Remember When Aug. 17, 2023

10 years ago (2013)
•Bill Ketterling has been in the garbage hauling business long enough to remember when cities used dray services.
In fact, when he started more than 40 years ago, he bought out Orville Kannenberg’s Dray Service.
“Orville had the business for sale, and no one else wanted to do it, so I thought maybe that meant it would be job security,” Ketterling said.
The term “drayage” historically refers to the transport of goods over short distances on sideless carts pulled by dray horses.
When Ketterling took over on Feb. 7, 1973, Orville’s route included 40 to 50 stops on Main Street. …
“I was a one-man band,” Ketterling said. “I just kept plugging away at it.”
 
25 years ago (1998)
•Godfather’s Pizza, Luverne, will be open for lunch Tuesday in the former Hardee’s building on South Highway 75.
Thomas Studer, Luverne, has been hired as manager, and Nancy DeGroot and Joyce Sandbo, both of Luverne, are assistant manager and second assistant manager, respectively. …
The Luverne location is the 48th restaurant group operated by ROC Management & Associates, Sprits Lake, Iowa. The franchise group purchased the Luverne property in March, less than three months after Hardee’s closed in January. The Hardee’s restaurant in Pipestone closed at the same time, and a Godfather’s Pizza will soon be there as well.
 
50 years ago (1973)
•Neil Hoven, a 22-year old former Kenneth resident now living in Magnolia, is currently sitting on top in driver’s standing in the Worthington Stock Car races held each Sunday.
Hoven has compiled a total of 1,027 points to date with at least four more races to go before the season ends.
This is Hoven’s second year in racing stock cars, and after an uneventful debut, this season he leads over 40 regular drivers for the honors.
Employed by Van’s Motor Co. in Luverne as a mechanic, Hoven drives a 1962 Chevrolet with a 327 engine. He also races at Rock Rapids, Iowa, and occasionally at Sioux Falls, but he is strictly a quarter or three-eighths mile track racer.
 
75 years ago (1948)
•A heavily loaded runaway trailer menaced traffic on Highway 75 at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday. The trailer crashed into a telephone pole just north of the H. A. Shelby office and garage. The badly shattered pole will have to be replaced.
Driving the light tractor which was towing the vehicle was Lloyd Siebenahler, 17, Luverne. The outfit is owned by Paulson Dehydrated Products Co. and was being brought to the plant from field operators at Trosky.
As Siebenahler passed the intersection, headed south, in front of the W. L. Merrick residence, the equipment repair house trailer cut loose from the tractor and careened down hill. …
Although the pin and tongue were still in place on the trailer after the accident, it is believed that the pin jumped loose and then dropped back in the hole again. There was no key or nut on the pin and no safety chain as added precaution. One wheel of the trailer was wrecked.
 
100 years ago (1923)
•Convinced that violation of traffic regulations in this city are becoming daily too frequent by many motorists, Mayor R. B. Hinkly has instructed police officers to make a checking record of those guilty of violations, and thus make the city safer for both riders and pedestrians.
To carry out his purpose, the mayor has instructed Chief of Police Connell and Night Policeman Will Linville, to file reports of any cases of speeding or violation of traffic rules which may come to their attention. They have been provided with printed cards by which these gentlemen will be aided in securing all the necessary information for the prosecution of the law-breakers.