A semitrailer rolled on Interstate 90 early Wednesday morning. The Highway Patrol hadn’t compiled reports as of press time, but the rollover occurred at about 5 a.m. in the east-bound lane, just off the Rock River bridge east of Luverne. The semi reportedly was transporting ethanol from Luverne’s Agri-Energy plant at the time of the accident.

Also Wednesday morning in Beaver Creek, several Beaver Creek residents were without power after a semi tractor and trailer rolled down a hill, sideswiping a fire hydrant, knocking over four mailboxes and snapping an electrical pole. The damage was discovered around 8:30 a.m. when Beaver Creek city employee Lloyd DeBoer began plowing the streets. A tow truck pulled the rig back onto the road.

Photo by Gloria Vink

Helen E. Chapin, 84, Luverne, formerly of Hardwick, died Sunday, Jan. 26, 2003, at Luverne Community Hospital.

Services were Wednesday, Jan. 29, at First Baptist Church in Luverne. The Rev. Rick Cornish officiated. Burial was in Luverne Memorial Gardens, rural Luverne.

Helen Moe was born to Carl J. and Petra (Peterson) Moe, Hardwick, on March 24, 1918, in the home where she was raised and continued to live until moving to Luverne Centennial Apartments in 1991. She graduated from Pipestone High School.

She married Hubert Chapin on Aug. 20, 1939, in Our Savior’s Lutheran parsonage.

Mrs. Chapin was a member of First Baptist Church in Luverne for more than 60 years. She enjoyed handcrafts, sewing, knitting and cooking and canning the produce from her husband’s big garden.

Survivors include four sons, Daniel Chapin, Fremont, Neb., David (Mary) Chapin, Kings Mountain, N.C., Dean (Sally) Chapin, Minneapolis, and Paul (Shelley) Chapin, Worthington; four daughters, Carole (Robert) Swanson, Maple Grove, Diana (James) Ouverson, Luverne, Joyce (Kevin) Bottorff, Rolla, Mo., and Janice (Bill) Jaworski, Bloomington; 25 grandchildren; and 13 great-grandchildren.

Mrs. Chapin was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, Hubert, on Jan. 3, 2003, three sons, Ralph, Glenn and Carl Sr., two grandsons, Mark Chapin and Michael Swanson, one great-grandson, Alex Chapin and one brother, Ed.

Engebretson Funeral Home, Luverne, was in charge of arrangements.

Luverne senior forward Aaron Schmidt (22) reaches for one of his five rebounds during Tuesday’s boys’ basketball game against Pipestone in Luverne. The Cardinals made a bid to upset the Arrows before falling 61-51 at game’s end.

By John Rittenhouse
The Luverne boys’ basketball team was unable to knock off a pair of Southwest Conference foes at home this week.

The Cardinals turned in a strong performance while falling to league unbeaten Pipestone Area by 10 points Tuesday. Marshall clobbered the Cards by 35 points Friday.

Luverne, 2-11 overall, plays in Worthington Friday and in Lennox, S.D., Tuesday.

Pipestone 61,
Luverne 51
The Cardinals made a bid to knock the Arrows out of the unbeaten ranks in SWC play Tuesday before dropping a 10-point decision in Luverne.

Luverne sported leads at the first two quarter breaks and led by as many as six points in the third quarter, but the Arrows outscored LHS 37-25 in the second half to steal a victory.

Trailing 5-2 early, Luverne put together a 9-0 run with a pair of three-point shots from Joey Pick and another from Andy Stegemann to take an 11-5 lead with 30 seconds left in the first period before settling for an 11-7 cushion at period’s end.

Josh Lange converted a three-point play at the 5:56 mark of the second quarter to give the Cards a 17-9 lead, and the difference was 17-9 when Pipestone mounted an 11-2 run to take a 22-21 lead with 1:58 left in the first half.

Luverne regained the lead at 24-22 when Stegemann buried a three with 39 seconds left in the quarter, and Aaron Schmidt converted a field goal with nine seconds left to give the Cards a 26-24 halftime edge.

