By Jolene Farley
Steen resident Mark Hoogendoorn died Friday in a farming accident in a field four miles west of Garretson, S.D.

Hoogendoorn, 40, was working alone between a four-wheel drive tractor and an implement when he was trapped between the two machines and killed early Friday evening.

Hoogendoorn, who farmed several fields in the area, was found Saturday morning by a neighbor.

A call came in at 9 a.m. to the Minnehaha County Sheriff's office, and deputies and Garretson Fire and Rescue responded.

Hoogendoorn had apparently finished planting the field and as he prepared to move his equipment he was pinned and died, according to reports.

The Rev. Dan Ramaker officiated at a service at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday at Steen Reformed Church.

"We ask why ... not because we question God, but because we search for purpose and meaning," said Ramaker. "For when life has purpose and meaning, it is easier to accept and to cope with tragedies."

Surviving are two sons, Jarid and Grant, and a daughter, Courtney. Hoogendoorn was the son of Jacob and Kathy (Vis) Hoogendoorn, Hills. He was a 1980 graduate of Hills-Beaver Creek High School.

Ken Broesder, 57, Rock Rapids, Iowa, died Friday, May 3, at his home in Rock Rapids following a short battle with cancer.

Services were Monday, May 6, at First Reformed Church in Rock Rapids. The Rev. Dan Haggar officiated. Burial with full military honors followed at Riverview Cemetery, Rock Rapids.

Kenneth Donald Broesder was born to Joseph and Adeline (Smook) Broesder on Dec. 23, 1944, in Luverne. He grew up on a farm near Rock Raids and graduated from Central Lyon High School in 1961. After high school he attended Northwest Iowa Technical College in Sheldon, Iowa, for two years where he completed the auto mechanics course. Upon his graduation he returned to Rock Rapids where he worked for Samuelson Motors.

In 1968 he enlisted in the U.S. Air Force and became a helicopter maintenance crewman. He received training in communications and flew on many helicopter supply and evacuation flights into combat zones as the maintenance/communica-tions operator. After his honorable discharge he returned to work in Rock Rapids.

He married Jeanne Baker on May 31, 1975, in Alexandria. Following their marriage they lived in Alexandria until moving back to Rock Rapids in 1976, when he opened his own business, Ken's Automotive. He retired on Oct. 1, 2001.

Mr. Broesder was a long-time member of First Reformed Church in Rock Rapids and a member of the American Legion. He enjoyed making bird houses and squirrel feeders.

Survivors include his wife, Jeanne Broesder, Rock Rapids,; one son, Jared Broesder, Sioux Falls, S.D.; one sister, Nancy (Ray) Klinkenborg, Rock Rapids, and their children, Joshua Pilcher and his wife, Amy, and Abby Klinkenborg; and one brother, Gary (Patricia) Broesder, and their children, Luke and Laurence, Rock Rapids.

Mr. Broesder was preceded in death by his parents.

Roste Funeral Home, Rock Rapids, was in charge of arrangements.

Adrian third baseman Dusty Spieker leans down to tag out Luverne straying base runner Kyle Kreun during the fifth inning of MondayÕs baseball game in Adrian. Adrian scored five runs in the fifth to force extra innings before posting an 8-7 victory over the Cardinals.

By John Rittenhouse
A late-inning rally by the Adrian Dragons ended in an 8-7 baseball victory for the Dragons in Adrian Monday.

Luverne sported a 6-1 lead after five and one-half innings of play, but Adrian bounced back to tie the game at six by scoring five runs in the bottom of the sixth before winning the contest by outscoring the Cardinals 2-1 in the eighth inning.

Adrian's sixth-inning comeback featured a two-run double by Joe Kruger, a fielder's choice that plated a run by Colt Bullerman and a two-run effort on a ball put in play by Dusty Henning.

After a scoreless seventh inning, Luverne gained a 7-6 edge when Eric Edstrom was hit by a pitch before stealing second base. Luke Iveland then chased Edstrom home with a single.

With two outs in the bottom of the eighth, Henning doubled and tied the game when Derek Vastenhout slapped a single. Vastenhout scored the game-winning run when Levi Bullerman singled moments later.

The game's first four innings were a tight battle as the only run came during the home half of the second inning.

Dragon Pete Hohn walked and scored on a single by Joe Kruger to open the scoring.

Luverne moved in front 6-1 by scoring five times in the fifth inning before adding another counter in the sixth.

Edstrom and Ryan Goebel had RBI singles during the fifth-inning rally. Two more runs scored on a throwing error on a ball put in play by Kyle Kreun, and the final counter scored on a wild pitch.

Aaron Schmidt walked and scored Luverne's sixth-inning run on a wild pitch.

