Governor’s TCI party … a moment on the lipsforever on the hipsI was proud of Luverne Friday when the community rolled out the red carpet for Gov. Tim Pawlenty and the Total Card Inc. executives.The governor’s opening remarks said it all. "I was told I was going to come out here and cut a ribbon, and I get here and see this," he said. "I don’t know too many communities who would shut down Main Street and put up a tent. There is obviously positive spirit in Luverne, Minnesota."The event was a celebration on two levels: oLuverne wanted to officially welcome Total Card Inc. (and its potential 300 jobs) to town, and oGov. Tim Pawlenty wanted to celebrate the state’s first out-of-state business to use JOB Zones.The two happy ingredients combined for a festive day that featured a 120-foot-long, street-wide tent, heartfelt gifts, sincere thank yous and, of course, food …… lots and lots of really good-tasting food … donated by area vendors and served up by local volunteers (see the ad on page 4B listing all the contributors).Considering lunch was free, everyone got plenty to eat. Party goers made their way back to their seats, staggering under the weight of plates loaded with pizza, burgers, chicken, bison meat and rib ticklers — in addition to beverages and ice cream.Wow.Not without a hitch …Just when I began contemplating how all this food might affect the size of our butts, I picked up the buzz about paint on butts.As the story goes, while setting up for the party, city workers discovered some tacky paint splotches on picnic tables that had been painted three weeks earlier. Horrified, they carefully gave each table the "white towel" treatment, checking for other possible tacky spots.Unfortunately, the towel check didn’t replicate what butts do on benches during an hour-long party program.Everything from faded work jeans to $1,000 suits were coming up speckled with tiny splotches of barn red paint.It sort of gave new meaning to the old adage, "Moments on the lips, forever on the hips."Party goers that day, including myself, went home with permanent memoirs of the event.Hopefully, it didn’t sour the experience for anyone. It sure didn’t for me.The overall impression I came away with was that I just experienced first-hand another pivotal moment in Luverne history.I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who could feel the energy under the tent that day as the community officially embraced these new developments that will benefit Luverne for years to come.These are good things worth celebrating in style … even if we end up wearing memoirs on our hips (and butts).

By John RittenhouseThe Hills-Beaver Creek-Ellsworth-Edgerton track teams ended a 10-day layoff by attending the West Lyon Invitational near Inwood, Iowa, Tuesday.The Patriot boys turned in a strong showing by winning eight events and placing second in a five-team field.H-BC-E-E’s girls placed fourth out of six teams and recorded three meet championships.Tyler Bush and Tom LeBoutillier led the Patriot boys by taking top honors in three individual events each.Bush won the 400-, 800- and 3,200-meter runs with respective 51.9, 2:03.6 and 10:31.4 efforts.LeBoutillier won the 110- and 400-meter hurdles with 15.96 and 1:01.32 times. He also won the long jump with a distance of 19-3.Cody Scholten also recorded a pair of wins for the Patriots.Scholten cleared a career-high 6-2 to win the high jump. He won the 200-meter dash with a time of 24.11.Kale Wiertzema turned in a second-place performance for the Patriots by recording a time of 5:05.71 in the 1,600-meter run.Cassi Tilstra played a role in all three of the meet championships produced by the Patriot girls.Tilstra won the 400-meter dash with a career-low time of 1:00.99.She also ran legs with the 1,600- and 3,200-meter relays, which recorded the winning times of 4:19.81 and 10:10.08.Amanda Tilstra, Mya Mann and Jocelyn Bucher round out the 3,200-meter squad. The Tilstras, Ashley and Jocelyn Bucher ran the 1,600.Jocelyn Bucher placed second individually by clearing the 400-meter hurdles in 1:16.67.Here is a look at the team standings and the rest of H-BC-E-E’s Top-Six finishers during the West Lyon Relays.Boys’ standings: West Lyon 101, H-BC-E-E 79, Boyden-Hull-Rock Valley 56, Central Lyon 45, George-Little Rock 10.Girls’ standings: WL 81, B-H-RV 70, West Sioux 59, H-BC-E-E 48, CL 46, G-LR 42Third place: Bush, high jump, 5-10; LeBoutillier, discus, 115-6; 3,200 relay (Wiertzema, Greg Van Batavia, Derek Haak and Lee Jackson), 9:12; John Sandbulte, 400 hurdles, 1:05.12.Fourth place: medley relay (Javier Cisneros, DeAngelo Smith, Soren Trebesch and Haak), 4:09.8; 400 relay (Paul DeLeon, Cody Roozenboom, Trebesch and Roger DeBoer), 49.03; 1,600 relay (Wiertzema, Sandbulte, Van Batavia and Jackson), 3:52.55.Fifth place: DeLeon, 110 hurdles, 18.5; DeLeon, 100, 11.8; Smith, 400, 58.51; Jackson, 800, 2:16.7.Sixth place: Van Batavia, 1,600, 5:17.53.H-BC-E-E girlsThird place: Rosie Lewis, shot put, 30-7; 800 relay (Shelly Sas, Brittany Helgeson, Lewis and Mulder), 1:58.28; Mann, 800, 2:32.52.Fourth place: Rayna Sandoval, 3,000, 12:55; shuttle-hurdle relay (Rose Aristeo, Cassandra Duncan, Chelsi Fink and Kari Roozenboom), 1:22.64; Roozenboom, 100 hurdles, 17.83; Sandoval, 1,500, 5:41.41.Fifth place: C.Tilstra, high jump, 4-8; Tina Majchrzak, 3,000, 13:41; Helgeson, 200, 29.84; sprint-medley relay (Sas, Mulder, Amanda Connors and A.Bucher), 2:01.97; 400 relay (Sas, J.Bucher, A.Bucher and Fink), 56.96.

