By Jolene Farley
Steen resident Anthony Reese, 20, is in critical but stable condition at Avera McKennan Hospital in Sioux Falls, S.D. Reese was injured in a head-on collision four miles south of Luverne Friday, June 29.

Reese suffers from a broken left arm and shoulder, a right leg broken in two places and a left leg broken knee to ankle. Both his spleen and gall bladder have been removed, and his kidney and heart are bruised, according to family friend Cory Nowka.

Reese's liver shuts down intermittently so he will undergo surgery to finish repairing organs damaged in the crash and to determine the cause of his liver problems.

Reese has not given up the fight, according to Nowka. He is in a coma but moves his head and eyes when spoken to. Family members and friends say it is something they take day by day.

Reese's vehicle, a 1997 Jeep Cherokee, was totaled in the accident. If Reese had been wearing a seat belt the crash would have been fatal, according to Nowka. "If Tony had been wearing a seatbelt he would have been killed," said Nowka. "Both legs would have been crushed."

The driver of the other vehicle, Ralph Edward Kingery, 48, was pronounced dead at the scene. Mary Theresa Elliot, 41, was transported to the Luverne Hospital, then airlifted to Sioux Valley Hospital, Sioux Falls, S.D. She died of head and internal injuries on Friday, June 29.

Reese has received flowers and a sympathy card from the family of the two crash victims.

The Reese family wants to thank a truck driver who called in the accident. Nowka credits him with saving Reese's life. He said if emergency personnel hadnÕt arrived when they did, Reese would not have made it.

The truck driver called in a detailed report of the accident, warning the Luverne emergency staff of the severity of the crash and the number of victims.

Although only family is allowed to visit Reese, a tablet is available to write notes on which are read to Reese periodically. "It lets him know who is there to see him and that people are thinking of him," said Nowka.

Letters or cards can be sent to Tony Reese, c/o Cory Nowka, 3068 Presentation Ct., Sioux Falls, SD 57104, or visit Reese's family at the Avera McKennan Intensive Care Unit waiting room.
Alan Reese, Steen, and Judy Reese are TonyÕs parents.

By Sara Quam
Rock County Law Enforcement was involved in the three-state car chase that ended in a crash at the Minnesota-Iowa state border south of Luverne Tuesday.

The incident started states away from Rock County, though.

Chad Kersten, 30, stole a car in New Mexico and ended up picking up two hitch hikers in Rapid City, S.D. Tuesday evening he was in Sioux Falls, S.D., weaving through traffic when officers tried to pull him over.

He was trying to avoid police and drove at high speeds - up to 100 miles per hour - for 30 miles.

During the chase he was throwing heroin out of the car window and after the crash, police found more drug paraphernalia in the car.

Rock County officers got involved when they were alerted by the South Dakota State Patrol. Kersten came into Rock County off the Beaver Creek exit on County Road 4. He drove into Luverne on South Highway 75 for a time at speeds up to 70 miles per hour.

He continued on Highway 75 until Iowa police officers were able to stop the car by using a tire-deflating device, which Kersten had managed to avoid at other points during the chase.

The three passengers were wearing seatbelts and not seriously hurt. Kersten faces charges in four states.

The Zoo Man came to the Rock County Community Library last Friday along with his daughter, Miranda, and his son, Montana. He brought with him many different animals to show to the kids, all not poisonous. The event was part of the Library Kids Wolfin' Down Books at the Library program.

Photo by Katrina Vander Kooi

By Katrina Vander Kooi
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 Jolene Farley
Northland Precision Machine Inc. and Technical Services Inc. will change the business make-up on Main Street, Hills.

The companies purchased the former American Salvage building from the Economic Development Authority for $2,400 in May and began modifying the building for their businesses. Walls were reinforced, the building was painted and a new overhead door was added.

Don Packard is president of Northland Precision Machine, and John Schwing is president of Technical Services. Both businesses currently operate in Sioux Falls, S.D.

Packard, who attended a two-year tool and die program in Granite Falls, started his business in 1997.
He invented a plastic hitch-pin holder for pins from vehicles like gravity wagons and pickups.