Dusty Spieker pitched one run of scoreless relief to pick up the win for Adrian.

Tannar Heronimus blanked the Cardinals while allowing two hits and recording five strikeouts though four innings. Colt Bullerman relieved Heronimus in the fifth and surrendered six runs in one and one-third innings. Kruger pitched one and two-thirds innings of one-run ball for the winners.

Henning and Levi Bullerman led the 7-7 Dragons by slapping three hits each. Vastenhout and Kruger had two safeties each.

Schmidt made his first varsity start for LHS and limited the Dragons to one run and five hits through five innings. Goebel was touched for five runs in one-third of one inning before giving way to Edstrom, who recorded two outs in the bottom of the sixth. Kreun pitched a scoreless seventh inning, but Iveland yielded two eighth-inning runs to take the loss.

Box score AB R H BI
Studer 5 0 0 0
Schmidt 3 1 1 0
Sandbulte 4 1 2 0
Edstrom 1 2 1 1
Goebel 3 1 2 1
Iveland 5 1 1 1
Kuhlman 4 1 1 0
Kreun 4 0 1 0
Crable 2 0 1 0
Pick 0 0 0 0

Local Tooth Fairy pays less than national average

There's a lot of talk about teeth in the Ehde household.

Our six-year-old is losing them and our 11-month-old is growing them. It seems there's almost daily discussion about teeth coming and going, often accompanied by thorough inventories of gums.

Carson has a hard time growing them. A single emerging tooth can cause sleepless nights for weeks at a time, and the teeniest change in health or mood is blamed on "cutting teeth."

Jonathan has much happier reasons to discuss teeth. Each one he loses represents a visit from the Tooth Fairy and more padding for his penny bank.

We're just glad kindergartners haven't learned to count U.S. currency, because I recently learned our Tooth Fairy pays considerably less than the national going rate.

According to a survey of 800 parents, Delta Dental found the average "gift" a young child's tooth receives rose to $1.60 in 2002 from $1.48 last year.

While that represents a rise of more than 8 percent, parents should know that increase is mild, compared with a 20-percent jump last year.

Delta released a very official statement on the findings.

"This was understandable, considering we were just coming out of the longest economic boom in modern times," said Delta research analyst Marty Weiland.

"Frankly, we were quite surprised that it rose at all in 2002, considering the recession we've been experiencing over the past year."

Delta's survey also showed that parents of today's children received approximately 38 cents on average for their own teeth.

I guess the Tooth Fairy at the Kroontje house in Kenneth also paid less than the going rate back then. I remember getting a quarter and being happy with it.

The Delta press release wrapped up with educational information on pediatric dental health.

"The Tooth Fairy is a rite of passage and provides an ideal opportunity for parents to instill good oral health habits for kids," said Dick Hastreiter a Delta dentist.

If that's the case, the Tooth Fairy should exchange teeth for tooth brushes and tooth paste.

My thoughts on all this?

First, who is this Marty Weiland and how much is Delta Dental paying a research analyst to study the Tooth Fairy? No wonder health insurance premiums are on the rise.

Second, Where does the Tooth Fairy live? We in the Midwest can always factor in a lower cost of living when negotiating salaries and, say, gifts from the Tooth Fairy.

Finally, I'm just glad kindergartners are still to young to read survey results. Our Tooth Fairy will continue to leave generous piles of change, which may or may not add up to the going rate of $1.60.

Send Lori an e-mail

Minnesota to enforce organ donors' wishes
A bill passed by the Minnesota Legislature and signed by Gov. Ventura will ensure that your organ donation wishes be carried out.

In many cases, when a Minnesota resident had signed up to be a donor, their grieving families could overrule their wishes.

The law became effective April 25, 2002.

Donors will still be able to change their donor designation at any time.

Effective Dec. 1, 2002, an additional provision requires that people applying for a driver's license or state identification card be given information about organ donation.

The information includes a description of donation, the importance of letting family members know of one's wishes, and a telephone number of a certified Minnesota organ procurement organization one may contact for more information.

The bill is called the Darlene Luther Anatomical Gift Act, named after the Brooklyn Park representative who died Jan 30 of cancer and had received a liver transplant.

May is High School Voter Registration Month
When students turn 18, many are not taking advantage of their voting rights.

Even though Minnesota has a higher rate for young people voting than most states, our youth still lag far behind the older generations.

In 2000 Minnesota young people voted at a rate of 50%, while the overall state rate was at 70% participation.

In non-presidential years the gap is even wider.

In an attempt to drastically increase the number of youth voters, Minnesota's Secretary of State recently wrote to all of the high schools in the state to offer voter registration materials, including the brochure, "Elections 101," which is geared specifically toward first-time voters.