By John RittenhouseThe Hills-Beaver Creek-Ellsworth-Edgerton boys’ golf team ran its record to 2-0 with a victory over Southwest Star Concept Thursday at the Beaver Creek Golf Course.The home-standing Patriots registered a team total of 189 strokes, besting the Qausars’ 195-shot effort by six strokes.Ben Herman came up big for the winners by firing a meet-low score of 42 strokes, a six-over-par effort.Nick Deutsch added a 47 to the winning team tally, while Tom Scholten, Tom Janssen and Travis Chapa all shot 50s.Jason Martens registered a 63 without influencing H-BC-E-E’s team effort.Tyler Henning carded a nine-over-par 45 to lead SSC during the meet.SSC posted a 237-262 win over the Patriots in the B match. Jeremy Elbers led H-BC-E-E with a 54.

By John RittenhouseZach Wysong and the Luverne High School baseball team split four Southwest Conference games since last Thursday.The Cardinals split a league doubleheader in Marshall Tuesday.Luverne won a single game in Worthington Saturday before losing a home contest to Pipestone Tuesday.Wysong, an H-BC sophomore, made positive impacts in every game.Wysong drove in a run with one of Luverne’s three hits during a 7-3 loss to Pipestone in Luverne Tuesday.Starting at shortstop in the game, Wysong chased home Luverne’s second run of the contest with a single in the bottom of the sixth inning.Wysong was one-for-two at the plate in the contest.Wysong played an outstanding game during Saturday’s 16-10 victory in Worthington.The H-BC junior tossed seven innings of relief to get the win and drove in three runs with a team-high four hits at the plate.Wysong, who also scored two runs in the contest, gave the Cards a 4-3 edge when he delivered a three-run double in the top of the third inning.He singled and scored in the fifth inning, and drew a walk and scored one of six runs in the top of the 11th inning that broke a deadlock at 10.Wysong restored some order to the game when he took over on the mound in the bottom of the fifth inning. He did yield a pair of earned runs in the fifth, but he blanked the Trojans the rest of the way while striking out six batters, yielding six hits and one walk.Wysong played a key role in helping the Cardinals split a doubleheader with Marshall Thursday in Luverne.The starting shortstop drove in four runs with two hits during a 7-1 victory in the opener. He was hitless in three trips to the plate during a 5-0 loss in the nightcap.Wysong provided what proved to be the game-winning runs when he stepped to the plate in a 1-1 tie in the bottom of the first inning in Game 1. His three-run double to left-center field gave the Cardinals a 4-1 lead they wouldn’t relinquish.Wysong also slapped an RBI single during a three-run rally that capped the scoring in the third inning.The 8-3 Cardinals will play a doubleheader in Jackson May 6.

