Evelyn Rognley, 93, Hills, died Friday, Oct. 25, 2002, at Tuff Memorial Home in Hills.

Memorial services were Tuesday, Oct. 29, at Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Hills. The Rev. Lowell Berg officiated.

Evelyn Rognley was born to Hans and Marit (Paulson) Rognley on April 3, 1909, rural Hills. She grew up on the family farm and attended country school east of Hills and later Hills High School. While in high school she was active in school events and was captain of the girls’ basketball team. She graduated from Hills High School in 1927 and then attended the University of Minnesota obtaining a bachelors of arts degree in teaching with an emphasis in math and business. After graduation she returned to Hills and worked at the Exchange State Bank in Hills where she was in charge of the insurance department.

She married Joseph Nelson on Dec. 15, 1940, at Bethlehem Lutheran Church parsonage in Hills. They lived in Hills until moving to the Rognley homestead in 1951. She later did income tax work for members of the community, along with working at a tax accountant in Sioux Falls, S.D. She also did substitute teaching in the Ellsworth and Hills high schools and wrote a column for the Star Herald titled "What's the Good Word?". Mr. Nelson died on Dec. 16, 1976. She continued living on the farm until moving to Hills in 1980. She moved to Tuff Memorial Home on May 15, 2002.

Rognley was a long-time member of Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Hills and was church secretary for many years. She enjoyed crocheting and gardening.

Survivors include one son, Stanford Rognley Nelson, Hills; one daughter, Paula Nelson Sundt, Cokato; three grandchildren, Molly Marit Sundt, Joseph David Sundt and Kathleen Nora Grace Nelson.

Rognley was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, one granddaughter, Carrie Christine Nelson, son-in-law, David Donald Sundt, three brothers, Oswald, Peter and Melvin, and three sisters, Amanda, Helen and Nora.

Roste Funeral Home, Hills, was in charge of arrangements.

Hills-Beaver Creek-Ellsworth senior fullback Jesse Leuthold runs past some Southwest Star Concept defenders during Saturday's Section 2 football playoff game in Hills. Leuthold ran for 99 yards and one touchdown during a 47-20 semifinal-round win over the Quasars.

By John Rittenhouse
Hills-Beaver Creek-Ellsworth earned the right to host the Section 2 Nine-Man Football playoff championship game after beating up on Southwest Star Concept Saturday in Hills.

Patriot coach Dan Ellingson expected a tight battle when his top-seeded team hosted No. 4 SSC for a semifinal-round tilt in Hills Saturday, but he got a rout instead as H-BC-E ran its record to 9-0 with a 47-20 victory.

"It was kind of surprising," Ellingson said. "We thought this was going to be a close game, but we ended up playing our best offensive game of the season, and our defense did a good job of containing Leopold (Tyler, SSC's senior quarterback)."

If the Patriots can put together another solid effort on both sides the ball when they host No. 2 Nicollet at 3 p.m.
Saturday, they could get the chance to play in the state tournament for the second straight year.

Beating Nicollet, however, may be easier said than done.
The 10-0 Raiders are the state's third-ranked team, and one of their victories came against a former top-ranked LeRoy-Ostrander squad late in the season.

H-BC-E, which is ranked as the state's fourth team in nine-man football, has faced Nicollet in the playoffs the past three seasons. The Raiders have a 2-1 edge in those games.

"They are a very good team," Ellingson said of the Raiders. "They are very quick. They have the same quarterback and running back from last year, so we have a good understanding of what they like to do. The keys for us will be to not turn the ball over, and take advantage of the mistakes they might make. With their quickness, we'll have to concentrate on not giving up big plays when we are on defense."

H-BC-E is a good team, too, and they displayed that while pounding the Quasars Saturday.

After falling behind 6-0 early in the game, H-BC-E scored 40 consecutive points to all but end the contest midway through the third quarter. The 40-point fun featured H-BC-E's offensive scoring with six consecutive possessions, while the Patriot defense was shutting down Leopold.

"Our main concern heading into the game was stopping Leopold. He's their main ball carrier and he can throw the ball. We had to stop him, and we did what we needed to do. He did rush for 93 yards, but he only passed for 52 yards against our No. 1 defense," Ellingson said.

Although the Patriots had him in their sights, Leopold did open the scoring when he capped SSC's second possession of the game with a 22-yard touchdown run at the 3:13 mark of the first quarter. SSC's extra-point attempt was blocked.

The rest of the first half belonged to H-BC-E as it scored 26 unanswered points with four offensive possessions.

During the kickoff following Leopold's touchdown, Patriot senior Chris Reid returned the ball 38 yards to SSC 47-yard line. After a five-yard penalty on the Quasars, H-BC-E quarterback tossed a 42-yard touchdown pass to Tyson Metzger with 2:39 remaining in the opening stanza. Zach Wysong added the extra point to give the Patriots a 7-6 edge.

