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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The final investigative report of the deadly Jan. 8 shooting at the Super 8 hotel in Cloquet revealed new information, including that the shooter had subcontracted with the city of Cloquet and recently relapsed into drug use. It also expanded information already released. Shooter Nicholas Elliot Lenius, 32, appeared to be having mental health problems and did not know his two victims: Cloquet resident and Super 8 employee Shelby Trettel, 22, and Patrick Jeffrey Roers, a 35-year-old Deer River...
This year's Mojakka Cook-off featured 15 varieties of soup and the largest crowd since the Carlton County Historical Society became beneficiary of the annual fundraiser at Cloquet's NorthEastern Hotel and Saloon. Attendees honored both St. Patrick's Day on Sunday, and St. Urho's Day, which was the day before. The made-in-America Finnish holiday celebrates the fictional St. Urho ridding Finland of a scourge of grasshoppers, and the NorthEastern was selling purple and green beer in honor of both h...
Some time ago, during her workaday life as a wife, mother and corporate insurance manager, Santana Haggy heard a friend comment about joining a local volunteer fire department. "I laughed it off," Haggy said. But months later she found herself faced with sleepless nights, imagining herself doing it. "All of a sudden, it was like, 'What does that look like? How do you run a career and volunteer at the same time, and train and all that stuff?'" Haggy said. Soon, Haggy was volunteering for the...
The “mud bog” is coming back to Ma & Pa Kettle Days. More than 40 people attended the Ma & Pa Kettle meeting March 10 and showed their support of the mud bog event, signing up to be members. At the meeting, Eric Senarighi of the Carlton County ATV Riders presented an environmental mitigation plan to handle potential problems for the Kettle River Mud Bog, scheduled Aug. 10 in conjunction with Ma & Pa Kettle Days. Senarighi has had extensive environmental mitigation training as an employee of Minnesota Power, based out of the Thomson Dam hyd...
The record snowfall winter of 2022-23 continued to reverberate at Carlton city council on March 13, when the council voted to use Donald Holm Construction, of Duluth, to repair Four Seasons Sports Complex. The city-owned arena suffered exterior damage from the ice and snow in the winter of 2022-23. The damage remains obvious to passersby, as the arena side facing Highway 210 features a long crumpled strip of steel siding. Ice and snow buildup came off the roof, and when it hit the ground it banged into the building and caved in lower parts of...
Last month, when I was at the Carlton County Historical Center perusing old Cloquet skiing information for a story, director Carol Klitzke brought me a big box of files she asked me to review. They were scrapbooks from the 1950s, donated by legendary Cloquet coach Angelo Pergol and his wife, Blanche. It was a perfect record of Pergol's team coaching heroics. There were newspaper clippings, congratulatory letters, telegrams - wow, telegrams - testimonials, birthday cards, speaking invitations,...
On behalf of the Carlton County Retired Educators and ADK Sorority, we are requesting funds to buy school supplies and books to give out to the children and youth at the Carlton County Fair held in August at the Barnum fairgrounds. We volunteer all four days of the fair at the Little Red Schoolhouse, welcoming all the folks who stop in during the fair. We also clean the building, desks, slate chalkboards and windows, and generally keep the building in order. We also maintain the many displays, on the walls and bulletin boards, of the Carlton Co...
A 21-year-old man from Pengilly, Minnesota was arrested for criminal vehicular homicide Thursday, March 21 after a pedestrian was struck and killed by a vehicle in Moose Lake. The Carlton County Sheriff’s Office said Brent Keranen was transported to the Carlton County jail. Responders believed that alcohol impairment was a contributing factor in the incident that occurred just after 2 p.m. The sheriff’s office said reports from staff at the Minnesota Corrections Facility came in about a pedestrian, Justin McNeil, 61, of Moose Lake, laying in...
Call them hiccups or hurdles, the consolidation efforts between the Carlton and Wrenshall school districts were bound to encounter them. But so soon in the process? A third meeting of the shared consolidation committee yielded an impasse on Tuesday, when the Wrenshall contingent pressed contract issues, while the Carlton contingent balked. "If that is where the line is drawn," Carlton board chair Julianne Emerson said, alluding to potential for a deal-breaker, "we can all have a really free...
Two adults have been charged and two juveniles have been petitioned after the Feb. 24 shooting into a home in Cloquet. Carlton County Attorney Laura Ketola made the announcement after last week’s issue of the Pine Knot went to press. Arrested were Raymond Peterson, 19, and Mukwa Belanger, 18. Police investigating the shooting on Bagaan Street, near the Fond du Lac Supportive Housing complex, said they spoke with four people they believe were involved in the shooting, leading to the arrests. According to police, Peterson had an altercation w...
After flirting for weeks with a resolution that calls for wolf management in the state, the Carlton County board voted unanimously Tuesday to appeal to federal and state legislators to delist gray wolves from endangered species protection. The board agreed to send letters to Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith, as well as Rep. Pete Stauber, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, and local state legislators, Sen. Jason Rarick and Rep. Jeff Dotseth. "We are hopeful that you will support this effort to delist...
The annual meeting for residents of Thomson Township ended Tuesday with a standing ovation for clerk-treasurer Rhonda Peleski, who is retiring at the end of the month. Jason Paulson, a former township supervisor and current resident, made the motion to thank Peleski for her nearly 31 years of work for the township. "On behalf of Thomson Township citizens, I'd like to thank Rhonda Peleski for your decades of service to this community," Paulson said, requesting the motion be entered into the...
The Minnesota Department of Agriculture and partner organizations are proposing to treat spongy moth infestations this summer in seven counties across eastern Minnesota. Of the 42 sites, nearly half are in Carlton County. Residents are invited to get more information on the spraying at a meeting 4-6 p.m April 2 at the Cloquet Public Library. Formerly known as gypsy moths, spongy moths are ranked among America’s most destructive tree pests. The insect has caused millions of dollars in damage to forests as it has spread from New England w...
