We don’t have a lost and found department here at the Star Herald office, but from time to time someone might stop in the office and drop off a set of keys or maybe a glove that someone apparently accidently lost outside on the sidewalk.
Up until last week the items turned in as lost have been of the smaller size. Well, not anymore.
Monday morning when I pulled up to the back door at the office, I noticed a wheelbarrow pushed up against the back wall of the building. The black Truper wheelbarrow isn’t new, but the tire has air and the handles are in good shape, so it’s certainly in working condition.
The question is how and why did it end up behind our building?
On more occasions than I can remember, I have lost a few items over the years. After the frustration of misplacing said items, I kind of like the challenge of finding them.
The first search for the lost item is generally a waste of time because you’re in a hurry and still a little PO’d because you can’t find it right away.
If the second search ends up unsuccessful, it’s time to take a timeout.
For me, the third search is done a little bit more under control. Search No. 3 is a stationary search, done completely in my head with my eyes closed. Back-tracking my steps and movement, with my eyes closed seems to provide me with a clearer picture of the search. Search No. 3 usually works if the lost item is in the last place I put it.
If search No. 3 is about as successful as the Vikings trying to win the Super Bowl, then it’s on to search No. 4.
Search No. 4 is when you look in all the places where the lost item may have fallen out of sight – between the seat cushions, under the desk, in your pants pockets … if you’re looking for your glasses, check the top of your head.
Sooner or later hopefully you’ll find the lost item, and that sense of relief is such a great feeling.
So, if you misplaced a wheelbarrow and you’re back-tracking your steps, you won’t find it where I found it. I moved it indoors.

Harrison on this year's legislative session: 'Is this what you voted for?'
To the Editor:
If you haven’t heard about what has happened in our Minnesota Legislature this year, it is important that you know.
We are now a sanctuary for abortions that can occur up to the moment of birth, a “privilege” allowed only in six other nations (China and North Korea included). If a baby is born alive after the procedure, life-saving care can be refused. The positive alternatives act that provided assistance and support to pregnant women and new mothers was repealed.
We are also a sanctuary state for sex change surgeries, as well as puberty blockers for minors without the knowledge or consent of their parents. And we expect God to bless America?
Most know that recreational marijuana has been legalized. The $19 billion surplus was spent as well as $10 billion more, and new taxes were placed on us to cover the huge spending spree.
Senator Weber and State Representative Joe Schomacker, as well as many other conservative members, tried to block or at least make amendments to this madness, but the left was in control.
Is this what you voted for? The pace that our country is headed in the wrong direction takes my breath away and makes me so very sad. Please pray for our nation.
Shirley Harrison,
Luverne

Dispatch report
June 30
•Complainant east-bound on Interstate 90, mile marker 10, Luverne, reported a driving complaint.
•Complainant on Highway 75 and Interstate 90 requested assistance from another department.
•Complainant west-bound on County Road 4 reported a pedestrian.
•Complainant south-bound on Highway 23, mile marker 22, Jasper, reported a driving complaint.
•Complainant on Evergreen Drive reported a fire.
•Complainant eastbound on Interstate 90, mile marker 10, Luverne, reported a driving complaint.
•Complainant on E. Warren Street reported lost property.
•Complainant on Railroad Avenue near Jasper reported disturbing the peace.
•Complainant on County Road 4, Beaver Creek, reported trespassing.
•Complainant on N. Kniss Avenue reported an open door.
July 1
•Complainant on Edgehill Street reported suspicious activity.
•Complainant westbound on Interstate 90, mile marker 19, Magnolia, reported a fire.
•Complainant on N. Linden Street reported a theft.
•Complainant on 74th Avenue and 101st Street, Beaver Creek, reported a theft.
•Complainant on Barck and Blue Mound Avenue reported suspicious activity.
•Complainant on N. Spring Street reported a fire.
•Complainant westbound on Interstate 90, mile marker 17, Luverne reported a driving complaint.
•Complainant on S. Cedar Street reported theft.
•Complainant on Highway 23 and 121st Street, Garretson, South Dakota, reported suspicious activity.
•Complainant westbound on Interstate 90, mile marker 49, reported a driving complaint.
•Complainant on Highway 75 and Fletcher reported debris.
•Complainant on U.S. Highway 75 and County Road 8, Luverne, reported fleeing.
•Complainant on Kniss Avenue and James Street reported a driving complaint.
July 2
•Complainant on U.S. Highway 75 and 131st Street, Luverne, reported a pedestrian.
•Complainant on 80th Avenue, Luverne, reported a civil issue.
•Complainant west-bound on Interstate 90, mile marker 12, Luverne, reported a fire.
•Complainant on E. Main Street requested assistance from another department.
•Complainant on N. McKenzie Street reported disturbing the peace.
•Complainant on N. McKenzie Street reported disturbing the peace.
•Complainant on W. Hatting Street reported theft.
July 3
•Complainant on N. Kniss Avenue reported a disorderly.
•Complainant on W. Edgehill Street reported suspicious activity.
•Complainant on E. Church Avenue, Steen, reported disturbing the peace.
•Complainant on Britz Drive reported disturbing the peace.
•Complainant on Fairview Drive reported disturbing the peace.
•Complainant on Linden Street reported disturbing the peace.
•Complainant reported curfew violation.
•Complainant westbound on Interstate 90, mile marker 3, Beaver Creek, requested assistance from another department.
•A weather alert was reported.
July 4
•Complainant on W. Main Street reported theft.
•Complainant on Edgehill Street requested extra patrol.
July 5
•Complainant reported an outage.
•Complainant on E. Barck Avenue reported theft.
•A weather alert was reported.
•Complainant on Crawford Street and Freeman Avenue reported a parking issue.
•Complainant southbound on Highway 23 and County Road 5, Beaver Creek, reported an assault.
•Complainant northbound on Highway 23, mile marker 11, reported a driving complaint.
•Complainant westbound on Interstate 90, mile marker 20, Magnolia, reported a driving complaint.
•Complainant on W. Warren Street reported suspicious activity.
•Complainant on Harrison and Kniss reported suspicious activity.
July 6
•Complainant westbound on Interstate 90, mile marker 15, Luverne reported a driving complaint.
 
