The following essay by Amanda Saum, Luverne, was published in the September issue of The High School Writer, a national publication. Her essay was labeled an "Award Winner," which according to teacher Elizabeth Petersen, has happened just once before to a Luverne student. Saum is now an 8th-grader but wrote the essay last year.

Lake Miltona
By Amanda Saum
I love to go to my grandma and grandpa's lake cabin on Lake Miltona. Lake Miltona is about a half an hour away from Alexandria. In August we always have our family reunion there. It is my favorite place to be. It's a long drive, but it's definitely worth it!

The lake cabin is, to me, the most relaxing place. My cousins and I walk around barefoot almost all the time. When you first step into the lake, you can feel the warm water splashing at your heels. The soft, muddy sand on the bottom oozes between your toes. As you wade out farther, you start to feel waving green seaweed twist around your legs. The light breeze lifts up your hair. You jump up onto the scorching inner tube. With a little push, you glide gently through the water. Once you are out quite far there is no more rocky sand or seaweed. You dive down, and the warm water surrounds you. The sun shines brightly with an orange glare as you sit back in the inner tube and drift about. Swimming is one of my favorite things to do at the cabin.

The beach is also a great place to be. The soft, sugary sand slides in between your toes. Tiny white shells litter areas of the beach. An ashy bonfire pit contains only the burnt remains of last night's roasted marshmallows. There is an old wooden swing to sit on. You push back and forth, the wind blowing lightly at your face. It's a great place to sit back, drink a pop, and read a book. You now get up from the swing and walk toward the dock. You step on the wet slabs of stone. Now you feel the hot metal under your feet. The dusty fishing boat sits to the right. Almost every grandchild has had a photo taken in a bright orange life jacket at the far end of the classic fishing spot. Sitting down on the dock on a hot day to dangle your feet in the water is wonderful.

One of the most fun things to do at the lake cabin is to go for a paddleboat ride. My cousins and I strap on our life jackets, pile up into the paddleboat with cans of pop in hand, and push off. Away we go, gliding across the lake, The wind is blowing, you drift your hand through the water, and rest your tired legs. You lean back for a suntan, the waves rolling, as the boat rocks you to sleep.

Another favorite spot at the cabin is the hammock. Across the lush green grass between two trees hangs the white hammock. My cousins and I like to take turns lying in it. We rest easily there and are shaded from the hot sun. It is the perfect place to lay back and have an afternoon nap.

Our day is over. We head back to the cabin. The soft, mossy ground squishes under our bare feet. An unfinished croquet game is scattered across the huge lawn. You climb up on the old deck. You can feel the rough wooden boards under your feet. Into the cabin you go, up the steep stairs, and onto one of the 10 comfy beds. You pull the light blanket over yourself and pull the shade over the dark window. As the shade comes down, you see mosquitoes buzzing and the faded yellow lights of fireflies. As you close your eyes you hear the faint calls of loons. A car rolls down the gravel road. Tomorrow we will feed the geese old bread, go swimming, lie in the hammock, rock in the swing, go for a paddleboat ride, walk on the beach, have water balloon fights, and roast marshmallows. Just another day at the lake.

By Jolene Farley

Taxpayers in the Adrian School District will vote once again Tuesday, Dec. 19, on a bond referendum concerning construction of a gymnasium and parking changes at the high school.

After heavy debate, the Adrian School Board members voted 6-1 at their regular meeting to allow voters to decide if a new gym is needed by the Adrian School District.

The Adrian voters passed a $4.9-million bond referendum last December for improvements to the district's elementary school facilities, but they voted no on a $2-million bond referendum for the high school gym and parking changes.

The $4.9-million bond issue passed easily with a vote of 637 to 374. The second question on the ballot concerning construction of the new gym was narrowly defeated by a vote of 502 to 466.

After December's vote, area citizens immediately began the effort to bring the gym referendum to the ballot once again.

A petition was circulated around Adrian and was presented to the Adrian School Board with more than 400 signatures. The board agreed to hire the DLR Group, Minneapolis, the same architectural firm that designed the elementary school addition, to consult with the citizens' group to work on gym design.

The citizens' group and architects new plan includes more seating area, extra storage, a wrestling room and a fitness room that could possibly be used as a community fitness center.

"This is a no-frills plan. If we just put up a gym it would not solve many of our problems," said Coach Randy Strand, "and costs just keep going up."

