libby nelson clips

8/14/2019 Libby Nelson Clips

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(A note on my clips: Ive included nine writing samples. More are available on my Website, libbyanelson.com, under Reporting & Writing. Those include the three follow-upstories for Whos your kids coach? as well as more work from my three internshipsand background information on each story.)

October 30, 2007 | St. Petersburg Times

Who's your kids' coach?Some youth programs check sex offender registries but let other offenses slide.

By LIBBY NELSON, Times Staff Writer

ST. PETERSBURG - Three evenings a week, four coaches for the Azalea Bulldogsfootball program teach youths ages 7 to 14 to block and pass. Whistles around theirnecks, they demonstrate technique, make out plays, encourage young minds.

Among them, they have 45 arrests.

Their records include cocaine sales, weapons offenses and prison time.

"We're supposed to be setting examples and being good mentors," said Sally Johnson,executive director of the National Council of Youth Sports. "You want to be certain thatwe're being responsible and that your children are in the care of upstanding citizens."

The coaches have slipped through a loophole that legislators, advocacy groups and othercounties are trying to close.

The only criminal background check required of the Bulldogs and the 10 other programsin the Suncoast Youth Football Conference is a search of the sex offender registry.

"What we're looking for is criminal sexual offenders and child pedophiles," saidconference president Lenny Anderson.

The conference declined to provide information about coaches. But background checkson more than half the coaches in the conference revealed no records comparable toAzalea's.

The coaches are not without their supporters.

"I'm very careful," said Kim Walter, president of the Azalea Bulldogs division, who

knows the coaches' stories but believes they are a positive influence. "I'm not a cop. I tryto be trusting."

'Very good people'

The coaches are volunteers. From August to November, they give their teams threeevenings a week and most of Saturday.


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Finding people willing to make that commitment can be challenging, and the Bulldogsare not the first to see coaches' records catch up with them.

Last year, Hillsborough County removed a youth football coach who had been convictedon corruption charges, only to have him reinstated by a committee of volunteers. The

county since has clarified its policy to exclude anyone convicted of felonies within thepast eight years.

Under those guidelines, three of the four Azalea coaches would have been ineligible tocoach.

The Azalea division includes 11 head coaches instructing 400 young players who makeup 10 teams, categorized by age, weight and ability. The Bulldogs' parent organization,the Suncoast Youth Football Conference, has 11 such divisions in Pinellas County.

The conference requires coaches to list their records, but it also searches a state sexoffender registry for their names. The registry would have given no hint of the fourAzalea coaches' criminal histories.

Adrian Monroe was sentenced to three years in prison in 1997 for cocaine trafficking,possession of marijuana and carrying a concealed weapon.

He was released in 2000. In 2002, Monroe became an assistant coach.

Monroe, now a head coach, has not discussed his record with players or parents.

Monroe said he filled out his background form honestly when he volunteered but didn'texpect his record to be a problem.

He was arrested 12 times in 11 years, between 1992 and 2003, but most charges arealmost a decade old. Domestic violence charges in 2003 were dropped.

"They're looking for sexual predators, stuff like that," Monroe said.

Other coaches moved even more quickly from prison or probation to the playing field.

Charles Price was arrested for selling cocaine in 2002 and sentenced in May 2003 tothree years' probation.

Three years and three months later, he was an assistant coach.

Price is an assistant to Brian Dozier, who has 14 arrests, most for driving with asuspended license. As a habitual offender, Dozier was sentenced to a year in jail in 2003.Now he's back on the practice field.

Head coach Aundre Stevens also had a speedy turnabout.


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He pled guilty in 2003 to possession of cocaine and was put on probation. He begancoaching in 2006, the same year he was convicted of grand theft and larceny for writinga bad check.

Not every criminal offense should eliminate someone from coaching, Azalea Bulldogs

president Walter said.

"Driving with a suspended license -- that's not going to keep a coach off my field,"Walter said. "Being arrested eight, nine, 10 years ago, that's not either. Two years ago?Maybe."

She said she believes people can turn their lives around -- and that these coaches have.

"I just think they really are positive role models for these kids," Walter said. "They reallyare very good people."

Legislation planned

Cases such as Azalea's have made thorough background checks more common amongyouth sports organizations.

But many organizations only consult the state's sex offender registry, which is free andaddresses parents' fears about sexual predators near children.

In the spring 2008 legislative session, legislators will vote on whether that's goodenough.

"It's a loophole left out there for unsavory people to get near our children," said Sen.

