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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Last winter was one most folks won't soon forget, with record snowfalls common and collapsed roofs and fallen treelines forever impacted. Even now, the city of Carlton is dealing with the aftermath. The city-owned arena, Four Seasons Sports Complex, is the subject of a pending insurance claim, having suffered exterior damage from the ice and snow. The damage is obvious to passersby, as the arena side facing Highway 210 features a long crumpled strip of steel siding. "The ice and snow buildup...
A father and his two sons canoeing on the Nemadji River in southeast Carlton County Saturday called in a report of human remains found on the river bank east of Minnesota Highway 23 and south of the Soo Line Trail. This week the Midwest Medical Examiner's Office was making an identification effort after a laborious effort to remove the remains from the remote area. The Carlton County Sheriff's Office received a call at 1:30 p.m. about the find. Sheriff deputies and responders from Wrenshall and...
A fire on the 100 block of Jay Cooke Road spread from a vehicle to a home early Tuesday. According to a news release from the Carlton County Sheriff’s Office, a passerby noticed the vehicle fire and reported it around 6:35 a.m. Tuesday, July 18, also stopping to notify the homeowners. When deputies responded, the fire was initially observed under the hood of a vehicle in the driveway. As the fire grew, it spread to the residence. The Esko Fire Department arrived and contained the fire at the residence, with assistance from Carlton and W...
A barn on the 2200 block of Olson Road in Blackhoof Township caught on fire, likely the result of a lightning strike around 4:15 p.m. Wednesday, a Carlton County Sheriff’s Office news release said. Firefighters from Blackhoof, Esko, Carlton, Barnum, Moose Lake, Mahtowa and Wrenshall fire departments responded and found the barn fully involved in fire. Due to the size of the fire and rural location, a large amount of water had to be brought in by truck to put out the fire. There were no animals in the barn, no injuries, and no other s...
Several Carlton County communities are planning National Night Out events on Aug. 1. Cloquet will have its first large National Night Out event back at Veterans Park 5-8 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 1, for the first time since 2019. Other local National Night Out events are detailed below: • The city of Wrenshall will hold its NNO event 5-7 p.m. Aug. 1 at Hugh D. Line park. Join neighbors for this free, family friendly event with hot dogs, freezies and chips provided. Bring lawn games, musical instruments and friends. • In Kettle River, the fun beg...
The Carlton school district hired Angela Lind to fill the open business manager position, after the previous business manager, Norm Nelis, took a job at the Hermantown school district. Lind formerly worked just up the road at Wrenshall, but was laid off there in a cost-saving measure. “She’s been a fantastic addition,” said Carlton superintendent Donita Stepan during Monday’s board meeting. Under Lind’s new contract, she will earn a salary of $61,000 in her first year with regular longevity increases of $1,000 per year for the next 8 years. In...
Here is one example of the options available for a new scoreboard at the gymnasium in Wrenshall, as presented by Daktronics to the district recently. A decision on the style of scoreboard and shot clocks is expected to be made in the next month....
Carlton has seen many celebrations over the years. As a kid visiting my aunt, uncle and cousins in Carlton, I remember a big celebration with a big carnival in the area where the N.P. Junction Pavilion is now located. It was an exciting weekend for a kid from the country. The community has always been supportive of the Carlton celebrations. This year the Carlton Daze Celebration will be held July 28-30. I checked at the Carlton County Historical Society in Cloquet to see if they had any...
Paul Ward turned 90 this summer, and the story of how he landed the area's most well-known agate has changed. But only a little. Shortly after the 108-pound agate began being celebrated in Moose Lake during the early 1980s, the story went that Ward was looking for agates in a local pit when he unearthed the monster he first thought was a root. But last month, during a visit to his Sandstone, Minnesota residence by the Pine Knot, Ward recalled a different origin. He was clearing land and...
Having come through the crucible of making cuts and adopting a budget for the new school year, the Wrenshall School Board began tackling a host of open positions at its meeting in Holyoke on Monday. Currently, due to retirements, resignations and roughly $320,000 in budget cuts, the district is without a licensed boiler operator, lead custodian, head cook, school nurse, information technology specialist and a business manager in charge of the district’s budgeting. The board approved the hiring of a lead bus driver at the meeting. The d...
I don’t know who did what as far as securing funding by Jeff Dotseth. What I do believe is although he voted against Democratic bills, he could have done a lot more. Maybe I expected too much, but I was disappointed that he didn’t explain in depth to voters what was in those bills. There was so much done in such a short time that I believe people still don’t know what was in them. I know Jeff had time, because he was on social media politicking a lot (thumbs up). It’s too bad such an opportunity was wasted, but I guess Jeff has his priorit...
With July Fourth behind them, many Carlton County communities now turn toward their own unique celebrations of summer. Those festivals launch this weekend with Moose Lake celebrating Agate Days Saturday and Sunday, July 15-16, plus three days of Wrong Days in Wright kicking off today. Agate Days Saturday is the big day in Moose Lake, and the Clark-Olsen Agate Stampede at 3 p.m. is always a treat. People of all ages line up on both sides of Elm Avenue and wait for two dump trucks to drive two blocks while dropping all kinds of rocks and gravel,...
The Wrenshall School Board approved a $4.95 million budget for the 2023-24 school year during a special meeting June 26. Coupled with expected revenues of $5 million, the budget comes with a surplus of $48,272, and follows $312,000 in cuts earlier this year in anticipation of an ongoing shortfall if cuts weren’t made. The board had sought to build a $100,000 surplus, and could still get there given a higher enrollment. “It’s looking pretty good,” board chair Nicole Krisak told the Pine Knot. The budget was based on enrollment of 325 student...
