A hometown newspaper with a local office, local owners & lots of local news
A hometown newspaper with a local office, local owners & lots of local news
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It was close, but the Lumberjacks boys soccer team is headed to State again after scoring a golden goal 2 minutes and 6 seconds into overtime. The Cloquet-Esko-Carlton team scored first and last in the Section 7AA championship game against Grand Rapids Tuesday night, in the Lumberjacks' first and last game this season on the new turf at Members Cooperative Credit Union Stadium. The stands were packed with fans - buoyed by the girls 7AA win in the first-ever game at the upgraded field - and the a...
Great cross country runners are built over time. While genetics probably helps, it's the miles and miles of running that can really make the difference. Raptors runner Jack Riley is proof. After ramping up his training this summer and fall, the Wrenshall senior raced to a decisive win in Thursday's Polar League conference championship meet. Riley finished the 5K race on Pincushion Mountain in 16 miutes, 42.20 seconds, just over 19 seconds ahead of second. The front pack of four or five runners s...
Editor's note: Both soccer games Tuesday and the football games Wednesday will be played at the new turf field in Cloquet, superintendent Michael Cary said Monday in an update. Hints of frustration showed Monday as Cloquet school board members discussed a still uncertain finishing date for the Members Cooperative Credit Union Stadium complex, with final football and soccer games approaching quickly. "The field's been sitting there almost a month," said board member Dave Battaglia, referring to t...
A rural Carlton County man faces both state and federal child pornography charges after an FBI covert operation revealed “sexually explicit contact” with a minor, including an explicit photograph. Cord Cameron Schipman, 33, was charged in U.S. District Court Sept. 29 with a single count of production and attempted production of child pornography. As in the Stephan Hansen case reported in the Oct. 6 issue of the Pine Knot, if Schipman is found guilty, the minimum sentence is 180 months (15 years) in federal prison; the maximum is 360 months (30...
A Cloquet man admitted in Carlton County Court last week that he sexually assaulted a 6-year-old girl in 2016. Kim James Connors Jr., 32, who goes by “KC,” pleaded guilty to one charge of first-degree criminal sexual conduct, penetration or contact with a person under 13, Friday, Oct. 6, in Sixth District Carlton County Court. According to the criminal complaint, the girl reported to staff at the Carlton County youth shelter in 2021 that Connors touched her “all the way” when she lived at his mother’s house as a foster child. She later told ano...
A longtime Cloquet business has a new owner with a familiar face. Scott Nelson purchased Stock Tire from his boss, Steve Stavang, in August. Nelson had worked as a mechanic there for four years and is still doing plenty of hands-on work - he just added lots of other tasks to his list of duties. Nelson hadn't planned to buy the business. He actually gave two weeks' notice thinking he should do more paint and body work - his side gig in Carlton - when Stavang asked him if he'd thought about...
LOC Auto and Weld owner and main mechanic Luke Carlson was welding a truck bed Friday morning, but took a few minutes to report that business is going well at the new automotive repair shop. Carlson opened the business in the former Pete & Sons station at Cloquet Avenue and 15th Street in August. Carlson said he'll do everything except air conditioning or alignments, including oil changes, front end work, engine, transmission, custom welding and more. "It's going great so far, I've been swamped...
Both the girls and boys Lumberjacks soccer teams and the Esko girls soccer team are aiming for a section championship Tuesday and another trip to State. All three teams are seeded No. 1 in their section. After defeating Two Harbors 14-0 and Legacy Christian Academy 5-1, the Esko girls team will play Duluth Marshall at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Esko for the Section 7A championship. After a first round bye, the Cloquet-Carlton girls team beat Hermantown 1-0 on Thursday to advance to the section...
After nearly six decades of caring for the community's elderly and infirm, Sunnyside Health Care Center in Cloquet is closing. Sunnyside and Community Memorial Hospital officials said the process will begin immediately and will be complete by the end of the year. Thirty-four residents will have to find new places to live, and close to 30 staff will lose their jobs. It was a difficult decision, said Community Memorial Hospital CEO Rick Breuer. But difficulty staffing the facility - which always...
The Cloquet Area Fire District asked the city of Cloquet for a share of its public safety windfall from the state, and got a caring but firm “no” in response. Councilors and Mayor Roger Maki voted 6-1 Tuesday to deny the request for $165,000 of the $556,397 in one-time public safety aid dollars allocated by the state legislature in its most recent session. The vote wasn’t as bad as it seemed, Fire Chief Jesse Buhs said. He said the denial wasn’t bad for the fire district, at least long-te...
A Carlton man pleaded guilty last week to one count of production and attempted production of child pornography. He also admitted to engaging in a pattern of sexually abusing at least six children under the age of 12. Stephan Jeremiah Hansen signed the plea deal in U.S. District Court on Tuesday, Sept. 26. According to the 12-page plea agreement and sentencing stipulations, Hansen admitted to taking photos and videos of the children over a period of at least seven years with his Apple iPhone. In return for Hansen’s guilty plea, the U.S. Attorne...
When Esko assistant coach Liz Kyes shared how her high school cross country team would run the game ball from the opposing team's school to the homecoming game each year, head coach Jerimy Hallsten was intrigued. But first he had to find out whom Esko would play for homecoming. "If it's International Falls, that's a game changer," Hallsten said of the town 160 miles away. Luckily, it was Two Harbors. With his team excited by the idea, Hallsten mapped a 47-mile course from Two Harbors to Esko,...
