North Shore News Hour

WTIP has learned that Norman Deschampe, Chair of the Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, passed away on Saturday, February 9.

Norman served in the tribal chairman position for about 28 years. He also served on the executive committee of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, whose members are of the Grand Portage, Bois Forte, Fond Du Lac, Leech Lake, Mille Lacs and White Earth bands.

He served on the current Tribal Council with Vice-chair Marie Spry, Secretary/Treasurer April McCormick, and Council Members John Morrin and William “Bill” Meyers.

Services will be held Wednesday, February 13 - visitation at 9:30 a.m., services at 11 a.m. at the Grand Portage Community Center. Luncheon to follow. 
 

For the 16th year, the Grand Portage Lodge and Casino, Grand Portage Trail Riders and Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa are joining forces with Easter Seals of Ontario to host Snowarama for Easter Seals Kids. This year’s event takes place on Saturday, February 9.
 
The event includes trail rides, a bonfire and prizes throughout the weekend. All Snowarama participants enjoy a complimentary dinner and live Saturday night entertainment, featuring Rage N Country.
 
To celebrate the 16th year at Grand Portage Lodge and Casino, the riders who collect pledges for Easter Seals will receive a chance to win  great Snowarama gifts, including a trip to Las Vegas. Riders receive one chance to spin a big prize wheel for each $100 that they raise.
 
Over the past 16 years, the Grand Portage Lodge and Casino Snowarama has raised over $450,000 for children and youth with physical disabilities. Funds raised at this event help provide financial assistance for children with physical disabilities for essential mobility and communication equipment and fully accessible summer camping opportunities.
 
Kevin Collins, President and CEO, Easter Seals Ontario, says, “Snowarama for Easter Seals Kids would not be a success without the support of the local snowmobiling community.”
 
Easter Seals Ontario was founded in 1922 as a vision to create a better life for children and youth with physical disabilities. Thanks to generous donors, Easter Seals continues to offer programs and services that allow kids to access essential mobility equipment and communication devices to help them be more independent.
 
For more information, visit Snowarama.org.
 
WTIP’s Rhonda Silence spoke with Rhonda Harrison, senior development officer with Easter Seals Ontario, who has been involved since the first year Snowarama was held in Grand Portage.
 

Although the North Shore is firmly in winter's grasp, the Grand Marais Park Board is working on a number of park and recreation issues.
At the park board’s latest meeting, on Tuesday, Feb. 5, the board welcomed new Grand Marais City Council liaison Craig Schulte.

The park board heard from the Gunflint Hills Golf Course work group, including an update on the search for a new superintendent for the 9-hole, 36-par course. There were eight applicants for the position and those were reviewed. Interviews have been conducted with the top applicants and city staff is now in the process of checking references. The park board hopes to have news on the position soon.

The park board and the golf course work group also discussed rates for the golf course and marketing for the new season.

There was also some news on the Grand Marais harbor parkside public access project, which will bring changes to the boat launch in the campground/recreation park. Park and Recreation Manager Dave Tersteeg said 2019 would be a year to finalize plans, such as the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources lease with the city and construction documents and permits. And 2020 will be the year when actual work begins on the waterfront area.

The park board also heard an update on the Sawtooth Bluffs Recreation Area and the work under way to designate that as a “regionally significant parks and trail area.”

The Cook County Parks and Trails division has been working to reach that designation, and it determined that a master plan needs completion. That has been done and has been approved by the Cook County board of commissioners.

It was tentatively approved by the Grand Marais City Council, with the understanding that a joint powers board be created for future maintenance and planning. A joint powers committee will now be formed and Parks Manager Tersteeg said the park board will be involved with that discussion.

Finally, the park board approved some 2019 special event applications, for the Grand Marais Arts Festival on July 12-14 and the Lake Superior Water Festival on July 19-21. The park board also discussed the Stars of the North Music Festival on July 26-28. That request was tabled to obtain more information.

A lot of sadness was expressed in Grand Marais and throughout the county when WTIP shared the news that the Grand Marais Subway was going to close on January 22.

Many community members were sad to learn that after 15 years Rob and Lorrie Svadlenka would no longer be operating the store. And many of us wondered if we'd be losing the Subway sandwich shop all together. Well, it appears that is not the case.

WTIP’s Rhonda Silence spoke with Mark Shackleton in Burnsville, who will be the new owner of the Grand Marais Subway.

Shackleton has been involved with Subway stores for a little over 30 years. He and his wife, Tari, have three locations currently in operation in the Twin Cities area right now, along with a fitness gym.  

The day-to-day operations of the Grand Marais Subway will mainly fall to Tari, and their daughter, Andi, as Mark handles the sale of their other locations and their home in Burnsville.

The date of the reopening is not certain yet. Tari and Andi will be making the move to Grand Marais in March and working to open the store. It is hoped that the doors will be open again sometime between April 1 and May 1.

WTIP’s Rhonda Silence talked to Mark Shackleton about the future of the Grand Marais Subway.

Click the slideshow for photos:
1. Mark and Tari Shackleton are the new owners of the Grand Marais Subway
2. The Shackleton family -- Mark, Alex (who will be remaining in the Twin Cities, attending college), Tari and Andi. 
Photos courtesy of the family

Cook County/Silver Bay skiers had a great showing at the Section Meet at Giant’s Ridge on Tuesday, February 5. Three individuals will be advancing to represent the Cook County Vikings at the state tournament and the girls’ team is heading to state with a second place in sections.
Reilly Wahlers had two excellent runs, claiming 2^nd place.

