WW II project moving alongWe recently received an e-mail from Megan Horvath, a project coordinator of the upcoming Ken Burns WW II documentary.According to Megan, the production team is in the middle of editing the seven- part PBS series. That process is expected to continue through the end of the year.She also commented that the story of Luverne during the war has come to be a significant element of the film and "… will be brought to life by spectacular archival material from Rock County. From the found reels of amazing home movies that were shot in Luverne and in Kodiak, AK, to the comforting works of Al McIntosh, (which will be read by award winning actor Tom Hanks), Luverne in some ways has been the most archivally rich of our four chosen towns."Megan would like your help in searching for photographs of events from 1930-1945. The following is a complete list:
The local Lutheran Church in Luverne
Private Russell Wilder, who was killed in action in France in late 1944
Mr. and Mrs. Albert Riss from Luverne liberated from Santo Tomas in the Philippines
Springtime in Rock County – people working in their yards, farmers getting into the fields
VE Day in Luverne/Rock County
VJ Day in Luverne/Rock County
Rock County men in uniform
Funeral/Memorial services of Rock County men killed in action
Photographs of the monument which was the
Honor Roll in Luverne
People from Rock County listening to radios
Herman Smook, who was killed in action in France, circa August 1944, his family: father, mother
Concerned-looking women, mothers, families
403 North Kniss Street (Al McIntosh’s house)
503 North Estey Street (Sherman Family)
The Pix and The Palace Theatres, preferably with people outside of them
The Omaha Railroad Bridge
War bond drives in Rock County
Private Charles Mann, from Luverne, was wounded by shrapnel in North Africa, circa May 1943
Snow fall in Luverne on Main Street
Coffee shop in Luverne/Rock County – lots of people inside
Luverne train depot at night (circa April 1944)
General shot of the Luverne train depot – anytime
Photographs of the countryside in Rock County, lilacs and other flowers in full bloom
Lt. John Stavenger and Lt. Howard James- both from Luverne
Photograph of Vernon Fremstand, who worked at Gimm and Byrnes’ Restaurant – also a photograph of the restaurant if possible
Civil Defense Wardens in Rock County
Scrap drives in Rock County
Blue and Gold stars in windows of homes
Kids collecting scrap, tin cans around Rock County
Saving fat
Thanksgiving dinners in Rock County
Maude Jochims with her husband HermanRememer, these photos must have been taken from 1930-1945, so don’t run down and take a picture of the depot this afternoon.Foreign-based scam artists are at it againForeign-based scam artists are hitting U.S. residents again, this time with counterfeit postal money orders, according to Luverne postmaster Chuck Egland.According to U.S. Postal inspectors, the counterfeit money order scam begins when a victim is contacted by someone through an internet chat room or on-line auction site claiming to have financial problems or needing help to cash domestic and/or international postal money orders. They usually claim to be from a foreign county, often Nigeria.What they want from U.S. residents is to cash the money orders and return the funds via wire transfer.U.S. residents are usually lured into the scam when they are told they can keep some of the money as a payment for their help.Victims learn the postal money order is counterfeit only when they attempt to cash it or when their bank accounts take a hit for the full amount when the bank refuses payment on the bogus deposit.The first organ transplant was 50 years agoLast December marked the 50th anniversary of the first successful organ transplant.The organ in question happened to be a kidney and was transplanted in Boston in 1954.Since then, almost every vital organ in the body has been transplanted, including kidneys, hearts, livers, lungs, pancreases and intestines.The list of donor items is now expanding to non-vital body parts including hands, and soon face transplants.Since 1982 over 416,000 people in the United State have received new organs, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing.Although not all donating involves the death of the donor, such as partial liver donations, the donor is quite often not able to express his wishes at the time.Which leads me to my question: Are you a donor? And if so, have you made your wishes known to your family, who will ultimately be making that decision?Publisher Roger Tollefson can be reached by e-mail at tolly@star-herald.com

