James Gilmore Sandstede, 76, Luverne, died Wednesday, June 23, 2021, at the Sanford Hospice Cottage in Luverne.
A time of fellowship was Sunday, June 27, at the Dingmann Funeral Home. A private graveside service will take place at a later date.
James Sandstede was born March 29, 1945, to Melvin and Florence (Taubert) Sandstede in Luverne. He graduated from Hills High School in 1963. Growing up, James learned to be a mechanic from his father who owned his own full-service station in Steen.
James joined the U.S. Navy following high school graduation. He served during the Vietnam War in several positions while serving on the assigned aircraft carrier after he completed his required training. He progressed through the ranks steadily until it was time for his discharge from the service. He was offered the opportunity for promotion to the rank of sergeant if he would stay for another tour, but he chose to take the honorable discharge and return home.
James married Geraldine Top 0n May 20, 1967. They had four sons, Chad, Wade, Donny and Danny, who all kept them busy and always on their toes.
James worked for Luverne Farm Store and later Ferrell Gas for many years before he started his own business. He worked for the Luverne Police Department for several years as a reserve officer.
James enjoyed racing and working on race cars for many years. He enjoyed hunting and fishing and just being outdoors. He also liked working with his hands, especially woodworking and fixing anything.
James is survived by his wife, Geraldine, of Luverne; three sons, Chad of Alaska, Wade (Kathleen) of Maple Grove and Donny (Erin) Sandstede of Luverne; and three brothers, Larry, Merlyn and Kevin Sandstede.
He was preceded in death by his parents and his son, Danny.
Arrangements were provided by Dingmann Funeral Home of Luverne,
dingmannandsons.com
(0701 F)

Krueger graduates from U of Nebraska
Ashton Krueger, Luverne, graduated from the College of Arts and Sciences as a member of the honors program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
To graduate from the honors program, students must maintain at least a 3.5 grade-point average, complete a culminating senior project or research thesis, and fulfill other curricular requirements.
 
Hagen named to dean’s list at Riverland
Ana Hagen, Hills, was named to the Spring 2021 dean’s list at Riverland Community College in Austin.
To be named, students must earn a GPA of 3.25 to 3.99. 
Sawtelle graduates from UW – Stout
Kammon Sawtelle, Luverne, graduated in May 2021 from the University of Wisconsin – Stout in Menomonie with a Bachelor of Science degree in human development and family studies.
 
Stratten earns degree at NDSU
Jaylin Stratten, Luverne, graduated after the Spring 2021 semester from North Dakota State University in Fargo with a Bachelor of Science degree in management information services.
 
Golla awarded Concordia scholarship
Josephine Golla, Luverne, has been awarded an Excellence scholarship in music/BREW at Concordia College in Moorhead.
Josephine is the daughter of Nate and Molly Golla of Luverne.
 
Minnesota West releases dean’s list
Minnesota West Community and Technical College has released the Spring 2021 semester dean’s honors list. To be eligible, students must earn a minimum of 12 graded credits with at least a 3.5 GPA.
The following area students were named: from Adrian, Libby Ahlers, Caleb Hornstein, Elizabeth Tesch, Emily Zemler; from Hills, Annie Bos, Calvin Erickson; from Luverne, Sara Kozak, Tenley Nelson, Justyce Ripka; from Kenneth, Kymberly VanderZiel and Julia VanderZiel; from Lismore, Elizabeth Erwin and Sydney Knips; from Rushmore, Dalton Gravenhof and Aunna Groenewold.
 
Boltjes named to dean’s list at Concordia
Ashlee Boltjes, Luverne, has been named to the Spring 2021 dean’s list at Concordia College in Moorhead. To be eligible, students must earn a 3.7 GPA or higher on a 4.0 scale, with 12 or more graded credits.
 
Fick makes dean’s list at Baylor
Tyler Fick, Beaver Creek, was named to the Spring 2021 semester dean’s list at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. To be eligible, students must earn a 3.7 GPA or higher with at least 12 graded credits.
Fick is studying in the Robbins College of health and human sciences.

The following appeared in The Rock County Star-Herald on March 24, 1949.
 
Luverne Girl Wins County Spelling Crown
Margaret Fritz, who is a pupil in the eighth grade of the Luverne junior high school, won the county spelling contest Saturday of a possible 100 words correctly in a written test, also taken by pupils from 11 other Rock county schools.
Shirley Hawes of district 45, placed second, and spelled 80 out of 100 words correctly.
Third place was won by Mary Lou Wynn of Magnolia who spelled 79 words right.
Winner, parent, teacher and County Superintendent V. M. Barrett will go to Minneapolis April 10 where Miss Fritz will take part in the state contest sponsored by the Minneapolis Tribune. There, all county winners will participate in a written examination. Survivors of the written examination will compete in an oral spelldown for the state championship.
The words fiasco, effigies, beige, doggerel and typifies, were, according to Superintendent Barrett, the five words which gave Rock county students the most difficulty in Saturday’s contest.
         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.

