column
January 07, 2020Growing up, I often heard the phrase “Keeping up with the Joneses.” Now, I didn’t have any neighbors named Jones, but I knew the saying referred to buying something just because someone else already had the same item. By owning the item, you were at the same high social level, and those who didn’t have said item were somehow at a lower socio-economic scale. Decades later the “Keeping up with the…
By Betty Mann, president, Rock County Historical SocietyJanuary 07, 2020The following appeared in The Rock County Herald on January 13, 1905. Barely a quorum of the members of the Maplewood Cemetery association turned out Monday evening to attend the annual meeting held in J. H. Furlow’s office. While this fact indicates the implicit faith and entire satisfaction of the lot owners in the present board, the officers would much prefer to have seen a large turnout.…
By Esther FrakesJanuary 01, 2020So what’s in a name? Obviously a very specific spelling, for one thing. One of the challenges for the Star Herald staff is to spell names correctly — not an easy task. As early as possible at the beginning of each school year, we ask the area schools to email student class lists to us for reference when needing to verify spellings of names of students in our stories. The variety of spellings…
By Betty Mann, president, Rock County Historical SocietyDecember 22, 2019The following appeared in The Rock County Herald on December 18, 1931. Rock County’s Total Population is 10,962 Second Census Bulletin Gives Detailed Report of 1930 Enumeration; Luverne Has Population of 2, 644 Rock County’s total population is given as 10,962 in the second series population bulletin of Minnesota for 1930, in the 15th census of the United States. The report embodies a…
By Rick Peterson, general managerDecember 17, 2019With nearly 400 greeting cards already collected, we sent off a couple hundred greeting cards last week to American military personnel currently deployed around the world, including four from Rock County. I would like to thank Lexi Moore and the students from the Hills-Beaver Creek schools and Jason Berghorst and the students from the Luverne schools for accounting for nearly half of the cards so…
By Lori Sorenson, editorDecember 17, 2019Mom wasn’t a fan of Christmas. She didn’t raise her children to believe in Santa and our tree didn’t go up until well into December. Mostly Mom despised the commercialism of the holidays, openly cringing at the first Christmas ad on TV or first decorations to show up on store shelves. Of course, it didn’t help that the ag economy crashed when she and Dad had five children looking forward to gifts…
By Betty Mann, president, Rock County Historical SocietyDecember 17, 2019The following appeared in The Rock County Herald on December 4, 1931. Will Open Bids on New Paving December 22 Eleven Miles on No. 6 from Luverne to Iowa Line is Included in Projects Under Consideration 1932 Program Calls for 428 Miles of Concrete Paving Luverne to Adrian Link Will Make Continuous Pavement from Cities to Iowa and Dakota Boundaries Bids on 223 miles of truck highway…
By Jason Berghorst, reporterDecember 10, 2019“The hopes and fears of all the years are met in Thee tonight.” If you just sang those words in your head as you read them, this may be a column for you. If not, no worries, you can keep reading too. That line is the final stanza of the first verse of “O Little Town of Bethlehem.” Some people really enjoy Christmas music and others don’t. I am firmly among the fans of Christmas music. But…- By Rick Peterson, general managerDecember 03, 2019I don’t know why, but maybe because the Peterson family celebrated Thanksgiving almost a month ago, it seemed to me that December wasn’t ever going to get here. Then all of a sudden December is here and Christmas is just three weeks away. So now that Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday have come and gone, I assume you have all your Christmas shopping done. Oh, not the case?…
By Mavis Fodness, reporterDecember 03, 2019Our new puppy, Lucy, a lab-Brittany spaniel mix, often chases her own tail. The sight is comical, as she spins and snaps her teeth at her long brown tail. She spins in both directions, quite fast, until she catches her tail in her mouth and, after a brief pause, continues to spin in circles. I often feel I’m spinning in circles, not seeming to accomplish much of anything when it comes to dealing…
By Brenda Winter, columnistNovember 25, 2019The comedy duo of Marlene and Darlene (Green Earth Players starlette DJ Luethje and I) will take the stage at the Palace Theater at 2 and 7 p.m. Sun, Dec. 22, and we’d like you to come. Every penny raised from the freewill admission goes toward the Generations, formerly the Luverne Senior Citizens, building fund. We already have a $5,000 matching grant, so give generously and you will help turn $…
By Betty Mann, president, Rock County Historical SocietyNovember 25, 2019The following appeared in The Rock County Star on November 6, 1931. Capone Men Visit Luverne? Smooth Strangers Pass $10 Counterfeit Bill on Local Café; Almost Make It $20 Federal Investigators Raid Gangers’ Den In Chicago and Find Set-Up For making Spurious Currency — Being Distributed in Rural Communities The activities of Al Capone, master gangster and criminal, may have included Luverne…
By Rick Peterson, general managerNovember 19, 2019I am writing my annual Thanksgiving column the week before Thanksgiving, and it’s all about Christmas. Last year the CEO class came up with the idea of “Light the Park” for Christmas. It was a huge success with hundreds of cars passing through the Luverne City Park enjoying the lighted Christmas displays. The CEO class has moved on to other projects this year. So as not to let the “Light the Park…
By Lori Sorenson, editorNovember 19, 2019I was an honored guest for Luverne’s ninth-grade Career Day on Nov. 13 when invited local professionals shared insights into their jobs. In the days leading up to Career Day, I pondered the message I’d share with these young minds. What could I tell 14-year-olds about what I do that would matter to them? Their teacher, Jason Berghorst, encouraged me to talk about careers in journalism. I did. And…
By Sgt. Troy Christianson, Minnesota Highway PatrolNovember 12, 2019In the past five years, officers reported snowy or icy road conditions in more than 79,569 crashes (2014-2018). These crashes resulted in 214 traffic deaths and 20,761 injuries. During the winter, it’s important to drive at safe speeds according to road conditions, and give yourself plenty of travel time. State law requires the use of headlights when precipitation is present. Increase stopping…
By Rick Peterson, general managerNovember 05, 2019This coming Monday is Veterans Day, and as far as I am concerned, it’s in my top five most important days we honor each year. My top five are Christmas, Easter, Memorial Day, Veterans Day and Thanksgiving. You can rank them any way you want to, but for me Veterans Day and Memorial Day are only behind Christmas. I have told you this before. I am not a veteran, and the fact that I am not is one of…
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