North Shore News Hour

Sarah Somnis is a Tofte town supervisor and works for Cascade Maintenance Services. Within the maintenance service, there is a new division--Sparkle Services. Sarah heads up that department, offering all sorts of design service to commercial and private property owners. 

It's an interesting business name, so WTIP wanted to learn more. Here's Rhonda Silence with Sarah Somnis. 

When complete, the Gitchi-Gami State Trail will be an 89-mile paved bicycle trail between Two Harbors and Grand Marais. It is being constructed in phases and so far almost 30 miles has been completed, so that means there is a lot to go.

Eventually, the Gitchi-Gami Trail will go through the township of Lutsen and to learn more about that, WTIP's Rhonda Silence caught up with Lutsen Supervisor Andrew Beavers. 

More information on the trail planning for Lutsen can also be found on the Arrowhead Regional Development Commission website. 
 

The Grand Marais City Council held its last February meeting on Wednesday, February 27 and tackled a full agenda.

The council considered proposals from the Minnesota Department of Transportation for land acquistion for the upcoming Highway 61 road reconstruction through the city. The council passed motions to accept the right-of-way acquisition offers for two of three parcels. Councilors had questions on the remaining site and will follow up on that.

Grand Marais Fire Department Chief Ben Silence and Assistant Chief Aaron Mielke were at the council meeting to answer questions about the new operations manual for the volunteer fire department. The council approved the changes, which formalize much of the work the firefighters are already doing. Mayor Arrowsmith DeCoux said the adoption of the manual could mean a reduction on city property owner's home insurance. The mayor gave kudos to the fire department for the work they do.

The city and fire department officials also talked about the current and future condition of fire hydrants in the city. The importance of clearing snow from fire hydrants was stressed.

The fire department is also working with the city public works department to flush fire hydrants this spring. It could mean some disruption to water service for Grand Marais PUC customers, but it needs to be done periodically to keep fire hydrants in good working order.

The council shared information on the work session held to set city priorities, which the mayor shared on his blog 
as follows:
1. City code update and enforcement - Review, update, create enforcement strategy
2. Update city/county agreements - Start conversations to renegotiate and update agreements
3. Redevelop city hall/liquor store site - Explore all options of development, including private development, considering cost and ongoing impact to the community
4. Highway 61 - Advocate for community needs before and during construction. Work with MnDOT to establish maintenance agreements
5. Housing - Evaluate city programs/regulations and potential changes to address housing. Identify a strategy to invest in housing
6. Capital Improvement Plan - Continue to maintain a capital improvement plan to fund upcoming, scheduled projects and to begin planning for upcoming projects that are not yet scheduled.

The council had some discussion of priority number 2 – the possible redevelopment of the city hall/liquor store building. The council agreed to issue a request for proposals for development of the building. The mayor stressed that the building is not for sale at this time. He said the city wants to gather ideas for future use of the site.

The city also made its selection to fill the vacancy on the Grand Marais Planning Commission. Two citizens expressed interest – Michael McHugh and Phil Oswald. The council said both candidates would be great additions to the commission, but ultimately selected McHugh for the seat. Mayor Arrowsmith DeCoux asked Oswald to put his name in for the next vacancy that arises.

The council also asked interested citizens to consider applying for a vacancy on the Grand Marais Park Board.

WTIP’s Rhonda Silence checked in with the mayor after the meeting to learn more about all of these topics.

Despite cold temps and high winds, the Cook County Ridge Riders Snowmobile Club had a great turnout for their annual Trout Derby on Saturday, March 2, held this year at West Bearskin Lake.

Samantha Wallner of the Ridge Riders said about 70 people came out – some to fish; some to enjoy lunch and some just to see friends and enjoy snowmobiling in the area.

Fishing was decent for the derby. Brandon Marxen took first place with an 11 lb trout.  Robin Bue was 2nd with a trout weighing 9 lbs 9 oz.  Barry Pederson was 3rd with an 8 lb 11 oz trout and Kevin Sheils was 4th with 7 lb trout.  Jimmy Wallner was 5th with a 6 lb 14 oz trout. There were a number of other fish caught, all around 3 pounds.

The Ridge Riders report that a good time was had by all.
 

James Zimmer, a 1998 Cook County High School graduate, recently moved back to Grand Marais after 20 years in the U.S. Army. He had an interesting military career and earned his Master’s degree in social work while serving.

WTIP invited James to come talk to us about his experiences. Here’s Rhonda Silence with more.
 

For more than a decade, a loose-knit group of pilots and community members has hosted a fly-in pancake breakfast at the Cook County Airport, as a way to get the community interested in aviation.

Participants wanted to do more and the group is now an official organization, the Arrowhead Eagles, which is working to promote all things aviation.

The Arrowhead Eagles work to encourage the public to partake in aviation in a variety of ways, by promoting flight training and careers in the aviation industry; by providing charitable gift support for aviation related scholarships; by preserving the history of aviation in the county and by conducting activities like the fly-in pancake breakfast.

