As the walls of the new portion of the Cook County Family YMCA facility were going up, on May 14, 2013 the Cook County Board of Commissioners voted to change its name to the Cook County Community YMCA. Commissioner Sue Hakes brought a request for the name change from the Community Center Steering Committee, some of whose members thought the […]
Historical Society to receive grant for purchase of Bally’s Blacksmith Shop
In February 2013, the Cook County Historical Society approached the Cook County commissioners with an interesting idea. The historical society asked the county to partner on a grant application to obtain funds to purchase and preserve the Bally’s Blacksmith Shop property in downtown Grand Marais. After some legal wrangling, the county agreed and the grant was applied for. Museum Director […]
DNR moose study moves on to monitoring calves
As part of its study to determine what is causing the steep decline in the moose population in northeastern Minnesota, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has begun radio collaring 50 moose calves. The collars placed on the young moose hold GPS trackers and transmitters that send back information (heart rate, air temperature, etc.) to researchers every 20 minutes. […]
Council approves tower replacement, sign repair
Grand Marais city councilors went forward with a number of projects May 8, 2013, their first meeting in almost a month; council’s April 24 meeting was cancelled due to lack of a quorum. First on the agenda was Danna MacKenzie, Cook County’s information systems director. She was on hand to explain a proposal from Verizon Wireless seeking to replace an […]
Family still searching for missing pilot
Almost a year ago, my husband, Mike Bratlie, went missing while flying our twinengine plane. There has been no trace of him or the plane. His last known location was between Two Harbors and Silver Bay. As readers begin to enjoy spring (finally!) in the beautiful Northwoods, I would ask that that they be aware that Mike’s whereabouts are still […]
Governor proud to sign freedom to marry law
Last night, May 14, we reached the end of a long, hard journey. At 5 p.m., I signed the freedom to marry into law. We woke up today to a fairer and more just Minnesota. Thank you for refusing to give up on it. Because of you, last November we defeated a very destructive constitutional amendment that would have forever […]
Marriage equality is a social experiment
It’s our fault that Minnesota has become crazy. We the people were stupid enough to elect the DFL to control the House, the Senate and governor’s office all at the same time. This is the punishment for our lack of vision. The only thing we can do now is remove these state officials on their next elections. The current politicians […]
Mixing politics and religion can be dangerous
I hoped my recent letter would stir discussion. It did, though Fred Morris’s historical dabble misses the point. He, like Congressman Ellison, ignores current use by a religion so adamantly political it has fostered scores of nation-states that define civil and human rights based on religious practice. Morris may point to historical Moorish Spain, a diversion evading the present day […]
More than a blacksmith shop
Our local historical societies do amazing work. We are blessed to have a small but dedicated workforce and a legion of volunteers who work to keep the story of Cook County alive. In all corners of the county there are places to visit that house pieces of our past—the Cross River Heritage Center in Schroeder, the North Shore Commercial Fishing […]