By Sara QuamThe city of Luverne will find an architect in July, who will help council members decide what to do about a Fire Hall expansion.An architect will initially look at the current structure and tell whether an expansion as tentatively planned is feasible. A new location may also be explored, but cost estimates are also needed for all options.A new truck coming in just three weeks has to be temporarily stored in the city’s electric department building because the Fire Hall is too low for it to fit.The preliminary plans call for an addition to the west that would double the length of the building and bring it up to code.The addition of more bays will bring all the equipment inside one building and make everything easier to access for emergencies. The drive-through bays will mean fire department members won’t have to back out in every case.The addition of four bays leaves one open for the future growth of the department.Funding any building project is another part of the issue.Economic Development Director Jill Wolf is looking into grant opportunities for funding part of any Fire Hall project.One, in particular, is for public safety facilities in cities with less than 5,000 population.A general obligation bond would need voter approval. Otherwise, the LEDA could finance the project through a separate loan that wouldn’t require a special election. Then, the city itself would lease the building from the LEDA to pay off the financing.The city could also have a public hearing and pass a capital improvement plan and have a 30-day waiting period and state approval for a bond.Summer internCouncil members heard a report from student intern Thomas Pinkal, who worked at the Rock County Pool and Fitness Center through a school program. He said, "It was a great experience for me."Pinkal turned his internship into a part-time job that he’ll keep through the summer and coming school year. He also completed his lifeguard training.During his time as an intern, he developed a swimming lessons database, which included whether students passed or failed and the name of their instructor. He also familiarized himself with the insurance industry by working with Blue Cross and Blue Shield for the membership incentive program. He also developed a database for that new system. Pinkal honed his communication skills by working with customers, signing them up for memberships or lessons and answering phones and making tanning appointments.He also called people who responded to a facility questionnaire to get more information.In other business Tuesday, the council:oPassed an agreement with Sioux Valley to use the Pool and Fitness Center for rehab. Generally, Sioux Valley Regional Health Services, as Luverne Community Hospital, will have exclusive use of the pool for a few hours a day Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Sioux Valley will pay $1,150 monthly for January through May and August through December. The charge changes to $1,000 for June and July since the hospital gets fewer consecutive hours because of the busy swimming lessons schedule.oWaived fees to the Chamber of Commerce, sponsoring Hot Dog Night July 14. The Chamber requested that the city block Main Street from Freeman to McKenzie from 5:30 to 8 p.m. and that the city provide picnic tables and pick up trash and sweep the street after the event.oReceived a favorable audit of financial reports from a private accounting firm. The auditor noted that the city did a "great job" in following new accounting guidelines, and that in all the cities, Luverne is the only one to do its own total financial report. The Finance Officer for the city is Barb Berghorst.oReceived a department report from Water and Wastewater Supervisor Al Lais. He said the new water tower is working and providing service to everyone west of Highway 75 and North of the tennis courts. More will be added to that system later. The Minnesota Veterans Home and that neighborhood are also using the new tower and report increased water pressure.

By Lori EhdeBlue Mounds State Park campers and employees are anxiously awaiting news from the state Capitol.Today is the day Minnesota lawmakers were supposed to have wrapped up the legislative session. If they didn’t meet that deadline, various state agencies would shut down, including the state park system.As of Wednesday, the local Blue Mounds and Split Rock Creek state parks were booked full with July 4 weekend campers.If the state announces a shutdown, all those campers will have to make new plans for the holiday, according to Rick White, park manager."At this point, we’ve been told not to create scenarios, but we’re telling our campers if this occurs, we’ll be notified Thursday by e-mail that there will be no camping and their fees will be refunded," White said."That’s a fairly good-size loss in revenue, not to mention a lot of unhappy campers."White said the park typically sees about $6,000 per week in revenues during the months of July through August, and a shutdown now would represent a revenue loss of nearly 95 percent.He said the Luverne and Pipestone communities will also feel the revenue loss. "It’s a huge loss to the community if these people get turned away," White said. "We figure they spend about $150 per day on food, gas, entertainment, souvenirs and groceries."There are 125 camping units reserved between the Blue Mounds and Split Rock Creek parks for Thursday through Monday of the July 5 weekend. That doesn’t count the three rustic group camps.If state offices are shut down, the 22 employees at Blue Mounds and Split Rock Creek parks will go home. They’ll be able to use those days as vacation days, if any are accrued, or they’ll be on unpaid leave.At Blue Mounds, the hiking trails and beach area will be open for use, but the gates to the campgrounds will be locked, as will bathrooms and offices.

