By Lori Ehde
Today's the day Tri-State Insurance celebrates 100 years of doing business in Luverne.

Employees have been digging into company archives, collecting historical artifacts and planning a festive party for the public open house from 3 to 6 p.m.

Regional manager Curt Bloemendaal, who has been with Tri-State for 38 years, compiled an abbreviated history of the company.

"Tri-State's roots reach back to 1902 when a group of mill and elevator owners founded Tri-State Grain Shippers Indemnity," he wrote. "The goal was protection against financial loss in the event fire would damage or destroy buildings and grain."

At the close of the initial year, premium revenue amounted to $7,230. That compares with more than $70 million at the close of 1999.

At the time, the business included more than 30 elevators in Minnesota, South Dakota and Iowa. Thus, the name "Tri-State."

That name changed in 1908 to Tri-State Mutual Grain Dealers Fire Insurance Company, and in the 1920s, the firm began writing protection on other businesses besides elevator buildings.

"Eventually, Tri-State added coverage for homes and household furnishings, as well as automobiles, inland marine, workers' compensation and other property and casualty lines," Bloemendaal recorded.

Embracing change
Changes in technology highlight Tri-State's history.

Bloemendaal said one of the first big changes in automation came in 1940 with the introduction of electronic calculators.

Computers changed the workplace in 1967 when an IBM 360 mainframe computer moved into the office. "I was an underwriter in training at the time, and I remember we had these code slips we had to fill out," he said. "All that information had to be key punched into a card, which was then fed into the computer."

Bea Rogness, who has recently retired from Tri-State, was instrumental in key-punching those cards, and ironically, she's the one who's returned to the company in recent months to help with digital imaging of Tri-State's documents.

Bloemendaal said 1974 stands out as the biggest year of changes for Tri-State.

"It was a huge year, because we adopted a new computer processing software system, we changed ownership from policyholders to W.R. Berkley Corporation, and we moved to a new building," Bloemendaal said.

That year, the company moved from 7,000 square feet in what is now Family Chiropractic downtown Luverne to 30,000 square feet in its current building just off Blue Mound Avenue.

He remembers a chaotic work environment in 1974. "We had to pull every file and key information into the new system," he said. "We were doing that as we were moving. We had stacks of files everywhere."

When it became part of W.R. Berkley Corporation in 1974, the name changed from Tri-State Mutual Insurance Company to Tri-State Insurance Company of Minnesota.

Another change took place in 1999 amid Berkley reorganization and Tri-State became a member of Continental Western Group. The Luverne office is now Continental Western Group, Tri-State Region, selling products under the name of Tri-State Insurance Company of Minnesota, Continental Western Insurance Company and Union Insurance.

Changes on the horizon
Tri-State's 100th anniversary will be celebrated in its 1974 building, but its employees will move across the street to the Berkley Technology Services building later this fall.

In exchange for Luverne Economic Development adding 8,500 feet to the BTS building, Berkley will give the $1 million Tri-State building to LEDA and sign a 10-year lease on the BTS building.

Considering Berkley had previously announced Tri-State would leave Luverne, the arrangement is good news for both the employees and for the city.

It's all about people
Today, Tri-State employs 112 people. "Tri-State is proud of its employees," Bloemendaal wrote in his anniversary report.

"Tri-State people are involved in the community in all levels, providing leadership and service to clubs, churches, professional groups and government entities. É I am very grateful for the opportunity of working side-by-side with many co-workers and agents for over one-third of the 100 years."

Open house at Tri-State
from 3 to 6 p.m. today
Black-and-white photos, 100-year-old bank ledgers and canceled checks along with plenty of other company memorabilia will be on hand for viewing at the open house.

Bloemendaal and other Tri-State employees will dress in period attire, and countless party details will provide a turn-of-the-century appeal.

For example, long-time Tri-State employees Ardell Bowman and Al Stoakes will tend a soda fountain built just for the occasion. They'll serve malts, root beer floats, sodas and New York cheesecake, courtesy of Berkley executives.

Local talent will provide entertainment, such as banjo music, barbershop quartet singing and piano playing, throughout the event, and W.R. Berkley will give an address at 4 p.m.

"We're pretty excited about reaching 100 years," Bloemendaal said, "and weÕre gearing up for our next 100."

By Sara Strong
State candidates joined a local forum Monday to help give Rock County voters a clearer picture of their options in the November election.