Debra "Deb" Slatten, 63, of Midway Township, died suddenly Thursday, June 29, 2023, of a cardiac event. Deb was born April 1, 1960, in Cloquet to Theodore and Marjorie (Seboe) Hillman. She was thin, athletic, and seemingly in perfect health when something went catastrophically wrong. Deb's law enforcement career started at the age of 15, with the Carlton County Sheriff's Office as a clerk. Deb graduated from Wrenshall High School and earned a law enforcement degree from Bemidji State...
A Wrenshall-area farm with roughly 50 horses and cows is under investigation again, following renewed reports of animals being underfed and lacking care. The spotlight on the farm returned Monday at the Carlton County board meeting in Cloquet, where concerned residents reported harrowing details, and both the county attorney's office and a statewide nonprofit humane society reported ongoing investigations into the farm. "I've been watching these horses and cows on this property since 2019 and...
The third annual Cloquet Wood City Classic girls softball tournament was on a rainy weekend last week at Braun Park in Cloquet. There were 34 teams participating in three age divisions and, as usual, the tournament was another impressive display of teamwork by all. "Our grounds crew, parents, umpires and staff all did an amazing job," said tournament director Adam Maslowski. "We had to battle rain and the elements, but we got all the games in, and there were no complaints and, most importantly,...
Cromwell-Wright School Second semester Honor Roll Grade 12 Avery Aho Ellie Anderson Noah Foster Romain Jacques Isaac King Steven Ridlon Liam Schoenberg Grade 11 Elliott Anderson Avery Birman Tanner Collman Marissa Dahl Brandon Dickey Gracie Foley Aurora Gervais Wyatt Goranson Kyra Granholm Mya Gronner Andrew Kachinske Macie Lind Joshua Lindman Korpela Metzer Emaleigh Olesiak Josie Suhonen Grace Swenson Grade 10 Isabella Anderson Siiena Anderson Brady Dahl Bryanna Foster Jack Irving Tucker Korpi Emerson Lind Emily Lindman Nevaeh Manninen Dylan N...
Things were busy last Friday and Saturday night at the Free Range Film Festival in rural Wrenshall. The act of watching a series of short films inside a barn built more than 100 years ago continued to draw people from the region and from the Twin Cities area. Both nights saw a standing-room-only crowd. Aside from the whimsy, there is also real value. A $10 donation was a suggestion only, and drinks and movie snacks were only $2 and $1, like way, way, way back in the day. Sandy and Betsy Dugan...
Again this year, the Dugan family and friends host two nights of films in their Wrenshall barn. I’ve been enjoying this year’s slate of films on my computer. I can’t review them all in this slim column, but I’m sharing my favorites. The most spectacular is “Finding Her Beat,” a film made by Japanese, Canadian and American women learning and performing Taiko, a Japanese male art form that combines dance movements with banging a large vertical drum. The film opens with a Korean adoptee rai...
The University of Minnesota Duluth announced its dean’s list for spring semester, which included the following students from the area: Barnum Madeleine Manahan, Oliver Swimeley Carlton Andrea Hille, Connor Kanirie, Ezekiel Palmer, Ben Talarico Cloquet Benjamin Bauer, Lindsey Dunaiski, Zachary Dunaiski, Casey Essler, Hannah Green, Tyler Hey, Nick Kallevig, Caley Kruse, Brynn Martin, Kathryn Owens, Andrew Peak, Camden Pollard, Sam Remus, Emerson Rock, Isabella Roy, Joshua South, Samantha Thomsen, Sarah Urban Cromwell Isaac Shelton Esko Faith B...
After months of discussion and even contention, the Wrenshall city council adopted a campground ordinance June 7. The measure passed with a 4-1 vote, with councilor Duane Ziebarth dissenting. The campground ordinance requires permitting with the city and a public hearing prior to approval, as well as planning with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency over stormwater coverage prior to any dirt work being done. Additionally, each site must be a minimum of 40 feet wide. Campgrounds or RV parks will also need to be at least 5 acres with a...
There's a new superintendent in Wrenshall following unanimous school board approval Monday. Retired Deer River superintendent Jeff Pesta was approved for a part-time role. It's what the financially strapped district could afford and what Pesta, 58, wanted to work. "I wanted to continue to work part-time," he said. "It's like scratching an itch. Working through challenges, solving problems, that's something I still want to do." Pesta replaces Kim Belcastro, who spent 11 years in the role,...
More than 40 local athletes participated in the Minnesota Boys and Girls State Track meet last weekend at St. Michael-Albertville. A number of those athletes had top showings and made it to the finals. Class AA boys Miles Fischer had a big day for Cloquet by finishing in third place in the 1,600 meter run. The senior followed that up with a seventh place finish in the 3,200. He ran 4:18.43 in the 1600 and 9:39.20 in the 3,200. "Miles Fischer almost got the 1600 record from 1985 of John Wodny,"...
Esko is the Section 7A boys track champion this year after beating runner-up Crosby-Ironton by 10 points. Two Harbors took the girls title with International Falls taking second and also qualifying for the team state track meet. Cromwell-Wright had a solid meet for the boys with a seventh-place finish as a team and a number of top finishes by individuals. Boys state qualifiers Noah Foster of Cromwell- Wright was the winner of the 3,200-meter run. He also ran in two relay teams that finished...
As the defending Section 7A champions, the Moose Lake/Willow River girls softball team had a target on its back the entire season. The Rebels handled the pressure of the compacted season and last week did the same by going undefeated in the sectional tournament to make the state tournament for the second time in a row. "We told the girls we needed to be ready for that, because every team we played was going to give us their best game," said ML/WR coach Kelly Goeb. "We were ready for that. We...
