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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Cloquet school board members got happy news Monday, when superintendent Michael Cary informed them the district has an almost certain major sponsor - Members Cooperative Credit Union - for the proposed $4.5 million outdoor athletic facilities project. The regional credit union, which began as Cloquet Co-op Credit Union in the 1930s, is in talks with the district to cover the entire "community" portion of the project costs. As the exclusive sponsor, MCCU would pay $1.25 million (roughly the cost...
More background details - and concerns - are emerging regarding the proposed transfer of the Cloquet Forestry Center to the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, but it appears likely that answers could take months or even longer. News that the University of Minnesota intends to give the 3,400-acre research center and experimental forest to the Band became public two weeks ago, when it appeared as an information-only item on a University of Minnesota Board of Regents meeting docket....
With dance tunes booming through the gymnasium Friday, students at Washington Elementary jumped their way to raising $35,000 during the school's Kids Heart Challenge event. It was loosely controlled mayhem, with children everywhere bouncing between different styles: there were lopers, backward jumpers and solo high jumpers in addition to the more usual techniques of jumping rope. Physical education teacher Patty Rothamel said students in grades K-4 took over the gym grade by grade all day long,...
Jim Boyd had a repost on Facebook recently that we wanted to share. Boyd’s page, called “Cloquet, MN-1884 to Present,” is chock-full of historical Cloquet area photos and memories. He shared a memory from Kurt Hunter, a 1975 graduate of Cloquet High School, “of the day I played softball with the vice president of the United States.” It was May 23, 1969, so Hubert Humphrey was then a former vice president, having lost the presidential election to Richard Nixon in the fall of 1968. Humphrey...
Voters in the Cromwell-Wright school district passed a referendum Tuesday, delivering a valentine to a district seeking $6.45 million in improvements to school safety and parking, along with a gym expansion. The measure passed, 243-194, following seven hours of voting in downtown Cromwell. “Obviously, the majority of people saw it as a need,” superintendent Nathan Libbon said. “I’m very grateful. I’m grateful for everyone that voted.” Approval of the referendum allows the district to bond for...
Carlton County will receive more than $700,000 in state disaster relief following the winter storm Dec. 12-16 which coated the region with heavy snow, breaking tree limbs and crippling power infrastructure for days. Carlton County gathered details from townships and jurisdictions throughout the county and submitted for $979,360 in costs associated with cleanup and repair. The National Weather Service referred to the storm as a “blue” blizzard becasue of the high water content in the snow tha...
Carlton County Sheriff Kelly Lake reported to the county board this week that a corrections officer is retiring. The board approved the hire of one more staff member than budgeted, allowing her to hire two males and two females. The board had given her permission to hire three corrections officers to replace retiring officers or officers forced to retire due to illness. Lake said she has a budget surplus, since she has been short-staffed. Corrections is using overtime from employees to cover shifts, a wage outlay for 3,400 hours of overtime....
Carlton County commissioners gave support for a joint effort between the Fond du Lac Band, Carlton County, and the Minnesota Department of Transportation to ask for $10 million in federal infrastructure money to build a trail between the Black Bear Casino to the Munger Trail in Carlton. The Moorhead Road bridge crossing Interstate 35 would be replaced....
Carlton superintendent John Engstrom surprised school board members Monday when he recommended they not renew his contract in June. Instead he recommended they make South Terrace principal Donita Stepan part-time superintendent and keep her as principal of the elementary school. High school principal Warren Peterson would be asked to increase his hours and days as part of the plan. “From where we were four years ago … this would represent a total savings of around 40 percent,” Engstrom told...
The Cloquet Community Band is seeking new members. If you have played an instrument, please check out the band. Practice is Monday evenings 7-8:30 p.m. at the Cloquet Presbyterian church (47 Fourth St., Cloquet), with the next practice set for Feb. 20. The band provides sheet music, and you bring your own instrument. The band practices and performs at a variety of community events (spring and winter concert, parades, nursing homes and other events as requested). If you have any questions, contact Becky at 218-206-4441....
A Saginaw man died after a snowmobile accident last Friday night, Feb. 10. The St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office said first responders were dispatched just before 11 p.m. to a trail in Floodwood Township. Leroy Warner, 67, was reportedly not breathing. “Despite lifesaving efforts by friends, deputies and medical personnel … he was pronounced deceased,” the sheriff’s office reported. Warner’s obituary can be found on Page 18 of today’s Pine Knot News. In it, family said he died “having fun with his wife and close friends, doing what he loved....
The Cloquet Public Library, post office, Cloquet city offices and all Carlton County offices will be closed on Monday, Feb 20, in observance of the President’s Day Holiday. The Hwy 210 Transfer Station will be open....
A community member shouted questions at the teacher advisor to Wrenshall’s student-based Gender and Sexualities Alliance at Monday’s school board meeting. In doing so, the community member seemed to prove why the advisor wouldn’t let students address the board in person. “I did not feel comfortable inviting students from the GSA to come to this meeting, because I feel it would put them in an unsafe position,” advisor Ted Conover, an English teacher, told the board. Bill Dian repeatedl...
