By Lori EhdeSometimes, the last 30 miles of a long trip home can seem like the longest leg of the journey.That will likely be the case for National Guard members who are returning home next week after a six-month deployment in England.Because the National Guard Armory in Luverne is under construction, local families will have to greet their returning guardsmen in Pipestone.This means that the chartered bus from Ft. McCoy, Wis., will have to bypass Luverne — with its Luverne occupants on board — on the way to the Pipestone Armory.But that doesn’t mean Luverne residents won’t participate in homecoming celebrations.The National Guard has agreed to allow the bus to turn off Highway 75 and parade down Main Street, likely escorted by local fire trucks.No stops are allowed in Luverne, but this would give the community a chance to wave and welcome the soldiers home, according to Luverne Chamber Director Dave Smith.Guardsmen on the bus will notify the Chamber office by cell phone when they leave Ft. McCoy and when they get closer to Luverne."We would like to have people come downtown and welcome them back," Smith said. "Even if it’s just to wave and greet them."So far, the troops are scheduled to arrive in Luverne around 3 p.m. Wednesday, and law enforcement will be on hand to direct traffic. Luverne’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade starts at 4 p.m. on Main Street, so Smith said coordinating the two events could get tricky if the guardsmen arrive late.The route back to Highway 75 from downtown is not determined, but it will be a brief detour through Luverne en route to Pipestone.The 125th Field Artillery left home on Aug. 13 last summer and was scheduled to fly into the States this morning."The guys are getting pretty antsy over there," Sgt. 1st Class Robert Newman said Tuesday. "They’re ready to get on a plane and come home." The group plans to leave Fort McCoy, Wis., on Wednesday, March 17, for the six-hour drive home, to Luverne and Pipestone. Once in Pipestone, fire trucks will escort buses to the armory, where families, public and press can greet and welcome the troops home.There is no formal program planned at this time, and only soldiers and immediate family members will be allowed inside the armory.Soldiers will be detained for about an hour for formation, inventory and to secure their gear, but will then be released for the day.On Friday, March 18, guardsmen will return to the Pipestone armory for final tasks and a noon meal, and at 2 p.m. formal welcome home ceremonies are planned both in Pipestone and in Luverne.In Luverne, the ceremony, about an hour long, will be at Luverne High School to honor guard members and their families.The entire community is invited, and the guard members will be allowed to leave with their families.According to Newman, the Luverne and Pipestone unit won’t be on deck for activation now for three years."We’ve been told to plan on three years, but with the military, we know we could go any time," Newman said.He said local guardsmen are fortunate in two ways: that they were deployed to England instead of Iraq, and that they were deployed for only six months."We were about the last of the short deployments," Newman said. "They’re all going to be a 12 to 18 months from now on."Local Guard members served in England primarily as additional security officers. Their duties included things such as checking IDs and patrolling bases.There are 93 affected members in the 125th Field Artillery that includes Luverne and Pipestone. Of those, 55 serve duty at the National Guard Training and Community Center in Luverne.Twenty-three of those live in Rock County and 21 live in Nobles County. Tentative itineraryMarch 11: Depart from England to the United States at Ft. McCoy, Wis.March 17: Arrive by bus in Luverne at approximately 3 p.m. for drive-through greeting en route to Pipestone where families can greet their returning guard members.March 18: 2 p.m. ceremonies in Luverne at the high school and in Pipestone at the community center.

