News

Police and fire dispatcher service in Ely would be eliminated under a cost-cutting plan advanced by the city’s budget committee.<BR><BR>Committee members voted 2-1 Thursday to recommend that the city council discontinue the positions and move the current dispatchers into other jobs within the city.<BR><BR>The council could act on the recommendation, which calls for a six-month transition period, as soon as Tuesday’s regular (5:30 p.m., City Hall) meeting.<BR><BR>Two years ago, the council rejected a similar proposal and opted to maintain full-time emergency dispatch service. <BR><BR>But given recent budget deficits and declines in state aid to local governments, council member Paul Kess said that dispatchers provide a luxury the city can no longer afford.<BR><BR>“It’s a great service and people are used to it,” said Kess. “But it isn’t a core service.

Bill Henning, Ely’s economic developer for nearly a decade, will retire at the end of the month.<BR><BR>The director of the Ely Area Development Association notified the organization’s executive board of his plans last week.<BR><BR>Henning, a 57-year-old native of Brooklyn, N.Y. and a retired Air Force pilot had been with the EADA since 1995.<BR><BR>“There’s a time for everything,” said Henning. “There was a time for me to retire from the Air Force. There was a time for me to move to Ely. My body was telling me that it was time to (retire) now or they were going to carry me out of this office dead. I’m not leaving town, but it’s been going on nine full years that I’ve been at this. The normal (tenure) of an economic developer is three years.”<BR><BR>Henning, who was appointed by Gov.

The three hour long Ely City Council meeting started by zipping through the consent agenda items. It soon thereafter found the councilors facing a determined Nichole Boitz of Studio North, representing the 22 business owners located in the Loe Industrial Park.<BR><BR>Boitz requested that the council have “the infrastructure committee put as a priority” the roadways in the industrial park.

The clock on the back wall of Ely’s City Hall council chambers still reads Central Standard Time, but the daylight of the tourism season was the reality on Tuesday.<BR><BR>While the birds of spring chirped outside the open window and leaves were ready to unfurl in the backyard of Bare Bones Studio, the council addressed tourism-related issues. <BR><BR>First at bat was Paul Pengal from the Ely Little League who pitched for a change in the water charge for maintaining the city owned field. He said that the water bill had been $250 in the past but last year had jumped “to over $800.” He requested an exception for water used in watering the field, noting that the city waters grass in other parks and at the cemetery. <BR><BR>Pengal reminded the council of the economic benefit to the city from Ely Little League hosting past district tournaments and the opportunity to host next year’s state Little League tournament.

Representatives of the Ely School Board and the local teachers union are near agreement on a new two-year contract.<BR><BR>The pay scale for Ely faculty members would increase by one percent each year while current benefits would remain the same in a contract that covers both the current school year and 2004-2005.<BR><BR>But the deal isn’t ready for ratification by either the school board or the union rank-and-file just yet, according to district superintendent Ray Toutloff.<BR><BR>A contract language issue still needs to be worked out, Toutloff said Thursday.<BR><BR>“We’re close,” said Toutloff.

The City of Babbitt will again enter into an agreement to purchase the assets of a troubled company. <BR><BR>This time it’s Kasson Manufacturing, the pool table company that has been struggling financially for the past six months. <BR><BR>The Babbitt city council met Friday morning and approved a plan along the lines of a previous deal.<BR><BR>Babbitt bought the former Tirecyle rubber plant and sold it to BIRCO through a non-recourse loan from the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board. <BR><BR>Mayor Don Negley said this would be a similar situation with the city acting as “a conduit.” <BR><BR>Council action included appointing Negley and council member Dick Niss to negotiate with the company’s creditors, including the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Northland Foundation and Minnesota Power. <BR><BR>The city will also have to work with U.S. Bank, which owns the inventory at the plant.

Ely Community Resource’s annual art auction and fundraiser generated over $13,000 for the community service organization.<BR><BR>More than 160 people attended the April 23 event at the Ely Community Center, bidding on approximately 175 items of art.<BR><BR>When it was over, ECR officials were smiling.<BR><BR>“We did great,” said ECR Executive Director Patti Zupancich. “We don’t have final numbers yet, but we raised about $13,200 from the art alone.

In what had to be the oddest occurrence since the Ely Echo’s Ice Out Contest began, Grand Ely Lodge’s dock was socked in with ice until Tuesday, April 27 at 4:41 p.m.<BR><BR>The prior weekend brought winds from the north which cleared Shagawa Lake fairly well in the east to west direction. What happened, though, was a fluke. The ice piled up on the south shore of the lake, pushed by northern winds. The result was that Grand Ely Lodge’s dock was wedged with ice and a boat could not leave to go to the opposite shore.<BR><BR>Finally on Tuesday the wind shifted to come from the west and the official judges at Grand Ely Lodge watched the shoreline expectantly until late afternoon’s ice opening.<BR><BR>Almost hitting the time on the nose was winner 4:30 p.m., Karson Otness, Bemidji, MN. Karson will receive $100 in Grand Ely Lodge dollars. Next closest was 4:18 p.m.

Baseball was probably on the minds of most of those who attended the Chicago Cubs’ home-opener at historic Wrigley Field in early-April.<BR><BR>But for at least a few moments, many in the sellout crowd were introduced to Ely, and in a very unique fashion.<BR><BR>Two people dressed as bears were holding placards, while another walked through the crowds mouthing the line ‘I’d rather be in Ely.’ Down the street, two people attempted to paddle through traffic while in a canoe.<BR><BR>And one misguided fisherman tried to reel in the big one...

In March and April on Camp and Chapman streets, passersby may notice plastic jugs or zip-lock bag’s hanging from many of the silver maple trees along the roadsides. Looking closer you would see drip, drip, drip, sap, that is, being collected for maple syrup. Two serious syruping groups were discovered in Ely. The Haaversen family were the ones with the plastic bottles hanging on trees and Ray Carlson’s crew had the plastic bags. The tapping method may be different but the processing idea is the same. Get the sap out of the trees and boil it down to make maple syrup. <BR><BR>Usually the maple syruping season is about 2-3 weeks during spring thaw. Each year when day time temperatures rise above freezing, and temps drop down again below freezing at night, the sap starts to flow in the trees. Maple trees can be tapped with spiles, the sap runs through the spile and into an attached pail, bottle, bag, can, or whatever can collect and keep the sap clean.