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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There were more questions than answers Wednesday, Aug. 24, when the Wrenshall school board agreed to discipline an employee during a specially called meeting. The meeting was planned to review results of a personnel investigation which began earlier this summer involving the school’s information technology director, Jaime Hopp, and superintendent Kim Belcastro. The board met in closed session for three hours. Afterward, it declined to name who it was disciplining. But since the disciplinary resolution voted on by the board authorized B...
Another exciting high school volleyball season is about to begin as the calendar turns to September. Lots of optimism fills the gyms throughout Carlton County as fresh faces try to replace the graduates. Before previewing this upcoming season, let's recap how things ended in 2021. The state has four divisions for volleyball: AAAA - the largest schools dictated by enrollment, followed by AAA, AA and A. Duluth East is the only AAAA school in our area. Rankings are based on a Quality Results Formul...
A couple of coaching changes dot the high school football landscape this fall. Two longtime head coaches moved on last spring and new coaches now fill their shoes in hopes of continuing their respective schools' traditions. In Cloquet, longtime assistant coach Jeff Ojanen takes the reins upon Tom Lenarz's retiring. Lenarz spent 27 years coaching in the Cloquet program, including the last 19 as head coach. Ojanen was an assistant under Lenarz for all 19 of those years. "Coach Lenarz and I went...
The only local youth shelter will be closing its doors this fall. Located in the Sunnyside neighborhood of Cloquet, the Carlton Youth Shelter, run by Lutheran Social Services, will close by Oct. 1 and the county will utilize a different LSS shelter in Duluth. Carlton County Public Health and Human Services director Dave Lee said the main reason for the closure is low usage: the average number of children using the shelter has dropped to less than one person per day. Services for Carlton County families will now be provided at the new LSS...
Margaret Ellen Veilleux, 93, passed away peacefully in her sleep Aug. 18, 2022, at Inter-Faith Care Center in Carlton. She was a longtime resident of Wrenshall before moving to Carlton Place Assisted Living in 2020. Margaret was the fifth of 12 children, born to Hubert and Roverda (Hammitt) Grover on May 17, 1929, in Wrenshall. She was raised on the family farm and attended school in Wrenshall. On Sept. 28, 1946, she was united in marriage to Clinton “Kissy” Veilleux at The Manse in Car...
The Wrenshall school board will convene for a special meeting Aug. 24 to hear results of an investigation into possible misconduct by the school’s information technology director. The board will gather at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at the school to learn what Edina-based Red Cedar Consulting found out during days of interviews related to a comment made by technology director Jaime Hopp. Hopp is alleged to have profanely alluded to “killing” the district superintendent while in the staff lounge in June. Another district employee overheard the threa...
The filing period for Carlton County, the state of Minnesota, and the city of Cloquet was in May, but the filing period for remaining cities in Carlton County ended Tuesday, Aug. 16. Now that filing periods and August’s primary races have concluded, what follows is a list of all candidates running for public office in the Nov. 8 general election (*incumbent): School board filings Cloquet (elect 3: Ted Lammi*, Gary “Hawk” Huard*, Jamie Graham, David Battaglia*, Sarah Plante Buhs) Barnum (elect 3: Betty A. Anderson, Dawn Hultgren, Jessica Unkel...
The Carlton-Wrenshall Raptors football program won’t take the field for varsity action this season. It’s a victim of not having enough players despite the cooperative agreement between schools in the eastern half of the county. The schools will try to rebuild the football program by participating in the junior varsity and junior high levels. The possible expansion of a sports and activities co-op between Carlton and Wrenshall came to a halt this month, after the Wrenshall school board balked at the 13-page agreement approved by Carlton. “Th...
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...
University of Arizona Franny Slater of Cloquet graduated summa cum laude this past spring from the University of Arizona with a Bachelor of Science in business economics. Wichita State University Taylor Roen of Esko graduated magna cum laude from Wichita State University with a Bachelor of Science in nursing. Elizabeth Joy Risacher of Wright, graduated from South Dakota State following the spring 2022 semester. Bemidji State University The following local students earned degrees from Bemidji State University during the 2021-2022 school year. Fr...
Another tumultuous week within the Wrenshall School District saw a school board member formally apologizing to one group of people, while offending another, and teachers and administrators confronting the board about the impact of its behavior. "As a member of the LGBTQ+ community and co-advisor of our (gender-sexualities alliance) club, I can no longer remain quiet as our leadership ignores human and students' rights," said the school's media specialist Chloe Swanson during the board meeting...
I am proud to serve on the Wrenshall School Board, and I would like to share a little about what is going on within the Wrenshall School. The views expressed in this letter are my own. Our district is finishing the final stage of construction on our buildings. The school is something our community, students and staff can be proud of. Classrooms have been updated, and with a new HVAC system, they are comfortable and safe. Our gymnasium and new multi-use space give more opportunities for all of our students to engage in physical activities; even...
Wrenshall residents came together to celebrate Brickyard Days Friday and Saturday. It was hectic, but it's worth it, Phyllis Rousseau said. "Every town has something, a community gathering, where you can see your friends, your community, your neighbor," she said. Organizer Jolene Johnson added she's gotten a lot of positive feedback from people. "I feel like our community has been pushing apart, so I'm really happy this is something we can do together," she said. "Without any negative...
