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
Sorted by date Results 1 - 25 of 38
Former Carlton County Attorney Thom Pertler was disbarred Thursday, Sept. 10 by the Minnesota Supreme Court for professional misconduct because he failed to disclose known police misconduct when he was in office. Pertler was Carlton County Attorney January 2005 through December 2018, quitting after he lost a re-election bid. The Supreme Court's decision came after the director of the Office of Lawyers Professional Responsibility filed a misconduct petition against Pertler July 6. That office is...
Look hard enough, below the golden arches off Highway 33 in Cloquet any Monday or Thursday morning when the weather is tolerable, and you'll see them. Guys and gals in lawn chairs and on truck gates enjoying a cup of coffee and maybe a breakfast sandwich, but most of all, conversation with friends. Pre-pandemic, this coffee klatsch used to meet inside the McDonald's restaurant. In the old-old days, a few of them even met in the first McDonald's building. When Covid-19 precautions forced...
Historic Minnesota events with anniversaries this week. Sept. 18 1902 Aurelia Wheeldin, one of the earliest female African American boxers, is born in Minnesota. She would study music at Macalester College, earn recognition as a world female champion bantamweight, and eventually move to New York City and perform in musicals at the Apollo Theater. Sept. 19 1865 Gov. Stephen Miller announces that gold has been found near Vermilion Lake, based on a rock collected by state geologist Henry H. Eames....
A Hermantown woman was sentenced to five years in prison this week after pleading guilty to third-degree murder for selling methamphetamine to a Moose Lake woman who died afterward. Dawn Marie Clemons, 41, apologized to Leah Michele Olsen’s family for taking away their mother, daughter and sister, and told the court she will forever regret her actions of Aug. 5, 2018. “I wish more than anything that I would have been stronger enough to not contribute to Leah’s relapse,” Clemons said, through tears. “Because of my actions, my friend lost her lif...
It always starts off with a couple of hotshot trees showing off, some in August this year, with a splash of individual color that catches the eye immediately and brings thought to the fall leaf peeping season. One such tree was found off Reservation Road northwest of Cloquet this week. But these solo acts have some competition now. As witnessed in Carlton County last weekend, a general bronzing of the leaf palette occurred, giving that yellow tinge to everything. Soon, whole glens, fens and...
Positive COVID-19 cases in Carlton County increased more slowly over the past week, rising from 210 on Sept. 9, to 219 total cases on Wednesday, Sept. 16 with still just one death from the virus reported since March. There has been one positive case each reported at the Esko secondary school and Churchill Elementary school in Cloquet. School officials ask that parents keep children at home if they are showing symptoms or may have been exposed to someone with Covid, and alert the school. And school leaders ask that community members wear masks...
As political campaigns increase their efforts toward the Nov. 3 election, it’s important to know and follow the state laws regarding placement of signs off of state property and only on land where the landowner has agreed to its placement. The Minnesota Department of Transportation is reminding people that the placement of campaign and other advertising signage on any highway right-of-way is not allowed under state law. All state, county, city and township roads and highways fall under the same state law. Highway right-of-ways include d...
Former Carlton teacher and girls basketball coach Robert Kent Pioro appeared in Carlton County District Court Wednesday afternoon for an omnibus hearing, which is the next step in the criminal process. Pioro, though his attorney Mikkel Long, entered a plea of Not Guilty and waived any contested omnibus issues. He asked the matter be set for an intermediate settlement conference, which Judge Robert Macauley set for Nov. 9. Pioro, 52, was charged July 2 in Carlton County Sixth District Court with three counts of criminal sexual conduct in the thi...
The Sons of Norway rescheduled a free performance by the Sutter Brothers for this weekend. Bring your own chair and find a good spot outside the Oldenburg House in Carlton 2-4 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 19....
Carlton County will hold a drive-through flu vaccine clinic 12-6 p.m. Friday, Sept. 25 and 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 26, at the Carlton County Transportation Building. No fees will be collected at the clinic. Bring your insurance card for billing. There will be vaccines available at no charge for children 18 and younger who don’t have insurance or whose insurance doesn’t cover vaccines. The vaccine will be available as a standard flu shot, flu-mist for ages 2-49, high-dose for age 65-plus and egg-free for age 4 and older. All att...
Both the Carlton Area Lions Club and the state of Minnesota are celebrating 30 years of the Adopt a Highway program this year. The Lions Club is one of 475 groups that have been with the Minnesota Department of Transportation program every year of its existence. Lions member Ron Haupt has been there from the start. "I don't agree with people that throw garbage out the window, it looks terrible," he said, adding that he and his wife will pick up along the trail when they go for a walk as well....
Reports to the school boards at Carlton and Wrenshall this week showed that the two small districts had relatively drama-free starts to the year despite intense pressure due to Covid-19 pandemic protocols. In Wrenshall, the major hitch remains the continuing construction project to improve the heating and air conditioning in the elementary portion of the K-12 building. It is expected that the project will wrap up by early November. Superintendent Kim Belcastro reported to the board that enrollment is slightly down from past years, at 367...