Jeremy Ring, D-Margate, who is proposing a bill requiring comprehensive backgroundchecks. "What if your coach was busted for selling crack cocaine a month ago? There's alot of criminal activity that parents need to be concerned about."

Ring's bill does not specify what offenses would disqualify a coach. If it passes in theLegislature's spring session, background check requirements would go into effect inJune 2008.

Some organizations support an even tougher line.

The National Council of Youth Sports' guidelines advise leagues to disqualify coaches

who have been convicted of any felony punishable by a year or more in prison, and anycoaches convicted of a drug crime. Under those rules, none of the four Azalea coacheswould be on the field.

In Hillsborough, the county imposes guidelines that often go beyond those required byyouth organizations, just to ensure no one slips through the cracks.


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Pinellas County does not have a similar backstop. Neither do Pinellas public schools andthe city of St. Petersburg.

For example, Azalea players practice on Pinellas school property, but the schools deferto the city, which requires only a sex offender registry check, said spokesman Paul

Whitehouse.

More comprehensive background checks are too expensive, he said.

That notion is commonly held, but some groups are working to bring down the price.

A criminal history from the state costs $23. USA Football, a nonprofit supportingamateur football, subsidizes background checks for $15 per coach.

Though the checks are aimed at catching sex offenders, they also screen for all otheroffenses.

John Brill, spokesman for Hillsborough Parks, Recreation and Conservation, supportsthorough background checks.

"We don't run the league, but they are on our property," he said. "We're heldaccountable in everybody's eyes."

Libby Nelson can be reached at 727 893-8779 or [email protected].


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July 17, 2008 | Star TribuneMinnetonka Realtor arrested in theft of pain medsA Minnetonka broker is suspected of stealing drugs from homes he claimed to beshowing.

By LIBBY A. NELSON, Star Tribune

Freddy Akradi came home at lunch Tuesday to clean before what he thought would bethe first showing of his Minnetonka home.

Instead, he found his Siberian husky locked in the garage and pain medication missingfrom his kitchen cabinet.

"I knew right away somebody had been in my house," said Akradi, 26.

Police say the culprit was Minnetonka real estate broker Charles Lindley, 64, arrested

that day at another home showing. He's accused of stealing pain medication fromAkradi's home and other houses he had claimed to be showing to clients.

Lindley was in the Hennepin County jail Thursday night pending charges. Police saidthey can link him to a similar theft in June and possibly to dozens of other cases.

"My guess is it's going to be lots of houses," said Minnetonka detective Sgt. DaveRiegert, who's supervising the investigation.

When Lindley was arrested, he had "literally hundreds of listings" for other homes withhim, Riegert said.

"People that are selling their houses are going back and looking in their medicinecabinets," he said. "They're finding that their hydrocodone [a narcotic pain reliever] isgone and they didn't know about it."

Lindley, who operates a brokerage agency with his wife, used a real estate database tosearch new listings, Riegert said. He would set up a time to show a house, but thenwould arrive without clients.

His wife is not under investigation, police said.

After Akradi's real estate agent called police, four officers were waiting at a showing

Lindley had scheduled for Tuesday afternoon, Riegert said.

According to police documents, Lindley was in the house police staked out for less thanfive minutes, going straight to the kitchen and pulling bottles of pills from the cupboard.

Police found a sock containing 85 pills in his car, according to the report.


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Sept. 18, 2007 | The Times-Tribune (Scranton, Pa.)Area native's 9/11 remains identifiedBY LIBBY NELSON

Even after the plane she was on crashed into the World Trade Center, even after the

blazing inferno that followed, even after the towers collapsed into a twisted mass of steeland dust, the wedding ring was still on Laura Lee Morabito's finger.

Six years after the Clarks Summit native's death in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks,her remains have finally been identified through new methods of DNA testing.

Today, a police escort will bring those remains - including her wedding ring - to Auburn,N.Y., where Mrs. Morabito's parents and husband will meet them.

"To have this happen was just unbelievable," said her father, Lawrence DeFazio ofBenton Township. "Can you imagine? Six years."

Mrs. Morabito's remains were found the week of Sept. 18, 2001, but identification wasmade possible through new DNA tests, said her husband, Mark Morabito.

"I thought my wife was vaporized," he said. "So many people had been told that. Youhave a plane go into a building at 560 mph into the 85th floor, and both buildings comecrashing down and you think you have nothing left."

