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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I am shocked how many people refuse to wear masks based on political beliefs. I recall a few years back when a nudie bar opened in Scanlon. The outrage! As I remember, a group of local people went down there every night to protest and picket the club, including many members of the local religious community. The nudie bar responded by proudly asserting that they were simply exercising their First Amendment right to freedom of expression. Anyone who dared to challenge the club was attacked as...
Criminals should not benefit from their crimes. If a jewel thief is arrested with the stolen diamonds, he shouldn’t be able to keep the jewels. That’s just crazy, right? On the other hand, a drunk driver should not forfeit her car to the government when she is caught. Fined, jailed, ordered to get treatment — yes. But it’s not just or equitable that she should lose personal property too. But that is allowed in Minnesota. Under Minnesota’s forfeiture laws, the police can seize your vehicle a...
I’ve hired quite a few pizza delivery drivers over the years, mostly high school boys, but sometimes girls and adults. But, mostly, my delivery drivers are young. The first question I ask during the interview is: “Have you ever been in an accident?” Most kids are anticipating my preferred answer and respond, proudly: “No, I’ve never been in a car accident.” I tell them to come back after they have been. That’s because no invincible teenager ever really, truly appreciates the power and danger of...
One of my good friends called another of my good friends a “moron” the other day. In public. He’s not a moron; in fact, he’s quite intelligent and accomplished. His sin? He made some very valid points about a candidate for public office, and my other friend is supporting the other guy. I had reposted a meme about the economy on facebook. The meme said, essentially, that for the past several decades, Republican administrations have left lousy economies for the next administration, but Democra...
Maybe I’m exaggerating, but the local cable access channel, CAT-7, may become great again. The city council just approved a contract with Pine Knot News to take over the daily operations of CAT-7, and I couldn’t be more excited. I’ve been advocating for such a plan for years. A decade ago, I suggested to Jeff Korpi, the long-time cable coordinator, that he should hire Jana Peterson part-time to update the community calendar that was displayed on CAT-7 much of the day. At the time, Jana was t...
Bill Effinger, the silky-voiced announcer at WKLK, has been heard on the morning show quite a bit lately as ringleader Kerry Rodd recovers from surgery. Last week, I made one of my well-received guest appearances on the weekly Pine Knot News segment (Jana was busy), and he asked something interesting: "Why is there no plaque or any information at the foot of the voyageur statue" on Dunlap Island. My family spends quite a bit of time down in that green space right next to the Spafford Park...
I have an idea to keep the postal service operating for years to come. But I almost guarantee nobody will completely like it. That’s why I think the idea must be brilliant: if it works, and it equally annoys everyone, it’s probably a good idea. There is really no need to have mail delivered every day anymore. Back when Elvis was a star, he had a great song, “Return to Sender,” about sending his love interest a letter, but she sent it back the next day. Imagine! Mailing a letter today and getting...
Suddenly, we’re talking about changing the nickname in Esko to avoid making an indirect negative reference to Eskimos, a historical name for the Inuit in Alaska, which some people seem to think is derogatory. Some don’t, however, and the idea that the word “Eskimo” is a pejorative term is not universally accepted. A little research shows that the term “Inuit” or “Native Alaskan” is preferred, but there doesn’t seem to be consensus that calling someone an Eskimo is insulting. Now, calling some...
Becky Gergen moved to Cloquet a couple years ago. She spends a lot of time with the 6-year-old boy in her life. She loves Cloquet’s parks, but since she has a pool of her own she doesn’t spend much time at The Beach at Pinehurst Park. Still, she brought up an idea for our great city park system — explored years ago by the city but which bears revisiting — that she posted on her Facebook page recently: “Wouldn’t it be great to have a splash pad in Cloquet?” she wrote. A splash pad, in case you d...
Eleanor has a birthday in 12 days. She’s been reminding me every morning that big, big things are going to happen when she turns 6, like she won’t need a booster seat in the car anymore (she will). And she won’t have to eat her vegetables if she doesn’t feel like it (not true at all), even though she still loves her carrots and beans. She won’t need training wheels on her bike anymore (hopefully) and there will be a big party with presents and cake and ice cream (she’s right about that). But the...
School districts typically take summer time to clean and repair school facilities, plan for the following school year, and maybe take some time off for vacation. This year, however, many in the schools are busy trying to figure out how to educate kids while protecting them (and us) from the risks of the coronavirus. The first day of school is right around the corner (sorry, kids), but the schools themselves aren't sure what is going to happen. Will there be kids in the classrooms? Or, will we...
I’m feeling patriotic. There’s an old quote, from George Bernard Shaw, that “Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all others because you were born in it.” A little biting, to be sure, but witty and accurate. Sure, I love my country, and it’s probably because I was born here, raised here and still live here. There’s nothing wrong with believing your country is the greatest in the world, just like there’s nothing wrong with being proud of your children or a fan of your l...
