Breaking News

Margaret Katherine Glinsek, 98, of Ely, passed away on Tuesday, December 10, 2019 at the Boundary Waters Care Center in Ely.
Margaret was born September 10, 1921 in Ely, Minnesota to John and Katherine (Valentich) Sotlich.
She loved her children and was a great mother. She enjoyed her winters in Hawaii.
Margaret was preceded in death by her parents; her husband Stanley, son David; two brothers, John and Joe; three sisters, Katherine, Mary and infant sister Nan.
She is survived by her son Patrick (Shirley) Glinsek of Ely, six grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.
Family arrangements have been entrusted to Kerntz Funeral Home of Ely.

Franklin “Frank” Preshiren, 72, of Hoyt Lakes died on Saturday, December 7, 2019 at his home.

Starting approximately January 31, 2020 through March 27, 2020. Salary and fringes as per Master Agreement between ISD #696 and the Ely Education Association and School Board policy. Include district application, resume’, transcripts, letters of recommendation and current Minnesota teaching license; background check required. Application available at www.ely.k12.mn.us, or at the District Office, 2nd floor of the Memorial Building; return materials to: Ely Public Schools, Attn: Superintendent, 600 E. Harvey St., Ely, MN 55731. Application review to being January 3, 2020; open until filled.

PLACE OF WORK: District; RATE OF PAY: $16.08/hr.; HOURS: 6.5 hours/day, 5 days/week, student contact days; QUALIFICATIONS: AA Degree or two years of college required. Include district application and transcripts; background check required. Application (non-licensed) available at www.ely.k12.mn.us or in the District Office. Send materials to: ISD #696, Attn: Superintendent, 600 E. Harvey St., Ely, MN 55731. Deadline for application: Tuesday, December 17, 2019.

Lake County seeks an independent contractor to provide winter maintenance services from December 21, 2019 through February 23, 2020 for approximately 37 miles of county highways in the Fall Lake Township area. Please contact the Lake County Highway Department, 218-834-8380, for Request for Proposals details. Proposals must be submitted to the Lake County Highway Department no later than 1:00 pm, December 13, 2019.

The 2019 firearms deer season was not what the state was hoping for, at least in terms of harvest.
For the Tower area, the buck harvest was down 21% while the total harvest was down 42% compared to 2018.
The numbers are for northern St Louis and Lake counties including Permit Areas 117, 118, 119, 130, 131, 132 176, 177 and 178.
In the Tower area bucks comprised 82% of the harvest and antlerless deer just 18% as a result of a more conservative season structure in most permit areas to allow for population growth,” said area wildlife supervisor Tom Rusch.
The state-wide harvest was 169,869 deer including 93,384 (55%) bucks and 76,485 antlerless (45%).
Adult Buck Harvest by DPA (% Change)
117 +6.3%
118 -8.6%
119 -24.1%
130 -29.5%
131 -33.7%
132 -25.2%
176 -25.6%
177 -24.7%
178 -16.3%
Avg = -20.5%

by Tom Coombe
It may be too early to say how the Ely Timberwolves will stack up this winter in Section 7A, but Tuesday’s season-opener offered more than a few reasons for optimism.
The Wolves, despite an overall lack of height, a key injury-related absence, and several new faces in the lineup, ran away from visiting Two Harbors in the second half of a 76-41 high school boys basketball victory.
Senior Dylan Fenske had 31 points and 11 rebounds and classmate Evan Omerza dished out a game-high 11 assists as the Wolves warmed up after a slow start.
Fenske and Omerza are the only returning starters for an Ely team that, entering the 2019-20 season, is a question mark in 7A.

It’s an anthem of mine, the phrase, “off the beaten path”,and I wish I would have been the one to say it first, be the initiator of such thinking. I would have loved knowing the coined words fell from me, it’s such a clever turn a phrase, but, alas, I am not.
My wife and I do that more often than most could possibly imagine and in so doing we’ve found in our footfalls a further place than, “off the beaten path” where the majority have not traveled. It could be a wanderer’s way, for me, it’s like a shooting star only earthen bound, or maybe from a stellar poem. It’s simply, the road less travelled.

by Tom Coombe
With 95 employees and payroll and benefits exceeding $8 million, Ely-Bloomenson Community Hospital is one of the region’s largest employers.
Those numbers could jump significantly if an expansion project currently in the works comes to fruition.
As many as 25 new jobs and an additional $1.7 million in annual payroll could result from the expansion, state lawmakers heard Monday from hospital CEO Michael Coyle, who spoke at the annual legislative meeting hosted by the Community Economic Development Joint Powers Board.
Both there and later in the day, when Coyle briefed hospital shareholders at their annual meeting, there was significant buzz about a project that has been in the talking stages for about a year yet remains a work in progress.

by Tom Coombe
Lunch was served just before noon Monday at the Grand Ely Lodge, but it took almost another two hours to get to the main course.
That’s how long it took before the annual legislative meeting in Ely veered to the area’s most contentious issue - the copper-nickel mining project proposed by Twin Metals Minnesota.
DFL legislators Tom Bakk and Rob Ecklund, who both support the project, acknowledged the opposition they face within their own party on the issue.
“We’re fighting the anti-mining folks every day down there, and you know who they are,” said Ecklund, an International Falls Democrat who represents the Ely area in the State House.
Bakk, the Senate Minority Leader, pushed back against suggestions that Range Democrats aren’t doing enough to support the Twin Metals initiative.