By Sara Quam
Authorities have released more information that they hope will help in the investigation of Carrie Nelson's murder.

A wristwatch (pictured) was found at the homicide scene at Blue Mounds State Park, where Nelson, 20, was working the day she died of head injuries.

Because it appears to have been torn at one end, and because it was found near the body, investigators think the watch was worn by the person responsible for the robbery and murder.

The digital watch face bears the logo "Field Ranger" and is silver. The watchband is tan with brown leather accents.

Anyone with knowledge of a person wearing a watch matching this description prior to the May 20 homicide is asked to call the tip line at (507) 283-1301.

The reward for information leading to arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for the murder has been increased to $15,000. Since information on the watch was released, the Sheriff's Office has already received some tips regarding it.

Investigators say the park's office money bags have not yet been found. The money bags are gray and are labeled "Minnwest Bank." They are still seeking information regarding a large white car seen speeding away from Blue Mounds State Park between 2:15 and 2:30 p.m. Sunday, May 20. Nelson was found dead at 2:45 in the park office.

Nick Johnson, Hardwick, competes in the lawn mower pull at Jubilee Days.

The parade marshals were Leonard and Margaret Staeffler. There were more than 50 entries in the parade this year.

Samantha Westberg, Balaton, and Megan Bryan, Jasper, get ready to do the hula on their float, Aloha, in the Jubilee Days Parade on Saturday night.

Above, Alice Hansen, Hardwick, Peyton Petersen, Paige Petersen, Kayla Swanson, and Taylor Swenson, all of Pipestone, and Ron Hansen, Hardwick, made their float a '50s theme.

The prairie will be open to the public, and once the prairie is back to its natural state, other uses to be considered, include grazing for bison.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has several prairie projects throughout Minnesota and Iowa. One of the earliest projects is the Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge located 30 miles east of Des Moines, Iowa.

The federal government built a prairie learning center for people to come and learn more about the prairie ecosystem. Busloads of school kids visit the center each day.

In Fergus Falls there is another prairie project, known as the Prairie Wetlands Learning Center. It has a dormitory on the site for students and teachers to study prairie habitat.

"We want to devote every inch of the land to natural prairie," Cole said.

Naming the prairie
At the moment, there is no name for the prairie, but Brandenburg thought it would be a good idea if the community named the site. "There will be a box at the Brandenburg Gallery for people to submit names for the prairie," Brandenburg said. "They can stop by or call them in."

The Brandenburg Gallery is located on Main Street in Luverne next to Cook's Clothing. The number for the gallery is 507-283-1884.

Dedication ceremony
"Never in my wildest dreams would I think we would have a prairie acquisition in two years," Brandenburg said. "I am so proud of acquiring this prairie. It is the most important thing I have been involved in."

The sale was completed Wednesday, June 27, and a dedication ceremony will be held on Aug. 9 and 10. There will be a dinner and slide show by Jim Brandenburg. Tickets for the dinner will be for sale.

Gale Norton, Secretary of the Interior, has been invited to come, as well as Minnesota legislators.
The prairie dedication will also be the last stop on a tour from the Twin Cities called the "Blue Goose Centennial Celebration." It will stop at many wildlife refuges in Minnesota. Those participating in the weeklong trip will attend the dedication ceremony for the Rock County refuge.

Brandenburg poster
A Brandenburg poster, "Dream back the bison, sing back the swan" is being sold around the United States to raise money to help pay for restoring the prairie. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service donated 5,000 posters to the Foundation for use in its fund-raising campaign. "I was given freedom to design it," Brandenburg said.

Posters have been distributed to national refuges around the country as well as select national parks, DNR offices, and the Brandenburg Gallery in Luverne.

"All of the profits go to the Brandenburg Prairie Foundation," Creeger said.

"The idea for the poster evolved over time," Cole said. "It centered around Jim Brandenburg, who always had the idea in the back of his mind."

The Brandenburg Prairie Foundation
The Brandenburg Prairie Foundation was established in 1999 with a mission statement to "Educate, promote, preserve, and expand native prairie in southwest Minnesota."

