By Sara Strong
Citizens turned to the Rock County Board of Commissioners Tuesday for answers to and assistance with the area's drug problems.

Those attending the meeting ranged from parents of addicts, residents who saw problems in their neighborhoods and school and city of Luverne leaders.

Specifically, the group wanted some issues, pertinent to the county, addressed by the board. They also look forward to working with the schools and other county towns.

Commissioners said they will spend about a month researching in order to address:

Officer numbers or assignments in the Sheriff's Department. One statistic estimates that there should be 14 to 20 officers to cover a population like Rock County's. Here, there are now 14, including three part-timers, an investigator and the sheriff.

The work load of the corrections officer. It is difficult to do follow-up drug tests on offenders on probation to ensure they are substance-free.

The disbanded Drug Task Force. The task force used to have trained swat team officers and utilized regional resources for drug arrests. Since it is no longer available, does the county have other similar options?

A specialized drug enforcement officer. The board is almost sure it can't fund another officer but said it would look into grants or other funding sources to bring more resources to the department.

The county is strapped for funds because of a state-imposed limit on what it can collect from taxpayers, but commissioners made a commitment to help in whatever way possible.

County Attorney Don Klosterbuer said he was pleased that the requests came in a positive tone and noted that taxpayers offering to spend more money was a rare sentiment.

'This is my daughter'
The board's meeting room was filled to capacity, but the presentation was led by Lila Bauer and Elaine Fick, both of Luverne, and Stan Nelson, Hills.

Bauer held up a picture of her daughter, Leslie, and said, "This is my 19-year-old daughter and right now, she's in jail."

Bauer has known about her daughter's methamphetamine addiction since August, when Leslie called 911 after having paranoid delusions of a break-in when she was coming off a high.

Leslie is now in jail on grand theft auto charges, which her mother instigated to try to force her into drug treatment through the court system.

"Kids make bad choices, but the drugs are there to help," Bauer said.

That's where she said law enforcement should come in - to take away the availability of drugs.

"We're losing good kids to this," Bauer said.

She said, "If workload is the issue with law enforcement, then we should hire more."

Fick's son has been through treatment, and she said she is worried for the safety of the community - not just the health of meth users. She pointed to crimes like burglaries in the county that are probably drug-related.

Nelson echoed Fick’s statement. "What I'm concerned about is the violence," he said.

Nelson is the father of Carrie Nelson, who was killed during an apparent robbery at Blue Mound State Park more than a year ago. That crime is unsolved.

Nelson's emotions came to the surface as he cried and showed pictures of Carrie to board members.

"I don't know that whoever killed Carrie was a tweaker, but my gut just burns that it was...Meth causes violent behavior and causes chemical reactions in the brain that change people."

Nelson said he advocates the county having a narcotics officer to deal solely with drug enforcement issues.

"It's not drinking beer and smoking pot and getting goofy anymore," Nelson said.

Country Kitchen owner Raney Israelson said, "We keep talking about meth here, and law enforcement is trying to clean up the drug labs and that's great. But what about the marijuana that's getting kids addicted first?"

Legal substances like cigarettes and alcohol are also being illegally consumed, and Israelson said enforcing those laws might stop those users from moving up to other drugs.

With law enforcement such a part of the discussion, Sheriff Ron McClure addressed the group, saying he's generally proud of his department, but he is continually working to improve standards and outcomes.

He said he takes the role of law enforcement seriously - professionally and personally. "We care," he said through tears. "We care as much about your kids as you. We are patrolling and walking around more and checking in with people more often, but we do have to stay within the law."

Fick said she's gained respect for McClure and the department as she's related to them more recently. "They care," she said. "They truly, truly care about our kids and our community."

Commissioner Wendell Erickson said, "This is probably the most important one hour I've ever put in on the County Board."

Board Chairman Jane Wildung said, "The last nine months, the city and county have been working with law enforcement on ways to improve life. The city and the sheriff have been wonderful partners in improving service in Rock County."

County staff, Wildung and board member Ron Boyenga will meet to address the specific concerns outlined at the meeting.

By Lori Ehde
The 37th Annual Rock County Red Arrow drive will start Monday with the theme "Sharing and American Spirit."