H-BC-E's defense forced the Quasars to punt four plays into their next possession, setting up a 10-play, 70-yard touchdown drive. The drive was capped with a six-yard touchdown pass from Schilling to Metzger during a fourth-and-goal situation. Wysong's extra point made it a 14-6 game at the 9:08 mark of the second quarter.

SCC had to punt four plays into its next possession, and H-BC-E advanced the ball 64 yards in seven plays before Jesse Leuthold found the end zone after a three-yard run to make it a 20-6 difference with 4:45 left in the first half.

H-BC-E's roll continued as Reid picked off a pass five plays into SSC's ensuing possession, setting up a 10-play, 70-yard drive that ended with Schilling scoring on a one-yard run to increase the lead to 20-6 with 15 seconds left in the second period.

Any thoughts of a second-half rally by the Quasars were quickly erased.

The Patriots opened the third quarter with a nine-play, 54-yard drive that ended with Schilling tossing a 10-yard touchdown pass to Wysong at the 8:47 mark. Wysong added the extra point to make it 33-6.

Patriot Clint Roozenboom blocked an SSC punt four plays later and teammate Brant Deutsch recovered the ball on the SSC 14. Reid scored on a three-yard run five plays later, and Wysong added the extra point for a 40-6 cushion with 4:55 left in the third stanza.

Reserves played the rest of the game for H-BC-E, and SSC outscored the Patriots 14-7 in the fourth quarter.

Leopold threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to Ryan Scheevel with 7:43 remaining, and Mitchell Leopold scored on a one-yard run (a successful conversion pass from Tyler Leopold to Scheevel followed) with less than four minutes remaining.

H-BC-E countered with a 19-yard touchdown run and an extra point by Wysong with five seconds left to play.

After watching his offense rack up 462 total yards, Ellingson praised the play of his linemen.

"Our offense line did a good job," he said. "Schilling was able to complete 10 of 11 passses without even coming close to being sacked, and Reid and Leuthold were getting past the line of scrimmage without being touched because of the good surge our line was giving us up front."

Team statistics
H-BC-E: 317 rushing yards, 145 passing yards, 462 total yards, 17 first downs, four penalties for 25 yards, zero turnovers.
SSC: 115 rushing yards, 174 passing yards, 289 total yards, eight first downs, seven penalties for 40 yards, one turnover.

Individual statistics
Rushing: Reid 20-152, Leuthold 16-99, Schilling 5-8, Wysong 7-43, Dusty Seachris 4-15.
Passing: Schilling 10-11 for 145 yards, Travis Broesder 0-2 for zero yards.
Receiving: Metzger 8-110, Wysong 1-10, Reid 1-25.
Defense: Leuthold 13 tackles, Schilling seven tackles, Cody Scholten six tackles, Reid one interception, Pat Nelson one sack, Craig Gaul one sack, Roozenboom one blocked punt, Deutsch one blocked punt recovery.

By Lori Ehde
Select members of Luverne School Board and the Rock County Board of Commissioners met Tuesday night in the district office as members of the county-school liaison committee.

The first item on the agenda was the possibility of a law enforcement officer spending time in school hallways.

The newly-formed Parents: The Anti-Drug and Violence Task Force, raised the school officer question at recent public meetings.

Sheriff Ron McClure attended the meeting to answer questions, and County Administrator Kyle Oldre presented information on federal grant money that could be applied for.

There is a $125,000 Community Oriented Policing grant available through the Department of Justice that would cover a school resource officer for a three-year time span.

Commissioners and board members at Tuesday's meeting did the math on that grant and figured the grant would provide roughly $40,000 per year toward an officer's position. But expenses surrounding the position would likely come to $25,000 per year more than that, and it would end after three years when the grant expires.

"You become accustomed to a service, and then what do you do when the grant runs out?" said Superintendent Vince Schaefer. "I'm not sure of the best avenue to fund it, but maybe it would take just a change in philosophy. Sometimes we're better off not getting too many bureaucrats involved through grants and take care of it ourselves."

As part of implementing the community policing approach to Rock County's law enforcement, Community Policing Institute representatives are reorganizing and prioritizing how deputies spend their time.

"We're replacing random patrol with specific duties," Oldre said, "...setting priorities as a community and letting the community be involved in the process."

While McClure was careful not to promise spare deputy hours in school hallways, he said with rescheduling, a school officer might be a priority. "I've got two or three guys who would jump on the chance to do it," McClure said.

Oldre added that with recent law enforcement retirements and more on the horizon, the county is building a pool of potential officers, some with school officer experience.