A while back I wrote a column about the worst jobs in science — the person who studies bad odors, for example.That got a pretty good response from people, probably because most of us like to know we're better off than someone else is. To expand on that theme of the working world, I have found the most dangerous jobs. You may be surprised at how many people you know work in one of the Top 10 Most Dangerous Jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics: 1. Timber cutters 2. Fishers 3. Pilots and navigators 4. Structural metal workers 5. Driver-sales workers 6. Roofers 7.Electrical power installers 8. Farm occupations 9. Construction laborers 10. Truck driversJust looking back on our newspaper coverage the past few years, farm accidents, electrical accidents and car accidents have all been in our paper for causing deaths or severe accidents. Some of these jobs compensate well in order to draw workers. Many timber fellers earn upwards of $60,000 working a nine- or 10-month year, for example.It might be difficult to compensate some workers enough, based on the risk. One person working on the study said, "Alaskan pilots have a one-in-eight chance of dying during a 30-year career. That's huge."One Top 10 surprise was the fifth-place finisher — driver-sales workers, which include pizza deliverers, vending machine fillers, and the like. Traffic accidents contributed heavily to their high fatality rate of 38 per 100,000, but they also suffered from crime; nearly a quarter of their deaths came from robberies and assaults. That wouldn't be as likely in Rock County, but being on the road is a danger in itself.It’s fair to say that all of us who collect paychecks have good and bad days, but let's remember how bad a day could really be. Someone asked me Tuesday how long my working day would last. Considering morning and evening meetings, and writing about them, it would be about 12 hours. ... But I only worked seven hours the day before.Besides working behind a jewelry counter, recording books on tape, and creating works of art at Dairy Queen, my work has mostly been in writing. The biggest danger I've faced is bitter subscribers and paper cuts.I hate to sound like some country music tribute song, but cheers to all the hard workers in America who operate in more dangerous conditions than many of us do. Now, I better go check on my printer and hope I don't stub a toe on the way.

By John RittenhouseThe Hills-Beaver Creek girls advanced to the championship game of the South Section 3A Basketball Tournament for the first time in six years when they defeated Adrian 56-53 in a semifinal-round clash played in Worthington Friday.Something had to give when the Patriots and Dragons squared off for a berth in the title game as both teams won regular season contests on the other’s home floor.In the end, it was Adrian’s five-year run of winning 20 or more games that came to an end as the Patriots prevailed by a 56-53 margin.The Patriots took a 16-10 record into their first postseason championship game it played in since 1998 Tuesday night at Southwest State University in Marshall. Third-seeded H-BC played No. 1 Fulda in the title tilt. Look for a game story on the championship game on the front page of the sports section.H-BC played hard and well to knock off the second-seeded Dragons, who finished the year with a 19-6 record, Friday in Worthington High School.Adrian led 3-2 early when H-BC scored seven straight points to move in front 9-3 when Cassi Tilstra sank a three-point shot at the 3:08 mark of the first quarter.The Dragons battled back to tie the game at nine when Maria Gengler converted a field goal with 1:33 left in the period, but H-BC countered with a 6-0 run capped by Melinda Sandstede’s field goal with 29 seconds remaining to make it a six-point game. H-BC settled for a 15-11 lead at period’s end.A three-point shot by H-BC’s Stacy Bush gave the Patriots a seven-point (18-11) cushion that was washed away by a 7-0 run by Adrian. The run ended with a three-point play by Andrea Lonneman at the 4:56 mark of the second quarter that tied the game at 18.Kylie Heronimus gave the Dragons a 25-22 lead with a field goal as the second period progressed, but a 4-0 spurt capped by a field goal from H-BC’s Erin Boeve with 13 seconds left gave the Patriots a 26-25 edge at the intermission.Gengler gave the Dragons their last lead of the game (27-26) when she opened scoring in the third quarter. H-BC’s Kerri Fransman proceeded to hit a pair of three-point shots that spurred a 10-2 surge that gave the Patriots a 36-29 lead with 5:15 left in the stanza.Adrian trimmed the difference to three points (36-33) when Amber Loosbrock hit a field goal with 3:31 left in the third quarter, and the difference remained three points (40-37) at period’s end.H-BC opened the fourth quarter with a 9-2 run that ended with Boeve sinking two free throws at the 5:15 mark of the stanza that gave the Patriots their biggest lead of the game at 49-39.Adrian battled back and trailed by two points (53-51) when Lonneman drained a pair of charity shots with 23.2 seconds remaining.Tilstra sank two free throws for H-BC with 21.5 seconds left to make it 55-51, but the Dragons closed the margin to two points (55-53) when Heronimus made a shot with 1.3 seconds left. Tilstra then sank a free throw to end the scoring in the game.Boeve led the Patriots with 20 points and 11 rebounds. Tilstra added 14 points, six rebounds, four assists and four steals to the winning cause. Fransman chipped in 11 points.Lonneman, who had seven rebounds, led AHS with 17 points. Gengler finished with 13 points and 15 rebounds. Heronimus and Sarah Kruger charted 10 and five assists respectively.Box scoreH-BCRozeboom 3 0 0-0 6, Fransman 0 3 2-2 11, Bush 0 1 0-0 3, Sandstede 1 0 0-0 2, Tilstra 3 1 5-7 14, Boeve 7 0 6-11 20, Olson 0 0 0-0 0, Mulder 0 0 0-0 0.AdrianHenning 1 0 0-0 2, Heronimus 3 1 0-0 9, Kruger 2 0 0-0 4, Cox 3 0 0-0 6, Lonneman 6 0 5-5 17, Gengler 6 0 1-3 13, Loosbrock 1 0 0-0 2.Team statisticsH-BC: 19 of 50 field goals (38 percent), 13 of 20 free throws (65 percent), 25 rebounds, 10 turnovers.Adrian: 23 of 44 field goals (52 percent), six of nine free throws (67 percent), 35 rebounds, 17 turnovers.

