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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For the first time in 16 years this November, Carlton County residents will face a choice when voting for sheriff. First appointed Carlton County sheriff in 2005, Kelly Lake has experienced only one election challenge, coming in 2006, when she won 85 percent of the vote. Since then, she's gone unchallenged. Until now. Lake is being tested by Jason Syrett, a 10-year law enforcement officer with the Moose Lake Police Department. "Kelly's been in there since April 2005," said Syrett, 35. "My...
Following a closed meeting Wednesday that lasted three hours, the Wrenshall school board fired the school’s information technology director, Jaime Hopp, the Pine Knot News learned Thursday. Hopp had been the subject of a personnel investigation which began earlier this summer. The tech director was alleged to have profanely alluded to “killing” the district superintendent while in the staff lounge in June. Another district employee overheard the comment, which superintendent Kim Belcastro later...
Fairgoers who stood in lines 30 deep for food, rides and attractions might have wondered Saturday if attendance had reached an all-time peak in Barnum. Alas, the Carlton County Fair concluded its marquee day with roughly 9,100 paid visitors, off the pace from last year's record-setting 9,800. "It was a good week, but nothing compared to last year," fair manager Lindsey Larson said. "We had fabulous numbers Saturday, but it didn't beat last year with everyone coming out after Covid. It was still...
A federal judge last week dismissed the remaining claims in a $4 million civil lawsuit filed by a former Cloquet detective, but left open the door for continued action in state court. Scott Holman, a detective and K-9 officer who had worked for the Cloquet Police Department for 22 years, was fired by the city council in June 2019. Holman’s complaint claimed that the detective’s termination was the result of a Brady policy created by the Carlton County Attorney’s Office for “sanctioning” police officers without due process. The term “Brady” r...
The Lakehead Harvest Show returns Friday for its 61st annual show with daily activities from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m Friday through Sunday, Aug. 26-28 at 70 E. St. Louis River Road near Esko. Bring the whole family and get ready for a trip into the past on this old-school working farm. There’s lots to see and do there. Volunteers demonstrate all kinds of farm activities using old-school equipment to thresh, plow, crush rocks, plane wood and even make shingles. Lakehead Harvest president Ryan Hansen s...
Hawaii's loss was Cloquet's gain this summer, when a dog being trained as a backup accelerant detection K-9 for the island state became available in June. Cloquet Area Fire District battalion chief Jason Maki picked up Delta, a 2½-year-old golden retriever mix from the North Carolina training site in mid-June. "It's a long story, but she was one of two dogs that were slated to go to Hawaii after the police academy," Maki explained. "They do two dogs because Hawaii is super strict on...
After close to 10 months of musical chairs, the Cloquet Area Fire District staff and board members celebrated a slew of promotions and other moves that have the district almost on stable ground in terms of staffing. CAFD chief Jesse Buhs said in many cases, a promotion led to a vacancy that was filled and created more vacancies behind it. A case in point, Buhs was appointed interim chief in December and officially got the job in March. A new assistant fire chief position was created, and former...
Thomson township supervisor, Jason Paulson, gave some final statements to the board and the community at the Thomson board meeting Thursday, Aug. 18. Paulson had announced his resignation from the board, and his position on the Cloquet Area Fire District Board, at the board of supervisor’s first meeting in August. Paulson left the board with some closing remarks about his six years as a supervisor. He mostly focused on the fire district. “One thing I’ve learned in my six years is the value of our community’s first responders,” Paulson s...
People ask physician Dan Palmquist why he’s so adamant about encouraging the Covid-19 vaccination. “I tell them, ‘You go to a tire salesman, you expect to be sold tires,’” said Dr. Palmquist, of Community Memorial Hospital and Raiter Clinic in Cloquet. “If you go to a family doc, expect to be lectured about getting vaccinated,” he added. “It’s how we make the biggest impact on the lives of our patients.” Palmquist joined Carlton County public health nurse specialist Jenny Barta, who coordina...
Just over a century ago, a work crew dug up the remains of nearly 200 Ojibwe people from a burial ground at the end of Wisconsin Point, a long peninsula that juts out into Lake Superior across the water from Duluth. Among the exhumed was Chief Osaugie, who signed two major treaties with the U.S. government in the mid-1800s. The remains were reburied in 1919 in a mass grave at St. Francis Cemetery on the mainland in Superior. The bodies were moved to clear the way for an iron ore dock and other infrastructure that U.S. Steel wanted to build. But... 
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After workers spent the past few weeks clearing the site of the future justice center, Carlton County commissioners and other dignitaries gathered for a traditional groundbreaking ceremony Monday afternoon. County Board chairman Gary Peterson led the event. State Rep. Mary Murphy, DFL-Hermantown, who has served as a state rep for 46 years, was the only woman to turn a gold shovel. Murphy and retiring District 11 State Rep. Mike Sundin were instrumental in guiding legislation for the $2 million...
There were more questions than answers Wednesday, Aug. 24, when the Wrenshall school board agreed to discipline an employee during a specially called meeting. The meeting was planned to review results of a personnel investigation which began earlier this summer involving the school’s information technology director, Jaime Hopp, and superintendent Kim Belcastro. The board met in closed session for three hours. Afterward, it declined to name who it was disciplining. But since the disciplinary resolution voted on by the board authorized B...
While adults never quite lose it, the intuitive, psycho-emotional trigger that gets pulled in kids around mid-to-late August is as keen as the intuitive trigger that gets pulled in geese two months later. For geese, it’s: Fly South. For kids, it’s: Have Fun. Squeeze every last pinch of summer out of Summer before the reality of September and Back-to-School accountability and order takes over. Accountability and Order. …as mentioned, even adults never quite lose the aversion to either. Earli...
