Joseph M. Butler, 74, Rapid City, S.D., died Thursday, Sept. 19, 2002, at Methodist Hospital, Houston Medical Center in Texas while awaiting a lung transplant.

Mass of Christian Burial was Wednesday, Sept. 25, at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Rapid City. Bishop BlasŽ Cupich officiated.

Joseph M. Butler was born in Lismore on Aug. 22, 1928, to Michael and Mary Butler. He served in the U.S Army in Alaska from 1946 to 1948. He earned a degree from Worthington Junior College in 1950 and a bachelor of science degree from the University of South Dakota in 1952. He graduated from the USD Law School in 1954. He was a partner in the Rapid City law firm of Bangs, MeCullen, Butler, Foye & Simmons.

He served on the Pennington County Housing Authority and the Western South Dakota Catholic Foundation.

Mr. Butler was a member of Phi Delta Phi, was awarded the prestigious McKusick Award from USD in 1985, was named the Avocate Trial Lawyer of the Year in 1990 and South Dakota Trial Lawyer of the Year in 1994. He was a member of the International Association of insurance Counsel, a member of the International Society of Barristers, a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, a member of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers and the American Board of Trial Advocates. He was past president of the S.D. Trial Lawyers Association and also served on the South Dakota Judicial Qualifications Committee.

On June 10, 2002, he was recognized for his lifetime of accomplishments at a reception in his honor on Joe Butler Day, which was hosted by Gov. William Janklow.

Mr. Butler is survived by his wife, Barbara Butler, Rapid City; one brother, Jim Butler, Minneapolis; his mother-in-law, Vivien Ruhlman; his nephews and nieces, William, James, Beth, Peggy and Patricia.

He was preceded in death by his parents and his twin brother, Jack Butler.

Osheim-Catron Funeral Home, Rapid City, was in charge of arrangements.

Memorials will be directed to the scholarship fund at he University of South Dakota Law School Foundation, to HELD, a foundation that provides assistance to the elderly, or Youth & Family Services in Rapid City.

Services for H. Ann Anderson are at 1 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 10, at Crystal Evangelical Free Church, 4225 Gettysburg Ave. North, New Hope.

H. Ann Anderson, 58, Maple Grove, died Oct. 6, 2002, in St. Louis Park.

H. Ann DeVries was born Oct. 23, 1943, to Peter and Agnes (Wessels Martins) DeVries in Little Rock, Iowa.

She is survived by her husband, Daryl Anderson; one daughter, Angela (Greg) Van Hauen; one granddaughter, Ashlee Lyn; one brother, Ted (Sharon) DeVries; one sister, Paulette (Steve) Connell; one nephew, Paul (Kimberly) DeVries; two nieces, Sharla (Bob) Kommes and Kimberlee Leonard; six great-nieces and nephews; DarylÕs loving family and numerous friends.

Mrs. Anderson was preceded in death by her parents, Peter and Agnes DeVries, and one great-nephew, Michael.

Gearty-Delmore is in charge of arrangements.

Madeline Nelson, 89, Luverne, died Wednesday, Oct. 9 at Luverne Community Hospital. Visitation will be Friday, Oct. 11 from 2 to 8 p.m. with the family present form 6 to 8 p.m. at Dingmann Funeral Home, Luverne. Services will be Saturday, Oct. 12 at 10:30 a.m. at Grace Lutheran Church, Luverne, with Rev. Maurice Hagen and Rev. Dell Sanderson officiating. Burial will be 1 p.m. at Jasper Cemetery.

An internment service will be at Maplewood Cemetery at 2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 19.
Alfred A. Meyer died Jan. 24, 2002, in Foley.

Margaret M. (Harding) Meyer died July 9, 2001, in Foley.

Full obituaries were published at time of death.

Ray Waldo Swenson, 86, Luverne, died Wednesday, May 22, 2002, at Mary Jane Brown Good Samaritan Center in Luverne.

Services were Saturday, May 25, at Dingmann Funeral Chapel in Luverne. The Rev. Ron Moffitt officiated. Burial was in Maplewood Cemetery, Luverne.

Ray Waldo Swenson was born to Gust and Sarah (Coughlin) Swenson on Sept. 2, 1915, in rural Rock County. He attended country school in Rock County.

He married Zelda Strohschein on Dec. 28, 1939, in Clear Lake, S.D. After their marriage the couple farmed in Rock County. Later, they farmed in White, S.D., and Estelline, S.D., areas. In 1954 they moved back to farm in Rock County. Mrs. Swenson died on March 25, 1978.

