By Sara StrongCounty Road 4 (Old Highway 16) between Luverne and Beaver Creek has hit some bumps in the road during its current reconstruction.It hadn’t been built up since the 1930s and had some surface work done in the early ‘80s. During this current project, Rock County Engineeer Mark Sehr found that the material the road was built on couldn’t take a rebuild.The county had to approve the $58,000 purchase of flyash, a waste product from power plants that acts as cement. The project will be $1.3 million total for the three miles of road."Between the rain and bad material, we’re behind about three weeks," Sehr said.He now estimates the road will be complete by Labor Day.Regular drivers of the road right near the Assembly of God Church will remember the problem spot that has to be reinforced with the flyash. It was especially uneven and bumpy for a 1 1/2 mile stretch.Sehr said the crew is also adding drains along the road to help keep water away more than in the past."We hope these extra measures will address the problems," Sehr said.

By Lori EhdeLuverne School Board members put the kibosh on student ambitions to resign classrooms in the middle school-high school building.Teacher Lundgren brought the students’ plans to the board for approval, at their June 26 meeting, pointing out the confusing nature of the current system of room signs.Student Council members were willing to pay for the estimated $8,000 project with their own funds, but School Board members tabled action on the project in order to get more information.Specifically, Superintendent Vince Schaefer alerted board members to some possible problems with the idea."Their idea is great," he said at that meeting. "On the surface, it’s extremely beneficial. The building is set in a confusing way, and directories alone lends itself to consideration."The potential problem, he said, could come when electricians and plumbers refer to blueprints when working on specific problem areas in the building.If blueprints refer them to a former room number, and they find instead, the new room numbers, it will create confusion, and possibly costly mistakes, Schaefer said."Our architects and engineers are quite concerned (about the renumbering plan)," he said. "All the blueprints and computer programs are set up for the rooms as they are called today. … We can’t assume they’ll make that conversion."He said every repair or construction project in the future could cost more because workers would have to figure the conversion.Further, hundreds of rooms have keys with corresponding room numbers, so the keys and key library would also have to be converted.The School Board at the July 24 meeting voted to stop the school signage project, based on recommendations from their architects and engineers."It’s really hard to turn down a project that’s had so much work put into it," said board member Becky Walgrave. "But with the issues raised as they stand now, I would have a hard time approving it."Board members voted 5-1 to not approve the project, with Steve Tofteland casting the vote in favor of the project and Don Bryan, Cary Radisewitz, Dan Kopp, Bill Stegemann and Walgrave voting to deny it.Activities feesIn light of troubled school budgets, many districts turn to increasing fees as a way of bringing in revenue.In Luverne, School Board members voted Thursday to do the same, although its activities fees are still modest compared to most districts its size.Last year fees for 9-12 activities were $30, and fees for 7-8 activities were $20, with a $150 cap per family.This includes fees for forensics, math league, mock trial, plays (cast only), cheerleading, band, choir, speech and all sports.School board members considered a recommendation to increase 9-12 activities fees to $50 and 7-8 activities to $30, with a $200 cap per family. Stegemann made a motion to approve the fee increase for sports, but not for fine arts. The board voted 5-1 in support of that motion, with Bryan casting the dissenting vote.Fees for sports are now $50 for grades 9-12 and 30 for grades 7-8. Fees for all fine arts remain the same.Supervisor salariesIn personnel matters Thursday, the board approved salaries for supervisory staff.oKitchen Supervisor Gretchen Davis increased from $24,000 to $25,920oTechnology Coordinator Wade Hiller increased from $42,000 to $43,472oFinance Officer Marlene Mann increased from $46,000 to $47,632oTransportation Director Lon Remme increased from $41,056 to $42,492.oBuilding and Grounds Supervisor Larry Roos increased from $43,930 to $45,448oDistrict Secretary and payroll supervisor Brenda Teal increased from $29,640 to $30,680.In other personnel matters, Thursday, the board:oAccepted the resignation of custodian Larry Van GrootheestoApproved middle school teacher Stacey Lihs as student council adviseroAccepted the resignation of paraprofessional Cami McAndrew

By Sara StrongU.S. District Court Judge Donovan Frank dismissed federal charges against the county July 25 in the Glenn, Mabel, Loren and Mark Overgaard lawsuit.The suit also involved local defendants Chad and Scott Overgaard, Overgaard Pork, former Rock County Feedlot Officer John Burgers, Rock County Board of Commissioners and Schwartz Farms, which owns the animals Overgaard Pork raises.The lawsuit involved federal and state charges. Judge Frank dismissed the federal charges, but also dismissed, without prejudice, the state portion of the charges. That means that the defendants could still see claims through state court, but that this particular judge thought they were without merit.Other than going through state court, the plaintiffs also have the option to appeal the ruling.Rock County Attorney Don Klosterbuer said, "From the county standpoint it’s significant because there are fewer claims that can be brought against the county."The lawsuit, filed March 19, 2002, alleged that the defendants conspired to help Chad and Scott wrongfully obtain a hog feedlot permit to build a 3,200-head hog setup about a half mile from Glenn’s property in the fall of 2001.Glenn protested the permit throughout its process in the county.The suit claimed the defendants didn’t act according to law when permits for a feedlot were granted. The suit also alleged defendants falsified records, acted with conflicts of interest, engaged in inappropriate conduct and aided in polluting the plaintiffs’ land, air and water.

