North Shore News Hour

Officials who played a role in the creation of the new School District 166 culinary arts area got a look at the new space on Monday, October 22. 

Checking out the state-of-the-art kitchen and classroom were Representative Rob Ecklund, Iron Range Resources Commissioner Mark Phillips, Hibbing Community College Provost Mike Raich, Cook County Chamber Director Jim Boyd, Chamber Legislative Representative Judy Erickson, and a number of community members. 

Visitors were given a tour by Superintendent Bill Crandall, Facilities Manager Tom Nelson and ISD 166 Culinary Arts Instructor Jason Gesch. 

WTIP's Rhonda Silence visited with some of those in attendance after the tour. Here's that report. 

Throat singers Nina Segalowitz and Taqralik Partridge will again help Sivertson’s Gallery in Grand Marais celebrate its Inuit Premiere. The women will perform at 3 p.m. on Friday, October 26 at North House Folk School and at 1and 3 p.m. on Saturday, Oct 27 at Sivertson Gallery. 

Throat singing is a traditional activity of the people of Nunavik, Canada. Often two women perform together and combine rhythmic tones from both inhaling and exhaling.
Taqralik Partridge is an Inuit poet and spoken word artist from Kuujuak, Canada. She describes throat singing as a game, “You have two people who play with each other and echo each other and the object of the game is to make the other person stop either by exhaustion, laughing or losing the rhythm.”
Nina Segalowitz was born in the far north and grew up in Montreal. She says, “Throat singing is for me a way to bridge two worlds.” She has performed as a throat singer for over 20 years. 

To find out what else is happening during the Inuit gathering, see the complete events schedule here.

WTIP volunteer Jane Alexander learns more about the gathering in this interview. 

Voting should not be confusing, but it sometimes can be. What are the deadlines? How do you register? The Cook County Auditor's Office is a great community resource -- it is not only where you register to vote, but it is also where you can get your questions answered. 

WTIP's Rhonda Silence checks in with Auditor Braidy Powers about voting in Cook County, particularly about mail ballots. 

If you still have questions about voting, you can contact the County Auditor's Office by calling 218-387-3000. 

Operation Family Christmas has been part of the Cook County Community for about eight years, working to make sure that every child in Cook County has some gifts for Christmas. For the last three holidays, Jes Rodne of Grand Marais has been coordinator of the program.
Jes provided some details of the program.
 
For applicants:
You must be the parent or legal guardian of the child on the application.

• The family must live in Cook County.
• Applications are available at the Cook County Senior Center, Cook County Sheriff’s Office, North Shore Federal Credit Union (Grand Marais, Lutsen and Grand Portage), Grand Marais State Bank (Tofte and Grand Marais branches), Cook County and Grand Portage Human Services, the Violence Prevention Office, Cook County Schools and Birch Grove School in Tofte.
• Applications must be turned in to Jes Rodne by November 20, 2018 at 4 p.m. No exceptions.

For donors:

• Christmas Tags will be placed on trees and available at the Senior Center, North Shore Federal Credit Union (Grand Marais, Grand Portage and Lutsen branches), Grand Marais State Bank starting November 26. Tags will have the age, gender and some ideas of each child’s wishes for this Christmas.
• Donors simply pick up a tag(s), go shopping, and return the gifts unwrapped with each ornament tag securely fastened to the outside of the gift bag by December 17 to either the Senior Center, the North Shore Federal Credit Union in Grand Marais or Lutsen or the Grand Marais State Bank.

If you have any questions, contact Jes Rodne at 218-370-9813 or by email [email protected].

And WTIP’s Rhonda Silence talked to Jes about the program and how meaningful it is to her and the others who participate. Here’s that conversation.
 

Operation Family Christmas has been part of the Cook County Community for about eight years, working to make sure that every child in Cook County has some gifts for Christmas.
 
Operation Family Christmas has been part of the Cook County Community for about eight years, working to make sure that every child in Cook County has some gifts for Christmas. For the last three holidays, Jes Rodne of Grand Marais has been coordinator of the program.

