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The Ely speech Team started its season with their first meet at Hibbing High School. Left to right Cari Eibler, Cora Olson, honorable mention in drama, Willow Olhauser, Harry Dammann, honorable mention in creative and Shane Spangler, honorable mention in poetry. Missing were Esther Anderson and Sidney Marshall. Next week the team travels to Virginia High School. Photo by Donna Kari

A dynamic new exhibit is coming to the International Wolf Center to replace the celebrated “Wolves and Humans” exhibit that has been on display at the Center since it opened in 1993.
To prepare for the new gallery, staff are documenting the current exhibit and will dismantle it in February. Beginning February 18, the Wolves and Humans exhibit will be closed to the public. The rest of the Center will remain open to visitors on weekends for its usual winter hours. While the exhibit area will be closed, visitors will still be able to watch the Center’s ambassador wolves, listen to numerous programs in the auditorium and watch wolf-related movies in the theater.

School Board Meeting Minutes
January 14, 2019 (Board approved 2-11-19)

Gertrude “Trudy” (Rydeski) Steiskal, 95, of Ely, passed away on Thursday, February 7, 2019 at the Boundary Waters Care Center in Ely. Memorial service at a later date as requested by family. To be held at the Polish National Catholic Church near Harding, MN. Survive by nieces, nephews and many friends. Family arrangements have been entrusted to Kerntz Funeral Home of Ely.

by Tom Coombe -

For many years there wasn’t Postal delivery to homes where I lived as a child. Six blocks away there was a one story brick building with Postal boxes inside. Mother pulled me on a sled or wagon and my older siblings walked there. We also picked up the mail for elderly residents in our neighborhood.
These days the US Postal Service is in financial trouble. According to its Nov. 24, 2018 report: There was an overall volume decline of 3.2 billion pieces and a net loss of $3.9 billion. Its only good news was in its Shipping and Packages business, where revenue increased $2.0 billion, or 10.1 percent.
A lot of the loss, it is said, is because people rarely write personal letters as once was done.
I so much treasured letters, that I still have a large box of personal letters I have received since I was a child. Mostly they are ones from family members. Fewer yet from good friends. The trouble is, although I plan to drop a line to someone, I put it off.

The cost of a “forever” postage stamp went up on January 27 from fifty cents to fifty five cents. In 1918 the Postal Service lost $3.9 billion dollars. It’s kind of a grey area about who runs our postal service. At one time it was the government that made all the rules and regulations.
For the past twelve years it has been hemorrhaging cash. Trump puts the blame on Amazon saying they are not paying their fair share by offering “free delivery” on their merchandize. This is debatable. People using emails instead of writing letters may have something to do with this. So far this year I’ve written only one letter and have received two in return. I’m still old fashioned and sent seventeen Christmas cards. Twenty years ago it was thirty or more cards. I am keeping in touch electronically like the majority of people are doing.

by Annette Meeks, CEO of the Freedom Foundation of Minnesota -

The USDA Forest Service anticipates reopening the process to reserve Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness quota permits on February 27, 2019. Prior to the tentative reopening date for the reservation system the Forest Service is working on the following actions:

fixing a technical problem in the BWCAW sale software;
additional planned training for permit cooperators who rely on the system;
and additional testing to ensure a smooth launch of the updated system.
Once the above schedule of actions is successfully completed the Forest Service will confirm the reopening date and move forward with broad public outreach to notify the public of the new reservation period.

by Tom Coombe -