Week of November 1, 2024
Week of November 1, 2024
While some places in the country received bomb threats on Election Day, Carlton County was relatively incident free - with one major exception. "A suspicious envelope was left at a polling booth in Thomson Township," said Carlton County Sheriff's Office Lt. Doug Rotta, noting that the call came at 5:28 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 5, while voting was still underway. The discovery did not disrupt voting at Thomson Township, Rotta said. People just continued voting as usual. "It didn't turn out to be...
With all of Carlton County's precincts reported by 11:25 p.m. Tuesday, the 2024 local election brought some interesting results. The results won't be official until after they are canvassed, but changes are rare after reporting. Here are a few of the highlights: The mayor's race in Wrenshall is tied. Incumbent Gary Butala and challenger Jeff Bloom each have exactly 143 votes each. Two incumbent Carlton School Board members - Julianne Emerson and Eryn Szymczak - are out. Ryan Leonzal, an...
The School Nurse Organization of Minnesota has named Sarah Ellena, Cloquet school district nurse, as its 2024 "School Nurse of the Year." The award annually recognizes one licensed school nurse in the state for "excellence in nursing practice and leadership." Ellena's career after graduating from the College of St. Scholastica in Duluth includes experience in long-term care, pediatric and pediatric intensive care, public health and volunteer services, as well as nursing services in Carlton and...
Cloquet police confirmed Tuesday, Oct. 29, that a deceased person was found in the wooded area behind the 218 Taphouse and a temporary pumpkin patch at approximately 9 p.m. Oct. 18. A preliminary investigation did not uncover any firearms, bullet holes, or other apparent indicators of foul play, according to a news release issued Tuesday. "No evidence suggests suspicious circumstances," said Cloquet Chief of Police Derek Randall. The man was later identified by the Midwest Medical Examiner's...
Like any other extracurricular activity, science fair offers kids the chance to take their talents as far as they can go. A handful of Cloquet kids have done exactly that over the past six months, advancing to statewide, national and international competitions to share their research and compete for even bigger awards. The following is a roundup of competitions and the students who got there. International Science and Engineering Fair Cloquet High School senior Grace Lavan and junior Johanna...
Despite finishing in the middle of the pack in last year's Section 7AA cross country meet, Cloquet boys team coach Chandra Allen had an inkling that things could only get better for the Lumberjacks. They were losing just one senior to graduation. "We knew after last season," she said of the 2024 prospects. The hunch was indeed correct, as this year's team won the section meet in Hibbing on Oct. 24. The team will now travel to St. Paul Saturday for the Minnesota State High School Class AA Cross...
It can be difficult to know just what might inspire a teenager these days, but Brenda Knudsen may have found something in October. The trails on Pincushion Mountain offer spectacular views of the harbor at Grand Marais and the expanse of Lake Superior. As Knudsen prepared her Carlton/Wrenshall girls cross country teams for the Oct. 10 Polar League Conference meet on those trails, she told them she'd jump into the lake if they won. "It was freezing," the coach said this week, looking back on a...
The Esko girls made their mark in the Minnesota State Class A Soccer Tournament this past week. After winning on penalty kicks Oct. 24 over St. Cloud Cathedral in the opening round, Esko fell to top seed Southwest Christian, 2-1, in a tense semifinal game Tuesday at US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. The first half of play was tightly played with the Esko defensive corps doing a stellar job of not allowing one of the state's best forwards, Maya Johnson, to get free as the teams went to halftime...
After two rounds of playoffs, just two local football teams remain in the hunt for that elusive state tournament berth. Both of those teams, Moose Lake/Willow River and Cromwell-Wright, are rich in postseason success and were scheduled to play for section championships Thursday night, after the Pine Knot News went to press. The stunner in the second round was top-seeded Barnum falling, 22-14, in Section 7AA, to No. 4 Mesabi East. The Giants jumped on the Bombers in the first half and held a...
University of Minnesota first-year player Koi Perich was honored as the “Big Ten Freshman of the Week” after Minnesota’s 48-23 football win against Maryland Oct. 26. Esko’s Perich posted his Big-Ten-leading fifth interception of the season in the game, taking it 45 yards and setting up a field goal. Perich also made three tackles in the win. Perich’s five interceptions are tied for fourth most in a season in the Gopher record book, and it was his third-straight game with an...
Section volleyball entered the semifinal round Wednesday night with Esko and South Ridge the only two remaining local teams in action. Section 7AA Esko was set to play Crosby-Ironton in the 7AA semifinals Wednesday night after picking up a pair of wins in the past week. On Oct. 23, No. 2 Esko opened with a 3-0 win over Pine City. "It was nice to get that first match win out of the way," said Esko coach Pete Stasiuk. "We played well, we didn't make a whole lot of errors and we generally played...
