Rebecca Dreesen, director, and Don Johnson, executive director, are heading up the new Southwestern Youth Serivices in Magnolia.

By Lori Ehde
The Magnolia facility for troubled youth has a new name and, in time, will have a new image. That’s what the directors of Southwestern Youth Services are working toward, anyway.

Executive Director Don Johnson and Director Rebecca Dreesen are building a new program to instruct 13- to 19-year-old males who have been court ordered to the facility.

Southwestern Youth Services offers detention for youth who need to be held away from their homes between arrests and court hearings. Most of the services, however, focus on short-term and long-term residential programs.

It does essentially the same things as Pinnacle Programs Inc., which used to occupy the facility, but Johnson and Dreesen say they run the show with a different approach.

"Our philosophy has always been positive peer culture, and I’m a strong believer in that," Johnson said. "But we focus on de-escalating behavior to avoid physical confrontation. I like to place a lot of emphasis on positive reinforcement rather than negative."

He said using physical restraint is often unavoidable due to the criminal nature of the youth they work with, but he said the fact it’s used as a last resort sets the Southwestern Youth Services apart from its predecessor.

Improving the facility’s tarnished image may be as challenging as rehabilitating the youth themselves.
Pinnacle Programs Inc. opened in the former Magnolia school building in 1995 and at one time housed more than 20 young people.

However, a 1998 sex scandal that sent local employee Sharon Smidstra to seven years in prison cast serious doubt on the program.

Smidstra was found guilty in a July 1999 jury trial of first- and third-degree criminal sexual conduct, five counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and seven counts of furnishing tobacco to a minor.

Families of the children filed lawsuits alleging negligence, and judges began sentencing juveniles to other facilities.

To make matters worse, the state of Nebraska last year mandated its judicial system sentence youth only to in-state facilities. The majority of Magnolia’s young residents were from Omaha.

Last summer, Maurice Crowley sold the property to PDI Realty Corporation, a group of investors primarily from South Dakota.

Johnson and Dreesen have been working to keep the doors open.

"I’m from Ellsworth, and people keep asking me ‘are you closing your doors?’ and I tell them, ‘No, the sign is just down, we’re not closing our doors,’" Dreesen said.

The facility officially became Southwestern Youth Services on Jan. 1, and a sign will soon be placed on the front lawn.

At one point, enrollment dropped to three, but there are currently six boys in the program, with several more referrals and commitments underway.

If anyone can rebuild the program, Johnson and Dreesen feel they can.

Dreesen started at the Magnolia facility shortly after the school was transformed into a correctional program. She’s worked nearly every position on the roster, including cook, peer leader, administrative support and management.

Johnson comes to Magnolia after 26 years at the South Dakota Training School in Plankinton. He resigned after 15 years as manager two years before the state closed it down in 2001 following the controversial death of a juvenile girl there.

He lives in Adrian and returns on weekends to Plankinton, where his wife still lives.

Both Johnson and Dreesen have their sights set firmly on the future, and spend little time looking back.

Right now that means marketing the program. They’re visiting with judges and personally distributing literature. "I think it’s critical that people have a chance to meet you eye-to-eye," Johnson said.

Dreesen said, "We tell everyone they’re welcome to tour the facility and meet the staff."

By Sara Strong
The Rock County Community Library is expecting a new shipment of the popular "Rock-a-Bye Baby Reader."

In its second edition, the book, by former Luverne resident and Star Herald reporter Carole Olson, got a redesign and is also getting attention for its use as a friendly introduction to reading.

Forty Minnesota counties have placed orders and, with more educational conferences coming up, "Rock-a-Bye Baby Reader" could become a favorite for many families.

The book promotes reading to infants as an important introduction to reading and learning — and it gives parents an extra reason to hold and communicate with their babies.

Counties that ordered the book plan to give it to newborns as part of the standard gift package families often receive. People can privately purchase the book as well, through the library or through Third Week Books, 1112 W. 66th St. #1, Minneapolis, MN 55423 or by contacting thebabyreader@yahoo.com.