The goal for this year's drive, which continues until Oct. 25, is $35,000.

The purpose of Red Arrow is to simplify giving for local residents who would otherwise be solicited by many organizations throughout the year.

Red Arrow collects for 24 causes, allowing givers to contribute to all of them through one lump donation.

One of the local agencies receiving Red Arrow funds is the American Red Cross.

Luverne's Carol Morgan is executive director of the Southwest Minnesota chapter of the American Red Cross, which includes Rock, Nobles, Pipestone and Murray counties.

Morgan said Rock County Red Arrow is one of many sources of revenue that keeps the organization running.

"It is appreciated," she said. "We have some very generous individual donors in Rock County. It all helps provide services we're here to do."

Among the many local causes benefiting from the Red Arrow drive, donors may appreciate knowing what they're getting for a donation to the Red Cross.

"First and foremost, our job is disaster relief and preparedness," Morgan said.

In fiscal year 2002, which ended in July, the Red Cross assisted eight local families who were displaced by fires and 70 individuals who were stranded on Interstate 90 in blizzards.

"When I-90 closes and there's nowhere to go, we feed them and keep them warm, provide air mattresses and basically make sure they have a safe place to stay," Morgan said.

"Whether it's a fire, flood, tornado or whatever Ñ we make sure their immediate needs are met."

In the line of disaster relief and preparedness, Morgan said sheÕs also in charge of community disaster education.

"We need to work more on that," she said, "and, of course, now we're working on preparing communities for bioterrorism and, God forbid, weapons of mass destruction."

In addition to disaster assistance the American Red Cross has a congressional mandate to provide blood and blood products nationwide, whenever and wherever it's needed.

She said the Sioux Valley Community Blood Bank is filling an important need locally, but Sioux Valley still needs to buy from the Red Cross to keep up with demand.

"It's not important who you give blood to; just give," Morgan said.

Other services the Red Cross provides include:

Emergency military messaging: The Red Cross can get a message to those in active duty for instances such as a death in the family. Thirteen such messages were delivered in the past year.

International services: For example, the Red Cross recently delivered a message to a woman in Worthington from a refugee camp in Ethiopia.

Health and safety education. For example, certified Red Cross instructors taught swimming lessons to 2,161 kids in three counties in the past year, and gave 1,444 people CPR training.

Morgan said she's enjoyed working with volunteer youth, such as Peer Helpers and 4-H on various fund-raisers, but more volunteers are always needed.

Morgan can be reached at 372-4702.

How to give to Rock County Red Arrow:
Luverne High School Peer Helpers will deliver packets of brochures and pledge cards to businesses, and they'll pick up employee donations at pre-arranged later dates.

That will coincide with a blanket mailing to all Rock County homes, which is in lieu of door-to-door solicitations this year.

"We thought this would be a convenient way for people to give," said Sara Van Nieuwenhuizen, who co-chairs Red Arrow fund-raising this year with Brian Wohnoutka.

"When we go door-to-door, how many do we catch? Some people donÕt like it when someone comes to the door, so we thought this year we'd give this a try."

Red Arrow solicitations will be mailed today.

In addition, Red Arrow drop boxes are located at all the Rock County banks and at Jubilee Foods and Glen's Food Center.

Last year's goal was also $35,000, but donations brought in a whopping $59,000. The Red Arrow Board then agreed to give an additional $3,000 each to Habitat for Humanity, Hospice, DAC, Rock County Family Coordinating Council, RSVP and the Southwest Crisis Center.

By Lori Ehde
Luverne School Board members set the district's preliminary levy during their Thursday, Sept. 26, meeting.

The good news for local taxpayers is that it will decrease by nearly 24 percent for taxes payable in 2003.

Last year, the district levied roughly $2,042,480 for taxes paid this year. On Thursday, the board set the preliminary at the maximum allowed by the state, which comes to $1,554,317.

While the lighter burden for local property taxpayers is good news, the bad news is that the current state funding source for education is seen by most districts as unstable.

The Legislature and Gov. Ventura approved switching general education funding from a combination of state aid and local levy to state aid.

