Below are our recommendations for next Tuesday’s election. These views represent the institutional voice of the newspaper. Like many of you, we studied the issues and the candidates and made what we believe are the best choices. We are not telling voters what to do; we are only offering our view. We strongly urge you to make your own decisions and to vote next Tuesday. 

By Shannon Fiecke, Shawn Hogendorf and Keighla Schmidt

Last of four-part series

No one knows exactly how many local suspected drunken drivers
may have gotten to keep their license or had a criminal charge thrown out because of a legal battle over the DWI (driving while intoxicated) testing instrument, but it’s safe to say hundreds of south metro cases have been impacted.

The following are selected initial-complaint reports filed by Shakopee police.

Oct. 21

A DWI was reported at 8:27 p.m. on the 1200 block of Tasha Boulevard.

The first annual Halloween festival will be held downtown today from 4 to 7 p.m. Check-in begins at 4 p.m. at the Scott County Historical Society, and then families may trick-or-treat at all participating downtown businesses (they will have pumpkin
mats out in front of their doors). Free Halloween photos will be taken at Custom Creations Photograph, 120 First Ave E.

Saturday is a big day for Shakopee sports.

• First, the Saber girls cross country team will try to win the Class AA state cross country meet when it runs at 1 p.m. in Northfield.
• Two sophomores, Trent Lusignan and Nick Lindstrom, will then try to earn all-state honors in the boys meet at 2 p.m.
• Later, the No. 1-ranked and defending state volleyball champion Shakopee Sabers will take on Chaska in the Section 2AAA championship at 6 p.m. at Minnetonka High School.

If you are raising or providing care for a grandchild, you are not alone. More than 45,000 grandparents in Minnesota today are caregivers for their grandchildren. In addition, many aunts, uncles and other relatives are stepping into the role of caregiver for a child with intellectual or developmental disabilities.

Whether we want to accept it or not, most of us do have a spirit living with us. It is on the rare occasions that some spirits become tired of living in the background and want to become more involve with the family that dwell in “their” home.

Are you interested in reading the public notices published in the October 30, 2008 print edition of the Shakopee Valley News newspaper? The page or pages on which those notices were printed are attached to this item,in the form of .pdf's that can be opened with Adobe Acrobat.

The holiday season is just around the corner and now is the time to start a new family tradition by learning how to create your own gingerbread house at the Scott County Historical Society.

Gingerbread conjures up sweet aromas of holiday cooking and sugary images of candy and frosting. Bring the whole family and together create a gingerbread house to decorate your home for the holidays. Dress for a mess.

At the Minnesota State High School Baseball Association’s Hall of Fame Banquet last weekend, Shakopee's Joe Schleper Stadium received the “Field of the Year” award, according to Tom Schleper.

The stadium was co-host, along with Chaska's field, of the state amatuer baseball tournament this past summer. Schelper was heavily involved among volunteers who put on the tournament.