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  • Letter to the editor: Signs are there for good reason

    Jun 21, 2024

    Earlier this month I saw a TV news story that some cities are placing cameras at stop signs. When you are caught not stopping at a stop sign, you might expect a fine. A lot of the comments were against this practice. I would be OK with this, and I’ll tell you why. Every day when I’m around town, I see drivers not stopping for stop signs. It happens quite frequently. One of the worst places is the four-way stop at the intersection of 14th Street and Doddridge Avenue. Some vehicles seem to make no effort to stop. I believe stop signs do not mea... Full story

  • Don't pass on reunions

    Francy Chammings|Jun 21, 2024

    In recent weeks, local schools held graduation ceremonies to honor this rite of passage into adulthood. These are momentous occasions, but most of us carry few memories of the speeches or the ritual after a few years have passed. What we do carry with us are the knowledge and lifelong emotional connections to our classmates. The grad parties and celebrations will continue for a while, but then it is time to move on. As the Class of ’24 continues to find its way in the world, they hold m... Full story

  • Knot Pining: Dad dance is a constant reckoning

    Mike Creger|Jun 14, 2024

    Call me shocked the other day when the 6-year-old started unpacking groceries and putting them away after her long day at camp. Unprodded. She also brushed her teeth that night without any coaxing. Every day has its moments, and those were nice ones. Of course, parenting is often laden with a tug and pull to get your kid to listen to anything you say or to move one muscle to help with anything. A lyric often comes to mind when in the throes of child negotiations: "My love and I, we are boxing... Full story

  • Korby's Connections: Hands of another time

    Steve Korby|Jun 14, 2024

    My granddaughter was recently sitting on my lap and asked, "Why do you have such hairy knuckles, Grandpa?" Kind of a personal question, but it made me pause and think. My dad had hairy knuckles. The hair even curled. To my eyes, he always had big, strong hands. He died 40 years ago, when I was 29. My dad, for most of his working life, was a car mechanic and gas station owner. When not at work, he was putzing around in his four-stall garage. He could fix almost anything: cars, plumbing,... Full story

  • Kettle River news

    Marcia Sarvela|Jun 14, 2024

    The Moose Lake Library used book sale is 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday, June 14 and Saturday, June 15 at the Riverside Ice Arena. It's part of the 2024 library's vendor and craft fair, and the book sale proceeds will go toward helping the library continue to serve the community. The Finnish Luncheon is at noon on June 18 at the Kettle River senior center. You don't have to be Finnish to attend, so come and enjoy some good food, time to visit with friends and maybe win a prize. The Kantela Players... Full story

  • Our View: Summer, summer

    Jun 7, 2024

    Oh, glorious summer in Minnesota, we hail thee. Sunny days with blue skies and so much green. Summer rains. Pinehurst Park will soon be brightly lit at night with summer softball leagues, and the swimming pond is full and opens its doors next week. Whitewater rafting has plenty of water to ride in the St. Louis River, which is high and impressive, but not threatening (yet). The drought is no more in Carlton County and most of the state, a happy change. The farmers market is open again, mini golf opens soon and folks are firing up their grills... Full story

  • Letter: Lost soldiers deserve our remembrance

    Jun 7, 2024

    Thank you, Mike Creger, for the excellent article about Cloquet native William Dupont in the May 24 edition of the Pine Knot News. It is the perfect reminder of what Memorial Day is all about. It is a very somber and poignant article that touches on the experience that way too many families across America have experienced when a loved one dies in warfare. You did a great job of introducing readers to the person behind the statistic. I was especially keen while reading the article because my paternal great-uncle from Itasca County was a B-17... Full story

  • Letter: Beware the many pitfalls of pot

    Jun 7, 2024

    I am a member of the state bar association and received the article “Strong Link Between Teen Cannabis Use and Psychosis Risk” in one of our weekly bar news updates. I am an assistant prosecutor for the cities of Carlton, Cloquet, and Scanlon, prosecuting misdemeanor offenses and select gross misdemeanor offenses such as thefts from Walmart and impaired driving. While in law school I trained as a guardian ad litem, which is someone who is court-appointed to be the voice for children in certain court proceedings. Part of the training inv... Full story

  • Notes from the Small Pond: Beholders

    Parnell Thill|Jun 7, 2024

    When the philosophers and theologians and other Smart Alecs living in the realm of Enlightenment remind us that “Beauty Is Everywhere” if only we’d open our vacant, searching eyes to it and allow the reality of it to blanket us like a saffron, terrycloth robe, they tend to leave out the part about beauty — the aesthetic elements of it, anyway — being inherently subjective. Your Beauty may not be mine. So, when we’re encouraged to “allow beauty in,” we’re, in fact, being encouraged to define what... Full story

  • Our View: Care to roll up your sleeves and run?

