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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A small pocket of Cloquet homeowners and Diamond Willow Assisted Living residents can rest easier now, knowing the Cloquet City council voted against rezoning nearby property from residential to highway/commercial. Councilors voted 5-1 Tuesday to deny a request by local business owner Ken Maki to change the city’s comprehensive plan as well as rezone residential property in order to allow him to construct a large building — to hold two dump trucks and a shop for his business — on land next to his home. Maki had been running his trucks from his...
A Carlton County board meeting flared hot Tuesday, when commissioner Tom Proulx and county staff squared off over the use of contracted social work. Despite a 4-1 vote affirming the use of contracted social workers to address a surge in disability services and long-term elder care cases, the preceding debate stirred tensions at a time of union contract negotiations. Proulx first squared off with public health and human services director David Lee over the issue. “What would happen if we said no?” asked Proulx. “I would have to come back and a...
A local business owner, his neighbors and the city of Cloquet have at least two more weeks to try to find a solution that would “make more people happy.” Cloquet City councilors voted Tuesday to table a request from business owner Ken Maki to give Maki time to explore other options. The request came because Maki would like to construct an office/shop for his business, on land near his home south of North Road and Sunnyside Lane. In order to do that, he’s asking the city to change its comprehensive plan for that property from moder...
Cloquet City councilors will likely vote on a business owner’s request to change zoning and land use at Tuesday’s meeting. Ken Maki would like to construct an office/shop for his business, on land near his home south of North Road and Sunnyside Lane. In order to do that, he’s asking the city to change the Comprehensive Plan for that property from moderate- to high-density residential, and then rezone the property from single family residential to regional commercial. The land in question is surrounded by mixed properties, with some singl...
In a letter last month to the neighboring city of Carlton, the city of Wrenshall declined to support the Carlton ambulance service as it moves toward adding two full-time positions to a historically volunteer staff. “After much thought and deliberation, we have come to the conclusion that it would not be fiscally responsible for us to burden our residents with a levy increase of 10 percent to cover your requested contribution of $9,537.13,” said the letter, signed by Wrenshall Mayor Gary Butala. To date, Wrenshall is the only jurisdiction in...
The Cloquet Area Fire District asked the city of Cloquet for a share of its public safety windfall from the state, and got a caring but firm “no” in response. Councilors and Mayor Roger Maki voted 6-1 Tuesday to deny the request for $165,000 of the $556,397 in one-time public safety aid dollars allocated by the state legislature in its most recent session. The vote wasn’t as bad as it seemed, Fire Chief Jesse Buhs said. He said the denial wasn’t bad for the fire district, at least long-te...
I’m disturbed by the attorney general in Texas. Recently, he was acquitted by the Texas legislature on corruption charges, even though every Texan who cares knows the man is corrupt. In fact, even the legislature who declined to convict him knows he’s guilty. So why did they acquit? Politics. Then, New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez, a Democrat, was indicted (again!) on corruption charges, and while a good number of his fellow party members are encouraging him to resign, his reaction has been to...
Thanks to a sizable allocation for public safety aid by the state legislature this year, the Cloquet Police Department is getting body cameras and new Taser stun guns, at no additional costs to the city or taxpayers for now. Cloquet Police Chief Derek Randall strongly recommended the move. "Essentially, we are living in a world that if it's not recorded, it didn't happen," Randall told the council during Tuesday's meeting. "It's becoming more and more difficult to rely solely on officers'...
Cloquet made statewide news last month, and not in a good way. The city was one of 12 Minnesota cities that exceed the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed new limits on manmade chemicals dubbed “forever chemicals.” During Tuesday’s meeting, Cloquet City councilors got an informational lecture on the chemicals and the possible impact on the city and its residents from public works director Caleb Peterson, who explained that the city’s five wells were tested, and one slightly exceeds the limit for PFAS in drinking water that will like...
Close to 40 descendents of George Stearns Shaw stood on the steps of the Carlton County Historical Society on Saturday morning to celebrate the library their ancestors built not once, but twice, on Cloquet Avenue. Family members came from all over: California, Hawaii, Washington, Iowa, North Carolina, Kansas, and Alaska. Many hadn't seen each other for years, others had never met. And many in the group had helped pay for 2020 roof repairs to keep the Shaw Memorial Library building - now a...
With recreational cannabis now legal in the state of Minnesota, local cities can choose to regulate its sale in a variety of ways, Cloquet planner/zoning administrator Al Cottingham told the Cloquet City Council on Aug. 1. “Conceivably we won’t see [cannabis dispensaries] in the public areas until late (2024 or in 2025), however, we have some neighbors to the west that I’m not sure what may or may not happen,” Cottingham said, referring to the Fond du Lac Reservation and noting that the Red Lake Band opened a public dispensary the same day tha...
Next weekend, Aug.11-13, Kettle River will mark the 36th celebration of Ma & Pa Kettle Days. Started in 1985, the theme of this year's gathering is "Our work is never Finn-ished," in a nod to the many Finnish descendants in the area. The grand marshal for this year is Sam Huhta of Automba, accompanied by his wife Linda. Also recognized for their commitment to community is the new Ma & Pa Kettle: Mark and Tina Tollgaard of the city of Kettle River. Huhta was raised in Rice River Township in...