A few years ago, Cloquet commissioned a police study, which recommended significant changes to the department. A new chief was hired to implement the changes, among other things. Long story short, resistance in the department was so high, the chief ended up resigning. What makes us think we are going to have any real success in reforming police departments around the country, when simple organizational and procedural changes are rejected by the police force? With the recent demands for police...
I have to admit, I really rolled my eyes when people started chanting “defund the police” following the events surrounding George Floyd’s death at the hands of law enforcement. It just sounds crazy. Sure, we get emotional over police brutality and misconduct, so it’s tempting to think eliminating the police department would solve the problem. But who would keep the peace? Who would track criminals and arrest lawbreakers? Who would do what we need police to do? Then I started to think about i...
It’s probably too late now, but I wish the City of Cloquet had decided to open “The Beach” at Pinehurst Park this summer. The city council agreed with the leanings of the parks commission and city staff that opening the pool this year just wasn’t feasible due to the COVID-19 restrictions, the late start date, and the concern that the pool may be overrun by swimmers who couldn’t get into other beaches. I can appreciate those concerns, and it’s always easy to criticize a decision after it’s...
The swimming pond at Pinehurst Park is another pandemic casualty, city staff and councilors determined during Tuesday's Cloquet city council meeting. Although there was no formal vote, councilors agreed with a staff assessment and the Cloquet parks commission that the The Beach at Pinehurst would not open this year. Public works director Caleb Peterson said it would take staff two weeks to fill the pond and balance the chemicals to start. Add a late start to the state's current prohibition...
Criminal cases take up about 80 percent or so of the district court’s time in Minnesota, so it’s no surprise that people think all lawyers should know and understand criminal law. But for a civil lawyer like me, I do so little criminal work that I thought I should ask an expert criminal defense attorney, such as Joanna Wiegert, whose office is right next to the Pine Knot News, to explain what it means to be charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter, like the policeman in...
Justin Krych of Esko once told me that political compromise is essential to good government. Everyone agrees we need to raise taxes: the Democrats want to raise them by 5 percent, but the Republicans think 2 percent is enough. Eventually, the two parties meet somewhere in the middle, and we move on to the next issue. But you can't convince the other side you are right when the other side is arguing about something else entirely. This fervor over wearing masks reminds me of similar fights we've s...
Boy, we can sure politicize every issue in the country, can't we? It seems that the political divide can be attached to any issue, even ones concerning science, medicine and sports. I used to joke that it wouldn't be long before we assign political leanings to professional sports teams - the "Minnesota Viking Liberals" or the "Green Bay Packer Conservatives." You get the idea. So I was curious to see how emotional people get about mail-in voting. Voting is a fundamental right in our democracy....
Property taxes are just too high. It’s pretty easy to start a conversation with any landowner by saying, “My property taxes are crazy high.” No one ever really argues with you about it. They’ll sympathize; they’ll commiserate; they’ll share their own “high taxes” story. But they won’t argue with you about it. (Sometimes, though, especially on “Harry’s Gang,” I’ll say that I don’t mind paying my taxes because of all the goods and services we get in exchange for them. That usually gets a pretty go...
Now we can't camp overnight in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. I say it's no big deal, for now. It's a ban lasting only until May 18. But who camps in early May except the diehards? It's too cold. The ice just went out, which means the water's cold. The air is cold. The ground is cold. Sure, there are no mosquitoes, but it's been a rough spring. Even the neighborhood kids who set up their tent in the backyard last weekend came into the house about 10 p.m., mildly hypothermic. In the...
Today, the first of May, "May Day," is a date of significance for several reasons. May 1 is "Law Day" in America. The American Bar Association celebrates the day as recognition of how the law played a significant role in our society and the role the law played in the formation of our country. I'd never heard of it until I started working at the Newby Law office and Patty Murto, then unknown to me, called looking for volunteers to give free legal advice to people at the courthouse. Of course, I s...
It takes some chutzpah to commit a crime, get sentenced to prison, then complain about the poor conditions and ask to be let out. After all, prison is not supposed to be fun. Or pleasant. That's why they are called "prisons." So, many of us were not too sympathetic when some prisoners at the Moose Lake Correctional Facility filed a lawsuit to get released from prison due to the pandemic. But America is a nation of laws. It is our respect for those laws, and the process of creating, enforcing,...
It's been proposed that we conduct the next few elections by mail. No in-person voting, until the threat of COVID-19 subsides and it's safe to congregate at polling places. Plus, it's been hard to find enough election judges as it is. Add in the fear of getting the virus and it will be even harder to properly staff polling places this fall. Still, elections are extremely important, and should not be postponed or altered except in the most extreme situations. Even then, modifications to voting...
People in jail are at risk to get the coronavirus, simply due to the close confines of a jail and the ease the virus spreads. To avoid a catastrophe, some authorities propose that some inmates be released, and allowed to go home under close monitoring. Serious offenders won’t be let out (other precautions are being taken to protect them from the virus). It hasn’t happened here, yet. But it might. This begs the question: What are these people doing in jail in the first place? It’s no secre...
