The Jonathan Association is once again gearing up for its annual meeting.

The meeting serves to gather the membership of the large homeowner’s association to nominate members to the board of directors. The Jonathan Association stretches across 23 Chaska neighborhoods and is comprised of roughly 8,000 of the city’s residents.

The annual meeting will take place on Thursday, Feb. 25 at the District 112 Kindergarten Center. Registration begins at 6 p.m. with the meeting starting up at 6:30.

Former Chaska High School football coach Phil Link has been charged with felony theft.

According to a press release from Carver County Attorney Jim Keeler's office, Link has been charged with two felonies for "stealing over $7,600 from Independent School District 112.

"Link is charge with two counts of theft by swindle for thefts that took place during the summer of 2009," the release stated. "The thefts are related to summer football camps that Link ran on behalf of the school district."

The following obituaries are from the Feb. 25, 2010 print edition of the Chaska Herald newspaper:

On Monday, I shared introduced my Anti-Crunch Solution to 6-Pack Abs. We dispelled the 4 biggest myths about ab training. In case you missed it, you can read that post HERE. Today, I'm going to layout a simple step-by-step blueprint for you that will have you rocking six-pack abs by summer!
The Anti-Crunch Six-Pack Abs Blueprint:

Heeding the parting words of former Mayor Gary Van Eyll, the Chaska City Council continues to consider lengthening the term of the mayor from two to four years.

In a work session Monday night, the council opted to seek out public opinion on the idea before proceeding in a more formal manner.

“I don’t see why we can’t at least explore it,” said Councilor Chris Schulz. “It’s just a discussion and we’d like some input.”

A signal at Engler Boulevard and Clover Ridge Drive could become a reality this summer. The intersection has experienced significant traffic since the opening of new Highway 212.

City Engineer Bill Monk said city staff is working with the county on planned upgrades to Engler Boulevard west of Highway 212 for 2011, with a traffic signal to be installed at Clover Ridge Drive this summer.

I get it. There are 12 girls. Six will go home in the blink of an eye. Better to be safe than sorry, right? So pull out a trusty ballad, dust it off and sing it. Stay in the game long enough to get to the final 12 and cross your fingers that someone notices. Or, get to the top 10 and go on tour. Make a little money, enjoy a bit of notoriety.

Approvals have been made at both the federal and state level for improvements to Highway 41, leaving the Chaska City Council to award the construction bid Monday night. Northwest Asphalt, Inc. will likely begin work downtown in April, City Engineer Bill Monk said.

As part of the $453,000 project, crews will install a signal at Second Street, bollards, planters, banner poles and medians at First, Third and Fifth streets.

Thomas Craighead, 79, of Chaska, died Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2010 at the Marie Steiner Kelting Hospice House, Chaska.

Memorial service will be held Saturday, Feb. 27, at 11 a.m. at St. John’s Lutheran Church, 4th and Oak Street, Chaska. The family will receive friends one hour prior to the service at church.

Funeral arrangements were with the Bertas Funeral Home of Chaska, 952-448-2137.

Two years ago, horrified by the results of Bee Gees night, I came up with a list of theme night suggestions for American Idol. Someone must have been paying attention because we've since seen both Neil Diamond night and back-to-back Beatles nights. Thanks for reading, Idol, but don't stop there.

Lucas Matthew Rasset, 28, of Buffalo, has been identified by the Carver County Sheriff's Office as the snowmobiler who died in an accident near New Germany on Saturday, Feb. 20.

According to the Sheriff's Office, Rasset died after colliding with a guide wire extending from a power pole along County Road 33.

How to Get 6-Pack Abs Without Crunches or Sit-ups
Face it- we all want a flat, sexy midsection. But for many of us no amount of crunches or sit-ups seems to get the job done. I can’t tell you how many times people have asked me the following questions:

“I do all kinds of crunches and sit-ups every day and I still have a flabby midsection. What's the deal?”

Well, before I reveal your six-pack abs blueprint, let’s first debunk some very important myths about how to get six-pack abs:

Among the items on tonight's Chaska City Council agenda are:

* Conditional use permit for house move

* Bid for Highway 41/Second Street improvements

* Gas franchise agreement

** A worksession to discuss mayoral term length will precede the council meeting at 6 p.m.

Chaska City Council meetings are held the first, third and fifth Mondays of each month at 7 p.m. at Chaska City Hall, One City Hall Plaza.

The bill for last month's special election for mayor is in and penny pinchers should be pleased. After estimating the election would cost upwards of $25,000, the final totals came in just over $15,000.

According to City Administrator Matt Podhradsky, the election cost the city $15,830. Money was spent on election judge payroll, ballot printing, county services, machine maintenance, suppies and overtime for two city employees.

Who: This letter is lacking a last page and signature, but the handwriting matches other letters in the Fuller family archive sent by Sarah Fuller, in Minnesota, to her twin sister Elizabeth Fuller, living on the east coast. The twins were the sisters of land speculators David, George and Albert Fuller, who purchased the townsite of Chaska in spring 1852. In April 1857, George (who bought out his brothers’ shares) sold the property for $60,000, setting the stage for the next 150 years of Chaska development. Sarah died in 1900 in Connecticut.

By Chuck Friedbauer

When Marissa Brattain learned she’d be using an MP3 player to learn Spanish in her class at Chaska Middle School East, she wasn’t very surprised.

“It’s definitely cool, but not a shock,” she said. “Our schools are getting more and more technology these days.”

By Unsie Zuege

At the time, the orchid represented an entire day’s salary for Jerry Fischer — $25 — but he didn’t care. He’d never seen a flower so intriguing. As an art student at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Fischer said that orchids were more than plants to him; they were works of art. In 1973, Fischer was working at Bachman’s when he saw the flower that changed his life.

I was on the fence over whether or not to blog about American Idol again this season. Believe it or not, it's a fair amount of work to tackle on Tuesday and Wednesday nights week after week. I didn't know if I had it in me (especially with the final season of Lost airing on Tuesday nights as well). Then I got a call from Tina Lushington.

When I was at the Friends of the Chaska Library book sale today at Chaska City Hall, I spotted not one, not two, not three, not four, but FIVE book buyers using those little barcode scanners.

The digital readers relay how much a book is worth. Each one was purchasing books for resale on the Internet, or to bring to a used bookstore. (That is, unless they are reading books based on their resale value – the same way someone might purchase a car.)

Are newspapers shrinking?

Pull out that commemorative newspaper gathering dust in the closet. You know the one – “Germany surrenders,” “Ventura elected governor,” “New Coke introduced” – and you’ll discover that, yes, newspapers are smaller today, with narrower pages.