    May 31, 2024

    The window to run for public office closes at the end of the business day on Tuesday, when the two-week candidate filing season comes to a close. Running for local office is a big decision. A proper campaign to introduce or refamiliarize oneself with voters takes both time and fundraising for things like lawn signs. An election victory means modest or scant compensation in most cases, and comes with loads of responsibility. It requires the office holder to study and be informed on matters, and spend oodles of time in meetings and visiting with... Full story

  • Pine Thoughts: Home, sweet group home

    Brady Slater|May 31, 2024

    Earlier this week at the group home, we experienced a harrowing moment. One of our residents fell from bed, screaming he was hurt. Lying tense on the floor as we assessed his condition, his vocalization turned to a new refrain, “I’m afraid!” We felt so bad for him. We know him well, and understand his history of traumatic falls. We consoled and comforted him until he calmed. The Cloquet Area Fire District paramedics were able to assess him, deem him unharmed, and help return him to bed. Our resident shared a cathartic conversation with Jorda... Full story

  • Down on the farm: Farm tourism - yes, it's a real thing

    May 31, 2024

    The great migration from rural to urban living in the past century brings a nostalgia for farm life, which is met, in part, by agritourism. With the internet, organizations such as FarmStayUS, Hipcamp, and others can draw people from all over. Hosting strangers for a few days can be a cash stream boosting a working farmer’s livelihood. But certain ambitious organizations use farm visits to knit relationships that last. Renewing the Countryside (RTC), a Minnesota nonprofit, pursues the mission of “connecting people interested in sustainable rur...

  • A letter of advice to our graduates

    May 24, 2024

    Dear Graduates, Congratulations to the Class of 2024 on your graduation from high school. It is an accomplishment. You should be proud of yourselves. Please know that your community and loved ones are proud of you, too. As you go off to jobs, college, the military, trade school, work, a gap year (or two) or however you choose to begin adulthood, we’d like to offer some words of advice. While some of them seem cliche, that doesn’t mean they’re not sincere or based in reality. 1. Enjoy the moment, because you never know what’s coming next. W... Full story

  • Letter: Please, put youth before greed

    May 17, 2024

    I just finished reading the May 3 edition of the Pine Knot. I reside in Florida now but lived and worked most of my life in Cloquet. I was very disturbed by the business article written by Brady Slater, entitled, “Tribe projects include cannabis.” I worked for more than 20 years as a guidance counselor at Washington and Churchill elementary schools in Cloquet. As part of my job duties, I taught students about drug education, peer pressure, decision making, and consequences for actions. I have taught thousands of Cloquet kids during my car... Full story

  • Knot Pining: Binded by the lights

    Mike Creger|May 17, 2024

    OK, kids — go get your placards and bullhorns and be prepared to shove “OK, Boomer” at me. We live in a world with way too much information. It overwhelms. It freezes us. It rules us. It just makes things so dumbly different. The last time I wrote about an amazing Northern Lights experience seems like a lifetime ago. The last time I saw the aurora act like it did last week was in the 1990s. I’m not exactly sure when, because I’m old. (Shakes fist.) I was in my 20s, and, as those of that age are wont to do, I was walking home with some visi... Full story

  • Letter to the Editor: Law change welcome

    May 10, 2024

    I would like to thank Rep. Jeff Dotseth for his work co-sponsoring Minnesota House File 3925, which was just passed. The bill helps fix a problem with homeowners insurance for people who use a Transfer on Death Deed to pass real property to their heirs at death instead of having to go through the probate process. The bill is not perfect, but l believe it is an improvement over what the law was before. The bill was sponsored by four Republicans and two Democrats. I am glad the two parties were able to work together on this. Sam V. Calvert, St.... Full story

  • Letter to the Editor: Where are the hard numbers on wolves?

