Rosemount Year in Review: Top 5 Stories of 2011

There were several stories posted on Rosemount Patch over the past year that were of great importance to the community, or received nationwide attention. I have selected five that were the most popular to readers:

1. : Wilfahrt was killed on Feb. 27, 2011 in Kandahar City when his squad struck an improvised explosive device while conducting a combat foot patrol.

Wilfahrt, a 31-year-old native of Rosemount was assigned to 552nd Military Police Company, 504th Military Police Battalion, currently attached to 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division while deployed. 

“Wilfahrt was a model soldier and it was an honor to call him a member of the team,” said Staff Sgt. Jason Paredes, military police officer assigned to 552nd Military Police Company, 504th Military Police Battalion, currently attached to 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division. “He would drop anything he was doing to help another soldier.”

2.  (Video & Photos): Families, friends and supporters, including Minnesota's governor and a U.S. senator, gathered at the Rosemount National Guard Training and on a blustery afternoon in April 2011 to watch the official deployment of the Minnesota National Guard’s 2nd Combined Arms Battalion, 136th Infantry.

Gov. Mark Dayton, who also praised the soldiers’ families as patriots, presented a Minnesota flag to Maj. Chip Rankin, the NTM-A officer in charge.

“We wish you godspeed,” Dayton said. “Fly it proudly, and bring it back with all your men safely.”

3.  The City of Rosemount is moving forward with plans to build a senior housing development on the property behind the , formerly the site of the Church of St. Joseph.

"There is a need for, at least, certain kinds of senior housing,” said Dwight Johnson, City Administrator for the .

Early estimates from DRA project that the development will consist of 80 to 90 housing units. The units will be privatized, market-rate, rentable living spaces.  For the first time in years, the land will be the site of a tax-paying structure.

The city also hopes to house a senior center in the new development. The center would be a public entity.

4.  The blades of the Umore Park wind turbine took just a few moments on Tuesday, Oct. 25 to turn into a blur of motion. The process stood in sharp contrast to the two-year task of developing and building the energy producing project.

“We have been working with the university on various elements for the past three to four years,” Mayor Bill Droste said, “…but to see a wind turbine out here, especially when you look at the importance of sustainable wind energy, it’s just very exciting.”

The University of Minnesota held a special commissioning ceremony at the wind turbine’s grounds at UMore Park Tuesday, Oct. 25 from 2:30 p.m. until 4:30 p.m. The public was invited to attend the event and walk the grounds on a self-guided tour. At approximately 3 p.m. the switch was flipped ‘on’ remotely from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where it will be closely monitored.

5.   had a pep fest Thursday, Dec. 8, and one of the activities that took place during the pep fest was getting lots of attention.

At one point during last Thursday's pep fest, about 10 winter sports team captains lined up on the floor of the gym, blindfolded, and they were led to believe they were going to get a kiss from another student. However, much to their surprise they were part of a prank, and instead got kissed by their parents. 

A YouTube video of the prank went pretty viral, and there was a lot of negative discussion surrounding the video footage and of Rosemount High School since it surfaced after the pep fest. It had many people wondering nationwide how ethical the prank was.

"I'm responsible for everything that happens at this school. I owe those students [and parents] who were hurt or embarrassed an apology. The well being of our students is the number one concern of our school. We have a history of great pep fest assemblies and we want to continue that tradition. We don't want anything harmful to happen to our kids or our community."