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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Mountain bikers took to the trails at Cloquet's Pine Valley last Saturday for a full day of riding in a new race event called the Log Jam. For some race participants, a full day was defined as 12 hours on the race course. Aiden Jurek of Minneapolis was the overall solo winner of the 12-hour race, riding 85 miles on the hilly course and setting the individual mark to beat in future Log Jam races. The winning team in the 12-hour race completed 29 laps for 145 total miles. Riders had the option of...
And suddenly, it’s Memorial Day. The unofficial start to summer. A weekend of remembering those who are gone. Observed on the last Monday of May, Memorial Day was originally set aside to honor the men and women who died while serving in the U.S. military. Many Americans observe Memorial Day by visiting cemeteries and decorating graves, holding family gatherings and participating in parades and other ceremonies. Local honor guard members and other veterans groups treat Memorial Day — and the...
The local graduation season kicked off over a week ago with Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College holding its first in-person graduation since 2019, and the celebrations and honors continue with high school graduations this week and next. Of note, the weather looks good this weekend for Cloquet High School, which will hold its graduation ceremonies outside on the football field at 6 p.m. Friday, after getting positive feedback from last year’s outdoor event, held there in response to the C...
Fresh ginger at a farmers market in northern Minnesota? Yes, indeed. Thanks to John and Kelly Lenkowski of Farm Sol, who grow this tropical crop in hoop houses, customers can enjoy a milder, aromatic version of the grocery store staple. Earlier in the season, the couple creates fresh salad blends with lettuces and greens that change weekly. During tomato season, their stand offers colorful mixes of red, orange, purple, green and yellow heirloom varieties. Like most farmers, the Lenkowskis...
A special meeting of the Wrenshall school board took a surprising turn Tuesday evening when board members voted to postpone discussion of an extension to principal Michelle Blanchard’s one-year contract. While school boards typically perform annual evaluations of principal and superintendent performance in closed session, Blanchard had requested that Tuesday’s evaluation meeting be open to the public. No public comment was taken. Superintendent Kim Belcastro began by recommending that the boa...
The Barnum school board hired Melisa Maxwell as the elementary principal at its monthly meeting Tuesday, May 17. Maxwell is currently K-6 Dean of Students in the Isle School District and will start with Barnum in July or August, after the new financial year begins. The board approved her appointment as part of its consent agenda vote, with no discussion. Representatives of the Northern Lights Special Education Cooperative spoke to the board and explained that there has been legislation to apply for $6 million in state funding for a facilities...
Carlton County residents turned out in force Monday for the grand opening of the new Essentia Health-Cloquet Clinic at 1413 Highway 33 S across from Walmart. The two-hour event included a ribbon cutting (pictured below), comments by Essentia chief operating officer Brad Beard, an open house and free brats and hamburgers from local favorite B&B Market. Pictured above, B&B owner Jake Richardson was busy at the grill serving customers Monday, when the line for food stretched from the far side of...
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....
A new warden was installed Tuesday at the Minnesota Correctional Facility in Moose Lake. Brian Collins began his duties earlier this spring. “Correctional facilities are aptly named — they exist to facilitate transformational change within the people we serve,” Collins said. “Because 95 percent of incarcerated people are eventually released from prison, we have an obligation to ensure people return to the community as productive, contributing members.” Collins began his state career in 2006 w...
Cloquet school board members voted unanimously Monday to continue livestreaming meetings on the district YouTube page for citizens to watch during or between meetings. Superintendent Michael Cary said he has objected “a little bit” to livestreaming in the past, because he liked the board meetings to be more participatory. Not any more. “I've gotten to a point where I feel if people have something they really want to say directly to the board they do show up,” he said. “And so I have heard enough positive things from community members about bei...
The status of the children formerly in the care of Dawn and Nicole Ammesmaki remains the same after several court appearances in the past month. The two sisters, who once had 10 children in their care, continue to see some of them on supervised visits and the hope that they can soon have unsupervised visits. The cases aren’t likely to be resolved in the courts until at least this fall, as the court calendar has filled up and assessments of the fitness of the two mothers are continuing. In early May, Nicole Ammesmaki entered a not guilty plea i...
Byron Miles Hill of Cloquet, surrounded by family and friends, passed into the loving arms of Jesus on May 21, 2022, at Miller-Dwan after a brief, intense battle with cancer. He was born May 24, 1958, in Cloquet to Richard and Eleanor (Kopke) Hill. Byron graduated from Esko High School in 1976 and joined the U.S. Navy. He trained at Staples Technical Institute, worked as a heavy equipment operator for more than 35 years, and ran a snow removal and excavation business. Most recently, he worked fo...
Benji Allan Pajari was born Dec. 23, 1981, to Tracy Pajari and Barry Nelson. He passed away unexpectedly at the age of 40 on Jan. 30, 2022. Benji graduated from Cloquet High School, Class of 2000. He enjoyed fishing, hunting, camping and spending time with family and friends. Benji attended school and became an apprentice ironworker, and worked his way up to become a member of Ironworkers Local Union 512. Benji was preceded in death by his grandma Phyllis Pajari (Bernie Grindle); grandparents...
