Articles

Mother and son escape early morning fire

A Cloquet mother and son escaped an early morning fire last Friday without harm thanks in part to the smoke alarm.

• Early morning fire

A personal look at mental illness

Because May is Mental Health Month, Sharon Wimmer agreed to do this Question and-Answer story with the Pine Journal to share her own experience with mental illness and to emphasize that indeed, recovery is possible.

Learning from mistakes

Last week in a story about Connie Hyde being selected as the new principal at Washington Elementary School, the Pine Journal incorrectly asserted that Hyde was the first female administrator hired by the district. And boy, did we hear about it.

Political candidates can start filing for office soon

Although a number of folks have declared their candidacy for the newly formed House 11A seat, the truth is, not a single one of them has filed for office yet.

Mr. Thudin is retiring

Staff, students and parents at Washington School will host a retirement open house for Principal Randy Thudin from 3-6 p.m. Wednesday, May 16 in the Washington School media center (aka library).

• Kids draw Mr. Thudin
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• The best things come in pairs
• Randy and Elaine
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• Family photo

A chicken in every backyard?

A half dozen volunteers met Tuesday to begin the process of trying to come up with a new city ordinance that would allow chickens inside city limits.

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From the Editor

There’s a reason I volunteered to be part of a committee that’s trying to make Cloquet more bike- and pedestrian-friendly.

City approves loan to hockey arena for new Zamboni, cooling tower

On Tuesday, Cloquet City Council members and Mayor Bruce Ahlgren approved a loan for up to $175,000 to the Cloquet Area Hockey Association (CAHA) to help cover costs associated with the replacement of the cooling tower this past hockey season and the purchase of an electric Zamboni machine.

Email warning ‘explodes’ across the Internet

An emailed warning from the Carlton County Transportation Department took on a life of its own late last month, when word about the warning spread like wildfire … or like an email hoax.

Dancing with Dad

The girls wore swirling tulle, polka dots, ruffles, and a few even managed to color-coordinate with Dad for Saturday's Father Daughter Ball in Cloquet.

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• Fifth annual REACH Father Daughter Ball

Columns

Landfill redux

The Cloquet City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to reconsider a landfill conditional use permit in light of additional information provided by the applicant, Dem-Con Companies, as well as the proposed new conditions. To hear the entire council meeting (which was not broadcast on CAT-7) click on the audio recording attached to this story.

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The Pine Pulse... The road to the top is seldom smooth

At the top of what I assumed was the first flight of stairs ascending to the Queen of Peace bell tower in Cloquet last week, my guide suddenly bowed out. It was then that I noticed a tall wooden ladder that would take me farther up. “Is it like this all the way up from here?” I asked my guide casually, as if I relished climbing wooden ladders in lightning-damaged old buildings.

The Pine Pulse... Carlton County bike thrills

On Saturday, I decided to roll out of bed and go for it. It was finally time to ride. My bike, that is. I don’t know if anyone recalls that first story about me when I arrived in Cloquet to begin my new life as editor, but there was a line about how I looked forward to riding my bike around Carlton County. I had visions of rolling through the countryside and doing an ongoing column describing all the cool places I would ride.

The Pine Pulse... 'National Lampoon Family Vacation' - Baumann style

There I was, enjoying the view of greater Seattle out the window and the smooth ride of the rented Lincoln Navigator, as I sat in the “way back” of the vehicle. My parents were up front, while my sister and her husband sat in the second row. As I jokingly yelled, “How much longer?” I realized I was a kid again, on a trip with my family, reminiscent of the classic “Vacation” movies.

The Pine Pulse... Fond racing memory: Soaked-to-the-bone sweatshirts

I officially gave up my nickname of “sponge” last week after my parents sold the sailboat we raced twice a week for some 20-odd-years on Lake Minnetonka. This slightly strange absorbant monikor was bestowed on me for my accidental role in helping to keep the other crew members high and dry.

The Pine Pulse.... Tax Prep: What a rush

I googled the word “turbo” the other day. It came up with 112,000,000 results, including a Web site that claimed to be for “users who love the rush of all things motorized.” It also seems a Polish heavy metal band went by the name “Turbo” during the early ‘80s.

The Pine Pulse... So many channels, so little time

On Sunday, a whole new world opened up to me while I sat in true couch-potato form in my living room. Because of a blunder the communications company made with our Internet service, they gave us three months of the so-called premium cable channels to surf at our leisure.

The Pine Pulse... Ahhhh, blizzards are fun, exciting!

So this is winter! For at least 20 years now I’ve been complaining about the cold, wind and snow. And after last week, I realize why.

The Pine Pulse... There’s no place like a new home

A welcoming whirlwind. That pretty accurately sums up my first week as editor of The Pine Journal. Being from the Twin Cities originally, I can’t call this area home, at least not yet. In fact, the only experience I’ve ever had in Cloquet included a fun visit to the Bentleyville holiday lights show, and a trip to Sammy’s Pizza to fuel up beforehand, in December of 2005.