The Minnesota Wilderness got a Nate Murray goal in the final round of a shootout Saturday to capture a 2-1 win over the Chippewa Steel, Minnesota’s lone win in a three-game series. The Wilderness lost 4-3 in overtime Thursday night and 3-1 Friday night. Thursday’s game was in Wisconsin and the weekend games were in Cloquet. Earlier in October, the Wilderness saw head coach Colten St. Clair leave for another coaching opportunity. The team hired Minnesota native Zach Stepan as the...
Wednesday, Oct. 23 Volleyball 7AAA Princeton 3 Cloquet 1 7AA Barnum 3 Moose Lake/Willow River 1 Esko 3 Pine City 0 7A Floodwood 3 Fond du Lac Ojibwe 0 Cherry 3 Carlton/Wrenshall 0 South Ridge 3 Silver Bay 0 Thursday, Oct. 24 Girls soccer Class AA State quarterfinal Esko 1 St. Cloud Cathedral 0 Friday, Oct. 25 Volleyball 7A South Ridge 3 Cromwell-Wright 1 7AA Rush City 3 Barnum 0 Esko 3 Mora 0 Saturday, Oct. 26 Football Section 5 9-player Cromwell-Wright 25 Ogilvie 0 Section 7AA Mesabi East 22...
Have you read media headlines lately? There apparently has been a renaissance across Minnesota and the nation on the joy of sauna. It’s now “cool” to cleanse your body and spirit in a hot, Finnish-inspired sauna. Of course, many locals know that, for it has been tradition in Carlton County and northeastern Minnesota for more than 100 years. The Finns, when they immigrated to this region of the state, often started homesteads by building a sauna. I grew up in a house with no bathtub, just...
My first year in Congress, 1965, was a watershed year. Among many noteworthy pieces of legislation, that was the year we passed the law creating Medicare and Medicaid. And I remember something crucial about it: When the chairman of the powerful Ways and Means Committee, Wilbur Mills, brought the legislation to the floor of the U.S. House, he said we needed to build bipartisan support. This wasn’t an obvious thing to ask. Many of us had been swept into office in the 1964 Democratic wave that...
Downtown Carlton was bustling Saturday with a wild and wonderful array of monsters, witches, chickens, rock stars, critters, cartoon characters, superheroes and more than one girl named Wednesday. Businesses, organizations and a Care Bears friend group lined the sidewalks along Chestnut Street handing out candy to what felt like more than a thousand kids and their parents, there to trick or treat in broad daylight. Five-year-old Rowan (pictured below) and his mother AnnaMay Frazier spun up one...
Some people have simple goals. It seems obvious to many that Ron Delbow performed that goal with a known luster. Though his recent passing on Oct. 18 was met with sadness, along with that is also a feeling of lasting affinity and appreciation for this fellow. His obituary provided through McNearney-Schmidt Funeral in Shakopee, Minnesota said this: "Ronald retired from Model Stone, a cement block plant, and lived Up North where he built a home. After some time, he decided to go back to work and...
Oldenburg House owner Glenn Swanson made the rounds on Saturday, winding between tables, chatting with guests in the dinner break between live jazz performances. "If we were to name this as a nightclub, its name would be Club Sardine," said the gravelly voiced Swanson, noting that they'd packed 38 music-loving guests into the L-shaped dining room of the Carlton bed and breakfast for another Cookin' at the O event. It was the second weekend of performances for Danish jazz vocalist and composer...
More than 400,000 deer hunters are preparing for the firearms deer season that opens Saturday, Nov. 9, offering opportunities to spend time outdoors with friends and family, find adventure and put venison in the freezer. Minnesota Department of Natural Resources wildlife staff are reporting that there should be good opportunities to harvest deer in most areas, although numbers are still down in the northeastern part of the state. Despite a mild 2023-24 winter, deer populations in the northeast region are still low and will take multiple years...
FRIDAY, NOV. 1 Women made incredible contributions during World War II, both at home and overseas. Learn the details of what they accomplished in Carlton County at a presentation 1-2 p.m. Friday, Nov. 1 at the Carlton County Historical Society, 406 Carlton Ave., Cloquet. Cost $10 for non-members. SATURDAY NOV. 2 Annual Meatball Supper, 3 til 6 p.m., Salem Lutheran Church in Mahtowa, 2702 1st St. Meatballs, mashed potato with fixings, plus dessert. Adults are $12, under age 12 is $6, and under 6 is free. Dine in or take out. SUNDAY, NOV. 3...
Arrowhead Senior Nutrition menu Friday, Nov. 1 Polish on a bun, salad, cantaloupe, gingersnaps Sat.-Sun., Nov. 2-3 Frozen meals available Monday, Nov. 4 BBQ Sloppy Joe, french fries, apple-cherry juice, cookie Tuesday, Nov. 5 Tilapia, Normandy vegetables, brown rice, orange slices, brownie Wednesday, Nov. 6 Baked chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, crisped rice treat Thursday, Nov. 7 Ham, cheese & broccoli stuffed potato,...
