By Lori EhdeAs a family physician and mother of three girls, Dr. Diane Kennedy knows a thing or two about parenting.And, as someone who survived adolescence and is now guiding her own girls through the transition, she knows a thing or two about how hormones affect the female body.For this reason, Community Education asked Kennedy to lead a seminar called "Mother Daughter Talk."It’s scheduled for 7 to 8 p.m. Monday, Nov. 17, in the Luverne Elementary School commons area.Kennedy said the event, structured as a discussion session, will address physical and developmental changes that occur throughout adolescence and how those affect emotions and relationships.Mothers will attend the class along with their adolescent daughters, and discussion will focus on what the phase is like for both of them."From the parenting perspective, no matter what your child’s doing, it’s probably normal," Kennedy said. "I hope to reassure that yes, those changes are occurring, and yes, they’re causing chaos in the family, but they’re just part of normal development and it’s what allows girls to become independent productive young women."She’ll also offer tips for parenting adolescent girls."I hope to empower parents that it’s appropriate to parent at this time," she said. "The hardest thing in the role of parenting is that you can’t be their best friend. You have to set rules and limits and still have expectations … and those have to be appropriate expectations."She said girls will get equal time to be heard."We’ll address the turmoil they’re going through in their relationships with their parents," Kennedy said. "… and their relationships with their friends is in constant turmoil and chaos."To register for the class, call Community Education at 283-4724."What we’re hoping for is that they get to the other side with their self-esteem in tact and respect for themselves, their parents and their peers," Kennedy said.

By Lori EhdeLocal wind energy leaders cleared a monumental hurdle this fall with an agreement with Xcel Energy.Minwind I and Minwind II members have signed a 20-year agreement with Xcel and its parent company Northern States Power, to transmit power generated from Rock County wind turbines.With the agreement in place, seven new wind turbines will be built 2 1/2 miles north of Beaver Creek on more than two sections of land.These turbines will be bigger and more powerful than the four built last year by the Minwind groups northeast of Hills.Each of the new turbines will generate 1.65 megawatts per hour of electricity, compared with .950 megawatts generated by the existing Hills turbines ."That’s how much the technology has changed from one year to the next," said Minwind II President Tom Arends, Luverne.He said the technology has improved not so much in the turbine motors, but in the blades, which are now longer and more efficient at capturing wind.For example, each of the Beaver Creek turbines are the same height as the Hills towers — 70 meters. But the new blades, from tip to tip, measure 82 meters, spanning nearly the length of a football field. This compares with 54 meters on the current turbines."They’re more efficient in low wind speeds," Arends said. "We built the Hills turbines with the biggest blades we could at the time, but the technology keeps improving."Each of the new turbines will generate enough energy to service roughly 900 homes per year.With the Xcel agreement, the Beaver Creek turbines will provide power to consumers in Sioux Falls and the Twin Cities metro area.Minwind I President Mark Willers, Luverne, said crafting the agreement with Xcel was no small task."It took 11 months to get this power contract," Willers said. "These long-term agreements are very intricate."To make things more complicated, the Xcel agreement hinged on the outcome of a federal study on the proposed project.Called the Midwest Independent Systems Operator Study, it looks at power transmission in an 11-state area to figure how Minwind’s power will affect existing transmission."It studies the capacity for us to connect to the transmission lines," Willers said. "They determined we will not interfere with existing lines, substations and transmission towers that already exist."It’s a good thing, too, Willers said, because it costs about $100,000 just to request the study, and if the results came back inconclusive, it would cost another $100,000 to start the process over.With the study complete and Xcel agreement in place, the next step will be to wrap up land arrangement and to let bids on the construction phase, which will begin next spring.Both Willers and Arends say they’re relieved to have reached this stage of the new project. "One of the biggest things is rural economic development. Everyone strives for this," Arends said. "If this isn’t one of the biggest projects for this, I don’t know what is."He said he and other local investors in the turbines have gained a new appreciation for wind, that typically hinders farm work."If we have to put up with wind, why can’t we harness it and harvest it?" he said. "You’d be surprised how when we go outside now we say, ‘Isn’t this a nice windy day?’"Minwind is an off-shoot of the CornerStone Cooperative Board that started Agri-Energy Ethanol Plant in Luverne. A limited liability corporation, the Minwind groups are owned and controlled by local members, led by two, five-member boards.

