Neighbors tell city, police: 'enough is enough'

At first glance, Cloquet's Kelly Avenue looks like any other street in the city: mostly tidy homes with flowers blooming outside, tall trees, cars parked in driveways and on the street, the occasional person out for a walk. But neighbors told a different story at Tuesday's Cloquet City Council meeting. Close to a dozen people showed up to complain about what they see as an inadequate police response to repeated calls about two homes that make the neighborhood anything but peaceful.

Longtime Kelly Avenue resident Carol Chalberg didn't speak at the council meeting, but she's been plenty vocal about the issues on Kelly Avenue, where both her sister and son also have homes. "I've called until I'm purple in the face," Chalberg said.

Leah Mrozik told of finding a man passed out on her lawn at 6:30 one morning. He was passed out, bloody, "in a drunken stupor," she said.

"My husband called the police," Mrozik said. "Do you know what they said? 'Well this is a great way that I get to start my day.' Rick is like, 'seriously?' ...It's a good thing I woke up before my kids did."

It's a good thing I woke up before my kids did."

What made the longtime Kelly Avenue residents even more frustrated is that police came, woke the man up and escorted him back to what neighbors believe is a "drug house."

"We keep calling the police and nothing is ever done," she said angrily.

That was a repeated theme during the public comments portion of the meeting, when three neighbors spoke at length, representing the larger group. They said they'd asked for increased patrols but didn't get them, with police only coming when called for problems or medical emergencies, more often to the problem homes than the rest of the neighborhood.

Cloquet police chief Derek Randall didn't attend Tuesday's council meeting, but he responded to questions from the Pine Knot Wednesday afternoon. Randall said the department wants to meet with the neighbors and work together on solutions. In the meantime, the department is compiling data on calls for service there.

"I do not believe (nor does the data support) that the initial response is the problem. It's achieving a long-term solution and peace in the neighborhood," Randall said. "Our officers respond to all calls for service to the best of their ability, utilizing the options and resources available.

No quick fix

A walk down the street Tuesday evening reveals nothing obviously wrong on the six blocks that make up Kelly Avenue, which runs from 22nd to 28th streets. The grass of one of the troublesome homes is long, the back yard is cluttered and a window is missing from an upstairs window. There are a lot of police calls to that house, and neighbors see a lot of visitors at all hours of the night, resident Greta Winter-Jarvinen said. When she worked with the drug court, she said she used to catch some of her clients there.

"None of us feel safe, what are we supposed to do?" she asked.

The second house cited during Tuesday's meeting - home to a young boy who residents say has vandalized numerous properties and is often unsupervised - doesn't stand out in any way.

Neighbors are both frustrated with and worried about the children living in both homes, even about the 7-year-old who Mrozik claims (and says she has video footage to prove in some cases) has vandalized their vehicle with a bat and sidewalk chalk, broken basement windows, urinated on their garage and spent a day doing serious damage to the neighbors fence.

"He smacked seven panels on a brand new fence. He started at 9 a.m. that day, on June 28. It stopped at 7 p.m.," she told the council. "My husband and I work, then we have to haul our kids around, just like everyone else has to do. You get home and you have to haul out your cameras to see what has happened to your home - that we work hard for - or our vehicles. We try to speak to these parents so you don't have to call the police again and nothing happens."

Randall cautioned there is rarely a quick fix. The calls for service cited by neighbors during the meeting are complex, he said, often requiring more than just a law enforcement response to be successful and sustaining.

"When officers have probable cause to cite or arrest someone violating the law, they do so when appropriate," he added. "But when dealing with mental health, family issues, addiction, and other city code violations, arrest or imprisonment is not always an option or does not achieve the desired outcome."

The Cloquet police try to work with other agencies on those issues, collaborating with Carlton County Human Services and other resource providers to provide a service that will benefit everyone involved in these cases.

Law enforcement must also follow the U.S. Constitution, state and local law, and department policy when responding to calls, Randall explained.

"We establish probable cause based on facts that allow us to take extraordinary action," he said. "Examples would be obtaining warrants to enter someone's home without invitation, searching people and their items, and arresting them.

After Tuesday's council meeting, neighbors drove home. A few came outside to talk about the meeting. It's not the first time the tight knit street has dealt with a "drug house." Last time, Mrozik said, police chief Wade Lamirande used one of their homes to stake out the property and arrests were made. The home was eventually sold, gutted and cleaned up by a new owner.

Neighbors are guardedly hopeful their combined complaint will get results. So is Chief Randall, who plans to reach out, meet, share past actions and responses and work together "and hopefully remedy" as many issues as possible," he said Wednesday.

Other actions

In other actions during Tuesday's council meeting:

-The council accepted the resignation of Doug Wolf from the Cloquet Area Fire District Board, as he is moving out of Cloquet. They unanimously approved the appointment of Cloquet resident Erik Thorp, a full-time paramedic who works in Duluth, to replace him.

-Councilors passed two resolutions to sell $2.8 million in bonds to pay for utilities work on 14th Street this summer and replacement of all city water meters, which are approaching 20 years old and are beginning to fail. The 14th Street costs will be paid back with local option sales tax revenues, while the meter money will be covered by existing budget allocations of $250,000 per year

-The council also supported a $400,000 grant application for broadband funds from the state. If awarded, the grant would go toward paying $1 million in costs for Consolidated Telephone Company to lay fiber optic cable past 246 homes in northern Cloquet in unserved or underserved areas including the Highway 33 corridor from North Cloquet Road to St. Louis River Road and nearby roads including but not limited to Stark, Crosby, Laine, Prevost, English and Freeman roads. The city has asked Thomson Township to join them on the grant application. If Thomson joins, the covered area would also include Hill, Erkilla, Maki and Stark and North Cloquet roads within the township boundaries, running past an additional 90-plus homes there. If the grant is approved, Cloquet would be obliged to pay $300,000 in America Rescue Plan Act funds and CTC would pay the additional costs.