"It’s simple, inexpensive and can make such a difference to children," Olson said. "I tried not to preach, but rather to encourage."

Locally, new parents are still getting copies of the book through the Rock County Collaborative, which distributes the book through home visits. Families participating in Early Childhood Family Education also get copies of the book.

Karen Willers, who chairs the Collaborative’s Pre-natal to age 5 Work Team, said, "I think people are excited to get their copy."

Getting the word out
"We included more diversity in the pictures this time," Olson said of the book’s redesign.

Her partner in Third Week Books, Cheri Schneider, also revamped the graphics she created for the first. Olson credits Schneider with keeping the project fresh and pushing for its growth.

The book’s second edition also brought a separate Spanish version. Its title roughly means "an awakening to learning."

Rock County participants in English-as-a-second-language classes get copies of the Spanish version.

Some of the Spanish and Mexican folk tales are similar to the content in the English book, the standard children’s rhymes and stories.

Through child development experts, Olson learned that reading to babies is a vital part of giving them a head start to learning. The mother’s voice — heard while in the womb — gets the biggest response from babies and has an ongoing effect.

Olson said that in writing the book, she considered intellectual development secondary to family bonds.

"That’s the main thing to remember — that when parents read, they’re holding their children and talking to them, not showing them a video."

Olson hopes her book is enjoyed by families with newborns, long after the first set of brochures and info packets are thrown out.

"I wanted to promote reading as a good tool in a way that isn’t preachy and isn’t in a language that’s difficult to understand," Olson said.

Knowing that some new parents weren’t read to as children, or were intimidated by the educational process, Olson made the book’s message clear: Loving babies and reading to them makes learning easier for them.

"This book is not supposed to be a treatise on how to develop geniuses, just an encouragement to get moms and dads to turn off the TV set, hold their kids and read with them."

By Sara Strong
Besides being a member of the Luverne Fire Department for 25 years, Kurt Kester was chief for five. He retired this year, confident the department is in good hands.

He said, "I really liked it all, but it got to be more work than fun, so I stepped down to let the younger people take over."

New chief Don Deutsch said, "I had the pleasure of being a member with Kurt for 22 years."

Besides Deutsch, other experienced firefighters like Steve Wynia and Tim Anderson also moved up the ladder.

Deutsch calls Kester a good leader, but beyond that, a good friend, who made the work fun.

The firefighting business has evolved through Kester’s time in the department. When he started, he wore a rubber coat and hip boots on calls. Now, the protective gear, including masks, makes battling a blaze easier on the crew and more efficient for the property.

To keep up with training, weekly drills include more topics than ever: hazardous material handling, grain bin rescues, ladder work and accident extraction, to name a few.

But, as much as some aspects changed, the job stresses stayed the same.

Kester had to take each fire call seriously. "The biggest fear is of hurting or losing a member of the department or a citizen getting hurt," Kester said, noting that a couple fatal fires in Luverne were difficult on the entire department.

"This is a small community, and there’s a real good chance that the fire will involve a friend or relative of a department member."

Fire prevention efforts and education are more a part of the department than ever.

"We’ve had very good luck with fire prevention and opening up the department to kids. Parents come up to us for about a month after, asking, ‘What did you do to my kids?’ because they all go home and check the smoke detectors batteries and see where they are and [talk about evacuation plans]."

Keeping the department up to regulations and well-trained was a source of pride for Kester, and it earned the department a great deal of respect.

"The city of Luverne has supported us for as long as I can remember," he said.

Kester said the actual act of putting out flames is a true science. For example, he said it’s more effective to try to "push" flames out of a burning building. Instinct might tell people to hose down a building through a window, but if the fire is contained near the window, it would be more effective to go through the building and spray water toward the window.

Avoiding excessive water damage is one of the most difficult aspects of firefighting.

"The best times are training people who haven’t been at a live fire before. I liked to stand back and watch their faces instead of the fire," Kester said.

