By Sara QuamThe city of Luverne may help a new business venture that hopes to turn corn stover into fuel. Loren and Russell Forrest requested a letter of support from the city in order to get other grant applications. The letter will say that, with the proper guarantees, the city is willing to loan up to $300,000 to the Forrests for the business. The grant could be in the form of land to build the business on if the venture works out.Loren Forrest has spent three years studying the process, down to complicated chemistry and how a plant would be physically set up.The business is a finalist for a grant of $1.3 million from the United States Department of Agriculture, and this letter from the city will help that process along.Blue Mound Soy bust A $40,000 loan to Blue Mound Soy from the city of Luverne may never be paid, even though the business never materialized. The Luverne Economic Development Authority said Tuesday it would request in writing a response from the local co-op, which is a part of Corn-er Stone Cooperative. David Kolsrud represented Corn-er Stone at previous meetings.The co-op got a loan to research the feasibility of a cold-process soybean plant. At the time, the city didn’t get personal guarantees or collateral to back up the loan. The loan has been extended annually since first being issued in 2000, and the city has had little recourse.

By Sara QuamRock County property owners received tax statements last week and found the valuations of their properties.Assessor Tom Houselog said agricultural land saw the biggest increases in value. Value is based on the assessed value divided by the sale price, but in most cases the sale prices were much higher than assessed values, driving current assessments up.Sale prices in the county on agricultural land have been much higher than estimated values.Overall, agricultural land is increasing by 10 percent. There were 19 farm sales in 2004.Neighboring counties increased assessments by 20 percent, which Houselog said could happen in Rock County next year with the way sale prices have looked already this year.Commissioner Ken Hoime said, "Some land sales have doubled in a short time."Residential properties were assessed at 2 to 5 percent higher generally. Acreages have seen higher increases too.It is the assessor’s duty to equalize the values at the local level or the state will do it, Houselog said.He said, "People can’t equate increase of valuation to an increase in taxes, because so much goes into that formula. It’s that thought that double-digit increases are scary to see, though."Affecting property taxes this year are tax increment financing districts that have improvement debts repaid, which means all their payments will go to taxes from now on.Tax value public information A link on the county Web site, www.co.rock.mn.us, allows people to see valuations, taxes and assessments on local properties. At the bottom of the home page, click on the "Rock County Tax Parcel Information" to access the information.The link allows users to enter names, locations or exact addresses to get the information. The system gets nightly updates, so what users see online is up to date.

By John RittenhouseThe final teams to begin preparations for the upcoming spring sports season are the Hills-Beaver Creek-Ellsworth golf squads.The Patriots were scheduled to stage their first practice on April 4, with their first meet set for April 14.Although H-BC-E coach Tim Lange was unable to comment on the upcoming season, H-BC and Ellsworth school officials released participant rosters for this story.The H-BC-E boys, who are coming off a 10-7 campaign that featured a third-place finish in the Red Rock Conference Tournament and a fourth-place effort at the Sub-Section 10 Tournament, have a 22-player roster.The roster consists of two seniors, five juniors, four sophomores, eight freshmen, one eighth-grader and two seventh-graders.The Patriots lost All-RRC player Tom Janssen and Jeremy Elbers to graduation, but they return four players from the 2004 sub-section squad.After earning All-RRC status in 2004, junior Ben Herman and sophomore Tom Scholten return as proven players.Herman, Scholten and juniors Jason Martens and Nick Deutsch played for H-BC-E during the sub-section tournament.Seniors Kenny Bittner and Travis Broesder and juniors Jason Hup and Javier Cisneros round out the upperclassmen on the roster.Other sophomores on the team include Zach Schroer, Adam Finke and Josh Nolte.The freshmen participating in the program include Blake Crawford, Nic DeHaan, Sean Goedtel, Caleb Hansel, Grant Hoogendoorn, Brian Popkes, Garrett Beaner and Mark Aeikens.Eighth-grader Chaiden Kuehl and seventh-graders Andrew Scholten and Tyler Chapa round out the roster.The H-BC-E girls didn’t compete at the varsity level in 2004.Seven girls (four freshmen and three seventh-graders) are listed on the 2005 roster.Freshmen Toni Nagel, Jessica Randolph, Brittany Boeve and Lyntausha Kuehl, and seventh-graders Tanya Ackerman, Danielle Baker and Samantha McGaffee make up the roster.

