Week in Review: May 1 Edition

Happy May Day! Here is a brief summary of what made news in Oakdale this past week:

• Sen. Chuck Wiger said he favors creating a statewide autism task force. 
• A bill sponsored by Rep. Nora Slawik would implement a mediation process to resolve conflicts between manufactured home residents and park owners, something local residents say is needed. 
• Police caught a suspect who allegedly stole purses from carts at Oakdale and Woodbury grocery stores. 
• Mitch Rogalsky, who built a stairway at an Oakdale church as his Eagle Scout project, was last week’s Oakdale Patch Whiz Kid. 
• An Oakdale man was charged with receiving stolen property for allegedly pawning items that were stolen from an Oakdale home. 
• Washington County commissioners learned on Tuesday that getting out of the Counties Transit Improvement Board—a move Commissioner Bill Pulkrabek has been pushing for—would be a three-year process.
• With a senior housing company seriously interested in the Oakdale Mall site, new construction there could begin sooner than expected, City Council members learned at a workshop meeting Tuesday. 
• Principal Kathleen Nadeau is retiring after the school year ends. 
• Trashcans placed primarily on Oakdale trails to cut down on littering didn’t work as intended, the city’s public works director told the city council at its Tuesday meeting. 
• Washington County Board members questioned paying to preserve a piece of Oakdale property if the public wouldn’t get access to the land. 
• A substitute employee for District 622 allegedly took sexually explicit photos of a vulnerable adult she had met at a school and posted them online. 
• students were recognized for good grades and inducted into the National Honor Society at a ceremony Wednesday night.
• School District 622 is making plans to purchase netbooks and SMART boards.
• In Sports: The slow start to spring hasn’t slowed down the Tartan High School boys track team.