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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Recently I received in my mailbox a stamped envelope with no post office markings and no signature or return address, and inside a letter written to me. Obviously, the unknown [writer] knows my political opines or has read them in several printings. Because I can’t respond to the unknown letter writer, I am writing an open letter in the newspaper, which I have the courage to sign. In the letter the [writer] listed inflation, gas prices, groceries, poor schools, sexualizing little school children...
With the annual Carlton Daze celebration just around the corner, I am dedicating this column to all the ways we celebrate our city. Over the years, how many unique community celebrations has Carlton had? I checked at the Carlton County Historical Society to find out. I didn’t find an exact number but saw there have been several celebrations over the years, including a street fair that started in 1914 and a cabbage festival held in late fall. At one time there was a July Fourth at Carlton, beginn...
Lillie “Lil” Mae LaVoy, 81, of Cloquet passed away Monday, July 11, 2022 in St. Luke’s Hospital, Duluth. Lil was born in Detroit Lakes on April 9, 1941, to Carl and Annabelle (Collins) Bergstrom. She graduated from Brainerd High School in 1959. Lil married Jack LaVoy on Aug. 24, 1990, in Cloquet. Lil worked in Crow Wing, Olmsted and Carlton counties for 30 years as an eligibility specialist before retiring. She enjoyed working and serving at the VFW and was also the district, state and auxil...
After two recent bulk mailings sent out to Wrenshall school district residents suggested that complaints about school board member comments in the past 13 months were unfounded, a union group representing district employees delivered the goods on Monday. More than 70 people attended Monday's meeting in Holyoke, where union members read a lengthy statement. In total, there were 24 speakers in a public forum that lasted 90 minutes inside the township hall. Several Education Minnesota-Wrenshall...
A question was raised at the Wrenshall school board’s public forum Monday about where a bulk mailing came from. Was it through a board discussion or the opinion of merely the three people who were represented at the end of the letter? One signee, board vice-chairwoman Cindy Bourn, interrupted the speaker and said the mailing was a “campaign letter.” When asked how a reader would know, Bourn said it was “implied.” In response to an inquiry from the Pine Knot News, chairwoman Bergman said the letter was political and had nothing to do with the...
It seems to rush upon us every year ... berry season. After a rather chilly spring and wet past few weeks, there are berries galore in the area. Honeyberries came first at Farm LoLa in Wrenshall and now the strawberries are going at places like Spectrum Farm in Carlton. Raspberries and blueberries are coming in what is expected to be a bumper crop compared to those during last year's drought. We received some recipes to try from Spectrum and LoLa. If you have one you'd like to share, send it...
With July Fourth in the rearview mirror, summer festivals are now coming fast and furious. Moose Lake and Wright will celebrate their signature events next weekend, with Agate Days running July 16-17 and Wrong Days in Wright starting one day earlier, with events planned for July 15-17. Perhaps the most exciting news out of Moose Lake is the return of the Clark-Olsen Agate Stampede at 3 p.m. Saturday following a pandemic pause the last two years. For the uninitiated: people line up on both sides...
What could have been deemed perfectly wet and cool running conditions for Monday's Sawdust 5K turned out to be enough of a nuisance to stop a number of runners from signing up the day of the race. "Our pre-registration numbers were right around where they normally are," said Sam Jacobson, who, alongside his wife, Julie, is a race director. "With the forecast for rain and bad weather on race day, our normal race day registration numbers were down. We didn't have the number of walkers we would...
Wrenshall school board members voted unanimously Thursday, June 30, to authorize an outside investigation into allegations of misconduct. The special board meeting was brief and very formal, but public, with motions made after advice from John Edison, the district’s attorney from the Minneapolis firm Rupp, Anderson, Squires & Waldspurger. Last week’s special meeting was held specifically to authorize the investigation, after a motion to hire investigator Justin Terch was tabled at the June 13 board meeting so board members could further inv...
I went to Wrenshall schools and have lived in the district longer than most of the people who seem to have the need to bash the board. My history with the district does not, however, give my opinion more truth. Just because you went to Wrenshall School or worked for the school does not make your words more truthful. I believe the educational system is under attack by groups that want to project their thinking on developing minds. One purpose of a school board, in my opinion, is to prevent possible outside groups from inserting themselves into...
The Wrenshall school board was scheduled to have another meeting to discuss an investigation of “allegations of misconduct” on Thursday, June 30. It wasn’t determined before this issue of the Pine Knot News went to press whether the meeting was open or not. It also wasn’t clear if the board intended to discuss the charges or merely its plans to hire an outside investigator. Earlier in June, the board had two closed meetings to discuss complaints about two employees. Board chairwoman Misty Bergman later said the district employees involve...
The weather was kind, and so were the movie reviewers. Three directors attended the festival Saturday, including Cy Dodson, who felt compelled to film the aftermath of George Floyd's murder in 2020 because it was his neighborhood. "Say His Name: Five Days for George Floyd" offered an intimate look at the days that followed Floyd's death - the struggles, the dark and the light times that followed - punctuated by the guilty verdict for the police officer who killed him. Dodson said he recently...
I've never responded to an editorial before, but I can't let this pass. We have been fighting so hard to keep our school going and great things have happened up until this school board decided to run with rumors, become racist, fight against the core teachers who make our school what it is and feel threatened by our superintendent. One who is so valuable because she understands the system and put together — along with her colleagues — the updating of our building. No only on that level does she shine, she knows our students personally. She tak...
