Phyllis Schaefer's first-grade class is the featured Luverne Elementary classroom of the week. Pictured are (front row, from left) Matthew Sterrett, Lucas Dohlmann, Cassandra Liebhard, Kellsie Cowell, Isaac Petersen, Sara Ramirez, (row two) Caleb Dressen, Jonathan Solma, Kelly Sandager, Dustin Deutsch, Victor Phommaracksa, Skyler Wenninger, (back row) Brett Heronimus, Taylor Stratton, Jacob Conger, Katie Kooiker, Caitria Sweeney and Nicholas Buss. Mrs. Schaefer's class is excited about learning how to read and write stories. "We read every night to our parents and enjoy sharing what we have read to our classmates." It has been a busy month for these first-graders, with field trips to the fire station and flower shop. Mr. McGruff also visited school and talked to the class about the McGruff houses and ways to be safe. They are off to a great start in first grade.

Photo by Lori Ehde

A grain truck was towing a pickup when it hit Cal Saarloos' pickup from behind in an accident south of Luverne on Highway 75 Friday. Saarloos was in the bed of the pickup at the time of impact and was thrown from the vehicle.

Photo by Lori Ehde

By John Rittenhouse
Hills-Beaver Creek has drawn the fourth seed for the upcoming Sub-Section 10 (of Section 3A) Volleyball Tournament.

The Patriots will open tournament play Friday, Oct. 26, in the Luverne Elementary School gym. H-BC faces No. 5 Sioux Valley-Round Lake-Brewster, a team it beat 3-1 in Round Lake Sept. 27, in the tournament's quarterfinals.

The H-BC match will follow a clash involving No. 1 Southwest Christian on the 26th. Southwest will take on the winner of a match between No. 8 Ellsworth and No. 9 Faith Christian that will be played in Ellsworth at 7 p.m. Monday.

The SWC quarterfinal round match begins at 6 p.m. with the H-BC-SV-RL-B clash to follow.

Quarterfinal-round matches in the tournament's lower bracket will be played in the Luverne High School gym on Oct. 26.

No. 2 Fulda meets No. 7 Adrian at 6 p.m., with No. 3 Edgerton playing No. 6 Southwest Star Concept after the first match.

The tournament's quarterfinals will be played in Luverne Elementary School on Oct. 30.

No site has been announced for the finals, which will be played Nov. 1.

By Jolene Farley
Kayla Vis has operated a day care in her rural Beaver Creek home for six years. She currently cares for 12 children, watching anywhere from five to eight children at a time.

Being a day-care provider takes unlimited energy. Vis simultaneously puts on shoes and coats, pushes kids on the swing, keeps a watchful eye on the active children and handles anything else that comes up.

"You do not get a break when you do day care," said Vis. "If you think you are going to sit down, then that’s not the job for you."

Vis started doing day care to be home with her children. She and her husband, Steve, have three children, Kyle, 9, Zack, 5, and Dalton, 2.

She begins her day at 6 a.m., and her last child leaves at 6 p.m. on most days. Open Monday through Friday, she will watch kids ages 1 year and older. Vis charges $1.75 per hour per child.

Vis doesn't charge a guaranteed fee each week, even if the kids are not at her house. "If they go to Grandma's I don't care; that's fine," she said. "That’s good for them."

Vis really enjoys working with the kids. "They've got some interesting stories if you've got a minute to listen. Sometimes they are pretty funny."

She said the most hectic time of her day is right before lunch, when the kids are hungry and tired. "There is a certain order and routine you have to have," she said. "It's like any other job. Some days you have your bad days."

Vis is unsure if there is a day care shortage in the area, but parents continue to call to see if she has openings.

By John Rittenhouse
Hills-Beaver Creek assured itself of a winning record during its first year of volleyball competition as a member of the Red Rock Conference.

With a spectacular come-from-behind, 3-2 victory in Fulda Thursday, the Patriots improved their RRC record to 6-4 with one league match left to be played.

The victory, however, didn't come easily.

The Patriots found themselves in a 2-0 hole when the Raiders took the first two games of the match.

