News

by Tom Coombe
As soon as this week, the Ely School District could have a new chief executive.
School board members are set to interview two finalists for superintendent, in public, on Tuesday.
Erik Erie will interview for the part-time job at 5 p.m. while John Klarich will follow at 6:45 p.m. in the board room at Memorial High School.
The board has scheduled a special meeting following the interviews where action could be taken.
It will be the second time in two months that the board has interviewed finalists for the job.
Four others were interviewed in early-May, but the board opted not to advance discussions with any of them and decided to repost the job.
Both of the current finalists have extensive ties to the Iron Range.
Klarich has held superintendent positions at Nashwauk-Keewatin and Mt. Iron-Buhl, while Erie recently retired after working as high school principal at Mesabi East, located in Aurora.

Fortune Bay has already hosted two MLE (Major League Eating) Indian Taco Eating Contests, but now things will even more interesting later this month as the first annual MLE Wild Rice Hotdish Eating Championship takes place.
The No. 5-ranked competitive eater in the world, Darron Breeden, from Orange, VA and other top-ranked eaters will gather Saturday, June 22 to seek the title and $2,500 cash prize.
The competition will take place at 3 p.m. at Fortune Bay’s Lakeside Tent. There is no charge to attend this event.
“We are excited to welcome the top competitive eaters in the nation for this historic eating contest for this distinct rice dish,” said Fortune Bay’s Sammy Richter. “This event continues a series of exciting events for guests of the Fortune Bay Resort Casino.”
This inaugural event will take place over eight minutes of sanctioned competition time.

by Tom Coombe -

by Tom Coombe -

A caretaker at Silbey Manor apartments is being credited with putting out a fire on Thursday morning.
Michelle Milton of the Ely HRA said while putting out fires isn’t part of Brian Boettcher’s job description, “basically he saved our building.”
Milton said a new resident was cooking pork chops and left the apartment for a short time. When she returned the stove had started on fire.
Boettcher heard the commotion in the apartment and went to help.
“He went in and saw the flames and the smoke so he grabbed the fire extinguisher and tried to put the fire out,” said Milton. “He had it out but it started up again so he asked her if she had a wool blanket and he put that on top of the fire and it put it out.”
The apartment suffered fire damage to the stove and the range hood along with smoke damage.

by Tom Coombe -

Ely's Luke Olson will battle for a state high school track championship on Saturday.

After Friday's preliminaries, the Ely junior is in first place in the 800 meter run at the state meet in St. Paul. Olson had the fastest time among 18 runners competing in three heats on a sweltering 90-degree day on the campus of Hamline University.

The Section 7A champion finished in 1:55.84 and was one of nine competitors to move on to the finals, set for approximately 6:30 p.m. Saturday.

Olson was the only Ely athlete to reach the finals - as the remainder of the Wolves' state individual and relay qualifiers were unable to advance past the preliminaries.

Junior Eric Omerza came the closest to moving on, finishing one spot away and taking 10th in the triple jump. Teammate Raif Olson competed in the 300 hurdles and was 16th, while the Ely boys' four-by-400 relay of Omerza, Nate Nettifee, Emmett Faltesek and Raif Olson was also 16th.

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CELEBRATING after commencement exercises were the 2019 graduates of Ely Memorial High School by throwing their graduation caps up in the air.

by Tom Coombe -

Flames along Hwy. 1. Photo by Jenn Cole-Foster.

by Tom Coombe -