More than 1,100 of the 2,750 people who died at the World Trade Center still have notbeen identified. Mrs. Morabito's identification came after the family collected DNAsamples again in June.

The testing used does not require samples as large as those used in tests five years ago.

"After seeing the crash and the huge fire and the high temperatures that were there,never in my wildest dreams did I think any remains could have been found, butapparently that's exactly what has happened," Mr. DeFazio said.

The family will hold a funeral in New York, tentatively scheduled for Sept. 28, he said.

"The news was good and the news was bad," he said. "The good news is at least now weknow there will be a burial and a funeral and we'll know she's here."

Mrs. Morabito will be buried in Auburn, where her husband already established a gravesite.

"It's a blessing," Mr. Morabito said. "It's something I can't fathom, being able to bringher back to my family and the resting place I've prepared."

Mrs. Morabito, a 1984 graduate of Abington Heights High School, was a nationalcorporate sales executive for Qantas Airlines who lived in Framingham, Mass.


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On 9/11, she was on her way to a business meeting in California when her plane -American Airlines Flight 11 - became the first to crash into the World Trade Center.

Earlier this year, a group of Clarks Summit residents began planning a memorial for her,

which will be unveiled Oct. 20 during the Abington Heights homecoming celebrations.

"I don't believe in coincidences," said Tom Parry, who is helping plan the memorial. "Ireally think that's a sign from up above that we're on the right track and doing the rightthing for the community."

The memorial, and the funeral, will give the family more closure, Mr. DeFazio said.

And though the remains are incomplete, what matters is that they - and the ring - are ontheir way, Mr. Morabito said.

"I don't talk about remains," he said. "That's my wife coming back."

Contact the writer: [email protected].


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Not every suburban bike shop is benefiting.

"When you look at most people who have a job, they drive a ways to work," said JohnObara, owner of Bikemaster in St. Louis Park, who said business has been average to

slow. "It's a lifestyle change if you are traveling any distance at all."

Still, many commuters are willing to make that change.

Between May 2007 and May 2008, the number of cyclists on the Lake Street Bridgejumped 50 percent, said Steve Clark, the walking and bicycling program manager forTransit for Livable Communities.

"That one is pretty representative of the overall city," Clark said. "We've seen somegradual increases, but this is really the first big jump."

Bike2Benefits, the Metro Transit program offering incentives for bicycle commuting,began in May. Since then, its members have logged 67,000 miles of bicycle commutes,said Bob Gibbons, director of customer services for Metro Transit.

One of them, Amanda Ressler of St. Paul, last got a new ride -- a purple mountain bike --at 14.

She won a commuter bicycle during Bike Walk Week and tries to ride it for her 8-milecommute at least three times a week.

"The first day was kind of a challenge," Ressler, 28, said. "I didn't know very goodstreets, and I took Snelling and it was kind of terrifying because of the on-ramp with I-

94, so that was really scary."

Minneapolis City Council Member Scott Benson also began cycling on Bike Walk day,commuting on his bicycle at least once a week since then.

"I never thought about using [a bicycle] to come in the morning for work," said Benson,who rides 11 miles round-trip. "Really, what governs it now is whether or not I have towear a suit that day."

Most retailers said that, with gas prices climbing and people discovering the advantagesof cycling, they don't expect to see business decline anytime soon.

"We think obviously the kick start to this is fuel prices, but as more and more peoplestart to realize it's an option, it's kind of 'follow the leader,'" Olson said. "As more peopleintegrate it into their communities, it's a piece of the lifestyle."

Libby Nelson 612-673-4758


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Aug. 20, 2008 | Star TribuneAt the old beer gameA University of Minnesota study of alcohol sales at pro sports events finds it's not hardto get a drink when you shouldn't.

By LIBBY NELSON, Star Tribune

Metrodome beer vendor Jeff Scroggins knows a drunk fan when he sees one: slurringwords, avoiding eye contact, trying to mask how much he or she has had. He said hewon't sell them any of the $6.75 bottles he carries through the stands.

"I'm here to make money, but you gotta be responsible," Scroggins said.

Not all vendors are so scrupulous, a University of Minnesota study of alcohol sales at the"big four" pro sports events has found. The study, released Wednesday by theuniversity's Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, looked at 16 sports

stadiums in five states from September 2005 to November 2006. It found that nearlythree out of four people posing as intoxicated fans and one out of five trying to pass asunderage drinkers without ID succeeded in buying alcohol.