‘Super Nanny’ show is popular because misery loves companyMost reality TV, in my opinion, is a pure waste of airtime. When "Fear Factor" or "The Bachelor" make their way on my TV screen at home, I scramble to change the channel. Their popularity, I believe, has more to do with the scantily clad, surgically improved 20-somethings than with any real viewing value.One that I actually pause to watch, though, is "Super Nanny," which airs Monday nights on ABC. The show brings a Mary Poppinish child care expert (with a reality body shape) into real homes to tell parents what they’re doing wrong with their children.I watch very little television (because I’m far too busy being the perfect mother and housekeeper), but I justify sitting down for this show for its educational value.At the end of every segment, Super Nanny Jo Frost tells the mom and dad what she’s observed and presents a perfect parenting plan — one that will lead to more harmony and less conflict.While this is the meat of the program, I have to admit I watch it largely for the "reality" scenes leading up to that point.We can read Dr. Phil, Dr. Dobson or any number of experts for good parenting advice, but "Super Nanny" lets us see other people’s children misbehaving.Maybe it’s because misery loves company, but watching outrageous behavior (like the children who kept escaping from the car when their mother was trying to get them to school on time) allows me the smug satisfaction that "my children never do that."Mine get away with plenty of other things that could use better parenting, but the show, of course, features the worst and most dramatic. And I love it.People can watch whichever version of reality TV they choose for whichever reason that suits them, but for me and my parental self-esteem, I choose "Super Nanny."Until they air an episode with a 3-year-old torturing the family cat, I’ll keep believing that Jo Frost will never have a place in my perfect home.

Planting a seed"For as the soil makes the sprout come up and a garden causes seeds to grow, so the Sovereign LORD will make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations." (Isaiah 61:11)Once again it is time for the crops to go in. Once again it is time for the business of the farmers in the fields. Once again it is the time for the slow tractors on the roads. (Sorry, I had to put that one in here!) Once again it is time for our world to slowly change from the grays to the green. It all begins with a seed. With this seed, our world is fed. But it is not an easy task. There is hard work to be done with tending this seed. You know this better than I do. I cannot imagine the days of worrying that go along with tending your crops. But in the end, your harvest may or may not be what you expected — depending on what happened throughout the year. But you know that you did your best, and your best was good enough.Looking at this scenario — it can compare to a Christian life. We are the farmers for Christ. We plant the "seed" of Christ's love in others. We tend to those that accept Christ's love by offering Bible and Sunday school classes, offering opportunities for them to get to know the Christian community more personally, and by becoming their friends in Christ. This is not easy work. First of all, we have to believe what we are telling others. Next we have to develop our own spiritual life by praying and studying the scriptures on our own and with others. Lastly, we have to strive to live our lives as Christ would want us to live. All this hard work may pay off. This work will pay off only if we deliver the "seeds" of God's love to others. So, take your time this week and invite someone to your church. Ask them if they know Jesus as their personal Savior. If they don't, you have some hard but rewarding "farming" ahead of you!

