Luverne — 'You make great memories for all eight teams and fans'
To the Editor:
I had the privilege this past weekend to be the Minnesota Division IIAmerican Legion baseball tournament director in Luverne.  The community ofLuverne opened their arms to seven different communities and my staff for awonderful weekend of baseball.
To say this was a great weekend would be an understatement!  Thursday evening was an outstanding banquet at Big Top Event center. From the staff to thecaterer they didn't miss a beat!
Redbird Field is a diamond in the rough.The field is immaculate and the grounds plus concessions area is tremendous. Speaking of the concessions, the food was very good!
Thank you, Mayor Pat Baustian, for allowing your beautiful city to host suchan event. Your city crew did outstanding on field preparation for thetournament. Thank you to the Luverne Fire Department for providing a laddertruck to hang the American flag. – What a great touch!
Thank you to the manyvolunteers plus chairmen of committees from the Luverne Baseball Association. Your hard work and labor of love for baseball did not gounnoticed by my team!
Finally, I want to thank  Barry Shelton and Don Dinger for their relentlesswork on not only bidding the tournament a few years ago  but their leadership on assuring this tournament would be one to remember for the teams, fans and state Legion baseball staff.
Barry was my conduit over the past year to assure the tournament would be successful. I had a very easytime working with Barry. Whenever we needed a concern addressed, it was taken care of in a timely manner. Barry and Don made sure this tournament was first-class!
This past weekend’s tournament showed what Americana is all about. Thankyou, Luverne! I will never forget the 2022 Division II American Legion Baseball tournament.  You made great memories for all eight teams and fans!
Jeff "Slick" MillerDirector DII BaseballMinnestoa American Legion Baseball

Dispatch report
July 22
•Complainant on 101st Street, Beaver Creek, reported suspicious vehicles in the area.
•Complainant on N. Oakley Street reported a parking issue.
•Complainant west-bound on Interstate 90, mile marker 1, Valley Springs, South Dakota, reported a cattle truck swerving on roadway.
•Complainant on 71st Street, Beaver Creek, reported a possible drunk driver.
•Nobles County Jail requested RCSO assistance.
•MHP pursuit on 221st Street and 70th Avenue, Jasper.
July 23
•Complainant on 241st Street, Jasper, reported a break-in.
•Complainant on W. Edgehill reported suspicious activity.
•Complainant on S. Fairview Drive reported theft at location.
•Complainant on S. Fairview Drive reported theft from vehicle.
•Complainant on 74th Avenue and County Road 4, Beaver Creek, reported man stumbling around outside vehicle.
•Complainant in Pipestone reported an emergency in another county.
•Assistance from another county was conducted.
•Complainant on W. 69th Street, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, requested deputy contact.
•Complainant on 4th Street, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, reported subject with Rock County warrant.
July 24
•Deputy out with vehicle at location on County Road 4 and County Road 6, Beaver Creek.
•Complainant on Sioux Valley Drive requested deputy check on parked vehicle.
•Complainant on S. West Park Street reported a possible electric line issue at location.
•Complainant on Burr Avenue and W. 1st Street, Jasper, reported a fire.
•Complainant west-bound on Interstate 90, mile marker 18, Magnolia, reported a driving complaint.
July 25
•Complainant in Rock County reported suspicious activity.
•Complainant on Commerce Road reported a vehicle break-in.
•Complainant reported a burglary on County Highway 4, Luverne.
•Complainant reported a missing person.
•Deputy conducted a warrant check on E. 1st Street, Hardwick.
•Complainant on W. Brown Street reported a vehicle playing loud music.
•Complainant on E. Brown Street requested extra patrol.
•Complainant on E. Lincoln Street reported a child runaway came home.
•Complainant on Main Street reported a driving complaint.
July 26
•Complainant in Magnolia campground, Magnolia, reported a smoke detector going off in camper.
•Trespassing issue was reported on Eugene Street, Kanaranzi.
•Complainant on E. Lincoln Street reported a runaway.
•Complainant on W. Main Street, Marshall, reported a subject with Rock County warrant.
•Suspicious activity was reported on W. Main Street, Marshall.
•Complainant on W. Veterans Drive reported a runaway.
•Complainant on W. Church Avenue, Steen, reported stolen property.
July 27
•Complainant in Hardwick reported a power outage.
•Complainant on Highway 23 and 21st Street, Jasper, reported pedestrian sitting in roadway.
•Complainant on railroad Avenue S., Jasper, reported a woman in lane of traffic.
•Complainant received a bad check.
•Complainant requested a gas voucher.
•Complainant on W. Luverne Street, Magnolia, reported suspicious car driving through the campground.
•Complainant on 211th Street, Hardwick, requested a property check at location.
July 28
•Issuing a warrant was attempted on 70th Avenue, Beaver Creek.
•Complainant reported person walking on road southbound on Highway 23, mile marker 12, Jasper.
•Complainant at fairgrounds reported vehicles parked in unauthorized area.
•Complainant on Elmhurst Avenue requested information on fire detectors.
•Complainant requested to speak to a deputy.
•Complainant on Hatting Street reported a parking issue at location.
•Extra patrol was utilized at the fairgrounds.
•Complainant eastbound on Interstate 90, mile marker 17, Magnolia, reported a vehicle swerving all over the roadway.
•Complainant on N. Spring Street reported a stolen vehicle.
•Complainant on E. Mead Court reported a parking complaint.
•Complainant at fairgrounds reported underage drinking.
July 29
•A warrant check was authorized on E. Crawford Street.
•Complainant on N. Cedar Street reported lost keys.
In addition, officers responded to 2 motor vehicle accidents, 2 transports, 1 funeral escort, 19 ambulance runs, 3 paper services, 10 animal complaints, 2 fingerprint requests, 5 burn permits, 1 background check, 1 driver’s license check, 1 alarm, 6 drug court tests, 3 purchase and carry permits, 1 stalled vehicle, 10 traffic stops, 12 abandoned 911 calls, 2 tests, 2 welfare checks, 1 report of cattle out, 1 OFP and 2 follow-ups.

