This week marks the year anniversary of the Ham Lake Fire, Minnesota’s most destructive fire since 1918. The fire consumed 76,000 acres in the United States and Canada and destroyed 138 structures on the US side of the border. The losses for many were devastating. Wilderness Canoe Base, a Lutheran youth camp situated near the end of the trail, lost more than half of its buildings. But Wilderness, as the camp is often called, is still going strong and that’s in part do to the ways in which the local community has pulled together in the wake of the tragedy.  WTIP’s Barbara Jean Meyers reports.

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Maranda Weber, the border patrol agent involved in the accident that resulted in the death of Dr. Ken Peterson, failed to appear for arraignment in Cook County District Court on May 7. Weber was indicted on two misdemeanor accounts, careless driving and failure to drive with due care, by a Grand Jury in April. The defense counsel, DeWayne Johnston of Grand Forks, North Dakota, has filed both a notice of intent to remove the case to federal court and a waiver of his client’s presence in Cook County District Court. The defense has also requested that the matter be set on for jury trial. County Attorney Tim Scannell commented in a press release dated May 8, “The defense has unfortunately and negatively characterized the opinions of Cook County residents, the efforts of local law enforcement, and the community’s ability to handle this case in a just manner. I believe that these claims are inaccurate and inappropriate. Local and state law enforcement has, throughout, handled this case with the care and attention it deserves.” Scannell went on to say that, “Local concern regarding this matter is natural given that the case involves the loss of a respected and beloved community member. Such concern does not mean, however, that the defendant cannot receive a fair trial in Cook County.” The notice of removal and the certificate of waiver filed by the defense are both public documents. The county attorney’s press release and other materials related to this matter may be found online at: http://www.co.cook.mn.us/attorney/index.html.

On April 30 the Grand Marais City Council considered a request for a one year leave of absence brought forward by Property Maintenance Worker Tim McLean. McLean also asked the city to pay him in a lump sum for his accrued comp and vacation time saying, “I’m moving out of state and just want to simplify things. I don’t want to have to deal with direct deposit and mailing checks back and forth.” But According to City Administrator Mike Roth it’s against city policy to pay out vacation and comp time to city employees in a lump sum. Roth added that McLean could take a vacation and be paid on a day to day basis until his vacation days were used up. After that, he could begin his unpaid leave of absence. McLean was not interested in that option at the time and said, “Well I guess I’ll resign, effective as of now. You can pay me out accordingly.” McLean then got up and walked out of the meeting. After McLean left Roth commented, “I hope he reconsiders because if he doesn’t give his two weeks notice we don’t have to pay him for his vacation time at all.” In a phone interview with Roth on Monday, May 5, Roth said McLean had reconsidered his resignation and would be seeking city council approval for a leave of absence at the city’s next meeting.

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The Cook County Board of Commissioners requested a meeting with the Grand Marais City Council to talk about how they could work together on planning and creating a civic center type facility. Commissioners had hoped the city would be able to meet in early May, but the city was unable to accommodate that request. At the city’s meeting on Wednesday, April 30 Councilor Kay Costello commented, “I can’t meet next Monday or Tuesday and [the request] was frustrating to me because I feel like there’s been a lot of foot dragging for a long time and now all of a sudden it’s a big rush where we have to decide. It is really important that we sit down and have a good conversation on it, but for a while we couldn’t talk about it because they were waiting on the sales tax issue.” The current community center building has a number of maintenance issues that need to be addressed adding up to more than $40,000 worth of work. Some county commissioners and the Community Center Board have begun to question whether the facility is able to meet the communities overall needs. When asked for an opinion during the county’s last board meeting in April, Community Center Director Diance Booth said, “The building was not designed to be a community center. I have beaten my head against the wall for 15 years trying to make it that. I’m sorry, it’s really hard. It’s just so narrow, it’s just not built right, and you can’t have a wedding there decently. People will come and look at it and wonder how they’re going to make it work.” A date for the proposed meeting between the city and county has yet to be identified.

On this edition of the “Clean Plate Club” Hosts Anne Swallow Gillis and Chris Gillis are joined by special guests Gilbert Caribou and Billy Blackwell, members of the Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. The program focuses on traditional foods of the people indigenous to the Lake Superior region. Included is a discussion of wild rice and the potential danger it faces in the 21^st Century from other types of “rice” and genetic modification.

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