Ramsey Co. - Maplewood Review News

Carl Lipke tried to end the North High Alumni Choir quietly.
The choir had just finished its spring concert, and wasn’t yet gearing up for the holiday shows. The group’s leaders were discussing how it should disband, agreeing that costs were too high and some of the singers could no longer stand for an entire performance.
The revered director suggested a discreet exit, without bows or encores.

Brix never really looks ferocious.
Even when he’s apprehending suspects or sniffing out illicit drugs, the dog half of Maplewood’s newest K-9 team treats his job like a game.
According to his partner, Officer Joseph Demulling, the 19-month-old from Slovakia does it all for a Kong, a rubber chew toy on a rope.

With new ownership and plans for a new digital projector, the Plaza Maplewood is back up and running, under the hands of a church.
Following investment and fundraising from the new management, Woodland Hills Church, the place has new carpet, new walls, new ceiling tiles, new seats, and new staff.
The arcade machines are gone and things look fresh, new, and almost pristine.

This February, Ramsey County Libraries will celebrate diversity with a series on black history. The Roseville and Maplewood branches of the library will present five free events  as part of their month-long public education program on African-American history.
Judy Woodward, the history coordinator for Ramsey County Libraries,  organized the series to honor Black History Month and join a Ramsey County-wide initiative to promote diversity.
The programming will highlight some of the history of Minnesota and the different cultural groups within the state.

Cliff Gebhard, long-time East Side barber, passed away Jan. 24 at St. John's Hospital at the age of 72.

Competition for students among area private schools has just gotten a little tougher.
Hill-Murray School, located on Larpenteur Avenue in Maplewood, announced this November it will be adding sixth grade starting in the 2014-2015 school year. The Catholic-affiliated school has offered grades seventh-12th since the late 1980s.
In a letter sent to students’ families this fall, president Susan Paul explains the addition was something the Hill-Murray board of trustees “wrestled” with for a number of years.

Burglary suspect Noah Erickson, 28, of North St. Paul was arrested after driving erratically on Wednesday, Jan. 22, around 4 p.m.
Woodbury police officers reportedly followed Erickson into the East Side's Payne-Phalen neighborhood while investigating a Woodbury burglary, but before they could make contact with him, they said he began driving erratically.

An uptick over recent years, five North St. Paul businesses were caught selling alcohol to a minor during the police department’s regular compliance checks in 2013, and one store, 9 Dragons Liquor, will soon experience a five-day suspension of its license.

A skid loader broke through the ice and sunk halfway into the muck being dredged from a pond near the Maplewood Community Center on Monday afternoon, Jan. 20.
A tow truck that idled on Van Dyke Street for a while wasn't what pulled it out. Instead, the project crew chained two mini backhoes to the heavy machinery and yanked it from slush-covered Wicklanders Pond, according to Michael Thompson, the Maplewood public works director.