By Lori EhdeFirst National Bank of Luverne customers and employees are awaiting to learn how they’ll be affected by the sale of First National to Minnwest Bank.Minnwest Corporation of Minnetonka and Fishback Financial Corporation of Brookings, S.D., reached an agreement for Minnwest Bank of Luverne to purchase First National Bank of Luverne.Minnwest Bank of Luverne has one location in Luverne, while First National Bank of Luverne has two locations in Luverne (one on South Highway 75 and one in Glen’s Food Center) and one in Beaver Creek.According to a statement released Thursday, Nov. 6, the agreement is pending regulatory approval, which won’t be for about six weeks.Until then, it’s unclear how the purchase agreement will affect operations and employees. There are currently 10 1/2 full-time equivalent employees working in all the three locations of First National Bank of Luverne.From Minnwest’s perspective, the move is seen as an opportunity to reach a broader number of Luverne and Rock County citizens."We know that First National Bank of Luverne has provided a high level of service to its customers in the past, and it is our intent to maintain and grow those standards wherever possible," said Greg Burger, president of Minnwest Bank, Luverne."We are very excited about the opportunities this presents for Minnwest Bank Luverne and continue to look forward to growing with Rock County and the Luverne community."

By Sara StrongSo, you want to start a business by the new hospital, but it’s zoned residential. Or you want to convert your home on Highway 75 to a dental practice.Those kinds of issues will be addressed in the new Comprehensive Plan, which is still in the draft stages.The city of Luverne has been working on that, trying to form a guide that will influence decisions for the next 10 to 15 years.Although it doesn’t sound all that exciting to most, City Councilman David Hauge has been a longstanding advocate of a strong Comprehensive Plan.Hauge said, "We wish more people would have shown up, of course. There’s a lot of talented, intelligent people in the city that could’ve helped out."The public meetings didn’t draw as many people as the local Comprehensive Plan Task Force and the paid consultants had hoped. However, they say they got good information from participants. It seemed, at first, that participants wanted to talk about Fledgling Field, and both sides of the development issue showed up for that.The guided group activities made all participants answer specific questions on development issues in all parts of town. The end result of the information-gathering phase brought together a well-rounded collection of opinions.Creating a Comprehensive Plan without follow-through from Luverne’s leaders would mean all those efforts (and $50,000) were wasted."The important thing is, that as we leave office in the Council or Planning Commission, we educate people on the Comprehensive Plan," Hauge said.Past city leaders didn’t crack the booklet, and looked away from what was planned for development and zoning. Now, Planning Commission and City Council members are behind the plan.One aspect of the plan that became important was separating the existing land uses from the future plans for land uses. By defining future uses, the Comprehensive Task Force set a Land Use Plan.It provides the framework for the growth and development of Luverne. It also illustrates information gotten from community input and evaluations.Along with that, the Comprehensive Plan Task Force and hired consultants took a snapshot of Luverne in 2003, identifying the current use of each parcel of land.They divided land into a series of residential, commercial, industrial and public use types. The survey found that most land in Luverne is public/semi-public and low density residential — each making up 20 percent of land uses.Other uses were: river, 17 percent; vacant, 5 percent; agricultural, 18 percent; commercial, 6 percent; high density residential, 1 percent; industrial, 7 percent; medium density residential, 1 percent, and parks, 5 percent.The inventory of Luverne’s properties noted what the land is actually used for, not what it’s zone designation is.Low density residential is the typical single-family housing. Medium density residential refers to housing with two to four families in each building, including duplexes, triplexes, quadraplexes and attached town homes. It also includes single family homes that have been split into two to four units and manufactured home parks.High density residential is all forms of attached housing units with five or more units in a building. Commercial is all forms of retail and service businesses.Industrial includes all forms of businesses that manufacture or process food, goods, or equipment. It also includes warehouses and self-storage buildings. These typically don’t have space devoted to displays and don’t sell directly to the public.Public/semi-public refers to land owned by municipalities, counties or school districts. It also refers to land owned by institutions such as churches, hospitals and nursing homes.Parks are municipal and county-owned facilities such as playgrounds, ballfields and recreational trails.Agricultural land represents parcels currently being farmed or directly connected to a farming operation.Luverne contains approximately 2,200 acres of land.