By Sara QuamCounty Commissioners have more information to help them decide what to do with the Law Enforcement Center — whether to rebuild or remodel.Building a new facility by the Rock County Highway Department on Blue Mound Avenue would cost about $2,122,252.Remodeling and adding on to the existing Law Enforcement Center would cost about $2,465,669.Both plans have allowances for new furniture and fixtures, contingencies and inflation costs because the work won’t be done in 2005.Bryan Paulsen, architect, presented the two plans to the Rock County Board Tuesday.One of the biggest issues for commissioners is finding a new occupant for the existing LEC if they do rebuild.County Administrator Kyle Oldre said, "There’s going to be a lot of discussion for the board and a lot to work through."Commissioners may decide in as soon as a month and are meeting more to look over plans and to get public input. If they make that decision, work could start in the spring of 2006.The County Board passed a capital improvement plan recently, giving it the authority to bond for more than $1 million to spend on any LEC project.Other than the two options of rebuilding or remodeling, commissioners may also decide to do nothing.RebuildingThe county owns land between the current Highway Department and Human Services buildings that could provide the site for a new LEC. The preliminary plans give a new LEC 9,280 square feet.The space would include interview rooms, a secure entrance and exit, more office space and additional storage. It also has space for a community meeting room and holding cells for prisoners.It has more windows and a single floor plan, so work space would be brighter and more efficient there.Paulsen said the construction can be done mostly in wood. Some parts, for security, will be other materials, but wood saves money in most cases.The surface of a new building would be stucco and brick. The roof would be pitched, so all mechanical systems would be inside.The design allows for easy future expansion, if that is ever needed.Paulsen said the positives about building new versus remodeling are: obuilding new is the less expensive optionothere is room for expansion in the futureothe horizontal design is more efficientoBlue Mound Avenue provides good access othere is a community meeting roomogreater square footageRemodelingPaulsen said the positives about remodeling versus new are:othe existing facility is next to the courthouseousing it saves a historic buildingorelocating servers and dispatch equipment won’t be necessaryothere may not be another appropriate use for the building if it is not the LECThe surface would be a pre-cast, textured concrete made to match the Sioux quartzite of the old LEC. The rooflines would be separate and the original structure will be preserved as much as possible.The plans for remodeling and expanding the existing LEC give it almost 11,000 square feet, but much of that is not usable space.Paulsen said, "Your net to gross square footage is really whacked and you’re still compromising your goals because things are not on the same level."He said those efficiency issues are always problems when renovating instead of building new.An addition to the LEC gives it a secure garage entrance and holding cells, two major needs in the department now.A consideration in remodeling the existing facility is how operations will continue during the work.