Luverne scored the first four points of the third quarter and led 32-26 when the Arrows put together an 8-0 run to move in front 34-32.

The Cards tied the score at 34 and 36, but Pipestone outscored LHS 10-4 in the final three minutes of the period to take a 46-40 advantage into the fourth quarter.

After falling behind by nine points early, Luverne’s Jesse Kuhlman drained a three to make it a 51-45 game with 5:01 remaining. That proved to be as close as the Cards would come to catching Pipestone as the Arrows outscored LHS 10-6 the rest of the way to win by 10.

Pick and Stegemann led LHS with 11 and 10 points respectively. Schmidt collected five rebounds. Kuhlman came up with three steals.

Box score
Studer 1 0 0-0 2, Pick 0 3 2-2 11, Kuhlman 3 1 0-0 9, Schmidt 2 0 2-2 6, Stegemann 2 2 0-0 10, Boelman 3 0 0-0 6, Lange 3 0 1-2 7, Herman 0 0 0-0 0.

Team statistics
Luverne: 20 of 42 field goals (48 percent), five of six free throws (83 percent), 14 rebounds, 17 turnovers.
Pipestone: 21 of 43 field goals (49 percent), 15 of 20 free throws (75 percent), 21 rebounds, 14 turnovers.

Marshall 73,
Luverne 38
A sluggish offensive performance by the Cardinals led to a 35-point defeat when they entertained the Tigers for a SWC tilt Friday.

Luverne made 23 percent of its field goals in the game, opening the door for victory to a Marshall squad that outscored the Cards in every quarter.

"They are a much faster team than we are," said Cardinal coach Tom Rops. "We didn’t shoot the ball well, and they ran the floor on us. It wasn’t much of a game."

The Tigers raced to an 18-point lead (24-6) in the first quarter and increased the difference to 25 points (39-14) by halftime. Marshall increased its lead by two points (53-26) in the third quarter before outscoring LHS 20-12 in the fourth quarter to win by 35.

Kuhlman scored eight points for Luverne. Schmidt had three rebounds.

Box score
Studer 1 0 2-2 4, Kuhlman 1 2 0-0 8, Deragisch 2 0 0-1 4, Stegemann 1 0 0-0 2, DeGroot 1 0 4-4 6. Hulstein 1 0 0-0 2, Boelman 2 0 0-0 4, Lange 1 0 0-0 2, Schmidt 0 0 0-0 0, Pick 0 1 0-2 3, Goembel 0 1 0-0 3.

Team statistics
Luverne: 14 of 61 field goals (23 percent), six of nine free throws (67 percent), 22 rebounds, 12 turnovers.
Marshall: 27 of 51 field goals (23 percent), 13 of 18 free throws (72 percent), 38 rebounds, 14 turnovers.

By John Rittenhouse
The Ellsworth boys’ basketball team knocked off two more opponents to extend its current winning streak to six straight games.

The Panthers edged Lincoln HI by three points in Ivanhoe Thursday before upending Lakeview by 34 points in Ellsworth Tuesday.

Ellsworth, 15-1 overall and 7-0 in the Camden Conference, plays in Canby Friday and in Remsen, Iowa, Saturday before hosting Dawson-Boyd Tuesday.

Ellsworth 89,
Lakeview 55
The Panthers gained some revenge from the 2001-02 season when they rolled to a 34-point home victory over the Lakers Tuesday.

"This was a nice win for us," said Panther coach Ken Kvaale. "We wanted some revenge because Lakeview was the team that gave us our only conference loss last season."

EHS made sure the Lakers would not upset the Panthers on their home floor by outscoring them in every period.

The Panthers turned a 22-15 lead after eight minutes of play into a 17-point (46-29) halftime cushion by outscoring the Lakers 24-14 in the second period. Ellsworth extended the margin to 26 points (69-43) in the third quarter before prevailing by 34 at game’s end.