County and city attorney Don Klosterbuer said, "If we're both interested, how do we go about implementing it?"

He recommended the school and county wait until after the Policing Institute completes its work on rescheduling, and then see if some time could be arranged for a school resource officer.

Meanwhile, McClure said he'd check with districts that currently have school officers to see how their programs are structured and funded.

Community day care
Developer Don Dunham had agreed to provide community day care space in the lower level of the former Luverne Elementary School when he made the building into City Centre Apartments. In return, the city, county and school agreed to abate taxes on the property for a specified time period.

When Dunham provided unfinished space, the taxing entities terminated the abatement, and Dunham sued for breach of contract.

"It's pretty obvious we're not looking at day care at the previous sight," Oldre said of the City Centre Apartments, "but the community's been talking about a day-care center since the early 1980s, and I'm thinking we need to put it back on the table and talk about it."

Rock County Family Services Director Randy Ehlers said there are roughly 40 licensed providers in Rock County, and about 70 percent of those frequently operate on waivers to occasionally allow for more children.

"Right now it's not a problem, but a lot are at retirement age where they're thinking about getting out of the business," Ehlers said. "I see a growing need. It's an issue that's not going to go away."

Klosterbuer said he frequently hears speculation about the possibility of day care services on the school campus. "The school has indicated pretty clearly they're not interested in that," he said. "What were those reasons?"

Schaefer said there are two obstacles that couldn't be easily overcome: space and access. He said even if the district has space on campus to build a center or to accommodate one, curbside access is a major issue for daycare center, and traffic patterns on the school district wouldn’t allow for that.

Options for hospital
The day care question led to discussion about the hospital.
While nothing has been officially announced, Sioux Valley and Luverne Community Hospital are considering building a new hospital either on the north or south edge of town, and the City of Luverne and Rock County are potential owners of the existing structure.

At Tuesday's joint meeting, the two entities discussed possible uses for the facility, and day care surfaced as one of many possibilities.

The county could use the facility in several ways, but commissioners said it could be considered as a possible option for the Luverne Alternative School, which needs more space.

Oldre said if the County and City were to own the hospital structure, it wouldn't be ready for occupancy until late 2005 at the earliest, after necessary renovations.

In other business,
county and school representatives discussed:
Student mental health: "We're seeing more and more mental health issues get in the way of good family functioning and good school functioning," Ehlers said.

He said autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and oppositional defiance are on the rise nationwide, and Luverne's students are now catching up with the rest of the country.

Closed campus: Commissioner Ken Hoime asked if the School Board was going to act on requests to close Luverne's campus.
Board members replied that they heard one side of the story two meetings ago, and the other side at their last meeting Oct. 24, so they haven't yet had a chance to discuss it as a board.

Criminal violations by students: Schaefer asked McClure what the process was for law enforcement to communicate underage tobacco and drinking violations to the district.

McClure said the process is supposed to be that the dispatcher alerts the school soon after the initial complaint report is filed.

"I'm here to formally request that you check to see if that's happening," Schaefer said. "We just got one from another county that was six months old - which is pretty convenient for Minnesota State High School League standing."

By John Rittenhouse
A second-half rally remained in tact after a late goal-line stand to give the Adrian Dragons a berth in the Section 3A Football Playoff championship game Saturday.

Playing second-seeded Wabasso in the section semifinals in Wabasso Saturday, No. 3 seed Adrian was able to pull out a 21-14 win in a game that wasn't settled until the second to the last play.

The home-standing Rabbits were in a first-and-goal situation inside the Adrian five-yard line in the game's final minute, but the Dragon defense rose to the occasion to keep Wabasso from a potential game-tying touchdown.

"It was a barn-burner," said Dragon coach Randy Strand. "We were able to keep them out of the end zone late in the game, and I guess that was the difference."

The victory ups Adrian's season record to 8-2 and sends the Dragons to their first section title tilt since 1998. Adrian travels to Mountain Lake Friday for a 7 p.m. tilt that will decide the section championship.

Strand and the Dragons are looking forward to playing in their first championship game in four years, and they are fortunate to have the opportunity after surviving a scare in Wabasso.

The Rabbits led 14-7 during the first half, and Strand said the spread could have been bigger. Adrian scored 14 unanswered points in the second half to gain a 21-14 cushion that was preserved by some outstanding play from the Dragon defense late in the game.

"It didn't look too good for us in the second quarter," Strand said. "Wabasso was having its way with us, but we were able to survive the storm. It was just a matter of us coming out and playing better in the second half."

The Dragons didn't waste any time in getting back into the game in the third quarter.