By Lori EhdeAfter several months meticulously calculating numbers and tabulating dollar figures, it appears the new Sioux Valley Hospital and Clinic is nearing the starting line.Earlier this year, Sioux Valley announced plans to build a $17.5 million, 78,000-square-foot hospital and clinic campus on the north edge of Luverne.The project would strengthen the long-term economic viability of Luverne, and in return, Sioux Valley is seeking local upfront financial helpOn the agenda of the Aug. 12 Luverne City Council meeting are some major items that will put the wheels in motion for construction.It appears council members are prepared to give final approval to the Development Assistance Agreement that’s been evolving with Sioux Valley.In the terms of the agreement, the city will grant $2.5 million to the project. Part of that amount includes what the city will pay to purchase the existing hospital and clinic, valued at roughly $1.2 million.The city will offer $1 million to Sioux Valley in the form of an interest-free loan to be paid back over 15 years. The agreement stipulates that if Sioux Valley’s profits are better than expected, the loan will be paid more quickly.The city will assume responsibility for the roughly $300,000 debt remaining on the clinic.Funds for both the grant and the loan will come in part from proceeds of the sale of the old hospital several years ago to Sioux Valley.The Luverne Community Health Care Foundation plans to raise $1 million to support the project, and the city plans to sell bonds to fund its infrastructure improvements.By approving the agreement, the city will also commit to providing nearly $2.45 million infrastructure improvements for the project. This work includes street access, water, sewer, electricity and new water tower.This will be funded over time partly by revenues generated from Sioux Valley utilities purchases.The hospital will be accessed on its south side from Veterans Drive. After a meeting with the Minnesota Department of Transportation, plans to access the hospital directly from Highway 75 were abandoned.In addition to approving the Development Assistance Agreement, the Aug. 12 City Council agenda includes annexing the 62-acre site formerly owned by the Christensen Estate.The property is positioned between the Veterans Addition and the township gravel road that runs east-west between Highway 75 and Blue Mound Avenue.Rock County’s contribution to the project would include upgrading that half-mile stretch of gravel to an urban section of road. The work, estimated to cost about $1.2 million, would include building it up to a 9-ton paved road curbs and gutters, plus sidewalks on the south side.According to Rock County Highway Engineer Mark Sehr, the county’s work will also include cutting the hill down on Highway 75 at the intersection and putting in turn lanes on both Highway 75 and the new road.The county will take over the road as a County State Aid Highway. It’s new rural street name is 131st Street.The hospital and clinic campus will be accessed on its north side from this road. Plans call for this to be the route for truck traffic and emergency vehicles.According to Interim City Administrator Jeff Haubrich, the city’s Development Assistance Agreement is coming together about the same time as Sioux Valley planners are finalizing figures on their end."It’s sort of a chicken-and-egg thing," Haubrich said Tuesday. "We’re not able to commit to our agreement until they have their costs figured, and they’re not able to sign off on their end until they have a commitment from us. … But it’s coming together."Ground breaking may be as early as September, and work may be complete by mid-2005.

By Jolene FarleyOn Monday Rock County parents will have access to more information to help them with a tough job – raising adolescents.All Rock County parents are invited to attend a presentation by nationally recognized author David Wilmes from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Monday, Aug. 4., at the Luverne Cardinal Gym.In his presentations, Wilmes stresses we all need security and freedom, so his theory is that raising children is somewhat like running a country. In an adolescent’s mind, limits exist to be tested. He will help parents learn more about how to fight the war on drugs and alcohol. Parents never learn too much about raising a healthy child, according to Wilmes."Kids develop problems with alcohol and drugs because of peer pressure, but what we do and say to our kids is significantly more powerful than what they hear from other kids," Wilmes said about parental relationships."The problem is we tend to give up that power. We are much more important than we think we are." Wilmes, who lives in St. Paul with his wife and two sons, speaks from 25 years of experience in dealing with adolescents and their families. He has worked with the Johnson Institute in surveying 150,000 kids across the nation on substance abuse. He is the author of "Parenting for Prevention – How to Raise a Child to Say No to Alcohol/Drugs," and 13 other books on similar topics.He conducts training seminars that focus on prevention as it relates to parental skills, school programs and community involvement. His presentation is sponsored by the Rock County Collaborative.

