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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FinnFest, starring Carlton County! Although that’s a slight exaggeration, I saw more people I knew at FinnFest Saturday morning than I usually see at the local grocery store. I hadn’t even made it to the ticket booth when I bumped into Anja Bottila, she of the mojakka cookoff and the Carlton County Historical Society. Next it was then Mandi (Huhta) Rosebrock, working the registration desk. Near the tori — Finnish for “marketplace” — I bumped into Mary Lukkarila, former Cloquet library director a...
There were many happy returns for Ann Heikkila, who celebrated her 90th birthday on July 24. She also celebrated on July 28 at church, with a special birthday cake and fancy place setting in her honor, with several area folks there. She got calls from Finland, Alaska, New York, Oregon, Colonial Williamsburg, Florida, Colorado, Cloquet, Duluth, Thunder Bay and Wisconsin. There were lots of cards. Special friends dropped off a small cake, and she had wine with dinner at Bann’s on Lake M...
Known for its hydroelectric power generation and appeal to kayakers, the Thomson Reservoir is soon to be the site of a $36 million construction project. Contractors are set to converge in August on the parking lot alongside Minnesota Highway 210 outside the Thomson Dam. They’ll be there through next summer, working to apply a layer of carbon pellets that will cover up and bind to contaminated sediments at the bottom of what is the St. Louis River. The process will prevent contaminants from t...
The Fond du Lac Police Department will hold a community input session at 10 a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 13 to discuss the proposed purchase and implementation of officer body-worn cameras. The meeting is open to all residents within reservation boundaries. According to a news release, footage captured by FDLPD cameras would serve various purposes within the department, including investigative, evidentiary, training, and accountability uses. Additionally, footage may be subject to release under specific legal circumstances, such as public records...
With many residents of Finnish descent in Carlton County, some may be traveling to Duluth this weekend to learn more about their country of origin. FinnFest began Wednesday and runs through Sunday at the Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center, offering a plethora of Nordic-influenced entertainment, lectures and activities to appeal to people of all ages and backgrounds. Festivalgoers can choose from more than 150 performances, lectures, exhibits and other activities, including exhibits and...
Come Thursday, the city of Moose Lake will have officially adopted the Carlton County Sheriff’s Office as its law enforcement provider. Both the county board and Moose Lake city council approved a services agreement this week. The contract begins Aug. 1 and runs through the end of 2026. It stipulates the county will supply four deputies and a part-time clerical administrator to the city located on the county’s southern border with Pine County. They’ll be based out of the city’s former police headquarters in the city’s emergency response...
Sixth District Carlton County Judge Amy Lukasavitz commended 22-year-old Ricky Onefeather Tobolaski for taking responsibility for his actions — a rare occurrence in these types of cases, she said — and then sentenced him to four years and nine months in prison. Under the terms of a plea agreement, the Mahtowa man pleaded guilty to third-degree criminal sexual conductbafter originally being charged with first-degree criminal sexual conduct. Tobolaski also pleaded guilty to a charge of possession of pornography. A first-degree criminal sex...
“We know that Mr. Hansen abused every child in his orbit.” Those were the words from Assistant U.S. Attorney Ruth Shnider Tuesday as she spoke to a judge in federal court in Duluth about the proper sentence for Stephan Hansen, the 30-year-old former foster parent and Carlton resident who was found, and who admitted, to be in possession of more than 1,600 exploitative and pornographic pictures or videos of children. After a plea deal made last fall, Hansen was facing a 15- to 30-year prison sentence. U.S. District Judge Jerry Blackwell hea...
Nearly every person in Minnesota, and, for that matter, everywhere, has known a close friend or relative who has had some form of cancer. My good friend, Gary "Moose" Pastika, a few years back, tested positive for colon cancer. His best chance for recovery was to have his colon totally removed. He recovered, went back to work, played golf well, and after several years was deemed cancer-free. But, as it often does, the cancer returned, he got sick, and the disease won, ending his life. He died...
The Cloquet Police Department hosted four training sessions over the past week to help prepare officers and other first responders for active shooter response. The intense, all-day training was hosted by the CPD, and included approximately 120 people from across the area, including Cloquet and Fond du Lac police departments, Carlton County Sheriff’s Office and dispatch, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, Minnesota State Patrol, Cloquet Area Fire District, and several fire department m...
If all goes as planned, construction on a new dental clinic will start this fall or in the spring in the city’s Business Park, after Cloquet city councilors approved the sale of a 1.3-acre lot just off Highway 33, behind the business park sign. Dentist Wendy Peterson attended Tuesday’s meeting. Peterson plans to build a $2.3 million dental facility called Woods & Water Family Dental with space for up to seven operatories, starting with four. Peterson started her career as a dental hygienist in 2006, then went back to school, graduating fro...
A Carlton County man charged with sexual contact involving three juvenile girls will be sentenced in August. Jamie Alden Godbout, 35, originally faced 10 felony charges in a 2022 case that combined charges for abuse of all three girls, but his attorneys requested the cases be split. Carlton County Attorney Lauri Ketola said her office had to honor the request, which meant dividing the charges and resulted in two of the cases being filed in 2023. According to Ketola, a jury found Godbout guilty three weeks ago in the first case to reach trial. O...
THUMBS UP to Carlton County and the city of Cloquet for staying competitive when it comes to pay for law enforcement officers. Both jurisdictions saw their board and council, respectively, approve pay increases recently aimed at keeping wages comparable to those of surrounding departments and the local labor market. Nobody likes budget increases that stress tax levies. But, the alternatives are stark — losing peace officers to better-paying outfits and leaving our communities vulnerable. “The bigger issue is, if we can’t get qualified law e...
