Breaking News

Robert William Bentz, 95 years old, formerly of Richfield, MN,
Passed away peacefully on October 27th, 2020, at St. Therese in New Hope, MN

Bob was Born May 22nd, 1925 in Minneapolis, MN, to Albert Rae and Gladys Bentz, and united in marriage to Phyllis Jean Freeburg on February 22, 1952.

James Wayne Kultala, 86, passed away on November 18, 2020 in Silver Bay, Minnesota. Jim was born in Tower, Minnesota to Wayne and Lila (Hannula) Kultala on March 20, 1934. He married Jeanette Niemi; they were married 25 years and raised six children. He served as Military Police in the Army, stationed in Fort Sheridan, IL. In his early years, Jim drove truck for Erie Mining Company. For many years, Jim was a car salesman for metro area dealerships; later in life he pursued his real estate license and became a real estate agent. Jim loved to dance and explore; he was happiest on the dance floor and going for a long drive. Jim is preceded in death by his parents Wayne and Lila Kultala, and step-father Robert White; his sisters Doris Carlon and Lucille Galbraith; his spouse Jeanette Niemi and their daughter Cheryl.

With great sadness, Robert Niewierowski passed away, after a brief illness on November 20, 2020 at the age of 82.

He was born in Chicago on December 13, 1937 to Edward and Mabel Niewierowski.

He proudly served in the Marines before starting his 40 year career in the soft drink beverage industry.

In 2000, Bob retired to enjoy his love of fishing, hunting, and the outdoors of Ely.

Not one to retire and sit idle, you would find Bob educating and entertaining visitors with his stories at the Dorothy Molter museum as a tour guide for 10 years.

In 2010 he took a job with the census bureau, and in more recent years, he greeted boaters and canoers at various boat landings as a watercraft inspector for the Clean, Drain, Dry program.

He enjoyed sharing his love of fishing with the family and was always eager to instruct his grandchildren as soon as they were old enough to hold a fishing pole.

Emily Elaine Wahlberg, 81, died peacefully at home on November 19, 2020.

Emily was born on Nov. 24, 1938, in Ely, to Reino and Rachel (Rosdet) Wahlberg. She was a graduate of Memorial High School, Ely Junior College, the University of Minnesota, and the University of Illinois.

She taught high school science in Illinois for 31 years, and retired to her summer property on Burntside Lake. Emily built her dream house, operated Burntside Heritage Tours, and established beautiful flower gardens and welcoming habitat for humans and critters.

Emily was active in the community, especially supporting the arts, the DFL, the winter festival, VCC, and the Town of Morse. Her last determined act was to get out to vote on November 3rd.

Erik Lindskog, age 70, died recently at his home on Burntside Lake. He was an avid hunter, trapper and fisherman. After retiring from his surveying career in South Dakota, Colorado and Minneapolis, he moved to his beloved Minnesota Northwoods.
He is survived by his sister and brother-in-law, Marsha and Joe Rokke, nephew Chris Rokke, niece Jennifer Wennerberg (Adam), grandniece Charlotte Wennerberg, grandnephew James Rokke, aunt June Remme and many beloveel cousins and friends. Due to Covid restrictions, no service.
Family services are being provided by Kerntz Funeral Home.

by Tom Coombe
When 2020 began, State Sen. Tom Bakk led the DFL caucus.
As the year comes to a close, Bakk is no longer part of it and has joined another Iron Range lawmaker in a two-person independent alliance that could help tilt the balance of power in St. Paul.
Bakk, who has represented the Ely area in St Paul for more than 25 years, joined longtime Chisholm legislator and State Sen. David Tomassoni in forming a new Minnesota Senate Independent Caucus.
In a statement released Wednesday, they said the move presents an opportunity to chair committees and makes sense to better serve their districts within the legislative framework.

by Tom Coombe
Ely’s surprise mayor won’t be taking the job.
Eric Urbas, who unseated incumbent Chuck Novak in the Nov. 3 election despite withdrawing from the race three months before, notified city officials on Wednesday that he is declining the position.
The decision seems likely to trigger a special election, in early-2021, to fill the city’s top political post.
Urbas, 31, conceded he had second thoughts after his 924-800 victory and heard from many supporters who encouraged him to take office as scheduled in January.
But after some soul searching that Urbas said involved “sitting in a deer stand for a good five days up in Roseau and another few afternoons in evenings in the sauna,” he arrived at a decision.

This year at Camp Cholesterol there are four hunters hanging their orange hats on the wall. My three kids and me. We’re keeping it all in the family.
We’ve had years with twice as many and that’s fine too. One nice thing with just four is there’s a bit more room in the shack.
There are two sets of full size double bunks but none of us are interested in taking the top bunks due to the wood stove.
So we have couches and recliners to lay our heads on at night. This year we upgraded one of our couches and this one has a hideabed. Big upgrade there. With the bed hidden, we have a lot more room to walk around and that’s nice.
Maybe if we had more hunters we’d have something hanging on the meat pole. So far there’s only been one buck that we’ve seen during shooting hours.
It was after lunch and in the fresh snow were a pair of tracks crossing our wheeler trail. The tracks were big and it was worth a look.

Dear Editor,
We would like to publicly thank the Ely Timberwolves football team for helping the Ely Community Resource, Ely Community Health Center and Range Mental Health Center move all the equipment and furniture into the new offices in the American Fraternal Union building on Fourth Avenue East.
It is heartwarming to see these young men involved in a service project that benefits this community. Thank you team and coach for donating two hours of your busy weekend to this project. We really appreciate you.
Thank you from all of us,
Board of Directors of Ely Community Resource
The staff of Ely Range Mental Health
The staff of Ely Community Health Center

The annual “legislative meeting” in Ely won’t happen this year.
An event that brings local elected officials together with state legislators, county officials and aides to federal lawmakers has been called off, because of restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The meeting, hosted by the Community Economic Development Joint Powers Board, had been scheduled for Monday, Dec. 7 at the Grand Ely Lodge.
Rising case numbers across the state prompted Gov. Tim Walz to reinstate several restrictions, including bans on in-person dining and limits on public gatherings.
Both made it impossible for the annual event, which usually attracts as many as 40-to-50 people for a lunch gathering, to move forward as planned.
Joint Powers Board members considered cancelling the meeting in October but ultimately decided then to move forward with an in-person gathering with accommodations for people to take part remotely.