By John RittenhouseWith experienced talent on both rosters, Hills-Beaver Creek-Ellsworth-Edgerton track coach Tom Goehle is looking forward to a successful spring season.The Patriots will field teams led by some standout athletes, and Goehle feels a good share of them have the ability to make their followers proud.With letter winners from 2004 returning to the team in all five classes that make up the varsity squad, the H-BC-E-E girls are loaded with potential.H-BC-E-E lost three seniors (Erin Boeve, Tina Majchrzak and Miriam Heitz) to graduation last spring, but the trio didn’t make a major impact for the team during the postseason meets.Goehle said 31 girls in grades 7-12 are participating in the program. Fourteen of the girls lettered for a team that placed 10th in the Red Rock Conference and fourth in Sub-Section 10, and eight of them advanced to the section meet in 2004.Cassi Tilstra, one of two senior team members, is the leader of the band. Tilstra has advanced to state during her career and will run in relay and individual events from 200 meters on up in 2005."Cassi has been the catalyst of the girls’ program for the last four years," Goehle said. "She’s a great athlete who keeps herself in shape all year long. What excites me is that there are a number of younger girls who have taken on her work ethic and vision of what it takes to be successful."Along with Tilstra, senior Kelly Mulder, junior Rosie Lewis, sophomores Amanda Tilstra, Mya Mann and Amanda Connors, and freshmen Ashley and Jocelyn Bucher return to the team as section qualifiers in 2004.Mulder and Lewis run sprints and are throwers, and the Buchers run middle distances.Amanda Tilsra runs distances from 400 meters on up. Mann runs middle distances and sprints, as does Connors, who also is a quality long jumper.Six more girls return to the team with varsity letters from last year.Junior Kari Roozenboom, sophomores Laura Timmer, Tyra Hinrichs and Lacey Latten, freshman Brittany Helgeson and eighth-grader Rayna Sandoval bring more experience to the squad.Goehle said Roozenboom helps the team as a hurdler, sprinter and triple jumper.Latten is a sprinter, Timmer a thrower and Hinrichs runs middle distances.Helgeson runs sprints and high jumps. Sandoval runs distance races.Goehle likes the leadership abilities displayed by the returning letter winners."I like the fact that we have some girls who really like to compete. We have girls who are not afraid to work hard," he said.The coach listed sophomore Ashley Hoyme and freshman Cassie Duncan as girls who will help the varsity team in 2005.Hoyme runs sprints and middle distances. Duncan runs sprints and is a jumper.Goehle thinks the girls will be especially strong in the middle distances this season, and they should field some strong relays.The coach said a number of younger athletes he didn’t mention during the interview for this article give the program a sound future."We have a host of seventh- and eighth-graders I’m not sure about, but I’m excited about because they have a lot of potential," he said.The H-BC-E-E boys lack overall experience in 2005, but the Patriots do have a solid nucleus around which to build a solid team.Goehle said 37 boys in grades 7-12 will compete in the program. Four of the boys competed at the section and state levels last season, and seven return with letters from 2004.The Patriots did lose five seniors from a 2004 team that placed fourth in the RRC and Sub-Section 10 and eighth at the Section 3A meet.Todd Alberty was a key member of last year’s team, running legs for the 1,600- and 3,200-meter relays that won section championships. The 3,200-meter squad placed ninth at the state meet.Lee Jackson, a member of the 1,600-meter relay last spring, and Curt Schilling are seniors who advanced to the section meet last year. Lee Farrell and Soren Trebesch are the other senior members of the 2004 team.A solid group