That state aid is generated primarily from sales and income tax.

In a strong economic climate, this works well, but if the economy sours, and those funding sources decrease, state education funding risks cuts.

With limited local levy options, this makes district financial officials feel vulnerable, according to Luverne District Finance Officer Marlene Mann.

"We're dependent on the state. If they have a deficit they may reduce the amount we recieve," she said. "If the state cuts funding after we're into our budget year ... it creates a lot of uncertainty."

The state funding shift is one reason for the decreased Luverne District levy, but another, Mann said, is that two years ago the district approved a two-year health and safety levy for improvements such as the heating-cooling system in the middle school and high school building.

Last year, district taxpayers covered $827,000 of that levy. This year, their bill comes to $276,000. ThatÕs a difference of more than $550,000 on this yearÕs tax statements compared with last year's.

Districts are required to set preliminary levies in September, but the actual district levy will be certified in December. It can be decreased before then, but it cannot increase.

Student discipline
In a closed portion of Thursday's meeting, board members considered the expulsion of two ninth-grade students.

The students were suspended in late September after a minor incident involving matches and paper towels, according to district attorney Don Klosterbuer.

After considerable discussion, the board agreed the students could return to regular classes on the condition they each perform 65 hours of community service work.

That work will be performed in the form of assisting district janitorial staff.

Luverne crowned its homecoming king and queen Monday night. They are pictured inset, Stacy Burmeister and Jamison Tooley. Parents are Glen and Julie Burmeister and Vince Tooley and Sue Bruynes.

The Homecoming Royalty is pictured above: (sitting in front, from left) Pages, Megan Petersen and Riley Verbrugge, (first row) Stacy Lorenzen, Caroline Moodie, Hannah Breyfogle, Krista Wynia, Serena Franken, Abby Klosterbuer, Suzanne Gluf, Heidi Sandbulte, (middle row) Matthew Wise, Michael Sandbulte, Aaron Schmidt, Stacy Burmeister, Jamison Tooley, Jesse Kuhlman, Cody Jagow, Dan Amborn, (back row) Kelsey Dooyema, Reka Boyenga, Kyle Bitterman, Ryan Jacobsma, Canaan Petersen, Mary Carlson, Tom Bouwman, Nic Uilk, Travis Halfman, Juan Pascual, Lexi Jauert and Katie Dooyema.

Photos by Jim Juhl of Myhre Studio & Sue Bruynes.

Adrian High School's marching band marches down Main Street Luverne Saturday during the Tri-State Band Festival. At right Luverne's Alisha Moeller, Becky Antoine and Emily Brandel were honored as outstanding drum majors Saturday.

By Lori Ehde
The day was overcast Saturday and rain fell intermittently on the Tri-State Band Festival, but the Luverne High School marching band outshined its competition in both the parade and field competition.

"It was great," said Dale Nelson, LHS band director. "It was fun. The kids did a nice job. I'm real pleased for them. They worked hard."

"Luverne's Tri-State Band Festival performance has been steadily improving in recent years, but this year is a best so far", Nelson said.

"It's the first time we've placed first in both parade and field," he said. "It's the second time we've placed first in field."

He attributes some of his band's success to judges' comments at the recent Waseca competition.

"They say things like 'This is working well for you,' and 'Maybe you can work on this.' That's a big aid to us," Nelson said.

Luverne High School also earned auxiliary awards for outstanding flag corps and outstanding drum major.

Crestwood High School, Cresco, Iowa, went home with the Sweepstakes Trophy. It also earned trophies for the K.M. Getman Award and Outstanding Horn Line.

Pipestone Area High School was honored for outstanding drum line.

Despite dreary weather, the festival attracted its typical crowd of roughly 10,000 to Luverne for the activities.

Hills-Beaver Creek-Ellsworth's Zach Wysong opened the scoring in Friday's 27-0 win over Edgerton by returning this punt 77 yards for a touchdown. Wysong also hauled in a six-yard touchdown pass in the game, which served as H-BC's 2002 homecoming tilt.

By John Rittenhouse
Hills-Beaver Creek-Ellsworth football fans had two reasons to celebrate Friday.

