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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Noah Foster ran the toughest race of his life - bleeding and in need of stitches - at Saturday's Class A Minnesota State Cross Country meet in Northfield. He was about 100 meters into the race and heading into the first turn when the mob of runners compacted and the Cromwell Wright senior felt someone step on his left foot. "His spike sliced open my shoe and the side of my foot," Foster said. "I felt it when it happened but I guess the adrenaline made the pain go away." The fact that his foot...
World War II veteran Dale Crocker has lived by the motto emblazoned on his Navy Seabees cap: "Can Do." The 97-year-old Cloquet man served his country during World War II and worked at the Johnson Company for 40 years before retiring and embarking on a second career as a bus driver for the next 32 years. He built the Kelly Avenue house he and his wife, Arlene, still live in, some 75 years ago, "pounding every nail in," he said. Crocker sat at his kitchen table Nov. 5 and recalled his World War...
Incumbent State Senator Jason Rarick (R-Pine City) won easily in the District 11 race, with 22,111 votes (61%) to 14,152 (39%) for challenger Michelle Boyechko (DFL-Tamarack). He praised Boyechko for running a passionate and positive campaign, like previous opponents. "I see so many negatives in other races, that hasn't happened in our district," he said, noting that they both stuck to the issues during candidate forums rather than attacking one another. "That's something I really appreciate. It...
Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College lost one of its strongest supporters Monday, when FDLTCC president Stephanie Hammitt died of cancer. Hammitt, age 60, spent much of her career at the Cloquet college before officially becoming the first female president in January 2020. At that time, more than one person - including Minnesota Commissioner of Higher Education Dennis Olson and former FDLTCC president Larry Anderson - declared Hammitt the "perfect" person to lead the nation's only combined...
The long months of campaigning are peaking now, with Election Day on Tuesday and both local and national candidates trying to reach people who have yet to vote. Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 8. There are polling locations in the cities of Cloquet, Carlton, Moose Lake, Scanlon, Wrenshall and Wright. Townships with polls include Atkinson, Automba, Barnum, Blackhoof, Eagle, Lakeview, Mahtowa, Moose Lake, Perch Lake, Silver, Silver Brook, Skelton, Thomson and Twin Lakes. Voters in Cloquet’s Ward 2 should head to the C...
Cloquet city councilors got a lesson in water and sewer costs and rates Tuesday night, as public works director Caleb Peterson provided an overview of the fee-based utilities. The good news? No. 1: Cloquet has good water. No. 2: Cloquet's water isn't very expensive for users. Compared to similarly sized cities around the state, Cloquet has always been right in the middle of the pack for water and sewer rates, Peterson said. However, when compared to other neighboring towns that also pay the...
A Carlton County man faces 10 felony charges related to criminal sexual conduct for repeatedly groping and sexually touching three juvenile girls over a period of several years, according to authorities. The abuse is alleged to have occurred while he was romantically involved with an adult relative of the girls. Jamie Alden Godbout, 33, was charged in Sixth District Carlton County Court last month with seven counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct, plus two counts of attempted first-degree criminal sexual conduct and two counts of second...
Candidates for Minnesota Senate District 11A worked overtime last week, facing off in two candidate forums in three days. Tuesday's event was sponsored by the Cloquet Chamber of Commerce, while the forum in Moose Lake on Thursday was organized by the Land Stewardship Action Fund. In both instances, incumbent Jason Rarick, R-Pine City, and challenger Michelle Boyechko, DFL-Tamarack, established their differing viewpoints from the start. Rarick stressed his eight years of experience at the state...
It was hard to know who was more excited after the Section 7A girls cross country race last week: South Ridge champion Evelyn Brodeen, or her grandmother Lauri Brodeen. The proud grandma said she had found the perfect Bible verse for her granddaughter. "Hebrews 11:1 says 'Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,' so for the last two days I've been texting her, calling her, sending her pictures with that verse," she said. "Every time that she passed me on a corner, I would just...
The Cloquet city council chambers was a revolving door Tuesday, as candidates for six races answered questions in the Cloquet Area Chamber of Commerce candidate forum, an election year tradition. All of the forums ran smoothly, with a quiet and polite Minnesota audience made up mostly of other candidates, their supporters and a handful of interested citizens. It was a far cry from most national or even statewide televised debates, with no rudeness or verbal fireworks, and zero rebuttals until th...
In a rundown of the annual audit, the Cloquet school board got mixed news on the budget and the best rating from the auditing firm BerganKDV. Revenues for the last fiscal year were slightly higher than expected, at $36,935,439 versus $36,762,596, a difference of $172,843. However, the general fund account showed expenditures of $1.3 million, $1 million more than the predicted budget deficit of $284,000. But that doesn’t mean the district was in the red by roughly $1.3 million. BerganKDV manager Dustin Opatz explained the bulk of the extra e...
A call from a concerned citizen last month led to the arrest of a 19-year-old Cloquet man, after police officers allegedly found more than 1,200 fentanyl pills in the BMW car he was driving. James Daniel Randa was charged with aggravated first-degree controlled substance crime with a firearm and first-degree drug possession, both felonies, in Carlton County Court earlier this month. Randa was also charged with carrying a pistol without a permit, a gross misdemeanor. Carlton County attorney Lauri Ketola said field testing showed the presence of...