The price tag on the new design is $2.8 million.

"The biggest negative is the dollar figure," said Darwin Veld, chairman of the Adrian School Board.

The school board planned to keep the referendum at the $2.2 million figure. The higher figure is due to increased construction costs and design changes. Construction costs have increased 10 percent over last year, according to Amcon CM, construction manager for Adrian's elementary project.

"We as a group went above the $2.2-million figure," said Strand, also a member of the community group studying the gym bond issue.

"The general feeling of the group was that the members of the community that were opposed would be opposed whether the bond issue was $2.2 million or $2.8 million," he said. "Construction costs keep going up, but the need does not go away."

The Rock County Sheriff’s Department is warning of a possible phone scam affecting the area. At least two individuals have contacted the Sheriff’s Department with questions.
A caller, saying he is from Sunrise, Fla., working with Credit Benefits Service, asks for Social Security number, bank account number and date of birth. He also asks for an automatic withdrawal account to set up a credit line.
The Sheriff’s Department checked, and there is no business called Credit Benefits Service in Sunrise. Never give personal information over the phone to unknown people.

By Ronnal M. McClure, Sheriff of Rock County
With the extremely dry conditions that continue throughout southwest Minnesota, it is necessary that area residents be very careful with any outdoor burning.
Minnesota Open Burning Permit holders are reminded that they must abide by the requirements that are printed on the backside of the permits.
It is strongly suggested that all unnecessary burning be delayed until conditions improve and that any other burning be conducted very carefully and if possible, during the evening hours.
The sheriffs of southwest Minnesota would prefer not to have to issue a ban on open burning at this time. Please be careful with any essential outdoor burning. If in doubt, wait until conditions improve.

By Lori Ehde
Property taxpayers in the Luverne School District may see a 6.36-percent decrease in the school levy next year, according to preliminary figures approved at the Thursday, Sept. 28, board meeting.
The preliminary levy was set at $2,811,370.39 for taxes payable in 2001. That’s almost $191,000 less than last year’s levy, before state tax credits are applied.
According to District Financial Officer Marlene Mann, the decrease was possible this year thanks to a shift in state funding. She said the district will receive more state aid this year, so it will lean less heavily on local taxpayers for support.
The preliminary levy is the amount that will appear on property tax statements this fall. After the annual Truth in Taxation meeting Nov. 30, the board will set the final levy amount in December.
By statute, the final levy may be set lower than the preliminary levy, but it cannot be set higher.

Final enrollment numbers for 2000-01
Board members reviewed the latest district enrollment figures during their Thursday meeting.
A total of 1,384 students are attending Luverne Public Schools this year. That’s 36 fewer than last year.
(See accompanying chart.)
This year, 112 students are attending Luverne as open-enrollees from other districts. That compares with 98 last year.
One hundred ten Luverne students attend school outside of the Luverne district, including 25 open enrollees, 33 home schooled, 45 in Christian schools and seven tuitioned to another district.
That compares with 108 attending class elsewhere last year.

In personnel matters Thursday, the board…
oApproved a contract for Diana Erickson as business teacher at an annual salary of $30,786. That amount includes duties as adviser for Business Professionals of America and adviser for the annual staff.
She started Oct. 2 and replaces Brenda Knutson who took another job after last school year.
oApproved a contract for Wade Hiller as technology coordinator at an annual salary of $30,490. He started Sept. 11 and replaces Bill Rolfs who left the district this spring.
oApproved additional contract time and $6,908 for Patti Nelson to teach fifth-grade music.
oApproved a part-time contract for Bruce Gluf to teach afternoon elementary physical education for $9,981.

In other business Thursday, the board…
oApproved a motion to allocate state class size reduction funding for fiscal year 2001 to the all day every day kindergarten program.
The funding amounts to $11 marginal cost per pupil unit. This comes to $17,634, which is awarded on a year-to-year basis.
oApproved a resolution supporting action by the Minnesota School Boards Association to change legislation governing school board elections.
MSBA is lobbying the Legislature to change the school district elections back to the old system of voting in the spring.