Not only did the Patriots run their season record to 4-0 with a 27-0 victory over Edgerton, they did it in front of a large crowd on hand for Hills-Beaver Creek High SchoolÕs homecoming game.

The Patriots, who are ranked fourth in the latest state nine-man football poll, proved they deserve that consideration while playing a gutsy Flying Dutchmen team.

Quarterback Curt Schilling threw for 165 yards and two touchdowns to lead the offense, and the Patriot defense recorded its first shutout of the season while limiting Edgerton to 86 total yards.

Ten penalties by the Patriots were the downside of H-BC-E's performance, but a stout defensive effort more than made up for the miscues.

"It was a great defensive effort," said Patriot coach Dan Ellingson. "We played really good base defense. Edgerton was running a lot of counter and misdirection plays, but our guys did a good job of staying home and making plays. Edgerton's two best drives of the game ended up with us intercepting a pass and recovering a fumble, so we came up with some opportunistic turnovers. We also played some really good pass coverage, which allowed our defensive lineman to get some sacks."

With Edgerton unable to dent the H-BC-E defense, the Patriot offense didn't need to play its best game to produce a victory.

The offense produced a season-low 286 total yards, but it didn't turn the ball over while recording three touchdowns in the final three quarters.

"We didn't run the ball as well as we would have liked to, so we had to pass more. We had three pass plays that covered 36 or more yards, and that helped us stretch out their defense a little bit," Ellingson said.

A big play by one of H-BC-E's special teams opened the scoring in the game.

The Patriot defense forced Edgerton to punt after it gained one first down during the Flying Dutchmen's first offensive possession of the game. Then return specialist Zach Wysong returned the punt 77 yards for a touchdown. Wysong then added his first of three extra points to give H-BC-E a 7-0 cushion at the 9:19 mark of the first quarter.

The score remained 7-0 until late in the first half, when one of two interceptions by H-BC-E's Chris Reid set up a 38-yard touchdown pass from Schilling to Tyson Metzger with 1:10 remaining in the second quarter. Wysong's extra point capped the first-half scoring while making it a 14-0 game.

The Patriots all but ended the game with a touchdown and an extra point with 4:11 left in the third quarter.

After the H-BC-E defense stopped Edgerton on downs, the Patriot offense advanced the ball down the field before it faced a fourth-down situation at the Flying Dutchmen six-yard line. H-BC-E took advantage of the situation when Schilling hooked up with a diving Wysong for a six-yard touchdown pass and a 21-0 lead.

Reid, who was limited to a season-low 98 rushing yards by Edgerton, capped the scoring with a two-yard touchdown run at the 11:22 mark of the fourth quarter. The extra-point attempt was blocked.

Ellingson gave credit to Edgerton's defense for making the Patriots work hard for their points.

"I know Edgerton only has won one game, but they have a good team. They have a lot of size, and they are really aggressive on defense. I think they played pretty well," he said.

The undefeated Patriots will play 0-4 Lincoln HI in Ivanhoe Friday.

Team statistics
H-BC-E: 121 rushing yards, 165 passing yards, 286 total yards, 11 first downs, 10 penalties for 85 yards, zero turnovers.
Edgerton: 78 rushing yards, eight passing yards, 86 total yards, four first downs, six penalties for 53 yards, four turnovers.

Individual statistics
Rushing: Reid 23-98, Schilling 2-11, Dusty Seachris 4-10. Wysong 2-2, Jesse Leuthold 1-2, Metzger 1-minus 2.
Passing: Schilling 11-17 for 165 yards.
Receiving: Metzger 3-81, Brant Deutsch 3-47, Wysong 3-25, Kyle Sammons 2-12.
Defense: Schilling 16 tackles and one fumble recovery, Cody Scholten six tackles and one sack, Deutsch seven tackles, one sack and one knocked down pass, Leuthold five tackles and one fumble recovery, Reid two interceptions.

By John Rittenhouse
The Hills-Beaver Creek-Ellsworth-Edgerton boys' cross country team came up one point short of winning a team championship in Slayton Tuesday.

Competing at the Murray County Central Invitational, H-BC-E-E scored 52 points, finishing one point behind Jackson County Central (51) in the final standings.