By Lori EhdeIn high school Carole Achterhof always found a way to write humorously, no matter what the writing assignment."The teacher kept me after school one day," Achterhof recalled. "She said, ‘I don’t know what to do with you, Carole. Life is not funny. Do you expect to make money by being funny?’ … I wish she were alive today," Achterhof said.Today, Achterhof is not only making a living being funny – both writing and speaking – but she spent 30 years as an English teacher besides.In 1996, Achterhof retired from teaching English and Spanish at Adrian High School, and last week she announced she’s retiring from her column writing as well."After 22 years, 1,144 columns and countless wonderful memories, the time has come to say good-bye," she wrote in an e-mail to the publications that carry her humor column.Writing career started at the Star HeraldAchterhof got her start in column writing in 1983 as editor of the Rock County Star Herald.She titled her personal column, "Letters from the Farm," because she and Roger were living on a farm near Luverne at the time.While she enjoyed covering local news, the column allowed her to write humorously – mostly about personal experiences, such as plucking chickens on the farm and gaining weight during pregnancies."There was such a great response," Achterhof said.She was at the paper for only a year before she returned to teaching, but in that time she remembers major accomplishments and major blunders. She implemented as policy that women should always be referred to in the paper by their first and last names. "It was always Mrs. Bill Jones," Achterhof said. "Here these women were doing great things, and they didn’t even have an identity."A major blunder she remembers is a typo in a recipe that required wrapping a mixture in plastic and refrigerating. The version that made its way to print said, "Crap in plastic and refrigerate."A year isn’t long at any job, but in that time her column drew a following, and Achterhof kept writing. She started with a handful of newspapers and now has 50 publications in three states on her mailing list. "I think it’s best to say good-bye when you’re at your peak," she said. "Too many people hang on, and then your work becomes dull, and it becomes a chore."She said she never had mental blocks for column topics but said she could see a day when that might come, and she didn’t want that day to come."I always had a pile of ideas to draw on," she said. "Now, I’ll have to use them on my family when I corner them at the table … or on the golf course. You don’t just retire from humor."Her columns have been fodder for five books Achterhof has published, including her first one, "Never Trust a Size 3," and her most recent one, "How to Pose With a Fish."Humor is mechanism for dealing with stressFor Achterhof, humor has been more than a means for making a living. It’s been a survival mechanism for dealing with hardships in the Achterhof family.In 1980, their fourth and youngest daughter, Katie, died of cancer – neuroblastoma, a rare childhood cancer that strikes eight in a million.She was 7 years old and a first-grader at Luverne Elementary.In 1978, their second daughter, Linda, who was 12 at the time, went blind from a cyst in the center of her brain. After eight surgeries, her sight was restored, but she still has surgeries to control infections.In 1986, the Achterhofs lost all their farmland. When land values plummeted, the banks called up the loans they had taken out to pay for the surgeries."Roger had a job (at FGL Commodities) and I had a job, but we lost all the tangible stuff," Achterhof said.In 1987, their third daughter, Marta, suffered a traumatic brain injury in a single car accident. She was 16 at the time of the accident, and she was 18 when she woke up from her coma two years later.She’s now 34 and lives with her parents. "She continues to improve," Achterhof said. "She walks by herself on parallel bars … she’s very bright."Achterhof said their oldest daughter, Kristin, is a litigation attorney in Chicago. "But she didn’t escape the family trauma," she said. "She’s still the brunt of all the lawyer jokes and all the blond jokes."Reaping what you sowAfter years of dealing with her children’s pain, Achterhof last year was faced with her own medical emergency. Doctors removed a golf-ball-sized tumor from Achterhof’s brain. It was benign, but it required major surgery."My family treated my surgery like it was a big laugh," Achterhof said, "because that’s what I’ve taught them."In reality, the procedure was no laughing matter. Recovery required staples across her head from ear to ear. But she can’t resist