He gave it the old college try. But, they say, when you take on the bull, you get the horns. Or, in social media circles, and toned down for a family newspaper: Mess around and find out. There may be a new old saw: Take on the Iron Range and its taconite money, and you get the tailings. Alas, Sen. Jason Rarick, Carlton County’s representative in the Minnesota Senate, was awash in all of these sentiments last month when he dared to change the way of life on the Iron Range. If you recall, Rarick penned a bill this session that would expand the ...
"History is who we are and why we are the way we are," said David McCullough, the American historian who received two Pulitzer Prizes, a National Book Award and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. McCullough would have felt right at home at the Carlton County Historical Society. Whether you are figuring out your family tree, who lived on your farm before you, or how people lived here long ago - you will find a warm welcome and friendly people who are as curious as you are and David McCullough...
Wednesday, March 6 boys basketball Section 7AAA quarterfinal North Branch 95 Cloquet 85 girls basketball Section 7A semifinal Cromwell-Wright 57 Ely 51 Thursday, March 7 Boys Basketball Section 7A second round Carlton/Wrenshall 85 South Ridge 55 Cromwell-Wright 69 Cook County 49 Fond du Lac 84 Northland 66 Girls basketball Section 7AAA championship Rock Ridge 58 Cloquet 41 Friday, March 8 Girls Basketball Section 7A championship MIB 77 Cromwell-Wright 35 Saturday, March 9 Boys Basketball Section 7A quarterfinal Carlton 81 Hill City 62 Fond du...
Happy St. Urho’s Day, March 16, to everyone of Finnish heritage. Happy St. Patrick’s Day, March 17, to everyone of Irish heritage. As the days get warmer and daylight lasts a little longer every day, many people begin to plan for summer activities. That also means the rummage and garage sale season is just around the corner. So, start cleaning out the attic, closets, basements and garages (I need to take my own advice, LOL) and donate to our local fundraisers held at the Four Seasons Com...
The large Section 7A boys basketball tournament reached a fever pitch Wednesday, with two of the remaining four teams hailing from Carlton County. One of those local teams was expected to be in the mix, while the other has shocked everyone but themselves. On March 7, the No. 1 seed out of the south, Carlton/Wrenshall, easily handled No. 8 south seed South Ridge to the tune of 85-55. "Overall, it was a good team win," said Raptors coach Shawn Filipiak. "We came out a little slow, but we started...
Cloquet's Aidan Ripp is a 2024 national champion four times over, winning every Nordic ski race he competed in last week during the U.S. Collegiate Skiing Nationals championships. Held March 5-9 at Mount Van Hoevenberg in Lake Placid, New York, more than 150 Nordic skiers from colleges around the country competed in four events across five days. From the opening race, Ripp set a pace that was unmatched by anyone in the USCSA, winning the opening 7.5-kilometer skate race by over 44 seconds, and...
At least two men were jailed this past week after a house in Cloquet was struck with five to seven bullets from a handgun on Feb 24. The house on Bagaan Street, near the Fond du Lac Supportive Housing complex, was occupied at the time. There were no injuries in what police determined was suspected retaliation after an earlier physical altercation. Four males were involved in the shooting, police later discovered, including a juvenile, who suspects have said was the shooter. Raymond Peterson,...
Carlton County voters proved none too eager to decide presidential nominees earlier this week. Voters turned out for the presidential nomination primary Tuesday at a rate 10 percent lower than four years ago. Only 4,101 ballots were cast among 22,377 registered voters, or 18 percent, compared to a 28 percent turnout in 2020 on the way to the first go-round between Democrat incumbent President Joe Biden and Republican former president Donald Trump. "It has been a lower turnout for the...
The boys of the Carlton-based Busted Bots Lego robotics team stared at the TV in anticipation. Would the group of nine- to 12-year-olds be one of the six teams from their region to join 70 other Minnesota teams at the state competition? When "The Busted Bots" name was announced, the boys screamed, leapt on the couch in a huddle, and jumped up and down with unbridled joy. The FIRST Lego League robotics program began in 1998 to encourage STEM - science, technology, engineering and math - education...
The Cloquet Police Department and investigators of the deadly Jan. 8 shooting at the Super 8 hotel in Cloquet have determined that the shooter was a stranger to his two victims, had methamphetamine in his system, and was likely having a "mental health episode" when he shot a front desk clerk inside the hotel, a guest in the parking lot, and then himself. The shooter, Nicholas Elliot Lenius, 32, contacted a work associate during the early evening incident and said he was "dealing with monsters,"...
A Carlton man accused of felony attempted murder in February will undergo a psychological screening first to see if he is suitable to take part in court proceedings. That was the result Monday of a hearing for Jacob Clarin, 37, who is accused of assaulting a fellow resident Feb. 21 at Lake Venoah Board and Lodge outside Carlton, in Twin Lakes Township. Clarin appeared in an online Sixth District Court hearing Monday before Judge Rebekka Stumme. A prosecutor with the Carlton County Attorney’s Office and a public defender both agreed and recommen...
A fire destroyed an unattached garage in Atkinson Township north of Mahtowa Friday, March 1. Fire crews and emergency responders were called to the 3100 block of Carlton County Road 144 at about 4:30 p.m. There was no one home, and the fire had taken over a garage and was threatening a nearby pole barn. The fire was contained and the barn had only minor damage. The garage and its contents were a total loss. Responders included those from the Carlton County Sheriff’s Office, Minnesota Power, and the fire departments of Barnum, Mahtowa, W...