The problem this weekend isn’t finding something to do, it’s choosing among the myriad options right here in Carlton County. There are Fun Days in Esko, Brickyard Days in Wrenshall and a Honey Bee Festival in Carlton, not to mention a music festival in Askov for those who fancy a road trip. Like parades? You’ll have to choose between Esko and Wrenshall on Saturday morning. Bingo? Head to Wrenshall’s Deer Park early Saturday afternoon. Music more your thing? The Honey Bee Festival at the Oldenbu...
Firefighters responded to an early morning fire in Holyoke Township, but were unable to save the home on McCuskey Drive, which was fully engulfed by fire when they arrived. Wrenshall, Blackhoof, Kerrick and Esko fire departments, Essentia Health ambulance service, and Carlton County Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to the 911 call, which came in at 1:17 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 3. The resident of the home was able to safely exit the structure and did not appear to sustain any injuries. The house was a total loss. The cause of the fire is b...
Early last month, Wrenshall's Jolene Johnson went to talk to a coach about getting the cheerleaders into the Brickyard Days parade, only to be told that the annual event had been canceled. She was flabbergasted, and almost immediately decided she would take it on. Within days, her mom, Phyllis Rousseau, promised to help and the pair jumped on board, with a month to make it happen. During an interview Tuesday, they were frazzled, but excited. The small town of Wrenshall will be hopping this...
The filing period for local school boards, most city councils and township supervisor positions opened Tuesday and will remain open through Tuesday, Aug. 16. In most cases, one must file in the clerk’s office, whether it’s for a school district, municipality or township. Filing fees are minimal, mostly between $2 and $5. School Board positions Current seat holders’ names are provided in parentheses. Cloquet (Ted Lammi, Gary Huard, Dave Battaglia) Barnum (Paul Coughlin, Beth Schatz, Jessica Unkelhaeuser) Carlton (Ann Gustafson, Susan Karp,...
The Carlton/Wrenshall Raptors took top honors in last week's Arrowhead Softball League playoffs with an impressive 10-1 win over Esko in the U16/U18 division. "It was a fun summer season of softball for our girls," said Raptors coach Brent Pokornowski. "We had a nice playoff run and it was good for the girls to end with a big win." Pokornowski is one of three head coaches for the Raptors, alongside Anna George and Hannah Mitchell. The Raptors went 3-0 in their playoff run, including wins over...
An investigation into employee misconduct figures to end soon, but not before disrupting the start of the school year within the Wrenshall School District. At a time when Chromebooks and computers need to come online for teachers and roughly 350 students, the district’s information technology director is on administrative leave. Jaime Hopp is under investigation for profanely alluding to “killing” the superintendent in the staff lounge in June. Another district employee overheard the threat, which superintendent Kim Belcastro later repor...
Although August is just around the corner, the summer festival season is abuzz with activity, with Carlton Daze this weekend, followed by Esko Fun Days, the Honey Bee Festival, Wrenshall Brickyard Days, and Ma & Pa Kettle Days over the first two weeks of August. Esko Fun Days runs Aug. 2-9 and will be combined with an all-school reunion in celebration of the school's 100th (actually 102nd, thanks to Covid) anniversary. The fun kicks off Tuesday night with a National Night Out gathering...
The Fond du Lac Tribal College Board of Directors (FDLTCBOD) finds the comments made by a sitting Wrenshall school board member regarding our American Indian ancestors disrespectful and degrading. The comments made by the school board member were in reaction to redoing a school parking lot and a question: “What if they dig up bones?” The board member responded that “I have a plan for that. Fence it off and bring in all the dogs from the dog pound. There won’t be any bones left.” The reference to finding bones was made in connection to the Fo...
Dean’s list Savannah Lyytinen of Cloquet was named to the Hamline University dean’s list for the spring 2022 term. To qualify, students must earn a GPA of 3.5 or higher and complete a minimum of 16 credits. Lyytinen is majoring in forensic psychology with a minor in criminal justice. Wrenshall’s Hannah Weiderman was named to the dean’s list at Drake University this spring. To be eligible for the deans’ list, students must have earned a GPA of 3.5 or higher during the spring 2022 semester at Drake. The following local students were named to...
Cracks filled with knee-high weeds zigzag across the tennis courts at Carlton's South Terrace Elementary School. Although there are nets, the courts are in such a state of disrepair it would be almost impossible to play a game of tennis there. With the school district battling ongoing budget woes, repairing the tennis courts has not been a priority for a school board that is working hard to simply keep the schools open and fully staffed. Ed Kavanaugh gets that. The Carlton grad has been on the...
Earlier this summer, Julie Holmgren traveled from Paynesville, Minnesota to Wrenshall where she had booked Farm LoLa's new "AirB-n- BAWK!" She brought with her a copy of "Locally Laid: How We Built a Plucky, Industry-changing Egg Farm – from Scratch," the written tale of Jason and Lucie Amundsen's voyage from city dwellers with a backyard flock to running a free-range local egg farm in rural Carlton County. In the newest chapter of the Locally Laid Egg Company story, the Amundsens have now opene...
Contrary to rumor, Brickyard Days is a go. Now under the direction of the daughter-and-mother team of Jolene Johnson and Phyllis Rousseau, the annual Wrenshall celebration is set for Aug. 5-6 and will include a parade, a movie in the park and much more. Interested in entering the parade or being a vendor? Call Phyllis at 218-393-1507. And look for a preview story of Brickyard Days in next week’s Pine Knot News....