He married Louise Ininger on Oct. 9, 1981, in Pipestone. After their marriage the couple lived in Luverne and later moved to Kenneth. He became a resident of Good Samaritan Village in Pipestone in 1998. Mrs. Swenson died in 2000. Later that year he became a resident of Mary Jane Brown Good Samaritan Center in Luverne.

Mr. Swenson enjoyed hunting and fishing. He loved to raise and ride horses.

Survivors include one daughter, Marilyn (Gilmer) Doop, Bruce, S.D.; three grandchildren, Marlin Doop, Darwin Doop, and Julienne Satterlee; seven great-grandchildren; one nephew, David (Lois) Swenson, Mitchell, S.D.; two great-nieces, Ashley and Jenna Swenson; one great-great-nephew, Tyler Carlson; one brother, John (Mary) Swenson, Beaver Creek; and one sister, Hazel Hoiland, Luverne.

Mr. Swenson was preceded in death by his parents, two wives, one son, Myron, in 1981, five brothers and one sister.

Dingmann Funeral Home, Luverne, was in charge of arrangements.

Doris Yager, 102, Luverne, died Monday, Oct. 14 at Mary Jane Brown Good Samaritan Center, Luverne. Visitation will be Wednesday, Oct. 16 from 6 to 8 p.m. at Zion Presbyterian Church, Ellsworth. Services will be Thursday, Oct. 17 at 10:30 a.m. at Zion Presbyterian Church with Rev. Robert Raedeke officiating. Burial will be in Grand Prairie Cememtery, Ellsworth. Dingmann Funeral Home, Luverne, is in charge of arrangements.

Luverne junior Callen Bosshart lunges at a ball during Monday's home volleyball match against Martin County West. The Cardinals dropped a four-game match to the Mavericks.

By John Rittenhouse
The Luverne volleyball team recorded its first Southwest Conference victory in two seasons when it swept a three-game match in Worthington Thursday.

The conference win was followed by 3-1 losses to Martin County West in Luverne Monday and to Brandon Valley in Brandon, S.D., Tuesday.

Luverne, 10-9-1 overall, hosts Pipestone Area tonight before playing at the Hull Western Christian Tournament Saturday and taking on Redwood Valley in Redwood Falls Tuesday.

BV 3, Luverne 1
The Cardinals received their first taste of playing volleyball by South Dakota rules when they traveled to Brandon Tuesday.

South Dakota rules feature rally scoring and 25-point games, and the Cards were unable to adjust in time to record a victory.

After falling 25-12 in the first game, LHS did bounce back to knot the match at one game each with a 25-22 win in Game 2.

The rest of the night belonged to the Lynx as the hosts posted 25-14 and 25-19 in Games 3 and 4.

"It was different," said Cardinal coach Mary Jo Graphenteen, when asked about what she thought about playing under South Dakota's guidelines.

"I thought we did some good things in the match, but I also think we got beat by the better team. BV is a senior-dominated team that is taller and more athletic than we are. We had our chances, but we didnÕt capitalize on some of our opportunities."

Rashel Boeve led the Cards with 13 kills. Stephanie Morgan, who was seven of seven receiving, and Tara Boomgaarden chipped in 12 and six kills respectively.

Taylor Nelson was seven of eight serving. Lyndsie Johnson registered nine set assists.

MCW 3, Luverne 1
The Cardinals were unable to record back-to-back wins when they hosted the Mavericks Monday.

A win for LHS in Game 2 tied the match at 1-1, but MCW prevailed in Games 3 and 4 to take the match.

Luverne fell behind 5-0 in Game 1 before pulling to within one point of the Mavericks twice at 6-5 and 8-7 with kills from Johnson and Morgan respectively.

The Mavericks answered the challenge by putting together a 6-0 run to open a 14-7 advantage before clinching a 15-10 win in the end.

Luverne controlled play early in the second game before MCW pulled within one point at 6-5.

The Cards responded with a 7-3 surge featuring three service points from Boomgaarden, a point and a kill from Cassie Pap, a point from Morgan and a block from Boeve to gain a 13-8 advantage that was washed away when MCW went on a 7-1 run to move in front 15-14.

Luverne, however, bounced back with a kill from Boeve, a block by Morgan and a point from Emily Oksness to win by two.

The Cards faced a 5-1 deficit in the third game before taking a 6-5 edge with three points from Boomgaarden, one from Pap and a kill by Boeve.