To receive one of the brochures phone 877-600-VOTE.

Work on I-90 to begin
If you're heading east on I-90 in the near future, you're going to run into road construction.

The Minnesota Department of Transportation announced motorists should expect lane restrictions, reduced speeds and brief delays between Worthington and Rushmore beginning Monday, May 20.

The I-90 project includes milling and overlaying the eastbound lanes.

Traffic will be reduced to one lane each way in the westbound lanes until the project is completed in July.

W. Hodgman & Sons Inc. of Fairmont was awarded the project with a bid of $2,418,291.

Get your sparklers ready
The bill that many fireworks enthusiasts had been hoping for turned out to be a bomb, or should I say a dud.

Although the House version would have allowed considerably more, making our law similar to those in surrounding states, the only version capable of passing in the Senate allows only the personal use of novelty items such as sparklers and other nonexplosive fireworks.

Do we have any quirkiness around here?
A reporter for KARE 11, the NBC affiliate out of the Cities, would like to know.

According to Eric Perkins, the management of KARE 11 has given him the green light to begin developing a new show.

The show is a road trip format, in which Perkins will go to an outstate town and immerse himself in all that it has to offer.

The local hangouts, the characters, personalities, history, and flavor of the community were specifically mentioned in his e-mail. Off the beaten path, fun stuff.

Publisher Roger Tollefson can be contacted by e-mail at
tolly@star-herald.com

Services for Angela Lynch will be at 2 p.m. Thursday, May 9, at St. Catherine Catholic Church in Luverne. The Rev. Andrew Beerman will officiate. Visitation will be an hour before the church service. Burial is in St. Catherine Catholic Cemetery, Luverne.

Angela "Angie" Lynch, 90, Luverne, died Monday, May 6, 2002, at Tuff Memorial Home in Hills.

Angela Giedemann was born to Edward and Mary (Sakman) Giedemann on May 7, 1911, in Luverne. She graduated from Luverne High School and went to Normal Training for teaching. She took courses at Bemidji College and Augustana College in Sioux Falls.

She married Cletus W. Lynch on June 10, 1943, at St. Catherine Catholic Church in Luverne. She taught country school in Districts 49, 31, 9 and 14 (Steen). She also taught at St. Adrian Catholic School in Adrian. She was an instructional aide at St. Catherine in Luverne and also taught at Luverne Elementary School. After retiring she took up quilting as a substitute. She was asked to do an article on quilting for the Time Life Series Family Creative Workshop.

Mrs. Lynch was a member of St. Catherine Catholic Church in Luverne.

Survivors include two sons and daughters-in-law, Michael and Corrine Lynch, Kansas City, Kan., and Edward and Linda Lynch, Luverne; one daughter and son-in-law, Kathleen and Darrell Kapaun, Duvall, Wash.; and seven grandchildren.

Mrs. Lynch was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, two grandchildren, Gloria and Michael Lynch, and two sisters, Francis Hinkly and Catherine Ahrendt.

Dingmann Funeral Home, Luverne, is in charge of arrangements.

By Lori Ehde
A city employee has been verbally reprimanded and two others were suspended following investigations by the city of Luverne and the Office of Safety and Health Administration.

Senior lineman Mike Gangestad received two verbal reprimands, senior lineman Brian Remme was suspended two days' and Public Utilities Director Red Arndt received five days' suspension.

According to City Administrator Matt Hylen, the April 12 disciplinary action was not required by OSHA, but an internal city investigation revealed the employees had violated city policy related to OSHA's investigation of two incidents last year.

On Oct. 20, subcontracted employee of Mediacom Brad Herr fell to his death from a city electrical pole near the Armory after receiving a high voltage electrical shock.

On Dec. 3, another electrical accident at a city substation left Fulda Electric employee Phillip Kramer without his left hand and part of his forearm.

In March, OSHA cited the city of Luverne for two "willful" violations in that accident and levied a $56,000 fine.

In that case, OSHA said the city failed to turn off power to the area Kramer was working on and allowed Fulda Electric electricians to enter the west substation when they were "not qualified to work on or near equipment energized at distribution voltages."

Just this week, OSHA ruled on its investigation of the Oct. 20 fatality and fined the city of Luverne $2,000 for what it termed "serious violations."

In its citation OSHA said the city didn't properly test the power pole near the Armory or communicate potential hazards after a Sept. 28 incident in which a non-city worker had been "bit" while working on the pole.

A city employee reportedly tested the pole and failed to find and communicate the problem. One month later, Herr died when working on the same line.

According to Hylen, the city is exercising its right to appeal the two OSHA citations on the Dec. 3 accident and in hopes of a more lenient ruling.

"We're questioning the charge itself and the severity of the fine," Hylen said. "WeÕre saying itÕs not merited."

