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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There's talk in the Minnesota Legislature to bring back the "voter ID" issue. The problem with voter ID is that the logic behind it is backward - that since we need an ID to write a check or buy liquor, we should thus require an ID to exercise the most basic right in a democracy - voting. That logic is backward because the government has intruded on our lives so much that we shouldn't allow them to intrude on our most basic right in a democracy - voting. We should not need an ID to buy liquor...
I feel sorry for landlords who have been bitten by both the federal and state eviction moratoriums during the Covid-19 pandemic. Losing the ability to evict someone for not paying their rent could seriously affect a landlord’s business model. The eviction moratorium is a necessary consequence of the global pandemic. Not only has the pandemic affected the economy, leaving some tenants without a paycheck and thus unable to pay rent, it turns out that moving people from residence to residence ...
Esko schools plan to expand a tutoring program for students who fell behind during distance learning, after a pilot program led by high school principal Greg Hexum showed good results. The high school tutoring program will provide remedial help and focus on credit recovery, which is for juniors and seniors who may need help to earn the credits needed to graduate. The elementary school program, led by principal Brian Harker, will focus on remedial needs in the core subjects such as reading and math. Esko school board members approved both plans...
We're fortunate to have so many quality banking options here in town. Not only do we have a couple branches of some major banks, we also have plenty of smaller, local banks for most services. It's not just banks. Credit unions have a long history in these parts, due in no small part to the influence the Finnish people have on our culture. Finns knew that if they pooled their resources, they could compete with the big banks and still have local control of their money. Credit unions were usually...
My son Patrick wrote a little poem a few years ago that went something like this: "If we practice an 'eye for an eye' pretty soon we'll all be blind." I had been trying to teach my boys about the concept of "turning the other cheek" and how sometimes "you have to go backward in order to go forward." It was pretty a successful lesson, but my goal was to get these two brothers, just a year apart in age, to stop squabbling so much. Did it work? I'm not sure yet. Sibling rivalry is as old as Cain...
I was supposed to be in Washington this week, but I canceled my plane tickets in early December. We had been planning to attend the inauguration, taking advantage of Martin Luther King Jr. Day to reduce the number of missed school days for the kids, and had booked an Airbnb for the week, where the kids could distance-learn while in Washington. But when we learned that Joe Biden was allowing only a very select few to attend the event due to the coronavirus, we realized we would never get into...
The Supreme Court took a hard turn to conservatism when President Trump appointed Amy Coney Barrett just a few months ago. Despite the disappointing way she was confirmed to the court, she exhibits the finest qualities we should look for in a Supreme Court Justice: moderation and restraint. Coney Barrett has been portrayed as a deeply conservative legal advocate. You may be surprised that many on the liberal spectrum are satisfied with her on the bench, even though the Senate confirmed her...
Soon, the restrictions on evictions will end, and I expect to see an onslaught of evictions crowding the courts. I have several landlord clients for whom I handle their evictions, and I also volunteer to represent tenants in eviction cases from time to time. The moratorium is part of some national sympathy toward renters during the whole Covid crisis. The National Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), issued an order temporarily halting evictions to help slow the spread of the...
Thankfully, no one remembers my predictions from last year, so there's no way to gauge my accuracy or prognostic ability. Just trust me when I say I was very accurate and remarkably prescient. So, emboldened by the veracity of my history of accurate predictions of the future, I give you my predictions for 2021: • We will continue to wear masks well into spring, and again shortly after Labor Day. Not because the coronavirus stages a comeback, but because so many people have put so much effort i...
The Thomson Town board came through bigtime for Esko Community Education during its meeting Thursday, Dec. 17. These are tough times for the organization, which is part of the Esko school district. Community Ed has suffered financially from the pandemic — which restricted classes and activities, resulting in reduced revenue — and asked for funds from the town’s recreation fund. After agreeing to donate $2,000 to Community Ed as it has for years, along with an additional $2,000 to sponsor Esko...
It was an infamous utterance made more than five decades ago. “We’re more popular than Jesus now.” So said Beatles member John Lennon in 1966, during a newspaper interview, where he was discussing his evolving thoughts on the meaning of life and God’s place in his world. The backlash in the United States was swift and forceful. Once his remarks were published here, riots broke out, albeit not the kind of riots we see today. People gathered at concert entrances to protest. Radio stations refused...
In a way, I actually enjoy seeing people's continued protests over the 2020 elections. Such a demonstration of civic pride and patriotism is central to the American way. Now, I certainly think they are wrong, and I don't agree with the conspiracy theories and accusations made without evidence, as those types of statements are damaging to our society. But if they want to get together and let each other know how they feel, I'm fine with it. Have you ever been to the White House? There's was a...
A friend asked me around election time if things were as good for me now as they were four years ago. My Republican friend was implying that our lives are actually pretty good, so why switch the parties in power? Aside from the obvious issues we are facing now, I have to answer honestly: While my life seems to be pretty good, there is a national debt that has climbed so rapidly over the past four years that my future, and my children’s future, is in jeopardy. So, yes, my life is pretty good n...