By Sara StrongFeedlots in Rock County are still opening their gates to inspections and waiting for environmental ratings. For the most part, their scores have been favorable, with about 75 percent having no environmental concerns.Land Management Director Eric Hartman said the site inventories are going well, and that from his view, livestock producers aren’t as apprehensive about the inventories as they once were. That can be chalked up to increased communication with producers, especially through the Feedlot Task Force that was formed when the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency started supervising the inspections spring of 2002.The actual site visits are done by a county employee and a representative from the Board of Water and Soil Resources. The visits involve the most complete of feedlot overviews, called Level III inventories.The resultso275 feedlots have been visited of the 618 in the countyo262 are active siteso200 are active with no environmental concernso44 are active with runoff concerns onlyo7 are active with basin and runoff concerns (making 51 total with runoff concerns)o11 are active with unpermitted basinso20 sites need engineering assistance for a two-year interim permit scheduleo31 sites need engineering assistance under an open lot agreemento22.37 percent are open lots with runoff concernso23.66 percent of the facilities have environmental concernsTotal cost to the county so far has been $45,000.The inventories are a special situation in Rock County because they were ordered by the U.S. District Attorney when bribery crimes in Pipestone County involved Rock County’s former Land Management Director. Rock County had set a goal of doing the Level III inventories on every feedlot in 1997, so the order is speeding up the process. Rock County’s inventories will be completed by December 2004. The MPCA has said it wants every county to eventually complete the inventories.Room for improvementThe average Feedlot Evaluation rating is 29 for feedlots that have a recognized runoff problem.The Feedlot Evaluation numbers are calculated by assessing various risk factors for a site: number of animals, nearby water movement and cleaning frequency for instance. The lower the number, the better the score. Even though lower is better, Hartman said the scores for the evaluations aren’t on a linear scale — an 8 isn’t three times better than a 24.The highest in Rock County is 71 and the lowest is 8.Hartman said the 71 rating isn’t as alarming as it first looks. "If it was next to the Rock River, it would be different," he said. "This particular one is not considered a real high concern, but it is going through changes to become compliant."The 31 sites that need engineering assistance are having some difficulty in knowing how to get that assistance. Producers have to pay for an engineer sign-off for improvements to feedlots. There could be state money available for an engineer’s work. However, state rules haven’t been finalized and the county is leery of using an engineer to sign off on rules that could change.Just recently, though, the National Resource Conservation Service published standards that probably won’t be varied from much when the final rules are published.Hartman said, "Everybody has signed off on the standards. The MPCA is putting together guidelines on how to interpret these standards."The engineer option is open to the county because of a state grant that would allow a regional engineer to be housed out of Rock County for two years. The local cost would be mostly "in kind" costs of about $34,000 that would come from providing a work area, telephone and vehicle for the engineer.The two-year grant allows most of the engineer’s time to be dedicated to working with feedlot owners in Rock County who have to make changes based on the Level III inventories. Until the rules are finalized, though, the county is waiting on the engineer. Hartman said he doesn’t think the rules will be much different from the interim rules recently published, but the fear is that "there will be new hoops to jump through."

By Lori EhdeThe 93rd Annual Rock County Fair officially starts today at the fairgrounds in Luverne.It will have all the usual makings of a festive, hometown county fair, including livestock shows, open class competition, midway rides and corndogs.But local planners always introduce something new to the Rock County Fair each year.According to Fair Board Secretary Lyle Nelson, this year’s newcomers include a tractor pull, something the Rock County Fair hasn’t seen in about 10 years.Instead of the Johnny Holm Band, which has been the featured entertainment for years, the South Dakota Pullers Association will bring a pool of tractors, including local entries, to the grandstand Thursday night.Returning to the grandstand this year is the Rock County Talent Contest, in its second year, on Friday night with more than 20 entries.Saturday night’s grandstand entertainment will be the Enduro Races, which typically attract crowds of 700 to 800 people. "It’s a very big night for us," Nelson said.Other newcomers to the fairgrounds include the Mason’s child I.D. program.The Masons of Rock County will provide a child I.D. program from a booth in the building just north of the 4-H building during the Rock County Fair. The purpose is to provide parents with positive identification of their children by recording their ages, height, weight and fingerprints, along with a digitally recorded photo. Parents will have complete control of the information and it will be their responsibility to keep it in a safe place.The most prominent newcomer to this year’s fair will be the big red Fitzer Barn.The barn, built in 1902, was donated to the Rock County Historical Society by the Maurice Fitzer family and was moved to its location just south of the 4-H building last year. It will be used to display local farm antiques, which rural residents are donating from all corners of the county.While Nelson said he’s not in charge of the weather this year, he said the area needs rain now, "so if it comes, that’ll be a happy deal."