The Luverne Redbirds amateur baseball team won three games this week and are now on a six-game winning streak.
Luverne defeated Hadley 9-3 on June 23 at home before defeating both Tracy 15-4 and Ruthton 2-1 on the road Sunday.
“We have been playing some good baseball lately,” Redbirds player-manager Brooks Maurer said. “If our bats go cold, we’ve had some guys step up and pitch really well.”
The local amateurs hosted Windom Wednesday (June 30) and are scheduled to travel to Brookings tonight (July 1).
The Redbirds will host the Pipestone A’s at Redbird Field at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, July 7.
“We have some really tough games coming up over the next two weeks,” Maurer said. “It’s good to be on a winning streak going into those games.”
 
Luverne 9, Hadley 3
The Hadley Buttermakers came to Luverne June 23 and were handed a 9-3 defeat by the home Redbirds.
Hadley scored first in the top of the second inning, but Luverne answered with two runs in the third inning before adding three more in the sixth inning to open up the contest in the home team’s favor.
Jake Haugen pitched eight innings for the Redbirds, striking out 10 Hadley batters. Haugen gave up 10 hits and three runs.
Tyler Reisdorfer pitched the final inning for Luverne, striking out two and giving up no hits.
At the plate, the Redbirds were led by Derek Lundgren with four hits. Lundgren also scored a run and added an RBI.
Ethan Beyer added three hits for Luverne, with two RBIs, and scored one run.
Skyler Wenninger and Codie Zeutenhorst plated two runs each for the Redbirds.
 
Box Score
Hadley                0 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 0     3
Luverne              0 0 2 0 0 3 1 3 0     9
 
                                  AB  R  H  BI
Nath                          4     0   0   0
Paquette                   5     1   1   1
Johnson                    3     1   1   1
S. Wenninger            4     2   2   1
Zeutenhorst              4     2   1   1
Haugen                     5     1   2   1
Lundgren                  5     1   4   1
C. Wenninger            4     0   0   0
Maurer                       1     0   0   0
Beyer                        4     1   3   2
 
Luverne 15, Tracy 4
Luverne traveled to Tracy Sunday afternoon for the first of two road games played that day.
The Redbirds had productive bats in the 15-4 victory over the Express in seven innings.
Ben Serie and Lundgren each produced three hits, one RBI and scored three runs in the contest.
Wenninger also plated three runs off of two hits. Haugen and Colby Crabtree had two hits apiece, with Crabtree adding three RBIs.
Zeutenhorst pitched the complete seven-inning game for Luverne.
 
Box Score
Luverne               3 0 2 4 3 0 3     15
Tracy                  3 1 0 0 0 0 0       4
 
                                  AB  R  H  BI
B. Serie                     4     4   3   1
Lundgren                  5     3   3   1
Wenninger                3     3   2   0
Zeutenhorst              5     2   1   1
Haugen                     5     2   2   1
Crabtree                    5     0   2   3
Maurer                       4     0   1   0
Buss                          4     1   1   0
W. Serie                    4     0   0   0
 
Luverne 2, Ruthton 1
Luverne completed its second of two games in two towns on Sunday by defeating Ruthton 2-1.
 Will Serie, who plays most of his summer baseball on the Luverne Junior Legion team, made his Redbirds debut in the Sunday games.
“We were short players at the last minute on Sunday and Ben (Will’s older brother) said Will was home, so we went and picked him up,” Maurer said.
Will Serie made the most of the opportunity by leading the team with two hits in his second game.
The Redbirds’ two runs were scored by Zeutenhorst and Maurer.
Maurer pitched the entire contest for Luverne. He struck out eight and gave up three hits and run.
 
Box Score
Luverne             0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0       2
Ruthton             0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0       1
 
                                  AB  R  H  BI
B. Serie                     3     0   0   1
Lundgren                  4     0   0   0
Wenninger                3     0   0   0
Zeutenhorst              3     1   0   0
Haugen                     3     0   1   0
Crabtree                    4     0   1   1
Maurer                       3     1   0   0
Buss                          3     0   0   0
W. Serie                    3     0   2   0

The Luverne American Legion baseball team traveled to Minneota Thursday, June 24, and came home with a 3-1 victory.
Luverne’s scheduled game in Tracy Monday was rained out. The team played in Jackson Tuesday (June 29) and travels to Pipestone Thursday (July 1).
The Luverne American Legion team is now 3-2 on the season.
 