Hills-Beaver Creek junior guard Tyler Bush drives the lane to score two of his nine points during a 60-57 overtime win over Adrian Saturday in Worthington. The Patriots earned a shot at No. 1 ML-B-O in the Section 3A semifinals tonight in Pipestone with the victory over the Dragons.By John RittenhouseThe Hills-Beaver Creek boys’ basketball team advanced to the semifinal round of the South Section 3A tournament by posting an overtime win over Adrian Saturday in Worthington.H-BC beat Adrian in two tight games in the regular season, and the squads delivered another highly competitive battle during Saturday’s tournament quarterfinals in Worthington.It looked like fifth-seeded Adrian might avenge its regular season losses to the fourth-seeded Patriots when the Dragons sported a 50-46 cushion with 1:05 left in the fourth quarter. H-BC, however, rallied to knot the score at 50 by the end of regulation play and canned eight of 12 free throws in overtime to post a 60-57 win over the Dragons.The win ups H-BC’s record to 19-8 heading into tonight’s semifinals in Pipestone. The Patriots play 23-1 Mountain Lake-Butterfield-Odin, the tournament’s No. 1 seed, at 6 p.m.Adrian’s 16-7 season comes to an end.The Dragons were in a position to extend their campaign when they opened a seven-point lead in the third quarter before settling for a 42-37 advantage at period’s end.H-BC battled back to tie the game at 46 when Kale Wiertzema sank a three-point shot at the 2:06 mark of the fourth quarter, Adrian’s Casey Knips scored three straight points before Brandon Wolf sank a free throw with 1:05 remaining to give the Dragons a 50-46 lead.Wiertzema, who led the Patriots with 27 points and nine rebounds, drew H-BC within two points (50-48) of the Dragons with a field goal at the 1:00 mark before Trey Van Wyhe hit a field goal with 40 seconds left to tie the game at 50.Adrian held the ball in an attempt to set up a potential game-winning shot at the end of regulation play, but H-BC limited the Dragons to a long, one-handed attempt by Wolf that didn’t draw iron as time expired.Wiertzema hit H-BC’s only field goal of the overtime period 19 seconds into the stanza to give the Patriots a 52-50 lead they would never relinquish.Wiertzema hit two free throws at 1:23 to make it a 55-50 game, but Adrian rallied with a 7-4 surge and trailed 59-57 when Wolf hit a field goal with 33 seconds left.Wiertzema added a free throw to H-BC’s total with 26.6 seconds remaining to make it a three-point difference. Adrian’s Wolf and David Brake got off potential game-tying three-point attempts in the final 12 seconds, but neither shot found the mark.The game was tied at four early in the first quarter when H-BC went on an 8-0 run capped by a field goal by Tom LeBoutillier to give the Patriots a 12-4 lead with 3:25 remaining. Adrian countered with a 9-0 run that ended with Casey Knips draining a field goal with 16 seconds left to give the Dragons a 13-12 edge heading into the second quarter.The score was deadlocked at 18 in the second quarter when the Patriots put together a 10-2 run that ended with Tyler Bush hitting a three-point shot at the 1:20 mark of the period, giving H-BC a 28-20 lead.Adrian scored four of the next six points and trailed 30-24 when Nick Weidert converted a layup with three seconds left in the first half.The Dragons opened the third quarter with a 12-0 run to take a 36-30 lead that swelled to seven points (38-31) when Casey Knips scored from close range with 2:13 remaining in the third quarter. H-BC trimmed the difference to three points (38-35) with a three-point shot by Wiertzema at the 1:36 mark of the stanza before Adrian ended the period with a 4-2 spurt that gave it a 42-37 lead at period’s end.Van Wyhe added 12 points to the winning cause. Bush charted eight assists, seven rebounds and four steals. LeBoutiller clutched seven rebounds and blocked two shots.Kyle and Casey Knips netted 17 and 13 points respectively for Adrian. Brake and Wolf netted 11 and 10 