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Just over a month after Esko schools had to evacuate due to a bomb threat, the same thing happened in Cloquet on Wednesday, April 20. Cloquet police chief Derek Randall told the Pine Knot that the Cloquet High School call was "exactly the same script" as the Esko call on March 17, including allegations of a backpack with wires being left in a particular classroom. The FBI confirmed afterward that the call to Esko - and numerous other schools in Wisconsin, Louisiana and California on March 17 -... Full story
Those looking to celebrate Earth Day in the community have at least two options in Cloquet this weekend and next. The Cloquet Public Library will host an Earth Day celebration from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, April 23 at the library, 320 14th St. The free event is open to all ages and will feature a kids’ clothing swap, DIY no-sew T-shirt bag, grow-your-own cucumber seedling, book sale and more. The City of Cloquet and the Boldt Company are organizing the second annual Cloquet Earth Day cleanup f... Full story
Three kittens are safe and sound thanks to an alert RV owner and Cloquet firefighters, police officers and an animal rescue volunteer who all came to the rescue. On April 12, a camper owner heard baby kittens crying inside the vehicle when he returned from shopping at the Walmart store in Cloquet. Cloquet police officer Elijah Haglund responded and soon got Jodi Carlson of Missing Pets of the Northland involved. According to the Missing Pets Facebook page, Carlson tried to lure the kittens with...
Shelley “Sam” Hartman, 66, of Moose Lake and formerly of Carlton, gained her wings on Tuesday, April 12, 2022. She was born on August 30, 1955 in Duluth to Harold and Helen Olsen. Shelley grew up on Green Hill Farm west of Barnum and attended Barnum High School. On June 28, 1975, Shelley married Dave Hartman in Moose Lake. Although their relationship may not have been what most would have considered normal, they truly loved each other and kept each other company through the years. They liv... Full story
Joyce Delaine (Gault) Anderson, 91, went to be with the Lord on April 14, 2022, at Diamond Willow. She spent her final days surrounded by her loved ones. Joyce was born Dec. 14, 1930, in Duluth to Charles Raymond and Anna (Ruhnke) Gault. She was raised in Wrenshall, where she attended school and was a cheerleader and homecoming queen, graduating as a Wren. She married the love of her life, Donald A. Anderson, on March 28, 1953. Joyce worked at Travelers Insurance and the Carlton County... Full story
Ailie Evelyn Calverley, 89, of Carlton passed away Tuesday, April 19, 2022, in Inter-Faith Care Center in Carlton. She was born on June 24, 1932, in Automba Township to Oscar and Matilda Rautio. She grew up in Kalevala Township and graduated from high school in 1950. On May 4, 1974 she married John Calverley in Nashua, Iowa. Ailie worked at Potlatch for 16 years. She was a member of Salem Lutheran Church in Mahtowa. She enjoyed fishing, camping and traveling. She spent three months in Finland learning her heritage and two months in Europe... Full story
Myrtle J. Radford, nee Hall, 88, passed away March 13, 2022, at The Pillars of White Bear Lake. Myrt was a longtime resident of Cloquet before moving to White Bear Lake in December of 2021. She was born Dec. 25, 1933, to Mabel and Elvin Hall. Myrt grew up in Cass Lake, where she graduated as high school valedictorian and went on to be Miss Cass Lake. She earned a bachelor of science degree in education with a minor in music from Bemidji State College. In 1957, Myrt married J. David Radford and... Full story
Arnelda M. Southworth, 89, passed away April 13, 2022, surrounded by family. She was born May 14, 1932, in Fosston to Christian and Nora (Ness) Krohg. After losing her father at age 2, she was raised by her mother, the youngest in a blended family of 13 brothers and sisters, whom she adored. Arnelda graduated from high school in 1950 and attended Bemidji State Teachers college, earning a provisional two-year teaching certificate. She began teaching in Bagley, where she met her husband of 44... Full story
Dorothy Sivia (Aho) Alanen Green, 90, of Cloquet, passed away Dec. 27, 2021, at Plainview Estates in Cloquet. Visitation: 1 p.m. until the 2 p.m. memorial service May 7 at St. Paul's Lutheran Church, 1705 Wilson Ave., Cloquet, with a luncheon to follow. Please join us for a Celebration of Life for Major David Goard from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, April 30 at the Carlton VFW, 124 Chestnut Ave., in Carlton.... Full story
The mood at the Carlton school board meeting was subdued, an obvious reaction to what was on the agenda: more cuts to education programs as the board seeks to find $250,000 in budget savings for the next school year. After Monday, it was $135,000 short of that goal as an estimated $115,000 in cuts have been made. There were mixed votes on all five reductions offered Monday, with just one failing on a tied vote. Moving arts classes to an online-only option failed, with those voting against saying the arts gets the ax too often when budget cuts...
