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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Oddly enough, the Lumberjacks' first Nordic ski meet was canceled because of too much snow, not too little, the usual reason early in the season. Despite that hiccup, the Cloquet-Esko-Carlton teams competed in two meets entering the Christmas break, and are looking forward to hosting the third meet Tuesday, Jan. 3 at Pine Valley. "That one is unique because it takes place in the dark, since our entire trail is lighted," said head coach Tim Stark. "Parents don't have to take off work, so there te...
Requiring Herculean effort to regain a sense of normalcy, the first major snowstorm of the winter buried Cloquet and surrounding areas last week. The storm transformed Carlton County into a winter wonderland, but the heavy snow also wreaked havoc on roads, electrical grids and trail systems. It left young trees bowing like monks while older trees fell or dropped limbs overwhelmed by the weight of the wet snow. Evergreens turned white, with giant globs of snow pasted to every branch. The snow...
The Cloquet Nordic Ski Club will conduct a ski-jumping clinic and competition Dec. 29-30 at Pine Valley recreation area. The clinic will take place from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Dec. 29 across two sessions. Coaching will be available on the 10-, 20- and 40-meter jumps. Lunch will be provided. Cost is $50 to attend. There will also be Nordic ski lessons available. The next day’s competition will feature training from 9-11 a.m., and a competition at noon on the 5-, 10-, 20- and 40-meter jumps. A nordic combined race will follow the jumping c...
Better walking, biking, trail access is goal of plan The future of the state highway bisecting Cloquet isn't expected to be as vehicle-centric as it is today. A report due this month from Duluth-based Arrowhead Regional Development Commission and the Minnesota Department of Transportation figures to position the four-lane Minnesota Highway 33 as a more pedestrian and bicycle-safe environment, one that also accommodates greater snowmobile and ATV trail frontage alongside the highway. "We're...
Carlton County voters approved it, but paperwork and state bureaucracy means collecting the voter-approved half-cent sales tax money to support the construction of the Justice Center won’t begin until spring. In November, Carlton County voters overwhelmingly accepted a half-percent sales tax to pay for the $66 million jail and courts facility being constructed in Carlton. But purchases and services of goods in the county will not see the added tax until April 1. Auditor/treasurer Kevin DeVriendt received approval to proceed with the n...
Reliably blue and labor-centric throughout recent history, the city of Cloquet is experiencing something a lot of population centers are encountering: an encroaching red hue. Five of six precincts in the city contributed to the state's Democratic Farmer Labor sweep in major offices, including governor. Those precincts also favored Jen Schultz in the 8th Congressional District, despite the college professor and former state legislator being clobbered by incumbent Rep. Pete Stauber, a Republican...
The race for Cloquet mayor was much closer than it was four years ago, but the end result was the same: voters elected Roger Maki to lead the city forward. Maki defeated former Ward 2 city councilor David Bjerkness by 118 votes. Maki had 2,312 votes (51%) to 2,194 (48.5%) for Bjerkness. The race looked a little different when the polls closed and the in-person votes were tallied. Bjerkness had the advantage then, leading by 48 votes. That didn’t include the absentee votes, however. Those early votes made a critical difference for Maki. Maki cre...
When Carlton County residents go to the polls on Tuesday, they will find one or more questions requiring a “yes” or “no” vote. All voters will see the simple “County Question” asking voters to weigh in on paying for the new Justice Center, estimated at $66 million. Know this, voters. The question isn’t asking whether or not to build the Justice Center — that’s a done deal. It’s been approved at multiple meetings, contracts have been let, lots of bonds have been sold. Rather, the question is how to pay for the $66 million project. A “yes” vo...
Increasing the sales tax to fix the Pine Valley park and hockey shelters is not fair to everyone. It’s totally ridiculous. I, for one, have never used Pine Valley facilities, nor ever plan on it. To put more tax burdens on us who are already struggling is way out of line. You want the upkeep and maintenance, get it out of the people who use it — hockey players, skiers, etc. Charge for memberships at home hockey and skiing events, or any other event held there. I don’t consider saving Pine Valley facilities as an important issue, when there...
Pine Valley is the crown jewel of Cloquet’s parks. It is my most favorite park. I go skiing, running, and biking at the park. But it needs some loving support, which is why I support the 0.5% sales tax for Pine Valley and the accompanying 0.5% sales tax for the ice arena. As told to me, together they will not exceed 0.5% over 10 years or when their predetermined dollar amounts are reached, whichever is first — time or money. Many people from outside Cloquet come visit both Pine Valley park and the ice arena and spend money in Cloquet. The oth...
Outside Barnum, where horses populate handsome stables and open fields, and scores of round bales tell of a robust hay harvest, the sale of 20 acres of land has sent Blackhoof Township residents into prolonged shock and disbelief. "We've been caught off guard," said Eric Braun on Wednesday, Oct. 19, during the latest in a series of township meetings on the topic. The property is located east of the firehall along Pioneer Road. It features a new wooden fence entry inviting visitors to walk in fro...
The Cloquet city council chambers was a revolving door Tuesday, as candidates for six races answered questions in the Cloquet Area Chamber of Commerce candidate forum, an election year tradition. All of the forums ran smoothly, with a quiet and polite Minnesota audience made up mostly of other candidates, their supporters and a handful of interested citizens. It was a far cry from most national or even statewide televised debates, with no rudeness or verbal fireworks, and zero rebuttals until th...