To do that, the Arrowhead Eagles has obtained nonprofit status. They will be explaining what that means to members – and anyone interested in aviation –at an annual meeting and winter gathering on Saturday, March 2 at 5 p.m. at Raven Rock Grille at Skyport Lodge in Grand Marais.

For more information on the Arrowhead Eagles, call Mike Raymond at 218-370-0373 or Rodney Roy at Roy Aero Service  at 218-387-2034.
 

 In the early days of WTIP Community Radio, when staff and volunteers worked in a tiny studio at the Arrowhead Center for the Arts, Karla Shatzer was one of the volunteers. Karla was a morning show co-host with Bob Carter.

Karla has fond memories of her time at WTIP and we reached out to her to find out what she’s been up to since leaving the station—and Cook County.

Here’s WTIP’s Rhonda Silence with a conversation with Karla.

Since retirement, Hillary Freeman and Carol Mork of Grand Marais have enjoyed traveling, but with an interesting twist. While here on the North Shore, they spend some of their free time volunteering at the Grand Portage National Monument. They’ve taken that love of history on the road.

They are currently living and working at Stones River National Battlefield in Murphysboro, Tennessee.

WTIP’s Rhonda Silence spoke with Hillary to learn more about their incredibly interesting and very important work at Stones River.
 

Congratulations to the North Shore Storm PeeWee B team on winning the PeeWee district championship. Here's a report on the action from Shane Hoff:

Last weekend, the North Shore Storm won the District 11 PeeWee B hockey championship in dominating fashion by beating Duluth East Black, 9-2. 

The Storm found themselves down 2-1 toward the end of the first period but a big top shelf goal by Hunter Gomez tied it up and less than a minute later Ayden Althaus gave the Storm the lead with a key short-handed tally to finish the first period up 3-2. 

In the second period, the momentum built as Jake Stadler and Althaus each scored on the power play, making it 5-2. 

The Storm came out strong in the third with Althaus and then Stadler both completing hat tricks and Andrew Wehrman and Braylen Hoff each contributing a goal apiece. Stadler and Hoff each also earned three assists apiece with Wehrman and Hunter Rex adding important helpers. Alexa Harrison made several nice saves for the Storm in net to get the “W” and the defense in front of her was superb! 

Earlier in the season, the Storm beat East Black by scores of 8-5 and 5-3 so considering the latest 9-2 rout, it seems the team may be peaking at just the right time. 

This talented, hard-working, group is playing with a high level of confidence right now. They are looking to carry that into the North Region Tournament in Coleraine, March 1-3. 

The District 11 championship gives North Shore a number 1 seed in that tournament and they will face off against the number 2 seed from District 12, Grand Rapids, at 4 p.m. this Friday with Ethan Fransen getting the nod to start between the pipes. 

The competition will be very strong as the Storm PeeWees look to be one of only two teams that advance and represent our Region at the State Tournament March 15-17 in Plymouth. 

At the beginning of this season, Coaches Nick Bjerken, Nate Stadler, Matt Cook and Zach Harrison said their goal was to develop all their players to be contributors this time of year and it’s fun to see that come to fruition.  The focus they’ve instilled in the kids has been about playing their game – not worrying about their opponents, referees or anything else out of their control.  The coaches consistently tell the kids that if they play their game they can match up with any team in the state.   

The North Shore Storm PeeWee team includes players from the Silver Bay and Cook County areas at ages 11-13 years old.  Wish them success if you see them around!  They and their coaches have certainly earned it and we are very proud of them all!
 
 

The City of Grand Marais has received word that the Highway 61 reconstruction project has been pushed back on the calendar. As WTIP has reported, the highway reconstruction that was to take place in 2019 and 2020 is now on the Minnesota Department of Transportation calendar for 2020 and 2021.

That gives the city of Grand Marais – and the many businesses impacted by the upcoming road construction – more time to plan for the disruption of traffic.

City officials and members of the Highway 61 Steering Committee recently met with MnDOT to look at alternatives to the original plan in light of the delay. MnDOT presented two options. One option is to simply move the construction dates out a year and proceed as planned with a complete shutdown of Highway 61 through the city in 2021. That would mean a closure from west of the Java Moose coffee shop to Broadway Avenue for much of the summer.

Another option, now possible because of the delay, is to complete the necessary roadwork at 8th Avenue and at the Broadway Avenue intersection in 2020. That would allow those streets to be used for detours and accessibility when the remainder of Highway 61 work is finished in 2021.

Although all of this work is now more than a year away, planning is happening now. WTIP’s Rhonda Silence checked in with the Cook County Chamber’s Downtown Business Coalition to hear their thoughts on the alternatives offered by MnDOT.
 
To see maps and information on the Highway 61 construction phase options, click below. 

Option A map and information

Option B map and information