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Parade of HomesThe ever-popular Parade of Homes will feature another four homes for you to take in this year as part of the Winterfest activities.This year the homes of Dr. Don Smith, Rick and Carrie Van Santen, Jeff and Kathy Dietrich and Steven and Terri Steensma will be on parade.The homes will be decorated with the help of Luverne Flowers, Prairie Smoke Floral, Grapevines, Glen’s Floral Department and The Final Touch.The tour will run from 1 to 5 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 4. The shuttle service to the Van Santen and Dietrich homes departs from the Carnegie Cultural Center.Tickets for the event will be available at the Winterfest Craft Show in the Luverne Elementary School Commons on the day of the tour or at the Carnegie Cultural Center from noon to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and from 1 to 5 p.m. on Saturday. All funds raised from the Tour of Homes are used to help promote the Luverne Hockey program.Minnesota Senate is seeking your input into public schoolsWhat we expect from our schools and how to fund those expectations has become an increasingly popular topic of conversation.This is particularly true in places like Luverne, since the voters rejected requests for additional funding on Election Day.The Minnesota State Senate would like to hear from you on our public school system.Senate Majority Leader, Dean Johnson, and LeRoy Stumpf, Chair of the K-12 Education Budget Division, have created an e-mail address for Minnesotans to share opinions and possible solutions for funding schools.From a recent report that indicated that schools are not adequately funded, the Senators hope to spark community discussion on the topic.Stumpf cited two recent reports released by the Pawlenty administration that indicated that Minnesota failed to adequately fund K-12.One report projected that the funding shortfall could be off by as much as $1 billion.Gov. Pawlenty’s task force on education earlier released a report indicating similar conclusions.According to Stumpf, the information gathered from the e-mails will help the Senate members decide what we expect from schools and the cost of those expectations.Stumpf said he felt Minnesota had three choices:
Significantly change our delivery system so that the current funding can meet our expectations.
Reduce our expectations for schools by eliminating mandates and limiting curriculum.
Fund schools at the level these reports indicate is necessary to meet expectations.The responses the Senate receives from the public will be compiled in anticipation of the upcoming legislative sessionSchool funding accounts for 41 percent of the State’s budget.If you would like to add your comments, the e-mail address is schools@senate.mnThe full report will be available at http://education.state.mn.us/contents/080511.pdfNudie fund-raising calendar features Luverne Fire TruckEver since the movie "Calendar Girls" came out, it has become increasingly more popular for women past their "youthful prime" to pose nude for local fund-raising calendars.One such recent calendar was published in Carmel by the Sea, California.Women ranging in age from 50 to 83 posed in the buff in a money-raising effort to help retrofit the town’s 67-year-old fire station.Several months later and $23,000 in the bank, the city has now decided they cannot accept the money because, among other things, they could get sued for sexual harassment.Bob Lippi, Luverne native and graduate of the LHS class of 1970, is currently a resident of Carmel by the Sea and is always keeping his eyes open for any memorabilia from his home town.He recently sent me a copy of the calendar with post-it notes pointing out that on three of the months the women are posing on their recently restored Luverne Fire Truck.No word yet on what the women plan on doing with their funds.Publisher Roger Tollefson can be reached by e-mail at tolly@star-herald.com