The Luverne Municipal Airport will host a “fly-in or drive-in” pancake breakfast from 7 a.m. to noon Saturday, Aug. 27.
In addition to inflatables for kids and Skydive Adventures demonstrations, there will be aircraft and an air ambulance on display.
Luverne City Administrator John Call said the airport hasn’t hosted a fly-in breakfast since 2019 when the event attracted a record 437 people.
“So we’re going to try to break 500 or 600 this year,” Call said at the Tuesday, Aug. 16, council meeting.
Airport Board Chairman Jim Juhl has arranged for the Young Eagles out of South Dakota to give airplane rides to children Saturday.
The Young Eagles is a program created by the U.S. Experimental Aircraft Association to give youth between the ages of 8 and 17 an opportunity to experience flight in a general aviation airplane while educating them about aviation.
The program is offered free of charge with costs covered by the volunteers.
Rides will be offered from 8 to 11 a.m., weather permitting, to children whose parents or legal guardian give signed approval.
“I know the kids really get excited about that,” Call said. “It’s going to be fun to see and it’s going to be great to get back to our fly-in this year.”
 
Building improvements
The fly-in discussion was part of Tuesday’s city budget meeting when the council discussed the airport budget increase due to expenses of repairing the arrival and departure building after the 2020 fire.
Out of the $1 million in damages, insurance funds covered roughly $800,000, and the city covered expenses related to upgraded windows, wiring and other planned improvements.
The new building with its upgraded pilot’s lounge and office area, will be open to the public during Saturday’s event.
Fixed base operator Ben Baum and his wife, Lori, repair and service airplanes at the Luverne airport in addition to keeping up with fueling planes and maintaining the property.
They said traffic through the Luverne airport has decreased due to fuel prices. They average 10 to 20 planes per week now compared with twice that number last year.
Other airport projects include the recently installed fuel depot and construction of a four-unit hangar to meet demand for rental space.
The airport has had 100-percent hangar occupancy for many years, with waiting lists and frequent active inquiries for hangar space.

Hills-Beaver Creek School District’s after-school enrichment program is expanding a year after the program began.
At their Monday night meeting, H-BC School Board members approved hiring an assistant to the Patriot Enrichment Afterschool Care.
The position will be paid $16 per hour and will be open to high-school aged students to apply. The center operates from 3:15 to 5:45 p.m. Monday through Friday.
The new assistant will join coordinator Tedra Voss.
Eleven kindergarten- through fifth-grade students are currently enrolled, with more students expected prior to school starting Sept. 6.
With an assistant, the aftercare program can expand to 20 students.
The district’s personnel and finance committee met prior to the school board’s evening meeting.
“This is a program we wanted to expand,” said board member Harley Fransman. “Now is a good time to expand.”
 
Other personnel action
Board members also agreed with the committee’s recommendation to add an assistant volleyball coach for one year to work with the 34 students involved in the activity.
Pay range is $3,600 to $4,282 depending on qualifications.
The board also:
•approved Samantha McGaffee for the newly created concessions manager position. The yearlong job will pay $1,000.
•hired Katie Angelo as special needs paraprofessional for the 2022-23 school year at $16.10 per hour.
•accepted resignations of  Tyler Bush as assistant girls’ basketball coach and Mark Top as paraprofessional.

Two local utilities and three units of government will share in nearly $4 million in disaster aid from May 31 and July 5 weather events in Rock County.
“It’s not a huge amount to the county but it is to the townships,” said Kyle Oldre, emergency management director.
Oldre received notification Tuesday that the State of Minnesota approved the preliminary assessment amount of $84,350 in road damage from the July 5 weather event.
The state will reimburse 75 percent of the damage with the Rock County Highway Department, Magnolia and Springwater townships fronting 25 percent of the repair costs.
The excessive rain event in early July caused $30,740 in damages to county roads and $30,900 and $22,710 to Magnolia and Springwater township roads respectively.
Earlier this month, a federal declaration was approved for $300,000 to repair overhead electric lines after the May 31 weather event.
Winds in excess of 100 miles per hour caused an estimated $100,000 in damage to powerlines owned by the L&O Power Cooperative and $200,000 to Sioux Valley Energy lines.
The federal disaster reimbursements to the electric cooperatives were approved Aug. 9 and included 22 other counties in southern Minnesota.
The cooperatives will be responsible for 25 percent of repair costs, and the federal government will pay 75 percent.
A separate May 12 weather event with winds up to 90 mph did not cause enough local damage to meet state or federal thresholds for disaster aid.