Packard designed the molds needed to manufacture the pin holders and now has another company produce them. The patent for his invention is pending.

Schwing graduated from Granite Falls VoTech with a degree in electronics and robotics/flexible automation. He also graduated from National American University, Sioux Falls, with a degree in applied management.

He started Technical Services in late 1989 where he builds custom controls and automation for area manufacturing companies and the food industry.

Schwing also developed, designed and patented a device used on heavy-duty trucks, the FireOptic brand of bumper guides and lenses.

The two companies suspended bidding on jobs until their move to Hills was complete. Schwing said it will take a couple of weeks to fine-tune the machines they moved, but there are projects they could do now.

The two businesses are separate but complement each other. "Don will be a customer of mine, and I will be a customer of his," Schwing said.

"I started out just doing control work only, but a lot of customers are dependent on building the machines. That's how Don and I hooked up," Schwing said.

Some customers want only troubleshooting or programming. Others want tooling, wiring or pneumatics, according to Schwing.

Packard and Schwing hope to add CNC technology, or computer numerical controlled technology, to their businesses soon. That would enable the companies to manufacture more shapes in both metal and plastic.

"The sky is basically the limit for what you can do with plastic molding," Schwing said.

The need for extra employees depends on the manufacturing bids they are awarded. They usually hire friends looking for extra work who have some technical knowledge.

Although the manufacturing end of both businesses will now be located in Hills, Packard and Schwing plan to keep their offices in their homes in Sioux Falls.

By Jolene Farley
After many active years, 89-year-old Opal Swanson continues to volunteer in the Hills community in many different capacities.

When Opal and her husband, Art, moved into a home across the street from Tuff Memorial Home in 1977, Swanson volunteered at the Tuff Home. "They needed help all the time," said Swanson.

She wrote letters and Christmas cards for the residents, played games, gave manicures, helped on outings and at parties. She was soon appointed chairwoman of the Tuff Home Auxiliary. She also did Meals-on-Wheels for several years until she broke her leg.

Swanson was continually active in Bethlehem Lutheran Church organizations and events. She taught Sunday school, was chairwoman of Bethlehem Lutheran Church Women and served on the Cemetery Association.

She said things are not like they used to be. "The younger people are busy working and with their families."

She volunteered extensively until her husband's health became so poor she had to care for him at home. He passed away in January of this year.

Swanson and her husband have four children Mary Herr, David, and twin boys Steven and Stuart. David and his wife, Nancy, live on the family farm south of Hills. Opal's grandfather wanted the land kept in the family, so the Swansons were persuaded to move from Valley Springs back to Hills.

Swanson reminisces about life before she married. She became a teacher or attended "normal training" as it was called back then.

She taught 24 students in various grades in a country school north of Beaver Creek for five years.
She walked one and one-half miles to the schoolhouse no matter what the weather from the home of a family she stayed with during the week.

Teachers tended their own coal fires, cleaned the schoolhouse and took care of the outdoor toilet. Swanson said there was a lot of preparation needed to teach the different grade levels. She only went home on the weekends, when her parents or Art picked her up. "You were kept busy," said Swanson.

Swanson continues to volunteer for Bethlehem Lutheran Church by delivering prayer booklets and contributes to the community whenever possible.

Dalton Bass (left), Colton Bass, holding his brother, Trenton, Karic Wiertzema, Nick DeHaan, Austin Rauk and Joshua Dudley play at the Hills park Thursday afternoon on the new playground equipment added to the park by the city of Hills. Marilyn Jellema, day-care provider for the boys, watched from a park bench.

Photo by Jolene Farley

By John Rittenhouse
The Luverne Redbirds put together a 16-0 scoring run while besting Wilmont 16-1 during an amateur baseball game played in Wilmont Wednesday, June 27.

After surrendering one run in the bottom of the third inning, Luverne pitcher Derek Ohme blanked the home-standing Cardinals over the final four frames.

Luverne, which was shut out offensively for the first three innings, plated 16 runs in the final four innings to turn what was a close game into a rout.

Ohme controlled the game on the mound.

The Redbird hurler blanked Wilmont in six of the game's seven innings. Ohme didn't walk a batter while allowing six hits and recording six strikeouts.

