South metro town briefs

Harvest Alliance to host talk on preserving local farming If you're worried about the future of farming in Scott County, you're invited to a meeting tomorrow in New Prague.

The Local Harvest Alliance, a group of food producers and consumers working to preserve local farming, is hosting an evening meeting at City Hall devoted to a number of hot topics.

Activists will offer updates on the accomplishments and upcoming issues before the county's new Farm Advisory Task Force, which is helping county officials work out how farms can coexist with a suburbanizing county. They'll address controversial changes to the Green Acres program, which has the county trying to eliminate tax breaks for farms the county considers fake.

And there's a talk on "Local Food as Economic Recovery," by Ken Meter, of the Crossroads Resource Center. "In order to keep Scott County farms vibrant," organizers say he'll argue, "and its countryside beautiful, the county needs to plan for the food needs of the future."

The meeting takes place on Thursday from 7 to 8:45 p.m. at New Prague City Hall, 118 Central Av. N.

Historical Society will host Victorian Valentine Tea The secrets of Victorian romance are on the menu next week as the Scott County Historical Society hosts a Victorian Valentine Tea.

Tea and treats will be served and Jaclyn Theis, dressed in period clothing in the historic Stans House, will explore courtship during the Victorian age. "From the way fans were held to how flowers were arranged," organizers say, "men and women could make their feelings for one another known in many ways without actually speaking."

Check out energy monitor from county libraries A gadget now available for checkout at Dakota County libraries lets you peek into your energy use.

Dakota Electric donated 27 electric monitors to the libraries, available for patrons to check out for one week at a time, so that people can see how much energy their electronic devices use. The electric cooperative hopes that the monitors will help residents meet a goal of conserving 18.3 million kilowatt hours in 2010.

"We wanted to put tools in our members' hands that will help them understand their energy costs," said Michael Hoy, Dakota Electric's energy services manager.

To use the monitors, plug them into an electrical outlet and then plug appliances into the monitor. A screen on the monitor displays the number of kilowatt hours used and the cost of operation.

For more information about resources available at Dakota County libraries, go to www.dakotacounty.use/library. Energy-saving tips are available at www.dakotaelectric.com or by calling 651-463-6243.

The session at the Heritage Library, 20085 Heritage Drive, will run from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. Walter Burk from Central Minnesota Legal Services will discuss the legal issues such parents face. Maureen Caturia, of the county attorney's office, will be available to answer questions about Dakota County practices and procedures.

For more information, contact Dakota County Law Library manager Liz Reppe at 651-438-8244.

County honors heroism of emergency workers Savage dominated the latest round of heroism awards in Scott County, as police officers from that community made up five of eight recipients.

Sgt. Scott Gordan and officers Alan Bisek and Amy Gentle, together with county dispatcher Joyce Paul, shared an award from the County Board for rescuing a paralyzed man trapped in a house fire. Paul had to locate the home via cell phone coordinates while dispatching officers and a fire crew. The victim couldn't move as fire approached and was severely burned, but the officers burst into the dangerous scene, with an oxygen tank potentially exploding, and saved his life.

Sergeant Jill Cervenka and officer Andrew Ferderer were honored last week for saving a man who collapsed in his bathroom from a heart attack and was trapped behind a closed door. They managed to get him out of there and give him CPR until he resumed breathing and was taken to a hospital.