The Luverne Chamber of Commerce sponsored the forum, which included State Senate candidates Ñ Jim Vickerman, DFL, and Alex Frick, Republican, and State House candidates Ted Winter, DFL, and Doug Magnus, Republican.

They addressed specific questions from moderator Matt Crosby.

On prescription drugs
Frick said, "I really feel this can;'t be solved on the state level."

Vickerman said, "I think the state has to take some part of it." He said the disparity between different insurance coverages or Medicare is too variable.

Winter said it's important to pass the Fair Drug Pricing Act.

"We have to tell these pharmaceutical companies that they canÕt sell at such a high price here and sell it cheaper to Canada and Mexico."

Magnus said senior citizens are a key group to pay attention to when talking prescription drugs.

On the state's $2.5 to
3 million budget deficit:
Magnus said taxing isn't the answer to solving the deficit. "That hinders the economy," he said.
He said he wouldn't rule out a tax raise, but said running the government like a family or business, trying to cut costs, is the key to balancing the budget.

Winter said cutting budgets and finding more efficiencies in government is important to balancing the budget. He said the state should be careful where it cuts, however, because county, township, city and schools are affected by state aids.

"We donÕt want to shift the burden to local units who will pass on a levy," Winter said.

Vickerman said the state had a $900 million budget shortfall when he started in the legislature and the state managed to work through it before. He said the governor and both parties have to cooperate to balance any budget.

Vickerman said he saw some areas that shouldn't be cut when tightening the budget - schools, nursing homes and the Department of Natural Resources. He suggested different departments come up with cuts from within before more work is done on balancing.

Frick said the state has had a clear spending problem, doubling its spending in the past seven to 10 years and becoming the largest employer in Minnesota.

Before cutting existing programs, Frick suggested the state stop adding more costs. Specifically, Frick took issue with non-married partners of state workers getting state health benefits.

On health care
in rural areas
Vickerman said keeping local health care in rural Minnesota has been an important issue to him throughout his political career.

The Metro area of the state has drawn dentists, optometrists, nurses and doctors from rural areas.

Vickerman said a loan forgiveness program for nurses working in rural areas might help the situation.

Frick said the health care issue stems from the larger issue of rural areas steadily losing population.

"It's a basic problem and we can't support businesses or schools without population. We have to work hard to reverse out-migration."

Frick suggested recruiting workers in health care by advertising the high quality of life and schools in rural Minnesota.

Magnus said addressing population and looking into a loan forgiveness program would combine for better coverage in rural health care.

He said his wife worked at a hospital and quit because of the 80 to 90 hours of work expected of many workers. "That's not good for doctors or patients," Magnus said.

Winter said rural hospitals need to keep updated with technology to keep their patients from traveling to bigger facilities for their health care.

He said a key point for rural hospitals, and Minnesota hospitals in general, is the Medicare reimbursement rates.

"When many of the patients are elderly, the Medicare reimbursement keeps the hospital functioning."

Winter said rural hospitals get a lower reimbursement than Metro area hospitals, which get lower reimbursements than hospitals in some other parts of the country.

On education funding
Winter said education funding shouldn't be cut to help the state budget, because schools have to pass that cost on to local taxpayers through levies or ask for special referendums.

He said he thinks the state funding formula should be altered so that instead of per pupil funds, school are given progressively increasing funds. Winter said infrastructure costs are often the same in large and small districts with busing and building expenses. He said a progressive structure would mean Metro schools don't come out far ahead of rural.

Magnus said, "Without good education, our future is really doomed."

He pointed out that the state hasn't cut education funding, which he believed was a misconception. He said he thought the formula should stay as-is.

Frick said, "It has to be a top priority to fund education. But we have to have people living here if we're going to have people in the schools."

Frick said an option for saving education money would be combining small districts.

Vickerman said, "Wherever you live, you should have equal access to quality education."

He advocates smaller class sizes, aid for textbooks and technology, and early childhood education. He said some costs might be saved by sharing administration between smaller schools.

In closing statements
Magnus said, "The legislature needs to be run like a business by people with proven business experience."

Winter said, "I've always tried to be connected with people and issues they care about." He pointed out his past work in funding Lewis and Clark Rural Water System; working with ethanol and soybean plants and biodiesel and being a strong advocate for education.