After 30 years in the business, I assumed that I had answered all the universal questions that have plagued humankind for centuries. As often happens, just when you think you know it all, something unusual occurs to sabotage your intellectual confidence. It happened to me. Last week, after a substantial rainfall, I noticed dozens of earthworms flocking on my driveway. I don’t like earthworms and I won’t touch one unless I have gloves on. If I have to pick one up, I use needle-nose pliers. I tiptoed through the herd of earthworms as I left the house for work. I didn’t give them a second thought until I came home for lunch and all the worms had dried up on the driveway. That, in itself, is a universal complexity to me. They desperately seek high ground during a rain shower to avoid drowning, but then they forget to go back in the ground when it’s over. That, however, is not my concern today. I went to the mailbox to retrieve my daily stack of bills and credit card solicitations. I have a rural-type mailbox that sits on a post and the front opens down with a hinge at the bottom. I pulled my mail out and there rested three fat wet earthworms. I screamed. They were partially squished because the new Cabela’s spring sale catalog was delivered that day (that was unfortunate.) Since they were mutilated or dead, I scraped them out of the mailbox with a Bank One credit card solicitation. Now I’m getting to that universal question that is plaguing us all. Can an earthworm climb up a four-foot wood post, crawl upside-down under a metal surface, and find its way into a mailbox? Some would say I’m naïve because I believe that is what happened. I have faith in earthworms. Some would say that the neighbor kids may have deposited them in the mailbox as a harmless prank, harmless, except for my near heart attack. Another person suspected, the mailman, (possibly trying to perk up my day because I never get any personal correspondence.) I know you expect an answer. But some uncertainties are so intricate that years of personal investigation and deliberation are required. So, over the next few weeks (or months) I will observe earthworm behavior and draw my own conclusions, which I will pass on to you. Then, maybe, we’ll be able to sleep at night. New on the nonfiction shelf is "A Random Act," by Cindi Broaddus. She didn't realize that her life was about to be forever altered as she sat in the passenger seat of a car on a lonely highway, speeding toward the airport in the early morning hours of June 5, 2001. The sister-in-law of Dr. Phil McGraw, a single mother of three, and a new grandmother, Cindi Broaddus was thinking only of her upcoming vacation, when a gallon glass jar filled with sulfuric acid, tossed from an overpass by an unknown assailant, came crashing through the windshield. In a heartbeat, Cindi was showered with glass and flesh-eating liquid, leaving her blinded, screaming in agony, and burned almost beyond recognition. When she reached the hospital, the attending doctors gave her little better than a 30 percent chance of survival. But Cindi Broaddus did survive — and after excruciating years of recuperation and seemingly endless sessions of skin grafts and reconstructive surgery, she emerged from her ordeal in many ways stronger than she had ever been before. Also new on the shelf is "Superstition," by Karen Robards. Pawleys Island, S.C. is sunny, idyllic, and picture perfect, until a tabloid news program airs a segment about the community's only unsolved murder — the grisly stabbing of teenager Tara Mitchell and the disappearance of her two best friends, both thought to be dead. Since the murders, several families have moved into the mansion where the crime occurred, each claiming that the dead girls still haunt the house. Beautiful redheaded reporter Nicole Sullivan, sensing the story that could be her big break, arranges for her mother, a renowned psychic, to contact the three victims via a live séance on the show Twenty-four Hours Investigates. But something goes terribly wrong during the segment, and a young woman is murdered in the exact same manner as Tara Mitchell was 15 years earlier. Pressured by her producers to get the inside story, Nicole is ordered to continue to investigate. As an attraction grows between Nicole and police chief Joe Franconi, another identical murder occurs, along with a menacing note warning that the original killer is back to claim three more lives. The body count rises, and so does the danger to Nicole.

B>The following appeared in the Rock County Herald on May 6, 1932:CHECKER CLUB ISSUES CHALLENGE FOR GAMESSeventeen Enthusiasts of Indoor Sport Form Club Here; Hold Weekly Meetings at McKay’s Barber Shop. If one chances to pass McKay’s barber shop in Luverne on a Thursday evening, he will doubtless hear such cries as "It’s your move," or "You’ve got to jump," and looking in, will see a group of Luverne citizens seated around tables, benches and desk, deep in meditation. Luverne’s checker club is holding its regular weekly meeting. The club is only a month old but already they are looking for more competition. It is composed of seventeen members. They have no membership fee, no fines or house rules, and have elected no officers, as yet. But each week they meet in the barber shop for competition among themselves. They have no trouble keeping order, however, because checkers call for meditation and no member violates the custom of silence; he’s too busy concentrating on his own game. The club is looking for new fields to conquer and has issued a challenge to all checker players in Rock county or any other community that would like to schedule a tournament. The Luverne club would like to have a team of five men compete and a second team is also prepared to pit their skill against visitors, should there be enough interest. But while they’re waiting for answers to their challenge, the local enthusiasts are keeping in trim by matches among themselves. Each match consists of two games. Two points are awarded for each game won and one point for a draw. Dick Gainey is well out in front of the other members, having played 26 games and won 44 points. Other members of the club are G.A. Knowlton, Emery Forrest, W.H. Gerow, Martin Webber, O.M. Garrett, Jack Petraska, Ray Spease, Alva Leech, O.T. McKay, M.E. Ford, Chester Spease, D.W. Campbell, L.L. Frisbey, Dwight Cummings, Jake Conrad and Wm. Thomas. Donations to the Rock County Historical Endowment Fund can be sent to the Rock County Historical Society, P.O. Box 741, Luverne, MN 56156.Mann welcomes correspondence sent to mannmade@iw.net.

