The following is an e-mail from the Hopkins School District: 

Welcome to Hopkins E-News for Friday, May 9, 2008.

Outstanding Students & Staff

A “Spring Through the Camera’s Eye Forum” on landscape photography is set for 4-6 p.m. Saturday, May 10, at the Elizabeth Fries Ellet Interpretive Trail at the Richard T. Anderson Conservation Area in Eden Prairie. Eden Prairie photographer Todd Nordquist will lead the excursion.

Today, the Eden Prairie High School softball team plays Lakeville North.

Today's game, at Lakeville North, begins at 4:15 p.m.

The two teams thought to be the top seeds in the upcoming Section 6 boys lacrosse tournament, Eden Prairie and Minnetonka, both lost on Thursday.

Eden Prairie fell 7-4 to Bloomington Jefferson; Minnetonka fell 9-7 to Edina.

Laura Weber, Eden Prairie High School Athena Award winner, is among the 50-plus Minneapolis Area Athena Award recipients to be honored at a breakfast this morning.

Athena criteria includes athletic, academic and community accomplishments.

Weber is a three-sport athlete who has lettered in swimming, basketball and track.

A member of EPHS's Honor Society, she carries a 3.82 GPA.

She'll be attending Minnesota State University, Mankato in the fall.

Thursday, the Eden Prairie High School baseball team got back on the winning track, beating Apple Valley 9-3.

Wednesday, the Eagles fell 7-4 to Eastview.

Eden Prairie returns to action Monday with home game against Lakeville North (4:15 p.m.).

WASHINGTON – With a Farm Bill being readied for a final floor vote in the House and Senate, agricultural conservation initiatives are being treated differently than they were in earlier versions of this year’s bill and in previous Farm Bills.

James Nicholls, 82, of Chanhassen, died Wednesday, May 7, 2008.

Visitation is Monday, May 12, from 5-8 p.m. Services are Tuesday at 11 a.m. with additional visitation one hour before, all at Washburn-McReavy Eden Prairie Chapel, 7625 Mitchell Road, 952-975-0400.

Are you interested in reading the public notices published in the May 8, 2008 print edition of the Eden Prairie 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.

Librarian Ali Turner receives Human Rights Award

Project still working its way through layers of oversight

The following incidents were reported by the Eden Prairie Police Department:

BURGLARY

MINNEAPOLIS/ST. PAUL — The Minnesota Lynx unveiled today the “10 Days of May-hem,” a comprehensive community outreach plan presented by Best Buy that features nearly 20 events and a host of media appearances throughout the Twin Cities during the 10 days leading into the team’s opening game of the 2008 10th Anniversary Season.

Tonight (6 p.m.), the Eden Prairie High School girls lacrosse team hosts its last regular season game of the year.

Tonight's game, against Eagan/Rosemount, begins at 6 p.m.

Section play begins Monday.

Minnesota boaters will find a variety of conditions at public water accesses for the May 10 fishing opener, according to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR).

(Duluth, Minn.) No longer will friends and family members need to play a guessing game in order to locate the progress of their favorite runners.

A late-inning Eastview rally, six runs in the top of the sixth inning, sunk the Eden Prairie High School baseball team on Wednesday.

Eden Prairie would rally itself, but it was too little too late as the Eagles fell to the Lake-leading Wildcats 7-4.

Needing to beat Eastview to claim a share of the Lake Conference tennis title, the Eden Prairie High School boys tennis team did just that Wednesday, edging the Wildcats 4-3.

The win lifts Eden Prairie into a three-way tie atop the conference with Apple Valley and Eagan.