Eighteen candidates seeking election to five open seats on the Luverne School Board is a testament to the spirit of local leadership and interest in the future of the district and its students.
With this many candidates on the ballot, the heightened interest in voting will also shine a spotlight on the quality of education in our district.
Luverne boasts a talented staff that rivals any in the state and has better staff retention than most districts in the region.
As such, students have significant opportunities in early post-secondary learning with dozens of college credits and AP courses. And Luverne’s Dollars for Scholars chapter is the most generous in the nation, granting thousands of dollars to LHS seniors each year.
These are all reasons families choose to move into the district and make Rock County their home, which further strengthens the local economy and community vibrancy.
From a leadership perspective, there’s never been a better time to serve on the Luverne School Board.
The new construction and remodeling is completed with a solid payment plan in place to cover the debt. We’ve had amicable contract negotiations and our current superintendent Craig Oftedahl is a proven leader who thrives on accomplishing goals for the district and its families.
Ask anyone on the current Luverne School Board, including the three board members not seeking re-election, and they’ll tell you there’s never been a better time to lead the district.
Maybe that’s why we have 18 candidates who want the job.
We don’t know what each of their personal motivations are, but we believe they want what’s best for the students.
After completing their Minnesota School Boards Association training for new school board members, they’ll learn their job is about policies that affect the district as a whole.
Armed with perspective, veteran board members say that their personal reasons for seeking election become a smaller focus in their overall school board work for the greater good of the district.
We look forward to robust dialogue among the 18 candidates and the voters this fall as we move toward Election Day on Nov. 8.
This is a great moment in history to be a student, a leader, a candidate, a voter and a resident in the Luverne School District. We are truly blessed.

Riding a donkey was not on my “bucket list.”
But my recent experience of doing just that was a topic of conversation days after the Celebrity Donkey Races during Rock County Fair last month.
I hope fair organizers bring the event back for 2023, for I have some unfinished business with a donkey named Amos.
You see, the little gray-and-white donkey developed a special bond with me.
Prior to the race, I cleaned dirt off his back and untangled his front foot from the lead rope as he stood with his other nine donkey “brothers” at the trailer.
I hoped my tender care would lead him to calmly trot around the race course without bucking, kicking and otherwise trying to dislodge me from his back.
Talks with the owner revealed that Amos was new to the racing string, and he was uncertain how the seemingly mild-mannered animal would act.
Leading Amos (whose racing name was “Simply Stupid”) to the start line, I just prayed he would allow me on his back.
As it turns out, he did.
And that was it.
I don’t tell people I rode a donkey during that first heat of the Celebrity Donkey Race — I sat on one. Because as hard as I tried to get Amos moving around the track, he just stood, managing to walk only 20 feet from the start line.
I felt defeated.
During the second heat, I stood on the opposite side of the trailer to take pictures.
The position offered a great view of the start line where my son, Andrew, was riding lined up with the others for the second heat. Andrew’s mount was called “Earthquake.”
Earthquake didn’t disappoint.
I have pictures of Andrew mounted, then bucked off, dragged along the ground, remounted, then bucked off again, and finally mounted to win his heat.
During Andrew’s race, I felt a familiar presence at my elbow — Amos had pulled away from his rider and stood calmly next to me as I took pictures. It appeared Amos wanted to watch the race, too.
After patting the little donkey and giving the lead rope back to the rider, I slapped Amos on the haunches and sent him back into the race. The encouragement must have worked, because in subsequent races Amos brought his riders to the finish line in second and fourth places.
I saw pictures of Amos the week following the Rock County Fair. He was at the fair in Pipestone and he looked like he could be ridden by a rider. I hope I had a hand in “breaking” him for racing.
He certainly made me a celebrity to my family and in the neighborhood for actually riding (sitting on) a donkey.
Thanks, Amos, for living up to your racing name, “Simply Stupid,” and for not leaving me with aches and pains as your brother “Earthquake” and the other more spirited donkeys did to my son and the other riders.
Riding a donkey was not on my Bucket List, but the experience was one that left me with bragging rights for the chance to be in the race.