A former Cloquet police officer was charged last week by the Minnesota Attorney General’s office with financially exploiting a vulnerable adult — an elderly woman she befriended after responding to a call — and attempting to swindle the woman’s estate and her estranged husband after she died. Laci Marie Silgjord worked as a police officer and later a K-9 partner for the city of Cloquet from 2015 to 2022. She met Joan Arney (now deceased) in May 2020 after the Cloquet resident called police about...
Cloquet's West End business district has been seeing larger weekend crowds, thanks to business owner Ryan Bridge, of Bridges Customs. A growing crowd of car enthusiasts are making their way to the West End every other Friday to share their love of unique cars and enjoy the "drifting" display by Bridge's drifting team. In car culture, drifting is the practice of driving a car in a controlled skid, as if on ice. These drifting competitions have nothing to do with racing and a checkered flag....
An 80-by-110-foot residential lot in southeast Cloquet gave rise to robust discussion on housing throughout city hall this month, with the city council agreeing Tuesday to sell the lot to a building contractor who plans to build on the lot with the intention to sell. "The 'for-sale' market is the toughest market we've faced to date," said community development director Holly Hansen during last week's meeting of the Economic Development Authority. "It's been easier to put up apartment buildings...
The Carlton County Board of Commissioners breezed through its first meeting of July in 24 minutes Tuesday. But it managed to get work done, raising the threshold for project labor agreements while also announcing its intent to work more closely with the local tribe on matters that impact both jurisdictions. Regarding project labor agreements, county engineer JinYeene Neumann explained the decision to raise the threshold triggering a project labor agreement from $175,000 to $250,000 on county-led construction. A committee had met throughout the...
The Carlton community is beginning to buzz with excitement as plans are being finalized for the annual community celebration. Circle July 28-29-30 on your calendar and come out to gather with family and friends for fun, food and live music for Carlton Daze at the Carlton VFW and the Third Base Bar. Don’t forget the parade at 1 p.m. Sunday, July 30. Live music will be provided by Stranded on July 28 and by Vinyl Recliner on July 29. Veterans interested in joining Carlton VFW Post 2962 and/or t...
Born in western Cloquet, Vern Simula wants to return to his home county when it's his time to go. He's already made a burial shroud and developed an advanced funeral directive on how he wants to be buried. Until recently, the 90-year-old living in Morris, Minnesota, had chosen a proposed green burial cemetery in Blackhoof Township, near Barnum, where wary residents and local and state lawmakers have cooperated to put a halt to the cemetery's progress. "I want a simple, traditional burial," said...
When Justin Harriman went to check on the hockey arena over Memorial Day weekend, he knew immediately something wasn't quite right. "I went in and checked on things and found an issue with the ice plant," said Harriman, the facilities manager and association director for the Cloquet Amateur Hockey Association, which operates both the Northwoods Credit Union Arena and the older Pine Valley Arena next door. He got on the phone to Jay Koenig from Gartner Refrigeration. "After they were able to get...
With the appointment of new police officer Jacob Bubb at Tuesday’s Cloquet City Council meeting, the Cloquet Police Department is nearly at full strength — 24 sworn police officers — after being decimated by a wave of disability retirements several years ago. Police chief Derek Randall said Bubb was the top candidate, and will be a good fit for the department, which he said is young and passionate about community policing. Bubb was born and raised in Esko, and attended Hibbing Community College to get his degree in law enforcement. He is close...
Minnesota state legislators and Gov. Tim Walz came through in a big way for the city of Cloquet, judging by the list of benefits shared by city administrator Tim Peterson during Tuesday’s council meeting. Top of the list was an increase to Local Government Aid, or LGA, which is set to increase statewide by $80 million annually starting in 2024, translating to an additional $500,000 for the city of Cloquet. Peterson told councilors some of the money will help put the city on more solid footing. “Let’s just remember that our budget looked really,...
How fortunate can one town be? That’s a question we can all ask ourselves as Cloquet’s two manufacturing plants celebrate milestone anniversaries in 2023. With the USG ceiling tile plant celebrating its 100th anniversary and the nearby Sappi pulp and paper mill reaching its 125th consecutive year of operation, it’s the right time to reflect on what those businesses mean to the city and its people. They’re two of our most prominent employers and have been throughout their timelines here. Working at the plants has supported generations of empl...
THUMBS UP to the free tree and brush pickup currently being offered by the city of Cloquet. The city council agreed in May to contract with Cloquet-based 3D Construction to help clean up trees damaged by heavy winter snow. The contractor began Tuesday moving street by street to pick up brush, tree branches and tree trunks in pieces no longer than 5 feet. Throughout the city, residents prepared for their arrival by moving their tree debris to the curb. The debris was evident in all corners of most every neighborhood. It’s a relief the city recog...
Both legislative bodies approved a capital investment package to fund infrastructure projects around the state Monday, just hours before the session adjourned. It included funding for three District 11A projects: $17.5 million for the Western Lake Superior Sanitary District (Cloquet, Thomson Township, city of Carlton), $10 million for the Carlton County female offender program and the jail and courts facility, and $5 million for Cloquet water infrastructure improvements on lines serving the...
Artistic masterpieces from Charlie Beck's handiwork dot the landscape of Carlton County. It doesn't stop there. His treasures can be found in several other states scattered across the country. His smile is contagious and, at 89 years old, he is living the good life in Wrenshall. This is the story of the infamous (Our Savior's League) retiree darts home run hitter ... Charlie Beck. Charlie was born and raised in Carlton. He played high school football at guard and tackle, and was one of the...