“In our own contemporary context of the rat race of anxiety, the celebration of Sabbath is an act of both resistance and alternative. It is resistance because it is a visible insistence that our lives are not defined by the production and consumption of commodity goods.” ~Walter Brueggemann Sabbath as Resistance: Saying No in Culture of Now In the past couple of weeks, I became aware of the concept termed “quiet quitting.” For those of you who are unfamiliar with it, quiet quitting is a mindset...
Another exciting high school volleyball season is about to begin as the calendar turns to September. Lots of optimism fills the gyms throughout Carlton County as fresh faces try to replace the graduates. Before previewing this upcoming season, let's recap how things ended in 2021. The state has four divisions for volleyball: AAAA - the largest schools dictated by enrollment, followed by AAA, AA and A. Duluth East is the only AAAA school in our area. Rankings are based on a Quality Results Formul...
A couple of coaching changes dot the high school football landscape this fall. Two longtime head coaches moved on last spring and new coaches now fill their shoes in hopes of continuing their respective schools' traditions. In Cloquet, longtime assistant coach Jeff Ojanen takes the reins upon Tom Lenarz's retiring. Lenarz spent 27 years coaching in the Cloquet program, including the last 19 as head coach. Ojanen was an assistant under Lenarz for all 19 of those years. "Coach Lenarz and I went...
In 1918, Charles and Martha Wilhelmena Anderson bought an 80-acre farm southeast of Cromwell from a private owner, not knowing they were starting a legacy. More than 100 years later, their great-grandson still owns the farm and is the fourth generation of the family to do so. The current owners, Guy and LeeAnn Anderson of the Swede Lake Farm, were presented with a Century Farm sign at the Carlton County Fair on Friday, Aug. 19. The previous family to own the farm when Charles and Martha were...
The smell of exhaust and the roar of car engines engulfed the fairgrounds in Barnum last weekend. The annual Carlton County Fair brought the return of the Oval races, the Demolition Derby and the Figure 8, as well as school bus races and more. Pine Knot News photographer Dave Harwig was there to catch them all. Enjoy his photos and find more at viewthroughmylens.net....
Where there's smoke, there's fire ... except when it's electrical and firefighters turn the power off. That's what happened at Heather's Cafe in Cloquet Thursday, Aug. 18. Firefighters from the Cloquet Area Fire District spent hours at 1302 and 1304 Cloquet Avenue, after getting a call about smoke inside. Traffic down Cloquet Avenue was rerouted while they were there. Battalion chief Jason Maki said CAFD crews -- by cutting holes and using heat sensitive cameras -- eventually found wood smolderi...
The only local youth shelter will be closing its doors this fall. Located in the Sunnyside neighborhood of Cloquet, the Carlton Youth Shelter, run by Lutheran Social Services, will close by Oct. 1 and the county will utilize a different LSS shelter in Duluth. Carlton County Public Health and Human Services director Dave Lee said the main reason for the closure is low usage: the average number of children using the shelter has dropped to less than one person per day. Services for Carlton County families will now be provided at the new LSS...
The Lost Forester of Pine Valley will run again. Rather than racing through the woods with the aid of a compass and extra points for flannel, this year’s race is a 5.5K run on the ski trials under the majestic pines of Pine Valley in Cloquet. The race begins at 8:30 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 27. Stay afterward for flapjacks with maple syrup. Race-day registration is $40, or pay $35 when you sign up in advance at https://www.ultrasignup.com/register.aspx?did=93982....
After three months of work on 14th Street in Cloquet, city officials provided an update on the project on the city’s website, at cloquetmn.gov. Work on the roundabout curb, pavement and truck apron is complete, with sidewalk, lighting, pavement markings and signage set to be completed before school by Sept. 3. The roundabout will be open for east/west traffic by Sept. 3, as will Doddridge Avenue. However, work on 14th Street will continue in September and October. Storm sewer, sanitary sewer and water main installation is complete from W...
An inmate of the Northeast Regional Corrections Center in Grand Lake Township near Twig walked off the grounds around 7:20 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 23, according to a news release from the St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office. Zachary Daniel Mullen, 31, was missing for roughly four hours as deputies searched the area and sent alerts to surrounding agencies. Carlton County deputies located Mullen at about 11:25 p.m. and he has since been booked into the St. Louis County jail on a felony charge of escape from custody....
Carlton County Extension will offer a free class on winterizing your garden and landscape with several presenters 6-7:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 22 at Esko Town Hall on 25 E. Harney Road. Extension educator Mercedes Moffett will give tips on winterizing your landscape to minimize disease and pests for the upcoming garden season. SWCD conservation specialist Alyssa Bloss will talk about what to leave in your yard as winter sets in, to preserve pollinators for the next year. Carlton County Master Gardener Kathy Rahkola will present information on...
Caroline Sue (Wefelmeyer) Martin left us Friday, July 8, 2022, in Covington, Louisiana. Daughter of Frederick Rahm Wefelmeyer and Marylyn Jane (Kranz) Wefelmeyer, born Nov. 16, 1959, in Glencoe, Minnesota. Beloved wife of Louis Norbert Martin for 30 years and stepmother to his son Louis Andrew (Ayme) Martin, Carrie is also survived by both parents, her brothers Frederick “Fritz” (Cindy) and Jeffery (Nancy Ostman) Wefelmeyer, her sister Ann (John) Myers, her sister-in-law Penny (Terry) Dem...