Vickerman said he is one of the five most senior members of the DFL and prides himself on working with both parties to get things accomplished. He's been a supporter of wind energy and carried the bill to locate the Minnesota Veterans Home in Luverne. He said people should know he's honest and that his constituents come first.

Frick said he acknowledged that Vickerman did some good things in his years in office, but that the DFL leadership of the state had to change. They've been in control for 30 years, Frick said, and in that time Minnesota has increased taxes to be one of the top in the country and jobs have left Minnesota for other states.

NOTE: The Star Herald will publish Luverne Mayor and Rock County Sheriff candidate profiles next week.

Vincent Meyer, 84, Luverne, died Thursday, Oct. 17 at Mary Jane Brown Good Samaritan Center, Luverne. A family and friends gathering will be Monday, Oct. 21 from 12 noon to 2 p.m. and memorial services at 2 p.m. at St. Catherine Catholic Church, Luverne, with Father Andrew Beerman officiating. Burial will be at St. Catherine Catholic Cemetery. Dingmann Funeral Home & Cremation Services of Luverne in charge of the arrangements.

By John Rittenhouse
Two long-time Tri-County Conference volleyball rivals met for a non-conference match in Ellsworth Monday.

Hills-Beaver Creek and Ellsworth, teams that spent a number of years playing each other twice a season in the disbanded T-CC, played against each other without league ramifications on the line.

The way things turned out, H-BC got the better of EHS by posting a 3-1 win over the Panthers on their home floor.

H-BC coach Curt Doornweerd said the Patriots didn't play their best match of the year, but he was happy with the outcome.

"We played good enough to win. A win is a win, and we have to take it," he said.

H-BC posted a comfortable 15-8 win in the opener before scrambling to pull out a 16-14 victory in Game 2.

Ellsworth was one point away from evening the match at one game each when it sported a 14-8 lead. H-BC, however, scored the next eight points to win by two.

The Panthers did force a fourth game by posting a 15-7 victory in Game 3. The fourth game went to H-BC by a 15-11 count.

Erin Boeve, who was 25 of 25 serving with two aces, led the 8-8-3 Patriots with 14 kills and eight blocks. Sarah Rozeboom and Angie Sjaarda recorded three and two kills respectively. Kelly Mulder had two blocks and one kill.

Melissa Fagerness was 23 of 23 serving with one ace for the winners. Melinda Sandstede was 13 of 14 with one ace.

Ellsworth, which slipped to 2-11-6 with the loss, received a 15-kill, 12-dig effort from Jenna Groen.
Laurel Drenth added 11 kills for the Panthers. Lisa Boltjes was 14 of 17 serving with four aces. Laci DeLeeuw charted 13 set assists.

Panther coach Jason Langland said the Panthers played with H-BC, but mistakes kept them from prevailing.

"It's just a matter of doing the little things we need to in order to win the game. We need to make more big plays," he said.

By John Rittenhouse
There's more than one way to beat an opponent, and the Hills-Beaver Creek-Ellsworth Patriots proved that during a 20-8 football win over Sioux Valley-Round Lake-Brewster in Brewster Friday.

Senior tailback Chris Reid ran wild through opposing defenses while H-BC-E recorded five straight wins to start the season, but the Patriots ran into a Raider squad that did an admirable job of keeping Reid in check by watching his every move defensively.

The attention SV-RL-B gave Reid paid off as it limited the standout runner to 54 yards in 17 carries, but the strategy ultimately backfired as H-BC-E found some other ways to get the ball in the end zone during a 12-point victory.

A dose of fullback Jesse Leuthold and a potent passing attack led by Curt Schilling and Tyson Metzger allowed H-BC-E to overcome SV-RL-BÕs defensive mindset.

Leuthold ran the ball for 135 yards and two touchdowns, and Schilling fired eight completions to Metzger for 54 yards and one touchdown to give the Patriots their sixth consecutive win.

"They really worked hard on stopping Chris, and they did a pretty good job," admitted Patriot coach Dan Ellingson. "We didn't get anything when we tried to run him to the outside. We were able to come back with some quick fullback blasts up the middle, and we had a good night passing. Jesse did a really good job. He was getting positive yardage all night. Curt was 11 of 16 passing, and that helped us stretch out their defense quite a bit."

Leuthold made an instant impact offensively.

