By Sara Strong
More housing and financing options could be on the horizon for Rock County.

The Rock County Board of Commissioners Tuesday passed a resolution agreeing to support the new housing program and approved $625 to go toward applying for it.

The Southwest Minnesota Housing Partnership wants to apply to the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency for $750,000 to go toward purchasing and rehabilitating blighted properties.

They would be sold in a 0 percent contract for deed arrangement.

The Housing Partnership is proposing completing a total of eight homes in Rock, Nobles, Murray and Pipestone counties. Each county would then have two refurbished homes.

The program requires that the housing be located within a municipality. The housing would be sold to persons with an income of less than 80 percent of the area median income. That income is as follows:

Family size Gross income
1 $27,550
2 $31,550
3 $35,400
4 $39,350
5 $42,500
6 $45,650

The housing payment would be set up to be 25 percent of the familyÕs gross income and includes principle, taxes and insurance. The loan is fully amortized and is repaid to a revolving loan fund, which is recycled for the same purpose.

Room to grow
Housing in Rock County has been a long-standing issue.

The city of Luverne commissioned a study last year that concluded the city of Luverne could support an additional 30 units of houses to sell and another 80 to 84 units to rent over the next three to five years.

The selling price of homes in Luverne has steadily increased during the '90s. The median selling price from 1989-90 was $28,500 and from 1999-00 was $65,000.

The city also has a considerable number of open lots for building, but the need may lie in lower-cost purchases.

Luverne has a goal of increasing population to 5,200 by 2010 and it is working on ways to reach that.

One example of that is that some Gold 'N Plump workers are bussed to shifts in Luverne. The city had expressed hopes that more housing choices might bring more of those employees to live in Luverne.

Rock County Highway Department workers hang the new "Welcome to Minnesota" sign along Rock County Road 4 (Old Highway 16) at the Minnesota-South Dakota Border Thursday, June 27. The wooden sign was made in the Hills-Beaver Creek High School Industrial Technology II class by Lee Walraven and Justin Van Maanen to replace the sign that was stolen three years ago. According to Rock County Highway Engineer Mark Sehr, the students made the sign for the cost of the materials, roughly $100, whereas ordering it through the usual vendors would have cost the county nearly $3,500.

Luverne City Councilman Keith Erickson was one of the first to try new equipment at the main city park Friday. By phone, he gave a play-by-play review of the equipment to locla news radio reporter Matt Crosby. Erickson said, "The tower's kind of small for a big guy...This could be fun if I was 8 years old." While going down the slide, Erickson said, "Holy cow," for his account of the playground's addition.

By John Rittenhouse
The Hills Thunder broke into the win column in amateur baseball play in front of home fans Sunday.

Hosting Heron Lake in a league game, Hills rode an outstanding pitching performance by Matt Wingate to a 4-0 victory.

The win snapped an eight-game losing streak that started at the beginning of the season.

Hills will try to build on the win when it plays Spencer, Iowa, and Jackson at 2 and 4 p.m.

respectively Sunday in Luverne. The Thunder will travel to Wilmont for a single game Wednesday.

A dominating pitching performance by Wingate was the key to victory over Heron Lake Sunday.

Wingate tossed a seven-inning, one-hit shutout. He fanned seven batters during the game and had a no-hitter broken when Heron Lake came up with a single in the seventh inning.

Hills struck for four runs in the first five innings to support the pitcher.

The Thunder came up with two runs in the bottom of the third inning before adding single runs in the fourth and fifth frames.

Hills batters Jarud Lang and Scott Harnack were hit by pitches to set the table in the third. Both runners scored when Chris Putnam singled.

Derek Sammons walked and scored in the fourth when Lang bounced into a fielder's choice.

Cade Lang singled and scored in the fifth when Wingate hit into a fielder's choice.

Wade Jellema led the Thunder at the plate by slapping a pair of hits.

Hills dropped an 8-2 game in Wilmont Wednesday, June 19, before recording its first win.

The Thunder led 2-0 early in the game before Wilmont went on an 8-0 scoring run to end the game and prevail by six.

Hills took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first when Eric Harnack singled before scoring on Cade Lang's sacrifice fly.

Sammons was hit by a pitch before scoring on a fielderÕs choice by Jellema to make it a 2-0 game in the second.

Wilmont took control of the game in the bottom of the second by scoring five runs to open a 5-2 advantage.