Luverne 3, Minneota 1
Ethan Beyer led the way for Luverne from the pitching mound and the plate during his team’s 3-1 victory in Minneota Thursday.   
Beyer pitched a complete game for Luverne. He struck out 11 Minneota batters, gave up five hits and walked none.
Minneota took the lead by scoring one run in the fourth inning but was unable to plate any additional runs in the game.
Minneota’s lone run was scored when the runner on third base enticed the Luverne catcher to throw to third, and the Minneota runner stole home.
Luverne scored two runs in the sixth inning and one more in the seventh.
During the sixth inning, Cade Wenninger hit a long ball that the outfield missed in the sun, which allowed Beyer to score and Wenninger to make it to third.
Wenninger then scored when Colby Crabtree hit a pop-up. Passing errors by Minneota basemen allowed Wenninger to score from third.
Beyer led the Luverne offense with three of his team’s four hits and scored one run.
Wenninger and Trevor Halverson scored one run each for the victors.
 
Box Score
Luverne              0 0 0 0 0 2 1           3
Minneota            0 0 0 1 0 0 0           1
 
                                  AB  R  H  BI
Beyer                        3     1   3   1
Wenninger                4     1   1   1
Crabtree                    2     0   0   0
Overgaard                 2     0   0   0
Sehr                          3     0   0   0
Ripka                         3     0   0   0
Herman                     3     0   0   0
R. Anderson             2     0   0   0
Halverson                 0     0   1   0
K. Anderson             3     0   0   0

Colton Arends of Luverne and Dylan Fitzpatrick of Magnolia both picked up feature wins at area dirt track races Friday night.
Area tracks canceled Saturday night’s scheduled races, including the second race of the LSR Enduro series in Slayton, because of rain.
 
Rapid Speedway
Arends won his fifth Stock Cars feature race of 2021 and third of the season at Rapid Speedway in Rock Rapids, Iowa, Friday night.
Chad Overgaard and Thomas Kracht, both of Luverne, placed fourth and fifth in the same race.
Eric Gaul of Luverne placed second in the Hobby Stocks feature race.
 
Murray County Speedway
Magnolia’s Dylan Fitzpatrick led Rock County racers competing at Murray County Speedway in Slayton Friday night.
After winning his heat race in the Hobby Stocks class, Fitzpatrick went on to win the feature race in the same class.
Silas Top of Hardwick placed third in the Bombers A feature race.
Below are the place finishes of Rock County racers last weekend.
 
Rapid Speedway – June 25
 
Sportsman’s A Feature
B. Boeve               Beaver Creek     4
 
USRA Hobby Stocks A Feature
E. Gaul                 Luverne              2
C. Wessels           Luverne            16
 
USRA Hobby Stocks B Feature
Trevor Kracht      Luverne            15
 
USRA Stock Cars A Feature
C. Arends             Luverne            1
C. Overgaard       Luverne            4
Thomas Kracht    Luverne            5
C. Kelderman       Hills                 14
S. Overgaard       Luverne           19
 
Modifieds A Feature
J. Smith                Luverne            2
                          
                                               
Murray County Speedway – June 25
 
IMCA Hobby Stocks A FeatureD. Fitzpatrick        Magnolia          1
 
MCRA Bombers
S. Top                   Hardwick          3

LUVERNE BASEBALL 2021
 
Redbirds
May 2       Lakefield                       13-1    W
May 9       Milroy Irish            10-4     L              
May 19     Tracy                     10-0    W 

May 21     Pipestone              5-2      W
May 23     Ruthton                 8-6      W
May 23     Mountain Lake       9-0      W 
May 28     Marshall                 8-2       L               
June 2     Jackson                  6-5      W
June 9     Worthington           15-4    W
June 12   Blaine                      3-1       L
June 12   Mayer                      6-5       L
June 16   Brandon Valley      6-5      W
June 20   Adrian                     11-2    W
June 20   Adrian                     5-0      W
June 23   Hadley                           9-3      W
June 27   Tracy                      15-4    W
June 27   Ruthton                   2-1      W
June 30   Windom (Home)       7:30pm
July 1      at Brookings, SD      7:30pm
July 7      Pipestone (Home)    7:30pm
July 11    at Heron Lake           2:00pm
July 11    at Fox Lake (in HL)  5:00pm  
July 14    at Milroy
July 18    Fairmont (Home)     2:00pm
July 21    Playoffs begin             
 
American Legion
June 19    Worthington          6-5       L
June 19    Marshall                 7-5      W
June 20    Albany                   6-5      W
June 21    RTR                        3-2      W
June 24    Minneota                3-1      W
June 28    Tracy                            TBD
June 29    at Jackson               6:00pm
July 1       at Pipestone            7:30pm
July 8       Adrian                      7:30pm
July 9       at Madison              7:00pm
July 15     Playoffs begin
 
