Dakota County town briefs: Eagan event to focus on veterans in crisis

Eagan Beyond the Yellow Ribbon and the city's police department are co-sponsoring "De-escalation Strategies for Minnesota Veterans in Crisis," an eight-hour course designed to help Minnesota law enforcement officers and other public safety personnel recognize factors that affect veterans' ability to reintegrate into their communities after deployment.

The course will be held 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. June 19 at Eagan Fire Department Station No. 2 and will be taught by the Upper Midwest Community Policing Institute.

Service members can suffer physically and psychologically from traumatic experiences that can affect their ability to reintegrate after deployment and result in injury to themselves or others. Course participants will learn specific skills and de-escalation strategies that can be used when responding to crisis calls.

The course costs $15. To register, call 877-917-2255 or e-mail czoul@umcpi.org.

The Inver Glen Library, 8098 Blaine Av., closed this week for two months as the building entered the final stage of a $1.8 million remodeling project that saw the addition of 4,400 square feet, including new meeting rooms, a teen area, children's reading nook and an automated bookdrop. The renovated library, which at 12,500 square feet opened in 2000 as the county library system's smallest branch, will reopen its doors sometime in August, officials said.

Patrons who had previously requested items can pick them up at the Wentworth branch at 199 East Wentworth Av. in West St. Paul, or at any nine Dakota County branches.

For more information, visit the county library system website at www.dakotacounty.us/library.

The eight-week survey of local artists, art organizations and businesses — paid for by grants from the city and the St. Paul Foundation — is at www.hastingsrivervalleyartistsurvey.org.

City officials are once again working with Minneapolis-based Artspace, a nonprofit that develops moderately priced living and work spaces for artists across the country, "to identify the types and number of spaces needed by Hastings artists, the amenities and special features that are of interest to them," according to a news release.

"We want the community to come and celebrate the arts," HPAAC President Dick Graham said in the release. "It's important that everyone learns about the survey and spreads the word to all people who might benefit from a project of this type. "

Photographer Doug Ohman will present a photography show at Kingsley Shores Senior Community in Lakeville that is free and open to the public.

Ohman will talk about history, culture and the beauty of the Mississippi River from Lake Itasca to just north of the Twin Cities at 2 p.m. June 25 at the activity center in the building, at 16880 Klamath Trail.

RSVPs are requested by June 21. Call 952-435-8002.

Rainbow Treecare has begun treating 478 Burnsville ash trees as part of the city's ash borer protection and removal plan. The city said residents who live near trees that will be treated in the boulevard will be notified of the treatments in coming weeks.

Residents may take advantage of the city's contract price to treat ash trees on their private property at their own expense.

Residents who want to hire Rainbow Treecare can reach them at 952-767-6920. The price is $6.39 per inch of trunk diameter, measured 4.5 feet from the ground, and is valid through the end of 2014.

The city has approximately 3,000 ash trees in its boulevards, 930 in parks, 14,300 in public woodlands and more than 22,000 on private property, which would all be at risk of an ash borer infestation.

For more information on the city's emerald ash borer plan, call the forestry department at 952-895-4508 or visit www.burnsville.org/EAB.