As high school and college student-athletes go, Joe Ferraro was a talented youth who excelled on the field and in the classroom. In the school yearbook as a senior at Forest Lake High School, he listed his top goals to “play college football” and become a “teacher and a coach.”

Joe Ferraro as a high school senior at Forest Lake in 1997. He taught and coached for one year in Forest Lake before moving to a new job at Mora High School. 

Now that December’s big snows and cold temperatures have given way to a more erratic January and even more sub-zero readings, Forest Lake area businesses are left to figure out whether their customers are coming or going. While one store owner might be crossing his or her fingers in hopes of more snow, their neighbor could be wishing a small heat wave blows through town and helps the ice fishing conditions.

Eric Fedje stands amongst a row of snowmobiles at Waldoch Sports that are looking for a home. Fedje worked at Hitching Post Sports in Coon Rapids for 15 years before returning to Forest Lake last summer.

(Photo By Glen Strandberg) 

The Chisago County Board, acting in the capacity of County Rail Authority on Jan. 16, approved an access across the Sunrise Prairie Trail at a proposed Forest Boulevard Trail in Wyoming. The access will be approximately 1700 feet south of Fairview Boulevard and 3600 feet north of 250th Street.

This aerial view shows where the new trail crossing is planned in Wyoming to traffic safety at Wyoming Elementary School and help open land to the south of the  hospital campus to development.

(Photo Courtesy of City of Wyoming) 

Marine LCpl Reggie Reinsberg life-long interest with history and warfare was not the single motivator behind the 2006 Forest Lake High School graduates enlistment into the military. For him, that personal decision came on Sept. 11, 2001.

Marine Lcpl Reggie Reinsberg, a 2006 Forest Lake High School graduate, is far from the seasons of Minnesota as his unit is currently stationed aboard the USS Cleveland. He was in the strike group that was harrassed by the Iranians in international waters on their way to Kuwait from the United Arab Emirates on Jan. 5. 

Two area teens were seriously injured at 1:56 p.m. Sunday when their car tangled with a semi tractor trailer on northbound I-35 at the US-8 exit in Forest Lake. According to the Minnesota State Patrol, a 2003 Mitsubishi Galant was in the northbound I-35 exit only lane to eastbound US-8 and attempting to move to the through lane on I-35 when it encountered another vehicle. The Galant moved back to the exit only lane, overcorrected and spun out. It was then struck broadside by the Peterbuilt tractor driven by Heath J. Okerstrom, 35, of Forest Lake. The impact tossed the car to the median between the US-8 exit and I-35.

Okerstrom was not hurt in the crash. The driver and a passenger in the Galant both suffered serious injuries, according to the State Patrol. Late Monday, the youth were identified as Ryan A. Locke, 17, of North Branch, and Alexis M. Webber, 17, of Harris. Webber was driving the car, the State Patrol said. Webber was taken to North Memorial Hospital in Robbinsdale by ground ambulance while North Air Care was called to transport Locke to North Memorial. 

(Photo By Cliff Buchan) 

A bomb blast in Beirut, Lebanon on Tuesday that killed three people slightly wounded a missionary who lived in Forest Lake as a young boy. The blast, which targeted a U.S. Embassy vehicle, injured Matthew Clason, 28, who was at the National Evangelical Church where he teaches. According to the Associated Press, Clason was knocked down by the blast which blew in windows of the church. He was treated at a hospital for cuts on his head, face and right leg, according to the AP report.

Clason lived in Forest Lake as a young boy when his parents, Alan and Carol Clason, were youth pastors at Grace Alliance Church in Forest Lake. Matthew Clason and his wife have been in Beirut for just over two weeks. He was back to work at the school on Wednesday.

In an e-mail sent to friends in Forest Lake on Wednesday, Carol Clason wrote: "We just wanted to take this opportunity to praise the Lord for his protection on Matt who was slightly injured in a bomb blast as he was teaching at the bible school in Beirut, Lebanon." The Clasons are now living in France  and doing mission work with the Union of Christian Missionary Alliance  Churches.

What was hoped to be a March construction start for a major expansion of Wal-Mart in Forest Lake is now facing a delay that could push the project to 2009. Duane Nelson, manager of the local store, said this week a problem with Xcel Energy and repair of a power substation in the area is causing the delay.

A spring consturction start for the expansion of the Forest Lake Wal-Mart to a SuperCenter has been delayed for up to a year by an Xcel Energy project on a new power substation that must be completed before a transmission line on the Wal-Mart site can be relocated.