After over a decade of discussion, debate, and deliberation, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has traded 320 acres of its Cook County real estate for 440 acres of land that was formerly in private hands. The DNR now owns 11 40-acre parcels of land off the Arrowhead Trail in Hovland formerly owned by Larry and Leanne DeWester, part-time […]
Teachers facing job losses with school budget cuts
After several years of budget reductions to address declining enrollment, the ISD 166 school board is down to cutting licensed teaching staff. At a Monday, February 22, 2010 school board meeting, Superintendent Beth Schwarz recommended program changes that would reduce or eliminate the jobs of 11 teachers. After making cuts in numerous areas such as custodial and secretarial staff, materials […]
Rep. David Dill’s kidney transplant not “imminent”
Reached by phone on February 19, Representative David Dill (DFL – Crane Lake) confirmed recent news reports that he has kidney disease and will eventually need a kidney transplant— but it will most likely be a year or more before that surgery is necessary. “I feel fine,” said Dill, “I’m doing my work every day.” Dill explained that he was […]
Olympic mistakes
Like our Over the Hill columnist Joan Crosby, I am addicted to the 2010 Olympics. It has been exciting to watch the adventures of Minnesota-born Alpine skier Lindsey Vonn, winning gold despite a severely bruised shin. It has been uplifting to see Apolo Ohno win medal after medal in speed-skating— after warming up by yawning, no less. It is moving […]
Waiting and Listening
Come, O life giving Creator, and rattle the door latch of my slumbering heart. Awaken me as you breathe upon a winter-wrapped earth, gently calling to life virgin Spring. Awaken, in these fortified days of Lenten prayer and discipline, my youthful dream of holiness. Call me forth from the prison camp of my numerous past defeats and my narrow patterns […]
Historical Reflections
Long and brutal wintersFourteen miles up the Caribou Trail is Tait Lake. The roads around the lake, Cap’s Trail and Billie’s Trail, were named for my aunt and uncle, Mathilde “Billie” Petersen and Martin “Cap” Petersen. They once owned the land upon which today’s Tait Lake residents have built their homes. The original Tait Lake Lodge, which Cap and Billie built, was their […]
Down Memory Lane
10 Years Ago · Feb. 28, 2000 • Directors of the Cook County North Shore Hospital said at their February meeting that they will consider changing the way the facility receives its annual funding, with the most likely option being the implementation of a modest sales tax. • The Trust for Public Land, working with the city of Grand Marais, […]
Baby, you’re a character
The love of reading started for me really early, probably by the second grade. Until recently, I hadn’t realized the effect all this reading had on my life. Possibly some of it was subliminal. On close evaluation it appears that all of my children have names from characters in some of my favorite books. This realization came to me with […]
Community Calendar
Cook County AA Meetings Mondays: Open Meeting, 7:30 PM, Grand Marais Senior Center (1st Monday of the month is potluck/speaker meetings. Potluck at 6:30 PM and speaker at 7:30). Tuesdays: Big Book Study Group, Open Meeting, 6:00 PM, First Congregational Church in Grand Marais. Wednesdays: 12 Step Study Meeting, 6:30 PM, Arrowhead Electric Co-op building, Lutsen. Thursdays: Women’s Meeting, Noon, […]