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...
Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College announced more than 120 students attending the college during Spring Semester 2022 achieved high academic standing and earned dean's list honors for the semester grading period. Requirements for earning dean's list honors at Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College include maintaining a GPA of 3.0 or higher while completing 12 or more course credits during the semester. A total of 1,269 full-time, part-time, PSEO, and College in the Schools students were enrolled at FDLTCC during the semester. The...
Ramona L. Laveau, 91, of Carlton passed away June 15, 2022, at Essentia Health-St. Mary’s Medical Center in Duluth. She was born Dec. 23, 1930, the daughter of Stephen and Rose (Winter) Laubach. Ramona farmed with her husband, Alex, for many years in Wrenshall. She worked at Mahtowa Gas after Alex died, while milking 100 cows every morning and night by herself. Ramona was a member of St. Francis Catholic Parish in Carlton and was very involved with parish work and many other civic activities. R...
Donald (“Don,” “Donnie”) A. Jensen passed away March 9, 2022 of cancer at the St. Cloud VA Medical Center. Funeral service is at 10 a.m. Friday, June 24 at Fort Snelling National Cemetery, Assembly Area 3, followed by an 11 a.m. luncheon at Buca di Beppo in St. Paul. Celebration of Life: 4-7 p.m. Saturday, June 25 at VFW Post 3979 in Cloquet. Mary Davis, 87, of Cloquet, passed away June 19, 2022, at Inter-Faith Care Center in Carlton. She was born June 14, 1935, in Cloquet, the daughter of Frank and Flora (Pineau) Whitebird. Private services we...
The celebration of Pride Month each June has become more and more familiar over the years since gaining popularity in the early 1970s. The purpose of this celebration is to appreciate the LGBTQIA+ community and to allow people who identify with this group to feel safe and supported. This year, a group of high school students in Wrenshall school, including myself, gathered in celebration of the first day of Pride Month and the last full day of the school year. That day, we decided to print out a...
After more than 50 people showed up at its last meeting, the Wrenshall school board held its regular June meeting in the commons area of the school instead of the cramped library. A microphone was deployed so a similar-sized audience could hear what was being discussed Monday. But when it came time to talk about the current controversy consuming the board, the microphones went unused and the mumbled conversation that ensued was difficult to hear even on a playback of a recording. The Monday meeting began like many of the board’s meetings do the...
When Sam and Julie Jacobson decided to run the Sawdust 5K with their boys on July Fourth last year, they had no idea they'd literally be running the race this year as its new organizers. But they love the annual Cloquet race, so when Sawdust founders Jeff and Alyson Leno said they needed to step down to spend more time with their kids, the Jacobsons stepped up. The couple complement each other as race organizers, as Julie has experience with fundraising and event organizing from past jobs with C...
If the movies weren’t enough, next week’s Free Range Film Festival in Wrenshall will have a twist: live music. The Denfeld Honors Quartet will provide music at intermission Friday, June 24 and guitarist Darin Bergsven will provide entertainment Saturday, June 25. Annie Dugan, one of the festival founders who lives down the road from the former milk barn-turned-theater, announced the festival lineup of independent films last week. There will be a food truck onsite and a “giant century-old barn...
What is wrong in Wrenshall? That’s a question that has been vexing anyone following the actions of the district school board in recent years. As it was stated at Monday’s regular board meeting during the public comment period, Wrenshall once had a reputation as a small and efficient place to get an education, a “hidden gem.” Today, that status is damaged. While often there can be myriad reasons for discord in a small community, in this case there is just one: a mostly dysfunctional school board. It’s a board with members who have insulted commu...
Ramona L. Laveau, age 91 of Carlton, passed away Wednesday, June 15, 2022, at Essentia Health/St. Mary’s Medical Center in Duluth. She was born December 23, 1930, the daughter of Stephen and Rose (Winter) Laubach. Ramona farmed with her husband, Alex, for many years in Wrenshall. She worked at Mahtowa Gas after Alex died, while milking 100 cows every morning and night with her son Peter and his wife Kim to keep the farm operating. Ramona was a member of St. Francis Catholic Parish in Carlton a...
A HONOR ROLL Olivia Aldridge Natylee Anderson Gavin Beetcher Dakota Carbaugh Sage Fernquist Nathan Hamilton Jenna Johnson Julieauna Johnson Natalya Kacer Mira Kilby Kaylie Lammi Elliana Lattu Shane Lavamaki Joel Lembke Tyler Mills Alex Murray Alexis Nelson Andrew Olesen Isaias Padilla Kylie Parker Camden Peterson Abbie Resberg Owen Resberg Isabel Riley Jack Riley Molly Sheda Janae Sjodin Jeshua Sjodin Magdalene Sowada Kaya Stark Birk Stensaas Alexis Swanson Eli Twedt B HONOR ROLL Clarissa Andersen Jesse Anderson Joshua Anderson Bruddy Axtell...
John Edison isn’t a Wrenshall school board member, but for all practical purposes on Tuesday night, he was. The attorney representing the school district was on hand for public discussion on the fate of principal Michelle Blanchard and also for two closed sessions on “allegations” against two employees of the district. The board approved another one-year contract for Blanchard, on the advice of Edison, who provided the board a “confidential legal analysis” on how it might proceed with the princ...