Card showers
Margaret Loger will celebrate her 90th birthday on Saturday, Aug. 6. Greetings may be sent to her at 200 W. 7th Street, Adrian, MN 56110.
 
Larry and Cathy Lewis will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary on Friday, Aug. 12. Greetings may be sent to them at 29568 St. Hwy. 91, Adrian, MN 56110.

LSS meals at Generations
 
Monday, Aug. 8: Goulash, corn, tropical fruit, bread.
Tuesday, Aug. 9: Ham and turkey chef salad, bread stick, fresh orange, dessert.
Wednesday, Aug. 10: Cubed beef, mashed potatoes, carrots, bread.
Thursday, Aug 11: Polish sausage, mashed potatoes, sauerkraut, bread, dessert.
Half-Price Day sponsored by Minnwest Bank.
Friday, July 12: Sloppy Joe on a bun, cheesy hashbrowns, baked beans, dessert.
LSS Dining offers well-balanced and affordable meals in a community atmosphere.
Call Lynette Hoiland at 283-9846, extension 11 to reserve one day prior, to arrange to pick up a dinner or for home-delivered meals.
Gift certificates are available at the meal site or online at www.lssmn.org/nutrition.

Spring 2022 dean’s list announced at U of M Twin Cities
Several area students were named to the Spring 2022 semester dean’s list at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities campus. To be eligible, students must earn a minimum of 12 graded credits with at least a 3.66 GPA.
Named to the list from Luverne are Alexis Ferrell, senior, biological sciences; Amelia Jarchow, sophomore, liberal arts; Grace Sweeney, senior, liberal arts; Solveig Tofteland, sophomore, nursing; and Jordan Winter, junior, Carlson School of Management.
From Garretson, South Dakota, is Emilie Bartels, senior, Carlson School of Management.