School Board considers extending school athletic practice
curfew to alleviate scheduling woes at ice rink
By Lori Ehde
Luverne School Board members tabled action on a request for extended hockey practice hours at the Blue Mound Ice Arena.
With the addition of girls’ varsity hockey and increasing popularity of the sport in lower grades, scheduling ice time for both hockey and figure skating is getting tricky.
To share the rink fairly among all skaters using it, the school hockey program has requested the board approve practice hours beyond what district policy currently allows.
The proposal requests practice be allowed to start at 6 a.m. before school and continue as late as 9:45 p.m. after school on Mondays. On Thursdays, the request is for practice to start as early as 6:30 a.m. and go as late as 9:45 p.m.
Since the Blue Mound Ice Arena was built 10 years ago, the hockey program has grown to include more than 143 players from the 4-year-olds to high school players.
The Blue Mound Figure Skating Club now boasts 117 members from preschool to high school.
The shortage of rink time is troublesome, but it’s a good problem to have, according to Don Amos, one of the original hockey visionaries in Luverne.
"We envisioned this when we put this facility up," Amos said. "They couldn’t visualize that we’d have more than 100 kids in figure skating. They thought we were nuts. But we’ve been fortunate, and we’ve proven them wrong."
The requested high school practice extension is only 15 minutes earlier and 15 minutes later than the district handbook allows, but some board members had reservations about approving the request.
"I just worry about an avalanche of other sports wanting to do the same thing," board member Dan Kopp said during the Thursday, Sept. 28, School Board meeting.
"I really struggle with kids being up that early and staying out that late," board member Bob Kaczrowski said. "What will happen to their academics later in the day if they start that early?"
Board Chair Cary Radisewitz looked at it differently.
"Speaking as someone who did it in high school, getting to practice at 6 a.m. was tough, and by 2 you’d start to feel pretty tired," he said. "But my dad always said it taught work ethic and built character."
A point that also prompted discussion was that elementary-age club players currently end up practicing from 10 to 11 p.m. so the high school players can finish within high school curfew.
Mary Tilstra, an organizer for the Blue Mound Figure Skating Club, wasn’t at Thursday’s meeting but said she was frustrated no action had been taken.
She agreed with Radisewitz’s theory and supported the extended practices. "With our own kids, we always figured the busier we kept them the less chance they had to get in trouble, and it worked," Tilstra said Monday.
She said the four-hour figure skating sessions on Mondays have become the only night for figure skating that doesn’t conflict with hockey practice or games.
Board members tabled action on the request because they had questions about whether the request was for this year only, or if it would be necessary to keep the policy in place for future seasons.
Hockey and figure skating representatives had met with Luverne Activities Director Harvey Crable, but he was not present at Thursday’s meeting to answer questions.
Board members will take action on the practice request during their Oct. 12 meeting. They will also act on a request concerning family activities passes at hockey games.

Activity passes
During a meeting earlier this year, Luverne School Board members approved a $150 family pass good for all school activities, including hockey, which had formerly been a club sport.
Since hockey became a high school activity, it adopted current school gate receipt policies, but when family passes were approved, Superintendent Vince Schaefer said hockey organizers objected to the new policy.
"Hockey does rely on gate receipts for revenue, and with the district adjusting its rates, they’re concerned the revenue will be sharply depleted as a result of that," Schaefer said at Thursday’s meeting.
High School Principal Gary Fisher said all Luverne activity passes should be honored for all Luverne activities, hockey included.
"What they got out of the deal was an athletic director who does all the scheduling and shows up at the events," Fisher said.
He said the hockey program may sacrifice some gate receipts since becoming a varsity sport, but it gained benefits in other ways.
"I saw it as an exchange for the work," Fisher said.
The next School Board meeting is at 8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 12.

Consistent catches for three straight days led a local team to a 14th-place finish during the United States Fishing Association National Championship Walleye Tournament in Devil's Lake, N.D., Sept. 14-16.

Hills angler Gregg Ebert and his partner, Lakefield's Lon Hohenstein, landed more than 36 pounds of fish to place 14th in a field of 138 teams during the national event.

The anglers were rewarded for their efforts with a $500 prize and individual plaques.

Ebert and Hohenstein, who qualified for the event by placing in the top 10 during the South Dakota Walleye Series during the summer, found a bay that was unfished by tournament anglers during their successful appearance in the national event.

They found the bay during their four days of pre-tournament fishing, and that's where they caught all 36-plus pounds of their walleyes.

Ebert and Hohenstein weighed in more than 13 pounds of fish the first day, which was good for 25th place.