The Foundation was started through the efforts of Jim and Judy Brandenburg and a number of local residents as a way to give back to the community in which they were raised. "I wanted to give a little bit back," Jim Brandenburg said.

The Foundation has been working in partnership with the Luverne School District to develop the land located to the west of the new Elementary School. That land includes an 11-acre tract which will be restored to natural prairie for use by students and visitors to Luverne.

This recent purchase is the next step in the completion of the Foundation's mission statement. A long-range goal of the Foundation is to open a prairie learning center where visitors can learn more about the ecosystem.

By Katrina Vander Kooi
Rock County will soon have a natural tall grass prairie area, thanks to the Brandenburg Prairie Foundation and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The 300- to 400-acre tract is located in northwest Rock County in Mound Township and was formerly owned by Bob and Barb Loosbrock.

Randy Creeger, president of the Brandenburg Prairie Foundation, gave Jim Brandenburg the credit for making this happen. "Jim was the visionary behind this driving force," Creeger said.

"The piece of land I had my eye on for awhile," Jim Brandenburg said. "It is a little over a mile from the farm where I was born. I always thought it was a magical place. It's a place you can get lost in."

In many ways the land is similar to the Blue Mounds State Park. It is on a high ridgeline with outcroppings of Sioux quartzite rock. Bison once roamed the area and left rocks rubbed smooth. The area has never been farmed but has been a pasture for cattle to graze.

The area is also very unique because it is the last place that burrowing owls were seen. "People will come from long distances to see them," Brandenburg said.

First piece
This is the first piece of land purchased by the federal government to restore the natural prairie.

"This piece is a partnership between U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Brandenburg Foundation," Creeger said.

The Northern Tallgrass Prairie National Wildlife Refuge, a division of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, previously negotiated conservation easements with landowners. Easements give the government the right to use the land, but not ownership. The owner still must pay taxes on the land.

The federal government purchased the land in Rock County so it has the title and will make an annual payment to the county in lieu of taxes.

"This is forever," said Creeger. "It will always be prairie and will last for generations."

Ron Cole, manager of Big Stone National Wildlife Refuge, in west central Minnesota, heads the Northern Tallgrass Prairie National Wildlife Refuge. Its goal is to restore 77,000 acres of tall grass prairie in Minnesota and Iowa Ñ about 25 percent of the native prairie that remains.

"Prairie that remains is fragmented and disjunct. Protecting some of what remains is important not only to wildlife that depends upon prairie, but the refuge also protects some of our cultural prairie heritage," Cole said.

The Brandenburg Prairie Foundation, along with other individuals from the Rock County area, went to Cole asking for him to look at the proposed site.

Cole said he was impressed with the community's determination to restore the prairie.

"I have been doing this for three years, and I have never had a community come to us," Cole said. "That is a very special thing. I hope other communities will follow the example. It's a real economic benefit for the community."

Future prairie
At present, the site is much like Blue Mounds State Park was when it was expanded in the 1970s. The grass was nibbled down to the soil, and native animals and plants were nowhere to be found. After three to five years, the state park land was restored to the way it had been when the settlers came.

"The plan is to restore the new tract by giving it years of rest and prescribed burning," Cole said.
According to Cole, the plant seeds are dormant in the soil and need prescribed burning for them to thrive.

Brandenburg is working on a new book. "I say it's new, but I've been working on it for 30 years," Brandenburg said. It will include pictures shot at the Blue Mounds, and the final chapter will be devoted to the prairie just purchased. "I will follow the re-establishing of the prairie," Brandenburg said.

Brandenburg also announced a documentary that may be shot at the new prairie site. "It will be a documentary showing the progress from a pasture to a very healthy prairie," Brandenburg said. The plans are almost set for the show.

By Sara Quam
Luverne's labor-intensive border city bill became law Saturday.

Two years of testimony and lobbying seem to have paid off, and now the city has to figure out how to use its new economic development tool.

City Administrator Matt Hylen said, "We're taking it slow because it's a new program. We'll use it accurately and 100 percent by state law to make this live up to its potential."