MCW then took control of the game with a 10-0 run that gave the Mavericks a 15-6 victory.

Game 4 was a tight one featuring ties at three, seven, eight, nine and 10.

The Cards whittled a 14-11 deficit to two points (14-13) with a tip by Boomgaarden and an ace serve from Johnson, but MCW scored the next point to clinch a 15-13 win.

Boomgaarden completed 20 of 21 serves and recorded 14 points for the Cards, who received 20 set assists from Johnson.

Morgan led LHS with 12 kills. Boeve recorded eight kills, while Pap and Oksness chipped in six kills each.

Luverne 3,
Worthington 0
The Cardinals posted their first conference win in two seasons when they swept a three-game match from the Trojans in Worthington Thursday.

The win didn't come easy as the Cards had to come from behind to win two games, the prize of snapping what was a 12-match SWC losing skid dating back to Sept. 28, 2000.

"It was a big conference win for us," said Cardinal coach Graphenteen. "It's been a while since we've come to school on Friday after winning a conference match on Thursday. Since it (the win) came during homecoming week, it was pretty cool."

A late rally in Game 1 sent the Cardinals on their way to victory. Trailing 14-12, Luverne put together a 4-0 run to steal a 16-14 win.

The Cardinals controlled play while posting a 15-2 win in the second game, but they fell behind 6-1 in Game 3 before going on a 14-3 run to secure a 15-9 victory.

Morgan led the Cardinals at the net with 13 kills. Boeve charted six kills, while Pap and Oksness added five each.

Johnson, who led the Cards with 17 set assists, was 22 of 23 serving with 18 points. Pap went 13 of 17 serving with 11 points and three aces.

Pap and Boomgaarden were cited for doing a good job of receiving serves by Graphenteen.

Luverne's Jake Studer placed fourth to lead the boys' varsity team to victory at the Cardinal Autumn Invitational in Adrian Thursday.

By John Rittenhouse
The Luverne cross country teams played the role of greedy hosts when they entertained a number of area teams for the Cardinal Autumn Invitational at the Adrian Area Country Club Thursday.

The Luverne squads posted a sweep in varsity competition by winning both team titles.

LHS nipped Sioux Falls Lincoln 46-49 to take top honors in the boys' competition. Hills-Beaver Creek-Ellsworth-Edgerton (77), Brandon Valley (120), Worthington (145) and Adrian (166) round out the six-team field.

The Cardinal girls bested Lincoln 27-34 to win their championship. BV and Worthington placed third and fourth with 77 and 111 points respectively.

Jake Studer and Nick Otten set the pace for the Cardinal boys by finishing fourth and sixth individually with respective 17:41 and 17:54 times.

Jesse Kuhlman (10th in 18:16), Ruston Aaker (12th in 18:29) and Dusty Antoine (14th in 18:35) made contributions to the winning team tally.

Travis Halfmann (20th in 18:58), Jesson Vogt (25th in 19:14), Trevor Maine (28th in 19:22), Devin Goembel (33rd in 17:41), Eric Kraetsch (50th in 20:47), John May (56th in 21:07), David Nelson (62nd in 21:56), Brent DeGroot (65th in 22:22) and Mike Nelson (69th in 22:49) also ran in the varsity race for LHS.

Third-place finishing H-BC-E-E received outstanding races from Tyler Bush and Zach Hadler, who placed first and third in 17:21 and 17:38.

Todd Alberty, Greg Van Batavia and Derek Haak placed 11th, 17th and 45th with respective 18:24, 18:53 and 20:25 times to pad H-BC-E-E's team score.

Kerry Fink (46th in 20:31), John Sandbulte (53rd in 20:59), Michael Bos (61st in 21:55), Devin DeBoer (60th in 21:52), Jared Drenth (67th in 22:19) and Justin Hinks (79th in 25:29) also ran in the varsity race for the Patriots.

Brandon Bullerman and Paul Honermann led the Adrian boys by finishing 14th and 15th in 18:37 and 18:42.

Ethan Wieneke, Kelly Seeman and Aaron Mormann round out Adrian's point producers by finishing 34th in 19:51, 49th in 20:47 and 52nd in 20:55.

Dustin Lonneman and Eldon Vaselaar placed 75th and 80th in 24:04 and 25:44 without impacting the scoring.

Placing five runners in the top-10 set the stage for victory for the Cardinal girls.

