Dolores (Dee) Gayle Andersen, 71, passed in to heaven on December 15, 2015, at the Cook County North Shore Care Center, her family at her side. Delores was born September 14, 1944, in Thief River Falls, Minnesota, to Orville and Belle (Anderson) Rolandson. She graduated from Lincoln High School, Thief River Falls in 1962. Shortly after earning her cosmetology license […]
Holiday cheer at Birch Grove Community Center
December 2015 is hereand almost gone, it came in so slowand didn’t last long. This month has beenjoyously very productive, Cook County heartshave been happy to give. The positive energy surrounding our Birch Grove Community Center is growing. There has been renewed interest and participation. My goal is to establish programs to bring a variety of people into this wonderful […]
Down Memory Lane
10 Years Ago Dec. 23, 2005 Buses taking students from Grand Portage to the Grand Marais campus are too crowded, say members of the Grand Portage Band who spoke to the school board at its Monday meeting. “The way it is now, it’s unsatisfactory to the community,” said John Morrin, a member of the Grand Portage Tribal Council. “There’s no […]
Leadership changing at North Shore Health Care Foundation
North Shore Health Care Foundation was very fortunate in 2007 to have six wonderful people join the board of directors. Today, nine years later, four of them are leaving. John Bottger, board president, Jayne Johnson, board secretary, Fran Smith, and Kathy Hellner have all reached the term limit set in statute, and will be sorely missed at foundation meetings. John […]
Mental health hygiene
A number of years back, during a meeting of area professionals, the facilitator asked us to share with the group a favorite quote or saying. I recall scrambling to think of something when out of my mouth popped the words, “Don’t go into the rapids without a paddle.” To this day, I have no idea where the words came from, […]
Supporting Cook County education
The intricacies of school finance are quite extraordinary. Did you know school districts receive 10 percent of their state revenue after the fiscal year closes? For ISD 166 that means that over $400,000 is not available for our school during the fiscal year. This delay in funds makes managing cash flow very difficult, especially without a sizable fund balance. Many […]
Cook County calls for withdrawal of gypsy moth quarantine
Cook County joined Lake County in asking the state of Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) to lift the gypsy moth quarantine on wood products coming from each county at its December 22 meeting. Lake County called on the state to end the quarantine at the end of November. History of the pest With few natural predators in the U.S., this […]
County considers policy change after sick leave conversion request
Three Christmas elves and two gnomes greeted the few people attending the Cook County commissioners’ December 22 meeting. Santa Claus was no doubt just around a corner at the courthouse as commissioners—wearing red pointy hats and red rouge on their cheeks— conducted business one last time for 2015. It was a jolly meeting with no Grinch-like moments. Cook County Sheriff […]
City council approves 2016 budget with 5.79 percent increase
Following numerous meetings and discussions over the past several months, Grand Marais city councilors convened Dec. 18 to approve the final version of the 2016 budget. The spending plan, which was approved unanimously at the outset of the three-minute meeting, sets the levy at $871,865, a 5.79 percent increase over the current levy. However, that number is down significantly from […]