points. Casey Knips pulled down a game-high 17 rebounds. Brett Block passed for six assists. Wolf came away with three steals.Box scoreAdrianWolf 2 1 3-4 10, Klaassen 0 0 0-0 0, Block 2 0 0-0 4, Weidert 1 0 0-0 2, K.Knips 8 0 1-3 17, D.Brake 4 1 0-0 11, C.Knips 6 0 1-2 13.H-BCBush 3 1 0-0 9, Wysong 1 1 2-2 7, Broesder 0 0 0-0 0, Wiertzema 6 2 9-10 27, Van Wyhe 4 0 4-6 12, Spykerboer 0 0 0-0 0, LeBoutillier 2 0 1-2 5.Team statisticsAdrian: 25 of 56 field goals (45 percent), five of nine free throws (56 percent), 32 rebounds, 11 turnovers.H-BC: 20 of 47 field goals (43 percent), 16 of 23 free throws (70 percent), 28 rebounds, 11 turnovers.

Hills-Beaver Creek junior Cassi Tilstra splits Fulda defenders Abby Oakland (left) and Elizabeth Kramer during the South Section 3A Girls’ Basketball Tournament championship game at Southwest State University in Marshall Tuesday. Tilstra scored 12 points to help the Patriots defeat the Raiders and advanced to Friday’s Section 3A title game against Wabasso. Game time is 8 p.m. in Marshall.By John RittenhouseThe Hills Beaver Creek girls earned a right to play for a berth in the state tournament after winning the South Section 3A Girls Basketball championship Tuesday at Southwest State University in Marshall.The fourth-seeded Patriots matched up against No. 1 Fulda, a team H-BC lost to twice in the regular season, in the title tilt.Instead of playing scared, a young H-BC squad with one starting senior dictated the tempo of the game the entire night on the way to a 46-34 victory over the Raiders.The win was H-BC’s fifth straight, and it gave the Patriots their first postseason tournament title since 1991. H-BC, 17-10 overall, will play for its first berth in a state tournament when they take on Wabasso at 8 p.m. Friday in the Section 3A championship game at SSU.Fulda entered Tuesday’s game as the two-time defending South Section 3A champions, but the Raiders were never able to get anything going against the Patriots.H-BC never trailed during the course of the game, and the Patriots iced the contest with a crucial nine-point run in the fourth quarter.Fulda used a 5-2 surge to trim what was a four-point H-BC lead to one point (29-28) in the final minutes of the third quarter.The Patriots, however, scored the first nine points of the fourth quarter and led 38-28 when Erin Boeve sank a free throw with 4:16 left to play.Fulda scored the next four points to trail 38-32, but H-BC made eight free throws in the final three minutes of the game while building a 14-point lead (46-32) at one stage of the period before settling for a 12-point victory.The game was tied at two early in the first quarter when H-BC went on a 5-0 run capped by a three-point play from Boeve to open a 7-2 cushion.Stacy Bush hit a pair of three-point shots, the last one coming with 12 seconds left in the first period, to help the Patriots extend their cushion to seven points at 15-8.Both teams went cold in the second quarter, when the squads scored a combined seven points. The Raiders sported a 5-2 scoring edge in the quarter and trailed 17-13 at the intermission.The Raiders rallied to tie the game at 19 1:35 into the third quarter, and Fulda erased a 23-19 deficit to knot the score at 23 as the period progressed. A pair of field goals from Cassi Tilstra gave the Patriots a 27-23 lead with 3:23 remaining in the third period, but Fulda’s late 5-2 surge made it a 29-28 game at period’s end.Boeve recorded a double-double for the winners by scoring 16 points and nabbing 12 rebounds. She also blocked two shots.Tilstra added 12 points, five rebounds, five assists and five steals to the winning cause.Box scoreRozeboom 0 0 2-2 2, Fransman 0 1 2-2 5, Bush 0 2 1-2 7, Tilstra 5 0 2-4 12, Boeve 4 0 8-11 16, Olson 0 0 0-0 0, Mulder 2 0 0-0 4.Team statisticsH-BC: 14 of 36 field goals (39 percent), 15 of 21 free throws (71 percent), 28 rebounds, six turnovers.Fulda: 15 of 49 field goals (31 percent), two of seven free throws (29 percent), 26 rebounds 11 turnovers.