Instead of giving up, H-BC turned up the heat on the hosts and outscored them 45-25 while winning the final three games.

A change in the mental approach to the match proved to be the key to victory for H-BC.

"In the first two games we just didn't play very smart volleyball. In the last three games we started to read their defense and take what they were giving us. We played smarter volleyball in the last three games," said Patriot coach Nicole Fey.

The Raiders had their way with the Patriots while rolling to a 15-5 win in Game 1, but H-BC showed signs of regrouping while opening an 11-2 lead in Game 2.

Fulda, however, dominated play while putting together a 13-0 run that gave the hosts a 15-11 win and a 2-0 lead in games.

H-BC trailed early in the third game before rallying to knot the score at 11. At that point the Patriots went on a 4-1 run that clinched a 15-12 victory, which set the stage for a complete comeback.

The Patriots controlled play while securing a 15-8 victory in Game 4.

H-BC dominated the Raiders while opening a 10-0 lead in the fifth game, which ended with the Patriots winning 15-5 in the end.

Tonya Leenderts completed all 35 serves she attempted in the match and scored 26 points for the winners.

LaDonna Sandstede recorded 19 set assists for H-BC while Erin Boeve led the Patriots with 31 kills and 17 digs.

By John Rittenhouse
What has been an outstanding 2001 football season for the Hills-Beaver Creek-Ellsworth Patriots became even more impressive Friday in Westbrook.

Taking on the defending Minnesota State nine-man football champion Westbrook-Walnut Grove Chargers, H-BC-E put another big feather in its hat by recording a 7-6 win.

The victory assured the Patriots of at least a share of the Southwest Ridge Conference championship. A win during last nightÕs regular season finale against Lakeview in Hills would clinch the crown outright for the Patriots.

Even more important than the league implications, the win in Westbrook moved the Patriots closer to the No. 1 seed for the Section 1 Playoffs. If the Patriots beat Lakeview last night, the No. 1 seed, and the first-round bye that goes along with it, would be theirs.

"It was a huge win for us," said Patriot coach Dan Ellingson, the mentor of a team that moved up into the fifth position on the latest Minnesota State Nine-Man football poll.

"It assured us of at least a share of the conference championship, and it was even more important for us in the terms of section seedings. We could get the No. 1 seed, a first-round bye and not have to play until the section semifinals Oct. 27."

There was nothing easy about beating the defending state champion Chargers on their home field Friday.

The teams battled to a scoreless draw in the first half before H-BC-E drew first blood by scoring seven points in the third quarter. W-WG found the end zone late in the fourth quarter, but a failed two-point conversion attempt clinched the win for the Patriots.

Although the first half was scoreless, Ellingson said the momentum favored the Patriots after a sequence of possessions in the second quarter.

W-WG was making a bid to open the scoring when it advanced the ball inside the H-BC-E 10-yard line. On fourth-and-goal from the three, the Chargers tried a play-action pass with the W-WG quarterback passing to a running back in the flat. Just as the ball touched the intended receiver's hands, Patriot linebacker Jesse Leuthold delivered a hit that jarred the ball loose and the pass fell incomplete.

Pinned deep in their own territory, the Patriot offense came up with an important series that featured it moving the ball from its own three to the W-WG 35. The drive ended with the Chargers intercepting a pass on their own 11, but that didn't seem to bother Ellingson.

"Those two series were big turning points in the game," Ellingson said. "First we stop them with a goal-line stand, then weÕre able to march the ball downfield instead of giving them good field position. They were in control of the game at that point. Then we were able to establish control of the game."

The first of three important interceptions produced by the Patriot defense helped the H-BC-E offense break the scoreless deadlock in the third quarter.

Chris Reid intercepted the pass on the W-WG 40, which set up a scoring drive capped by a one-yard touchdown plunge by Lyle DeBoer. Tyler Bush booted the important extra point to give the Patriots a 7-0 lead.