After forcing Wabasso to punt early in the period, Adrian marched 71 yards in four plays with Dusty Henning scoring on a two-yard run at the 6:50 mark of the third quarter. Levi Bullerman booted his second of three extra points to knot the score at 14.

Henning, who ran the ball for 133 yards and nabbed three pass receptions for 30 yards in the game, accounted for all 71 of the yards during the game-tying drive.

Henning picked off a pass that set up what proved to be the game-winning touchdown in the fourth quarter.

Adrian advanced the ball 53 yards in 10 plays with Henning hauling in an eight-yard touchdown pass from Bullerman with 8:48 left to play to make it a 21-14 game.

The touchdown pass caught the Rabbits napping as Adrian ran the ball during the first nine plays of the drive.

The teams exchanged punts as the fourth quarter progressed, with Wabasso taking over on its own 48-yard line with 4:48 remaining.

The hosts had a second-and-goal on the Adrian three when a running play was stopped by Adrian's Brent Voss for a one-yard loss. Another run on third down resulted in another one-yard loss as Dragons Joe Kruger and Dusty Speiker teamed up to drag down the Wabasso runner. Wabasso tried to pass on fourth down, but Adrian defender Brandon Wolf knocked the ball down in the end zone to thwart the attempt. The Dragon offense then ran one to chew the remaining time off the clock.

Adrian drew first blood in the game as it received the opening kickoff before mounting a 10-play, 67-yard drive that ended with Bullerman scoring on an 11-yard run at the 7:52 mark of the first quarter. The drive consisted of 10 running plays.

Wabasso answered the challenge with its first offensive possession as the third play of the series resulted in an 80-yard touchdown pass from Brent Baune to Jase Guetter. Cole Guetter booted his first of two extra points to tie the game at seven with 6:19 left in the first quarter.

The teams exchanged punts before an Adrian drive ended with an interception on the Wabasso seven in the second quarter, setting up a 10-play, 93-yard drive featuring a 51-yard pass completion and ending with Jase Guetter scoring on a three-yard run with 6:33 left in the first half.

Wabasso had an opportunity to pad its 14-7 lead when it advanced the ball inside Adrian's five-yard line late in the second quarter, but Wolf came up big again when he intercepted a pass in the end zone to end the threat.

"We could have been behind 28-7 in that first half, but our defense made some plays," Strand said. "With the exception of two plays, the defense played a solid game. We kept their quarterback, who is a pretty good athlete, in check all day long."

The Dragons will need another strong defensive effort when they play 10-0 Mountain Lake-Butterfield-Odin tomorrow. The Wolverines are the section's No. 1 seed, and Strand said they deserve that ranking.

"They are loaded. They can pass and run the ball, and they are big and quick. They've got the whole package, but we’ll go up there to play them anyway," he said.

Team statistics
Adrian: 210 rushing yards, 65 passing yards, 275 total yards, 13 first downs, four penalties for 35 yards, one turnover.
Wabasso: 112 rushing yards, 241 passing yards, 353 total yards, 11 first downs, seven penalties for 65 yards, two turnovers.

Individual statistics
Rushing: Henning 21-133, L.Bullerman 15-56, Joe Kruger 3-13, Pete Hohn 1-5, Wolf 1-1, Trent Bullerman 1-2.

Passing: L.Bullerman 6-12 for 65 yards.

Receiving: Henning 3-30, Brett Block 1-13, Cliff Lynn 1-12, Hohn 1-10.

Defense: Kruger 10 tackles, Wolf 11 tackles and one interception, L.Bullerman nine tackles, Henning one interception.

By John Rittenhouse
Two teams and one individual from the Star Herald coverage area will compete at the Minnesota State Class A Cross Country Championships in Northfield Saturday.

That fact became a reality in Slayton Thursday, Oct. 24, at the Section 3A Championships.

Both the Luverne girls' and Hills-Beaver Creek-Ellsworth-Edgerton boys' varsity squads will make their first appearance as teams at a state meet after turning in strong performances in Slayton.

The Luverne girls placed second out of 15 complete teams, making the cut by one as the top two teams in section competition advance to the state meet.

H-BC-E-E's boys became the winning the section team champions.

Jake Studer, a Luverne High School senior, also earned a trip to state individually. The top 10 individual finishers in section competition advance to the state meet. Studer finished 10th Thursday.

All of the area athletes will be running at the state meet at St. Olaf College Saturday. The Class A girls race is slated for 10 a.m., with the Class A boys' run to follow at 11 a.m.
Cardinal coach Bruce Gluf will probably be a better-rested person when the state meet rolls around.

Gluf admitted he didn't sleep well during the nights leading up to the section meet because he knew getting past the section meet wouldn't be easy.

His restlessness was justified when Cardinals found themselves in a title battle for second place in the team competition, but LHS did nip Martin County West 91-93 to claim runner-up status.