The city has 20 days to consider whether it will appeal the May 6 citation on the Oct. 20 incident.

Gangestad received two verbal reprimands, one for failing to find and communicate hazards on the Armory pole and another for lack of cooperation in the investigation of the Dec. 3 incident.

Remme was suspended for two days without pay for failing to follow safety procedures while providing Fulda Electric employees access to the city substation in the Dec. 3 incident.

Arndt was suspended for two days without pay and three days with pay (deducted from vacation time) for failing to establish and clearly communicate safety procedures for non-city workers near the city electrical system.

Responsibility for that area ultimately lies with him as a department head.

In a matter unrelated to the OSHA violations, Gangestad was fired April 22 following a complaint about him filed April 19.

Details about that complaint will be released pending the outcome of a union grievance he has since filed to appeal his termination.

Gangestad, a senior electric line worker, has been employed by the city since June 1997.

By Sara Strong
Law enforcement in Rock County will start a transition to community policing.

Joint Law partners, the city of Luverne and Rock County, have agreed to enter into a contract with Upper Midwest Policing Institute.

The contract agreement comes after a decision Tuesday in which the County Board voted 3-2 in favor of the concept.

Commissioners Ken Hoime and Ron Boyenga voted against the measure because of the cost and not being fully convinced of the program's merits.

Commissioners Bob Jarchow, Wendell Erickson and Jane Wildung voted in favor of the contract.

Total cost of the contract is $52,900. That includes assessing the department, designing a system for the officers, training the officers, consulting with them and evaluating progress. It also includes travel, lodging and per diems throughout the process.

The cost will be offset by 10 percent through a State Department of Justice grant. And, considering what’'s already budgeted for law enforcement training, Commissioner Bob Jarchow said the county could end up paying less than an additional $20,000.

Boyenga said, "I still think we should see what we can do on our own first."

Commissioner Jane Wildung said people who deal with law enforcement on a daily basis - the sheriff, county attorneys and judge - support the idea.

"The experts in the community who work with the agency support the concept," Wildung said. "And the five of us who don't work with them are questioning it?"

The Luverne City Council voted two weeks ago to start implementing the program with the cooperation of the county.

"I certainly think we are at a time when we owe a response," Wildung said.

The commissioners said they hoped the new philosophy would translate into real results.

The concept of community policing has been around since the late 1970s, and larger cities across the country have implemented its procedures since the '80s.

It is generally considered to be more proactive than reactive to crime. Communication and working with the public is encouraged.

Under community policing, officers will have accountability to following up with crime victims and crime prevention.

One example is that officers will touch base with people who have filed restraining orders even if they haven't reported violations. This will help people feel safer and more open to reporting other incidents to the department. Officers will let complainants know that they are working on cases as they progress.

Community involvement in the new policing can be as much as neighborhood watches or as little as more open communication.

The process of evaluating the department will start immediately with the remainder of the steps in the contract following.

Law enforcement
issues continued
The Rock County Sheriff's Department is bracing for more costs for prisoners housed in the Nobles County Jail, now called the Prairie Justice Center. The $55-per-day cost is increasing to $70 in July and could reach $85 if another increase is started next January.

The contract for service is necessary because Rock County's jail can't house prisoners because of general security problems and other code violations.

The department will also have a noticeable change in its new vehicles. New cars leased by the county will now come in white instead of the current brown.

Douglas (Doug) Breuer, 43, Ellsworth, died Sunday, May 5, 2002, at Sioux Valley Hospital in Sioux Falls, S.D.

Services were Wednesday, May 8, at United Methodist Church in Adrian. The Rev. Russ Tarver officiated. Burial was in Adrian Cemetery.

Douglas Breuer was born to Lawrence and Ruth (Arndt) Breuer on Dec. 8, 1958, in Adrian. He attended school in Adrian. He made his home in Worthington and later moved to Ellsworth. He had a lifelong heart condition.

Mr. Breuer was a member of United Methodist Church in Adrian. He enjoyed fishing, watching wrestling and visiting his friends.

Survivors include his mother, Ruth Breuer, Adrian; seven brothers and sisters, Kathleen (Kenneth) Elsing, LaVonne (Richard) Koeneke, all of Worthington, Gilbert (Debbie) Breuer, Aitkin, Donald Breuer, Jerry Breuer, both of Adrian, Arlene Hinsch, Rock Rapids, Iowa, and Becky (Billy) Prickett, Grand Rapids; several nieces and nephews and several great-nieces and nephews.

Mr. Breuer was preceded in death by his father in 1999, a brother, Robert, and a sister, Jeanine.

Dingmann Funeral Home, Adrian, was in charge of arrangements.