By Lori Ehde
A familiar landmark at Maplewood Cemetery is now missing after an apparent theft of an iron monument.

Caretaker Todd Evans isn't sure exactly when the theft occurred, but he noticed the marker was missing last week when he mowed grass last week.

Evans could describe the monument only from memory, but he said it stood taller than 3 feet, and was topped with a bowl.

"It was a one-of-a-kind in this cemetery. Most graves today are made of granite," he said. "I don't know if it's priceless, but it must be irreplaceable - at least to the family."

The monument could be seen clearly from the road, and Evans said it was easily removed from the metal base, which remains as a marker for the lots.

"I imagine it was a collectible," he said. "I just can't believe someone would do that in a cemetery."

Bussacker is the name that appeared on the monument, and it marked an eight-grave lot that was purchased in the southeast section of the cemetery in 1898.

Evans said five people were buried in the lot, but C. Bussacker is the only name that appeared on the monument. Maplewood Cemetery's interment records donÕt date back far enough to name the others buried there.

For that reason, Evans is unable to notify family members of the theft. All he could do is report it to local law enforcement.

"I told them the next time they have a drug bust to keep their eyes open for an iron monument with a bowl on top," Evans said.

If grave stones or markers are vandalized or stolen, Maplewood Cemetery is not liable for the losses. Evans said the family won't likely know about the theft unless they return to visit the graves.

Anyone with information about the theft can call the Rock County Sheriff's Department at 283-5000.

By Sara Strong
With the Freeman and Estey Street project done on time, having no problems to speak of, property owners being assessed the cost can expect to pay 40 percent less than first estimated.

The total street project came to $791,831, of which $462,000 will be assessed to affected properties.

At a public hearing Monday, the Luverne City Council opened chambers for public comment on the project and assessment. Two residents showed up.

Public Works Director Darrell Huiskes said the project is guaranteed for 20 years, and if it has to be redone before then, the cost won't be assessed to property owners living on the affected streets.

Property owners were notified of their specific assessments and have the opportunity to pay it at once with no interest rather than 10 yearly increments at 6 percent interest.

Resident Elzora Ott said she would like the council to reconsider its assessment policy before the next major street project. She said, "It's a burden. I think everyone should pay an assessment all over town."

The council had previously discussed that option. Council members were unsure how to fairly change the current system when so many property owners have been assessed in the past.

Lawn watering
The city has lifted its total watering ban, but a restriction is still in place because of low well levels from this summer's drought.

Residents are allowed to water lawns once a week, the night before their garbage is picked up. In other words, when people take out dumpsters for pickup, they can water that same night from 5 p.m. until 10 a.m. the next morning.

Wind power
The new River Winds program through the city electric utility has gotten attention from residents.
The new program allows customers to pay a small monthly fee to get a portion of their electricity from wind energy. So far in Luverne, 58 accounts have purchased 77 units of power.

The $2 per month per 100 kilowatt hours fee covers the city's own extra costs from wind power. The city is charged an additional $1.50 per 100 kilowatt hours (or 1 block) by provider Missouri River Energy.

The extra cost is charged to Luverne because wind power costs more to operate. The city will also use part of the $2 fees to market the green power, as required by the state.

By Lori Ehde
Filing periods for area school districts closed at 5 p.m. Tuesday. School board candidate names will appear on general ballots this fall in their respective districts.

Ellsworth will see the most interesting race with nine candidates filing for four open seats on the six-person board.

That list includes Kelly Kramer, Korey Meester, Layton Gruis, Verlyn Timmer, Lynn DeBerg, Rhonda Groen, Dave Goedken, Don Kramer and Jody Hinrichs.

Timmer, Hinrichs and Kelly Kramer have filed for the one open two-year term. The rest filed for the three open four-year terms.

None of the incumbents, Dan Boltjes, Arnie Timmer, Brenda Deutsch and Jeff Deutsch, have filed for re-election.

Cliff Schilling, who has served on the Ellsworth School Board for nearly 20 years, said so many candidates filed because departing board members announced their decisions early and encouraged others to run.

"It's wonderful to see that many people interested in serving on the board," said Schilling, whose seat is not up for election this year.

