Minneapolis Criterium with teammate Brad Huff. l Team Jamis-Hagens Berman: Juan Jose “J.J.” Haedo, Argentina, won the Joe Martin Road Race, been on the podium at three European grand tours, include third in Stage 5 of the Tour de France. l Leon van Bon, The Netherlands, two-time Tour de France stage winner, 1998 and 2000; 1992 Olympic silver medalist; two Tour Dupont stage wins. l Team Cash Call Mortgage: Cole House, first Native American pro cyclist; first American to win the Belgian U23 Gran Prix Waregan; won Stage 1 of Sea Otter Classic in Monterey, Calif. Nature Valley Pro Chase Winning man and woman in each of a series of nationwide amateur races get all-expenses paid invite to ride in the Nature Valley Grand Prix. Riders to watch include Emily Georgeson of Tomah, Wis., and UW-EC graduate; Anna Christiansan, a Michigan native training out of Portland, Ore., and Scott Giles, a U.S. Navy pilot from Maryland and Pro Chase winner from the Jefferson Cup. What’s new The Twin Cities Bicycle Club will promote the Nature Valley Bicycle Festival by offering nearly 100 group rides to prepare recreational riders for the June 15 Gran Fondo in Menomonie. l Gran Fondo: Lets riders experience the same challenging course the pros cycle. l Spectator Ride: Participants travel by bicycle to view the pro race. l Visit www.naturevalleybicyclefestival.com/Gran_Fondo to register for the Gran Fondo and Spectator rides. Compiled by Erik Sandin —­ erik.sandin@ecm-inc.com Nature Valley Grand Prix 2012 men’s champion Tom Zirbel, left, and women’s champion Carmen Small will defend their titles in the 2013 Nature Valley Grand Prix June 12-16 at locations in central Minnesota and western Wisconsin, including the final race in Stillwater June 16. (Photo courtesy of Nature Valley Grand Prix)

Nature Valley champs rolling back

By The Stillwater Gazette on May 24, 2013 at 11:39 am

Small, Zirbel to lead strong women’s, men’s fields Defending Nature Valley Grand Prix women’s champion Carmen Small and men’s titleholder …
 
A group of Saint Croix Preparatory Academy students sit outside the James J. Hill Mansion May 18 during the school’s prom at Saint Paul, Minn., landmark. (Photos Courtesy of St. Croix Preparatory Academy)

Prom SCPA style

By The Stillwater Gazette on May 23, 2013 at 11:59 am
 
University of Minnesota-Guthrie Theater Bachelor of Fine Arts program student actors Nathan Barlow, left, as Dromio, Chelsie Newhard as Luciana and McKenna Kelly-Eiding at Adriana, above, pose in character after performing a scene from William Shakespeare’s “Comedy of Errors” Wednesday evening in the Stillwater Public Library’s Margaret Rivers Room. Former Guthrie production and stage manager Peg Gilfoyle spoke at the event about her book, “The Guthrie Theater: Images, History and Inside Stories.” The students’ performance and Gilfoyle’s presentation were part of a library fundraiser marking the Guthrie Theater’s 50th anniversary. (Gazette staff photo by Elissa Cottle)