When he became chief, Kester relinquished some of the standard duties to lead the department.
The fire chief is in charge of the instant command system, wherein the chief observes the overall picture of a fire and makes tactical decisions based on what he sees.

The big blazes are now left to his former co-workers in the fire department, but Kester hasn’t turned in all his badges. He is still busy as a sergeant with Sheriff’s Department, but is getting used to some extra free time.

For now, when Kester hears a call, he’s relieved he doesn’t have to go out in the cold in the middle of the night, but he said, "My heart will still jump a little when I hear a pager."

‘Providing Lessons for Life’
This week, Feb. 3-7, is National School Counselors Week, and the theme is "School Counselors: Providing Lessons for Life." Pictured are Luverne School District counselors Kristi Groth, Craig Nelson and Marie Atkinson-Smeins. The week focuses public attention on the unique contributions professional counselors make in schools. In Luverne Elementary School, a large piece of brown paper will be hung on the wall by the library for parents to write special notes to their children during the month of February.

Photo by Lori Ehde

From left, Roger Achterhof, Bruce Kurtz, Keith Van Westen and Tor Boen play a game of poker during a scene from the 1979 production of "The Odd Couple," which is part of this weekend’s Green Earth Players 25th anniversary variety show. Also pictured is Morgan Bosshart, as Annie in the 2001 Green Earth musical. Story inside.

By John Rittenhouse
Hills-Beaver Creek High School students received some mat action as members of the Luverne-H-BC-Ellsworth wrestling squad this week.

The Cardinal mat squad competed at matches in Tracy Thursday and Adrian Tuesday, dropping both duels while slipping to 2-14 for the season.

Dusty Seachris competed in both outings. Kerry Fink wrestled for the varsity squad in Tracy.

Seachris was pinned 1:25 into the second period of the 140-pound match against Adrian’s Adam Voss.

Adrian went on to hand L-H-BC-E a 59-18 setback.

The H-BC wrestlers went 1-1 during Thursday’s 42-31 loss to Tracy-Milroy in Tracy.

Seachris came up with a victory when he stuck Andy Nelson 48 seconds into the third period of the 135-pound match.

Fink was pinned by Adam Snyder with seven seconds left in the first period of the 125-pound tilt.

L-H-BC-E hosts Windom and Redwood Valley tonight and Friday respectively.

By John Rittenhouse
The Hills-Beaver Creek boys recorded their sixth consecutive basketball victory Tuesday in Okabena.

Playing Southwest Star Concept in a Red Rock Conference battle, H-BC turned in an impressive offensive performance while nailing down a 76-60 win.

The Patriots canned 28 of 45 field goals in the game and outscored the Quasars in three of the contest’s four quarters to up their season record to 13-4.

"We played pretty well," said Patriot coach Steve Wiertzema. "We were very patient and took good shots."
H-BC led 21-18 at the end of a hard-fought first quarter, but Trey Van Wyhe and Kale Wiertzema helped the Patriots gain some separation in the second period.

Van Wyhe scored eight of his team-high 20 points in the second quarter and Wiertzema capped a 15-point first half by netting seven counters in the period as H-BC outscored SSC 29-18 to take a 50-36 halftime lead.

H-BC increased its lead to 16 points (65-49) with a 15-13 scoring edge in the third quarter and prevailed by 13 after battling SSC to a draw at 11 in the fourth quarter.

Coach Wiertzema said Van Wyhe and Jesse Leuthold played great games in the post. Leuthold had eight rebounds and seven steals. Van Wyhe had seven rebounds.

Wiertzema scored 17 points, passed for 10 assists and snared five rebounds for the winners. Tyson Metzger netted 15 points, and Tyler Bush added 12 points, six assists and four steals.

H-BC, 11-0 in the RRC, plays in Round Lake Friday before hosting Edgerton Tuesday.