Skutevik's Floral owners Matt and Nicole (Skutevik) Wheale are settled into their new building at 1429 Cloquet Ave. The longtime local business moved from its most recent location on Broadway Avenue over Labor Day weekend into the standalone building that was formerly home to Skare Law Office. Nicole said they are enjoying the additional space to work in the new building, and additional parking out front....
While historical markers dot the heart of Cloquet, replete with photos and historical narratives of places such as the old city hall, the train depot and Pinehurst Park, a large part of the area’s history was overlooked when those markers were installed years ago. The history of the Native American tribes who lived here — some long before any European explorers arrived — is conspicuously absent. City officials hope to change that with help from a diverse group of area residents and the guidance of a consultant, thanks to a $50,000 grant from th...
For the fourth year in a row, the Cloquet girls soccer team is headed to State. In a frigid 7AA championship game Tuesday night, the Lumberjacks defeated the No. 1 seeded and host Grand Rapids, 4-2. It was sweet revenge for the 'Jacks, following the 3-2 loss to the Thunderhawks in September that consigned Cloquet to the No. 2 slot. "If we win that game, I don't know that we win this one," said head coach Dustin Randall afterward. "I think we needed that sort of motivation and mental push to...
An observant police officer and a likely DNA match led to the arrest of a 43-year-old Cloquet man last week on suspicion of trying to strangle a woman in her home this summer. Cloquet detectives and officers arrested Brendan Gareth Smith Friday afternoon after an extensive investigation of a home invasion June 7. Smith appeared in Sixth District Carlton County Court Monday, Oct. 10, charged with first-degree burglary and third-degree assault, both felonies. He was granted a public defender and bond was set at $250,000. According to the...
A request to allow the local industrial landfill to operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week for two specific customers was approved by the Cloquet planning commission Tuesday. The motion passed by a 3-1 vote, with new commissioner Michelle Wick the only “no” vote. Wick lives near the SKB Environmental landfill in the neighborhood near Hilltop Park, and had suggested the commission table the request so she could have time to do some research. The vote is an advisory one: the final decision rests with the Cloquet city council. City pla...
When we started the Pine Knot News four years ago next week, people in the newspaper industry noticed. It was mostly shock — who was crazy enough to start a brand-new paper? — mixed in with hope. The Minneapolis Star Tribune sent a photographer and a reporter to our office in Cloquet. Minnesota Public Radio called, so did Business North and Fox 21 in Duluth. The industry’s Editor & Publisher magazine even wrote a short story with a photo. I can confidently say we weren’t delusional. After t...
Carlton resident Galyna Tuttle is headed to Ukraine next week for the second time this year. Born and raised in the now war-torn country, Tuttle is bringing more medical supplies, warm clothing and sleeping bags, and will purchase food to bring to rural villages once she's there. However, this time she has plans for her return trip to Minnesota as well. She's bringing two young women and a toddler back with her. They will join another refugee, Gloriiya, who arrived three weeks ago from Ukraine....
The 2022 Cloquet homecoming celebration was a bittersweet moment for the Feehan family, which took center stage as they carried the king and queen's crowns across the football field. Having Noah Feehan, a 2002 CHS grad, honored as the grand marshal for the evening was wonderful. The reason behind the recognition - the fact that the veteran has been diagnosed with brain cancer likely caused by his military service - is the tough part. But Friday was a really good day. "It was so fun and the kids...
The palm trees in Fort Myers, Florida left standing following Hurricane Ian last week don't look like palm trees anymore, said Cloquet's Sam Baker. "They look like telephone poles," Baker said. "They lost all their fronds." Baker was one of at least two college students from Cloquet, including Sam Buytaert, who were evacuated from the west coast of Florida last week, as Hurricane Ian made its way to shore. Initial forecasts had predicted the hurricane would hit the Tampa Bay area - where Buytaer...
Lying in a hospital bed last Monday, Holly Goad told her youngest son, Perry, to keep up with football while she was there. Perry kept that promise. Holly died Thursday, Sept. 22, and the Cloquet senior played one of his best games Friday night, a contest the Lumberjacks won 14-8 over Duluth East. "I promised my mom I'd do my best to make her proud," the Cloquet senior said. He wore a special sleeve on his right arm Friday. "Momma, this one's for you," it reads, with a heart below the word...
Last week saw two different partial Wrenshall school board candidate forums, but residents may yet be able to attend a meeting with all seven candidates. After rejecting a Sept. 20 forum organized by the teachers union, three of the current board members - Jack Eudy, Deb Washenesky and Cindy Bourn - held their own candidate event Thursday, Sept. 22 at the Silver Brook town hall. Residents had plenty to say at the meeting, which started with a short introduction from each of the sponsoring...
After nearly two years of searching for a new space, it took workers only 10 weeks or so to turn a former furniture store into a new home for the Cloquet Kids Corner and Li'l Lumberjacks Learning Center programs. The cavernous empty space at Pine Tree Plaza in Cloquet is now a long winding hallway lined with bright classrooms - Kids Corner on the right, Li'l Lumberjacks on the left - ending in an indoor gym for kids. Cloquet Community Education director Erin Bates said it's going really well so...
With the election season ramping up, it’s time to lay a few ground rules. First up: endorsements. Defined as “the act of giving one’s public approval or support to someone or something,” candidate endorsements generally appear in newspapers in two ways: as letters from citizens endorsing candidates, or the newspaper itself announcing its opinion on the best person for the job. We at the Pine Knot accept one but choose to not practice the other. Endorsement letters are welcome, with limits....