The score remained 7-0 until there were less than five minutes left to play in the fourth quarter. W-WG broke through with a two-yard touchdown run with 4:30 left to play, but a pass for a two-point conversion was picked off by Patriot Brad Haak, preserving H-BC-E's 7-6 edge.

H-BC-E had to punt to W-WG as the fourth quarter progressed, and the Chargers picked up a first down by completing a third-and-12 pass. W-WGÕs final opportunity to pull in front ended moments later, when Patriot lineman Kyle Braun deflected a pass that was intercepted by DeBoer with 1:00 left to play. The Patriot offense ran the remaining time off the clock.

"Our defense really played well," Ellingson said. "All three of the interceptions we came up with were big ones."

Team statistics
H-BC-E: 170 rushing yards, zero passing yards, 170 total yards, 11 first downs, three penalties for 17 yards, two turnovers.

W-WG: 111 rushing yards, 166 passing yards, 277 total yards, 14 first downs, four penalties for 25 yards, three turnovers.

Individual statistics
Rushing: Reid 19-71, DeBoer 17-87, Kevin Van Batavia 1-6, Chris Tiesler 2-5, David Top 2-1.

Passing: Top 0-3 for zero yards.

Defense: Curt Schilling 12 tackles, Leuthold 10 tackles, DeBoer six tackles, one sack, one interception, two knocked down passes, Reid six tackles and one interception, Brant Deutsch six tackles, Haak five tackles and one interception.

By Jolene Farley
Tuff Memorial Home, Hills, began offering outpatient therapy treatment in May, and the program has been successful, according to physical therapist Brynn Ladd.

"It (business) has gradually increased," said Ladd, who works part-time at the Tuff Home and part-time at Luverne Community Hospital. "I think it has gone well."

The Tuff Home provides a variety of services, to patients both in-house and outpatient. One other physical therapist, an occupational therapist and a physical therapist assistant work in Hills.

"We do all kinds of orthopedic, shoulders, knees and backs," Ladd said. "Mostly strengthening exercises."

Physical therapy utilizes mechanical devices, heat, cold, light, water, electricity, ultrasound, therapeutic exercises and rehabilitative procedures to help patients reach their optimum health.

Physical therapy services include manual therapy techniques, home exercise programs, gait analysis and training, sports injury management, orthotic and prosthetic training, stroke rehabilitation, wound and burn care treatment, education and training of patients and families and aquatic therapy.

Occupational therapy improves the ability of people whose lives have been disrupted by physical illness or injury, developmental problems or the aging process to perform the activities of daily living.

Ladd worked in many different settings as a physical therapist. "Every place has good things," she said. "You just have to look for them."

Ladd has lived and worked in Pennsylvania, Colorado, Congo, Africa, California and now lives near Rock Rapids, Iowa, and works in Luverne and Hills.

Ladd practiced in an acute care hospital in Pennsylvania, in a city and county hospital in Denver and did home care in California.

"ThatÕs what I like about physical therapy," she said. "You can work in a variety of settings."

Ladd graduated in 1981 from the University of Pennsylvania with a post baccalaureate degree in physical therapy. You have to have a master's degree to be licensed as a physical therapist now, according to Ladd.

"The reason I went into physical therapy is I really enjoyed working with people," said Ladd. "In general, most of the people you see, they're improving."

Ladd and her husband, Bob, have three children, Allie, 12, Jenny, 9, and Christopher, 7.

Beaver Creek firefighter Ron Rauk helps Hills-Beaver Creek Elementary kindergarten student Jeffrey Nelson try on a firefighter's protective coat. Firefighters Ron Rauk and Jason Rauk surprised the Hills-Beaver Creek kindergarten class Thursday afternoon with a fire safety talk and a ride on the fire truck. Jason visited the class dressed in full fire gear hoping to reduce the kids' fear of the way firefighters look on the scene of a fire. Students were allowed to try on the gear and were told the purpose of each piece of equipment. Students spent the morning studying fire safety rules and talking about what to do in different emergency situations.

Photos by Jolene Farley

Fire Chief Allan Top tests the grill to make sure it is the right temperature for the best pancakes.