Celebrate the end of the winter season and raise funds for the local fire department Calling all thrill-seekers and community champions to participate in this brand new event on the Gunflint Trail on Saturday, March 30, 2024. This exciting event invites participants to take a refreshing (and icy!) dip into the beautiful Poplar Lake, located on the Gunflint Trail.
This past February CCCoLA 's sub-committee on SSTS met with county staff Tim Nelson, Neva Maxwell, and Mitch Everson to learn more about how our county manages the work of Septic Inspections. You might be wondering what the initials SSTS stand for as I sure was curious heading into this meeting. It stands for Sub Surface Treatment Systems and CCCoLA stands for Cook County Coalition of Lake Associations. Our meeting lasted an hour and was very informative as we learned of the history of their work over the past 23 years.
So, with little to no snow on the ground and lake ice thawing due to warmer temperatures than usual, thoughts of spring have been on Northlanders' minds for some time. But put those thoughts away, at least for the time being.
There have been a few editorials recently on the ISD 166 policy allowing young men into the woman’s locker rooms and vice versa. It is amazing and disheartening that we are at this point. Simply put, Men belong in the men’s room and Woman belong in the women’s room. I agree with Mr. Wizykoski’s editorial. If an adult chooses to change in front of the opposite sex, go ahead, but to insist students have to share a locker room with a member of the opposite sex is bullying. As a taxpayer, the school district not notifying the public on this policy change is a major concern to all taxpayers.
Four months ago, Dr. Bruce Dahlman was dismissed as an ER physician at North Shore Health. Why it happened and how it happened shocked the community Dahlman had served for three decades. Shock turned to anger and then action. An online petition calling for Dr. Dahlman's reinstatement and the termination of the hospital CEO was signed by 751 people in little more than a week. Over fifty citizens attended the next hospital board meeting, many speaking on Dahlman's behalf and confronting the board members with firsthand grievances experienced as NSH employees. The public outcry from this courageous testimony was picked up by all media in the county, plus the major Twin Cities newspaper.
Ron Wyzikoski stated that his point of his letter to the editor on February 17 was about the “fear” of teenagers not being able to openly express their ‘discomfort’ about dressing in front of someone whose body does not match their gender. This to him is ‘bullying’. I hope he read the ‘article’ in March 2nd issue by the Cook County Pride Committee where youth in our school are talking about the bullying that is going on currently against 2SLGBTQIA+ youth (Two Spirit, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, Asexual, and those + who identify in other terms).
Response to Moving On of March 9, 2024. So, what is truth? Funny you should ask.
Those who hate and believe in disproven science are a dying breed. It is slow change, but it is change. Soon they will be gone. Let them rant as much as they like. You do have people who support and believe in you and stand by your side.
Consider this as my support for LGBT youth as I was unable to attend the community event on March 1st in Grand Marais Harbor Park: I know two families with trans teenagers who at an elementary age proclaimed that they were not the sex stated on birth records. The kids did not choose to be trans. They just knew who they were. It took some years but thankfully their parents, friends, and the community came to accept this, even though not fully understood. Teenage years are tough enough. Fortunately, these kids thrive, are happy and productive as trans.
I represent the largest and most rural district in the Minnesota State Senate and one of my biggest frustrations is when rural communities are constantly told to just wait. Wait for state funding for that critical local infrastructure project.