Columns
By Wyatt VanSteenbergAugust 01, 2023I have been on a journey to lose weight over the course of two years dating back to September of 2021. For background, I am 5 feet 9 inches tall and weighed 275 pounds at my heaviest. I am down 75 pounds and currently weigh 200. This isn’t my lightest so far, but it is where I am today. I’ve been working as an ad sales rep at the Star Herald over the past year, and I really wanted to use this…
By Gracie Rozeboom, Star Herald advertising and design internAugust 01, 2023On Saturday my family and our Verne Drive-In family of workers hosted the first annual “Carson’s Cause Car & Truck Meet” to raise awareness about brain health and suicide prevention. It was a chance to remember Carson Ehde who died last fall from suicide at age 21. And it was a chance to raise money for the foundation we started in his memory. I poured my whole heart into this event — because…
By Greg HoogeveenJuly 27, 2023This week is the 2023 Rock County Fair, and it’s a big week for the sports guy at the Star Herald. I have committed to being on the Star Herald teams for Wednesday night’s Donkey Races and Friday Night’s Ag Olympic. Being a city boy with limited barnyard experience, I am a bit scared and excited to see how these events go. Growing up, I have had the opportunity to ride a pig or two at a relative’…
By Lori Sorenson, editorJuly 25, 2023Office chatter at the Star Herald has been entertaining this week. “I’m definitely wearing a cowboy hat,” I said. “I think I can turn some jeans into Daisy Dukes,” Greg chimed in. “But wait — then you’ll need chaps. Where can we get those?” Mavis, a seasoned horse rider, volunteered to bring her wardrobe to work. We discussed safety. “If the air quality is poor, I’ll have my inhaler handy.” And…
By Rick Peterson, general managerJuly 25, 2023If you don’t know it’s fair week, you must be living under a rock. The four-day event actually takes months of planning and preparation by the volunteers that make up the Rock County Agricultural Society. The behind-the-scene work is so good you don’t even notice it. I mean that as a compliment. You probably won’t notice the freshly painted buildings, the new additional sidewalks and the upgrades…
By Scott Rall, outdoors columnistJuly 18, 2023A few weeks back I spent some time in this column running through the basics of shooting at long-range targets. I am no expert on this subject matter but certainly have gotten bit by the long-range-shooting bug. What prompted my entry into this discipline was an introduction to a gentleman by the name of Todd VanLangen. Todd is a 25-year veteran of the Army Special Forces unit where he spent 13…
By Mavis Fodness, reporterJuly 18, 2023For more than a decade I’ve been mad at God. It seems funny to be mad at someone you’ve never met or really know if he’s even real. My Christian upbringing, however, says he is there and, thus, he is the one I am directing my anger toward. My sister died unexpectedly in 2011 and I’ve never forgiven God for taking her away from her family. We all prayed for a miracle that she would recover and…
By Brenda Winter, columnistJuly 11, 2023Because my husband and I no longer have children of our own to subject to long, unbearable car trips, we borrowed a niece and a nephew for a drive to Denver to visit our daughter and their cousin. Technology has lessened the misery of car trips considerably, but even technology has its limits. We were nine hours into the 10-hour drive back home. Both kids, ages 12 and 8, had traveled like rock…
By Rick Peterson, general managerJuly 11, 2023We don’t have a lost and found department here at the Star Herald office, but from time to time someone might stop in the office and drop off a set of keys or maybe a glove that someone apparently accidently lost outside on the sidewalk. Up until last week the items turned in as lost have been of the smaller size. Well, not anymore. Monday morning when I pulled up to the back door at the office,…
By Kent Thiesse, Farm Management AnalystJuly 11, 2023The weekly U.S. Drought Monitor released the week of July 4 showed slight improvement in drought conditions across some of the primary corn and soybean production areas of the Midwest. The percentage of corn and soybeans considered in drought conditions both improved by 3 percent from a week earlier, due to significant rainfall in the first few days of July. Rain fell in a line from southeast…
By Betty Mann, Rock County HistorianJuly 11, 2023The following article is part of the Diamond Club Member group that began in the January 7, 1943, issue of the Rock County Star Herald. Members of this group consist of persons of age 75 and older. The following appeared in The Rock County Herald on Nov. 4, 1943. One of Luverne’s oldest residents, Thor Berg, who will be 90 years of age next January 3, is the only Diamond Club member thus…
By Scott RallJuly 11, 2023If you are a regular reader of my columns, you will certainly know by now just how much of a public lands advocate I am. When I was 11 and my parents got me a new bike, I was a roving fisherman. I rode that bike all over my neck of the woods trying to find and catch whatever kind of fish I could. When I got a car and could then drive to a fishing or hunting spot, I was sure that my desire to…
By Jason Berghorst, reporterJuly 04, 2023Two years ago this month, I wrote a column about my Top 5 wish list for Luverne. I thought it would be fun to look back at my 2021 hopes for my hometown and see if any wishes had been granted. The following made my list two years ago: 5. Dar’s Pizza opening a Luverne location. 4. Kwik Trip coming to Luverne. 3. A larger Lewis Drug in town. 2. A permanent Star Herald sports reporter. 1. A normal…
By Betty Mann, Rock County HistorianJuly 04, 2023The following article is part of the Diamond Club Member group that began in the January 7, 1943, issue of the Rock County Star Herald. Members of this group consist of persons of age 75 and older. The following appeared in The Rock County Herald on Nov. 4, 1943. (Continued from last week when Nels Berg, in his first four months in Luverne, broke 100 acres of prairie with oxen.) When my brother…
By Scott RallJuly 02, 2023I planted a tree in my front yard about two years ago. It received more attention than any other tree I have ever put in the ground. After I watered and nurtured the tree for two years, the winter of 2022-2023 finally killed it off. The tree had a tube on it to keep the rabbits away. When the snow got taller than the tube, the rabbits started in. Each additional snow allowed them more access to…
By Greg HoogeveenJuly 02, 2023When I started my job at the Star Herald, I was asked to do a sports column from time to time. Having been here for just over seven months and feeling more confident about my position, I decided it’s time. The first thing I had to do was to come up with a name for my sports-related column. After a few suggestions that went afoul, such as “Sports Shorts” (a nod to my short stature), I decided to…
You must log in to continue reading. Log in or subscribe today.