Shakespeare on the river

By Elissa Cottle on May 23, 2013 at 11:32 am
 
Rudolph Valentino was a star. During Rudy’s days in the St. Croix Valley, adults wanted to pet him. Children waited for Rudy to roll on his back so they could scratch his stomach. “When I had my Rudy and would go into a store, everybody would want to pet him,” said Kelly Cornick of Stillwater. “He’s the buffer. “He’d lay down on the floor for kids. He put on a whole show for kids.” But Rudy was more than Cornick’s pet pit bull and companion. Rudy was the 65-year-old grandmother’s therapist and calming influence when Cornick suffered panic attacks or bouts of depression. Unfortunately, Rudy’s advanced age and health problems led Cornick to make the difficult decision to euthanize her dog. Cornick now must start the process of finding a new therapy dog to carry on Rudy’s work with her. “I’m going to say at least 60 days (to find a new dog),” she said. “The dog has to be an alert dog. I have to interview the dog.” Cornick admits it will be difficult to find a new therapy dog to match the connection she and Rudy had. Theirs was a relationship that first stretched from Arizona to Alaska before coming to the St. Croix Valley four years ago. Cornick was living in Homer, Alaska, with another dog named Redbone when she traded that dog for Rudy with the Homer animal control officer. Rudy was a year old at the time and had been kept in a kennel for 23 hours a day by his previous owner. But that was not as bad as Rudy’s early life in Arizona, according to Cornick. The dog was kept by a dogfighting ring, but was so gentle that he faced a gruesome fate. “Because Rudy was not a fighter, he was staked to the ground in a choker and they were going to let a pack of more aggressive dogs eat him,” she said. Rudy was saved when an undercover officer called for a raid on the ring. When Arizona authorities were determining which dogs could be saved, Cornick said the undercover officer told his colleagues Rudy “was a lover, not a fighter.” Rudy was much more to Cornick, who said she suffers from a variety of psychological and physical ailments related to physical and sexual abuse she suffered growing up. “I suffer from panic attacks, anxiety attacks. I suffer from diabetes,” she said. “Rudy would put his head on my knee and match my breathing. He would slow his breathing down and slow my breathing down. My doctor said he was a very alert dog.” Rudy even helped others suffering from panic attacks, Cornick said. The two were flying from Vermont once when a man running in the airplane’s aisle told Cornick he was having a panic attack. Cornick got the man to sit next to Rudy. Twenty minutes later, she said the man was asleep. “Rudy just had a calming affect on me and everybody,” she said. Yet Cornick said there are some places that would not let her take Rudy despite Americans With Disabilities Act language allowing alert animals to accompany their owners into buildings. The problem, Cornick said, is dogs can’t necessarily be trained to be an alert animal. “They just have the ability,” she said. Cornick still carries letters and prescriptions from her doctors and therapists in her wallet attesting that Rudy was a medically necessary animal. And she said the ADA does not require service animals be marked as such. “The ADA says you don’t have to mark the dogs. You don’t have to pay for a jacket with something on it,” she said. Once Cornick finds a new dog, she plans to train the animal herself. She has experience training dogs from her childhood days helping her veterinarian grandfather tend to dogs he boarded. Cornick also wants to set up a foundation with the At Home Animal Clinic on Curve Crest Boulevard and South Greeley Street to help low-income people like herself be able to afford to keep and care for an alert dog. For now, Cornick said she is working with her therapists to overcome Rudy’s death. But Rudy remains on Cornick’s mind and in her heart. “To the day he died, he was still attending to me,” she said. “My Native American friend came over and put her hand on him and said, “You can go now. Your work is done.’ He was a loving dog and loyal to the end.” Contact Erik Sandin at erik.sandin@ecm-inc.com Kelly Cornick’s therapy dog, Rudy Valentino, sits with Cornick in this photo. Rudy’s health issues led Cornick to the difficult decision to euthanize her dog recently. (Photo courtesy of Kelly Cornick)

Woman loses more than a friend

By Erik Sandin on May 22, 2013 at 11:48 am

Kelly Cornick’s dog, Rudy, helped her through life’s highs and lows Rudolph Valentino was a star. During Rudy’s days in …
 
Stillwater boys’ hockey coach Phil Housley has accepted an assistant coaching job with the NHL’s Nashville Predators.

Housley accepts assistant coaching job with Predators

By Stuart Groskreutz on May 21, 2013 at 6:26 pm

More than three decades after jumping straight from South St. Paul High School into the NHL as a player for …
 
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Dems and Republicans differ on whether the session was a success

By ECM on May 21, 2013 at 3:25 pm

by T.W. Budig ECM Capitol reporter Weary lawmakers quit the State Capitol shortly after midnight on Monday (May 20) after …
 
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Dems and Republicans differ on whether the session was a success

By ECM on May 21, 2013 at 3:04 pm

by T.W. Budig ECM Capitol reporter Weary lawmakers quit the State Capitol shortly after midnight on Monday (May 20) after …
 
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Legislature adjourns as tax bill closes $627 million state budget deficit

By ECM on May 21, 2013 at 12:50 am

by T.W. Budig ECM Capitol reporter The Democratic-led Legislature voted to tax the rich and smokers and to close corporate …
 
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Special education funding system needs to be repaired

By The Stillwater Gazette on May 20, 2013 at 3:10 pm

            The number of students who have special needs in Minnesota is growing and the funding system to educate them …
 

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