Mary and I have grandkids who live in three different states — Minnesota, South Dakota and Iowa.
As you are probably well aware, it’s back-to-school shopping season.
The parents of our grandkids are in various stages of their back-to-school shopping, depending on when their school starts. It’s fair to say all are nearing the panic stage of the back-to- school shopping season.
Simply put, I am glad it’s them and not me.
The ages of our grandkids range from the youngest who is starting kindergarten to the oldest who is headed off to his first year of college.
The parents of the youngest are quick to point out the expense of back-to-school shopping for the kindergartner is more than offset by saving day care expenses.
Parents of the college-bound student are happy the home food budget may stretch a little farther, but the college tuition is a budget buster.
All in all, the parents know even with the stress of back-to-school shopping, that will mostly be offset by the peace and quiet the start of school brings, if only for a short time.
For me, back-to-school means fall sports and hunting season are just around the corner, and this is my favorite time of the year.

Ehlers: '...liked the glass blowing'
To the Editor:
I really liked the glass blowing. I hope they come back next year to the Rock County Fair.
Anna Ehlers,
Luverne
 
Kraayenhof: 'I am running for Hills City Council' 

Letter to the Editor:I see in the latest Star Herald that the only peoplerunning for the Hills city council positions are the two up for reelection.
I filed on the firstday that you could file to get your name on the ballot, and it’s my understanding that two others filed as well. Why were they or myself not listed? Do they not want people to know that there are others interested in getting on the city council?
I am Brian Kraayenhof, and I am running for Hills City Council.
Brian Kraayenhof,
Hills
 
“Editor’s note: The Star Herald published candidate filing information that was available on the Secretary of State website as of noon on press day."

Fareway Stores Inc. is remodeling the former W-2’s Quality Meats store at the intersection of Main Street and Highway 75 in Luverne to open a meat market this fall.
According to company project manager Mark DeYoung, the store may be ready to open in mid-September. “We’re very excited about what this market will do in Luverne,” he said.
In the company’s first venture of this kind in Minnesota, Luverne’s Fareway Meat Market will be a full-service butcher shop that will also offer ancillary grocery items.
“It’s Fareway ‘Meat and Grocery,’ not Fareway ‘Grocery and Meat,’” Fareway real estate director Koby Pritchard said when plans were announced in May. “It’s the backbone of what we do.”
He said the company was looking for a community to test this kind of market.
“With W-2 meats having already been here, a group of people from Fareway came and looked at Luverne, and we were all just blown away by the community,” he said.
“It’s just a wonderful town of 5,000 people that is growing, but still has that small-town feel. It has a great downtown and it checked all the boxes of a community we look for. It’s phenomenal.”
Fareway will lease the building from Luverne Properties for at least two years with the option to purchase it if all goes well.
The company is investing $69,000 in renovating the façade of the building, and the Luverne Economic Development Authority approved a $21,000 grant to support it.
The scope of work includes new siding and paint, new signage, LED lighting on the south and west, blackout glass and a new door.
A 10-by-14-foot walk-in cooler will be added on the north side, and excavation work around the exterior includes a “grease interceptor,” to catch solids from butcher shop cleanup.
 
Part of a larger plan
Pritchard told the LEDA board that the meat market is only part of the company’s long-range plans in Luverne.
“What we’re talking about today is a very small portion of the project in general because our investment will be a lot bigger than the $69,000 in just requesting the façade grant,” Pritchard said in May.
“We’re looking to make sure we have a chance to redevelop and build new if we want. The beauty of that is if we’re operating well out of this footprint and we decide we want to put our standard meat market in Luverne, then the doors never close, which is a really big deal, too, for us.”
The 2,300-square-foot building is smaller than Fareway’s typical meat market, and the only one of its kind in Minnesota.
“As our meat market concept has grown, we have a few different versions and types of markets, and we felt this concept fit Luverne,” Pritchard said.
If the business goes well with the small meat market, the company has an option to acquire property across the intersection to build a stand-alone meat market store.
The city owns three parcels on the corner of Main and Highway 75 (102 S. Kniss Ave., formerly known as Remmedez, 108 S. Kniss Ave. and 309 W. Main St.).
The city signed an option and right of first refusal with Fareway to purchase the property for $125,000.
The option gives Fareway the exclusive right to purchase the property until January 1, 2024.
If the option is not exercised by then, Fareway still has a right of first refusal to purchase the property by Jan. 1, 2025, in the event that the city has a legitimate offer from a third party.
If Fareway elects to purchase the property, a development agreement would stipulate that the property must be developed within two years of acquisition.