By Jolene FarleyThe Hills-Beaver Creek School Board approved a pairing agreement in girls’ softball with the Luverne School District at a Monday meeting. The Luverne district contacted Athletic Director Steve Wiertzema to ask if H-BC would be interested. Practices for the sport start next week.H-BC track coach Tom Goehle said offering softball wouldn’t interfere with students that usually compete in track, according to Superintendent Dave Deragisch. Deragisch further advised the board that offering softball would bring the district into compliance with Title 9 rules, which require schools to offer the same number of programs for girls and boys.The cost for H-BC to offer the sport depends on the number of its students that sign up. A per-student cost is determined by dividing the total cost of the program by the number of students participating in the sport. The amount would be around $350 per student, according to Deragisch."I think it’s a good thing to get our kids involved," board member Gary Esselink said after the vote. Concession stand profitsDeragisch showed the board a list of the proceeds to different groups for running the concession stands at different school events. The concession stands took in $11,793 with a profit for various groups of $5,306. The highest event total was $735 at a September track meet. Deragisch told the board he encourages staff to raise money by selling at the concession stand rather than with small individual fund-raisers. "I just think those kinds of things are way better than selling candy bars and wrapping paper," Deragisch said.Long distance hang-upThe district’s long distance phone service provider has declared bankruptcy, according to Deragisch. "We were called and notified that at any time our long distance could be pulled," Deragisch said. Deragisch suggested switching providers as soon as possible to Rochester Telecom, a company that currently services several Minnesota school districts.Long distance rates will increase with the new company from 3.9 cents per minute to 6.2 cents per minute, but the new provider doesn’t charge a $70 monthly service fee.

An employee of Sioux City Inspection walks on top of the train, inspecting each rail car before it’s loaded with grain at Hills New Vision Co-op Thursday. By Jolene FarleyEmployees at New Vision Co-op, Hills, loaded their first 108 railroad car corn train Thursday.Before the addition of new rail and upgraded equipment, the facility north of Hills could load only 54 rail cars. "We added 75,000 feet of rail and we upgraded the complete loading system from 30,000 bushels per hour to 80,000 bushels per hour," said Hills New Vision Coop Manager Mick Thon. New Vision Coop, Worthington, purchased the elevator from Cargill in September and started construction late in the fall. The work was completed by February.New equipment upgrades include an 80,000-bushel-per-hour bulk load out scale designed to accommodate anticipated growth. The new system allows the facility to load a 110 rail car train in the time it used to take to load a 54 rail car train."It enables us to load a shuttle train (110 cars) in 15 hours," he said. "With our old system, we couldn’t have loaded in 15 hours." The new track and grain handling equipment performed at designed capacity during the test run Thursday, according to Thon. Recent grain demand by China has improved markets for elevators served by the Burlington Northern-Santa Fe Railroad, according to Thon.The ability to transport more grain at once has decreased freight costs and made new markets accessible for the Hills facility. The new markets and decreased freight costs have improved farm prices by six to seven cents per bushel for area grain producers, according to Thon.The New Vision Co-op Board of Directors visited the facility Thursday to watch employees load the first train.