of six seniors will be the focal point of the 2005 team. Three of the seniors advanced to state, and another one just missed qualifying for state competition."We have some great, quality runners coming back," Goehle said. "We may not be real deep, but I like the kids we have back."Senior Tyler Bush returns to the team as one of the top runners in the state. Along with helping form the 1,600- and 3,200-meter relays, Bush is a top-notch individual competitor in the 800-meter run. He has won three straight Section 3A titles in the 800 and placed eighth, fifth and fourth at the last three state meets.Seniors Kale Wiertzema and Derek Haak competed at the state meet as juniors. Wiertzema ran with the 1,600- and 3,200-meter relays. Haak was a member of the 3,200-meter team.Cody Scholten, a senior who runs sprints, long jumps and triple jumps, is another key member of the 2005 team. Scholten nearly qualified for state in the high jump last season, placing third at the section level.Seniors Jan Sommerling and Darrin Weikamp are new to the program this season. Sommerling, an exchange student from Germany, is a quality sprinter. Weikamp has potential in the longer sprints and as a jumper.Juniors John Sandbulte and Roger DeBoer, and freshman Cody Schilling round out the returning letter winners from the 2004 squad.Sandbulte will run middle distances, triple jump and compete in the 300-meter hurdles. DeBoer is a hurdler-sprinter. Schilling is a jumper.Goehle expects sophomores Adam Voss and Jon Klaassen to help the team as throwers. Klaassen will run sprints as well.Freshman sprinter Kenny Gardner and eighth-graders Dustin Verhey, Tyler Paulson and Brent Kramer are other athletes expected to contribute at the varsity level.Verhey and Paulsen run distances and middle distances. Kramer will run distances."We’re very blessed to have kids that are not only gifted, they are going to work hard when it comes to practice," Goehle said. "I know they will get better because they are willing to do the things that it takes to get better in practice."The coach looks for the Patriots to be strong in the middle distances and relays once again. H-BC-E-E should be competitive in the jumping events, too.With a number of other seventh- and eighth-graders not mentioned in this story, the future of the program appears to be bright."We will be using some younger kids who are good athletes and will give us some depth this year," Goehle concluded.

By Sara QuamAfter the city of Luverne and Rock County finalized their law enforcement contract, other cities wondered where that left them. The city of Luverne is paying $604,000 after the county requested it pay $669,000 for contract law. Smaller cities in the county worried they might have to make up the difference. To explain the process and outline a future contract proposal, the Rock County Board of Commissioners Tuesday met with representatives from all other cities in the county. County Administrator Kyle Oldre said, "We renegotiated the contract with Luverne and absorbed the reduction, but we’re not looking to pass that on to anyone else we contract with." Commissioner Richard Bakken said, "Through all of this wrangling, we’ve appreciated the fact that the small cities have stayed with us." The county and cities are in a three-year contract with prices set through 2006. The county proposed to the cities that the 2006 rates remain the same through 2009. In 2010, there would be a rate increase of 5 percent. Oldre said, "The city of Luverne negotiated down, so in fairness to the other cities we thought we could hold your rates steady."Smaller Rock County cities pay a per capita rate. That is $33 per capita in 2005 and $34.50 in 2006. Beaver Creek Mayor Al Blank said, "Holding the rates, I like this; I think you’ll get a positive reaction in Beaver Creek." City representatives will take the proposal back to their councils for approval.