    May 10, 2024

    ete Stauber’s latest newsletter statements on wolf delisting I say: please put some numbers to your claims. Rep. Stauber goes on about wolf predation and lost pets but hasn’t provided much evidence of the problem besides anecdotes. What is the official documented rate of pet and livestock mortality in Minnesota? How much money has federal, state or counties agencies paid in compensation to farmers and ranchers in Minnesota for livestock lost to wolf predation? How do the “many experts, hunters and farmers” arrive at their wolf populat... Full story

  • Letter to the Editor: I second the support for newspapers

    May 10, 2024

    I would like to echo the remarks made by Mark Cline’s recent letter calling for support of our local newspaper, the Pine Knot News. We are fortunate to have a local paper to help us keep informed of local happenings and events. The Pine Knot has an excellent, competent and friendly staff. This is evidenced by the many awards that they have received. The recent articles on the status and description of the new county jail, the status of the Cloquet Forestry Center, future building plans for the Fond du Lac band among other stories are very i... Full story

  • Notes from the small pond: Motherhood

    Parnell Thill|May 10, 2024

    The young mother rubbed oil on her already brown legs and lay back on the towel in the sand, her skin a shiny offering to the sun. Nearby, her blond, husky son, covered in sand, sucked orange pop from a straw. “Don’t spill that,” the mother said, not opening her eyes, not moving her head, her brain slowly melting in the heat. “I’m not,” the boy said, truthfully. He looked at the pop and the sand around him, checking for signs of spillage. “I don’t want any ants,” the mother said, breathing a... Full story

  • Our View: Thumbs up, thumbs down

    May 3, 2024

    Fair warning out there, with spring comes a spirit of optimism, and the Pine Knot News is not immune. Thus, we give only positive feedback this week. Enjoy. Thumbs up to news that the legislature adopted compromise language for school district public notices that will keep them in local newspapers and allow only certain school districts — which unexpectedly find themselves without a local newspaper — to publish notices on their own websites until Aug. 1. Like Swift County Monitor-News publisher Reed Anfinson said in last week’s guest editorial:... Full story

  • Letter to the Editor: We need to support this paper

    May 3, 2024

    I moved to Cloquet upon retiring in 2017. I had previously lived in Chanhassen/Chaska, which were served by capable “local” newspapers. These papers and others were owned and operated by Southwest News Media. While having one company operating several regional papers made good economic sense (fewer staff, lower overhead, ability to sell ads in multiple papers, shared columns, etc.), it did so at the expense of each paper losing a bit of its truly local flavor. Shortly after I moved here, I was shocked to hear that Cloquet was getting its own... Full story

  • Letter to the Editor: Dotseth needs to be vigilant

    May 3, 2024

    Is Rep. Jeff Dotseth about to stumble again as he did last year with the bonding process that nearly cost Carlton County taxpayers $10 million in lost funding for the law enforcement complex in Carlton? In my opinion, Dotseth proved at that moment he cannot be trusted with issues directly affecting property taxes in Carlton County, and advancing our community’s needs should never again be left in the hands of his incompetent representation. Here we are again. In the current legislative session, Dotseth appears to have ambitious intentions f... Full story

  • Letter: Keep Carlton schools five-day strong

    Apr 26, 2024

    I am deeply troubled by the recent proposal to reduce the Carlton school week from five days to four. This change was proposed without adequate notification or consultation with parents, and it threatens not only our children’s education but also places an undue burden on working families who will need to arrange and pay for additional childcare. Next year, I will have three elementary school students. According to the childcare rate at South Terrace school, this care will cost $4v per hour, resulting in $2,400 for my family next year. With t... Full story

  • Letter: Support for new NLA school needed

    Apr 26, 2024

    The Northern Lights Academy is a school district serving students who need special education support for their whole school day. The staff at NLA believe all students deserve the opportunity to become academically successful and socially responsible citizens. This year they have asked the Minnesota Legislature for help in replacing outdated learning spaces which are also too small to serve all the students who need their level of support. Thank you, Sen. Jason Rarick and Rep. Jeff Dotseth, for introducing HF 4282 and SF 3939 — a request for a... Full story

  • Guest view: Public notice is vital to newspapers, which are vital to communities

    Apr 26, 2024

    Efforts are underway in the Minnesota Legislature to further damage the future of the state’s community newspapers. The Minnesota School Boards Association (MSBA) has proposed last-minute legislation allowing school districts to publish their public notices on school websites rather than in their local newspapers. In its argument for moving public notices to school websites, the MSBA points to the loss of community newspapers and the increasing difficulty of finding one in which to publish its notices. Although those instances are rare, they a... Full story

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