By John RittenhouseThe 2003 baseball season came to an end for Zach Wysong and the Luverne American Legion baseball team last weekend.Competing at the Second District Tournament in Truman, Luverne went 1-2 to bow out of the double-elimination event.Luverne ends the season with an 8-11 record.Wysong, a Hills-Beaver Creek High School student, is a member of the Luverne squad.The weekend will not be a memorable one for Wysong and the Cardinals, but the H-BC junior did have a good summer season.Wysong had a rough tournament at the plate, slapping one hit in 11 official at bats.He also was the losing pitcher in what turned into the season finale Sunday.Luverne opened the tournament by losing a 9-0 decision to Wabasso Friday night.Wysong was zero-for-three at the plate in the game for a Luverne team that was limited to three hits in the contest.Luverne avoided elimination Saturday by defeating Minnesota Lake 7-5 in a loser’s bracket tilt.The Cardinals rallied from a 5-3 deficit to knot the score in the sixth inning before winning the game with two runs in the eighth inning.Wysong registered his lone hit of the tournament during the win when he singled in the third inning. He was one-for-five at the dish for the game.Luverne was ousted from the tournament with a 7-0 loss to Pipestone Sunday.The Cardinals were limited to four hits in the game, and Wysong went zero-for-three at the plate.Wysong pitched all seven innings and took the loss. He allowed four earned runs and nine hits while recording five strikeouts.

By John RittenhouseThe Luverne Redbirds locked up second place in the Gopher League Playoffs after splitting games over the weekend.Luverne pulled out a two-run win over Wilmont in an elimination game played in Wilmont Friday. The Redbirds lost a one-run decision in Hadley Sunday to give the Buttermakers the playoff title and Luverne the second seed for the Region playoffs.The 16-10 Redbirds, Granite Falls and Fairmont will form a three-team regional pool that will be playing for a berth in the state tournament. Luverne hosts Fairmont 7:30 p.m. Friday before playing a 3 p.m. game in Granite Falls Sunday.Luverne 5, Wilmont 3The Redbirds locked up at least a second-place finish in the Gopher League Playoffs with a two-run victory in Wilmont Friday.Luverne scored five runs in the final four innings and withstood a late challenge by Wilmont to prevail by two runs.The teams played to a scoreless draw through five innings before the Redbirds opened a 4-0 cushion by scoring two runs in the top of the sixth and seventh innings.Jeff Sehr reached base on an error and scored the first run in the sixth on Brian Weber’s fielder’s choice. Mike Wenninger reached base on a fielder’s choice and scored the second run on a wild pitch.Ben Winkels and Wenninger slapped RBI singles to make it a 4-0 game in the seventh.Wilmont scored three runs in the bottom of the eighth to trim the difference to one run at 4-3, but Derek Ohme walked and scored on a fielder’s choice by Wenninger in the ninth to give the Redbirds one insurance run.Jon Jarchow pitched seven and two-thirds innings of three-run ball to pick up the win. Wenninger worked one and one-third innings of scoreless relief to record a save.Box score AB R H BIOhme 4 1 0 0Winkels 5 1 1 1J.Sehr 5 1 0 0Wenninger 4 1 1 2Weber 5 0 1 1Edstrom 4 0 1 0Jarchow 2 0 1 0Fisher 3 0 1 0Iveland 4 1 0 0Hadley 6, Luverne 5The Buttermakers clinched the No. 1 seed for the region tournament by nipping the Redbirds by one run in Hadley Sunday.Luverne sported 1-0 and 5-4 advantages during the game, but Hadley tied the game at five in the bottom of the sixth before plating the game-winning run in the ninth inning.Eric Edstrom walked and scored on an error to give the Redbirds a 1-0 cushion in the top of the first.Hadley, however, tied the game in the second inning before scoring twice in the third to take a 3-1 lead.The teams exchanged runs in the fifth inning to make the score 4-2. Ohme delivered an RBI single to account for Luverne’s run.The Redbirds used a three-run double by James Fisher to take a 5-4 edge in the top of the sixth, but Wilmont scored the final two runs of the game to take the championship.Terry Eernisse pitched seven and two-thirds innings of five-run (two were earned runs) ball without gaining a decision for Luverne. Ohme took the loss while pitching in relief.Box score AB R H BIOhme 5 0 1 1Edstrom 4 1 0 0J.Sehr 5 0 2 0Weber 5 1 1 0Winkels 4 1 1 0Sandbulte 3 0 0 0Fisher 4 1 2 3Iveland 1 0 0 0Schneider 2 0 0 0