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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I love (Kermit Nielsen’s) ideas for security dogs in schools. (Column in the March 24 Pine Knot.) As a teacher for 45 years, I could see it working. I wonder if you could get your friends at Proctor High School to pilot a program. You most certainly would meet with some resistance, but I’ll bet you would find enough support to give it a go. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Lane Bendzick, Barnum...
There is a fine line between public duty done right and dereliction, and currently the city of Kettle River is skating on it. After a lengthy letter from the state auditor’s office in February outlining a long list of questionable procedures by elected city officials and city employees, the city found itself in trouble with procedure once again. This time it was in the process of declaring a vacancy on the city council. That’s all well and good, since member Monique Doward has missed meetings for more than 90 days. State statute allows a cou...
It was August 8, 1991, before I ever called my buddy Rolf’s dad “Bud” like everyone else did. Until that date, he had been “Mr. Kragseth” to me for over 20 years. This memory came back last week. I frequently drive the neighborhood kids to school along with my own; the five of them are pretty good buddies and it’s fun to hear them discuss the important issues of the day as we make our way to the middle school and high school. I used to participate in the conversation but as the kids have gotten...
Lawmaking in Minnesota is moving rapidly this year, and Carlton County farmers are pushing to make their voice heard. Several members of the Land Stewardship Project (LSP) met in Barnum on Feb. 17 and planned a call for area citizens to join in a Family Farm Breakfast and Lobby Day at the Capitol April 13. Affordable health care, expanded meat processing services, augmented farm-to-school programs, and soil enrichment are key issues. The LSP is a statewide, private, nonpartisan, nonprofit...
Steve Olson did a good job of relating the history of the various laws that affected the Fond du Lac Band in his March 3 column. But I wonder how far back in history we want to go. After all, the Ojibway seized the land from the Sioux. There is a reason why some of the lakes north of Deer River are called Cutfoot Sioux. There was a sign, now removed, on the Chippewa National Forest about the battle between the two tribes and a wounded Sioux warrior. The Cloquet Forestry Center was established with the 1909 law that resulted in the land being...
As a retired school teacher, I’ve thought a lot about school shootings over the years and I would like to suggest an unconventional idea — incorporating service dogs into the school environment. School service dogs would add a dimension that human resources lack. The dogs would be trained to react not only to the sight of guns or body armor but especially to the smell of gunpowder and gun oil. These two odors would be the primary motivation for the dog to go into the attack mode. The dogs could be trained to corner and detain, but not attack an...
Thumbs up to people having fun together, even when it’s cold or snowing outside. It’s all over the recent issues of the Pine Knot, from the City Meet to the Mojakka Cookoff. Sure, it takes time to organize these things, but the payoff goes way beyond the awards. Turning off the TV and voluntarily joining a group of people, at least some of them strangers, is what community is all about. And we can use more of that. Thumbs up to well-rounded schools. How great is it that schools in our area are ramping up their vocational offerings and enc...
Nothing strikes fear in a banker’s heart more than the words, “run on the bank.” It conjures up images of the Great Depression, the Great Recession, and Jimmy Stewart convincing his customers to believe in his savings and loan and stop taking all their money out, thus saving the bank and making a memorable classic movie. Mark Lanigan, president of Cloquet-area Frandsen Bank and Trust, is one of our local Jimmy Stewarts (or, maybe more appropriately, one of our George Baileys). I had a chat...
Go forward, but turn your wheels a bit. ... The other way. - How far? - Right there. If you get any traction, hit the brake. - Nothing. - Yeah. I smell rubber. Try going back, but not too far, the pole. - Just spinning. - Yeah. Let me dig a bit. - Which way now? - Forward, but try rocking back and forth. Don't just gun it. - Which way are my tires? - Turn 'em. No, the other way. - Maybe you should get in. - You're doing fine. It's just this snow, and the slush underneath. And I'm thinking you're...
Everyone deserves health insurance that is affordable, simple to use, and provides coverage for what they and their doctor decide is necessary to keep them healthy. Minnesota is lucky to have this kind of insurance for low-income working Minnesotans. It’s called MinnesotaCare. It was created in 1992 with bipartisan support. Years ago, when I was just getting started with my small business, I was able to buy into MNcare, paying a premium based on my income. As a Type 1 diabetic I could depend o...
A couple of decades ago, I wrote a book in which I talked about what it takes to be a good citizen in a representative democracy like ours. I thought the principles I laid out were timeless, but I recently reread them and boy, they seem a lot less clear-cut now. In principle, everything I wrote back then is still key to the functioning of our democracy: you need to vote; you need to take the time to be informed about policy and politics; you need to be in touch with your representatives to let...
Sunshine Week is an annual initiative to promote open government and journalism’s role in it. It is celebrated in the second full week of March. It was launched in 2005 by the American Society of News Editors — now News Leaders Association. The Pine Knot is a strong proponent of what Sunshine Week represents, keeping a light on government so everyone can stay informed. We are excited SunshineWeek is here (March 12-18) and proud to join good government organizations, media organizations and civic groups in promoting the significance of gov...