The hosts added a single run in the sixth before capping the scoring with a two-run seventh inning.

Putnam started the game on the mound and took the loss. He pitched six and two-third innings of eight-hit, six-run ball. Putnam walked nine batters and fanned five.

Wingate relieved Putnam and pitched the final inning and one-third. He allowed two hits and two runs while recording a pair of strikeouts.

Sammons and Eric Harnack came up with one hit each for Hills.

By Lori Ehde
Eight years ago, Rock County basked in the glow of statewide recognition for its successful feedlot permitting program.

Today, local officials are struggling to maintain the integrity of the program under a cloud of federal bribery charges against former feedlot officer John Burgers.

Knee-deep in the county's subsequent Level III state audit of all its feedlots, current land management director Eric Hartman says heÕs glad to be here.

"When I applied for this job, Rock County was the county all others compared themselves to in feedlot permitting and environmental services," Hartman said.

"That was one of the reasons I was excited about coming into this job. I like the fact that I am in what is still a progressive program. I have no regrets about taking this job.

"I think the integrity is here in the program, and my goal is to have Rock County back on top again."

Further, he praised the staff at the Land Management Office. "I do not doubt the integrity of the staff here and the work they're doing," Hartman said. "As far as what I've witnessed first-hand and heard, they bust their buns for the county and the producers. It's good to see that in my co-workers."

The current audit of all local feedlots was prompted by the bribery scandal involving Burgers and Global Enterprises, but Hartman is quick to point out, this audit was on the horizon for Rock County anyway.

"This was the county's goal back in 1997, but it's a tough pill to swallow to be told to do it in two and half years," Hartman said.

"We're going to go through something no other county has gone through before, as far as gathering this kind of information. Every other county in the state will have to have this done, but they'll get seven to 10 years to do it."

The audit is necessary for Rock County to keep its feedlot permitting ability and state funding.

In the end, Hartman said, Rock County's producers and the environment will be better off for having it done. "It gives the county a clean bill of health in the feedlot program and the environment."

Meanwhile, producers and county staff hope the existing program remains in tact.

"Yes, we've had some problems, but let's not throw out the baby with the bath water," said Rock County livestock producer Richard Bakken.

Bakken, a member of the Rock Nobles Cattlemen's Association, was one of the producers who was helped by Rock County's feedlot program in the early 1990s.

He remembers that being a time when livestock producers were fearful of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, which was enforcing new feedlot management guidelines.

Producers feared MPCA fines, but many were unable to afford the necessary construction to bring their feedlots into compliance.

Serving as a liaison between producers and the state, Burgers sought funding support and provided technical know-how to get the work done.

The 1994 Minnesota County Achievement Award recognized Rock County's inter-agency feedlot program as an innovation that "improved the quality of life for people in Minnesota."

In addition, Burgers established a feedlot ordinance for new construction or expansion of existing operations that became a template for counties statewide that were also balancing agribusiness and environmental concerns.

In 1995, Burgers' feedlot work earned him further state recognition as the "Outstanding Soil and Water Conservation District Employee."

The bottom line, and the most positive result, is that more than 600 Rock County feedlots went on the record as being environmentally friendly.

For example, some that used to drain directly into nearby creeks and waterways, were outfitted with structures to protect water supplies.

Bakken said the audit process could take years, likely producing minimal discrepancies, and meanwhile, he fears it will send the program in the wrong direction.

"Everybody now is kind of waiting to see what develops," Bakken said. "It took so long to build up trust for people to come into the office, and now they'll probably hang back. Instead of making progress for the next two years, nobody's going to do anything for fear of doing something wrong."

Complicating the audit is that MPCA staff involved in the original permitting of Rock County feedlots may have interpreted the law differently than those auditing those operations today.

That, and personality conflicts could make for a long summer.

"There's a decent way of doing it and thereÕs the Gestapo way of saying 'You guys are going to get in line.' If they hadn't come down here with that attitude, it would have been different," Bakken said.

"We don't need to draw a line in the sand - we need cooperation, and for that to happen, we need trust on both sides.

Bakken, too, hopes no one loses sight of value Rock County's feedlot program still holds.

"You take a look at what we've got and what we've lost and you go forward," he said. "I think when you look at what we've got, we're still by far and wide the best program in the state."

By Jolene Farley
After a cool spring, crops have rebounded and are on track for this year, according to area farmers. The corn will be, as the saying goes, knee high by the Fourth of July.

