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DONATION - The Ely Food Shelf received a donation of $2,000 from Twin Metals Minnesota. Presenting the check were four employees of the Ely office last Friday. Pictured are Jordan Richards (TMM), Kevin Boerst (TMM), Dean DeBeltz (TMM), Kathy Champpa, Cheryl Boyes, Mary Matthies, Mike Mathiasen and James Devine (TMM). Photo by Nick Wognum.

STORM WATER was backed up Wednesday night from Third Avenue East and Conan Street all the way to the alley behind Sir G’s where sandbags had to be used around the building to keep the rain water out. “There’s close to seven feet of frost in the ground so it took awhile to come back through the surface on Third Avenue,” said Ely Operations Director Harold Langowski. That relieved the pressure in the main allowing the water to drop from behind Sir G’s, but a house on Conan ended up with four feet of water in the basement. “Butch Gornik and Kurt Mattila pumped it out last night,” said Langowski on Thursday afternoon. “When you get an inch of rain and everything is frozen it causes some problems. We had 200 feet of storm sewer frozen solid.”
The city fire department and public works assisted with the sand bags at Sir G’s. Photo by Nick Wognum.

ELY’S SIXTH GRADE band performed “Furioso” and “Revenge of the Dust Bunnies” at the Music in our Schools concert on March 7 in Washington Auditorium. Photos by Eric Sherman

Lots of photos from the concert in ths week's Ely Echo.

Cersine and Selisker re-elected. Full reports in this Saturday's Ely Echo.

Vermilion's Kaleb Beane returned to familiar territory and made quite a first impression.

The native of Tallahassee, Fla., returned to the Sunshine State for the Ironmen's season-opening baseball trip and had two strong pithcing performances.

The first was March 8, when he gave up two hits over five innings and pitched the Ironmen to a 9-1 victory over Northern Division rival Mesabi.

Fellow freshman Chase Bottin had four runs batted in, three on his first career home run, and Dawson Linkert added more freshman punch to the lineup and contributed two hits as VCC gained its only win on a weeklong seven-game junket.

Beane was effective on the mound Tuesday, giving up two earned runs in five innings as VCC fell 7-2 to Lewis and Clark, a Division II scholarship juior college from Illinois.

by Tom Coombe -

Brandon Barbee's last-second putback ended the Ely Timberwolves' season and their bid for a Section 7A boys basketball tournament upset.

Barbee snared an offensive rebound and scored just as time expired, capping off an 8-0 Lakeview Christian Academy run in the last three minutes and giving his Lions a 62-60 7A quarterfinal win Saturday night at Romano Gymnasium on the campus of the University of MInnesota-Duluth.

The sixth-seeded Wolves, who finished 17-11, led for much of the game and went up 60-54 with 2:48 left.

But the Wolves never took another shot and turnovers were deadly down the home stretch.

Barbee tied it up with 1:25 left and the Wolves soon turned the ball over, allowing the third-seeded Lions to hold for the last shot.

The late collapse spoiled a spirited effort by the Wolves, who fell 67-51 to LCA during the regular season and played without injured starting guard Eric Omerza.

By Doug Hanneman
It’s truly a paradox that the light shining on the Jefferson Memorial contradicts an American principle that this Founding Father is known for defending.
Here’s the storyline: A couple decades ago, national park maintenance workers solved the problem of the deterioration of the memorial’s stone exterior. Excessive washing of bird droppings was to blame.
But what brought the birds to the famed monument in the first place? In short, it was learned the birds came to feed on spiders, which fed on midges. The bugs were attracted by spotlights that shined on the memorial at night.
The solution? Reduce the amount of time that the monument is in the spotlight. The change resulted in immediate results: 90 percent of the insects disappeared, the excessive cleaning was no longer needed, and the memorial’s electric bill plummeted.
The irony, of course, is that Jefferson’s name is synonymous with light. Lots of light.

Spring rain, melting snow and culverts plugged with ice can cause water to back up onto highways. The Minnesota Department of Transportation wants to remind motorists to be watchful for flooded areas as water can rise quickly.

MnDOT crews have already been working to thaw frozen culverts and will continue to monitor conditions. If flooding occurs, lanes or other sections of highway may need to be closed with barricades and other traffic control devices.

MnDOT wants to remind all motorists that driving through standing or moving water is dangerous and that it is unlawful to drive through areas where roads are barricaded. Vehicles can be swept away in only several inches of moving water.

For real-time traffic and travel information in Minnesota, visit www.511mn.org or get the free smartphone app at Google Play or the App Store

As Minnesotans are still digging out from what was the snowiest February on record throughout much of the state, deer enthusiasts may grow concerned about the condition of the white-tailed deer herd and wonder if supplemental feeding is needed to prevent population declines.

Although deer feeding can be well-intentioned, the DNR recommends against it. Why? In short, what we know now is that the risks of these feeding practices easily outweigh the potential benefits. Some examples include:

Results of the 2019 moose survey indicate northeastern Minnesota’s moose population remains stable but relatively low for the eighth year in a row, according to the Department of Natural Resources.

“We’re encouraged that the moose population is not in the steep decline it was,” said Glenn DelGiudice, DNR moose and deer project leader. “In the short to medium term, we’re likely to keep seeing moose in the forests, lakes and swamps of northeastern Minnesota. But their long-term survival here in Minnesota remains uncertain.”

Survey results estimate northeastern Minnesota’s moose population at 4,180, statistically unchanged from 2018’s estimate of 3,030. The results reflect a 90 percent certainty that the moose population is between 3,250 and 5,580 animals.

The last significant population decline occurred between 2009 and 2012. Since then, the number of moose in northeastern Minnesota has been statistically stable.