Fishing was tough the second day, but the local team caught six of their 11 pounds of fish late in the afternoon to move into 14th place at day's end.

A 12-pound catch on the final day solidified their 14th-place performance.

Cross country runners from Luverne, Hills-Beaver Creek-Ellsworth and Adrian-Edgerton received a preview of things to come during the Murray County Central Invitational in Slayton Tuesday.

With Slayton being the site of next month's Section 3A meet, the three programs from the Star Herald coverage area took advantage of an opportunity to test the course that will stage the most important meet of the season.

A-E fielded complete teams for both varsity races, and H-BC-E put together its first boys' varsity team of the year for the meet.

Luverne competed as incomplete teams in both varsity attractions.

A-E edged out H-BC-E 65-89 to take second place in the team standings behind MCC, which scored 50 points.

Zach Hadler led the way for the Harriers by placing third with a time of 18:03.

Jason Eickhoff (fifth in 18:19), Wade Ulmer (10th in 18:40), Jake Salter (24th in 19:27) and Derek Vastenhout (31st in 19:39) contributed to A-E's team tally.

Paul Honermann and Todd Alberty finished 34th and 48th in 19:42 and 20:45 without influencing the scoring.

Brad Haak ran a strong race for the Patriots by placing second in 18:02.

Tyler Bush (16th in 19:09), Matt Buck (19th in 19:15) and Nathan Fick (35th in 19:44) joined Haak in the varsity race.

Luverne was one runner short of fielding a complete varsity squad.

Jesse Kuhlman paced the Cardinals by placing 23rd in 19:23.

Tony Kopp (25th in 19:33), Nick Otten (41st in 20:16) and Jeff Luethje (53rd in 24:29) also ran for LHS.

The A-E girls placed fourth out of five teams in varsity competition.

Krissi Thier led the Harriers by placing 19th in 18:04.

Kelly Banck (21st in 18:12), Sarah Kruger (23rd in 18:39), Ashley Diller (25th in 18:47) and Lacey Heitkamp (27th in 18:59) padded A-E's team tally.

Ashley Henning placed 35th in 20:36 without influencing the scoring.

Luverne's Sadie Dietrich placed ninth in 17:12 during the varsity race.

Here is a look at the varsity team standings and the rest of the individual results for Luverne, H-BC-E and A-E from the MCC Invitational.

Boys' standings: MCC 50, A-E 65, H-BC-E 89.

Girls' standings: Jackson County Central 38, Southwest Star Concept-Sioux Valley-Round Lake-Brewster 45, MCC 53, A-E 95, Worthington 115.

Junior varsity boys

Luverne: Kevin Klay, 21st, 16:25.

A-E: Jesse Vande Kieft, 14:20, no place available; Jonathon Beukelman, 13th, no time available; Paul Poppen, 15th, 15:07; Kelly Seeman, 19th, 15:31.

Junior varsity girls

Luverne: Nicole Cronquist, ninth, 16:04; Suzanne Gluf, 14th, 17:04.

A-E: Jamie Koehne, 20th, 19:25.

Junior high boys

Luverne: Ruston Aaker, first, 6:20; Michael Nelson, 13th, 7:06; Travis Halfmann, 21st, 7:24.

A-E: Brandon Bullerman, seventh, 6:37; Joey Bullerman, 19th, 7:22; Marcus Uithoven, 38th, 9:25; Aldon Vaselaar, 42nd, 10:51.

H-BC-E: Kale Wiertzema, fifth, 6:28; Derek Haak, 16th, 7:13; Travis Broesder, 14th, 7:06; Justin Hinks, 39th, 9:27.

Junior high girls

Luverne: Victoria Arends, third, 6:57; Amanda Saum, sixth, 7:14; Breanna Studer, 13th, 7:43; Jessica Willers, 22nd, 8:26; Michelle Riddle, 27th, 9:40.

A-E: Samantha Ferguson, ninth, 7:25; Sidney Minor, 12th, 7:48; Abbey Henning, 15th, 7:53; Jenny Weiss, 23rd, 8:56.

Homecoming week festivities at Hills-Beaver Creek High School will feature a very important football game tomorrow night.

The Hills-Beaver Creek-Ellsworth Patriots will take on Westbrook-Walnut Grove, the state's No. 1-ranked nine-man football team, at 7 p.m.