joking about it anyway."They pulled my whole scalp down over my nose," Achterhof said. "And when they pulled my scalp back up, they inadvertently removed the crow’s feet around my eyes. It was probably a $50,000 eye lift."The tumor was removed from her left frontal lobe, the part of the brain that determines personality."I didn’t know what would happen to me in surgery," she laughed. "I was afraid I’d wake up a Republican – but you can’t print that. I know how people are in Rock County."She said she recovered nicely, but then she had to, because her daughter, Linda, had two brain surgeries before and one after Achterhof’s."Linda has brain surgeries like the rest of us have common colds – she bounces right back. So the pressure was on for me to get better," Achterhof said.Humor never retiresGiving up her columns won’t mean Achterhof will give up humor. She’ll still be busy with her speaking engagements and stand-up comedy.She’s been addressing audiences more than 30 times a year in 19 states and 135 different cities over the past six years.Her audiences vary from head injury support groups to nurses’ organizations to children. This weekend, she’ll be the guest speaker at a town celebration in Stickney, S.D.Her speaking engagements and even her comedy routines carry different messages, but they have a common theme: Humor is a survival mechanism."Humor is a mechanism for dealing with both professional and personal stress," Achterhof said."You have to live humor, and breathe it and eat it. It really helps you get through the rough spots in life … You can’t hope to find positive solutions with a dismal attitude."She said addressing live audiences gives her more freedom than she has with the written word."When you write humor, you have to take readers to the edge, while staying within the limitations of good taste," Achterhof said. "But it’s an unseen audience, so you can’t read their faces, you can’t see them clutching their chests or hear them gasping or see them rolling their eyes. With a live audience, you can go further."The Achterhofs lived near Luverne for 30 years and now live in Spirit Lake. Their home is in Jackson County and overlooks Little Spirit Lake.

By Lexi MooreMembers of the class of 1945 gathered for a reunion lunch Saturday at the Beaver Creek Golf Course.The lunch celebrated the passing of 60 years since the class of 13 graduated from the Hills Consolidated School. Graduates in attendance included Geneva De Young Van Hill, Margaret Van Maanen Bakker, Cornelius Bosch, Lou Hellie Loge, Margaret Bakk Thornton, Glenn Rye and Kenneth Berghorst. Eilert Pederson, Gwendolyn Sanderson Harsh and Kenneth Paulson was unable to attend but sent his regards.Members from the graduating classes of 1934, 1939, 1942, 1944, 1946 and 1947 also came to share stories and photos from their days in Hills. Students from this era at the Hills Consoldiated School have taken turns hosting reunions every summer for the past five years."It is important for us to get together and see one another as often as possible," said reunion organizer Margaret Bakk Thornton.This was the first reunion for the class since their fellow classmate Berdell (Bud) Bush died in December of 2004 in Hills.His daughter, Colleen Martins, stopped by the reunion lunch to deliver a cookie bouquet on behalf of all of the Bush children."This is from the Bushes, in Mom and Dad’s memory. Dad loved his class reunions," Martins said to Thornton at the luncheon.The lunch ended with old friends chanting several Hills cheers and singing the Hills Consoldiated School fight song led by Irene Knien (Viste) and Dorothy Greenlee.

By John RittenhouseA pair of Steen drivers placed in the same feature race Friday at Rapid Speedway in Rock Rapids, Iowa.Gary Delfs Jr. and Cody Scholten raced in factory stock division at the Iowa track.Delfs Jr. placed fifth in the first heat race and fifth in A feature.Scholten finished seventh in the first heat and seventh in the A feature, which was won by Ellsworth’s Travis Jenniges.Darrin Korthals, a Hills-Beaver Creek High School graduate, posted a feature win Sunday at Huset’s Speedway near Brandon, S.D. Competing in the late model street stock class, Korthals won the A feature after placing fourth in the first heat race.Korthals also placed fifth in the first heat and sixth in the A feature at Rapid Speedway.The Luverne-Hills-Beaver Creek High School squad leads the team competition at Thunder Valley Speedway in Marion, S.D., after two weeks of an eight-week racing season.L-H-BC leads a 12-team field with 4,160 points, 920 points more than Lake Preston, the second-place team with 3,240 points.