In addition, officers responded to 2 motor vehicle accidents, 3 deer accidents, 1 transport, 8 ambulance runs, 1 paper service, 3 animal complaints, 3 burn permits, 1 alarm, 4 purchase and carry permits, 4 stalled vehicles, 51 traffic stops, 5 abandoned 911 calls, 1 test, 3 welfare checks, 1 report of cattle out, 1 curfew check and 3 follow-ups.

Luverne, Ellsworth and Rock Rapids fire departments were dispatched to a fire in eastern Rock County Sunday afternoon.
According to Ellsworth Fire Chief Terry DeBeer, a storage shed and its contents were a total loss, and the fire spread to a nearby garage-machine shed, which were partially damaged by smoke and fire.
He said the property owner, Scott Kooiker, was able to remove snowmobiles, lawn mowers and other items from the machine shed.
Also destroyed in the fire were 25 to 30 nearby round bales, according to DeBeer. “It was a very, very long day,” he said.
Assisting at the scene were the Rock County Ambulance and the Lyon County Ambulance and first responders. No one was injured.
The cause of the fire is unknown.

The weekly U.S. Drought Monitor released the week of July 4 showed slight improvement in drought conditions across some of the primary corn and soybean production areas of the Midwest.
The percentage of corn and soybeans considered in drought conditions both improved by 3 percent from a week earlier, due to significant rainfall in the first few days of July.
Rain fell in a line from southeast Nebraska across southern Iowa and northern Missouri into central and southern Illinois.
On the other hand, drought conditions intensified from a week earlier in portions of southern Minnesota, northern Iowa, southeast South Dakota and Wisconsin.
Even with the significant rainfall in portions of the Corn Belt in early July, it is estimated that 67 percent of the corn acres and 60 percent of the soybean acres remain in some level of drought conditions.
The next few weeks will probably determine the yield and economic impacts from the drought conditions in 2023.  
Rainfall in late June and early July has been very widespread across the drier areas in the southern third of Minnesota and northern half of Iowa, as well as in portions of Nebraska, Wisconsin, and southeast South Dakota.
Except for isolated significant rainfall totals, many locations have received relatively small precipitation totals. The University of Minnesota Research Center at Waseca reported only .16 inches of rainfall during the first 10 days of July.
This followed only 1.56 inches of total precipitation in June, which was 3.82 inches below normal.
Crop conditions at Waseca have maintained quite well due to the 1.25 inches of rainfall received during the last week of June, together with the strong subsoil moisture levels that were aided by the 6.47 inches of rainfall that fell in May.
By comparison, the U of M Southwest Research Center at Lamberton received 2.88 inches of rainfall in June; however, that location and has received only .10 inches of rainfall in early July.
Much of the corn in the Upper Midwest is now entering critical stage of tasseling development and beneficial rainfall in the next two weeks is extremely important in these areas.
Corn generally needs 1 to 1.5 inches of available moisture per week during this critical stage of development.
This can become extremely critical if drought conditions or extremely hot weather exists in areas with depleted subsoil moisture levels.
Soybeans tend to have a much wider window to withstand drought stress than corn. Drought stress in soybeans becomes much more critical as the plants approach the pod setting and seed filling stage in late July and early August.
Based on the July 3 USDA Weekly Crop Progress Report, 51 percent of the U.S. corn crop and 50 percent of the U.S. soybean crop was rated “good-to-excellent,” which was nearly the same as a week earlier.
These are the lowest nationwide “good-to-excellent” crop ratings in early July for both corn and soybeans since the drought year of 2012.
In Minnesota, 62 percent of the corn crop and 64 percent of the soybean crop in Minnesota was rated “good-to-excellent.”
Iowa’s “good-to-excellent” corn and soybean ratings on July 3 were 62 percent for corn and 53 percent for soybeans.
In Nebraska, the 2023 “good-to-excellent” ratings on July 3 were 49 percent for corn and 43 percent for soybeans, while South Dakota was at 49 percent for corn and 48 percent for soybeans.
In the June World Supply and Demand Report (WASDE), USDA estimated the 2023 U.S. national average corn yield at 181.5 bushels per acre and the 2023 nationwide soybean yield at 52 bushels per acre.
Many private crop production and marketing analysts are now estimating the 2023 national average crop yields at 174-177 bushels per acre for corn and 49-51 bushels per acre for soybeans.
Trends in corn and soybean market prices in the coming months will likely reflect what adjustments, if any, that USDA makes in the projected final 2023 corn and soybean yields.

