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Steve and Kathy Schmieg * 952-556-1700

Lori Treff * Chaska * 952-368-4440

Discovery United Methodist Church

Chaska * 952-448-6649

Located at Hwy 5 and Century Blvd.

Just east of Victoria * 952-401-WINE

Birthright.

Pregnant and need help? 952-442-4026

Just West of Waconia on Hwy 5

952-442-5000

Ospreys Return to Carver Park. One of the most rewarding benefits of the reintroduction of osprey to our area is observing them in their courtship behaviors and watching them feed and raise their young chicks. There are two nests in Carver Park Reserve in Victoria, where these behaviors can be easily observed from your vehicles, both along the entrance to Lowry Nature and on Grimm road just off County Road 11. There are over 50 active nest sites in the Twin Cities, including 12 active nest sites within a five-mile radius of Victoria. Photography of the birds is by Jamie Strickland.

Judy Voight Englund and Timothy P. Kiely

Lowry Nature Center, Carver Park Reserve

Victoria, Minnesota

Hockey Star. I don’t know if you have read the Minneapolis Star and Tribune, for about a week in March, about Nick the hockey player. Nick is Julie’s son. We’re pretty excited about the feature articles. The installment today is a heartbreaker, but it gets better. He is such a great kid.

Karol Plocher

Chanhassen, Minnesota

EDITOR’S NOTE: Nick Mattson, son of Kevin and Julie Mattson of Chanhassen, has been featured with many paragraphs and photos in several issues of the Minneapolis Star Tribune for his talents and accomplishments as a hockey player. He is in the USA Hockey Program, playing at Ann Arbor, Michigan, with the under-17 team of USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program. It included a Four Nations Tournament in Russia, just outside of Moscow. He was offered full-ride college scholarships to Minnesota, Wisconsin, and North Dakota. He chose the University of North Dakota at Grand Forks where he’ll play hockey in 2010 as a Fighting Sioux.

Karol Plocher lived in Victoria for many years, a next door neighbor as a matter of fact, and I watched her kids Julie Plocher and Shelly Plocher grow from preschoolers to married with children. Nick’s Grandfather Fred Plocher lives in Victoria. Congratulations all around!

Madeline Schmieg, daughter of Tom and Mary Schmieg of Victoria, and her kindergarten teacher at St. Joseph’s School in Waconia, Peg Philip, are making a difference in Quito, Equador. Mrs. Philp’s son Dan Philp, is in Equador facilitating the Working Boys Center. The families there are quite poor and sometimes students share pencils and erasers. Some of them have never had their own pencil.

Mrs. Philp and her kindergarteners sponsored a Penny War -- the kindergarteners versus the whole school -- to raise money for supplies in Equador. Dan knows of one family that was robbed lately. The thieves even took the family’s pot and pans and all of their chickens. The money raised by the Penny Wars will help replace what was stolen.

At the Working Boys Center in Equador, students come to school to take showers. Mrs. Philp is hoping to buy reusable containers to put the soap in, which students can carry back and forth to school. The money will also buy school supplies for the hundreds of children Dan works with.

Lisa Whitaker, St. Joseph’s Catholic School

Waconia, Minnesota

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