Wyoming City Council and members of the Wyoming Fire Department want Dennis Berry to remain in his position as fire chief. The fire chief was given a nod of support from most officials at last week’s council meeting. Action came on Dec. 18.

Dennis Berry, Wyoming's fire chief, has the backing of the Wyoming City Council. 

The man accused of two felony criminal sex conduct charges in Forest Lake is no longer working for ISD 831 Community Education. Ladislao Enriquez, 48, of 24803 Kettle River Blvd., Wyoming Township, was hired by Community Education to teach self-defense classes. While working as an instructor, Enriquez is alleged to have engaged in an sexual relationship with a juvenile female from Wyoming who was his student. Julie Ohman, director of community education, said Enriquez is no longer working in the district as a Community Education instructor. Enriquez was hired by the district to instruct a five-session self-defense class that is a form of martial arts similar to kick boxing. The last of the five-session, one-month classes was slated to end on Dec. 18. Enriquez was arrested and jailed on Dec. 17. The class was offered to a mixture of youth and adults.

 Ohman also confirmed that Enriquez did not undergo a criminal background check prior to being hired by the district. State law does not require criminal background checks of independent contractors, Ohman said. The school district recently amended its policies requiring a wide range of school volunteers to undergo criminal background checks but did not include independent contractors in the policy.

A whirling intermediary translates the sky over State Auditor Rebecca Otto’s home east of Forest Lake. Otto and her husband, screenwriter Shawn Lawrence Otto, became interested in the intermediary, wind power, more than a decade ago after studying a report on the potential of generating power from the force swaying the trees.

(Photo By Tim Budig)

State Auditor Rebecca  Otto, a former Forest Lake School Board member, has utilizied wind and solar power to make her home in May Township energy efficient. 

(Photo By Cliff Buchan)

When it came to planning a Christmas gift this year, Spencer Boyd of Scandia gave it plenty of thought. The gift was her hair and it was more than a year in the growing. The 10-year-old from Scandia went to Scandia Hair Design last week to get her locks trimmed. Spencer has donated the hair to Pantene Beautiful Lengths, a national organization with an area contact in New Richmond, WI. It collects donated hair and makes the hair into wigs that are given to cancer patients at no charge. Sue Charpentier, a stylist at Scandia Hair Design, took care of the professional details during Spencer’s visit to the salon on Dec. 12. To date, Pantene Beautiful Lengths has collected 25,000 ponytail donations to be made into wigs for women with cancer. Pantene Beautiful Lengths requires a minimum hair donation of 8 inches. Spencer has been growing her hair just for this moment for better than a year. She celebrated her 10th birthday on Dec. 18.