There are times when fishermen look at flopping fish on the ends of their lines and ask themselves some hard questions. Until recently those questions have been, "Should I release or eat this fish?" or "Is this fish frying pan worthy?"South Korean fishermen will soon have other options — "This fish has swallowed one of my hooks. Should I eat it, sell it or take it to a fish doctor?"According to Reuters, South Korean will soon have its first fully licensed fish hospital with specialists trained to treat trout with fin fungus and grouper with gill infections. The fish hospital will primarily serve commercial fish and shellfish farms in the area, but at least one fish doctor hopes to make tank calls for people who have sick pets. "If the chance arises to treat a pet goldfish, I will do it," noted fish doctor Kim Choon-sup. Presumably, the good doctor is now searching for a tiny stethoscope and itty-bitty waterproof bandages. It should only be a matter of time before fish hospitals are set up in our country, and it should be fairly easy to model them after a well-established medical facility in Minnesota, the Mayo Clinic. After sidestepping some inevitable trademark litigation, the fish hospital could be called Fish and Mayo. The primary challenge would be to hear the name of the place and suddenly not feel hungry. In addition to treating the physical illnesses of fish, counseling services could help fish with less tangible, emotional issues. We all know such problems exist. Why else would we talk about people who "drink like a fish" or "act like a fish out of water?" If the fish weren’t acting that way in the first place, why would we refer to "fish in troubled waters?" At Fish and Mayo, fish doctors will have to be particularly careful about what they say within earshot of their patients; that is, of course, if the patients have anything resembling ears. A doctor should avoid saying things such as, "You take this patient, nurse. I have other fish to fry." "This looks fishy" or "it’s time to either fish or cut bait."Speaking of cutting bait, the fish hospital’s morgue protocol should be fairly simple. Except for an obvious absence of parsley sprigs and lemon wedges, a fish autopsy would look much the same as dressing out a fish for a dinner entrée.Taking a cue from today’s rap singers who like to spell fat as "phat," the fish doctors could be called phishologists. Instead of dermatologists, there would be scalologists. Respiratory therapists would be called gillologists.A list of vital signs for fish will have to be closely followed. They’re cold-blooded, so taking their temperatures won’t be a big help. Do fish have blood pressure? Perhaps the only vital sign will be when fish look "down in the gills." Concerned owners of pet fish will have two choices about transporting ailing patients to the local Fish and Mayo. They may either call for an ambulance, actually a large aquarium on wheels, or they may choose to place the patient in a large Tupperware bowl with a leak proof lid and do the driving themselves. Because fish are so different from humans, their hospitals and medical care will also be unique. If we stop to think about it, fish even die differently. French novelist Andre Gide once observed, "Fish die belly-upward and rise to the surface; it is their way of falling."