"Most people I talk to are pretty happy with the way the crops are out there," said Rock County Extension Educator Fraser Norton.

Worries earlier this spring about how crops would fare in the cooler-than-normal spring have been alleviated.

The heat and growing degree days (a measure of heat units) improved three weeks ago and currently measure 678, almost 200 units ahead of normal, according to Norton.

"Crops were in the ground (this spring) but they weren't germinating because it was too cool," said Norton.

When stuck in the pre-germination stage crops are much more susceptible to pests and disease. Only a few Rock County farmers were forced to replant their crops.

"The corn is going to be knee high by the fourth of July," said Steen farmer Terry Sandstede. "It's going to be waist high by the fourth."

In the days before farming became more scientific, farmers thought if the corn was knee high by the Fourth of July it meant a good corn crop for the year.

Sandstede, who farms 200 acres of soybeans and 200 acres of corn, estimates crops will be average this year.

Even though the Steen area received one-half inch of rain last week Sandstede hopes for more. "It would be nice to have some rain," he said. "With this heat it really dries out."

Luverne farmer Steve Top agrees with Sandstede. "They (crops) look good....The wind has to stay down so we get some spraying done, but a good rain is what we need," he said. "One to two inches of rain would be just perfect going into the Fourth of July week."

By Jolene Farley
The Hills-Beaver Creek School Board approved an unbalanced preliminary budget during its regular meeting Monday.

The 2002-03 budget lists $2,942,127 in revenues and $3,003,512 in expenses for the district.

Superintendent Dave Deragisch emphasized there are other funding sources he will pursue to balance the budget before the start of the school year.

In addition, he estimated high in the general expense category so the district would have additional monies on hand for locker room additions if needed.

"I'd rather err on the side of being cautious," he said. "I've not factored in any of the open-enrolled students. Students are the biggest factor in generating aid."

Deragisch said if the student count changes before the start of school this fall, he'll need to sit down and refigure the budget.

Based on a 303 student count, district revenue projections are $1,906,942 in general aid, $438,000 in levy dollars, $155,000 in special education dollars, $39,166 in Title I, $14,170 in Title II, $2,063 in Title VI, $10,000 in grants and $40,000 in miscellaneous receipts.

Food service is projected to receive $103,000 in state and federal funding.

Community Service, which includes Driver's Education, Community Education, ECFE, and Learning Readiness, is budgeted $70,187 from fees, the levy, state aid and various sources.

Debt service is budgeted $161,099 in levy revenue. The district will also receive $2,500 state aid to offset the cost of open-enrolled students in other districts.

The cost to educate a pupil at H-BC is around $6,500, less than the state average, according to Deragisch.

The expense budget includes $2,384,350 in general expenses, the bulk of which is teacher salaries and benefits, according to Deragisch.

A transportation budget of $145,806 includes all costs associated with busing students.

A capital expense of $157,010 is debt service on the elementary school.

Food service is budgeted $113,365 for next year and community service will receive $56,715.

Deragisch said some state and federal funding is based on the number of reduced lunch families in the district. The board thinks there are many in the district that would qualify but haven't filled out the form.

"All the money that is generated is more than just food service," he said.

In other board business:
A staff development committee formed a district-wide goal to integrate kindergarten through 12th- grade curriculum, according to board member Ann Boeve. Separate goals were also formed for the elementary school and the high school.

"I think it is really exciting," said Boeve. "It will really benefit the teachers which will benefit the students."

Teachers and staff will meet to determine the best ways to reach the new goals.

The board approved a one-year contract with the Connecticut-based company, Leader Services. Many Minnesota schools use Leader Services to locate state and federal grants available for medical services.

"They (Leader Services) are paid 10 percent of what they collect," said Deragisch. "The more they generate for our school, the more they make."

The next school board meeting will be at 7:30 p.m. Monday, July 15.

A crew from Pride Signs, Sioux Falls, replaces the Texaco signs with Shell signs at Orv's Station in Hills Tuesday. The canopy over the pumps was replaced Friday. Bonnie Sundem said she's still getting used to the idea of the new name, "Orv's Shell," and the new sign, since Shell Oil purchased Texaco.

Farmer Steve Top stands in his cornfield southwest of Luverne Tuesday. This field is already more than knee high on Top's 6-foot, 6-inch frame, and the Fourth of July is still a week away. Story inside.