By Teri Knight, News Director
A weekend fire at the Discovery School in Faribault was started by an electrical short. Late Saturday night the Faribault Fire Department, Police Department, and North Memorial Ambulance responded to the fire on 8th St. NW. Fire Chief Dustin Dienst reports that alarms were sounding upon arrival. The building was secure at the time and no one was inside. Fire crews located the fire on the thirrd floor and made a quick knock-down with help from the sprinkler system in the building. The majority of the fire was in the ceiling, although a small fire started on the wood floor below from burning materials falling. That fire was extinguished by the sprinkler system. The Fire Department and the State
Fire Marshall’s Office did an on-scene investigation and quickly determined an electrical short in a wire covered with cellulose insulation was the cause. Chief Dienst commented, “The building’s sprinkler system and alarm system operated correctly and alerted the fire department while the fire was still small. Firefighters made entry, located and extinguished the fire quickly. Without those systems this fire had the potential to destroy that building.”
Post Brands and MOM celebrate milestone anniversaries with large donation
Malt-o-Meal and Post celebrated big on Saturday when they hosted a party for their 100th and 125th anniversaries respectively. Over the next 12 months, Post will be donating $250,000 to local hunger relief organizations in ten communities. They started on Saturday with a $25,000 donation to the Northfield Schools Lunch Program. Superintendent Dr. Matt Hillmann accepted the check and shared how grateful the district is all that Post does, including being a part of their Workforce of Tomorrow program. As for the donation, dollars will be shared with the ALC Backpack food program. The Area Learning Center is an alternative high school serving 90 students in 9th – 12th grades. Hillmann said that 16{b5761be34e80a16b6d0e4dabc1869c131a263f96a745c82bebdd3b8a4330bfa9} of those students are homeless. Seventy-five hundred dollars will be used to provide food for those children on the weekend. Another $7500 will go to their Angel Fund program so that every child will get a lunch regardless of whether they can pay. And the rest will go to fund the Greenvale Park Community School dinner with parents, teachers and students for the next five years. Post CEO Howard Friedman shared that he believes they have two obligations, “Number one is to be a positive force for the communities where our employees live and work and part of that is by jobs and economic creation that we do with the company and part of it is making sure that we’re giving back not only to the current community but to the future.” He gave a brief summary of how John Campbell and CW Post shared similar visions and talked about the importance of making sure children aren’t hungry. 27-year employee, Henry Albers commented, “We all know in the community what Malt-O-Meal’s meant for the community, MOM Brands and now Post. I know when I walked in the door at 20-years-old, I remember thinking to myself, I made it.” John Brooks, grandson of John Campbell, was also in attendance as was 50-year employee Bill Stanton. The morning saw plenty of children and community members fed breakfast and then off to the bouncy houses and putt putt golf inside the Dundas Dome.
Scriven to manage Split Rock Lighthouse
And it’s official. Former Northfield Historical Society executive director, Nerstrand native and Northfield Outdoors host Hayes Scriven is taking over the duties of keeper of Split Rock Lighthouse. Having left Northfield to revitalize the Richard I. Bong Veterans Historical Center in Superior, Wis., two years ago, the opportunity for his dream job came up when Lee Radzak, who was the longest serving keeper of the historic Lighthouse, retired in April after 36 years. The Star Tribune reports that Scriven will oversee one of the state’s most photographed landmarks and become one of very few public lighthouse managers in the country who live on-site. It’s a special move for the 36-year-old and his wife, who got engaged on a hill overlooking the lighthouse 13 years ago. Split Rock is a National Historic Landmark and hosts 160,000 annual visitors. Scriven will orchestrate community outreach and oversee a staff of 35 during peak season. He and his bosses at the Minnesota Historical Society hope to extend that season a little longer with new events.