Cloquet city councilors approved the city’s preliminary budget and property tax levy for 2021 on Tuesday night, setting the maximum levy increase at 4 percent, for a total levy of $3,164,750. The council can choose to levy for less than that amount in December, but they cannot increase the levy. Property owners will probably not see an equivalent increase to their Cloquet property taxes, however, because the city has had a 5.12 percent increase in taxable market value, as new homes and commercia...
The city of Cloquet will not open three of the city’s four warming houses this winter due to pandemic health considerations. However, all four outdoor ice skating facilities — at Sunnyside (Churchill), Pinehurst, Athletic and Dunlap Island parks — will still open. Cloquet city councilors approved a decision by city staff and the Parks Commission to not open warming houses at Sunnyside and Athletic parks because they’re too small, and Pinehurst because it was too far away from the rink and rar...
The first day of school, Esko confirmed a case of Covid-19 in a secondary student. This week, Cloquet’s Churchill Elementary reported its first confirmed case — a student with exposure dates of Sept. 9-10. Superintendent Michael Cary said school leaders worked with the Minnesota Department of Health and a Regional Support Team. The school did the contact tracing. They notified any students/staff “who are considered close contacts and need to quarantine as a result,” Cary said. A letter sent to...
Politics has always been rough-and-tumble, but there’s no reason why we can’t disagree on politics yet still respect each other’s viewpoints. Or each other’s property rights. We at the Pine Knot News have been getting reports of damage to political lawn signs, mostly discovered by annoyed homeowners first thing in the morning. No party or candidate is immune to the destruction, as it appears every candidate has experienced some kind of damage or theft. Political lawn signs are an important exercise in First Amendment rights to free speech....
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...
In 1829, approaching the end of his life, James Madison penned these powerful words in retrospect and in awe of what he helped create: "The happy Union of these States is a wonder; their Constitution a miracle; their example the hope of liberty throughout the world." On Sept. 17, 1787, Madison, commonly regarded as the Father of the U.S. Constitution, along with 38 other delegates to the constitutional convention, signed their names to the most important and influential document in American...
Three nights of frost propelled us into motion. Our roomy veggie garden still had lots growing in it: squash, pumpkins, tomatoes, peppers, chard, kale, basil and other herbs. Green beans that have been bearing for eight weeks. Latecomer beets and carrots that didn't survive a first planting are now coming into their own. So every evening, we spread out heavy plastic tarps over every square foot. Each morning, I'd uncover them, surprised at the moisture on the undersides and grateful to greet gri...
Rodney Marvin King, 73, was born in Cumberland, Wisconsin on Nov. 23, 1946, and died Sept. 13, 2020, at Twin Ports Health Services in Superior. Rodney was raised in Esko, graduating from Lincoln High in 1964. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1964 at age 17, and served two tours, 1964-1974, during the Vietnam War. He earned three Bronze Stars and a Vietnam Campaign Medal while serving as a Navy Radioman. Rodney worked at the Carlton County Sheriff's Office after his military service. He then atten...
On Sept. 10, 2020, a very special lady left this world. Mary Ethel (Bugbee) Anderson, 91, was born to Alfhild Boquist and George Bugbee on June 16, 1929. She was the second of three children born to the couple, and a bright light preceding what would eventually be a dark time in our country's history. As the daughter of a farmer in northern Minnesota, she never experienced the hunger of the Great Depression and grew up loving the life that small-town rural America could offer. Farm life, however...
Roland "Butch" Wayne Doble ended his 30-year struggle with Parkinson's disease in the early morning hours of Sept. 10, 2020. He was born Aug. 25, 1938, in the country near Bertha to Wayne and Nora (Lynch) Doble, the eldest of eight boys. The family moved to Esko in 1956 and Roland graduated from Esko High School in 1957. He married the love of his life, Mary Nieminen, on Jan. 6, 1958. He worked at Wood Conversion for nine years and then went to work in an auto parts store, which he later came...
On Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2020, Kathryn Martha Solomon of Mahtowa passed away peacefully at the age of 82. She will be lovingly remembered by her husband of 63 years, Kenneth; sons, Tom (Sue), Tim (Judy) and Terry (Karen); grandchildren, Samantha (Nathan), Sarah, Justin and Lee; three great-granddaughters; brothers, Roger (New York), Chuck (California), Howard Jr. (Wisconsin) and Daniel (Wisconsin); and by numerous relatives and friends. She was preceded in death by her parents, Howard and Martha...
Dorothy Elsie Seppala, 89, of Cloquet died Sept. 12, 2020, at New Perspective Senior Living in Barnum. She was born March 10, 1931, in Sandstone, the youngest child of John and Elsie Withoff. Dorothy was a 1949 graduate of Cloquet High School. She married Ervin Seppala on Feb. 14, 1951. She worked as a library aide for the Cloquet public schools for 25 years. She was a member of Zion Lutheran Church and enjoyed crafts, sewing and her flower gardens, especially her dahlias and gladiolas. She was preceded in death by her parents; husband, Ervin;...
It may feel too early to vote for the Nov. 3 General Election, but the clock is ticking. Starting Friday, people can go to the Auditor's Office on the second floor of the Carlton County Courthouse and vote absentee. Districts where residents vote by mail and people who have requested absentee ballots should be receiving the first batch of Carlton County ballots in the mail at the end of the month. The requests for absentee ballots this year is a flood, not a trickle, said Carlton County acting...