True Wisdom"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding" (Proverbs 9:10).By Rev. Mark MummeZion Evangelical Lutheran Church, HardwickWhether intellectuals or not, we all in our own way want answers about this world. What happens to those who have climbed on the merry-go-round of casual sex and found it not so merry? How about those who have climbed on the bandwagon of success and achievement, believing its promise of a life of luxury and personal fulfillment? They want to know why their work has become all-consuming, a vacuum sucking the life out of them. What about those with broken relationships, memories of past sins, and lives aching with guilt? They want to know what to do with the broken pieces of their lives.We need answers for our own pain as well. We’d like to know what to do when our hearts cry out for the love of God but we feel nothing but emptiness inside. We’d like to know what to do when the burden of life seems heavy and the yoke of our faith seems hard to bear. Each of us asks, "Where is God when I need Him? How can I be sure He is real? How can I know I’m forgiven, that I’m loved, and that I’m His?" We’d really like to know. Then there are the times we pray and seem to get no answer — when no matter how hard we beat on heaven’s door, there seems to be no one home. We’d like to know, "Where in the world is God?"In the midst of all this overwhelming need comes this simple word from God, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." To fear the Lord is to believe in Him. The great search of human beings for knowledge begins and ends in Jesus Christ. He is the wisdom of God. He came to suffer and to die. But in His death He released us from all the pain and misery of this world of ours. It was our death He died, and it is His life we live. When you know Him by faith, you know God. "The knowledge of the Holy One is understanding."There’s really nothing more important in this world than to know Christ — the fellowship of His suffering and the power of His resurrection. That’s what makes sense of this world, its pain and agony. Jesus invites us to take up our cross and follow Him. Whatever cross we bear in life, we follow the great cross-bearer. He carried His cross to Calvary, and then hung on that cross in our place. As we carry our crosses, He comes to us as He always has — in the words of the Gospel, in the washing of water by the Spirit, and in the bread and wine. He continues coming to us again and again with precisely what we need — the message of His unconditional and unlimited love. His message is direct and powerful, "Fear not, for I have redeemed you, I have called you by name; you are Mine" (Isaiah 43:1). And that’s all we will ever really need to know in this life, or the next!

A real live author is coming to Luverne! Carolyn Fisher will be visiting the Rock County Community Library at 7 p.m. Wednesday, May 5. Ms. Fisher is the author and illustrator of "A Twisted Tale" and has illustrated three other children’s books: "Fifty-Five Grandmas and a Llama," "The Best Friends‚ Handbook," and "Two Old Potatoes and Me." Carolyn has also done illustrating for Disney and Time Magazine. Join us for this special presentation that will appeal to both children and adults. Books may be available for purchase and can be autographed after the presentation. This author program is sponsored by SW/WC Service Coop and the Friends of the Rock County Library. Join us for unique opportunity. The new spring books are coming in every day and I am frantically cataloging to get them out on the shelves. You might like to try the new title by best-selling author Jodi Picoult, "My Sister’s Keeper." Anna is not sick, but she might as well be. By age 13, she has undergone countless surgeries, transfusions, and shots so that her older sister, Kate, can somehow fight the leukemia that has plagued her since childhood. The product of pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, Anna was conceived as a bone marrow match for Kate — a life and a role that she has never challenged ... until now. Like most teenagers, Anna is beginning to question who she truly is. But unlike most teenagers, she has always been defined in terms of her sister — and so Anna makes a decision that for most would be unthinkable, a decision that will tear her family apart and have perhaps fatal consequences for the sister she loves. Also new on the shelf is "Sullivan’s Law" by Nancy Taylor Rosenberg. Carolyn Sullivan arrives at her office at the Ventura County Probation Department. She has a paper due for law school and two high-energy kids who need to be in different places at the same time. Her boss is on the war path before she even has a chance to grab a cup of coffee. But Carolyn’s day is about to get a lot worse. The top brass assigns her a sensitive case that’s sure to have everyone breathing down her neck, supervising convicted killer, Daniel Metroix. More than 23 years ago, the son of the police chief was pushed into the path on an oncoming car, and Metroix went to prison for the boy’s murder. To this day he claims he’s innocent. Carolyn dives into the case, but someone doesn’t want Carolyn to discover the truth; someone who knows where she lives; someone who will strike at the heart of every mother’s worst fear in order to silence her for good. New on the non-fiction shelf is "Three Weeks With My Brother," by Nicholas Sparks. In January 2003, Nicholas Sparks and his brother, Micah, set off on a three-week trip around the world. It was to mark a milestone in their lives, for at 37 and 38 respectively, they were now the only surviving members of their family. As Nicholas and Micah travel the globe, the intimate story of their family unfolds in the details of the untimely deaths of their parents and only sister. Against the backdrop of the wonders of the world, the Sparks brothers band together to heal, to remember, and to learn to live life to the fullest.

