Opinions/Editorials

Similar to other parts of the state, Ely is looking at modifying its garbage collection system. A meeting for the public to voice concerns will be held by the city council on the matter in July.
Currently the council has a contract for all residential and commercial customers through G Men Environmental Services. They are the only company allowed to haul within the city limits.
We’ve heard some of the concerns, including the exclusivity clause which doesn’t work for some commercial customers who may need their trash hauled more often than once or twice a week. With summer upon us, we’d like to see those issues addressed just to keep the smell down to a bare minimum.
While people can haul their own garbage, for seniors and those on limited income the system doesn’t work very well. There is a monthly charge whether the garbage is hauled or not and saving up garbage, especially in the summer, is not a workable solution.

Dear Editor:
Anti-mining groups and politicians rail against copper nickel mining, but never mention the six-year EIS that was already completed in 2012.
In December 2016, President Obama signed an executive order to withdraw 234,328 acres of land in the Superior National Forest from mining exploration and denied Twin Metals the renewal of their leases.
They never mention that according to the Federal Register, a study was to take ‘up to 2 years’ to determine if a 20-year ban should be placed on future mining and exploration.
When President Trump took office in January 2017, the two-year study began. It ended in 21 months with no new science to require a 20-year ban of copper nickel mining.

Students at ISD 696 had their final day in class yesterday and 32 will walk the stage tonight. For the Ely school board, there’s plenty of homework to be done after the last locker is emptied.
The district has been looking at hiring a new superintendent but has gone back to the drawing board after finding the first top four candidates not too appealing.
Struggling with process the board was unable to come to terms with giving one of the candidates who didn’t make the grade on paper a chance to interview. A 3-3 vote threw that plan out the window.
So, we’re back to the beginning and looking for applicants for a part-time job without full benefits for the top job at the Ely school district.

Giving the Memorial Day speech was Commander James Kuehl.

by Senator Amy Klobuchar
Each Memorial Day, Americans across the country honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our nation, and work to ensure that the price they paid to defend our security and preserve our way of life is never taken for granted. It’s been said that a nation that forgets its defenders will be itself forgotten.
It’s also a time for us to consider what more we can do to treat the families of the fallen with the dignity they deserve.
Of course, one of the most important ways that we can pay tribute to the fallen is by ensuring they are given burials worthy of their sacrifice. Like Virginia, Minnesota resident Dante Tini—who was just 19 years old when he was killed during Pearl Harbor while serving as a radioman on the U.S.S. Oklahoma. He had been preparing to come home for the holidays prior to that fateful day.
But 80 years later, his family, friends and community are still waiting for his remains to return home.

by Assistant Secretary for Land
and Minerals Management Joe Balash
At the dawn of the twentieth century, tens of thousands of people arrived and settled in the Iron Range across northern Minnesota. They came from Scandinavia, Austria-Hungary, Italy, England, and dozens of other places of origin. These new Minnesotans mined the ore, for which the region was named, and built their communities. By 1920, their population had swelled to over 100,000 and comprised 85 percent of the workforce in the mines. When the rise of National Socialism threatened the western world, output from these mines fed the production of the tanks, ships, and airplanes that won World War II.
A century later, we find ourselves in a world where copper is essential to our efficient use of electricity and the transmission of information. Once again, northern Minnesota may play a key role in supplying the raw materials that are needed for solar panels, electric vehicles, and smartphones.

Dear Editor:
Fifty-nine years ago, Francis Gary Powers was piloting a U-2 spy plane over Russia and taking pictures of something the CIA found interesting. Until that day, the U-2 had a stellar record of never being intercepted or shot down. That was about to change.
The Russian bear had built a new surface to air missile that could go high enough and fast enough to overtake the U-2 and knock it out of the sky- and that’s just what happened. The cold war was raging and the Bear was making hay over the spying incident to his advantage. Eventually, the two countries swapped spies and life went on, but the US had its nose bloodied, been embarrassed and needed to improve their odds of surviving in the skies over Russia.

Another Ely business is slated to close, one of the two dollar stores, to go along with the Ely Bowling Alley. Jobs are lost and the area suffers financially.
At city hall this past week the council was smart enough to shop local when buying a vehicle for the police department. Those dollars will help keep Mike Motors in Ely.
We only wish the council had that in mind when they decided to send money to Tower to have the city legals published. Those dollars are gone and this local newspaper suffers. With the loss of Shopko, it’s been a double whammy for a small business trying to make payroll and as an added bonus, the first half of property taxes this week.
Business owners know every time someone goes out of town for a product or even a medical procedure, those dollars go away and don’t come back. We’d like to see the law changed where cities and school districts have to hire local employees, but that’s another issue.

There was a special Ely school board meeting on Monday that brought a reason to tap the brakes on two major initiatives, hiring a new superintendent and pursuing a major building project. The reason? Millions of dollars for collaborating with neighboring school districts such as 2142, the sprawling St. Louis County district that includes schools in Babbitt and Tower.
A law pushed by Sen. Tom Bakk makes millions of dollars available to districts who work to share services, personnel and even facilities.
Ely hasn’t been able to get a seat at the table, until now. On Monday it was made clear that the taxpayers of Ely could get the IRRRB to foot a good portion of the bill for a major building project.

WINNER of the Ely Chamber of Commerce’s Jackpine Bob Cary Community Spirit Award was David Wigdahl. He received the award at the annual Smile, You’re In Ely dinner Tuesday at Grand Ely Lodge. Photos by Nick Wognum

Positivity at Smile, You’re in Ely