Jim and I were enjoying a blistering hot summer evening on the Take 16 patio when our out-of-town guests asked casually, “So what’s with all the nutcrackers?” 

An eerie silence fell over our table, and the free-flowing conversation was stalled by the question no one can answer.

When I attended a recent annual conference of the International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors in Sioux Falls, I planned a side trip to Luverne – for reasons that started out esoteric but turned out to be quite meaningful.

Dispatch report

July 16

•Complainant on W. Brown Street reported lost/found property.

•Complainant on N. Lindale Street reported a scam.

•Complainant on 41st Street in Steen reported debris.

The following appeared in The Rock County Herald on March 14, 1963.

Teachers will get pay raises here next fall

Our dear friend Ronald Olivier Vander Schaaf passed away at the age of 96 on July 20, 2025. Born in Hull, Iowa on December 31, 1928, to Ralph and Nellie (Olivier) Vander Schaaf, Ron was the youngest of three children.

Bryan Dale Fodness, age 67, of Hardwick, Minnesota, died Friday, July 18, 2025, at Avera McKennan Hospital in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, as the result of a motorcycle accident near Jasper, Minnesota, on July 11, 2025. 

Lori Enger, age 65, of Jasper, Minnesota, passed away on Wednesday, July 23, 2025, at the Avera McKennan Hospital in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Visitation was Sunday, July 27, 2025, from 4-7 p.m. at Hartquist Funeral Home Pipestone Chapel in Pipestone, Minnesota.