Now that dining rooms are closed due to the state shutdown order, many restaurants are shifting to takeout and delivery. As a guy who spent the last 25 years delivering pizza and sandwiches — first in Two Harbors and then in Esko — I have some tips for both restaurant managers and customers. First, everyone, please be patient. Most restaurants are experimenting with delivery, and they don’t have the years of experience that some places have in delivering their product. It’s great that patrons...
The Esko school board was given an update on the bus garage and athletic field parking lot projects at its Monday, Nov. 23 meeting. Project manager ICS reported the two projects are essentially complete, with the new bus garage ready to open at its new location next to the Esko Business Park. The old garage was demolished to make room for the Esko athletic field parking lot project, which included stabilizing the ground and paving a large lot. The projects came in $60,000 under the $2.23...
Nothing seems to make a child happier than waking up to a snowfall and hearing their parents say, “School’s been canceled today.” But those days are numbered. Soon, snow days may be a thing of the past. You can thank — or blame — electronics. I don’t think many people are paying attention to this new development, because the schools are mostly closed now due to the pandemic, and likely will remain in distance learning for most of the winter. Still, this pandemic can’t last forever, and...
While the latest election was pretty decisive (about 51 percent for Biden, 47.3 percent for Trump), the fact remains that nearly half the voters preferred the Republican candidate over the eventual winner. That’s not insignificant and can hardly be called a “mandate” by the winner. But of course, people do call it a mandate. “The people have spoken,” they say, forgetting that nearly half the other people spoke, too. Grandpa Newby used to say that more people vote against a candidate than vote...
I’m one of the few people I know willing to state that the Electoral College is still a useful way to choose a president. The absurdity that a candidate can win the popular vote and still lose the presidency is a feature, not a fault, of the Electoral College system. That’s because we are the “United States,” a country formed by a coalition of individual states, not a unified country. It’s true that the federal government has grown stronger and more powerful over the years, but under our Const...
I’ve operated a pizza restaurant longer than I’ve had children, but it’s time to say goodbye (to the pizza place, not the kids). I opened Eskomo Pizza Pies in the old Cloquet Co-op building in downtown Esko on Jan. 26, 2006, after spending my entire life’s saving remodeling the space and buying pizza ovens. Jim Ruzic, the old WKLK radio guy, and his buddy, Rick Bassett from the county assessor’s office, were our first customers on Jan. 25, a day early. They came in expecting we were open and...
It seems that, with the elections just a few days away, much of the conversation we hear involves politics and candidates. We've divided our nation so deeply I fear it will take a miracle, or maybe a major event, to get us back together as a country. Each side demonizes the other: it's no longer just a passionate discussion about how to solve the everyday problems that come up in trying to run a country ourselves. No, the political conversation has resorted to name-calling, slander, alternative...
Seven of the area’s judges are on the ballot this year, running for re-election for six-year terms. There are no contested elections this year in our area. Every incumbent judge is running unopposed. There is a contested race in the State Supreme Court. I’ll get to that later. You may be wondering why no one runs against sitting judges. It’s because it’s difficult by design to win against a sitting judge. We have a nice system of selecting judges in Minnesota. Traditionally, most judges retire...
Local radio will never quite be the same after today. Kerry Rodd, who has been at WKLK Radio for about 14 years now, is retiring Friday. Well, retiring from radio, that is. He's planning to work at a local car dealership, using his media experience to promote the business as well as sell cars. He's been the general manager at WKLK for the past eight years, a job I really don't understand. How can you run a radio station while hosting a three-hour show every weekday morning and programs on...
News that Jeff Walther, pastor at Esko's St. Matthews Lutheran Church, had tested positive for the coronavirus spread pretty quickly, in part because his daughter lives in my house with her husband, and in part because Esko is a small town. I can now say I know someone with Covid-19. I wish I didn't. It's been terrible. Pastor Jeff is a pretty popular guy around Esko. In a community where many people look out for each other, the outpouring of support has been impressive. Normal and natural for...
I have never seen someone get booed at a high school graduation, or at a wedding or funeral. Have you? When I hear boos, it's usually good-natured ribbing - for example, when a Packers fan, all dressed up in green and gold garb, shows up at a Vikings party. But not always. Sometimes I hear boos in very inappropriate places. I first heard it in 1990, in the Metrodome at a Minnesota Twins game. It was a lousy season for the Twins, who had won the World Series just a few years earlier. But on that...
I got a fishing merit badge as a Boy Scout, not because I loved to fish and had grown up fishing. No, I precisely got the merit badge in spite of growing up without fishing, and having little idea of what fishing actually was all about. My city-slicker father, Tony, wasn’t too into outdoor sports. He taught me how to shoot a cue ball and mix a Manhattan, but building a fire was beyond him. His idea of roughing it was staying at a hotel without room service. My mother loved him for those r...