Thanks to a reader, we’ve got a deeper understanding of Cloquet’s sales tax ballot question. Or, questions, rather. The city of Cloquet is seeking a half-percent increase to its sales tax in order to fund roughly $8 million worth of projects at Pine Valley recreation area and the city’s adjacent indoor hockey rinks, the Barn and Northwoods Credit Union Arena. But early and absentee voters, like the reader, Dan Unulock of Cloquet, have noticed the ballot doesn’t restrict the sales tax increase to one question. Instead, it’s split into two quest...
Voters in Cloquet will see two sales tax proposals on their ballots during early voting and the midterm general election Nov. 8. Carlton County voters will have to pay attention, too, because they're part of half of this. The ballot questions both ask voters to raise the existing sales tax by 0.5% - half-a-penny per dollar to raise $8 million in project funds for the city of Cloquet, and another half-penny countywide to fund the $66 million Carlton County Justice Center already under...
The Cloquet City Council took up the topic of food trucks at its meeting Tuesday at City Hall, wondering if it should amend an ordinance to allow the cultural phenomenon better access to city park events. Councilor Kerry Kolodge raised the issue after having heard from a food truck operator who was denied access to a large bike race last month at the Pine Valley recreation area. The city currently doesn’t allow food trucks at parks unless it’s a city-sponsored event, such as the Fourth of Jul...
As a 23-year educational interpreter working at Cloquet High School, it's normal to find Iris Keller standing with the teacher at the front of the classroom. Keller delivers in sign language what the teacher is saying to a student Keller has worked with since he was in fifth grade. "There I am, looking out at this whole class," Keller said. "I go with the student to all his classes - college government, calculus, physics, German 4. He's really smart." Like the student, she carries a backpack and...
Jonas Peterson celebrated his 13th birthday Saturday by showing up to his first mountain biking race several hours before the start of his race. "I just wanted to hang out," said a smiling Peterson, who was surrounded by hordes of other school-age mountain bikers from across the state and as far away as North Dakota. Peterson, racing for Cloquet-Esko-Carlton, was among more than 600 school-age racers at the Pine Valley recreation area in Cloquet last weekend. He competed in the 3.6-mile eighth-g...
Trail runners and walkers, plus a few leashed dogs, gathered at Pine Valley early Saturday, Aug. 27 for the sixth annual Lost Forester Trail Run. The 26 participants completed one lap of the 5.5-kilometer Nordic ski trail. Leading all racers to the finish line was 35-year-old Nathan Bronk, of Duluth, in a Lost Forester course record time of 24 minutes, 29 seconds. Amber Kantonen, of Cloquet, captured the women's title and finished third overall in a time of 29:47. Before the race started, Bronk...
Harvest Festival is this weekend, Friday through Sunday, Sept. 9-11. We have a full schedule of events happening all three days! Friday’s steak fry is 4-7 p.m.,with cash bingo at 7 p.m. with a quilt raffle. The hot air balloon show and rides are at the school’s baseball field. On Saturday, there’s a patriotic salute at 9:15 a.m., kiddie parade at 9:30 a.m., then kids’ games, bean bag tournament, pie and ice cream social, music in the park, adult bean bag tournament, hot air balloon show and rides, and an evening dance at the Pavilion with mu...
The city of Cloquet will host a mountain bike race featuring as many as 600 youth participants later this month. But such a large race coming so close to the ski season at Pine Valley has the local ski club concerned. "We know it's a multi-use park," Cloquet Ski Club representative Ken Ripp said. "But let's not ruin one sport for another." The Minnesota Cycling Association's race series for sixth- through 12th-graders is coming to the Pine Valley Recreation Center on Sept. 24-25. "At this point...
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....
The mystery may have been solved. On Monday, Aug. 15, pharmacies across Carlton County were having an unexplained surge in sales of Bengay, ice packs, and Ace bandages. The reason may have been those seeking recovery help from the old-timers' game played by the 1972 Blackhoof Valley Men's Fastpitch Softball team. Fifty years ago, the team went 18-0 in the Carlton County 10-team league, and they were reunited recently to remember days of old and see if they could still hit, run, and field. The...
Once again, arts entrepreneur Annie Dugan and her family are offering up a mix of 11 remarkable films for their June 24-25 Free Range Film Festival in their family barn. I've had a chance to review some of them. Here are my takeaways. For me, "A Life on the Farm" is the standout. A nephew discovers a stash of home videos made over several decades by a wacky uncle, Charles Carson, a farmer in rural England. With his friends, the nephew creates a feature-length home movie out of the videos. It...
By now, most of you may be aware that there’s a new Fourth of July coordinator in town, and it’s the Pine Knot News. That doesn’t mean we are sponsoring the event: that’s done by residents, businesses and organizations through financial donations. What it does mean is we have been hired by the city to work with the Fourth committee and others to make certain Cloquet continues its tradition of offering a day filled with family friendly activities, most of them the same type of activities we paren...
Mountain bikers took to the trails at Cloquet's Pine Valley last Saturday for a full day of riding in a new race event called the Log Jam. For some race participants, a full day was defined as 12 hours on the race course. Aiden Jurek of Minneapolis was the overall solo winner of the 12-hour race, riding 85 miles on the hilly course and setting the individual mark to beat in future Log Jam races. The winning team in the 12-hour race completed 29 laps for 145 total miles. Riders had the option of...