After the Patriot defense forced SV-RL-B to punt early in the game, Leuthold broke loose on a 58-yard touchdown run during H-BC-E's first offensive play from scrimmage. A run for a two-point conversion failed, but H-BC-E had a 6-0 lead it would never relinquish.

Leuthold, who matched Reid with 17 carries in the contest, helped the Patriots expand their lead to 14-0 before the first half was complete. He found the end zone for the second time at the end of a one-yard plunge midway through the second quarter. A successful two-point conversion pass from Schilling to Brant Deutsch followed the touchdown.

H-BC-E seemed to be in control of the game to start the second half, but that changed during the third.

SV-RL-B's second possession of the period turned into a long drive that ended with Cory Place scoring on a one-yard run. When Anthony Johnson carried in the two-point conversion, the Raiders were six points away (14-8) from tying the game.

The Patriots, however, never let the Raiders find pay dirt again before sealing the game's outcome with a touchdown midway through the fourth quarter.

H-BC-E's second possession of the final period was capped by a three-yard touchdown pass from Schilling to Metzger. The Patriots' ensuing extra-point attempt was blocked, leaving H-BC-E with a 20-8 advantage.

The Patriots did drive the ball deep into SV-RL-B territory after Deutsch recovered a fumble, but they ran the remaining time off the clock instead of trying to score a late touchdown when they had the ball inside the SV-RL-B 10-yard line in the game's final minute.

Ellingson said the Patriots also played well defensively.

"Our defense did a good job. They had runs of 17 and 28 yards. After those two runs, they didn't have any other big ones," he said.

The Patriots are bracing for what is expected to be their biggest test of the regular season when they play Westbrook-Walnut Grove in Ellsworth tomorrow.

W-WG has won five straight Southwest Ridge Conference games after starting the season with a non-conference loss to LeRoy-Ostrander, the stateÕs No. 1-ranked nine-man team.

"They are a very good team," Ellingson said of the Chargers. "They are very quick on the line, they have a quarterback who runs the bootleg a lot, and they have a good receiver whom they look to get the ball to a lot.

"The keys for us will be to contain their quarterback and take away their No. 1 receiver. To contend with their quickness, our linemen will need to maintain their blocks."

The game will serve as Ellsworth's homecoming tilt.

Team statistics
H-BC-E: 181 rushing yards, 94 passing yards, 275 total yards, 10 first downs, six penalties for 40 yards, two turnovers.
SV-RL-B: 114 passing yards, 114 rushing yards, 228 total yards, seven first downs, eight penalties for 63 yards, one turnover.

Individual statistics
Rushing: Leuthold 17-135, Reid 17-54, Zach Wysong 1-1, Schilling 1-minus 9.
Passing: Schilling 11-16 for 94 yards.
Receiving: Metzger 8-54, Deutsch 1-3, Reid 2-37.
Defense: Schilling 21 tackles, Leuthold 11 tackles, Brian Gacke eight tackles, Deutsch two sacks and one fumble recovery.

Hills-Beaver Creek-Ellsworth-Edgerton's Erica Fransen (middle) and Mya Mann (right) placed 20th and 26th respectively during the varsity race at the Cardinal Autumn Invitational in Adrian Thursday.

By John Rittenhouse
The Hills-Beaver Creek-Ellsworth-Edgerton cross country runners honed their skills for some important upcoming meets at the Adrian Invitational Tuesday.

With the Red Rock Conference meet set for Tuesday in Slayton, and the Section 3A meet coming up Oct. 24, H-BC-E-E approached the meet in Adrian with modest goals.

Instead of trying to win team titles, Patriot coach Tom Goehle simply wanted his runners to get in a good workout.

"This was a good tune-up meet for us. We were trying some different things, and running some of our kids in different races. I looked at it like we were trying to mend a few fences while getting ready for the conference and section meets," he said.

With that in mind, H-BC-E-E didn't enter girls in the varsity race in Adrian.

The Patriots also fielded an incomplete boys' varsity team, but Tyler Bush and Zach Hadler did make strong appearances by placing first and seventh with respective 17:04 and 17:34 times.

Todd Alberty also ran in the varsity race, finishing 20th in 18:36.

H-BC-E-E did run a complete boys' junior varsity team, and the Patriots placed second (30-31) to Sioux Falls Washington in final standings.