While it lacked the visual excitement of scores of children running around picking up brightly colored eggs like tiny vacuum cleaners, Saturday's Skate with the Easter Bunny event was a hit with kids and parents. Everyone could skate for free indoors, with music blaring and the Easter Bunny and the Lumberjacks mascot both hitting the ice. In the lobby there was popcorn, face painting and Easter crowns to be colored. Although there were no plastic Easter eggs in sight, every child could grab a... Full story
Volunteers from the Mahtowa Fire Department and the dispatch supervisor at the Carlton County Sheriff's Office were recognized at this year's Carlton County EMS Council awards. EMS Council chairman Steve Trenhaile of the Moose Lake fire district handed out plaques for Jon Fundine for a Lifetime Achievement Award, his brother Jim Fundine for an EMS Person of the Year, and Dylan Bridges as a Carlton County Friend of EMS at the county board meeting on April 12. Jon Fundine was nominated by the... Full story
The Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Reservation Business Committee will hold a hearing at at 9 a.m. Monday, April 25, in the Otter Creek Convention Center at the Black Bear Casino Resort, to address the written censure issued to chairman Kevin R. Dupuis Sr. by the Minnesota Tribal Executive Committee. Fond du Lac secretary/treasurer Ferdinand Martineau made the original motion at the January TEC meeting to censure Dupuis for violating a reservation ordinance that prohibits weapons in tribal public buildings. The Band’s chief j... Full story
Cloquet apartment building owner Roger Bruhn calls his current conundrum a "series of unfortunate events." When the pandemic hit in 2020, he faced, for the first time, tenants who were not paying rent on units in the Victory Apartments at 17 Eighth Street. That's because federal rules allowed tenants to forgo paying rent during the pandemic without fear of eviction. For 17 years, Bruhn said, he has dealt with only one eviction. Now he had four, soon to be five, units with no rental income in...
Cloquet city councilors voted unanimously Tuesday to approve the condemnation of the building that once housed Mexico Lindo, a three-story building at 915 Cloquet Ave. originally constructed as the Hotel Solem in 1921. The vote came after two years of attempts by the city to get the property owners to make repairs, after building official Matt Munter found numerous issues including a leaky roof and bulging brick walls. The city got no response from the owners to multiple orders to repair until...
The Cloquet Police Department is participating in the DEA National Prescription Drug Take Back Day 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. April 30. This initiative allows residents of Cloquet to safely, and discreetly, discard their old or unused prescription medications. The Cloquet Police Department serves as one of several local collection sites....
There are vaccines for diseases other than Covid-19 and many children have some catching up to do. To help with that, Carlton County Public Health will hold a free vaccine clinic for kids ages 11-18 from 3:30 to 4:45 p.m. May 10 at the Carlton County Community Services Building, 14 North 11th Street. There is no charge. Insurance information will be collected and insurance billed if possible, but there is no charge if the child is uninsured. Available vaccines will include Tdap (tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis), meningococcal conjugate, HPV... Full story
Two area high schools will present their spring plays next weekend. Performances of “Puffs,” a Cloquet High School play are set for 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, May 29-30 and 2 p.m. Sunday, May 1. It’s a play about a certain wizarding school, but not Harry Potter. Rather, is the story of the Puffs ... who just happened to be there too. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for students and senior citizens. Buy tickets online at https://www.showtix4u.com/event-details/64283 or at the door. The Carlton High School production of “Check Please...
After approving a two-year contract with the teachers union, Barnum school board members expressed their relief that the process was over and that negotiations went well. “Things went fantastic,” board member Jamie Fuglestad said. Board chairwoman Jessica Unkelhaeuser listed the terms during the meeting Tuesday, April 19: 1 percent in steps the first year, 1.25 percent in steps the second year, a sick bank was created with language changes, and there were other language changes. The board also approved a Shared Service Agreement between the...
Carlton resident Galyna Tuttle didn't cry when she told the story of the young boy who bled to death in her native country of Ukraine, because she's all cried out after hearing and reading and talking about the horrors of war. Tuttle doesn't live there anymore; she moved to the United States with her husband, Andrew, 16 years ago. She's still shocked that there is even war in her country, and that shock has been multiplied many times by what has happened since Russia invaded. It's a world away... Full story
For those wondering how Carmen Purcell has fared in her mission to aid or rescue a Ukrainian teenager she considers a member of the family, things are moving in the right direction. When the Pine Knot News last wrote about Carmen and Craig Purcell and their fears for Sonia, a 14-year-old they hosted here in Minnesota when she was 9, Sonia and her parents were living in a town occupied by Russians, but not under direct attack. That was March 4, eight days after the war began. (See "Family has dee... Full story
Spring may be the season of snow and mud in Minnesota, but earlier this month city administrator Tim Peterson pointed out a third substance that emerges in spring: dog poop. "We've had a lot of complaints about dog poop in Veterans Park," he told city councilors on April 4. "It was also brought to my attention today that our two parks staff each spent four hours cleaning up dog poop around the train park," he said, referring to Fauley Park, a relatively small park that lies between the West End... Full story
There’s been a truly serviceable public service announcement on area radio stations since the pandemic started. I say that because Kevin Love, the former Minnesota Timberwolves player, is speaking about anxieties in troubled times and turning to mindfulness. Then he guides a small exercise, asking that we take a “big, deep breath,” “in, and out,” “just breathing.” The PSA is on the radio a lot, and each time I hear it, I take those breaths. It’s a great prompt to “be kind to ourselves.” The pandemic has hit everyone in different ways, but... Full story
Thanks to Jana Peterson for the nice article she wrote for the Pine Knot about the status of the Cloquet Forestry Center. The transparency she provided which has been sorely lacking was welcome. The Cloquet Forestry Center has a rich and productive history. Our local community has always supported it and hopefully their use of the many roads for hiking, snowshoeing and cross-country skiing will continue for many years. Al Alm, Cloquet... Full story
Every now and then it crowds into one’s consciousness: Why am I rich, poor or middling? How’d I get here? How does Relativity matter? What if I was in Ukraine? Now what? What after I’m dead? At the risk of revealing the obvious: while this is largely an Old Person Conundrum, the fact is, people go through this self-audit on a constant basis from a very early age. It’s the intensity of the boil-from-simmer that differentiates the younger consideration from the more seasoned. Water boils at 212... Full story