The following article is part of the Diamond Club Member group that began in the January 7, 1943, issue of the Rock County Star Herald. Members of this group consist of persons of age 75 and older.
This article appeared in the April 1, 1943, edition of The Rock County Star Herald.
         The term “cost of production” is an expression which brings back memories to Mrs. Mina Carlisle of Battle Plain township, who lives there on a farm with her son, Elmer Pierson. To have received most of production one of those hard years in the ’20s would have seen money in the pockets of the farmers who battled drought and depression at the same time with all the odds against them.
They would have felt they were literally rolling in wealth if they could have had the “cost plus 10 percent,” the economic profit scale of this era, but let Mrs. Carlisle tell you in her own words what was the plight of her father, a farmer in Iowa. She says:
“One year, our wheat crop yielded three bushels per acre. We had sowed one and one-half bushels of seed per acre and had paid $2 a bushel for the seed. Father was sick that year, so we had to hire help at $3 a day, and had to hire some of the grain cut at $1.25 an acre. When we sold the wheat, we received 45 cents a bushel for it, so you can see how much profit we got out of our crop. All we got was the straw, and there wasn’t much of that. Those really were hard times.”
Mrs. Carlisle was born Dec. 25, 1862, in Holmes county, Ohio, the daughter of Martin and Delila VanSwearingen. She moved with her family to Iowa when she was a young girl, and lived in that state until 1921 when she came to Rock county to make her home.
If St. Patrick had driven the snakes out of Ireland he must have chased them into Iowa, because Mrs. Carlisle states there were plenty of them in her community when she was a girl. She recalls that on one occasion, she killed one that measured five feet in length and five inches in diameter. First she tried using a hoe, but when she apparently wasn’t having any success, she used an ax.
She distinctly remembers the blizzard of 1881. The storm lasted three days and three nights, and when it was over, the drifts were even with the eaves of the house. When they wanted to go any place, they had to detour in all directions because of the snow’s great depth. That winter was one of the longest and hardest Mrs. Carlisle ever experienced. As she recalls it now, there were but few days when it was not either snowing or blowing or both. Spring came very late, and all the snow did not thaw away until late in April. They began sowing their wheat on April 27, she recalls, and that was the year they had the small crop.
She recalls she earned her first dollars as a girl doing housework. Her salary was $1.50 per week.
March 29, 1885, she was married at Carroll, Ia., to Albert B. Pierson. They lived on a farm and became the parents of two children, Elmer J. Pierson of near Edgerton and John who died in infancy. Mr. Pierson lost his life in a hunting accident when her son Elmer was 10 years old.
On Dec. 30, 1907, she married C. H. Carlisle, at Manning, Ia., and after her marriage, she lived in Manning where Mr. Carlisle was on the police force. After his death in 1921, she came to Minnesota to live with her son Elmer on the farm near Edgerton. The years she spent in Manning, Mrs. Carlisle states, are the only years of her life that were not spent on a farm.
Mrs. Carlisle has four grandchildren, Louis J. Pierson, Albert B. Pierson, Mrs. Vione Stamman and Bernice Pierson, and three great-grandchildren Gary C. Stamman, son of Mr. and Mrs. Clinton Stamman, and Gail, Janice and Wesley Louis, children of Mr. and Mrs. Louis Pierson.
Mrs. Carlisle’s favorite hobby is piecing quilts and quilting, although she also knits and braids many rag rugs, not only for herself but for her grandchildren and others.
Although she has been hard of hearing since she was nine years old, she has not been handicapped because she has learned to read lip movements. “For this ability I am very thankful,” she says, “as it has enabled me to carry on a good conversation with anyone.”
Of eight children in her father’s family, she and six others are still living. Her brothers and sisters include: Sam VanSwearingen, Happy, Tex.; Elmer Van Swearingen, Spirit Lake, Ia.; Mrs. Lillie Grundmeier, Hines; Mrs. Dicea Wilson, Marshalltown, Ia. and Mrs. Viantha Scheiber, Lake Benton.
Mrs. Carlisle has had good health all her life, and to this and to the fact that she has worked hard, she attributes her long life.
She is a member of the Presbyterian church.
         Donations to the Rock County Historical Society can be sent to the Rock County Historical Society, 312 E. Main Street, Luverne, MN 56156.
Mann welcomes correspondence sent to mannmade@iw.net.

Dwarf reblooming daylilies have finished their first and main flush of flowers for the summer. Some of those stalks have developed seed pods and others have just dried up.
We want to encourage those daylilies to rebloom, which they will do, but cutting out the stems with seed pods will encourage them to develop new flowering stems sooner.
The flower stalks that have dried up can usually be pulled easily because they aren’t supporting anything.  Those with seed pods need to be cut out, and I try to make the cut down into leaf clump as far as possible so I don’t leave a visible dead stump.
Water them well when you have finished and they will reward you with continuing to rebloom well into fall.
     And speaking of watering, I had a person ask me last week why their bean blossoms were not setting beans.
Excessive heat often will delay that initial bean development, but this would be too late in the season for that problem to be happening.
When I asked about watering, she replied that she gave them a little water almost every day, and that revealed the problem.
Our top soil moisture for the most part is gone, so when you apply a small amount of water, that water does not penetrate the soil very far and quickly dissipates into the surrounding dry soil. A little water frequently inhibits root development because the roots are going to stay where there is moisture.
However, thorough, deep watering will encourage the roots to go looking for moisture as the surface soil becomes dry and subsequently develop a much more extensive and supporting root system for the plant.
I prefer to use a soaker hose because I can get the most efficient use of water by soaking the root zone instead of all the space between the rows.
To date in my garden this year, I have done this kind of watering two times. My garden is big and my vegetables are really producing so there’s evidence of the value of the deep, thorough water theory.
It is important to use our precious water as efficiently as possible to  get the maximum benefit from it.

Stratton solves ‘Codebreaker Challenge’
Luverne High School graduate Logan Stratton was recently recognized for solving the Codebreaker Challenge with Dakota State University, Madison, South Dakota.
The four-month-long challenge, sponsored by the National Security Agency, helps students develop reverse-engineering and low-level code analysis skills while working on a realistic problem set centered around the NSA’s mission.
It requires a mix of forensic analysis, reverse engineering, software development and exploitation skills that would be required in real-life NSA missions.
Each year includes a different emphasis, and the recent competition included an example of a drone network and a malware focus.
The competition has been offered since 2013, and this year’s challenge involved 5,400 participants from 631 academic institutions.
Stratton has competed in several of the challenges, and this is the second time he has solved it. There were about 40 who solved the competition this year; in 2020 he was one of only six to solve it.
“This is one of the most realistic skills that can be used in several different aspects of the cybersecurity industry,” Stratton said.
“Knowing these basics usually will help complete a multitude of areas or focus that could come up in the future.”
Stratton, son of James and Jennifer Stratton, recently graduated from DSU with degrees in cyber operations and computer science.