Box score
Bush 5 0 2-3 12, Wysong 0 1 0-0 3, Broesder 0 0 0-0 0, Wiertzema 3 3 2-6 17, Metzger 2 3 2-4 15, Leuthold 2 0 3-4 7. Van Wyhe 8 0 4-4 20, Spykerboer 1 0 0-0 2.

Team statistics
H-BC: 28 of 45 field goals (62 percent), 13 of 21 free throws (62 percent), 27 rebounds, 23 turnovers.
SSC: 26 of 54 field goals (48 percent), five of nine free throws (56 percent), 23 rebounds, 23 turnovers.

Hills-Beaver Creek sophomore Melinda Feucht drives past Pipestone's Stacey Plahn during Tuesday's girls' basketball game in Hills. Feucht scored seven points in the first quarter to help the Patriots post a 45-42 win over the Arrows.

By John Rittenhouse
A solid performance as a team set the stage for a 45-42 girls’ basketball victory for the Hills-Beaver Creek Patriots Tuesday.

Hosting Pipestone for a non-conference clash, H-BC faced adversity early when leading scorer and rebounder Erin Boeve picked up two quick fouls in the first quarter.

With Boeve on the bench for most of the first half, the rest of the Patriots came together as a team to keep the game close.

Boeve returned to the court in the second half to help the Patriots outscore the Arrows 30-26, giving the hosts a three-point conquest.

"It was a battle," said Patriot coach Tom Goehle. "We’ll take a win any time when Erin is sitting on the bench for 13 minutes in the first half. The other girls did a good job of defending Pipestone, and they did a good job of taking care of the ball offensively."

The Patriots didn’t seem bothered by the absence of Boeve in the first quarter as Sarah Rozeboom drained a shot at the buzzer to tie the game at 11.

Neither team could generate much offense in a second quarter that ended with the Arrows nursing a 16-15 edge.

The teams traded baskets in the early stages of the third quarter before H-BC put together a surge that left it sporting a 32-24 cushion.

Pipestone trimmed the difference to four points (32-28) by period’s end, but the Arrows’ 14-13 scoring edge in the fourth quarter wasn’t enough to best the Patriots.

Cassi Tilstra, who led the Patriots with 13 points in the game, and Boeve set the pace in the second half by scoring seven points each. Brittney Rozeboom added six points in the second half.

Melinda Feucht, who scored seven points in the first quarter, netted 12 counters for the winners.

H-BC, 10-8 overall, hosts Edgerton Public tonight.

Box score
B.Rozeboom 2 0 2-3 6, Feucht 5 0 2-3 12, Tilstra 5 1 0-3 13, S.Rozeboom 3 0 1-6 7, Broesder 3 0 1-4 7, Olson 0 0 0-0 0, Mulder 0 0 0-0 0, Sandstede 0 0 0-0 0.

Team statistics
H-BC: 19 of 45 field goals (42 percent), six of 19 free throws (42 percent), 18 of 45 field goals (40 percent), six of 11 free throws (55 percent).

By Jolene Farley
Hills-Beaver Creek Elementary School students are saving their pennies and spare change this month and bringing the money to school.

Each classroom has a can for students to drop spare change into for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s Pennies for Patients program.

Elementary Administrator Jil Vaughn said students scrounge up change around their homes and deposit the money into the cans.

"At the end of the month, I take the cans to the bank and they count them up," she said.

The program raises funds to find cures for the blood diseases leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma and for patient services.

"This is just an annual thing that we do as a benefit for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society," said Vaughn. "The classes are highly competitive."

The school has participated in the program for several years, according to Vaughn.

Kindergartener Madison Fick, 5, who has donated several times this month, said she hasn’t broken into her piggy bank but has asked her mom and dad for their spare change. She said she likes to bring change because "it’s nice to help people."

The program runs for a six-week period. The class collecting the most pennies and other spare change in the school will receive a pizza party. Top schools in the area win gift certificates and electronics.

Five million students in 10,000 schools across the country raised $9 million through Pennies for Patients last year.