Minnetonka man who crafts buckthorn into useful items to appear at Birch Island Woods Plant Sale

It's time for the Friends of BIrch Island Woods Plant Sale, so it must be spring.
You can enjoy this chance to visit the Picha Heritage Farm at 6649 Birch Island Road starting this Friday, May 9. The sale lasts through May 18. The sale, which benefits conservation, education and restoration projects in the Birch Island Woods area, is open from 4-8 p.m. weekdays and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekends.
New to the sale this year is buckthorn crafter Dan Saufferer, who will demonstrate how to use cut buckthorn to create garden accents at 11 a.m. Saturdays, May 10 and 11.
Saufferer said he first learned about buckthorn in about 2000.
"I went to a seminar at the Birch Island Woods and they gave everybody an overview of the plant itself and its nature, I guess, and since then, I just decided that it was something that I wanted to take care of and try to rid my city of," the Minnetonka resident said.
A self-employed caretaker, he said he doesn't describe himself as an artist, although he looks at the buckthorn and sees something else.
"I try to find practical uses for something many people don't care to have around," he said of the trellises, birdhouse stands and tomato boxes he fashions of buckthorn. "Resourceful would probably be a better description of myself and what I do with buckthorn. It's something that I see has lots of character and plenty of characteristics you can turn into garden ornaments or landscape features.
"It just depends on the material that you have at hand and your ability to look at something and see it as something else."
He said a friend describes it as somewhere between craft and art.
"Most often I use buckthorn as stakes or as the prop that I'll put something on top of," Saufferer said. "I've put little homes on top -- or condos on a stick is what I like to call them. I've made bird feeders or critter feeders that are open platform things that the squirrels can get into. You can see through them. I'll use cedar I'll see in dumpsters. I don't like to buy any materials.
"I've made arbors and trellises and this year I think I'm going to make some cages for my peonies," he said. "At Birch Island Woods I'm going to have some tomato cages that I made." He also plans to bring an arbor, that will be bid on in a silent auction, a trellis and bird feeders.
"I think I'll build a couple more tomato cages" during the sale, he said, "so people can see that it's really easy and you don't have to be a skilled carpenter to do it. You just have to be resourceful. "
In one recent project, a woman asked him to build items using an old picnic table where her children had celebrated birthdays. He said he made bird feeders "so she could give them to the kids for Christmas and they would have a piece of their past."
He also made a "condo on a stick" for her.
"It turned out great actually," he said. "It's kind of like a place you can look at and imagine you could be there if you were really small. The snow piles on it … The rain falls on it. It turns color. It's kind of magic actually. The buckthorn is just the support."
Of buckthorn, he said. "I think that it would be really smart instead of everybody thinking it was an evil rotten nasty thing … put it to good use.
"Free material is a good thing for a guy like me. I love to play with material, that's what causes me to be as creative as I can be. It's never the same, it's always different."
To contact Saufferer, all 612-747-8318 or stop by the plant sale.

Click here for a list of items available at the plant sale, courtesy of www.fbiw.org.

Flying Cloud Airport

Thanks to Flying
Cloud Airport

By Marie Wittenberg 

At 6:30 p.m. Thursday, May 8, our newly remodeled museum will be open again for an open house. It will also open regularly on the first Thursday of the month from 12:30-2 p.m. and the third Tuesday evening from 7-8 p.m. The museum is in the lower level of Eden Prairie City Center, 8080 Mitchell Road.

The Eden Prairie Police are looking for information as to the “suspicious incident” that occurred Tuesday afternoon Feb. 26 at Eden Prairie High School and resulted in the school closing the following day.

At the time of the incident, police referred to it as an “alleged threat.”

“Amy Fogarty of Eden Prairie will graduate with honors from the Kirov Ballet Academy of Washington, D.C., on Saturday, May 24, 2008 at their 11 a.m. ceremonies. That evening, she will perform at the Kirov for the last time,” according to a news release.

Students will be performing “Seussical the Musical” at 7 p.m. May 8 and 9 and at 2 p.m. May 10 in the Central Middle School Multi-Purpose Room. The box office will open an hour before show time. Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis. Tickets are $5 for adults and $3 for students and seniors.

This Friday, approximately 800 first-grade students in Eden Prairie will receive their own hardcover book to keep as part of the fourth annual Eden Prairie Noon Rotary Club “My Book Day” event. But, “My Book Day” goes beyond just handing out books – ultimately students will find they have an entire morning of activities and experiences that reinforce the fun side of reading.