The 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.
The following appeared in The Rock County Herald on Nov. 4, 1943.
         One of Luverne’s oldest residents, Thor Berg, who will be 90 years of age next January 3, is the only Diamond Club member thus far who at one time fished for a living. Although Norway and fishing are synonymous, as fishing at one time was one of its greatest, if not its greatest industry, no previous Diamond Club  member, and there have been a number who were born and reared in Norway, has ever claimed to be a professional fisherman.
Mr. Berg, only brother of Nels Berg, last week’s member of the Diamond Club, was born near Drammen, Norway, the oldest son of Mr. and Mrs. Ingebreckt Berg. As soon as he completed his common school education, he became interested in fishing, and he was about 14 when he first put to sea.
Bulk of the fish caught were cod or herring. Cod, Mr. Berg explained, was used mainly in preparation of “lutefisk,” a favorite food of virtually every Norwegian.
“We’d get about five or six cents each for the cod,” Mr. Berg said, “and about $1 per barrel for the herring. That’s not very much now when you consider the price of fish when you have to buy it, but in those days, it provided a living for many.”
Many times, he and a companion went out 25 or 30 miles to set their nets. Sometimes, when they had extremely good luck, their haul would be four or five tons. Rowing a boat that heavily loaded through choppy and sometimes extremely rough waters provided the men with plenty of work and plenty of scares. However, he never had any serious accidents during the time he was a fisherman.
He served in the Norwegian army one summer, he reports, and he enjoyed it very much. Forty-two days were spent in war games in a wooded part of the country, and this life in the open was enjoyed greatly by the Luverne man.
An uncle, Ole Berg, who had come to the United States, induced Mr. Berg to come to Rock county. He came directly to Luverne from Trondheim, Norway, in 1876, and at that time, Luverne was a small frontier town trying to get a start in life. Philo Hawes’ log cabin was still standing on the bank of the river near where the city power plant now stands, and much of the residential district was then in wheat, or was still virgin prairie.
“When I got off the train and came up town,” Mr. Berg recalls, “I saw a man playing croquet at the place where Backer’s hardware store is now located.”
Mr. Berg was employed on a farm in Mound township, and has walked behind many a plow drawn by ox-team. He has stood on a Marsh harvester and bound grain by hand, and remembers the days when wheat was the county’s chief crop, and the farmers didn’t believe that corn would ever become a paying crop north of the Iowa line.
Roads were wherever a person’s team chose to go, Mr. Berg stated. Wagon tracks led everywhere, and a stranger could easily pick the wrong one and become lost.
He well remembers the famous wind storm that moved the Blue Mound Lutheran church from its former location, west of the Rock Island railroad tracks, to its present site. “The wind just picked it up, carried it 35 or 40 rods, and set it down again,” Mr. Berg said. “Although it was not completely wrecked, it had to be torn down and completely repaired.
(Continued next week.)

Card showers
MaReese Cragoe will celebrate her 90th birthday on Wednesday, July 19. Greetings may be sent to Poplar Creek; 201 Oak Drive, Unit 407; Luverne, MN 56156.
 
