Hillsider_Editor Posts

Do words, language and images matter?

I grew up with a father and friends who were hunters. Hunting is a way of staying connected to the land and procuring food,  at least that’s what it was when I was growing up. My father rented a meat locker, we ate venison, and Mom and I each got a leather coat, gloves and matching purses. Mine was a buckskin fringe jacket, the envy of my Minneapolis cousins.  I wore it for five years, then my brother wore it for another five years. One thing we did not do: Joke about guns or shooting someone.

Scott Tridgell has been found!

Duluthian Scott Tridgell has been found in Oklahoma City. He’d been missing since Dec. 14.

Rowdy crowd at Oberstar/Cravaack forum

It was an emotional crowd at the Congressman Jim Oberstar and challenger Chip Cravaack forum on Tuesday, Oct. 19. A crowd filled the main level of the DECC Auditorium and didn’t heed the requests of forum moderators Dave Orman or Chuck Frederick to keep the event civil.

At the beginning Orman told the crowd that there had been a fist fight in the Skywalk (which this blogger thought was a joke, but apparently not). See more photos and the whole Hillsider blog post here.

Hillsider intern attends presentation about Domestic Violence Awareness Month

Our Hillsider intern, Sam Elmquist, attended a presentation about Domestic Violence. Here is his post.

Power and Control Wheel

October is nationally recognized as violence against woman awareness month. In honor of this I attended a presentation about physical violence against women, more particularly about a women’s shelter here in Duluth called Safe Haven. The shelter works with men, women, and children involved in abusive relationships. Safe Haven provides a safety net which allows women caught up in abusive relationships to come and stay at the shelter, hopefully allowing them the time they need in order to try and settle themselves as individuals. Specifically they give these women a place to stay and time to figure out what it is they want to do.

Various support groups help them realize the situation they are in and give them the chance to relate with other women who are going through similar circumstances. The shelter offers women looking for help up to thirty days to figure out what it is they want to do, this is not necessarily a time limit because the shelter is willing to make exceptions for women who need more time and are seriously committed to change.

Read the whole post here.

Dayton, Emmer and Horner answer Hillsider questions about Duluth’s workforce and economic recovery

Minnesota gubernatorial candidates at the Duluth Chamber of Commerce The Forum event on Sept. 7, which was held at the Duluth Playhouse. From left to right: Tom Horner – Independent, Tom Emmer – Republican and Mark Dayton – DFL. (Photo by Naomi Yaeger-Bishcoff)

In the Hillsider’s October issue, the three gubernatorial candidates were asked:

How do you perceive Duluth’s workforce meeting the required skills for economic recovery from this recession?

Here are their answers:

Mark Dayton
Tom Emmer
Tom Horner

J Lydia Salon celebrates opening with food, music and art

By Sam Elmquist

Duluth native, Jessica Myshack, has opened the J. Lydia Salon at 1131 B East 4th Street. The Salon will celebrate its official grand opening on Friday, Oct. 8 from 6 to 9 p.m. It will feature a variety of things including live music, some of it to be performed by Myshack herself, and free food, generously donated by the Lake Avenue Café, Amazing Grace, and the New London Café. There will also be art by Jessica Turtle on display and for sale, prices ranging from 55-125$.
See story here.

Ford and Rubin answer our questions

Have you decided who you will vote for in the race between Melanie Ford and Mark Rubin?

The October issue of The Hillsider is out. We have a candidate questionnaire for several of the candidates running for office this November. Read all the candidates who answered by picking up a paper copy.

Here are links to the St. Louis county attorney candidates’ answers to our most recent questions.
Melanie Ford
Mark Rubin

The questions we posed:

  • What things in the County Attorney’s office would you like to see change, expanded or improved upon.
  • What is the greatest injustice that needs correction?
  • What is your favorite place in any of the three neighborhoods that we cover, i.e. Central Hillside, East Hillside or Lincoln Park.


Ghettos don’t just happen …

This is response to the post “Looking for Duluth apartment” in which “j-i-l-l-o” posted that someone was looking for a centralized location in Duluth and “Losjasmo” said that was a synonym for “ghetto-town.”  “Wildgoose” took offense. So did I.

This summer I heard Majora Carter speak and something she said really struck me. “Ghettos don’t just happen … they are planned.”

Hillfest 2010: Food, games, music, art

Come check out the action at Hillfest on Saturday from 3 to 7 p.m. on the corner of Sixth Avenue East and Fourth Street.

Melanie/Mark, Dennis/Frank, and others … ask the Hillsider to ask them

Do you have a question you would like to ask the candidates? The Hillsider will contact them with questions. Please help give us ideas. You could comment here or you could email me at hillsider @ sundogpress.com.  I need your questions by Tuesday, Sept. 14. The Hillsider will run the candidate’s answers in its October issue.

Here are the candidates that we plan to include:

Minnesota Sixth District Judge for Court 11
Mike Cuzzo
Timothy A. Costley

Minnesota State Representative District 7B:
Tony Salls (Independence)
Travis Silvers (Republican) Facebook page
Kerry Gauthier (Democratic-Farmer-Labor)kerryforrep.com

Minnesota State Senator for District 7
Rilla Debot Opelt (Republican)
Roger J. Reinert (DFL)

District 1 County Commissioner
Dennis Fink
Frank Jewell

County Attorney
Melanie Ford
Mark Rubin

Minnesota Governor and Lieutenant Governor
Tom Horner & James A. Mulder (Independence)
Tom Emmer & Annette T. Meeks (Republican)
Mark Dayton & Yvonne Prettner Solon (DFL)

I am looking forward to some unique questions.

Hillsider to Fink and Jewell: Why are issues relating to mining and forestry important?

The September issue of The Hillsider features candidates running for District 1 County Commissioner, Dennis Fink and Frank Jewell, answering two questions:

  • Why are you running?
  • Why care about mining and forestry?

Click on the links below for the answers. The paper issue also contains an encore presentation of questions and answers from candidates for other offices.

Dennis Fink | Frank Jewell

By the way, St. Louis County is over 6,000 square miles — larger than three states: Connecticut, Delaware and Rhode Island. It has an abundance of natural resources contributing to mining and lumber industries. Why should people in the core neighborhoods of Duluth be concerned? Read up.

Want a drink?

So, what do you think? Is this ad for not drinking to prevent Fetal Alcohol Syndrome effective, or does it backfire?

Learn more about the judicial candidates

I was a little surprised by the lack of comments on the wealth of information I had provided about the judicial candidates in a previous post. I know a lot of people are complaining that there isn’t much information out there and they have no idea who to vote for. Does no one really care about this or was the lack of comments because I didn’t make names clearly visible and easy to click onto?

Did you know that this judge will actually sit at the bench in Two Harbors but that the people of Duluth could out vote what the people of the Two Harbors area want?  Does that make any difference to you?

Minnesota Sixth District Court Judge 11 candidates:
Russ Conrow
Timothy Costley
Michael J. Cuzzo
Juhl S. Halvorson
Tim Little
John Steven Lind [Did not return questions]
James Ross
Lawrence W. Ulanowski [Did not return questions]

County Attorney Candidates:
Melanie Ford incumbent
Mark Rubin

It’s time to party and the candidates’ answers

See the Hillsider electronic newsletter here for links to where the National Night Out parties are located and candidate questionnaires for the upcoming election.

Many people are especially interested in the judicial candidates. At our last board meeting we decided to ask the judicial candidates:

What could you do in your position to prevent the disproportionately high number of children of color that are in the juvenile justice system? Are there alternatives to juvenile detention by focusing on solutions rather than punishment?

Do NOT follow this link or you will be banned from the site!