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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A Cloquet man facing manslaughter charges after an alleged fight gone wrong is working toward a plea deal with the Carlton County Attorney’s Office. Joel Jay Ammesmaki, age 59, was charged with first-degree manslaughter in September for “causing the death of another while committing assault in the fifth degree with such force and violence” that death or great harm was “reasonably foreseeable.” Ammesmaki was scheduled for a contested omnibus hearing to argue probable cause for the charges on Monday. The hearing was delayed by nearly an hour a...
In its fourth year, the annual Cloquet microchip clinic Saturday saw no decrease in the number of dogs and cats (and their owners) lining up for pet services, including free microchips for up to three pets, $10 nail trims and low-cost vaccinations. Sheriff Kelly Lake and her daughter, Taylor, helped wrangle a couple of excitable dogs to give their owner a moment to fill out paperwork Saturday afternoon at Veterans Park. Sponsored by the city of Cloquet and Carlton County and held in conjunction...
The weather was kind, and so were the movie reviewers. Three directors attended the festival Saturday, including Cy Dodson, who felt compelled to film the aftermath of George Floyd's murder in 2020 because it was his neighborhood. "Say His Name: Five Days for George Floyd" offered an intimate look at the days that followed Floyd's death - the struggles, the dark and the light times that followed - punctuated by the guilty verdict for the police officer who killed him. Dodson said he recently...
Nayari Guthrie, 2, jumps into her mother’s arms in the shallowest waters of The Beach at Pinehurst Monday, the hottest day of the year so far in the Northland. Nayari’s mom, Najae Swanigan of Duluth, said they decided to head to the swimming pond in Cloquet because it was “a nice hot day.” Also adventuring Monday was 21-month-old Lennox Bauer, who happily went down the canoe slide into the waiting arms of his dad, Beau Bauer of Cloquet. Aquatics coordinator Kimberly Miens said it feels like su...
A former Cloquet police officer who recently settled an employment dispute with the city broke her silence last week. The Cloquet City Council voted unanimously to dismiss Laci Silgjord in February, which she appealed. The council then voted to settle with Silgjord, who agreed to resign, after a closed meeting June 7. Through her attorney, Silgjord said she has proudly dedicated her life “to the service of others” through both her military and law enforcement career. “This is a bittersweet time in my life, as I will miss the community and my wo...
The Cloquet Area Fire District has a new assistant fire chief, a new position board members hope will bring more stability to the department and easier succession planning for the future. Corey Larson was unanimously approved as the new assistant chief at the CAFD board meeting June 15. Larson has been with the CAFD for the two and a half years as the district's training officer and firefighter/paramedic, worked in Superior before Cloquet, and has 13 years of experience in the field. Larson...
Once the jury found him guilty, there was never any doubt that Sheldon Thompson would be sentenced to life in prison for brutally killing his pregnant girlfriend, Jackie Defoe, their unborn child, and Jackie's 20-month-old son, Kevin Lee Shabaiash Jr., in March 2020. How many life sentences he would be sentenced to was the question. The sentencing hearing Tuesday at the Carlton County Courthouse came just over two weeks after a jury found Thompson guilty of eight counts of murder on May 31....
When Sam and Julie Jacobson decided to run the Sawdust 5K with their boys on July Fourth last year, they had no idea they'd literally be running the race this year as its new organizers. But they love the annual Cloquet race, so when Sawdust founders Jeff and Alyson Leno said they needed to step down to spend more time with their kids, the Jacobsons stepped up. The couple complement each other as race organizers, as Julie has experience with fundraising and event organizing from past jobs with C...
Rich Brummer said he "got hooked" on the Minnesota Fishing Challenge when he was a charter captain on Lake Superior and participated in the second year of the fishing tournament. The next year he suckered Stuart Nelson into joining him and the two became an unstoppable fundraising team. "We haven't looked back," Nelson said. "Each team is asked to make some money, and that's what we do. But we've taken it to another level." Minnesota Fishing Challenge is now the largest fundraising fishing...
Not surprisingly, the Covid-19 pandemic impacted lives in a wide variety of ways. One aspect the pandemic has unexpectedly continued to affect is school finance, Cloquet superintendent Michael Cary told school board members Monday. While student numbers had been rising slowly but steadily before the pandemic, they have failed to rebound after students returned to in-person classes. Fewer students means less funding from the state of Minnesota. Additionally, inflation — blamed in part on supply shortages caused by the pandemic — is getting in...
The law enforcement program at Fond du Lac Tribal & Community College will see new leadership this fall, as former Cloquet police chief Wade Lamirande passes the baton to recently retired Duluth police chief Mike Tusken, who will begin in August. Lamirande replaced former Duluth police chief Scott Lyons as law enforcement program coordinator in 2014. Lamirande said there is a steep learning curve when transitioning from active law enforcement to teaching. He had a master's degree in public...
Naomi Guilbert (pictured here in Cloquet) and Hiroshi Koshiyama, professional Japanese taiko drummers, perform an original song called "Covid drive-thru," which Koshiyama said was inspired by a two-hour wait for a Covid vaccination. The husband and wife drummers are part of Fubuki Daiko (Blizzard Drums) from Winnipeg, Canada, and visited the Cloquet and Carlton public libraries last week to both perform and educate. According to their Facebook page, Fubuki Daiko reinvents traditional Japanese...
Of exactly 100 seniors -100 percent of the Esko Class of 2022 - graduating Friday, 10 were awarded the title of valedictorian - that means 10 percent of the class earned the highest academic ranking. That was just the icing on the cake of their many accomplishments, said principal Greg Hexum. But he acknowledged that life hasn't been easy for the graduating seniors, whose high school careers were greatly impacted by the first pandemic in more than 100 years, and the loss of a classmate and athle...