PROBATE COURTDISTRICT COURTPROBATE DIVISIONORDER AND NOTICE OF HEARING ON PETITION FOR ADJUDICATION OF INTESTACY, DETERMINATION OF HEIRSHIP AND APPOINTMENT OF ADMINISTRATOR IN SUPERVISED ADMINISTRATION AND NOTICE TO CREDITORSSTATE OF MINNESOTACOUNTY OF ROCKIn Re: Estate ofGary Dean Rozeboom, DeceasedTO ALL INTERESTED PERSONS AND CREDITORS:It is Ordered and Notice is hereby given that on the 9th day of May, 2005, at 3.30 O’clock P.M., a hearing will be held in the above named Court at Rock County Courthouse, Luverne, Minnesota, for the adjudication of intestacy and determination of heirship and for the appointment of Sheri Rozeboom, whose address is 117 21st St. Hills, Minnesota 56138, as administrator of the estate of the above named decedent in supervised administration, and that any objections thereto must be filed with the Court. That, if proper, and no objections are filed, said administrator will be appointed to administer the estate, to collect all assets, pay all legal debts, claims, taxes and expenses, and sell real and personal property, and do all necessary acts for the estate. Upon completion of the administration, the administrator shall file a final account for the allowance and shall distribute the estate to the persons thereto entitled as ordered by the Court, and close the estate. Notice is further given that ALL CREDITORS having claims against said estate are required to present the same to said administrator or to the Court Administrator within four months after the date of this notice or said claims will be barred.Dated: April 20, 2005 /S/Timothy K. ConnellDistrict Court Judge /S/ /S/Paul A. Vis Sandra L. VrtacnikAttorney for Petitioner Court AdministratorEisma and Eisma130 East Main, Box 625Luverne, MN 56156(507)283-4828I.D. #297550(4-21, 4-28)

Hills-Beaver Creek Dist. 671Minutes3-28-05The Hills-Beaver Creek School Board met for its semimonthly meeting at 7:30 p.m. in the library in Hills. Board members present were Leuthold, Baker, Larson, Boeve, Esselink, and Harnack. DeBoer was absent. Superintendent Deragisch was also in attendance. The meeting was called to order by Chairman Harnack. Motion by Larson, second by Esselink, and carried to approve the agenda with the addition of 7.7 Bus rental. Visitors to the meeting were recognized by the chairman. Visitors were Lexi Moore of The Crescent and Josh Hogberg. Mr. Hogberg reported to the board on his attendance at the Minnesota Music Ed. Association and updated on the coming music trip to Chicago on April 7 – 10.Patriot Pride: Academic All-Star players-Kale Wiertzema, Cassi Tilstra, Melinda Feucht, and Kelly Mulder.High School report was presented by Superintendent Deragisch.The minutes of the last meeting were approved as sent out. Legislative update was given by Esselink.First reading of policy #101 – legal stats of the school district. First reading of policy #104 – school district mission statement.First reading for policy #204 – school board meeting minutes.Update from School Board/Rock County Liaison meeting. Dates to Remember: April 11, 2005 School Board meeting 7:30 p.m. Bus rental for outside groups was discussed. No action taken.Meeting adjourned at 8:30 p.m.Ann Boeve, Clerk(4-21)

The Rock County Highway Department (RCHD) will be applying chemicals in our roadway ditches to control noxious weeds starting in late spring and continuing throughout the summer and fall of 2005. The RCHD uses a combination of HiDep IVM and Tordon 22k for noxious weed control. The RCHD strictly adheres to the wind restrictions for spraying which limits any chemical application if the winds are above 10 mph. The RCHD does limit our broadcast spraying to areas adjacent to corn fields and pastures. We will not apply our chemicals next to bean fields unless our personnel identify an area of noxious weeds. It is very helpful if the landowners/renters address any noxious weeds in the fence line to minimize the risk of crop damage from our chemical application. RCHD Chemical Harvesting Restrictions HiDep IVM: contains 2-4-D and this has a 30-day pre-harvest interval for hay. If the plant is cut before the 30-day interval the chemical does not break down and should not be fed to dairy cattle. Tordon 22K: Contians picloram and this has a 14-day waiting period for harvesting for hay. Hay harvested before the waiting period and fed to livestock can cause damage to beans when the manure from the livestock is spread on ground intended for beans.If a County roadway ditch is to be cut for hay, please contact Mr. Walter Stearns, Highway Maintenance Supervisor, at (507) 283-5013 to determine if we have applied our chemicals to the roadway ditch in question.If a landowner/renter does not wish the roadway ditch adjacent to their land to be sprayed for noxious weeds, they must contact Walter Stearns, Highway Maintenance Supervisor, at (507) 283-5013. If the RCHD does not apply chemicals to a roadway ditch, it will be the adjacent property landowner’s/renter’s responsibility to eliminate any noxious weeds. Mark R. Sehr, PERock County Highway Engineer(4-21, 4-28