Jes provided some details of the program.
 For applicants:
You must be the parent or legal guardian of the child on the application.
The family must live in Cook County.
Applications are available at the Cook County Senior Center, Cook County Sheriff’s Office, North Shore Federal Credit Union (Grand Marais, Lutsen and Grand Portage), Grand Marais State Bank (Tofte and Grand Marais branches), Cook County and Grand Portage Human Services, the Violence Prevention Office, Cook County Schools and Birch Grove School in Tofte.
Applications must be turned in to Jes Rodne by November 20, 2018 at 4 p.m. No exceptions.

For donors:
Christmas Tags will be placed on trees and available at the Senior Center, North Shore Federal Credit Union (Grand Marais, Grand Portage and Lutsen branches), Grand Marais State Bank starting November 26. Tags will have the age, gender and some ideas of each child’s wishes for this Christmas.
Donors simply pick up a tag(s), go shopping, and return the gifts unwrapped with each ornament tag securely fastened to the outside of the gift bag by December 17 to either the Senior Center, the North Shore Federal Credit Union in Grand Marais or Lutsen or the Grand Marais State Bank.

If you have any questions, contact Jes Rodne at 218-370-9813 or by email [email protected].

And WTIP’s Rhonda Silence talked to Jes about the program and how meaningful it is to her and the others who participate. Here’s that conversation.
 

The Cook County Sheriff’s Office responded to a rollover crash on the Gunflint Trail, approximately two miles below South Gunflint Lake Road, on Wednesday, October 17.

The initial call, just after 11 a.m., reported that a man was trapped in a white pickup in the northbound ditch and an ambulance was needed. The caller said extrication equipment may be required.

A Gunflint Trail Fire Department First Responder was first on the scene and was able to get the vehicle door open and the driver out. The driver, Frank Nicholas Ceo, of Grand Marais, was transported to North Shore Health with non-life-threatening injuries.
A Cook County Sheriff’s Deputy interviewed Ceo, who said he was driving south on the Gunflint Trail at about 30 miles per hour when he hit a patch of ice and spun out, hitting the northbound ditch and rolling over. The pickup ended up on its roof in the ditch.

His passenger, Cynthia Imsdahl-Ceo was not injured.

The vehicle was removed from the ditch and hauled away by Cook County Towing as it had received severe damage and was disabled.
****
Emergency responders were called to Tofte General Store on Wednesday as well, for a car in the ditch.

The store called the Sheriff’s Office at 5:30 pm. to inform them that a car had rolled into the ditch, narrowly avoiding hitting the gas pumps and damaging the retaining wall between the store and Highway 61. The caller said there was a strong smell of gasoline from the car.

The gas pumps at the general store were turned off and the Tofte Fire Department was paged as a precaution.

Cook County Towing arrived at the store at about 7 p.m. and removed the battery from the vehicle, alleviating concerns of fire. The fire department was released from the scene.

The Sheriff’s Office learned that the vehicle was owned by Brehmer Harris, and was being driven by Ryan Munroe of Tofte. 
 

A woman from St. Joseph, Minnesota was rescued from the Cascade River after losing her footing while on a hike near the high-flowing waterway on June 17.

WTIP reported on that successful rescue operation, which involved the Cook County Sheriff’s Office, the Lutsen Search & Rescue Rope Team, North Shore Ambulance, Minnesota State Patrol and U.S. Border Patrol. The hiker was transported by ambulance to North Shore Hospital, where she was evaluated and released.

Community members who were aware of the emergency call wondered how she was doing. WTIP reached out to that hiker, Pat Ditlevson, to find out how she’s doing. Ditlevson shared her recollection of the incident, and added her gratitude to all of the parties involved in the rescue.

Here’s Rhonda Silence with more.

Click on the slideshow to see a photo of Pat Ditlevson just moments before she tumbled into the raging waters of Cascade River. Photos courtesy of Pat Ditlevson. 
 

Many North Shore residents struggle to find a safe and secure place to live. There has been a lot of talk in Cook County about this housing shortage and there have been some efforts to construct housing.

The latest housing projects developed by the Cook County/Grand Marais Economic Development Authority (EDA) and One Roof Housing have been focused on market rate housing in Grand Marais and rental units in Lutsen.

Village North, a development by Bruce Block, on the former Gofer Cabins site, is addressing some of the affordable housing needs, but there is more to be done.

That’s where Anna and Sarah Hamilton come in. They have launched Hamilton Housing, LLC and are working to develop affordable housing options in Cook County.