By John RittenhouseZach Wysong and the Luverne American Legion baseball team played five games in a four-day span.The Cardinals went 3-1 and placed second at the Jackson Tournament Saturday and Sunday.Luverne posted a 6-2 home win over Heron Lake Tuesday.Wysong, a Hills-Beaver Creek High School graduate, had a good outing against Heron Lake.After slapping home one run with a single in the first inning and doubling home another counter in the second, Wysong capped a three-hit, three-RBI effort with a three-run homer in the sixth frame.Wysong went 3-11 at the plate during the Jackson Tournament over the weekend, driving in four runs and scoring twice.During a 3-0 win over Welcome in Saturday’s opener, Wysong went 1-2. His hit was an RBI double in the fifth inning.Luverne nipped Minnesota Lake 4-3 in the second game. Wysong went 1-3 at the plate, scoring one run and driving in another. He doubled home a run and scored in the third inning.Wysong went 1-3 during a 12-2 victory over Fairmont in Sunday’s first game. He doubled and scored in the first inning.Luverne lost a 6-5 battle with Sacred Heart in the championship game.Wysong was 0-3 at the dish and was tagged with the pitching loss after yielding three runs in a three-inning stint as a relief pitcher. He yielded one walk and two hits and fanned two batters.The 8-2 Cards play five games in the Brookings (S.D.) Tournament Friday through Sunday. Luverne plays in Pipestone Tuesday.

Work up an appetite for July 14thThe Luverne Chamber of Commerce has set July 14 for its date for the 43rd annual Hot Dog Night.Each year, participating Luverne businesses grill over 10,000 hot dogs and provide more than 300 gallons of drink.The annual event, which has received national attention in past years, was started in 1961 as a customer appreciation night from local merchants to the community.This year, in addition to the dogs and drink, entertainment will also be provided as it has been in recent years.This year’s entertainment will include the Spotlight Dancers, Tae Kwon Do demonstrations and mini-train rides.Also, the 2nd annual wiener dog races will take center stage at this year’s event.Anyone with a Dachshund dog is eligible to enter the contest at no charge.A 1st place trophy will be awarded to the fastest dog. The races will start at 7:00 p.m. in front of the Brandenburg Gallery.If you would like more information concerning the contest, contact the Chamber at 283-4061.More Chamber newsThe Chamber would also like you to know that the theme for this year’s Winterfest will be "A Fairytale Christmas."With that in mind, you can now start planning your float.Sioux Valley sets date for open houseThe Sioux Valley Medical Center has set the date for their public open house.The name "Sioux Valley Medical Center" is the new name for the entire medical campus, which includes both the hospital and clinic.The hospital’s new name is "Sioux Valley Luverne Hospital" and the clinic’s new name is "Sioux Valley Clinic – Luverne."The open house will be from 1 to 8 p.m. Sunday, July 17. The day’s activities will include a flag-raising ceremony by the VFW, tours of the new facility and free refreshments and gifts.The hospital portion of the $18 million facility is a 25-bed unit with birthing suites, a large outpatient rehabilitation area, in-house CAT technology and a lot more comfort and privacy, according to hospital spokesperson Nikki Terveer.The clinic portion of the building will have 36 exam rooms, four procedure rooms and ten physician offices.Troopers crack down on seat beltsI told you a while ago there was going to be a statewide crackdown on people not using their seat belts.I happen to have been driving to the Black Hills that weekend, and I can report that the seat belt enforcement went beyond our state borders.But the numbers for our part of Minnesota are now in.According to Brian West, spokesperson for the Marshall office of the Minnesota Highway Patrol, 265 motorists were issued citations during the enforcement period.Troopers also stopped 455 drivers for other violations, resulting in over 500 warnings during the campaign.More than 450 agencies were involved in the buckle up campaign.Last year 462 people died in vehicle traffic crashes, with more that half not wearing their seat belts.Publisher Roger Tollefson can be reached by e-mail at tolly@star-herald.com

