County Commissioner won't seek re-election

In announcing he won’t seek reelection in November, Gary Peterson unofficially kicked off the local election season Monday during the Carlton County board meeting.

“It’s time for me to graduate from my county commissioner job,” said Peterson, a longtime educator who still substitute teaches in the area.

Peterson, 71, will have served 12 years, or three full terms, on the board by the time his term representing western Carlton County wraps up at the end of the year.

“Twelve years is long enough,” Peterson told the Pine Knot News. “When I see what goes on in Washington, D.C., where some of these...