Canby-Minneota-Lincoln HI won the girls' team championship with 58 points.

"I finally can relax a little bit," Gluf said Thursday night. "We knew from Day 1 that we had a state-caliber team, and we were setting our sights on this section meet for a long time. I just can't say enough about these girls. They wanted it, they worked for it and now they've qualified for the state meet. It's just incredible."

Luverne needed five solid races to edge MCW in the team standings, and it received them from seventh-grader Lexi Heitkamp, freshmen Victoria Arends and Kelsey Dooyema and sophomores Amanda Saum and Sadie Dietrich.

Heitkamp, the youngest member of the squad, turned in the team’s best performance. She stunned her older competitors by placing fifth individually with a time of 15:45.

Saum and Arends cracked the Top 20 by finishing 11th and 19th with respective 16:10 and 16:34 times.

Dooyema and Dietrich placed 26th and 30th in 16:53 and 17:05.
Jessica Willers and Brianna Studer ran in the varsity race without influencing the scoring. Willers placed 92nd in 19:38. Studer was 94th in 19:45.

No matter what happens in Northfield Saturday, all seven of the LHS runners will have their names etched in school history for becoming the first team to make it to the state meet.

"Our program has come a long way," Gluf said. "Last year, our girls placed eighth in the section. They moved up to second place this year. I'm really proud of this group, and that goes for the boys as well as the girls."

The Cardinal boys also were in contention for berth in the state meet as a team, but they came up two places short after finishing fourth with 88 points.

H-BC-E-E (63 points), C-M-LH (64) and Jackson County Central (73) led the.

"I can't say enough about our boys," Gluf said. "They came up short in qualifying for the state meet, but they had a great season."

Studer's season will be extended for the second consecutive year as he placed 10th individually with a time of 17:26.
Studer placed seventh at last year's section meet and finished 54th at the state classic.

Others contributing to Luverne's effort as a team in Slayton include Jesse Kuhlman (12th in 17:39), Ruston Aaker (21s in 17:58), Dusty Antoine (23rd in 18:02) and Jesson Vogt (25th in 18:03).

Nick Otten and Travis Halfmann placed 29th and 49th in 18:10 and 19:03 without influencing the team scoring.

Studer will run against seven H-BC-E-E boys and others during the state meet.

The Patriots met their pre-season goal of getting to the state meet, but winning a section title was more than what they wished for.

"We just wanted to be in the Top 2," said Patriot coach Tom Goehle. "To win the section championship was a bonus. Right now we're excited to be going to state. The kids know that they have been blessed, and they are thankful for it."

Top 10 performances by Tyler Bush and Zach Hadler led the Patriots to victory.

Bush placed third with a time of 16:46. Hadler finished eighth in 17:12.

Greg Van Batavia, Kale Wiertzema and Lee Jackson turned in equally important performances that contributed to H-BC-E-E's winning team tally.

Van Batavia placed 16th in 17:44, Wiertzema 17th in 17:49 and Jackson 22nd in 18:00.

Patriots Todd Alberty and Derek Haak finished 26th and 38th with respective 18:10 and 18:43 times without influencing the team scoring.

"Our boys ran awesome," Goehle added. "There's no other better way to say it. All seven of them ran their fastest times of the year, and most were by a pretty considerable margin."

Four Patriot girls ran at the section meet without earning trips to state.

Amanda Tilstra led the way by placing 58th in 17:55.

Mya Mann, Erika Fransen and Corinna Braun finished 65th, 72nd and 96th with respective 18:12, 18:20 and 20:07 times.

"We didn’t have a complete girls' team, but I was happy with the way our girls competed. They all ran their best times of the season. I was happy they went out running their best races," Goehle said.

Adrian's boys' and girls' teams ended their 2002 seasons at the section meet.

The Dragon girls placed eighth out of 15 teams. The AHS boys placed ninth out of 13 teams.

"Our goal was to get into the Top 10 as teams in both the boys' and girls' standings," said Dragon coach Doug Petersen. "I was really happy that we were able to accomplish those goals."

Krissi Thier and Kelly Banck led the Adrian girls by placing 41st and 45th with respective 17:20 and 17:23 efforts.

McCall Heitkamp (51st in 17:39), Megan Henning (61st in 18:02) and Kaitlin Leinen (83rd in 19:09) rounded out Adrian's performance as a team.

"This was the first time we had a full varsity team on the girls' side this year. To finish eighth was awfully darn good," Petersen said.

Brandon Bullerman and Paul Honermann paced the boys by finishing 30th and 34th in 18:20 and 18:31.