Underage or intoxicated drinkers have about equal chances of being served regardless ofwhether they're attending pro football, basketball, baseball or hockey games, said leadresearcher Traci Toomey, an associate professor at the university's School of PublicHealth.

Because the study involved human subjects, Toomey said, she couldn't give any specificson the stadiums, not even saying in what parts of the country the stadiums are located.She wants to focus on the problem nationwide, saying stadiums are a "high-risk setting"for alcohol use.

Drinking at the stadium

"Alcohol is related to a lot of problems we deal with in our society," she said. "At astadium, you have a large group of people trying to watch a game. They don't want adrink spilled on them, they don't want to be next to a fight breaking out, they don't wantto have someone next to them so loud they can't hear the game, they don't want to get intheir car and have someone next to them who's had too much to drink."

The study hired people older than 21 who were judged to look underage and actors

selected on their ability to feign drunkenness. The actors would slur their words, fumblewith money and repeat themselves while trying to buy a drink, sometimes sprayingthemselves with alcohol beforehand to add to the effect.

Those pretending to be underage would try to buy a beer without ID, Toomey said.

The subjects found that buying alcohol in the stands was nearly three times easier thanat a concession stand.


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At the Metrodome, vendors are "very proactive" about illegal alcohol sales, said DennisAlfton, director of operations.

32 seats of difficulty

Vendors in the seating area are required to check ID of anyone who looks too young todrink legally, though that can be difficult because there may be as many as 32 seatsbetween aisles, Alfton said.

"That is a challenge, and one we're looking at," he said. "If employees are found to sell tounderage drinkers, they are immediately terminated."

The Metrodome has passed recent compliance checks by the city, he said. "Those issuesare high priorities for us and have been so for a number of years," Alfton said.

Scroggins said he's been trained to recognize drunken patrons but doesn't see them "asoften as you might think." "The bigger the game, the more it happens," he said. Headded that other fans often tip vendors off when a would-be buyer has already had toomuch.

Twins fans tend to be responsible drinkers, said vendor Ryan Wegner, who was sellingbeer in the cheap seats of the Metrodome during the Twins victory over Oakland onWednesday.

"People, if they're drinking at all, usually only have two or three beers," he said.

Underage drinking is a well-publicized problem, Toomey said. The consequences of

more drinking by those who are already drunk has gotten less attention.

She said she hopes stadiums are concerned about both situations. "My goal as aresearcher in public health is to identify issues that may contribute to problems we'refacing in our society," she said. "Hopefully, it opens up a dialogue."



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July 15, 2008 | Star TribuneHigher transit fares don't sit well with ridersOpponents don't appear likely to head off a 25-cent increase in bus and train fares by theMet Council to ease a budget deficit.


On the last day of hearings on a proposed 25-cent bus and train fare increase, theMetropolitan Council chamber had become an echo chamber.

At least 20 people in a row came forward with the same theme: You've heard this fromeveryone who spoke before me, but raising fares is a bad idea.

Opponents of the increase, which would go into effect Oct. 1, include Minneapolis'mayor, social service providers, advocates for greener living and everyday bus riders.

Though they have suggestions on other ways to get the money, they appear unlikely tochange the outcome of the Met Council's planned vote on Aug. 13: a fare increase thatwould provide $7 million toward filling a $15 million deficit in the transit budget.

A second increase of 50 cents would be a possibility next year.

"Twenty-five cents is a big jump when you're paying $1.50 per ride," said Carol Kist, whogets to work in St. Paul on the bus. "If I have to pay 50 cents more a day to go 6 miles towork, it's going to be cheaper for me to drive."

At the hearing Tuesday, Kist and other opponents of the increase questioned thewisdom of raising fares at a time when public transit ridership in the metro area is at anall-time high, warning that the extra cost would especially burden homeless, disabledand low-income residents.

Waiting for the light rail Tuesday, Minneapolis resident Quincy Thomas is among thosewho would be most affected by the increased fares.

Thomas, who lives in a group home for people with mental illness, was on his way toapply for an apartment at Riverside Plaza.

"It's a nice transit system, but I think there shouldn't be a rate increase," he said.

Local social service providers said raising fares should be a last resort.

"One of the biggest challenges [the homeless] have is to get good work andtransportation to their work," said Terence Goudy, a co-founder of Homeless againstHomelessness.

"I really feel like there should be another way to find this money."


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There are few options, said Met Council Public Affairs Director Steve Dornfeld. The lasttime the council raised fares, in 2005, diesel fuel was $1.59 per gallon.

It now costs more than twice that amount.

