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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Another presidential election cycle has come and gone. We'd like to bask in the glow of public engagement we witnessed in the past few months as nearly three out of four people of voting age in Carlton County filled out ballots. In Minnesota, we take pride in high voter-turnout and 2020 was no exception. We should celebrate that. But we can't bask right now. We'd like to acknowledge the extraordinary effort by election officials and volunteers during a trying cycle to make the election safe and...
I’m one of the few people I know willing to state that the Electoral College is still a useful way to choose a president. The absurdity that a candidate can win the popular vote and still lose the presidency is a feature, not a fault, of the Electoral College system. That’s because we are the “United States,” a country formed by a coalition of individual states, not a unified country. It’s true that the federal government has grown stronger and more powerful over the years, but under our Const...
It’s surprising how important Buddhist beliefs and practices have been to evolving world communities and their ability to live together in peace and mutual respect. I first learned about Buddhism during the 1960s Vietnam War, when Buddhist monks led nonviolent protests against American aggression. At its height, the U.S. committed 500,000 American soldiers to the war. Every man in my college class had to face Vietnam one way or another. Back home at my Jesuit college, we studied Catholic p...
The ever-shortening sprint from Halloween to Christmas is on and, with it, the annual retrospection is underway, the tradition of reviewing the year inching ever earlier like the retail Christmas decorations going up before Halloween and the Halloween decorations going up before Labor Day and the back-to-school stuff showing up on Father’s Day. And so on. As the Hurry Up to get to the Next Thing intensifies toward ridiculous, elbowing out the notion of Carpe Diem in deference to FOMO, the m...
Living in a small town certainly has its advantages over big cities, but sometimes we become complacent to the reality that crime does, in fact, happen here, too. That’s why we are encouraging residents to keep their garages and vehicles locked, especially at night. We’re heard reports of vandals roaming late in the evening, prowling through cars and scavenging in unlocked garages. And while it’s relatively safe living in Carlton County, we are not immune to petty larceny and vandalism. It’s easy to let our guard down. After all, we are not...
I’ve operated a pizza restaurant longer than I’ve had children, but it’s time to say goodbye (to the pizza place, not the kids). I opened Eskomo Pizza Pies in the old Cloquet Co-op building in downtown Esko on Jan. 26, 2006, after spending my entire life’s saving remodeling the space and buying pizza ovens. Jim Ruzic, the old WKLK radio guy, and his buddy, Rick Bassett from the county assessor’s office, were our first customers on Jan. 25, a day early. They came in expecting we were open and...
Since Covid-19 crept into our communities, many of us have descended into a strange solitude. Neighbors, co-workers and merchants whom we love to patronize hunker down the way we do: behind closed doors, wearing masks, waiting for the virus to wither. Our parents, grown children and grandkids may be far away. It’s amazing, though, how new technologies enable us to connect, meet and make group decisions, patronize performers we love, participate in yoga classes and listen to gorgeous music. My Da...
There’s just a few things we expect from citizens in American: respect the law; pay your taxes; and vote. We feel that voting is the most important of those expectations. That’s because your vote will control who will be deciding which laws and taxes elected leaders implement. It’s your chance to have real input into the system. And it’s your civic duty. Democracy will fail if people don’t vote. While our region enjoys a fairly engaged citizenry who participates in democracy, there are still plenty of people who don’t vote for various rea...
It seems that, with the elections just a few days away, much of the conversation we hear involves politics and candidates. We've divided our nation so deeply I fear it will take a miracle, or maybe a major event, to get us back together as a country. Each side demonizes the other: it's no longer just a passionate discussion about how to solve the everyday problems that come up in trying to run a country ourselves. No, the political conversation has resorted to name-calling, slander, alternative...
We know as citizens of Carlton County that we are very fortunate. We live in one of the most bucolic domains of nature populated with magnificent forests, crystal clear streams, and multiple lakes creating a "little slice of heaven." Folks are friendly and community-minded whether celebrating local festivals all year-round or fundraising for charities. The list of pluses could fill the whole paper, but the major reason we can celebrate our good fortune is that we are one of a diminishing list...
The Carlton and Wrenshall school districts made a joint effort to obtain funding from the State of Minnesota but it didn’t make the cut in this year’s bonding bill. This funding — called enhanced debt equalization aid — would have covered approximately 46 percent of the proposed consolidation improvements between the two districts. Depending upon what consolidation scenario was sought, the total cost was estimated at around $38 million, so about half of that would have been paid by our local C...
Candidates for public office participated in a forum this Wednesday night, organized by the Cloquet Area Chamber of Commerce and sponsored by our little newspaper along with WKLK Radio and CAT-7 (which will be soon operated by Pine Knot News, but isn’t yet). We heard from candidates for the Cloquet school board, District 1 county commissioner, Cloquet city council, and our local Minnesota House and Senate districts. The information provided by each candidate should make it easier for voters to decide whom they will select in November’s ele...
Seven of the area’s judges are on the ballot this year, running for re-election for six-year terms. There are no contested elections this year in our area. Every incumbent judge is running unopposed. There is a contested race in the State Supreme Court. I’ll get to that later. You may be wondering why no one runs against sitting judges. It’s because it’s difficult by design to win against a sitting judge. We have a nice system of selecting judges in Minnesota. Traditionally, most judges retire...