Ethan Wieneke (50th in 19:03), Chad Janssen (54th in 19:17) and Aaron Mormann (76th in 20:30) round out the team scoring for AHS.

Kelly Seeman and Dustin Lonneman placed 84th and 91st in 21:32 and 22:31 without influencing the scoring.

"There was some good running on the boys' side. Six of our seven boys had their personal best times," Petersen said.

Here is a look at the boys' and girls' team standings from the Section 3A meet.

Standings: H-BC-E-E 63, C-M-LH 64, Jackson County Central 73, Luverne 88, Mountain Lake-Butterfield-Odin 108, Southwest Christian 182, Redwood Valley 197, Windom 210, Adrian 227, Yellow Medicine East 292, Bold 305, Southwest Star Concept-Sioux Valley-Round Lake-Brewster 374, Martin County West 378.

Girls’ standings: C-M-LH 58, Luverne 91, MCW 93, Windom 101, JCC 105, Tracy-Milroy-Balaton 123, Murray County Central 169, Adrian 227, RWV 243, Bold 276, Springfield-Cedar Mountain-Comfrey 285, YME 289, SSC-SV-RL-B 303, ML-B-O 374, Renville County West 378.

By Lori Ehde
Three additional land acquisitions will more than double the size of Touch the Sky Prairie northwest of Luverne.

Touch the Sky Prairie was dedicated last summer after 355 acres were purchased from Bob and Barb Loosbrock for the purpose of restoring and protecting original local tallgrass prairie.

It’s owned and managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as part of the National Wildlife Refuge System, but the local Brandenburg Prairie Foundation took the initiative to secure timely negotiations and transactions.

"U.S. Fish and Wildlife purchased the land, but it would have never happened without the Brandenburg Foundation," said Luverne' Randy Creeger, a foundation board member.

The Brandenberg Prairie Foundation was started in February 1999, by community members and photographer Jim Brandenburg to "educate, promote, preserve and expand native prairie in southwest Minnesota," according to the mission statement.

The Brandenburg Gallery on Luverne's Main Street is one result of - and vehicle for - that mission. Touch the Sky Prairie is another.

Creeger and fellow board member Dave Smith couldn't wait to announce the most recent additions to Touch the Sky Prairie Monday.

"Touch the Sky Prairie now totals 809 acres of restorable prairie. In time, this will be a beautiful prairie much like our forefathers found as they moved west," Creeger wrote in a prepared press release.

Milo and Loretta Konz sold 237 to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Betty Mann sold 55 acres and the fourth tract of 162 acres was purchased from Arnold and Mardella Hansen, with help from their children Diane Vandenhoek and Dan Hansen.

"This land is now public land for you and me to enjoy and generations to follow," the release states.

"The fact that it's part of the Wildlife Refuge System means that this is forever," Creeger said. "It will last for generations."

Touch the Sky Prairie is a large block of unbroken prairie with unique rock outcroppings, which have protected much of it from being plowed for cropland.

Now with the additional tracts, the area encompasses much of the ridge, which is one of the highest locations in the county. "Once you get on top you have a 360-degree view," Creeger said. "You can see well into Iowa. It's pretty cool."

For this reason, area Native Americans have told Foundation members that this area was a popular spot for "vision quest" ceremonies.

The location, five miles north of Luverne and a three miles west of Highway 75, is near Brandenburg's childhood home, which is one reason he selected that site.

Creeger and Smith said the land is accessible to the public now, but restoration and development of the property will be an ongoing effort.

Fences and sheds were removed this spring, weeds were sprayed and native prairie grasses were seeded.

The area is currently marked with Wildlife Refuge signs, but eventually a Touch the Sky Prairie sign will be erected, and the 10-acre home site of the Hansen property will eventually serve as a parking lot and visitor center.

Vision 2002 is Nov. 9
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service purchased the property, but the improvements need local funding, some of which has already come in the form of grants (from the Southwest Minnesota Foundation and Blandin Foundation).

But the Foundation, a 501(3)c corporation, is always seeking local donations.

The next fund-raiser for Spirit of the Prairie and the Brandenburg Prairie Foundation will be Saturday, Nov. 9, in the Blue Mound Banquet Center, Luverne.

An appetizer social hour will be from 6 to 7 p.m. and the auction starts at 7. Admission is by advance tickets only, and they can be purchased at the Brandenburg Gallery or by calling 283-1884.

While complete prairie restoration is still a distant dream, Brandenburg hasn't wasted time capturing the beauty that already exists there.

His most recent exhibit, now on display at Luverne's Brandenburg Gallery, features Touch the Sky photos, including brilliant sunsets, flowing waterfalls and colorful butterflies on blossoms.

By Lori Ehde
Absentee voters who selected Paul Wellstone in the Minnesota senate race will need to amend their votes or go uncounted in the 2002 general election.