National Ice Cream Day is July 21, proclaimed 40 years ago by President Ronald Reagan to take place on the third Sunday of July each year to honor a "wholesome and nutritious food eaten by 90 percent of Americans." Ice cream recipes appeared in print for the first time in 1718 in a cookbook written by Mary Eales, described as the confectioner to King William and Queen Anne, rulers of England, Scotland and Ireland. Eales wrote: "to ice cream, you must have a Pail, and lay some Straw at the...
Well, I did it again. Last week I wrote the Wright news, and the wrong news. It was Scott Lehti, not Scott Hakamaki, who received the 2023 Carlton County Lifetime Achievement Award for his years of service with the Wright fire department and the Cromwell-Wright Area Fire District. Congratulations, Scott. To volunteer with the Cromwell-Wright Area Fire District, contact [email protected] or 218-644-3547 or 218-357-2080. All training is provided, no experience is needed, and the...
The 55th annual Agate Days in Moose Lake included the signature event of the weekend, the agate stampede on Saturday, when eager agate hunters line Elm Avenue downtown waiting for the trucks filled with agate-sprinkled rock to be dumped out. The trucks unload 400-plus pounds of agates mixed with regular rocks, and then the young and old scramble to collect agates and coins. About town, visitors explore stunning displays at the Carlton County gem and mineral show. The vendors had everything from...
Our beloved mom, grandmother, and sister, Carol Jean Gehrke (Turnquist), 74, passed away on Saturday, July 6, 2024, after a courageous and hard-fought battle with colon cancer. Carol was born May 19, 1950 in Superior as the first-born child to Henry and Eleanor Turnquist. Carol was raised in South Range, where she was fortunate enough to live next door to her paternal family. She had many fond memories growing up in the country. Carol graduated from Superior High School as part of the Class of...
The Cloquet Police Department will be hosting an "Active Shooter Response" law enforcement training event at Cloquet High School from approximately 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. July 11, 15, 16 and 18. CPD wants the community to know this is a planned event. Community members may hear loud sounds, sirens, emergency lights, yelling, and there may be a display of firearms in or outside of the school. Expect a large police presence in and around the school. Cloquet police chief Derek Randall stressed that...
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has named Eric Senarighi, of Carlton, as the 2023 ATV instructor of the year. He also won the award in 2021. Senarighi is president of the Carlton County Riders ATV Club and works to expand the sport while ensuring people have the knowledge they need to ride safely and in an ecologically sound way. The club trains about 100 kids per year in ATV safety. Senarighi also founded a community group in Moose Lake to ensure a positive relationship between...
Carlton County's Farm Family of the Year is the crew at Pasek Dairy Farm, run by Jeff Pasek and his family in rural Kettle River. Each year the University of Minnesota's Farm Family Recognition Program honors farm families from each county in Minnesota for contributions to the agriculture industry and their local communities. The Pasek Dairy Farm in Split Rock Township has been in the family since Jeff's great-grandfather bought it in 1909. As the farm was passed on from one generation to the...
Law enforcement took center stage Monday at the Carlton County board’s first meeting in July. A series of public tours of the new $75 million Justice Center along County Road 61 in Carlton was announced for August. It was a surprising development, given an expected delay in the opening of a facility that will feature a courthouse, jail, and both sheriff’s and county attorney’s offices. “It’s so exciting,” board chair Susan Zmyslony said, later turning to jail administrator Paul Coughlin, who oversaw the multiyear construction project. “C...
Jana Peterson [email protected] A Moose Lake woman faces nine criminal charges after rear-ending an ATV at approximately 4 p.m. Saturday, July 6, while allegedly driving under the influence of alcohol. Dannaka Lennea Miller, 30, was arraigned in Sixth District Carlton County Court on Tuesday, July 9, on multiple charges of gross misdemeanor criminal vehicular operation, bodily harm, as well as gross misdemeanor DWI charges, and misdemeanor charges of driving after revocation, not carrying insurance and having an open bottle of an alcoholic...
The Wrenshall school board converged Monday on Holyoke, where board members watched a sudden downpour and a whistling train outside, and were met by Wrenshall mayor Gary Butala. Butala agreed with the board that the city and school district ought to examine how to share snowplowing duties in the winter as well as fuel costs and access, already located on school district property. “We would like to share if we could with the school,” Butala said, inviting board member Eric Ankrum, head of the school’s building and grounds committee, to the J...
A 55-year-old Wrenshall man remained in Carlton County Jail this week following his arrest June 26 on multiple felony charges of criminal sexual conduct. Kevin Lee Young was charged in Sixth District Court in Carlton on June 28 with first-degree criminal sexual conduct — penetration or contact with a person under 14, and felony solicitation of a child to engage in sexual conduct. Aggravating circumstances, including being more than 36 months older than the victim, mean Young faces 30 years in prison and up to a $40,000 fine for the first o...
The berries provided the red and blue, while clouds were the white on the Fourth of July at the berry fields at Farm LoLa in rural Wrenshall. Farm manager Brett Amundson works the busy stand in the middle of the honeyberry fields. Lucie Amundsen helped a curious young customer. The farm is among many in Carlton County bursting with berries this month, with blueberries next. By the afternoon on July 4, the strawberries had been picked out. Call ahead if you want to go out to area farms, because...