Neil and Sharon Dohlmann will celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary on Thursday, July 20. Greetings may be sent to them at 410 E. Luverne Street, Magnolia, MN 56158.
 
Open House
Tom and Bev Martius will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary and Tom’s 70th birthday with an open house from 1-4 p.m. Saturday, July 15, in the fellowship room at the Living Rock Church in Luverne.

LSS meals at Generations
 
Monday, July 17: Italian chicken, vegetable, fruit, bread, dessert.
Tuesday, July 18: Pasta with meat sauce, Romaine salad with dressing, pears, Texas toast, cookie.
Wednesday, July 19: Orange chicken, rice, mixed veggies, pineapple.
Thursday, July 20: Pork loin, yams, broccoli, bread, dessert.
Half-Price Day sponsored by Minnwest Bank.
Friday, July 21: Chicken mandarin salad, pea salad, fruit salad, cake.
LSS Dining offers well-balanced and affordable meals in a community atmosphere.
Call Pam Franken at 283-9846, extension 11 to reserve one day prior, to arrange to pick up a dinner or for home-delivered meals.
Gift certificates are available at the meal site or online at www.lssmn.org/nutrition.

10 years ago (2013)
•The Luverne Alternative School is no longer located at 110 North Oakley Street in Luverne. It is instead located in the main floor south wing of Luverne High School. …
Alternative school instructors Paul Johnson and Nancy Swanson moved their classrooms to the high school building in June.
School Board member Peggy Adams told board members at the June 27 board meeting she’d received a phone call from a parent of an alternative school student expressing concern about the relocation.
Adams said, “She said her family had chosen the alternative school specifically because it was not in the high school.” Fisher said many students who use the alternative school are actually full-time LHS students who are doing “credit recovery,” meaning they take one or two classes in the alternative school to earn credit for classes they have failed. …
We didn’t have as many kids sign up as we thought we would this summer. We’ll have to see what our student numbers look like in the fall.”
 
25 years ago (1998)
•Luverne’s Dan Cook secured an impressive racing victory in Brandon, S.D., Sunday night.
Competing at Huset’s Speedway, the most competitive track in the immediate area, Cook produced a rare feature victory to highlight last weekend’s results for area racers.
Cook took the checkered flag in the feature event in the 360 sprint car class.
 
50 years ago (1973)
•Elbers, Inc., of Hills, is opening a new appliance warehouse-store in Luverne this week.
Wilmer Elbers, owner, recently purchased the building at the west end of Main street, just north of the Sunrise Hotel, from the LBF Company, and has remodeled it for showroom and warehouse use.
 
75 years ago (1948)
•A bolt of lightning during Sunday night’s thunderstorm caused a blaze which resulted in about $6,000 worth of damage on a farm 5½ miles northeast of Magnolia. The farm, tenanted by Henry Johnson, is owned by P.L. Popkes of George, Iowa.
Destroyed were a 32x40 hip roof barn, 20x24 hog house, 30 tons of hay, one cow valued at $250, two pigs valued at $50 a piece and $200 worth of tools which were in the barn. …
Johnson had no telephone and his neighbor who did have a phone was not home so two passersby drove to Adrian to call the fire department. The Adrian firemen worked until 2:30 protecting the other buildings.
Johnson, however, was rather fortunate in one respect. Five head of cattle and six hogs had been hauled out to market at 6 p.m. that day, and had this not been the case, they would have been in the barn at the time of the fire.
Much harder to take though, was the fact that Mr. Johnson and his brother-in-law had worked in the hot weather all week filling the barn with hay only to have it all burn up.
 
100 years ago (1923)
•Magnolia community will hold an old-fashioned field day at Magnolia next Tuesday, July 17. A program has been arranged for the day which is expected to fill every minute with entertainment and pleasure.
At 10:30 a.m. a ball game will be played between Magnolia and Kenneth, a purse of $50 going to the winner. The picnic dinners will partake in the grove near the town hall, and the Adrian Concert band will be on hand at 12:45 to render a fine concert, preliminary to the address by E.H. Canfield, Esq.
At 1:30 various street sports, such as foot races, sack races, and other contests, will be held, for which prizes will be given. Another ball game, with Magnolia and Luverne as the opposite teams, will be staged at 3 o’clock, and 4:30 Shetland pony free-for-all and horse races, and the farmers’ eighty-rod running race will be held. Besides the kittenball game and band concert, which will be features of the evening’s entertainment, Ben Davis agrees to throw four men in forty minutes. The Davis boys will also put on one of their snappy boxing contests, and little Miss Davis will make her initial appearance as a public entertainer. In the evening a dance will be held at the hall.