Curt Schilling (29 points and 11 rebounds) and Blake Brommer (16 points and 10 rebounds) had double-doubles for the winners. Brommer and Schilling distributed eight and seven assists respectively. Brant Deutsch scored 19 points and snatched eight rebounds, while Dylan Kvaale added 11 points, six rebounds and five steals to the winning cause.

Box score
Schilling 10 0 9-11 29, Deutsch 8 0 3-5 19, Brommer 1 2 8-8 16, Kvaale 4 1 0-1 11, Sieff 3 0 1-1 7, Janssen 2 0 0-1 4, Jenniges 0 1 0-0 3.

Team statistics
Ellsworth: 55 percent field goals (no totals were available), 21 of 27 free throws (78 percent), 44 rebounds, eight turnovers.

Ellsworth 73, LH 70
The Panthers survived a late scare from the Rebels to post their fifth consecutive win Thursday in Ivanhoe.

Turnovers plagued the Panthers as the 63-55 lead they took into the fourth quarter evaporated with an 8-0 run by the Rebels, but EHS regrouped to outscore LH 10-7 the rest of the way and pull out a three-point win.

"We were fortunate to come out of there with a win," said Panther coach Kvaale. "Not protecting the ball was the big thing. We had 18 turnovers in the game, and it seemed like all of our starters had at least one in the last six minutes of the game."

Ellsworth led 23-21 after eight minutes of play before increasing the difference to seven points (44-37) by halftime. The Panthers led by as many as 10 in the third quarter before settling for an eight-point cushion at period’s end.

Dylan Kvaale had a big game for EHS by scoring 22 points, grabbing seven rebounds, passing for six assists, blocking four shots and producing three steals.

Schilling had 25 points, 13 rebounds and five assists. Travis Jenniges chipped in 12 points and seven assists. Brommer and Deutsch charted nine and seven rebounds respectively.

Box score
Schilling 7 1 8-10 25, Jenniges 1 3 1-2 12, Janssen 0 1 0-0 3, Kvaale 5 3 3-3 22, Deutsch 3 0 0-2 6, Brommer 1 1 0-0 5.

Team statistics
Ellsworth: 51 percent field goals (totals were unavailable), 12 of 17 free throws (71 percent), 40 rebounds, 18 turnovers.

By Lori Ehde
In a time of projected state economic shortfalls, rural Minnesota needs to be especially vigilant in protecting its development interests.

Another tool may be available to outstate cities to attract business growth and to protect economic development already underway.

House Majority Leader Erik Paulsen and Rep. Doug Magnus recently circulated southwest Minnesota communities to talk about "Tax Free Zone" legislation.

Gov. Tim Pawlenty and House legislators are proposing the initiative to stimulate development and create jobs in economically distressed areas of greater Minnesota.

"Tax-free zones are the tools our border communities in southwestern Minnesota need to attract and retain job providers," Paulsen said.

"Tax-free zones will give our southwestern Minnesota communities the competitive edge they need when competing for new business and jobs."

Modeled after similar programs adopted in Michigan and Pennsylvania, the legislation would allow up to 10 tax-free zones with a maximum size of 5,000 acres (roughly 7.8 square miles) each to be established in greater Minnesota.

Two years after Pennsylvania designated 12 tax-free zones in February of 1999, the move was attributed to creating 5,700 jobs and retaining another 3,100.

Businesses operating within the zones would not pay property taxes or state income taxes.

"The state’s conventional development strategy can use a jump-start in southwestern Minnesota," Magnus said.

"To revitalize our part of the state, we need to be bold and think outside of the box. Tax-free zones have helped create thousands of new jobs in Michigan and Pennsylvania, and they can do the same for southwestern Minnesota."

It’s too early to tell what the legislation could specifically mean for Luverne, but Economic Development Authority Director Dan Statema said the discussion itself is encouraging.

"I can see there being some pretty stiff competition among regions for this tax-free designation," Statema said.

"But the most exciting thing about this is the governor and Legislature are recognizing the need for economic development incentives in greater Minnesota."

The initiative shouldn’t be confused with existing border city legislation, which allows tax breaks for qualifying new business construction.