The border city initiative was designed to help compensate Luverne businesses for lower tax rates in bordering states. The city of Luverne hopes that fewer businesses will move to South Dakota and that more will relocate in Luverne.

Hylen said, "We need the jumper cables to keep us alive."

Mayor Glen Gust put in many hours on the road and in visiting with legislators to help them understand the economic impact Luverne felt being a border city to South Dakota.

Gust said that after the bill was signed into law Saturday he got calls from Senate and House members. "They congratulated me and the city for the work we've done. It's going to be great for the city and Rock County."

Right now border cities is set up as a fund that can be used until designated money is gone.

The city is working with Moorhead and lawyers who wrote the bill to help it use the incentives in the best possible way. The first business to use border city legislation could be Netbriefings, a Webcasting company that has preliminarily decided to expand a customer service office in Luverne.

The state has designated $183,000 in sales tax exemptions to new or expanding businesses. It will also be eligible for state funds in the areas of payroll credit, property tax exemption, payment in lieu of taxes, income tax credit and corporate franchise tax credit.

The precedence for some of these programs hasn't been set because other Minnesota border cities like East Grand Forks and Moorhead havenÕt used some of the options yet.

Luverne will now set zones for the incentives so businesses that qualify will be clearly defined by area. The city will likely get up to 100 acres to zone for the incentives. Businesses outside the zones set by the city are also qualified for some of the programs.

A head-on collision four miles south of Luverne on Highway 75 Friday has claimed two lives.

Ralph Edward Kingery, 48, Colorado Springs, Colo., was pronounced dead at the scene. His 1998 four-door Plymouth vehicle was totaled. Mary Theresa Elliott, 41, Colorado Springs, was a passenger in the car.

After the accident at 3:29 p.m. Elliott was brought to Luverne Hospital and then airlifted to Sioux Valley Hospital, Sioux Falls, S.D. She died from head and internal injuries on Saturday, June 30. Both the driver and the passenger were wearing seatbelts.

Anthony Reese, 20, Steen, was airlifted from the scene to Avera McKennan Hospital, Sioux Falls, and is listed in critical condition. He drove a 1997 Jeep Cherokee, which was totaled, and he was not wearing a seatbelt.

By Katrina Vander Kooi

By Jolene Farley
John Teune has milked cows for most of his life. John's dad, Pete, has milked cows since he was 9 years old. About 41 years ago, when he was 21 years old, Pete started in business for himself in the Steen area.

The Teunes currently milk about 100 cows. Teune Dairy is equipped with a Double 8 parlor, which milks up to 16 cows at a time, eight on each side.

The Teunes, John and his wife, Lisa, and Pete and Trudy, milk twice a day, once at 5 in the morning and again at 5 in the afternoon. Pete is currently laid up from a fall on the ice last winter that led to surgery, so the others must fill the gap. "You have to work together, I guess," said John.

"You are kind of your own boss, but the cows are kind of your boss, too," said Lisa. "It's like having 100 extra kids. You feed them and you have to clean up after them."

When asked if they ever thought of not milking cows they said, "We wouldn't know what to do if we did."

Although the Teunes admit there have been tougher times, last winter was difficult. "It was tough on the cows, tough on everything," said Lisa.

Teune Dairy raises its own heifers, but the couple commented that prices are currently sky-high on heifers. A top heifer brought $2,400 at the Pipestone auction recently.

When asked what they would change about their operation if they could, John jokingly replied, "Move it to warmer weather."

Climate is probably one of the worst things about the dairy. The cold is hard on the animals and so is the heat, according to the couple. Cows produce less milk and contract mastitis easier in hot weather.

There used to be a road near Steen that had five dairies in a row, but in the last 10 years it has dwindled down to one. "A lot of dairymen are quitting," said John.

Dairies take hard work and commitment. The Teunes cannot venture very far because milking is a 365-day-a-year job. "You can drive 150 miles; then you have to turn around and come back home again," said John.

Teune Dairy has hosted the kindergarten class from Hills-Beaver Creek Elementary School in the past and plans to do so again. The kids help feed the calves and lambs. Lisa said when they go into town the kids always recognize them.

John and Lisa have three young boys, Josh, Eric and Dustin.