column
By Mavis Fodness, reporterOctober 04, 2022Debuting this week is the inaugural “Seen Through Horses,” a national awareness and fundraising campaign sponsored through Horses for Mental Health coalition. Fifty charity partners throughout the U.S. are the recipients of funds raised this week. Rock Ranch near Hills is one of them. Rock Ranch operates an equine-assisted counseling program along with its beginner horsemanship classes. It’s not…
By Brenda Winter, columnistSeptember 27, 2022Rock County voters have a difficult decision to make on Election Day, Nov. 8, 2022. Two really nice guys are running to represent Minnesota District 21A. The Republican incumbent Joe Schomacker and the Democratic-Farmer Labor challenger Pat Baustian are both really nice guys. Both live in Luverne. Both are graduates of Luverne High School. Joe has held the office of state representative since…
By Scott Rall, outdoors columnistSeptember 27, 2022In a recent edition of the Star Herald, I shared what the dog owner needs to be prepared to start a formal obedience training program. If you missed that column, try to look back and read that one first. If you can’t find it, reach out to me and I will send it to you. It sets the proper foundation for the work you will begin today to start training your own dog. The most basic of training tools…
By Jason BerghorstSeptember 20, 2022My day job is teaching world history and psychology classes to high school students. Each year in the second or third week of the school year, I teach about cultural diffusion in world history. Simply put, cultural diffusion is when one group shares its ideas, technologies and/or ways of life with another group. We study how this process happened in the earliest civilizations and how it is still…
By Scott Rall, outdoors columnistSeptember 20, 2022I promised a while back to share with you my four-part series on dog training obedience and some more advanced training that you can accomplish on your own if you choose to do so. I will start this conversation with a variety of quotes I have coined over my 25 years of training experience: •If you don’t mind a dog that barks a little bit, you’ll have a dog that barks a little bit. •The dog will…
By Mavis Fodness, reporterSeptember 13, 2022Sunday marked six weeks since Millie and I competed in a horse show. Rain postponed one show, and the other was canceled for lack of entries. The cancelations broke a pattern of preparation I followed every two to three weeks all summer. The pattern created my relaxed frame of mind by balancing practice with working a full-time job. A six-week layoff is a long time to practice, and negative…- By Scott Rall, outdoors columnistSeptember 13, 2022Writing about dogs is my favorite subject. If you have been a reader of my column for any length of time, you can already tell this by the number of times they occupy this space. Dogs, especially hunting dogs, are a 12-month-a-year effort. Whether it’s training a new dog or keeping the older dog sharp as a tack, both take consistency, time and commitment. With dove season opening a few days back…
By Brenda Winter, columnistSeptember 06, 2022Last week I saw a young woman with a flat, tan tummy wearing a cropped top. As I observed her exposed tummy, I reflected on why my tummy is not exposed. A long time ago my stomach, too, was flat and tan, but in 1988 the last weeks of pregnancy sent stretch marks like lightning bolts across that fruited plain. It was ’99 or maybe 2000 when I had my first abdominal surgery. The scar runs eight…
By Rick Peterson, general managerSeptember 06, 2022Under the heading of full disclosure, I would be in the group of folks that would be guilty as charged. What’s the charge, you ask? The charge is doing more than my share of complaining about all the inconveniences the road construction is causing. It seems at every turn one of those orange “construction ahead” signs staring you in the face. A week or so ago on a Friday evening, Mary and I were…
By Lori Sorenson, editorAugust 30, 2022We bought a smart TV on a “too-good-to-pass-up” Prime Day deal earlier this summer and finally set it up two weeks ago. It’s an Amazon Fire TV, and as such, is powered by none other than Alexa herself. In fact, instruction No. 1 was to open the Amazon app on my phone and follow instructions from there. Among them was to download the Alexa app and set her up to power the TV by voice command. “…
By Mavis Fodness, reporterAugust 23, 2022Riding a donkey was not on my “bucket list.” But my recent experience of doing just that was a topic of conversation days after the Celebrity Donkey Races during Rock County Fair last month. I hope fair organizers bring the event back for 2023, for I have some unfinished business with a donkey named Amos. You see, the little gray-and-white donkey developed a special bond with me. Prior to the…
By Rick Peterson, general managerAugust 23, 2022Mary and I have grandkids who live in three different states — Minnesota, South Dakota and Iowa. As you are probably well aware, it’s back-to-school shopping season. The parents of our grandkids are in various stages of their back-to-school shopping, depending on when their school starts. It’s fair to say all are nearing the panic stage of the back-to- school shopping season. Simply put, I am…
By Betty Mann, president, Rock County HistorianAugust 23, 2022The following article is part of the Diamond Club Member group that began in the January 7, 1943, issue of the Rock County Star Herald. Members of this group consist of persons of age 75 and older. This article is continued from last week about David E. Payne, one of Luverne’s pioneer presidents. The article appeared in the April 15, 1943, edition of The Rock County Star Herald. While in North…
By Brenda Winter, columnistAugust 16, 2022Our dear Charlotte has gone to the big chicken coop in the sky. It was the madness of the Covid lockdowns in the spring of 2020 that brought her to us. I purchased chicks for my nieces and nephews, hoping the presence of new pets would help the children deal with the pain and isolation caused by remote schooling. What it actually did was distract them for about 10 minutes – leaving me with pet…
By Betty Mann, Rock County HistorianAugust 16, 2022The following article is part of the Diamond Club Member group that began in the January 7, 1943, issue of the Rock County Star Herald. Members of this group consist of persons of age 75 and older. This article appeared in the April 15, 1943, edition of The Rock County Star Herald. Helping to move the buildings of an entire village using only oxen as motivating power, earning his own living at…
By Scott Rall, outdoors columnistAugust 16, 2022It took me until I was about 35 years old to realize that each time you purchase a firearm it should be “in addition to the one I already have,” instead of trading in the one I already had. It was more a case of having enough funds so I could afford the new gun without the price offset of trading in the one I currently owned. I visit all the time with parents who are considering a gun purchase…
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