Pair carve totem for sister city.

Byline: Pratik Joshi

Sep. 29--St. Paul resident Ray Lefto, a woodcarver for 30 years, has spent the past five months on a labor of love.

Lefto and his son Kabel, 14, have invested more than 800 hours carving a 30-foot goodwill totem pole that will be shipped to Nagasaki, Japan, next month.

The basswood sculpture is meant as a tribute to the friendship between St. Paul and Nagasaki. The two cities recently celebrated the 50th anniversary of their sister-city relationship.

The new work will replace the 1978 totem pole that was sent to Nagasaki by an East Side Boy Scout group, Troop 85, to mark the beginning of a Sister-Club relationship …