West End News: September 5

I was surprised to receive a call from the Duluth News Tribune last weekend, asking me to comment on the permanent closing of Satellite’s Country Inn restaurant in Schroeder.  I don’t get out much in the summer, so I hadn’t noticed that the landmark café had not opened this summer. 
 
Marion McKeever and her family have been operating the restaurant and cabin business since 1980.  The McKeevers are famous for their well drilling business, but back in the ‘80s they also operated a satellite TV business, so they just carried the business name over to the café and cabins.
 
Over the years, many locals and visitors enjoyed the family atmosphere and the good food at Satellite’s.  It always felt more like you were in Marion’s home than in a restaurant. That personal touch that comes from a Ma & Pa-style business is largely lost in the United States now, as corporate business models inexorably take over.  The small café and independent corner store are slowly going the way of the small family farm.  The new model may be more efficient, but the loss of community connections is a sad thing to witness.
 
Marion says that she is still open to organizing the wonderful fish cake fundraiser that she does every year for the Birch Grove Foundation. The cabin rental business is still going strong as well. Only the food service part of the business is closing.
 
The McKeever family is very well respected in the community and they have made countless contributions over the years.  Hopefully, Marion will now have some time for some well-deserved relaxation and fun.
 
By now, everyone knows that Highway 61 will be under construction in eastern Lake County for most of the next year. But you may not know that Highway 1 between Ely and the North Shore will be closed off and on this fall.  Detours will be provided whenever a section is closed, but some of the detours will be fairly inconvenient and routed on gravel roads, so plan accordingly if you are headed up to Ely.
 
Our Congressman, Rick Nolan, was in town this week for a fundraiser hosted by Dennis Rysdahl at Surfside Resort in Tofte. Nolan talked for about an hour and a half to a good-sized group of local citizens.  He commented that it’s hard to be a member of a Congress that is best known for doing nothing.  He noted that the current Congress enjoys approval ratings that are lower than the Communist Party and root canal. 
 
Nolen previously served in Congress back in the 1970s. His 34-year hiatus is the longest in the history of the institution.  He noted that during his first hitch, the House of Representatives held more than 5,000 committee meetings per year, where legislation was debated, refined, and eventually brought to the floor of the house for a vote.  This year, they only will have around 500 committee meetings.
 
In spite of the gridlock on the big issues, Congressman Nolan has managed to pass some significant local and regional bills, including funding of Great Lakes infrastructure and clearing some red tape for Cirrus Design in Duluth, allowing them to add almost 200 good jobs in the last year.
 
Nolan is pretty disgusted with the influence of money on the current Congress. He’s working hard to institute reforms that would allow our legislators to start working on the people’s business again and be free from the continuous fund raising that characterizes today’s Congress.
 
I’ve been to a lot of political fundraisers in my time, but I have to say that the food at the Surfside Resort was the best I’ve ever had.  The influence of well-known Chef Judi Barsness was immediately evident.  Judi is back at the Bluefin Bay family of resorts after many years of running her own restaurant in Grand Marais.  She is working part time for the next two years, consulting, revamping the menu, and generally lending her amazing skills to the Bluefin eateries.  We are all the beneficiaries of this arrangement.
 
What is the deal this year with lost dogs in the wilderness?  Over the Labor Day weekend, we had this summer’s third dog, and the third collie-type dog, run away from its owner during a thunderstorm. 
 
The first was a collie lost on Brule Lake that was returned to its owner after several days.  That story made statewide news.  The second was a border collie that survived alone in the wilderness for two weeks before being lured into a campsite, captured and returned to his grateful owners.  The latest was a sheltie collie named Cloud that was found on a portage, brought here to Sawbill, and returned to her grateful and relieved owner about 24 hours after she ran off into the wilderness.
 
Apparently, collies really don’t like lightning and thunder – who knew?
 
For WTIP, this is Bill Hansen with the West End News.

note on photo:  Moments after this picture was taken, Cloud was joyously reunited with her favorite human.