For a person who’s rarely short of opinions, I can’t determine if I’m for or against a recent decision adopted by the Minnesota State High School League.The MSHSL Board of Directors passed a motion to lengthen high school basketball games starting next winter.Instead of playing 32-minute games divided into four eight-minute quarters, teams in the state will compete in 36-minute games that will consist of two 18-minute halves.The games will be four minutes longer, with the only break coming at halftime, with the exception of timeouts allotted to the teams. My initial reaction was, "Here we go again." The MSHSL doesn’t have a perfect track record when it comes to tinkering with the game of basketball (the ill-fated no-foul-out rule in the early 1980s, and the Sweet 16 state tournament format in the 1990s come to mind).So, naturally I was skeptical when I heard the winds of change were blowing through the MSHSL’s Board of Directors’ room once again.However, after talking with two area coaches (one who likes the change and another who is undecided), I can’t decide which side of the fence I fall on with this issue.It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out the new format will favor the bigger schools with a larger talent pool to draw from. The more depth a team has, the more successful it will be in longer games.Yet, after talking to Adrian’s Randy Strand, the head coach of a girls’ basketball program that competes in the state’s smallest class, I was surprised to find out he has embraced the change."I like it," Strand went on record to say."We’re using it (18-minutes halves) in our summer league right now. It will be an opportunity to get more kids some playing time."Strand would have liked the MSHSL to give coaches an extra timeout or two as a part of the new deal (teams still will be awarded three full timeouts and two 30-second timeouts each game), but that didn’t happen.Now that the squads will be asked to play longer games with fewer breaks, improving the physical endurance of each player and building team depth with be top priorities for coaching staffs throughout the state."You won’t get quarter breaks any more, and there will be no more timeouts available to you, so you’ll have to cover yourself in that respect. The kids will just have to be in better shape. As a coach, you better start building some depth," Strand said.After guiding the Luverne Cardinals to a third-place finish in the Class AA state tournament last March, LHS boys’ coach Tom Rops has mixed feelings about the timing format."I’m not opposed to it, but 18-minute halves are plenty long," he said."It will give more kids playing time, and it will change coaching strategy a little bit. But I thought the system we had was working pretty good."Rops thinks playing 18-minute halves may have worked against his Cardinals last season.When LHS played Benson in the section championship game, the Cardinals found themselves on the short end of some physical match-ups in the paint. Luverne was able to overcome a six-point deficit in the final six minutes of play by hitting some crucial shots and draining clutch free throws, but the Cards didn’t have to protect the lead they gained late in the game two minutes longer like they would have under the new system."It possibly could have (influenced our team last season), Rops said. "Benson had a lot of horses down low, and we would’ve had to play against them for four more minutes. It might have made a difference."Like Strand, Rops feels the teams with more depth will be the ones to benefit from playing 38-minute games next winter. The way he sees it, Luverne should be one of those teams.Rops, however, doesn’t have a short memory.It wasn’t so long ago when LHS wasn’t able to reach the .500 mark during the basketball season, and some of those trying campaigns would have been even more challenging if the games were four minutes longer."I think it will hurt the chances of upsets happening. The teams that have the athletes will be fine. The teams that don’t have the athletes will have to play well for a longer period of time to get their upset. In the David and Goliath match-ups, it’s going to be harder for David to win," he said.After discussing the issue of expanded play with Rops and Strand, I still can’t decide if the new system will be good or bad for the game.On one hand, I like the idea of having more athletes playing a role of a team’s fortune on the court. On the other hand, I don’t think playing longer games will be fair for the smaller schools. Many area teams find it hard to put together a seven- or eight-player rotation for 32-minute games. Adding more minutes to a game will work against those teams.As for you casual basketball fans, let me plant two seeds in your minds before deciding which side of the fence you fall on concerning this issue.You will get the chance to watch your favorite team compete four minutes longer every time you attend a game. During the course of that game, you’re only going to get two chances (instead of four) to witness the players attempt those last-second shots that seem to capture everyone’s attention on winter nights.