Dick Brenner has served the District 1 of Carlton County as commissioner for 28 years. We have known Mr. Brenner for all of those years and recognize his positive contributions to the county, school district, environment and public health. Experience and integrity count. Re-elect Dick Brenner. Terry and Vicki Anderson, Cloquet...
Jason Rarick should be returned to the Minnesota State Senate, District 11, on Nov. 3. District 11 includes all of Carlton and Pine counties, the eastern half of Kanabec County and four precincts in southwestern St. Louis County. The senator served as a representative in the legislature from 2014 to 2019 in House District 11B and was elected to the senate in a special election to replace Tony Lourey in 2019. Senator Rarick is a lifelong resident of Pine County. He has been active in the community as a 30-year member of the Knights of Columbus,...
Anyone else tired of fear? As if there weren’t enough things in this world trying to kill us and divide humanity, there had to be another added. And this one, during its infancy, has killed plenty. I pray they all rest in peace. There has been a lot of information shared with the masses, which has led to a state of confusion and fear for all of us. This past spring I was talking with a friend on the telephone and he told me I should “listen to understand.” It is good advice for everyone. This newest virus can no doubt kill, but is the word...
In response to last week’s letter “Say no to political fear mongering,” I — as the flyer author and co-host of the event of which she spoke — feel compelled to respond to what I see as a personal attack on Minnesota House District 11A candidate Jeff Dotseth. I want to set the record straight with facts. The meeting that was held was open to the public. It is a shame that anyone would personally attack someone for a flyer they saw on Facebook. Anyone who truly wanted to know what it was about could have attended the meeting, and then they woul...
I support Michelle Lee for Senate District 11 and will be casting my vote for her. I encourage everyone to do the same. My fundamental reasoning concerns who she is, and who her opponent is. Michelle Lee is endorsed by the vast majority of unions, over her opponent. In northern Minnesota, union endorsements aren’t handed out without a lot of scrutiny regarding which candidate most strongly supports them. Lee also supports Minnesota Care for all Minnesotans. As a relatively young person who was hospitalized this year for about a week due to C...
I was reading a book one day and came across a quote. It pointed the way the United States is heading with all the government giveaways and its trying to help everyone. “A democracy could only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves gifts from the public treasury.” That could include all the government programs that pass out free housing, food, fuel, health programs, Social Security and Medicare to those who don’t qualify and much more. The quote goes on: “From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candida...
As Election Day fast approaches, we have a number of very important decisions to make. One is close to home, right here in Carlton County. I submit to the community that Dick Brenner has earned the right to be re-elected as our District 1 Representative on the county board. Dick has done an outstanding job being a steward of the finite tax dollars we collectively entrust to the county. He appreciates the important difference between our community’s wants versus needs and is clearly committed to representing our district. I have found Dick to b...
Every Friday a group of us Trump supporters have been having a sign wave, rain or shine, on Highway 33 in Cloquet. Why? Because we believe in the Second Amendment, the police and law and order, the military and veterans, the flag (we kneel for the cross and stand for the flag), the right to speak our opinions, secure borders, the right to praise God without fear, every unborn boy or girl the right to live and grow up in the greatest country on Earth, the pledge of allegiance with “under God” in it, good and against evil, future of our cou...
We’ve been seeing candidates for public office, or their representatives, showing up at our front doors at odd times: evenings, Saturday afternoons, just about anytime really. Sometimes it’s a volunteer. Sometimes it’s the actual candidate. The pitch is uniform: “Hi, I’m so-and-so and I’m running for you-name-it. Are there any special concerns you have in this election? I’d like your vote.” We encourage you to answer the door when these candidates knock and spend a socially-distanced and masked minute or two with them. Let them know what your...
Local radio will never quite be the same after today. Kerry Rodd, who has been at WKLK Radio for about 14 years now, is retiring Friday. Well, retiring from radio, that is. He's planning to work at a local car dealership, using his media experience to promote the business as well as sell cars. He's been the general manager at WKLK for the past eight years, a job I really don't understand. How can you run a radio station while hosting a three-hour show every weekday morning and programs on...
I find it distasteful, disheartening and sad that Jeff Dotseth, Minnesota House of Representatives District 11A candidate, has stooped so low as to participate in fear propaganda. A September meeting agenda notice posted online was revealing. Questions to invited participants incited fear that local polling places would be closed down, stopping people from voting, and “Are you prepared for when they (BLM) come to your city? Do you have a network of Patriots that you can count on?” Wow. This manner of inciting fear in our communities is dep...
I always read the Pine Knot with interest, but the latest issue was an emotional rollercoaster for me. I was happy to see the Christmas fireworks canceled. As a local curmudgeon and dog owner, I cringe when Generous Jerry pitches his tent in the Super One parking lot and my neighbors rush to give him their monthly grocery allotment for their firework displays, which go on for days. Christmas is theoretically a religious holiday, and fireworks are just superfluous. If we need another display, make it for the Chinese new year, and set them off...