Dear Trooper Kathy; Is it legal to hitchhike?Yes it is. I do not recommend it. It is a very dangerous business. If you decide that hitchhiking is your mode of travel, consider the following; "No person shall stand in a roadway for the purpose of soliciting a ride from the driver of any private vehicle." The key word is roadway, you cannot stand in it, and so standing off the roadway would be permissible. This also applies to any person soliciting employment, business or contributions. You cannot be on a freeway/controlled access at all, whether on the road or not; this is posted on the access ramps, and also includes bicycles, ATV’s and snowmobiles.Again, just because the law does not totally prohibit hitchhiking, I would call you crazy to do it. Even if you are stalled, don’t accept rides, wait for help. If it is winter, you should have yourself prepared with a winter survival kit, warm blankets and clothing. Anybody from anywhere can be driving on the roads. Even if they look safe and respectable, don’t get in a car with them. People have cell phones and someone will call sooner or later, or better yet have a cell phone with you when you travel so you can call yourself.If you have any questions regarding traffic safety and or traffic law please write Sgt. Kathy Pederson at Minnesota State Patrol, 1800 East College Drive, Marshall, MN 56258. Sgt. Pederson will not offer advice on specific situations or real events which involve law enforcement.

In the special world of products advertised "for television audiences only," personal grooming has suddenly become a group activity. One recent, hair-raising commercial touts a man’s grooming kit, which may be purchased for $12.95 plus shipping and handling, if you call the number at the bottom of your screen quickly enough and as long as limited supplies last. There’s a definite sense of urgency in the male announcer’s voice. Although the grooming kit is for men, the sales pitch is directed at women — "Ladies, keep that man in your life perfectly groomed," advises the announcer. During the commercial, a woman’s hands are shown trimming a man’s sideburns and eyebrows, as well as removing unsightly hairs from his nose and ears. The 60-second spot, unfortunately limited by time constraints, fails to show the woman removing the man’s built-up earwax or trimming his toenails. The ad puts a completely new slant on man-woman relationships. The implication, wrong as it may be, is that men must have these things done for them and that they are incapable of grooming themselves. Behind every successful, good-looking man is a woman who can tweeze, pluck, clip and trim. Most wedding vows fail to mention that a wife will "love, honor and remove unsightly hairs," so the group approach to personal grooming must be fairly new. For many generations, in fact since the first caveman dislodged a piece of meat from between his teeth with a sliver of bone, men and women took care of their own personal grooming and the nature of those tasks were kept from the rest of the world. That’s why locks were installed on bathroom doors and why so many men emerged from those same bathrooms with razor nicks on their necks and faces covered with tiny pieces of toilet paper. The blood-specked bits of paper were never mentioned in polite conversation because grooming was a private activity. Men have always taken care of their own grooming. So, what happened? If wives are now expected to do those tasks for men in their lives, can family grooming sessions be far behind? "OK, Johnny, you take care of Daddy’s toenails. Susie, tweeze his uni-brow and I’ll hold him down in his recliner chair!" An evening of tweezing, clipping and tidying up the father could be capped with a more traditional activity, such as a popcorn party in front of the TV. After men are accustomed to having their entire families descend upon them as they try to relax in their recliner chairs after long days at work, friends and neighbors might want to join in on the fun and excitement. "Joe is having a 50th birthday party," an invitation might read, "and you are invited to celebrate, desquamate (remove dead skin) and depilate (remove unsightly hairs) with the guest of honor!" It’s easy to imagine how women might feel if the tables were turned and they would hear, "Men, keep that woman in your life perfectly groomed." Without splitting hairs, it’s safe to say that sales pitch would never fly. Perhaps we are subconsciously avoiding an inevitable truth. As Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., wrote in 1860, "Husband and wife come to look alike at last." If the men in our lives look well-groomed, we will too.

I would like to express my thanks to the city of Luverne for adopting a tobacco-free park and recreational facility policy. I am impressed with their understanding of how this type of policy can help reduce youth tobacco use and protect the health of Luverne residents and visitors. The kids need every available asset for success. Changing social norms about the acceptability of tobacco use will not only benefit the youth of Luverne, but the community as a whole. I frequently visit the city and wish the city of Sioux Falls would start the same type of program here.Scott WalschlagerSioux Falls, S.D.