When Wilmont plated the game's first run in the bottom of the third, the Redbirds picked up the pace offensively by scoring one run in the fourth and fifth innings, eight in the sixth and six in the seventh to put the game out of reach.

Jeff Sehr doubled in the fourth inning and knotted the score at one when Jon Jarchow chased him home with a single.

Jesse Reisch drew a walk and scored the go-ahead run when Mike Boen doubled in the fifth.

Mike Wenninger, who slapped a team-high four hits in the game, belted a two-run homer to highlight Luverne's eight-run sixth inning.

Reisch doubled home two runs, Ohme doubled home one run, Jarchow and Boen had RBI singles and Brad Walgrave added a sacrifice fly to the sixth-inning uprising, which ended with Luverne sporting a 10-1 advantage.

Billy Schneider's two-run single was the key blow during the six-run seventh inning.

Wenninger, Ohme and Brian Weber all added RBI singles. Another run scored on a passed ball.

Ohme, Boen and Jarchow all had two hits for the 7-4 Redbirds.

Box score AB R H BI
Ohme 4 2 2 2
Boen 4 1 2 2
M.Sehr 0 1 0 0
J.Sehr 4 1 1 0
Schneider 1 1 1 2
Wenninger 4 3 4 3
Eernisse 5 1 1 0
Jarchow 5 1 2 2
Weber 3 1 1 1
Walgrave 4 1 0 1
Reisch 2 3 1 2

By Sara Quam
For the Bowron women, togetherness means more than picnics with potato salad.

LuverneÕs Jeanne Bowron and her four daughters found their version of togetherness in running 26.2 miles together. They are signed up for Grandma's Marathon in Duluth this Saturday.

"It's a unique mother-daughter thing," Jeanne said.

The decision to run a marathon wasn't easy, but Alison put out the idea last Christmas. "She kind of set it as a challenge. She said, 'Let's do something as sisters and mom," Jeanne said.

Alison said, "Running a marathon has always been on my life's To Do list."

Jessica, on the other hand, said, "It took some convincing for me."

Although the girls were in sports, distance running was new to them. And Jeanne took up walking for fitness a couple of years ago but certainly never trekked 26.2 miles at once.

Jeanne said each of them had obstacles in training that they had to overcome. Alison is a medical student doing clinical rotations; Emily has two young children; Jeanne works full time (and is 54 years old); Johnna was a new accountant who had to work through the tax season, and Jessica was a student holding down two jobs while planning a wedding.

The fact that it wasn't a simple undertaking made it special to them.

"It was real camaraderie," Jeanne said, "a lot of e-mailing inspirational messages and support back and forth."

Alison said it was nice to have a similar goal. "We've been living in different stages of our lives in different areas. It brought us back together," she said.

They aren't exactly worried about Saturday's marathon - completing it is the main goal.

"We're going into it saying, 'We are going to give it our all and see what happens,'" Jeanne said.

Mostly, they're happy to share the undertaking together.

"It takes them to become adults to come back and do this with their mother," Jeanne said.

Shaping up
More than 9,000 other runners are signed up for Grandma's Marathon. They've trained all winter and spring. "We did a lot of running in the cold," Jeanne said.

They used a training program set up for beginning runners. Things like appropriate water intake and stretching exercises are crucial in a marathon.

The closest the Bowrons have come to running a full marathon was Memorial Day, when they took part in a 20-mile run. Completing that told the women they could handle just six more miles.

Alison said supporting each other over walkie talkies helped. "I was surprised how mental running is," she said. "It seems like when we ran five miles the last one was really hard, and when we ran 20, the 19th was hard."

Jeanne agreed. "It's a real mindset when you know how far you can go and set yourself up for that amount," Jeanne said. "We know that if we stay healthy and injury-free we can do Grandma's."

The 20-mile experience took Jeanne about five and a half hours to walk and her daughters about four hours to run.

Even though it was shorter than the full marathon that they now face, they learned valuable lessons.
Jeanne said, "You try to ignore what hurts and focus on short goals like the water stops or the mile markers."

Alison said, "It will just be neat to say we all crossed the finish line."