By Lexi MooreLast Thursday Hills-Beaver Creek Future Farmers of America hosted its annual awards banquet at the Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Hills.FFA president Robert Baker presided over the event.Brittany Boeve, an H-BC freshman, led the students in reciting the FFA creed. Chelsi Fink gave the invocation before ushers began escorting visitors to the buffet-style meal that had been prepared by the Lutheran Church Women."On behalf of the FFA, I would like to thank the Bethlehem Lutheran women for serving an excellent meal," said Baker.Following the meal, FFA Vice-President Melinda Feucht narrated a slideshow entitled "Resumé of the Past Year." The slideshow featured photos from FFA events starting in the spring of 2004.After the slideshow, FFA members took turns informing the audience about their individual projects throughout the past year. These included raising calves, sheep, baling hay, growing corn, working at the Beaver Creek Golf Course and building houses in Sioux Falls.Next, Treasurer Jason Martens gave an $850 check to both Alpha Omega Ministries and McCrossan Boys Ranch.Officers and FFA instructor Greg DeWandel handed out the following awards:oThe Honorary Chapter Farmer Award was given to Tony Bosch of Jubilee Foods. "Because of his commitment, in friendship and brotherhood, to helping the FFA program," said DeWandel. "he is a useful citizen in our democracy."oThe Placement in Ag Awards went to Vernon and Joyce Fick and to Pete and Trudy Teune for helping their sons, Randy Fick and John Teune, get started in farming.oFFA members were given proficiency awards for their supervised farming projects. Winners are given bronze, silver or gold plaques for their efforts. Gold plaque winners were as follows; Adam Fink for soybean production, Katie McGaffee for forage production, Kilee Baker for sheep production, Chris Nuffer for beef cow/calf production, Michael Bos for ag-business placement, Tom Leuthold for corn production and Cody Rozeboom for beef feeder production.oFreshman FFA members have several fund-raisers to earn money toward the purchase of the FFA jackets. Lucy Larson received a plaque for being the top freshman salesperson.Plaques were given to individuals who had the greatest number of fruit sales during the FFA fall fruit fund-raiser. Chris Nuffer had the most sales, followed by Katie McGaffee and Sean Goedtel.oThe 2005 Star Greenhand Award went to sophomore Aaron Esselink. The 2005 Star Chapter Farmer award went to junior Mitchell Leuthold.oThe Leadership Award was presented to Robert Baker by Lyle Rollag of Rock County Corn and Soybean Growers. Baker received a $200 check and a plaque.oThe Rock/Nobles Beef Association Award was presented by Nathan Braun and Jay Bakken to Cody Rozeboom and Chris Nuffer. Each winner received $25.oThe Bert Rozeboom Member Beef Award was given to Chris Nuffer along with a check for $25.The ceremony ended with the installation of new officers. 2004-2005 officers handed over their responsibilities and titles to a new group of officers.The 2005-2006 FFA officers-elect are President Jason Martens, Vice-President Jason Hup, Secretary Stacy Bush, Treasurer Brandi Klarenbeek, Reporter Katie McGaffee, Sentinel Kaitlyn Bos, Historian Andy Blank and Parliamentarian Mitchell Leuthold.

Hills-Beaver Creek Dist. 671Minutes3-14-05The Hills-Beaver Creek School Board met for its semimonthly meeting at 7:30 p.m. in the library in Hills. Board members present were DeBoer, Larson, Boeve, Leuthold, Harnack, and Baker. Esselink was absent. Superintendent Deragisch and Principal Holthaus were also in attendance. The meeting was called to order by Chairman Harnack. The addendum to the agenda will be: 6.3b. resignation of girls basketball coach.Motion by DeBoer, second by Larson, and carried to approve the agenda. Visitors to the meeting were recognized by the chairman. Lexi Moore of The Crescent and Haley Larson were the visitors. Patriot Pride: Girls and boys basketball teams Junior high musicians Lexi Moore Tyler Bush – 1000 pints Kale Wiertzema – MN All-Star Game Steve Wiertzema – Coach of the YearElementary report was given by Mr. Holthaus. High School report was presented by Superintendent Deragisch.The minutes of the last meeting were approved as sent out.Motion by DeBoer, second by Leuthold and carried to approve the bills. Motion by Boeve, second by Baker, and carried to accept with regrets the resignation of Emily Walgrave as elementary teacher. The board thanks Mrs. Walgrave for her many years of dedicated service to the district.Motion by Larson, second by Boeve, and carried to accept the resignation of Tom Goehle as Head Girls Basketball Coach with thanks for his years of fine service in this area.Legislative update was given by Superintendent Deragisch. A slide show of the Day at the Capital was presented.Dates to Remember: March 28 School Board Mtg. 7:30 p.m. Meeting adjourned at 8:40 p.m.Ann Boeve, Clerk(4-7)