Kale Wiertzema (first in 14:28), Greg Van Batavia (third in 14:43), Lee Jackson (fifth in 15:06), Derek Haak (ninth in 15:21), Devin DeBoer (20th in 16:13), Kerry Fink (24th in 16:24), Michael Bos (34th in 16:59), John Sandbulte (36th in 17:11) and Justin Hinks (50th in 21:34) competed in the junior varsity run for the Patriots.

Erika Fransen and Mya Mann finished fifth and seventh with times of 18:02 and 18:29 in the girls' junior varsity race.

Cody Rozeboom, Adam Finke and Grant Hoogendoorn placed third, fifth and 14th with respective 6:16, 6:20 and 6:32 times in the boysÕ junior high race.

Rayne Sandoval finished 31st in 7:10 in the girls' junior high run.

By Jolene Farley
At a Tuesday meeting, Hills City Council members discussed the possibility of starting a neighborhood watch in Hills.

Mayor Jim Jellema received a phone call from Beaver Creek Council member Carolyn DeBoer earlier in the week asking if the Hills City Council was interested in joining Beaver Creek and the Rock County SheriffÕs Office in starting the program.

"She wanted to know if we wanted to be included," Jellema said.

Jellema suggested that the Steen City Council should also be contacted about the program, for which Sheriff Ron McClure will present the training sessions.

The Hills City Council decided it would publish an ad informing Hills residents of the meeting date to see how much interest is generated.

"I think it's a good thing, but the other side is, what do we pay the Rock County Sheriff for É" said Jellema.

He added that most residents already try to keep an eye on their neighbors.

In other business:
Denny Law, a representative of the Hills Telephone Company and Sioux Valley Telephone Company, asked the council to transfer the cable television franchise from Sioux Valley Telephone Company to Hills Telephone Company.The same corporation owns both companies.

"We're undergoing some corporate restructuring, so it makes more sense for Hills Telephone Company to own the franchise," said Law.

The council voted unanimously to transfer the franchise.

The Hills Thunder is considering running open gym at Hills-Beaver Creek High School on Sundays from December through March.

By Jolene Farley
Four members of the Hills-Beaver Creek School Board and representatives from Group II Architects, Sioux Falls, S.D., met briefly Thursday to discuss the high school locker room project.

Group II brought building plans from other school district's remodeling or new construction projects to show the board.

The firm is asking for a $3,500 fee to start the process for the H-BC district, according to Superintendent Dave Deragisch.

The entire board will vote on whether to retain the firm at the Monday, Oct. 14, School Board meeting.

"My guess is that it will be approved," Deragisch said.

If the board decides to move ahead, the locker room construction could be completed by the start of the school year next fall, according to Deragisch.

I hope people aren't sick of reading about drugs and law enforcement, because they haven't seen the last of the subjects in our paper. That's because the issue is so raw with the community and it's our job to reflect what people are talking about.

I'd venture to say that drugs and law enforcement have made it to Rock County dining room discussions this year as frequently as "What's for supper?"

The Star Herald typically covers law enforcement from the standpoint of arrests or crimes committed. We also started covering law enforcement differently with the more recent concept of community policing.

We hit a nerve within the Sheriff's Department when we followed up on the continuing coverage of that issue with a story about the departmentÕs review by community policing trainers.

The purpose of the report was to point out what needed improvement, and the article (which I wrote) reflected the contents of that report. Both the report and my story noted positive things about the department as well.

A few members of the department expressed some bitterness about the Star Herald sharing that information with the public, but we don't have regrets.

My restating this old news is just to remind everyone of the importance of openness between law enforcement and citizens. If we hadn't shared findings in that first report (published Aug. 15) the air wouldn't have been cleared to the extent it is now.

Community policing is a philosophy that holds openness and approachability as core values. And how could people feel open with a department that isnÕt willing to admit to its flaws?

It's admirable for anyone to try to do better at their jobs. It's professional to face weaknesses.... Just look at the last two issues of the Star Herald that included corrections for errors we apologized for.

The timing for implementing community policing couldn't have been more perfect because various residents, the school, the city of Luverne and parents are ready to embrace a change in how business is done in Rock County. The department members are clearly ready to accept changes, with them offering to meet with neighborhoods and parents.

I hope that from now on when people think of our Sheriff's Department and its role in local drug control, they don't only consider the things that need fixing. I hope they think of ways to help and support the people who are here to protect us.