"There aren't any major issues in the district; it's just that the ones leaving have their kids through school now and have decided to let someone else take a turn."

Board member Jeff Boltjes holds the other seat not up for election this year.

In Adrian, eight candidates are vying for four open seats on the board. They are all four-year terms.

Incumbents Gene Metz and Joe Wieneke have filed for re-election, and they are joined by challengers Pat Thier, Joan Pater, Tim Honermann, Kate McCann, Mark Bullerman and Pamela Konz.

Board members Dennis Kruger and Brenda Sailor did not file for re-election.

Current board members whose terms are up in 2004 are Mark Lonneman, Ted Reisdorfer and Aileen Tweet.

In Luverne, eight candidates are seeking election to four open seats on the board. They are all four-year terms.

Incumbents Dan Kopp, Becky Walgrave, Cary Radisewitz and Bill Stegemann filed for re-election. They're joined by challengers Tim Burns, Bruce Baartman, Colleen Nath and Greg Aubert.

Luverne board members Don Bryan, Colleen Deutsch and Steve Tofteland are not up for election this year.

The Hills-Beaver Creek School District conducts its board elections in odd years - not concurrent with general elections. The next election for that board will be in the fall of 2003.

"Shakey" Jake Neuman and his band stayed on stage for a couple encore selections Saturday during the Blues on the Rocks Fest at Luverne.

A crowd of about 300 attended the event, counting volunteers and tickets given to sponsors. A bigger turnout had been expected. Other than having more people to enjoy the music, the event ran smoothly and on schedule, largely due to volunteers. Dave Smith, Luverne Area Chamber of Commerce director and Blues on the Rocks committee member, said the location and performers were good choices for the festival.

Photo by Sara Strong

Residents line both sides of Main Street Wednesday morning during Luverne's observance of the Sept. 11 one-year anniversary of the terrorist attacks on America.

By Lori Ehde
More than two solid blocks on both sides of Luverne's Main Street were lined with people holding hands Wednesday morning.

It was Luverne's way of observing the one-year anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States.

Local church bells tolled at 7:45, 8:03, 8:43 and 9 a.m. to note the four separate plane attacks on the World Trade Center towers, the Pentagon and the crash in Pennsylvania.

After the last bell tolled, the street fell silent for a few moments, and "Taps" played over a loud speaker.

After that, everyone went back to work or home.

"We just wanted to give people an opportunity for personal reflection," said Chamber Director Dave Smith. "It just gave them a couple minutes out of their day to remember what happened a year ago."

Luverne's observance was just one of millions scheduled in communities nationwide, since Congress passed a public law designating Sept. 11 "Patriot Day."

The American Legion national observance of Patriot Day followed the theme, "We will remember."

In Hardwick, the Legion hosted a program at noon Wednesday, Sept. 11, in the Legion Hall.

The ceremony included representatives from local law enforcement and fire department.

Area public schools observed the day with their own ceremonies.

The Rock County Ministerial Association organized a community prayer service at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, in the Christian Reformed Church, Luverne.

Several pastors from local churches led petitions that individually focused on prayers for peace around the world, for government and military leaders, for victims, for enemies, for respect among religions and for our community.

Churches participated in bell ringing in both Hardwick and Luverne.

"Each time a bell rings on this day, a chord will strike in our hearts as we remember the sadness of the attacks and thank God for allowing us to remain a strong nation through all of this," the Legion said in a statement issued last week.

"This ceremony will help us all to remember the sacrifices of those who died on Sept. 11."

A crane lifts a blade to the top of a wind tower Monday while workers wait (on the top) to assemble the inner mechanics. The wind tower, located three miles southeast of Beaver Creek or seven miles southwest of Luverne, is the second of four towers to be assembled in the area. The local investors of Minwind I and Minwind II each own two of the four towers. Each turbine will carry 1.8 megawatts, or enough energy to power 400 homes. The power generated will be sold to Alliant Energy.

Photo by Jolene Farley

By John Rittenhouse
Rock County drivers dominated the hobby stock competition during a pair of race nights at Huset's Speedway.