Many absentee ballots had already been filled out and returned by the time Sen. Paul Wellstone died in Friday’s plane crash.

What to do with those ballots prompted a flurry of legal discussion in the Secretary of State and Attorney General offices, and already the DFL party has filed a lawsuit claiming the process is unfair.

Wednesday night, the DFL Central Committee was set to select Walter Mondale to appear on the ballot in Wellstone's place. Once that was done, new supplemental absentee ballots could be printed reflecting new choices.

Absentee voters who chose any of Wellstone's opponents aren't affected. Their ballots will be counted as if nothing had happened.

Absentee voters who haven't yet filled out their ballots can simply write in Mondale's name on the ticket where that option allows, and their ballots will also be treated as usual.

It gets trickier for absentee voters, many of whom are snowbirds and college students, who selected the late Paul Wellstone. Votes for him will not be counted; all other selections in the senate race will be counted as usual.

So, for absentee DFL voters who now want to support Mondale, the law states they must "obtain an official supplemental absentee ballot in person, or through personal delivery."

This rather vague verbiage in state law, according to Rock County Auditor Treasurer Margaret Cook, is raising more questions than it answers.

"Some could say 'The mailman personally delivers my mail.' It's all how you interpret the law," Cook said.

"These laws all look good on paper, until they're put to the test. Who's going to define personal delivery? These are the kinds of things we’re up against."

She said her office had to wait until Wednesday night to know which name to print on the supplemental ballots, and those wouldn't be ready until sometime today.

That doesn't leave enough time for absentee voters to request new supplemental ballots by mail. What this means is most snowbirds and college students who voted absentee for Wellstone will have no options for changing their votes
"I expect a lot of issues on this, and it's not going to be over on election day," Cook said. "I can see both sides of it, but then again, life isn't always fair."

She suggests local voters who are still planning to vote absentee should wait at least until Saturday, if they can, to come and do so. "Hopefully by then, we'll have all the questions answered."

As of Tuesday, she had responded to 181 requests for absentee, and 112 had been returned.

If an absentee voter goes to the polls to vote, their absentee ballot will be pulled and will not be counted.

Absentee voters who come to the auditor's office in person to amend their vote, will receive a supplemental ballot to participate in the U.S. Senate race only.

Minnesota law says a voter cannot vote twice, so with this process the voter will be "amending his ballot," Cook said.
She said the ballots set aside will never be opened, unless the information is subpoenaed in litigation.

Meanwhile at the polls…
Since Tuesday's ballots have already been printed, election judges will have to somehow strike the senate candidate section from each ballot before handing it to voters along with a supplemental sheet containing the new candidate information.

Voters will not make choices in the senate race on the original ballot, but will do so on the supplemental ballot.
The original ballots are counted by machine, but in the senate race, those supplemental ballots will have to be hand-counted.

Cook said she's trained nearly 130 election judges for all of Rock County's precincts, but she said emergency training can be conducted at the last minute if needed.

The phone number for the Rock County Auditor-Treasurer's Office is 283-5060.

Minnesota mourns loss
Local DFL Chairman Ben Vander Kooi said rural Minnesota residents lost an effective voice in Washington when Wellstone died Friday.

"We really got to know him during the farm crisis of the mid-1980's," said Vander Kooi, who worked on Wellstone's former campaigns. "He rallied to get farmers together to act with one voice."

Vander Kooi and many others remember when Wellstone spoke to middle school and high school students in Luverne in 1996.

"That's a tough audience, and he kept them spellbound," Vander Kooi recalled.

He said in addition to his efforts for Minnesota farmers, Wellstone will be remembered for his contributions to rural telecommunications, veterans and to improving mental health benefits.

Vander Kooi said he thought Walter Mondale will be a good replacement for Wellstone on the ballot, despite his age. "He's 74, but Strom Thurmond is 100," he said. "He's from southern Minnesota and fits the area very well. He very much understands this part of the Minnesota."

By Sara Strong
Rock County Auditor-Treasurer Margaret Cook expects the Tuesday general election to get a high voter turnout rate.

Considering the primaries drew 30 percent of the registered voters, Cook expects the general election to be 80 percent or more because of the concentration of local races on the ballots.

The sheriff and auditor-treasurer races haven't seen a contest for years, and the Luverne Mayor candidates have gotten attention this year. School boards and county-wide competition in other city elections will also increase voter turnout.

The 2000 elections, which included U.S. president, brought 90 percent of registered voters to the polls.

Because both Rock County auditor-treasurer candidates work in that office now, they will be kept from the ballots Tuesday to avoid the appearance of possible tampering.