A rural Carlton County man faces both state and federal child pornography charges after an FBI covert operation revealed an alleged sexual photograph and contact with a minor. Cord Cameron Schipman, 33, was charged in U.S. District Court Sept. 29 with a single count of production and attempted production of child pornography. He was charged Oct. 3 in Carlton County Sixth District Court with one count each of first and second degree criminal sexual conduct with a victim under the age of 16, plus one count of disseminating pornographic work of a...
Allison Ronning gets some confused looks when she tells people she’s an end-of-life doula. “People are like, ‘oh, you help birth babies,’ and I explain that I’m on the opposite end of that,” she said. By definition, an end-of-life doula assists in the dying process, in the same way a midwife or doula does with the birthing process. Both a birth or end-of-life doula can serve somebody in their home or in a hospital. “I know death is not an easy topic. Life is messy. Death is messy,” Ronni...
Cloquet will keep its school resource officer after Attorney General Keith Ellison released a revised opinion on the legislation last spring regarding the use of force in schools. That was better news than anticipated, superintendent Michael Cary told school board members Monday. Cary had expected to tell the board the district would be exploring other ways to work with local law enforcement. But over the weekend, he received an email from Cloquet Police Chief Derek Randall that the CPD was more comfortable after the attorney general clarified...
The pet microchip and vaccine clinic in Cloquet for Carlton County residents, scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 23, was canceled last week after the partnering humane society founder was charged with fraud. Northern Lakes Rescue has partnered with the city and county in recent years to operate the microchip clinics. Carlton County coordinator Dennis Genereau said the city and county discovered the charges and plan to reschedule the clinic with another agency in the future. According to a news release from the Minnesota Department of Revenue, the...
Ten-year-old Cyleiona Almenares made three trips to Cloquet's new game store on the first day it opened at 305 Broadway St. On trip No. 2, she carefully counted out her change to pay for Demon Slayer cards under the watchful eye of her dad, Tyler Almenares, an unabashed Pokémon fan. The father-daughter duo is exactly the target audience Sara Kenwood and her wife, Gabrielle, were thinking of when they decided to open the store in Cloquet. Game players. Card collectors. People who enjoy the art...
Riding in a balloon over rural Carlton County was amazing, said Superior's Meghan Edwards, one of the lucky ones who got to fly away from Black Bear Casino Resort in a giant hot air balloon Saturday. They landed in a neighborhood not far from Carlton's Chub Lake. "It was very peaceful, very calming, there were a few trees that had changed colors already, so that was kind of neat," she said. It was also nice and warm, she added, thanks to the burner that heats the air inside the balloon, making...
The newest president of Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College already knows the college from the inside out, working in numerous positions since she was hired as a part-time counselor nearly 30 years ago. Anita Hanson is the fifth president of the college, and the second woman to lead the college, a partnership between tribe and state. Hanson replaces FDLTCC's first woman president, Stephanie Hammitt, who passed away unexpectedly in November after leading the college officially since 2018....
Thanks to a sizable allocation for public safety aid by the state legislature this year, the Cloquet Police Department is getting body cameras and new Taser stun guns, at no additional costs to the city or taxpayers for now. Cloquet Police Chief Derek Randall strongly recommended the move. "Essentially, we are living in a world that if it's not recorded, it didn't happen," Randall told the council during Tuesday's meeting. "It's becoming more and more difficult to rely solely on officers'...
The Cloquet Business Park is growing. C&L Distributing, one of the largest beer distributors in Minnesota, plans to construct a 22,000-square-foot distribution and office facility at the business park off Minnesota Highway 33 north of Cloquet. Dick Family Real Estate, LLC, closed on the purchase of three commercial lots, totaling 3.77 acres, on Sept. 12. They will join Best Oil, Toy Barn Storage and the Cloquet DNR at the 60-acre business park. Tom Dick, president of C&L Distributing and Dick...
The West End business district was transformed Saturday, with streets closed to traffic and people enjoying themselves. Both sides of Avenue C were lined with an eclectic mixture of artists, vendors, businesses and community organizations selling, providing information and engaging with the attendees. The inflatable bounce house, slide and barrel train rides were a hit with the younger set. Musicians, including Cloquet native John Saaristo, performing as Yellow Cloud Rising, provided music...
A Carlton County man pleaded guilty Friday, Sept. 8, to shooting his wife in what he termed a “mercy killing” in December 2021. Raymond Arthur Julian, age 67, of Kalavala Township, has been in the Carlton County jail since he was arrested and charged with second-degree murder, with intent, not premeditated, for allegedly shooting and killing his wife, Tracy Julian, who was 62. Julian was arrested after Carlton County 911 dispatch received a call at 2:35 p.m. Friday, Dec. 10, 2021 requesting a w...
The long summer without ice at Cloquet's Northwoods Credit Union Arena is coming to a close, with delivery and installation of a new cooling tower completed earlier this week. Facilities manager Justin Harriman expects to have ice within two weeks, which should allow the Minnesota Wilderness junior hockey team to come back home and youth and high school hockey seasons to progress as normal. Harriman said the cooling tower works like a giant car radiator, cooling the freon after it passes under...
Weather permitting, it’s looking “pretty likely” that the homeless Cloquet football and soccer teams will get to play at least one game in the revamped athletic grounds this fall. Superintendent Michael Cary is optimistic, but stressed there are no guarantees; but “if the option is there, we’ll take it,” he said. Dylan Carlson, facilities manager for the Cloquet school district, told school board members Monday that workers are putting the final surface on the tennis courts this week, follo...