Falling car sales have also resulted in less money for mass transit, because transit getsmost of its state revenue from the motor vehicle sales tax.

One option is leaning more heavily on the Met Council's $20 million contingency funduntil the state Legislature could vote to provide more funding, a possibilityrecommended by Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak, as well as advocacy group Transit forLivable Communities.

Increasing fares will drive away riders, even with gas prices soaring, Rybak said.

"The last tough choice we should make is to raise bus fares at a time when more peoplethan ever are considering switching to mass transit," he said.

But the contingency fund is already being used to cover some of the budget deficit, andthe council is reluctant to dip deeper.

"Revenues fluctuate from month to month, so you need to keep a little extra in yourchecking account because you don't know how much your paycheck is going to be fromthe state," Dornfeld said.

The state has had tight budgets, as well, so more funding from the Legislature is not aguarantee, he added.

For St. Paul transit rider John Garcia, who gave up his car in favor of a bicycle and thebus last year, transit is an area where the Legislature's funding can do "the most goodwith a pittance."

"The price doesn't bother me," he said of the potential increase. "But the trouble is itexcludes people who really need it."

The legislature would probably support increased funding for public transit, said stateSen. Scott Dibble, DFL-Minneapolis, a member of the Transportation FinanceSubcommittee.

"The public will have to make its case and legislators who care about this will have tomake a case," Dibble said.

"But budgeting is a function of values and priorities, and it's clearly a huge prioritypolitically."



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Jameson monitors the wild bee population with 104 bait hives spread across Pasco,Pinellas, Hillsborough and Manatee counties.

Every three weeks, as long as it takes for a queen bee's eggs to hatch, Jameson checks

the bait hives. If he finds bees, he calms them with smoke before killing them with soapywater.

He only needs a few hundred dead bees for the lab techs in Gainesville, but the hivemight be Africanized, so he kills them all: 15,000 to 20,000 bees.

"A lot of what we're trapping is coming back as Africanized, and that's scary," Jamesonsaid. "We knew it was going to come to this."

Most days are spent on the road. When the Department of Agriculture got him a newFord pickup in April, it had 26 miles on the odometer. Now it has more than 22,000.

Next to his cup of coffee is a pint jar of about 300 dead bees, packed in alcohol andwaiting to be sent to Gainesville for testing.

A former beekeeper, Jameson does the job because he loves bees. When he was afarmer, he was intrigued by the way a beekeeper worked with the bees pollinating hiscrops, he said.

"I guess things happen in your life once in awhile, and it gets in your blood," he said.

He and his father started with three colonies - just a hobby. Three became six, sixbecame 12, until they had 1,000 colonies and a business, Grange Hall Bee Corp.

Now he is concerned about beekeeping as an industry. Most of the 130 beekeepers heinspects are hobbyists with fewer than 10 colonies. More bee diseases and parasites existthan did 20 years ago. As the number of beekeepers declines, so does the number ofbees.

"It's a vanishing industry," Jameson said. "There are so many problems we've got nowthat we didn't used to have."

In some ways, the Africanized bees are not the worst of the problem. As long asbeekeepers are vigilant, and the inspectors keep up their work, the problem can be

contained, he said.

"It's like the fire ants," he said. "We've learned to live with them. We'll have to learn tolive with Africanized honeybees."


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Aug. 18, 2008 | Star TribuneHennepin County is saving lives via DWI courtMore than 100 repeat offenders have entered the court and only one has been convictedof reoffending.


When Mark Flakne wants his car to start, he breathes on it.

If there's no alcohol on his breath, the car starts. If he's trying to drink and drive -- andthat hasn't happened, Flakne said -- a machine turns off the engine. He can try again insix hours.

Flakne, 42, a carpenter with multiple DWI convictions, normally wouldn't be behind thewheel at all. But now he can drive with the sensor, called an ignition interlock, as part ofthe Hennepin County DWI court program, an 18-month regimen for repeat offenders

designed to stop them from drinking and driving again.

Of about 110 participants in the court so far, only one has been convicted again fordrunken driving. In Ramsey County, which began a similar program in 2005, three of 73participants have been convicted again, and none since 2006.

Repeat DWI offenders usually have a 60 percent to 80 percent chance of reoffending.

"We're saving lives," said Fourth District Judge John Holohan, who oversees the DWIcourt. "Not only the lives of the offenders, because a lot of those people are out-of-control alcoholic and their fate if they don't get help is an untimely death. We're alsoprotecting society from the worst of the worst of the drunken drivers."