The Labor Day weekend featured Sunday and Monday night races at the track near Brandon, S.D., and that proved to be a good thing for Kanaranzi's Colter Deutsch and Magnolia's Josh Klay.

Deutsch, who placed second in his heat race during Sunday's action at the track, took the checkered flag in the feature.

Klay won his heat race Sunday before placing third in the feature.

Steen's Tammy Kracht also raced in the hobby stock class Sunday, placing second in her heat and fifth in the A feature.

Klay produced a sweep during Monday's Sertoma Charities Night at Huset's Monday, winning his heat race and the feature.

Deutsch placed second in his heat and fifth in the feature. Luverne's Larry Kracht was fourth in his heat and eighth in the feature.

Luverne's Anthony Mann and Luverne High School graduate Scott Overgaard mixed it up in the sportsman class at Huset's Monday.

Mann won his heat race before finishing 13th in the feature. Overgaard placed second in the feature and third in his heat race.

Steen's David Kruger and Luverne's Chad Overgaard raced in the short track stock car class Monday at Huset's.

Kruger won his heat race before placing eighth in the feature. Overgaard came in seventh in his heat race and 15th in the feature.

During Sunday's races at Huset's, Kruger placed eighth in his heat race and 10th in the feature. Chad Overgaard was seventh in his heat race and eighth in the feature.

Hills-Beaver Creek High School graduate Darren Korthals also competed in the short track stock car class at Huset's Sunday, placing fifth in his heat and fourth in the feature.

Korthals also won a short track stock car feature race at Rapid Speedway, Rock Rapids, Iowa, Friday.

Luverne's Anthony Mann and Scott Overgaard placed second and fifth, respectively, in the sportsman class feature at Rapid Speedway. Deutsch finished second in the hobby stock feature.

Korthals was one of three area drivers who raced in the short track stock car competition at I-90 Speedway in Hartford, S.D., Saturday.

Korthals placed second in his heat and 10th in the feature.

Luverne's Jesse Akkerman won his heat race and rallied from the seventh row to place second in the feature. Adrian's Brad Klaassen placed second in his heat race and third in the feature.

By John Rittenhouse
Hills-Beaver Creek-Ellsworth-Edgerton cross country coach Tom Goehle strayed from tradition during the first meet of the season in Mountain Lake Wednesday, Aug. 31.

In the past, Goehle used the Wolverine Invitational as a tune-up session for the rest of the season by entering his runners in junior varsity events only.

By fielding a five-runner squad boys' varsity squad on the 31st, Goehle broke tradition, and he probably was glad that he did.

The Patriots turned in a solid performance by placing fourth in a 20-team field with 141 points.

Mounds View won the boys' team title with 72 points. Blue Earth Area and Fairmont placed second and third respectively.

H-BC-E-E also fielded complete boys' and girls junior varsity teams for the meet. The girls finished second with 79 points. The boys placed fourth with 145 points.

"I was happy with the way we finished in both the boys' and girls' events," Goehle said. "They have some really quality teams at this meet, and I think we showed what kind of depth we had by placing the way we did. I thought we ran really well, timewise, for it being our first meet of the year."

Tyler Bush got off to a strong start for the season by placing fourth in the boys' varsity race in 16:37.

Todd Alberty finished 24th in 17:51, Zach Hadler 30th in 18:10, Lee Jackson 37th in 18:30 and Kale Wiertzema 46th in 18:56.

Cassi Tilstra won the girls' junior varsity race in 5:43.

Brittney Rozeboom finished eighth in 6:04, Amanda Tilstra 12th in 6:11, Mya Mann 14th in 6:15, Erika Fransen 44th in 6:44 and Rayne Sandoval 61st in 7:11.

Greg Van Batavia paced the junior varsity boys by placing fourth in 11:34.

Kerry Fink finished 26th in 12:47, Devin DeBoer 28th in 12:52, Derek Haak 43rd in 13:11, John Sandbulte 44th in 13:12, Adam Finke 51st in 13:24, Michael Bos 56th in 13:32, Jared Drenth 80th in 14:32, Grant Hoogendoorn 83rd in 14:42 and Justin Hinks 103rd in 18:02.