‘Did you find everythingall right?’ … ‘Will thatbe all for you today?’I’ve been wondering for a long time who writes the script for check-out clerks at grocery and department stores.They all say the same thing, usually one of two phrases: "Did you find everything all right?" and "Will that be all for you?"I always feel kind of bad for them, too, because I can tell they’re intelligent, thinking humans, but they’re programmed to say such robotic things.Most are able to pull it off in a friendly tone that sounds more like a greeting than a question, but I’m always tempted to respond with an answer that would illustrate how ridiculous the question is."No," I could say. "You know, I didn’t find everything all right, but I decided to get in this long line at the cash register and wait to tell you about it. Would you mind helping find the Knox gelatin?"Another robotic check-out clerk greeting is: "Is this all for you?"Whenever I get that question I always reply, "Yes, this is all. Thank you."But I’m really wanting to say something like: "No. This isn’t all of it. I thought maybe you could ring up half now, and I’ll come back later and get the rest."I never say these really snotty things, because I understand it’s not the poor check-out clerk’s fault.Since they all say the same things, I can only assume some corporate attorney decided these are the most politically-correct, socially safe ways to greet customers.It was probably in response to some checkout disaster. Maybe some chatty check-out clerk, left to his own conversational devices, unintentionally offended a customer.It probably went something like, "Hi there! Lots of Ho-Hos in the cart – looks like someone’s cheating on her Weight Watchers points this weekend!"Or maybe it was something like, "Generic beer … What kind of red neck drinks generic beer from a grocery store?"Or worse, it could have been something like, "Yep … Nothing like a good old-fashioned bowl of Raisin Bran to get things moving. Good luck!"Thus, check-out clerks everywhere are instructed to say, "Will that be all for you?" or, "Did you find everything all right?"It’s much safer, after all, to err on the side of robotic and moronic than to risk being offensive.I might suggest, however, a simple, "Hello. Thanks for shopping with us today."Please stop harassing the runnersSpeaking of offensive, apparently too many people missed my column about bike path etiquette.Apparently there’s a general belief that because the brand new Blue Mound Trail exists, that we must all restrict our recreational walking, running and biking to the path only.As I clearly pointed out in my Aug. 21 column, speaking for many runners everywhere, it’s best to avoid hard surfaces on a regular basis.Many of us use the path for low-mileage runs, but most days, runners (and their joints) prefer the more forgiving surface of a gravel road or a shoulder of a road.A few motorists have been rudely gesturing us toward the bike path when they meet us jogging on the shoulder of Blue Mound Avenue north of Luverne. One crazy guy nearly ran me over while pointing madly in the direction of the path.Again: Just because we have a Blue Mound Trail doesn’t mean all bikers and pedestrians must use the Blue Mound Trail.

By Lori EhdeLocal wind energy leaders cleared a monumental hurdle this fall with an agreement with Xcel Energy.Minwind I and Minwind II members have signed a 20-year agreement with Xcel and its parent company Northern States Power, to transmit power generated from Rock County wind turbines.With the agreement in place, seven new wind turbines will be built 2 1/2 miles north of Beaver Creek on more than two sections of land.These turbines will be bigger and more powerful than the four built last year by the Minwind groups northeast of Hills.Each of the new turbines will generate 1.65 megawatts per hour of electricity, compared with .950 megawatts generated by the existing Hills turbines ."That’s how much the technology has changed from one year to the next," said Minwind II President Tom Arends, Luverne.He said the technology has improved not so much in the turbine motors, but in the blades, which are now longer and more efficient at capturing wind.For example, each of the Beaver Creek turbines are the same height as the Hills towers — 70 meters. But the new blades, from tip to tip, measure 82 meters, spanning nearly the length of a football field. This compares with 54 meters on the current turbines."They’re more efficient in low wind speeds," Arends said. "We built the Hills turbines with the biggest blades we could at the time, but the technology keeps improving."Each of the new turbines will generate enough energy to service roughly 900 homes per year.With the Xcel agreement, the Beaver Creek turbines will provide power to consumers in Sioux Falls and the Twin Cities metro area.Minwind I President Mark Willers, Luverne, said crafting the agreement with Xcel was no small task."It took 11 months to get this power contract," Willers said. "These long-term agreements are very intricate."To make things more complicated, the Xcel agreement hinged on the outcome of a federal study on the proposed project.Called the Midwest Independent Systems Operator Study, it looks at power transmission in an 11-state area to figure how Minwind’s power will affect existing transmission."It studies the capacity for us to connect to the transmission lines," Willers said. "They determined we will not interfere with existing lines, substations and transmission towers that already exist."It’s a good thing, too, Willers said, because it costs about $100,000 just to request the study, and if the results came back inconclusive, it would cost another $100,000 to start the process over.With the study complete and Xcel agreement in place, the next step will be to wrap up land arrangement and to let bids on the construction phase, which will begin next spring.Both Willers and Arends say they’re relieved to have reached this stage of the new project. "One of the biggest things is rural economic development. Everyone strives for this," Arends said. "If this isn’t one of the biggest projects for this, I don’t know what is."He said he and other local investors in the turbines have gained a new appreciation for wind, that typically hinders farm work."If we have to put up with wind, why can’t we harness it and harvest it?" he said. "You’d be surprised how when we go outside now we say, ‘Isn’t this a nice windy day?’"Minwind is an off-shoot of the CornerStone Cooperative Board that started Agri-Energy Ethanol Plant in Luverne. A limited liability corporation, the Minwind groups are owned and controlled by local members, led by two, five-member boards.