Lexi Heitkamp (second in 16:05), Sadie Dietrich (third in 16:05), Victoria Arends (sixth in 16:27), Amanda Saum (seventh in 16:36) and Kelsey Dooyema (ninth in 16:56) helped the Cardinals come out on top.

Jessica Willers and Breanna Studer placed 36th and 40th in 19:20 and 20:11 without influencing the scoring.

H-BC-E-E and Adrian fielded incomplete teams for the girls' varsity race.

Krissi Thier (13th in 17:20), Kelly Banck (17th in 17:44) and McCall Heitkamp (18th in 17:47) represented Adrian.

Erica Fransen and Mya Mann placed 20th and 26th in 17:58 and 18:27 for H-BC-E-E.

Here is a look at the junior high results from Thursday's meet.

Junior high boys
H-BC-E-E: Grant Hoogendoorn, first, 6:18; Adam Finke, second, 6:15; Cody Rozenboom, third, 6:35.
Adrian: Tony Thier, fifth 6:38; Collin Lynn, sixth, 6:43; Kyle Henning, eighth, 6:4 Brett Springman, ninth, 6:52; Tim Zaske, 11th, 6:57.

Junior high girls
Luverne: Justine Heintzman, third, 6:41; Amanda Kannas, sixth, 7:03.
H-BC-E-E: Amanda Tilstra, second, 6:30.
Adrian: Morgan Lynn, first, 6:13; Megan Henning, fourth, 6:42; Kaitlin Leinen, fifth, 7:01.

By Lori Ehde
The long-awaited thermal oxidizer will be fired up at Luverne's Agri-Energy ethanol plant on Oct. 23.

It's the $1.5-million solution to the plant's odor problem that has prompted community complaints since it began operating in 1998.

The equipment was ordered in January and arrived for installation in July. It's a major project that required two additions, one for the electrical panel and one to house the boiler.

The oxidizer was scheduled to start operating by late summer, but inspectors required additional equipment that delayed startup.

According to Plant Manager Rick Serie, the Agri-Energy plant will shut down Oct. 22 for usual fall maintenance, so the oxidizer will be installed at that time.

It's also well-timed with a recent settlement with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and the EPA.

MPCA settles with 12 ethanol plants
Agri-Energy Ethanol Plant is one of 12 plants statewide to reach an agreement last week with state and federal regulators on plant emissions and permitting.

A consent decree filed in U.S. District Court, St. Paul, Wednesday, addresses all concerns of the MPCA and the EPA and will result in cleaner ethanol production.

"The Minnesota plants have led the way for the entire ethanol industry by proactively working with the agencies to develop new control solutions to improve the environment," said Bill Lee, co-spokesman for 11 of the 12 plants covered by the agreement.

"By investing in additional control measures, the ethanol industry will reduce emissions well below the requirements in the Clean Air Act. The agreement calls for the implementation of the best available control technologies for all significant plant emissions."

Luverne's thermal oxidizer and additional controls will meet requirements spelled out in the agreement, according to Serie.

"We make a fuel that's good for the environment, so I don't want to be known as a polluter," he said.

He clarified that the settlement doesn't assume blame. "They never stated we were out of compliance, they just assumed we were," he said. "It would have cost more to fight it than it would to settle."

On the positive side, Serie said the process moved quickly.

"Everyone is extremely pleased with the cooperative effort.

"This settlement was arrived at in record time. Most cases like this take years to resolve. We settled 12 plants in five months."

How does it work?
In the thermal oxidation process, odor is eliminated by venting plant emissions into the oxidizer and destroying them with heat.

Meanwhile, the plant will capture heat off that process in a recovery steam generator to create steam for the ethanol production process.

Another advantage to the oxidation process is that it will allow the plant to increase production while remaining in compliance with the MPCA's emissions standards.

In fact, Serie said, the plant decided to pay $268,000 more for a larger model that will allow the plant to double its production in the future.

While the oxidation process requires a hefty up-front investment, Serie said it may pay for itself in five years.

Gained efficiencies of the boiler, costs cut by not using the scrubber and the freedom to expand production all make the oxidizer a worthwhile investment, Serie said.

The 175-foot stack will remain, but the steam plume coming out of the stack will be all but eliminated.

"Cold air condensing hot air makes steam, so there may be a plume in the wintertime, but there won't be any emissions," Serie said.

The existing boiler will be moved into a support position to be used as backup if needed.

Agri-Energy started production in 1998. It now employs 29 people full-time with an annual payroll of more than $1 million.

It processes seven million bushels of corn per year and produces more than 20 million gallons of ethanol annually.