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Ely area citizens will soon be assisted in emergency situations by the service which has become basic in much of America - a 911 call center.<BR><BR>Under discussion since 2002, the Ely City Council on Tuesday finally passed motions which set into action the switch to the St. Louis County’s 911 call center. City employees now being utilized for dispatching emergency services will be given precedence for hiring in other city departments.

Plans for a full-scale bear museum in the Ely area are advancing on two fronts.<BR><BR>The North American Bear Center has found a new home for its storefront mini-museum, in the former Hill’s Canoe Outfitter building on Ely’s far east end, and it could be open for business as soon as this week.<BR><BR>Meanwhile, NABC supporters continue to work toward raising the money and acquiring the property they need to build a larger facility outside of town.<BR><BR>Last month, St.

Hockey season is months away, but hockey will most definitely be on the minds of many Ely area residents Tuesday morning.<BR><BR>That's when the Minnesota Wild brings its summer caravan here, in an effort to build interest in the team and raise money for local youth hockey.<BR><BR>Ely is one of 23 stops on the 2004 Wells Fargo Minnesota Wild Road Tour.<BR><BR>At least one Wild player, in addition to radio play-by-play announcer Bob Kurtz, former Minnesota North Star Jack Carlson, and Wild scout and former North Star coach Glen Sonmor will be part of the delegation that comes to Ely.<BR><BR>Events include a 10 a.m. program for Ely public school students at Washington Auditorium, and a fundraiser from 10:45 a.m.

Three of Ely’s newest residents were introduced to the public last week.<BR><BR>The International Wolf Center has three new wolf pups that will eventually join the center’s captive pack. Male and female pups, born May 5. are joined by a female, born May 12, All have the same father but the youngest pup has a different mother than the other two. <BR><BR>The pups will be named through a contest sponsored by Twin Cities television station KARE 11 (people may submit names by going to the Wolf Center website at www.wolf.org), but for now center staff have given them temporary monikers. <BR><BR>Grizz is a male with dark, grizzled hair and Groan is a female who groans when picked up. The little black female is called Nubee for newborn.

They’ve achieved in the classroom and given to the community.<BR><BR>Their accomplishments on the athletic fields, at speech meets and in music and fine arts have been exemplary.<BR><BR>But there’s one last thing that 74 Ely High School seniors will do together.<BR><BR>That happens Saturday night, when they receive their diplomas and take part in the school’s graduation ceremony.<BR><BR>Set for 7 p.m., the graduation program for Ely Memorial’s Class of 2004 follows Ely tradition, complete with the procession down the auditorium aisles and the presentation of diplomas by school board chairperson Rudy Semja.<BR><BR>In between, class members will sit together on stage for their last formal activity as high school students.<BR><BR>They’ll also hear a few words from one of their instructors.

State Rep.

If you happened to be in downtown Ely on Saturday, May 22 chances are you ran into one or more of the 307 Red Hat Ladies that were in town for the 1st Red Hattitude Tea & Chat. <BR><BR>Country Simple Pleasures organized the event which included a Tea with motivational speaker, Nancy Henning. Henning’s topic was, “Forgetfulness, a Woman’s Best Beauty Secret to Being Fabulous at 50, 60 and 70 plus!” <BR><BR>A total of 26 Red Hat Society Chapters were represented from across the Iron Range (Ely to Grand Rapids, Duluth to International Falls, Virginia to Hoyt Lakes and everywhere in between). <BR><BR>Event sponsors donated over $560 worth of door prizes for the event and several stores provided specials for the women after the tea. <BR><BR>The next tea is scheduled for Saturday, September 18. You can contact Country Simple Pleasures (218-365-3696) for registration materials.

The race for Minnesota House seat 6A now includes a candidate from Ely.<BR><BR>Marty Breaker, a teacher, retired Army Reserve Colonel and former owner of two area resorts, is seeking the seat now held by State Rep. David Dill (DFL-Crane Lake) and will run as a Republican.<BR><BR>Tuesday, the 53-year-old Breaker was endorsed by 6A Republicans and he’s been prepped for the run by the House Republican caucus, including Speaker Steve Sviggum (R-Kenyon).<BR><BR>Breaker is hoping to crack the traditional DFL stronghold on northeastern Minnesota legislative seats and give the region at the table with the party that now controls the State House.<BR><BR>“We need a voice down in the legislature,” said Breaker. “Currently, the House has 81 Republicans to 53 Democrats.

Rudy Blaskiewicz was a regular visitor at the Ely Bloomenson Nursing Home when his beloved wife Sophie became a resident there in 1999. Rudy would help care for her twice a day, every day, every day of the week, helping to feed her. He also handed out water and napkins or bibs to the other residents. <BR><BR>When Sophie died in January of 2002, Rudy waited a couple weeks, and then returned to visiting the nursing home, serving just as he had when Sophie was alive, to keep her memory lingering on, feeding others instead. <BR><BR>He still misses his wife Sophie and tears well up thinking of her. They would have been married 60 years the month she died. Rudy is thankful to all the people for the help they gave him when his wife was sick. After she died they still helped him out. <BR><BR>Rudy served at the nursing home two more years after his wife died and became a resident himself last January 2004. Now he must adjust to being the one served.

What appeared to be a killer agenda was managed in just under two hours by the Ely city council last Tuesday.<BR><BR>There were eight requests to appear and slew of other items to consider as six men took their seats. Mike Hillman was absent. <BR><BR>The first request came from Robin Mathews, the chair of the Planning Commission, who was going to ask to have Hillman replaced as a council representative due to missing so many meetings. <BR><BR>But before Mathews could begin, Mayor Frank Salerno cut him off at the pass, asking if the commission had officially acted on the request.<BR><BR>Mathews said that a motion had not been approved by the board. <BR><BR>“The recommendation needs to go from P&Z and be forwarded to us for consideration,” said Salerno.<BR><BR>“We can do that,” said Mathews. “So if P&Z were to vote and be in favor of removing Mr.