Thaw, freeze. Thaw, freeze. We’ve seen that cycle quite a bit this winter, especially as we close in on a record seasonal snowfall — will we beat the record of 113.4 inches? Stick around until May, and we’ll find out. There’s a lot of slush, too, which is fun to splash through while driving during the day, but becomes as solid as railroad tracks when it freezes. Humans have learned over the years how to beat the slippery ice. We use salt. A lot of it. Many places pour so much ice melt on thei...
History was made last month when 34 strong DFL senators at the Minnesota State Capitol delivered the critical commitment to safeguard our children’s future. The Minnesota 100 Percent Clean Energy bill, passed by the DFL on party-line Senate and House votes, represents the single-most important action fighting the enormous costs and deadly effects of global warming in Minnesota history. Combined with enormous financial incentives Congress created in the bipartisan 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, and the landmark climate-action 2...
After a couple of years off due to the Covid pandemic, the competitive retiree dart league has returned to Our Savior’s Lutheran Church in Cloquet. The league resumed in late fall, but now “spring training” is in full swing. The dartboard is the shape of a diamond with bases, strikes, balls, double plays, and sacrifices … and play is similar to a nine-inning baseball game. Players throw 6-inch darts underhand from about 15 feet from the target board until their “at bat” is concluded....
This legislative session has proven interesting. In most bienniums, the first year is appropriations, not policy. However, there have been a lot of policies introduced and passed. Our local legislators have voted against most of the legislation. They have held true to their political and personal values. There has been bipartisan support on less controversial proposals. In discussions with our local legislators, this writer has encouraged them to address housing, energy and education issues. I continue to share conversations I had with voters...
I disagree with the Pine Knot reporter’s description of a community member shouting questions at the Wrenshall school board meeting in the Feb. 17 issue. I was sitting right next to that community member and he did not “shout.” In fact, he used a perfectly normal tone of voice. I have known this community member for a couple of years and have heard him speak many times. I have never heard him shout. Maybe your reporter should look up the definition of the word “shout.” Carol Anderson, Wrenshall...
Back in the 1960s, China was a Third World country, but today it’s a superpower. We, through trade agreements and importation, have turned the tables, making them strong. What do China, Russia and North Korea have in common? They’re all led by autocrats. Defined by Webster’s dictionary as a “supreme rule of unrestricted power. An arrogant, dictatorial person, self ruling, independent.” Sounds a lot like our former president, and he loves and respects them all and even claimed he and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un “fell in love.” Now, as we Am...
Gift certificates are very popular presents. They have been since at least 1978, when my sister Zora gave me a McDonald's certificate for Christmas. Fifty cents, which bought a burger and maybe a drink back then. I don't know what it could buy now, but I'm sure it could still buy something, because I still have the gift certificate, safely stored in my home office along with my passport and the kids' birth certificates. I'll probably let my heirs fight over it after I'm gone. They'll have quite...
Some friends are lifelong friends and others are seasonal. I once got an emotional email from a friend of 8 years calling me out for not being more friendly — I hadn’t been paying enough attention to our friendship due to my unacceptable time commitment to my wife and diaper-clad children. He’d said: “You don’t pay as much attention to me as you do to your wife and kids and you don’t Get It because you don’t Get It.” I got it. Another Best Friend of mine from college, Tim — a guy I’d literally...
In 2018 I retired as the forest manager for the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa after a 37-year career. I'm also an alumnus of the University of Minnesota, College of Forestry. I'm writing to weigh in on the proposed return of the Cloquet Forestry Center lands to the Fond du Lac Band. I'll start out with a brief history of the land tenure on Fond du Lac so the reader can better understand the issues. The Fond du Lac Reservation was established with the signing of the 1854 Treaty, four...
THUMBS UP to Cloquet public schools and Members Cooperative Credit Union for working toward an agreement on naming rights in return for getting $4.25 million in athletic facilities upgrades across the finish line. MCCU has sent a letter of intent to the school board to pay $1.25 million in exchange for naming rights, plus up to $300,000 for a new scoreboard. The proposed arrangement would run for 20 years and give the now regionally based MCCU exclusive naming rights to the campus stadium as well as a host of other on-site sponsorship opportuni...
As a youngster growing up in Superior and flying aircraft with my dad, I remember him saying, "If you want to wreck your airplane, put it on skis!" He should know. I watched him and his World War II Army Air Corps buddies plan wolf hunts by skiplane like they were planning a mission to bomb the ball bearing plants in Schweinfurt, Germany. Safety was always a concern, since they were shooting shotguns out of the open door of the craft as they swooped down low on the wolves. (Bounty hunting of...
"Drill, baby, drill” is a fun slogan for those of us who can’t imagine a world without gasoline, and the protests over the Line 3 project cutting through Carlton County show that plenty of people would like to do away with petroleum altogether, as soon as possible. Both extreme positions are wrong, but they each have a point. Our reliance on oil won’t disappear any time soon, but if we don’t start planning for a world without petroleum, we’ll suffer at the unpredictable whims of future oi...
The snow began just outside of Madison, Wisconsin. We had been driving north for days, watching the landscape change from green to brown until the world looked like an old black and white photo. And then it was as though we entered a snowglobe. The landscape was blanketed in white. Ahead, a string of brakelights snaked around the curve. The road was encrusted in ice. There had been a crash, and the interstate was closed in both directions. We took a detour that wound through hilly Wisconsin farm...