Hills-Beaver Creek-Ellsworth senior linebacker Jesse Leuthold (41) contests a pass headed for the hands of Glenville-Emmons' Tim Westland during FridayÕs football game in Hills. The Patriots opened the season by rolling to a 43-6 victory over the Wolverines.

By John Rittenhouse
The Hills-Beaver Creek-Ellsworth football team made a statement during the season's first game against Glenville-Emmons in Hills Friday.

The message H-BC-E sent was clear. The Patriots still are a very dangerous team that can hurt its opponents in a number of ways.

G-E found that out the hard away Friday during what turned into a lopsided win for H-BC-E.

The Patriots scored two touchdowns on special teams and kicked a field goal, they scored one defensive touchdown and three offensive touchdowns (two by run and one by pass) during the game. When the final gun sounded, H-BC-E celebrated a 43-6 victory.

"This was a good game to have for our first game," said a pleased Dan Ellingson, H-BC-E's head coach. "We got a chance to look at a lot of different people in different positions. It was a good game to build some confidence in."

The Patriots, who outscored G-E 43-0 before yielding a late touchdown, took control of the contest at the earliest possible moment.

H-BC-E won the coin toss and chose to receive the ball to start the game, and senior Chris Reid stunned the Wolverines by returning the kick 75 yards for a touchdown. Zach Wysong then added his first of four extra points for a 7-0 cushion.

The Patriot defense took advantage of the early momentum when Wysong picked off a G-E pass and returned the ball inside the G-E 20-yard line.

The good field position wasn't wasted as quarterback Curt Schilling tossed a five-yard touchdown pass to Tyson Metzger to make it a 14-0 game 2:34 into the contest.

G-E, which turned the ball over six times in the contest, did so again during its second possession as Reid intercepted a pass. The turnover led to a 24-yard field goal by Wysong with 2:58 remaining in a first quarter that ended with H-BC-E sporting a 17-0 cushion.

The Patriots increased their lead to 23 points early in the second quarter.

Reid, who ran the ball 17 times for 118 yards in the opener, dashed 30 yards for a touchdown with 9:27 left to play in the second stanza. The extra-point attempt failed, leaving H-BC-E with a 23-0 lead it took into the second half.

The Patriots settled the issue by scoring 14 points in the first 7:11 of the third quarter.

After forcing G-E to punt to start the second half, H-BC-E put together a drive that was capped by a 14-yard scoring-burst by Jesse Leuthold at the 9:03 mark of the third quarter.

Wysong, who added the extra point after Leuthold's run, returned a G-E punt 52 yards for a touchdown and kicked another extra point to make it a 37-0 game with 4:49 left in the third period.

The Patriot defense came up with another big play in the fourth quarter when Drew Spykerboer scooped up a G-E fumble and returned it 41 yards for a touchdown with 5:19 left to play.

G-E answered Spykerboer's six-pointer with 35-yard touchdown run from Seth Buchanan with 1:39 remaining in the game.

Ellingson was proud of the way H-BC-E played Friday, but he expects a bigger challenge when the Patriots host Southwest Star Concept tomorrow.

The Quasars rolled to a 49-20 win over Lyle-Austin Pacelle in their opener.

"SSC has a very good quarterback as well as their top two receivers and linemen coming back. They'll be a good team, so we'll have to play pretty well to win," he said.

Team statistics
H-BC-E: 196 rushing yards, 42 passing yards, 238 total yards, eight first downs, five penalties for 30 yards, two turnovers.
G-E: 150 rushing yards, 21 passing yards, 171 total yards, three first downs, two penalties for 10 yards, six turnovers.

Individual statistics
Rushing: Reid 17-118, Schilling 2-27, Leuthold 2-15, Wysong 2-12, Lee Jackson 4-12, Travis Broesder 2-11, Dusty Seachris 1-1.
Passing: Schilling 6-14 for 42 yards.
Receiving: Metzger 3-14, Broesder 1-15, Kyle Sammons 1-12, Reid 1-1.
Defense: Schilling 10 tackles, Wysong two interceptions, Reid one interception, Leuthold five tackles and one interception, Clint Roozenboom, one tackle and one interception, Spykerboer one tackle and one fumble recovery, Chris Gaul two tackles and two sacks.