Luverne (58 points), Mountain Lake-Butterfield-Odin (84), Martin County West (132), Adrian (134) and Worthington (141) round out the field.

Tyler Bush and Zach Hadler set the stage for victory by placing second and fourth individually with respective 17:18 and 17:33 efforts.

Greg Van Batavia, Todd Alberty and Kale Wiertzema placed 13th, 14th and 19th with respective 18:24, 18:42 and 18:52 times to contribute to H-BC-E-E's team tally.

H-BC-E-E also fielded a complete boysÕ junior varsity team that placed second to Luverne at the meet.

Derek Haak and Kerry Fink paced the Patriots by placing fifth and ninth in 15:59 and 16:13.

Devin DeBoer (15th in 16:58), John Sandbulte (17th in 17:01) and Michael Bos (27th in 17:32) padded the team score. Jared Drenth and Justin Hinks placed 30th and 42nd in 17:52 and 22:00 without influencing the scoring.

Mya Mann and Erika Fransen placed first and second in the girls' junior varsity race with respective 19:06 and 19:11 times.

Adam Fink and Grant Hoogendoorn finished third and 12th with 6:40 and 7:44 efforts in the boys' junior high race. Rayne Sandoval placed 15th in 7:44 in the girls' junior high run.

H-BC-E-E will run at the Cardinal Autumn Invitational in Adrian Oct. 3.

By John Rittenhouse
The Hills-Beaver Creek Patriots picked up their second Red Rock Conference win of the 2002 season by toppling Southwest Christian 3-1 in Edgerton Tuesday.

After splitting the first two games of the match, H-BC posted victories in Games 3 and 4 to up its season record to 5-6-3 overall.

According to Patriot coach Curt Doorneweerd, winning the match was a satisfying experience.

"The girls really played well," he said. "We beat a very good team. I was really happy with the way we played."

H-BC got off to a good start by recording a dramatic, come-from-behind victory in Game 1.

The E-Gals led 13-6 before the Patriots went on a 9-0 run to steal a 15-13 win.

SWC turned the table on H-BC in Game 2, rallying from a 12-9 deficit to outscore the Patriots 8-3 and win 17-15.

The Patriots cruised to a 15-5 win in the third game before winning another barn burner in the finale.

H-BC led most of the fourth game before SWC gained a late 14-13 edge. The Patriots then put together a 3-0 run that gave them a 16-14 win and a match victory.

Doorneweerd said H-BCÕs serving set the stage for victory.

"Our serving was the key. We had by far and away our best serving night of the year," he said.

Erin Boeve, who had 10 kills and 12 blocks, was 17 of 17 serving with three aces. Melissa Fagerness was 20 of 20 with two aces, while Jody Rentschler was 18 of 18 with four aces.

Sarah Rozeboom contributed five kills to the winning cause. Kelly Mulder and Amanda Olson recorded four and three blocks respectively. Cassi Tilstra had three kills and two blocks.

H-BC hosts Sioux Valley-Round Lake-Brewster and Lake Benton tonight and Monday respectively.

By Jolene Farley
The search continues for a permanent pastor at United Reformed Church in Hills.

"We are still searching and we haven't found one we would care to send a letter if they are willing to consider a call at this time," said church elder Wayne Van Wyhe, Lester, one of three elders on the church's search committee.

"We want to call somebody we feel would work for our congregation and someone we feel will be willing to move from his present church," he said.

Intern Doug Barnes led the congregation of 26 families over the summer. He and his family left Hills the last Sunday in August.

Barnes replaced the Rev. Keith Davis for the summer months after Davis accepted the pastor's position in a congregation in Lynwood, Ill.

Retired Rev. Jay Wessling is leading services while the search continues. When Wessling is unable to fill in, a guest pastor from another congregation is sought, according to VanWyhe.

"We've sent out different questionnaires; some of them they let you know right away they aren't willing to move," he said.

VanWyhe is confident Hills United Reformed will find someone to lead the congregation.

"God has a man chosen for us and we'll find him," he said. "Some way he'll help us know where he is."

Hills United Reformed Church was previously known as the Hills Christian Reformed Church.