Dispatch report
Aug. 12
•Complainant on 111th Street and Rock River Drive reported a person sleeping on the bike path.
•Complainant in Primghar reported a stolen vehicle.
•Complainant on S. Kniss Avenue reported road blockage due to train car switching.
•Theft was reported at location on W. Main Street.
•Complainant on E. Main Street reported car vs. pedestrian accident.
•Complainant in Rock County reported an ARMER radio outage.
•Complainant on N. Freeman Avenue reported found ammunition.
•Complainant on Main Street, Sturgis, South Dakota, reported a found wallet.
•Complainant on S. Freeman Avenue reported an event selling alcohol.
•Complainant on Main Street and Kniss Avenue reported reckless driving.
Complainant in Manley reported an intoxicated driver.
Aug. 13
•Complainant on E. Luverne Street reported tires thrown in back of his pickup.
•Complainant on 101st Street, Beaver Creek, reported trespassing.
•Complainant on W. Hatting Street reported domestic assault.
•Complainant on Oak Drive reported a resident upsetting tenants.
•Complainant reported a runaway at location on E. Lincoln Street.
•Complainant on W. Lincoln Street reported a stolen dirt bike.
•Complainant on N. Kniss Avenue reported a man behaving suspiciously on side of road.
•Complainant on County Highway 4, Luverne, reported a runaway juvenile.
•Complainant on Edgehill Street reported a runaway juvenile.
Aug. 14
•Complainant on N. Donaldson Street reported a vehicle speeding.
•Complainant on S. Kniss Avenue reported a large fuel spill.
•Complainant on Highway 75, mile marker 6, Luverne, reported a pedestrian walking alongside road.
Aug. 15
•Complainant on S. Kniss Avenue reported a crosswalk light outage.
•Complainant on W. Veterans Drive reported a client runaway.
•Complainant on W. Main Street, Magnolia, reported a gunshot wound.
•Complainant on 200th Avenue, Luverne, reported a vehicle parked in cornfield.
Aug. 16
•Complainant reported a possible identity theft.
•Complainant on 150th Avenue, Luverne reported vandalism/attempted break-in.
•Complainant on E. Main Street reported a biking accident.
•Complainant requested to speak to a deputy.
•Deputy on County Road 4, Luverne, assisted a motorist.
Aug. 17
•Complainant west-bound on Interstate 90 on Magnolia exit, reported a possible camper fire.
•Complainant west-bound on Interstate 90 on Magnolia exit, requested deputy assistance with vehicle search.
•Complainant on W. Gabrielson reported a large amount of trash dumped on property.
•Complainant on S. Kniss Avenue reported an abandoned vehicle at location for a month.
•Complainant on E. Main Street reported illegal trash dump.
•Complainant on Oakley and Barck reported a squad car damaged in a hit and run at location.
•Complainant on N. Estey Street and W. Dodge Street reported a parking complaint.
•Complainant on 90th Avenue, Luverne, reported a controlled fire.
•Complainant on S. Walnut Avenue reported theft.
Aug. 18
•Complainant west-bound on Interstate 90 from Adrian, reported a vehicle swerving at location.
•Complainant on County Road 4, Magnolia, reported vehicle speeding at location.
•Report that fender had fallen off semitrailer, blocking traffic at location on County Road 6 and County Road 4, Beaver Creek.
•Complainant on County Road 4, Beaver Creek, reported possibly intoxicated driver at location.
•Complainant on N. Cedar reported vehicle doing burnouts at location.
Aug. 19
•Complainant on E. Bishop Street requested to speak with deputy.
•Complainant on S. Josephine Avenue, Hills, reported vehicle vandalized at location.
•Complainant on S. Donaldson Street reported a vehicle speeding at location.
•Complainant in Hardwick requested extra patrol for speeding vehicles at location.
In addition, officers responded to 4 motor vehicle accidents, 4 deer accidents, 3 transports, 3 escorts, 17 ambulance runs, 2 paper services, 7 animal complaints, 3 fingerprint requests, 9 burn permits, 1 vehicle impound, 1 background check, 2 driver’s license checks, 4 gas drive-offs, 7 drug court tests, 1 purchase and carry permit, 3 stalled vehicles, 11 traffic stops, 14 abandoned 911 calls, 3 tests, 5 welfare checks, 1 report of cattle out, 2 OFPs, 2 curfew checks and 6 follow-ups.