Sela Backstrom also put together two great runs and made it to 12^th place to also advance to the State meet.

Reilly and Sela, along with Elsa Lunde and Kalina Dimitrova, skied strong and claimed 2^nd for the girls’ team. The Cook County team was just behind Stillwater.

On the boys’ side, Will Surbaugh raced as an individual and showed true grit as he had a miscue on his first run. He went all out on his second run, which was good enough to land him in 16^th place and a berth at State.

The Vikings now head to the State meet at Giant’s Ridge on Wednesday, February 13, 2019. Racing starts at 10 a.m.

WTIP’s Rhonda Silence checked in with Alpine Ski Coach Charles Lamb to hear his thoughts on the very successful showing at Sections.

Photos courtesy of the Cook County/Silver Bay Alpine team

Each week the Cook County Sheriff’s Office provides a brief report of calls made to the Cook County Law Enforcement Center in the past week. This week’s report provides details logged by law enforcement dispatchers from Tuesday, January 29 to Monday, February 4.

WTIP Community Radio asked for more details on a number of calls, such as a report of lost snowmobilers in the Ward Lake Road area just after 3 p.m. on February 2. Before a search for the missing people was launched, they reached their destination.

There were a couple of hit and run reports, the first on January 30 in Tofte. The suspected driver was located and denied the incident. The Sheriff’s Office said the parties will work it out themselves.

A car parked on West Fifth Street in Grand Marais was also involved in a hit and run, resulting in a damaged driver’s side mirror and cracked windshield. There are no suspects in the incident.

There was a report of a minor collision at Benny’s Collision in Grand Marais on January 31, a vehicle backed into a garbage truck.

A traffic complaint was reported on January 31 with a motorist stating that someone almost backed into them on First Avenue in Grand Marais. There were no charges.

A fight was reported in Grand Marais on February 1. The incident was reported by Cook County High School and no further information is available, as it involved juveniles.

There was an arrest for a domestic disturbance in Tofte on January 30.

The Cook County Sheriff’s Office assisted the Minnesota State Patrol with an arrest and dog placement in the pound on February 2.

Sheriff deputies offered assistance to the public in a number of other ways, such as intervening in a neighbor dispute about pets; giving an individual a ride home and checking on a streetlight that was out.

There were a number of animal disturbance calls, including a caller from Railroad Drive in Lutsen concerned about a pack of wolves close to a residence. There was a complaint of feral cats on the Store Road in Grand Portage and also an injured deer on February 3. There were three reports of missing pets.

Sheriff deputies were asked to check a number of roadway hazards. They removed garbage from a road on January 29 and cleared two trees off of Highway 61 on January 30. Deputies also checked an icy intersection in Grand Marais on February 1 and icy road conditions at Cutface Creek and Ski Hill Road on February 2.

There were reports of a vehicle in the ditch on February 1 and February 2.

This week’s report included three car/deer crashes on Highway 61.

A cash card found on Wisconsin Street in Grand Marais was turned in to the law enforcement center. The Sheriff’s Office contacted the cardholder’s bank.

At 11:55 a.m. on February 3, there was a call from a party concerned about people walking on the ice on the east bay of Grand Marais.

For the reporting period, there were 13 crank or misdialed calls to 9-1-1, a number of those calls came from Lutsen Mountains Ski Area.
There were seven traffic stops, with five warnings and two tickets.

The Cook County Sheriff Office also participated in “Operation Stone Garden” patrol, a joint operation with the U.S. Border Patrol. Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Valerie Marasco explained that Operation Stone Garden (OPSG) is to help assure “operational readiness of law enforcement along U.S. land borders.”

Marasco said, “OPSG provides funding to designated localities to enhance coordination between law enforcement agencies in their joint mission to secure the nation's land borders. CCSO participates in OPSG by patrolling the northern border and areas with nexus to the northern border by utilizing squads, snowmobiles, watercraft, and foot patrol.”
 

The Grand Marais City Council met on one of the coldest days of the year on Wednesday, January 30. The city handled routine matters and heard the latest on the Highway 16 construction project. 

WTIP's Rhonda Silence talks to Grand Marais Mayor Jay Arrowsmith DeCoux about the Duluth City Council's decision to change its ordinance regarding the purchase of tobacco products, about the procedure put in place to be transparent about Councilor Craig Schulte's business transactions with the city, about the possible Highway 61 reconstruction delay and about the progress toward hiring a new superintendent for Gunflint Hills Golf Course. 

Here's that conversation. 

Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCA) visitors dreaming about trips next summer were disappointed when the online permit system crashed on opening day, January 30.

Shortly after the BWCA permit reservation system became available to the public, the U.S. Forest Service discovered the situation. A few users were able to obtain permits; others were stymied.

For that reason, the Forest Service made the decision to interrupt the sale of BWCA permits on the national recreation reservation site.
 
There is currently no timeframe for when the site will start working.
 
There is a differing reaction amongst forest users. Nancy McReady of Conservationists with Common Sense was clear about her displeasure with the change from the BWCA permit lottery system to the current first come, first served process. She was also frustrated by the inability to obtain permits. Click here to hear an interview on January 31 with her.
 
WTIP’s Joe Friedrichs also reached out to two outfitters—one in the Ely area; one on the Gunflint Trail. Here are their thoughts on the changed system and the computer glitches.