By Brenda WinterThe Hills City Council approved a 15-day reduction in the delinquency allowance for late payment of water bills beginning in 2004. The new ordinance requires residents to pay their water bills between the first and 15th of each month. Households failing to pay by the first day of the following month will have water service terminated.Under the current ordinance, water service is not terminated until a bill is 45 days past due, which reportedly complicates bookkeeping for City Hall staff.Council finalizes depot building saleThe Hills City Council accepted a bid for $8,000 from Eugene Immediato for the former depot building. The Council agreed to accept $2,000 less than the original bid of $10,000 after Immediato explained the easement arrangement he made with Kelly DeMuth, owner of Kelly’s Roadhouse Bar, which is located next to the property Immediato bid on.Explaining his reduced bid Immediato said, "The property is not the same with an easement as without. It’s not the same property that I bid on. I felt the easiest way to handle this would be to reduce my bid." He said he and DeMuth agreed on "about 15 feet" of property to be a part of the easement.Immediato initially offered $7,000 ($3,000 less than his original bid). Council members believed that was too large a reduction. Keith Elbers said, "That’s about a third of the price." Councilman Linus Svoboda noted, "You gained about five feet on the other side and you weren’t charged for that."Councilman Arlen Leenderts proposed the compromise of a $2,000 price reduction.Immediato said he appreciated the Council’s involvement in the issue. "Iunderstand it’s not really the Council’s concern to deal with the easement.""It’s between me and Kelly, but we need to come up with some numbers," he said. Immediato plans to turn the old depot building into an eating establishment.

By Lori EhdeFirst National Bank of Luverne customers and employees are awaiting to learn how they’ll be affected by the sale of First National to Minnwest Bank.Minnwest Corporation of Minnetonka and Fishback Financial Corporation of Brookings, S.D., reached an agreement for Minnwest Bank of Luverne to purchase First National Bank of Luverne.Minnwest Bank of Luverne has one location in Luverne, while First National Bank of Luverne has two locations in Luverne (one on South Highway 75 and one in Glen’s Food Center) and one in Beaver Creek.According to a statement released Thursday, Nov. 6, the agreement is pending regulatory approval, which won’t be for about six weeks.Until then, it’s unclear how the purchase agreement will affect operations and employees. There are currently 10 1/2 full-time equivalent employees working in all the three locations of First National Bank of Luverne.From Minnwest’s perspective, the move is seen as an opportunity to reach a broader number of Luverne and Rock County citizens."We know that First National Bank of Luverne has provided a high level of service to its customers in the past, and it is our intent to maintain and grow those standards wherever possible," said Greg Burger, president of Minnwest Bank, Luverne."We are very excited about the opportunities this presents for Minnwest Bank Luverne and continue to look forward to growing with Rock County and the Luverne community."

Hills-Beaver Creek High School football players Cody Scholten (second, right) and Zach Wysong (right) made the 2003 All-Southwest Ridge Conference Football Team. Travis Broesder (left) and Tom LeBoutillier (second, left) drew honorable mention.By John RittenhouseFour members of the Hills-Beaver Creek-Ellsworth football team drew postseason honors Monday.Two Patriots’ players were selected to the 2003 All-Southwest Ridge Conference Football Team. Two more H-BC-E players drew honorable mention from the league’s coaches.Making the All-SRC squad for the Patriots are juniors Cody Scholten and Zach Wysong.Juniors Travis Broesder and Tom LeBoutillier drew honorable mention.Lakeview, the SRC champion with a 5-0 record, placed five players on the 18-athlete all-conference roster.Seniors Tyler Jeseritz, Cody Doom, Sean Woodbeck, Derek Louwagie and Davin Wiesen made the squad for the Lakers.Lakeview’s Jeseritz was named the league’s Back of the Year, Woodbeck the Lineman of the Year, Jim Gaudreau the Coach of the Year, and Tom Yahnka and Erik Lundberg the Assistant Coaches of the Year.Lincoln HI-Lake Benton and Edgerton, teams that placed second in the loop with 3-2 marks, drew four all-conference selections each.LH-LB seniors Garrett Petersen, Dayton Hurd, Chad Midtaune and Justin Jerzak graced the list. Juniors Jordan Menning and Travis Hulstein, and sophomores Brett Elgersma and Max Zwart made the team for Edgerton.Southwest United gained two positions on the All-SRC roster with seniors Anthony Johnson and Mark Riley making the team. Westbrook-Walnut Grove sophomore Dominick Madson rounds out the all-league roster.Broesder and LeBoutillier are two of 12 players to receive honorable mention from the SRC coaches.Lakeview senior Brandon Bossuyt and junior Tyler Isaackson, LH-LB junior Mitch Pederson and sophomore Josh Prosch, Edgerton seniors Kyle Blom and Chris Tinklenberg, SWU juniors Trevor Wintz and Dillon Mathias, and W-WG senior Jordan Dibble and junior Alex Johnson also received honorable mention.