Tax-free zones can apply to any economically distressed rural area, regardless of proximity to a border. It’s just that border communities are particularly vulnerable to losing business and labor resources to neighboring states.

"Every day another one of our kids leave southwestern Minnesota for a job in Sioux Falls or the Twin Cities," Magnus said.

"For years we’ve been looking for a tool that will allow more of our kids to find a job where they grew up. That tool could be tax-free zones."

Paulsen said tax-free zones for greater Minnesota will be a major initiative of Gov. Pawlenty and the state House in the 2003 legislative session, which began last week.

Magnus represents the newly redistricted House District 22A, which includes Rock, Pipestone, Murray and three-quarters of Nobles County.

Rock County used to be represented in the House by Richard Mulder, Ivanhoe, when it was part of the former District 21B. Mulder did not seek re-election last fall, and voters chose Republican Magnus over DFL incumbent Ted Winter for the job.

Measures of need
Areas qualify for tax-free zone designation based on the following measures of need:
Percentage of population below the poverty rate
High unemployment
Deteriorated or underutilized property
Low median family income
Population decline
Sudden or severe job loss.
Presence of adequate infrastructure for development.

Measures of
likelihood for success
Areas qualify for tax-free zone designation based on the following measures of likelihood of success:
Quality of the development plan
Local public and private commitments to develop the zone
Other available resources
Relationship to other development plans
Plans to ease regulatory burden on business
Proposals to link job creation and training

By John Rittenhouse
The Hills-Beaver Creek girls’ basketball team improved its Red Rock Conference record to 6-4 with a 56-41 win over Sioux Valley-Round Lake-Brewster in Hills Tuesday.

H-BC outscored the Raiders in each of the first three quarters and battled SV-RL-B to a draw in the fourth quarter to win by 15.

The Patriots weren’t sharp the entire game, but some positive things did happen that left H-BC coach Tom Goehle feeling optimistic about his team.

"We played really well at times. At other times, we didn’t. We did go as deep into our bench as we have all season, and we got some quality minutes from our reserves," he said.

Brittney Rozeboom helped the Patriots get off to a good start by scoring 10 of her 13 points in the first half.

With Rozeboom leading the way, H-BC opened a 13-9 lead in the first quarter before outscoring SV-RL-B 12-8 in the second period to make it a 25-17 game at the intermission.

Erin Boeve took over for H-BC in the second half by netting 10 of her team-high 18 points.

H-BC outscored the Raiders 17-10 in the third quarter to increase its lead to 42-27 before battling the Raiders to a draw at 14 in the fourth quarter.

The 9-7 Patriots play in Lamberton Saturday before hosting Pipestone Tuesday.

Box score
B.Rozeboom 6 0 1-2 13, Bush 0 1 0-0 3, Feucht 1 0 0-0 2, Sandstede 0 0 0-0 0, Tilstra 1 1 4-4 9, S.Rozeboom 3 0 1-2 7, Hoyme 0 0 0-0 0, Boeve 8 0 2-5 18, Olson 1 0 0-0 2, Mulder 0 0 2-2 2.

Hills-Beaver Creek guard Tyler Bush grabs a rebound before scoring during the first half of Friday’s boys’ basketball game against Westbrook-Walnut Grove in Hills. The Patriots scored 101 points during a 61-point victory over the Chargers.

By John Rittenhouse
The Hills-Beaver Creek boys passed the century mark in scoring when they entertained Westbrook-Walnut Grove for a Red Rock Conference boys’ basketball game in Hills Friday.

In a stunning offensive performance, H-BC canned 63 percent of its field goals on the way to a 101-40 victory over the Chargers.

Eight Patriots made contributions to the scoring blitz, and five of them reached double figures in points.

Tyson Metzger and Kale Wiertzema led the charge with 23 and 20 points respectively.

Trey Van Wyhe, Jesse Leuthold and Clint Roozenboom added 19, 14 and 12 points to the winning cause.

W-WG, a team that recently played an undefeated Pipestone Area team to a near draw in the first half, sported a 3-2 lead against the Patriots early in the first quarter.