DWI court hasn't only saved lives, Holohan said. It's also saved Hennepin County about$500,000.

The court costs about $2,000 per participant, or more than $5,000 less than thetraditional 90 days in jail for repeat offenders.

"Locking somebody up to punish them, and doing nothing to address the underlyingbehavior, is costing the taxpayers $7,000 to $8,000," he said. "What we're doing ischanging the behavior."

Niki Leicht, who directs the DWI court program in Ramsey County, said the countyhasn't yet evaluated the costs and savings, but is planning to compare court participantsto a group DWI offenders who chose the traditional probation route.

In Hennepin County, repeat offenders, usually with at least three DWI convictions, canapply to participate in the court. Instead of the usual 90-day jail sentence, they serve sixdays, then undergo a screening procedure. If they pass, they're accepted to the program,


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agreeing to meet weekly with a probation officer, attend Alcoholics Anonymousmeetings and let probation or police officers conduct random searches at their home.

In return, participants who normally would have their licenses suspended or revoked,can drive with the ignition interlock for a set amount of hours per week to work, court

and Alcoholics Anonymous.

Ramsey County's program requires participants to be sober in stages: 90 consecutivedays at first, then 120, then 180, Leicht said, and doesn't offer the driving option.

The program's success rate is partly based on the participants it chooses. The screeningprocess selects offenders who think they need help, not those looking to avoid jail timeand go back to old habits, Holohan said.

"We're not taking in people that are noncompliant or who are trying to get in here just toget out of doing the 90 days in jail," he said. "We're taking in people that we believe havea sincere commitment to turning their lives around and getting sober."

Forced to make changes

Flakne is one of them. After his most recent DWI conviction, in February 2007, hedecided it was time for a change. His attorney suggested DWI court. A little less than 18months later, he became the program's third graduate a few weeks ago.

"Instead of just sitting in jail and stewing about the mistakes I had made ... it forced meto make some lifestyle changes," Flakne said.

Educating drunken drivers about the effects of their actions can have a positive impact,

said Jean Mulvey, executive director of Minnesota's chapter of Mothers Against DrunkDriving, which works with the Hennepin County court system to show things from thevictim's perspective.

"We want them to change their behavior so that they realize some of the differentconsequences," Mulvey said.

The process made Flakne realize he was going to be back in jail if he didn't change.

"Fortunately for me, the only person I hurt was myself," he said. "There are peoplewho've done a lot worse. But you know what, it was probably just a matter of time."



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Aug. 7, 2008 | Star TribuneRalph was a pretty good Minneapolis grocer


For 42 years at Dokken's Superette, there were a lot of things you couldn't do.

You couldn't get your morning coffee, since 80-year-old owner Ralph Dokken hasalways opened at 9 a.m.

You couldn't buy a lottery ticket, because they take too long for the people behind you inline. You couldn't pay with debit or credit card, but Dokken could write the purchase onyour tab, filing it away under the counter.

This morning is the end of an era: Dokken is handing over the keys to the southMinneapolis store he sold this year.

"We're a modern store with old-fashioned service," Dokken said.

The Roosevelt High yearbooks he kept behind the counter have been packed. Mostcustomers have paid their tabs, though some remain. Regulars have come to saygoodbye with cards and a cake.

"He's just amazing -- you'd never believe he's 80," said Marty Demgen, who says hestops by the store nearly every day. "There's other nice people that purvey conveniencein the area, but I look at him as a real pioneer. We'll miss him."

Dokken, who served seven years in the Navy and 13 years in the Reserves beforeworking for an airline, bought the store when he was 39.

His six children helped him stock the shelves. His oldest son, Steve, still helps him runit.

"We were practically raised in the store," said Sara Bertges, Dokken's daughter, who saidthat she and her siblings all worked their way through college there at $2 or $3 per hour.

The south Minneapolis neighborhood has always been good, always working-class, witha small-town feel in the city, said Dokken. He compares it to Andy Griffith's Mayberry.

For the past 42 years, students have walked the two blocks from Roosevelt High Schoolduring their lunch hour. Dokken is sure he saw former Gov. Jesse Ventura (JamesJanos), a 1969 Roosevelt graduate, on the other side of his cash register in the store'searly years.

Most of Dokken's business is in the basics: milk, chips, soda, cigarettes, beer. He soldscratch-off lottery tickets for awhile, but "the only people that bought them were theones that couldn't afford them," he said.


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