 
Junior Legion
June 4     St James              11-3       L
June 5     St Peter                5-4        W
June 6     Worthington        18-0      W   
June 7     Minneota             8-4        W
June 10   Worthington        18-0      W
June 10   Worthington        16-5      W  
June 14   Marshall Black     15-5       L
June 15   Lamberton           5-0        W
June 15   Lamberton           4-1        W
June 17   Marshall Orange  3-2        W
June 21   Slayton                 9-7        W
June 25   Hutchinson          15-0      W
June 25   Excelsior              3-2        W
June 26   Omaha Gross     11-2       L
June 28   Tracy                    11-7      W
June 29   New Ulm Gold (Home)
July 1      at Pipestone              6:00pm
July 8      Adrian                       7:30pm
July 18    Playoffs begin
 
*All Schedules subject to change

Anglers can get their fishing questions answered on the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources’ fishing page at mndnr.gov/fishing.
The page answers questions like: What species can I fish for? What kind of bait is legal? What kind of fish can I keep?
It also is a mobile-friendly source of information on when, where and how to fish.
Users will find links to LakeFinder, which provides maps and detailed information on lakes throughout the state, and the new StreamFinder tool that provides a description, species list, regulations and access information for trout streams throughout Minnesota.
The DNR fishing page also includes an online version of Minnesota fishing regulations plus an online version of the 2021 Minnesota Fishing Regulations booklet, which is available in print anywhere DNR licenses are sold.
Contact Benji Kohn, volunteer mentor program coordinator, 651-259-5178.

Anglers that are most attentive to the littlest of details are the ones who normally have the biggest and best fishing stories to tell.
I will give you just a few examples of ways that extra attention to detail can make a measurable difference in the day’s catch.
The first would be the basics of fishing lines. Many casual anglers have one or two rod and reel combos that they use for every situation. This compromise will lower your catch and is one of the most common shortcuts that the casual angler will take.
When I am shore fishing on the docks of local lakes, I will be targeting crappies and bluegills that hide in and around the poles and wheels and in the shade created from the structure.
When I do this, I use a rod and reel combo designed for this species and type of fishing. It has a 4-pound test and a very light action rod. This does two things. It makes the little artificial jig and plastic tail dance ever so lightly because the line weight is very thin and the light action rod makes it easier to tell if I have a bite.
When I am really serious, I will make a very strategic dance on each dock.  This is a series of close attentions to details all designed to maximize my success. I will start fishing as shallow as possible, in as little as 12 inches of water.
When I catch a fish, I move this hooked fish toward the shore to avoid spooking the other fish that might be close. I work my way toward the deeper end of the dock each time moving toward the shore with a hooked fish to create the least amount of disturbance possible.  When I have fished in and around the entire length of the dock with, say, a green jig, I will cut it off and tie on another color.
I figure that every fish that was going to bite on the green one will have done so in the first few minutes. I can often catch several more fish with a different color jig that would not bite on the green one.
I work the dock in the same manner with the new color, and when I have worked the entire dock again, I will move on to the next dock. I always fish under or very near the dock.
Many anglers will be sitting on the end of the dock with their bait worked anywhere from 10 to 30 feet out into the lake. The fish I am targeting are right under their feet. If there are any little kids that have been pounding up and down the dock, I will just move on.
Any fish that were there in this very shallow water environment are long gone by the time I would show up.  As I am leaving, the anglers that were there when I got there will all tie on the jig color that I just got done using. They will then catch very little over the next hour.
Tying a quality fishing knot is vital. A snap swivel allows you to remove one jig and put on another without having to retie the knot, but it destroys the live bait or artificial lure’s action and reduces the number of bites that you will get.
Taking the time to retie the knot and avoiding any unnecessary attachment hardware is worth the time and effort.
One other detail that gets by most casual anglers is the fact that the hook size and bobber size should match the bait size.
A really little crappie minnow on a big walleye hook has a less realistic action when suspended below a bobber or when set stationary on the bottom. The same can be said for bobber size. A crappie trying to pull under a big bobber will feel the resistance and let go of the bait.
The bobber has to be so small as to just barely float the hook and bait.
You can take these little tips to whatever level of perfection that you desire. After a while these seemly minute details become habit and quite effortless.
I learned some of the best fishing tricks from a mechanics teacher by the name of Wayne Grantz.
Every time I saw him heading home on his moped with a batch of fish caught from the same area that I had just covered, he shared one little fishing tidbit at time, and over time I did become a better angler.
I have one additional tip:  The longer the stretch of calm winds and bright sunny days, the more fish that will be seeking shelter in the shade under docks. The water is generally a few degrees cooler in the shade so this is a great heat of the summer tactic.
Time your dock fishing efforts to coincide with this weather pattern and those should be better than average days at the lake.
 
Scott Rall, Worthington, is a habitat conservationist, avid hunting and fishing enthusiast and is president of Nobles County Pheasants Forever. He can be reached at scottarall@gmail.com. or on Twitter @habitat champion.