Community Corner

2011 Year in Review: June's Top Stories on Mendota Heights Patch

Mendota Heights Patch takes a look back at the most memorable stories from June 2011.

The Farmington Area Public Schools' Board of Education voted Tuesday night for District 197’s Superintendent Jay Haugen to be their new superintendent.

The approval is pending a contract agreement.

According to a report by the Farmington Independent, Haugen received “several enthusiastic Yes votes.”

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Henry Sibley High School held its fifty-eighth annual commencement ceremony at Roy Wilkins Auditorium on June 5, 2011. Crowds of families gathered to celebrate their student's achievements.

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The ceremony was filled with music provided by the student body. The school band opened up with a theme from the "Pirates of the Caribbean" before transitioning into the more traditional strains of "Pomp and Circumstance" for the processional.

 

Every weeknight at 6:30 p.m. is a big occasion in the Brenne household; “Wheel!” the family calls out to announce that their favorite TV show, “Wheel of Fortune,” is about to air.

So when Andi Brenne—wife and mother of two daughters, ages 2 and 4—and a girlfriend attended two "Wheelmobile" auditions at the Grand Casinos in Hinckley and Mille Lacs for the program, the stage was set for one of Brenne’s greatest dreams to come true when she was later chosen to be a contestant.

 

Henry Sibley choir advocates were given a reason to croon Monday night when Aaron Kapaun was cleared to stay on as the full-time choir director at the high school for next year.

The District 197 School Board approved a list of partial unrequested leave of absences provide by the Human Resources Department that included only half of the original faculty members initally facing a subsequent reduction in hours.

 

The suspect in a standoff at Hillside Gables Townhomes Wednesday evening died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to a statement from the Mendota Heights Police Department.

A remote camera located the body of Donald Paul Richardson, age 42, shortly before midnight. His death was confirmed by Dakota County’s Mutual Assistance Aid Group (MAAG), said the statement.


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