A note of urgency dominated the Cloquet City Council work session Feb. 7, when members of the city’s Economic Development Agency asked, for the third time in five years, that the council remove the requirement for private businesses to sign a project labor agreement. While the private business requirement for a PLA is union-friendly, it’s not business-friendly, they said. According to EDA director Holly Hansen, that’s impacting the EDA’s core mission of attracting, retaining, assisting expansion and enabling redevelopment for business, housing...
The owner of multiple Wrenshall businesses said he'll pack a public hearing with supporters Tuesday, when the city begins consideration of proposals the business owner said target his enterprises. "They don't have enough building to hold the people," said Jeff Bloom, owner of the Wrenshall General Store, Lots4Bid, storage garages and RV park - all located on the same 23-acre property at the south end of town. "I'm drawing a line in the dirt," Bloom said. "People are tired of the regulations....
The Feb. 8 choral program at Cromwell-Wright School treated an enthusiastic audience of grandparents, parents, siblings and community members to vocal and instrumental performances with 28 students taking on songs they chose and loved: some as solos, others as duets or combos. Elliot Anderson played Chopin's Prelude Op. 28, No. 15 on the piano, a demanding piece, beautifully performed. The program began with "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald," a haunting composition by Gordon Lightfoot. The...
Cloquet Middle School principal Tom Brenner said it's his job to improve the quality of education in his building by working with the teachers in the classroom. It's a numbers game that inspires the former math teacher. "If you think about it hard, if we can improve instructional practices and what our teachers are doing, that affects the 125 kids they teach every day. Then if we get them a little better every year, the number of kids that [improvement] reaches and touches is enormous," he said....
The Esko school district is one step further along in its plans to build a new fitness center for students and community members, following the school board’s approval of an initial construction plan and budget. The district’s construction planning company, Duluth-based ICS, presented the current floor plans and budget at the board meeting Monday, Feb. 13. ICS proposed a fitness center which will include a large open area for workout equipment, two exam rooms to be used by physical therapy patients and trainers, two bathrooms, lockers, and a fr...
It has recently come to my attention that the University of Minnesota Board of Regents will meet to discuss transferring Cloquet Forestry Center land to the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. I am writing to you as a university alumni and a past interim director of the center with 30 years of experience while working at the facility. I am the last surviving faculty member with intimate knowledge of the history of the CFC. I am troubled with the meetings between the band and the university with no public input or informing those...
It’s good to be back. Running for office was an interesting experience, but one of the most fascinating things I learned was how little most voters think about our lawmakers and how our legislature works. It turned out I, too, knew a lot less than I thought I did. It’s amazing how much you can learn by getting out and meeting your neighbors across the district, which covers all of Carlton County and a few adjacent townships in St. Louis and Pine counties. While campaigning, people were alm...
A three-goal second period was enough to propel the Proctor/Hermantown Mirage to a 4-0 Section 7A semifinal win over Cloquet-Esko-Carlton on Saturday at Northwoods Credit Union Arena in Cloquet. The Lumberjacks hung tough through the first half of the first period and kept the game scoreless despite being substantially outshot. Senior Lumberjacks goalie Araya Kiminski made stellar saves to keep the Mirage in check. "We had a really good start to the game," said CEC coach Kennedy Hoage. "We were...
A four-goal first period proved to be too much to overcome for the Moose Lake Area Rebels girls hockey team Saturday as they fell, 5-1, to No. 2 seed Duluth Marshall in the Section 7A semifinals at Northwoods Credit Union Arena in Cloquet. The first half of the first period featured up-and-down action as both teams came out flying, but neither team was able to score. "I thought the start of the game was good for us," said Rebels coach Reilly Fawcett. "Things were going back and forth, but then...
Mother Nature was not kind to Minnesota state ski meet participants this week. Although state alpine skiers started the day with beautiful weather Tuesday morning, the rains came in the afternoon. Then it rained for hours before turning to snow, just in time for the start of the two-day state Nordic ski meet. A total of six Cloquet-Esko-Carlton skiers headed to Giants Ridge in Biwabik for the state meets: two for alpine and four for the Nordic relay races. They all skied their hearts out,...
With only seven wrestlers able to compete, the Cloquet-Esko-Carlton wrestling team took sixth place in the six-team Great River Conference tournament last week in Isle. "There are 14 different weight classes so when you wrestle with half a team that is tough," said CEC longtime coach Al Denman. "You don't only need 14 wrestlers, but they have to be of the right weight, so our guys did the best they could." The Lumberjacks top finisher was eighth-grader Aiden Theisen, who finished second in the...
For the second time this season, rivals Esko and Cloquet met in boys basketball and for the second time it was the Eskomos prevailing over the Lumberjacks, this time by a much closer score of 75-69 on Tuesday night in Cloquet. Back on Dec. 9, the teams met in Esko with the Eskomos winning by 17 points. This time the game was much tighter as the Lumberjacks led 34-31 at halftime, only to have the Eskomos bounce back to win. Esko had four scorers in double digits and were led by the 23-point effor...