By Jolene FarleyThe Hills City Council called a special meeting Monday to discuss the renewal of Fire Protection Contracts with the City of Steen and Clinton Township. Hills Fire Chief Doug Chapman and Hills Assistant Fire Chief Jeff Bass attended the meeting on behalf of the fire department.After reviewing the 2003 fire department expenses and the 2004 fire department budget, the council decided not to increase rates for Steen and Clinton Township. The City of Steen currently pays $2,500 per year and Clinton Township pays $320 per section for a total of $6,160 per year.Chapman and Bass told the council the fire department is filing for a federal grant to purchase a new tanker truck to replace a 1976 water tanker. If the fire department is awarded the grant, the city and Martin township would be responsible for 10 percent of the cost of the new truck. The city of Hills and Martin Township have more than $23,000 earmarked for fire truck replacement. It was suggested that the annual yearly investment should be increased. DeHaan Construction and Bass Construction will begin re-shingling the fire hall roof soon. Replacing the roof was an item in the 2004 fire budget. The project is estimated to cost $4,500. The overhead doors on the building will be replaced next year.

Ellsworth senior guard Adam Sieff (23) sets up a teammate with a pass during Saturday’s Section 3A boys’ basketball game in Worthington. Sieff scored 20 points and passed for six assists during a 76-54 victory over Southwest Star Concept.By John RittenhouseThe Ellsworth boys’ basketball team began its defense of the 2003 South Section 3A Tournament championship by rolling to a big win during Saturday’s quarterfinal round of the 2004 event in Worthington.The second-seeded Panthers took on No. 7 Southwest Star Concept in the event’s third quarterfinal-round game of the day at Worthington High School.SSC put up a good fight while taking a one-point lead early in the second quarter, but Ellsworth gained control of the game by period’s end and coasted to a 76-54 victory over the Quasars.The win, Ellsworth’s 10th straight victory, sends the 21-6 Panthers to tonight’s semifinals in Pipestone. Ellsworth will play No. 3 Southwest Christian, a 61-33 winner over Fulda Saturday in Worthington, in a 7:30 p.m. game. This will be the third straight year Ellsworth has met Southwest Christian in the postseason.Four Panthers reached double figures in scoring during Saturday’s game with SSC, including senior Todd Alberty, who surpassed the 1,000-point mark for his career with a 12-point effort.The score was tied at two early in the first quarter when Ellsworth put together a 6-0 run that gave it an 8-2 lead. The run featured a reverse layup by Alberty at the 6:03 mark of the quarter, which gave him 1,000 points.Ellsworth proceeded to extend its lead to 11 points (15-4) when Curt Schilling drained a three-point shot at the 3:55 mark of the opening quarter, but SSC closed the period with an 11-2 run and trailed 17-15 at the end of the stanza.The Quasars took their first lead of the game at 18-17 19 seconds into the second quarter before Ellsworth regained control of the game.The Panthers went on a 16-4 run that ended with Schilling, who re-entered the game after sustaining a slight ankle injury at the 6:08 mark of the period, scoring at 3:14 of the second quarter to make it a 33-22 game.SSC trimmed the difference to nine points (35-26) by the end of the second quarter, but the Panthers scored the first nine points of the third quarter and led 44-26 when Schilling scored at the 6:20 mark of the period.Adam Sieff, who led the Panthers with 20 points and six assists in the game, gave EHS a 20-point lead (55-35) when he converted a three-point play with 1:50 left in the stanza. SSC scored the final points of the quarter to trail 55-36 heading into the final eight minutes of play.SSC was unable to make a serious run at the Panthers in the fourth quarter. The Quasars did trail by as little as 15 points, but EHS led by as many as 23 on the way to a 22-point victory.Schilling scored 19 points, collected 12 rebounds and passed for five assists in the game. Lee Farrell netted 14 points for the winners. Tom Janssen chipped in five assists.Box scoreCr.Schilling 8 1 0-0 19, Janssen 2 0 1-3 5, Co.Schilling 0 0 0-1 0, Sieff 8 0 4-6 20, Alberty 5 0 2-4 12, Herman 2 0 2-2 6, Klaassen 0 0 0-0 0, Farrell 6 0 2-2 14.Team statisticsEllsworth: 32 of 58 field goals (55 percent), 11 of 18 free throws (61 percent), 35 rebounds, 12 turnovers.