H-BC, however, bounced back to outscore the Chargers 99-37 the rest of the way to win by 61.

After falling behind by one point early, the momentum switched to H-BC’s favor for good when it put together an 11-1 run capped by Tyler Bush’ field goal at 4:55 to gain a 13-4 lead.

The Patriots outscored the Chargers 23-5 over the remainder of the period to take a 36-9 lead into the second stanza.

The situation grew worse for W-WG in the second quarter as it was outscored 26-5, which led to a 62-14 halftime deficit.

The score was 88-30 after H-BC outscored the Chargers 26-16 in third period, and the hosts surpassed the 100-point barrier when Roozenboom hit a field goal that capped scoring in the fourth quarter with 54 seconds remaining.

Besides making 45 of 72 field goals, H-BC collected 24 more rebounds (43-19) than W-WG did in the game, and forced the Chargers to turn the ball over 21 times.

Wiertzema, who had nine rebounds, and Van Wyhe recorded double-doubles with 12 assists and 10 rebounds respectively.

Bush finished the game with 14 assists and seven steals, Roozenboom had seven rebounds and five steals, and Metzger and Zach Wysong chipped in eight and six rebounds respectively.

Box score
Bush 2 1 0-2 7, Wysong 0 2 0-0 6, Jackson 0 0 0-0 0, Roozenboom 6 0 0-1 12, Broesder 0 0 0-0 0, Wiertzema 7 2 0-1 20, Metzger 8 1 4-6 23, Leuthold 6 0 2-3 14, Van Wyhe 9 0 1-1 19, Spykerboer 0 0 0-2 0.

Team statistics
H-BC: 45 of 72 field goals (63 percent), seven of 15 free throws (47 percent), 43 rebounds, eight turnovers.
W-WG: 16 of 48 field goals (31 percent), three of eight free throws (38 percent), 19 rebounds, 21 turnovers.

By Lori Ehde
and Jolene Farley
A bus load of Rock County farmers and ethanol investors left Luverne at 5:30 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 16, to see lawmakers in St. Paul about proposed cuts to ethanol subsidies.

The group wanted to let lawmakers know that rural Minnesota is taking a disproportional hit in the budget cuts, according to David Kolsrud, manager of CornerStone Cooperative.

CornerStone is the 200-plus member co-op that owns the majority of the Agri-Energy Ethanol Plant in Luverne.

"We borrowed money and made the investments, all with the understanding that the money would be there. … There are those who have loans out there, and you don’t just pull the rug out on those deals," Kolsrud said.

"When a new administration decides to pull the funding, it’s reneging on a contract, as far as I’m concerned."

In what is by far the biggest line item in Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s proposed budget cuts, the plan would eliminate $26.8 million in payments to 13 plants.

This represents three-quarters of what the state was set to pay out in subsidies this year.

Cornerstone Cooperative shareholder Dave Willers, Beaver Creek, said he thought the meeting went well.
"I felt it was very good," Willers said. "We told them it’s not good for us to take 100 percent cuts but if it’s equal, it should be fair."

He said there will be funding cuts upfront, but the decrease in funding will be made up in later years.
"That wouldn’t be the worst thing," he said. "Then the bankers would still know what’s coming is still coming."

Current subsidies provide 20 cents per gallon of ethanol produced — up to $3 million to each plant, including Luverne’s, annually.

Producers and investors in Luverne’s Agri-Energy Ethanol plant say the proposed cuts are unfair to rural Minnesota and would set back the value-added and renewable energies movement.

"It would put a severe crimp in the value-added market," Kolsrud said.

"There’s a lot of money that has circulated throughout the community by farmers who have added value to their grain prices," Kolsrud said.

"It’s just an unfortunate situation when years worth of work can be undone by a new governor."

Hills-Beaver Creek elementary students attended a health fair at school on Thursday. Above, Rock County Deputy Evan Verbrugge talks to students about drug awareness. Students received a bag with handouts on the topics and goodies at the end of the event.

Photo by Jolene Farley