Community Corner

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

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

Former Mendota Heights Mayor Charles (Chuck) Mertensotto died Tuesday, Oct. 24 of cancer, according to his family. He was 83 years old.

Mertensotto served the city as mayor for 16 years, eight consecutive terms. Before that, he served on the city council for 14 years.

Find out what's happening in Mendota Heightswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Over that time, he oversaw the transformation of the city from a rural town to the first-ring, fully developed suburb it is today.

 

Find out what's happening in Mendota Heightswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Mendota Heights Police Officer Jennifer Fordham remembers the moment she realized she was passionate about the Special Olympics.

It was 2004 and she had only been in the force for a few years. At a colleague’s suggestion, she went to an event at the University of Minnesota and spent a couple hours giving out medals and meeting athletes and their families.

“As I was walking away to come home,” Fordham said, “a lady came up to me and looked at my badge and she said, ‘Oh my goodness, you’re from Mendota Heights,’ and I said, ‘Yeah, I am,’ and she said, ‘Our son has participated in Special Olympics for years, and we’ve never seen anyone from Mendota Heights here, and that makes us so proud.’”

 

Mendota Heights Patch Local Editor Danielle Cabot tried her hand at live-blogging the candidate forum at , Oct. 24.

The forum followed the first of three public information meetings about the upcoming levy referendum.  

 

The Annual Mendota Heights Halloween Bonfire will once again ignite at Mendota Plaza 7-9 p.m. Monday, Oct. 31.

The bonfire was first organized in 1974 by the family of , a former city council member and most recently a building inspector serving Mendota and Lilydale. When his children grew up, he passed the task on to the  Wahl died in March.

 

Mendota Heights was represented by 22 runners Oct. 2 in the Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon. There were 8,531 runners who completed the race, in an average time of 4:20:16.

Here are your friends and neighbors who managed to complete the 26.2-mile course through Minneapolis and St. Paul.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

More from Mendota Heights