The stakes will be high as H-BC-E and W-WG are the lone unbeaten teams remaining in the Southwest Ridge Conference.

H-BC-E downed Sioux Valley-Round Lake-Brewster 28-0 to improve to 4-0 overall and 3-0 in the league Friday in Brewster. W-WG upped its records to 4-0 and 3-0 with a 49-14 thrashing of Lincoln HI Friday.

Led by Darrin Tietz, the SRC's most valuable player from 1999 returning to W-WG's backfield, the defending league champions will present H-BC-E with its stiffest competition of the season.

"They are a really quick, very physical team," said Patriot coach Dan Ellingson. "This will be a big challenge for us. We won't be able to make any mistakes, and we can't let them make big plays."

H-BC-E will need to come up with another performance like the one they turned in against SV-RL-B in order to upend W-WG tomorrow.

The Patriot defense dominated SV-RL-B through three and one-half quarters of play to set the stage for victory. H-BC-E's offense took advantage of the opportunities that presented themselves while scoring touchdowns in every quarter of an eight-point victory.

"Field position was the key in this game," Ellingson said. "It seemed like we had good field position the whole game."

H-BC-E's offense set the tone for the game with its first possession after the opening kick.

The Patriots put together a 65-yard drive capped by David Top's 23-yard touchdown pass to Lance Crawford at the 9:37 mark of the first quarter. An H-BC-E penalty led to a missed extra-point attempt after the touchdown.

Crawford's touchdown was the first of many big plays he turned in during the contest. He made all four of H-BC-E's pass receptions for 56 yards and hauled in two conversion passes from Top. Crawford came up with a team-high nine tackles, two fumble recoveries and one interception on defense.

H-BC-E, however, was unable to celebrate Crawford's touchdown pass very long.

Raider Paul Paplow fielded the ensuing kick and returned the ball 84 yards for the game-tying score. A failed conversion pass kept the score knotted at six.

The field position factor came into play late in the second quarter, when the H-BC-E defense forced the Raiders to punt from their own 5-yard line.

H-BC-E returned the punt to the Raider 25 and proceeded to move the ball to the 12. Lyle DeBoer, who toted the ball 19 times for 116 yards in the contest, capped the short drive with a 12-yard burst with 37 seconds remaining in the first half. A Top-to-Crawford conversion pass made the difference 14-6.

Crawford gave the Patriots good field position again in the third quarter when he recovered a SV-RL-B fumble on the Raider 28.

Ten plays later, Chris Willers scored on a two-yard touchdown plunge at the 6:32 mark of the stanza. An incomplete conversion pass followed the touchdown, leaving the Patriots with a 20-6 cushion.

Another scoring opportunity presented itself to the Patriots when the Raiders were trying to punt late in the third quarter and the snap from the center sailed over the punter's head.

H-BC-E's Brant Deutsch recovered the fumble on the Raider seven, and Chris Reid scored from seven yards away on the first play of the fourth quarter. Top's conversion pass to Crawford made the difference 28-6.

SV-RL-B scored two touchdowns in the game's final 7:00, but the Patriots had the contest sealed at that point.

Paplow ran 74 yards for a score with 6:13 left to play to make it a 28-12 game. Jim Morrison scored from one yard out with 54 seconds remaining before the Raiders capped the scoring with a successful conversion run.

"I don't think the game was as close as the final score indicates," Ellingson said. "Until Paplow broke away for his long touchdown run, they had 40 yards in total offense for three and one-half quarters of play. We had a little let-up in the end, but we really held them down most of the game."

Team statistics

H-BC-E: 177 rushing yards, 56 passing yards, 233 total yards, 14 first downs, 11 penalties for 52 yards, one turnover.

SV-RL-B: 161 rushing yards, 43 totla yards, 204 total yards, eight first downs, eight penalties for 36 yards, four turnovers.

Individual statistics

Rushing: DeBoer 19-116, Reid 16-49, Willers 6-5, Top 7-2.

Passing: Top 4-17 for 56 yards, DeBoer 0-1 for zero yards.

Receiving: Crawford 4-56.

Defense: Crawford nine tackles, two fumble recoveries and one interception, DeBoer five tackles, Justin Van Maanen five tackles, Lee Walraven two tackles and two sacks, Deutsch one tackle and one fumble recovery.