Following a closed meeting with legal counsel Tuesday night, the Cloquet city council signed a separation agreement and full and final release of claims Tuesday with a police officer they originally voted to dismiss in February. The next morning, city administrator Tim Peterson provided the following statement in response to the Pine Knot News: “The council made and unanimously approved a motion to accept the agreement reached with Officer Silgjord on May 20th and to accept her resignation from the Police Department effective June 7, 2...
Starr Marshall decided to organize the first Senior Day in Cloquet in 2019 after she realized an elderly client visiting her office at Reliable Insurance Agency was being abused, as it turned out, by her son. Marshall said the nearly 80-year-old woman had bruises on her face. "We called the police and stuff happened, but it was really sad," she said. The now annual event is held in conjunction with World Elder Abuse Awareness Day, and it's known here as Senior Day. It's a day to celebrate...
Police are searching for a man who entered an occupied home on Boulder Drive in Cloquet just after 4:30 a.m. Tuesday. Residents awoke to an intruder in their Sunnyside neighborhood home, and that person physically assaulted one of them, according to a press release from the Cloquet Police Department. After another person inside the home intervened, the assailant fled the area on foot. With the assistance of neighboring law enforcement agencies, officers extensively searched the surrounding area but were unsuccessful in locating the suspect....
Three men were arrested last week after a traffic stop led to the discovery of a pound of methamphetamine Friday, June 3. Driver Mark Arthur Locken, 43, and passengers Donald Richard LaBlanc, 63, and Dean Wayne Olds, 56, were each charged in Carlton County Court Monday with one count of first-degree drug possession, for allegedly having more than 50 grams of meth, a Schedule II controlled substance. Bail was set at $100,000 or $10,000 cash for LaBlanc and $100,000 for Olds and Locken. According to the criminal complaint, Carlton County deputy...
By now, most of you may be aware that there’s a new Fourth of July coordinator in town, and it’s the Pine Knot News. That doesn’t mean we are sponsoring the event: that’s done by residents, businesses and organizations through financial donations. What it does mean is we have been hired by the city to work with the Fourth committee and others to make certain Cloquet continues its tradition of offering a day filled with family friendly activities, most of them the same type of activities we paren...
After going undefeated in the Section 7AA tournament, the Esko boys baseball team was eliminated Tuesday, losing 5-0 to Marshall in the afternoon, then 11-9 to Proctor that night. Coach Ben Haugen said he was proud of the team. "We battled to the end tonight, I was proud of our guys for that, all the coaches were proud of them," Haugen said. "The kids are doing their best and playing their hardest. Sometimes it just doesn't go their way, but we're still proud of the effort they gave us." He was...
Wrenshall students and supporters may have enjoyed the most unique graduation ceremony Friday afternoon, thanks to English teacher Joel Swanson. The guest speaker rapped - rather than recited - his original "Grad Poem 22" before the crowd in the Wrenshall gymnasium. In the poem, Swanson spoke of the fork in the road: "one path taken by those seeking less resistance and the more difficult one that questions our existence." But Swanson wasn't done. When he was done, the teacher called for a volunt...
A Carlton County jury of 10 men and two women deliberated about five hours Tuesday before finding Sheldon Thompson guilty of eight counts of murder. Five of those eight counts are first-degree murder charges, which come with an automatic sentence of life in prison. Thompson, 35, was accused and found guilty of brutally killing his pregnant girlfriend, Jackie Defoe, their unborn child, and 20-month-old Kevin Lee Shabaiash Jr. in March 2020. About two dozen people attended the final hearing at the...
Hearings in a 2020 case of a Sawyer man accused of sexually assaulting an intoxicated woman who was a guest at his home have resumed, after first being delayed because of Covid-19 concerns and then because the suspect failed to appear in court. Jamin Paul Beardley, 46, faces charges of first-degree criminal sexual conduct filed in August of 2020. After he failed to appear at a review hearing on May 10, 2021, the jury trial set for the following week was canceled. Beardsley had also been sentenced to 90 days in jail in April 2021 — which he didn...
A Cloquet man is facing charges for allegedly sexually assaulting a young girl approximately five years ago. Kim James Connors Jr., aka KC, age 30, is facing one charge of first degree criminal sexual conduct-penetration or contact with a person under 13. Charges were filed in late March, but Connors didn’t make his first court appearance until May 23, after being picked up on a warrant by Fond du Lac police. According to the criminal complaint, last summer a now 11-year-old girl reported to staff at the Carlton County youth shelter and e...
Eighth-grader Ethan Lavan played at Cloquet's No. 1 singles player this season, and the youngster didn't disappoint. Lavan took third place in the individual Section 7A tournament, missing a trip to state by one place. He was the only middle school student in the tournament to make it to the semifinals. Coach Derek Johnson said Lavan did a good job at No. 1, and his youthful appearance was an advantage in some cases. "A lot of 1 singles players are juniors or seniors so when they see 'Little E'...
The triple murder trial for a Cloquet man began Tuesday with opening statements by attorneys and dramatic testimony. Sheldon Thompson, 35, is accused of killing his pregnant girlfriend, Jackie Defoe, their unborn child, and 20-month-old Kevin Lee Shabaiash Jr. in March 2020. Thompson’s cousin Taylor Smith struggled to speak through tears and struggled to remember details during her testimony. But she clearly remembered what Thompson said to her on March 6, during a drive to Kwik Trip in Cloquet....