To vote on Tuesday, Nov. 5, township polling places open at 10 a.m. and close at 8 p.m. Polling locations within the cities of Rock County will open at 7 a.m. and close at 8 p.m.

To vote by absentee ballot, the Auditor-Treasurer's Office in the Rock County Courthouse will be open from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 2. Regular office hours are Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

To review Star Herald election coverage:
Visit our Web site at www.star-herald.com and click on the red Rock County political coverage buttons on the left side of the home page for local races.
Or see print editions of the paper that carried articles on the election: Oct. 17, school board candidates from Luverne, Ellsworth and Adrian, and state house and senate candidates; and Oct. 24, Rock County Sheriff and Luverne mayor profiles.

By Lori Ehde
Oh, the places he's gone and the people he's seen.

Jake Boyenga turns 100 Sunday, and he doesn't know where to start when people ask him what it's like to be that old.

"Oh, the changes," he said Monday. "I never expected to get this far."

Of all the advances in the areas of technology, transportation and even household efficiency, Boyenga is still enthralled by the telephone.

"I was 7 years old when they put those poles in the ground and they put a phone in the house," he said.

"And that crazy thing rang, and people talked. What a miracle. I could never get over that. My parents let me listen to the voices. Boy, was that something."

That was the same year his parents, Meinert and Rika Boyenga, started farming in Kanaranzi Township.

"It was March 1, 1910, when we landed in Ellsworth (at the train station). They picked us up by bobsled and horses," he said.

"There were no automobiles, there were no tractors, there were no airplanes, there was no television and there were no telephones."

Nation of colonies
Boyenga's father was 10 years old when he came to the United States on a ship from Germany. "My grandmother used to tell me how sick they got on the boat coming over," he said.

Like many immigrants arriving at the turn of the century, the Boyengas settled into one of their own ethnic communities Ñ in their case, German.

"When I was a boy going to country school, our nation was a nation of colonies," Boyenga said.

He remembered communities of Dutch, Norwegians and Swedes in Rock County, who spoke primarily in their native languages.

Subsequently, their children encountered the same language challenges Boyenga did when they became school-age.

"All I heard as a boy was German, and then they sent me to a school where everyone was supposed to speak English," he said.

At the center of each ethnic cluster was a church.

Boyenga was a member of Stateline Presbyterian Church near Ellsworth for 91 years, and for a good share of that time, the congregation worshipped in German.

"That really didn't change until the children grew up and started running things," he said.

Nothing but dirt paths in tall grass prairie
He remembers when most county highways were nothing but dirt paths between acres of tall grass prairie.

He saw the first county road built in Rock County, County Road 1, the east-west road between Highway 75 and Ellsworth.

Two teams of his father's horses later helped build a small section of road between County Road 1 and the state line.

His family lived two miles south of the rural Kanaranzi country school where he walked until graduating at age 16.

After that, he didn't attend high school because that would have required expensive boarding in Ellsworth, which had the nearest high school at the time.

"There was no transportation in the winter, so those who could afford it stayed in town while attending high school," he said.

Freedom to roam
A long-time bachelor, Boyenga capitalized on later advances in transportation to travel around the country.

He'd hit the road every year after harvest to explore life outside of the Midwest.

"In 1934, three of my buddies and I each had $50 in our pockets and we piled into an old Chevy and drove to Chicago," he said.

"When we got downtown, a police officer jumped (on the running boards) and took us right down Michigan Avenue to a hotel."

The big city offered plenty of excitement for the Minnesota farmers.

"We saw the Board of Trade, we saw the stockyards, we saw the Field Museum, and we took in a show at the Chicago Theater and a double-header White Sox game at Comiskey Park," he said.

"At the end of the week, when I asked what I owed, the hotel clerk said $5. It cost me $1 a day, plus 15 cents a day for a shave."

Today he drives nothing but the latest model automobiles. He's waiting for the 2003 Buicks to hit the market.

Marriage has
its advantages
Boyenga jokes that he dated many women in his life, but he didn't marry until he was 66 years old.

In 1969, he married Hazel (Braa) Schwartz, who is 13 years younger. Her late husband, Ralph, had been Boyenga's good friend.

He gives her some credit for clean living in his later years. "I'll admit, I've chewed Copenhagen, I've smoked a pipe, I've smoked cigars," he said. "But that all went out the window when I got married. I think the reason I lived so long is because I married a Norwegian and she taught me to eat lutefisk," he said.

He added, though, that marriage has had its benefits. "I didn't have to cook for myself or do laundry," he said.

The two, who now live in Luverne, had no children, but the Boyenga family (his nephews and nieces) is now on its fourth generation of farming near Ellsworth.

An open house birthday party for Boyenga will be from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday in the Blue Mound Banquet Center, Luverne.