James Skifstad, 72, of Esko went to be with his Lord Jesus, surrounded by his family on Saturday, May 14, 2022, after a struggle with Covid-19. Jim was born in Fort Frances, Ontario to the Rev. Earl and LaVerne Skifstad. He was raised in Big Falls, Minnesota, and graduated from Northome High School in 1967. Jim then went to Covenant Bible College in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, where he met his future wife. After graduating, he worked at Boise Cascade in International Falls until 1970, when he m...
Dorothy Arlyne Lisignoli, 91, passed away peacefully in her home in Cloquet, under the excellent care of the Evergreen Knoll staff and St. Croix hospice. Known for her positivity, kindness, tenacity and grace, she believed in the goodness of life and her mission to leave the world a brighter, more beautiful place. A devout Lutheran, Dorothy embodied the values of her church through her dedication to volunteering within her community. At church functions, local programs, committees, or clubs,...
Gary Richard Polo, 78, of Esko passed away May 16, 2022. He was born May 17, 1943, the son of John and Delores (Johnson) Polo. Gary worked for the Potlatch Corporation for 37 years as a turbine operator, then moved to the mechanical service department. He was also a self-taught and accomplished gunsmith — there wasn’t a gun he couldn’t repair or refinish! Gary loved to cook, finding new recipes on the computer, and took great pride in his creations, which he shared with many of his frien...
Eugene Rolland Smith, 92, of Cloquet died May 23, 2022, at Community Memorial Hospital in Cloquet. He was born July 30, 1929, in Trout Valley, near Winona, to Clarence and Ina (Kingsley) Smith. The family moved to Cromwell in 1940, where he attended high school. He served in the U.S. Air Force from 1950 to 1954, then returned to Cromwell. Eugene met and fell in love with Patricia Gotzh of Cloquet, and they married on Aug. 18, 1956. They settled in Cloquet and had two sons, Steven and Brian....
Doris Ann Strand, 94, passed away Jan. 7, 2022 in Moose Lake Village in Moose Lake. Doris was born on Sept. 24, 1927, in Cloquet to Octave and Beda Caron. She spent her childhood and youth in the loving care of her aunt and uncle, Sigrid and Gus Bredenberg. Doris graduated from Cloquet High School in 1945. She married Raymond Strand on March 26, 1946. Raymond and Doris moved to the family dairy farm north of town, where they raised eight children and farmed for 33 years. Doris had an artistic...
Eleanore June Huisinger, 89, of Cloquet passed away Feb. 2, 2022, at Inter-Faith Care Center in Carlton. Visitation: 1 p.m. until the 2 p.m. memorial service Saturday, May 28 at Nelson Funeral Care in Cloquet. A luncheon and time of fellowship will follow. Inurnment will be at the Perch Lake Cemetery following the luncheon. Jon R. Misquadace Spry, 48, of the Fond du Lac Band of Minnesota, passed away May 8, 2022 in Duluth. Also known as “Chippewa Jon,” he was born Nov. 11, 1973 in Cloquet. Visitation: 5 p.m. Wednesday, June 1 at the Fond du...
Carlton County coordinator Dennis Genereau gave a pitch for three new leased pickups for the property management department during Monday’s meeting, sparking a discussion by the Carlton County Board of Commissioners about replacing all county-owned cars with leased vehicles. Carlton County assessor Kyle Holmes is pushing for the change. Holmes oversees the “county fleet” of 16 rental vehicles: seven county at the courthouse in Carlton and nine used by Health & Human Services in Cloquet. These had been owned in the past and were upgraded throu...
Residents of Thomson township are looking at higher sewer rates for the first time in more than 20 years. Following many discussions about the township’s sewer system’s needs and the cost to maintain the system, township engineer Joe Jurewicz and the Thomson Township board of supervisors informed the public at their May 19 meeting that rates need to be adjusted. According to Jurewicz, the township last altered sewer rates in 2000, but with the township replacing parts of the system this year, they need to have the funds to be able to mai...
Chief Master Sgt. Kelvin McCuskey retired as the 148th Medical Group superintendent, 148th Fighter Wing, Minnesota Air National Guard, after 40 years of service. McCuskey, a Wrenshall High School graduate, enlisted in 1982 as a refrigeration repairman assigned to the 148th Civil Engineering Squadron. He went on to hold numerous positions across the Wing to include heating systems technician, personnel specialist, First Sergeant, command post technician and emergency management superintendent....
In the end, the 2022 session of the Minnesota Legislature left a lot on the table after its deadline Sunday night. Plans on what to do with a huge budget surplus — cutting taxes and spending — remain in limbo as leaders of the two political parties hemmed and hawed this week on whether legislators would come back for a special session. In Carlton County, it means more waiting on state help for the new justice center and funding for improving facilities for the Cloquet Area Fire District. A spe...
In the "clichés are clichés because they are true" department, I offer one here: Newspapers record the first draft of history. For me, there is nothing like going back into newspaper archives and reading first accounts of events, historic and not so historic. It's a passion of mine in downtime, rabbit holes to get lost in. And so it was recently when I went about following up on a reader query about where in the world was the trophy for the 1963 Cloquet basketball team that finished second in th...
Transparency in government is important. That’s why we’d like to applaud the Cloquet school board and superintendent Michael Cary for deciding this week to continue livestreaming school board meetings. Yes, the pandemic is over and many — but not all — school districts and other governmental bodies have stopped making their meetings available online. That’s too bad. Because livestreaming a public meeting tells your constituents that you want to be both accessible and transparent. That you have no secret agendas. That you don’t fear people bein...