WTIP’s Rhonda Silence talked to the duo about their efforts.
 

The Grand Marais Planning Commission and City Council dealt with two variance requests for properties within the city in recent weeks – and the city council and planning commission didn’t agree on one of the proposals.

On October 3 the city planning commission passed recommendations to approve the two variance requests, but not without lengthy discussion.
The first variance request was from Anna & Sarah Hamilton, for a property at 902 West 5th Avenue West, in the Creechville area. The Hamiltons requested permission to build a 16-foot wide residential structure on a lot 300-square feet less than the required city lot. The Hamiltons are working on an affordable housing project and although their project did not meet any opposition, it did raise questions.

After discussion, there appeared to be consensus that the current zoning ordinances are not conducive to the construction of affordable housing. Planning commissioner members agreed needed to be discussed at future meetings.

In the meantime, the Hamilton’s variance was approved with a unanimous vote.   

The second variance request was from Berner Properties, for the property between the Harbor Inn and the Java Moose coffee shop on Wisconsin Street. The Ogema Realty building on that lot was demolished earlier this year

David Berner, whose family has owned that piece of property for decades, requested a variance to construct a 31.5-foot tall building, 18 inches taller than the maximum allowed height of 30-feet.

His company, Berner Properties describes the proposed building as a three-story building with retail use on the ground level.
With Berner was local attorney Tyson Smith who said he was happy to represent Berner on this project, on what he called one of the smallest—if not the smallest—developable lots in the city of Grand Marais.

Smith pointed out that Berner and his construction team had determined that they should leave space between the new building and the adjacent structures to avoid moisture problems for all parties.

However, that decision means even less space for the structure on the small lot and less space for a retail area on the ground floor.

Berner said he had made significant modifications to his original plan and he asked the city to please consider allowing the additional 18 inches of building height which would be primarily for the first floor commercial space. He explained that for the retail space it was critical to have 11-foot high ceilings.

The subsequent floors would have 9 foot and 8 foot ceilings. 

The planning commission also discussed parking and Berner explained that he had two dedicated parking spaces for his building and he was working on a shared parking agreement with the Harbor Inn next door.

Planning Commission Member Staci Hawkins said she would like some sort of condition requiring that the first floor is some sort of commercial space, not lodging. The commission noted there was not a good way to enforce that, but agreed to add that condition to the variance.

Planning Commission Member Todd Miller noted the public concern over his recent construction—which does fall under the 30-foot height limit. In light of some negative comments over his property, he asked if the city should seek more public input before granting the variance for additional height.

That comment did not sit well with Planning Commission Member Hal Greenwood, who said Miller should not even bring that up as it brought controversy to his door.

Miller replied that the community reaction was precisely why he thought the public should have more input on this latest proposal.

Other board members said they shared Miller’s concern. The motion for the variance to allow 18-feet of additional height ultimately passed with Commission  Members Michael Gary, Stacy Hawkins, Tim Kennedy and Hal Greenwood voting in favor and Todd Miller casting a no vote.

City Council questions building height on variance request
The zoning variances then went to the Grand Marais City Council on Wednesday, October 10. The variance for the Hamiltons’ Creechville area lot was approved fairly quickly with a unanimous vote.

However, there was significant discussion of the Berner Properties variance request. The city council questioned the drawings and documents, noting that it seemed that the document dimensions would result in a building height over the requested 18 inches.

After nearly an hour of discussion with David Berner and Attorney Tyson Smith, the city council postponed the decision, asking Berner to bring his plans back to the council’s next meeting with clarification.

Because of additional work with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency regarding soil clean-up of the parking area at the back of the lot, Berner said construction would not actually take place until 2020.        

WTIP's Rhonda Silence shares a report on the planning commission meeting and an interview on both variance requests with Grand Marais Mayor Jay Arrowsmith DeCoux. 

Another season has ended for the boats of the Grand Portage-Isle Royale Transportation Line. The Sea Hunter and now the Voyageur II have been taken to dry dock at Lakehead Boat Basin in Duluth. 

WTIP's Joe Friedrichs contacted Captain Ben Silence aboard the Voyageur II as he made the trek to Duluth. Here's that conversation, along with a photo of the Voyageur reaching its destination and sailing under the Duluth High Bridge, courtesy of the High Bridge Harbor Cam.