10 years ago (1995)"Marie Walraven has been elected president of the Hills Development Corporation Board of Directors. Joining Walraven on the board are Wilmer Elbers, vice president, Ron Feucht, secretary, and Rodney Bonander, treasurer." 25 years ago (1980)"Peggy Elbers, a senior at Hills-Beaver Creek and daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Wilmer Elbers of Hills, was selected this week to the Worthington Globe all-area basketball team.The 5-11 senior was named to the fifth team by the staff of sports writers at the Globe. Peggy ranked as the leading scorer for the Pates this year and was the third highest scorer in the Tri-County Conference with 14.8 points per game."50 years ago (1955)"The Hills Legion Auxiliary voted at their last meeting to send a representative to Girls’ State again this year. Elected as delegate was Miss Frances Haan with Miss Donna Hengeveld as the alternate. Girls chosen for this honor must be juniors in high school and are required to be in the upper third in their class scholastically. 75 years ago (1930)"The Village Council passed an ordinance at its meeting Tuesday night which will bar all hog pens from the village in the future. The keeping of hogs in town has been a continual source of complaint and neighborhood discord, as well as a regular menace to public health, and the village dads simply solved the problem by removing the source. We understand the present hog owners will be given until May 1st, 1930, to dispose of their porkers." 100 years ago (1905)"The play ‘A Fight for a Million’ or ‘Puddin’ Dudley’ given by the Luverne Dramatic Co., at the Opera House Saturday evening drew out a fair sized audience, who thoroughly enjoyed this laughable farce comedy. The cast of this play is made up of Mr. and Mrs. Ackerman, two professional show people, and Editor Osborn and wife of the Luverne Journal and Mr. Thompson also of the Journal. Mr. Osborn followed the stage for 9 or 10 years, and all who saw him play the role of old ‘Puddin’ Head Dudley’ will not question it for a minute. He was easily the star in this play, and if ‘Eck’ was as good at ‘slinging’ editorials as he is on the stage he would drive the rest of us all to the woods. The play was good, and far above the average play given in towns the size of Hills."

It has been more than seven months since I moved to Hills and nearly six months since I began my job as the editor and reporter for the Hills Crescent.Generally, when I reach an anniversary or a milestone in life I like to take time to reflect on what I have done and plan for what I hope to do in the future. My life in Hills is vastly different than I had imagined when I agreed to purchase a house I had found on the Internet last August.For starters, last Thursday evening I spent two hours in the basement of the Bethlehem Lutheran Church celebrating the Hills-Beaver Creek Future Farmers of America with at least 90 other local residents.During the event my husband commented, "We would have never done anything like this before."I agreed with his statement. We are not related to any of the FFA students, nor do we have much interest in cattle or swine prices, yet we were both thoroughly entertained.As I scanned the roomful of people, I recognized many of their faces, knew most of their names, count a good percentage of them as business acquaintances and consider many to be potential friends.My position at the paper has given me the opportunity to sit in the same room as many of our community leaders and youngsters. Suddenly the achievements and follies of these strangers are very important to me — not only because I am responsible for recording the history of the area, but because I care what happens to these people.For example, when I saw the tears on the faces of the boys after the basketball team suffered its final loss during the playoffs, my heart hurt for them. I would have done anything to change the momentum of that final quarter.Without this job I would probably still be a nameless face occasionally seen around town. Instead, I am recognized immediately when I enter a room with my camera.Taking the good with the bad …However, at this anniversary time, some negatives are worth mentioning. Situations I had hoped to leave behind when I left Texas have been replaced with new nuisances. Here are a few examples…oI no longer have to consider cockroaches a part of my extended family, but I now come into contact with at least 40 Asian beetles a day. oLeaves in Texas fall year round. Some drop in the fall, just as they do here, others fall at the end of the summer when temperatures have risen so high that trees can no longer support foliage. My husband and I, well, mainly David, were constantly raking leaves. I assured him that would not be the case here and I was right. However, I didn’t know about the cornhusks that would be flying through our yard throughout the fall and winter months.oThe sounds of traffic, sirens, neighbors, police, news and hospital helicopters are not a problem in Hills. However, the four wheelers, dirt bikes and tractors do wake us up on occasion.oBy far the hardest change has been adjusting to a Saturday morning garbage pickup. We have probably managed to miss 30 percent of our garbage days. It just never occurs to us to get the garbage curbside on Friday night.In Texas garbage day was mid-week allowing even the most forgetful residents to drag the bin out to the curb on their way to work.