By John Rittenhouse
Hills-Beaver Creek girls' basketball players were not overlooked when the 2001-02 All-Red Rock Conference Team was announced late last week.

Competing in the conference for the first time, H-BC had two players make the All-RRC roster and another draw honorable mention for their efforts on the court this winter.

Senior guard Becky Broesder and sophomore post Erin Boeve are the first Patriots to make an All-RRC squad.

Freshman guard Cassi Tilstra drew honorable mention.

The all-league team consisted of 21 players. Twelve girls drew honorable mention.

Adrian and Fulda led all teams by having three players each listed on the All-RRC roster.

Adrian seniors Andrea Burzlaff and Becky Knips and junior Jenna Honermann grace the roster.

Fulda senior Jenna Wendorff and juniors Erin Oakland and Rachel Gundermann are members of the team.

Red Rock Central, Westbrook-Walnut Grove, Southwest Christian, Murray County Central and Southwest Star Concept picked up two selections each.

RRC seniors Wendy Lyle and Sarah Altermatt, W-WG senior Anne Doubler and junior Katie Hansen, SWC seniors Jill Talsma and Ginnie Vis, MCC seniors Sara Homan and Lisa Laleman and SSC seniors Crystal Kruger and Allison Hay all made the team.

Edgerton senior Amber Rieck, Sioux Valley-Round Lake-Brewster junior Rosa Malenke and Mountain Lake-Butterfield-Odin sophomore Mikkala Junker round out the roster.

Others to draw honorable mention from the RRC coaches are Adrian sophomore Kylie Heronimus, Fulda junior Jamie Goedtke and freshman Abby Oakland, RRC senior Dana Meyer and sophomore Brittni Nickel, W-WG junior Katie Swanson, SWC senior Christa Kuipers, MCC senior Missy Halbur, Edgerton junior Amber Poppen and sophomore Kelly Esselink-Arp, and ML-B-O freshman Lindsay Bartel.

By John Rittenhouse
Hills-Beaver Creek's first year as a member of the Red Rock Conference led to four players drawing post-season honors Thursday.

The annual All-Red Rock Conference Boys' Basketball team was announced that day.

H-BC was included in the mix as two Patriots made the all-league team, and two others drew honorable mention.

Senior post Matt Buck and senior forward David Top will go down as the first Patriot boys to make the All-RRC roster.

Senior guard Lyle DeBoer and senior forward Brad Haak drew honorable mention.

The list featured 19 All-SWC selections and 11 honorable mention picks.

Southwest Christian and Red Rock Central led all league teams by placing three boys each on the All-RRC roster.

Southwest seniors Jeff Schaap, Dan DeWitt and Ross Reitsma made the team, as did RRC seniors Corey Fishel, Colby Pack and Lee Schaffran.

Having two players make the All-RRC team are Mountain Lake-Butterfield-Odin, (senior Frank Mendoza and sophomore Mark DeYounge), Fulda, (senior Mike Braun and junior Danny Hup) and Sioux Valley-Round Lake-Brewster, (seniors Kyle Knuth and Josh Ihrke).

Rounding out the team are Adrian senior Bryce Block, Edgerton junior Zach Hadler and Westbrook-Walnut Grove junior Kurt Faber.

Others to draw honorable mention from the league's coaches include ML-B-O senior Dusty Schroeder and junior Mitchell Schroeder, SWC junior Ethan Mesman, Fulda junior Andy Isder, MCC senior Paul Devereaux, SV-RL-B junior Robby Armstrong, Edgerton senior Wade Ulmer and Southwest Star Concept senior Jeremy Updike, and Adrian sophomore Kyle Knips.

By Sara Strong
Pipestone banker and Global Ventures owner David Logan has signed a plea agreement in U.S. District Court that would bring $160,000 to Rock County.

Logan is accused, among other things, of conspiracy to defraud federal bank regulators and of misapplying monies of First National Bank in Pipestone and Garretson.

Rock County is included in the plea agreements because the crimes involved some county feedlots and were connected to former Land Management Director John Burgers' bribery crimes.

As part of the plea agreement, Logan would pay $250,000 in "extraordinary restitution" for environmental or regulatory programs in southwest Minnesota.

About $130,000 of what Rock County receives would go toward the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency conducting "Level 3 inventories" on county feedlots.

The inventories are extensive, and to cover all of Rock CountyÕs nearly 600 registered feedlots will likely take all summer.

Interim Land Management Director Doug Bos said at Tuesday's Rock County Board meeting, "In the long run it may turn out to be good for Rock County. WeÕll get a clean bill of health, and everyone will take a second look at their operations."

Even if the countyÕs Land Management Office recently completed an inventory, the state will look at the feedlot again, to remove any suspicion of corruption or environmental hazards.

Commissioners agreed that for water safety the inspections are probably worth it but donÕt want animal producers to be offended by the extra checks.

Commissioner Ron Boyenga said, "We should get in front of it and let people know the plan."

Although the county doesn't know specifics from the MPCA, it wanted to let producers know what they may be a part of this spring and summer.

Level 3 inventories are the most specific of all inspections. They cover location, number of animal units and drawing dimensions, all specifications of feedlot buildings and lots and evaluate the entire operation.

A feedlot is defined as an area of animal confinement, and anyone with 50 animal units or more must register the feedlot.

If a feedlot is within 300 feet of a shoreline (meaning lakes, waterways or streams) it must be registered with the county and state if it contains as many as 10 animal units.

Animal units are measured by an animal's mass. For example, a cow is worth more animal units than a sheep.

There are provisions that limit fines to feedlot owners in cases where health is not in imminent danger.

By Lori Ehde
Flames destroyed the rural home of Vicki Lenderts late Tuesday night, and fire officials are still working to determine a cause.

Fire fighters from Beaver Creek, Hills, Luverne and Valley Springs were called to the blaze, which apparently started sometime after 11 p.m.

Rick Tatge of the Beaver Creek Fire Department said flames were shooting from the second floor when his men arrived on the scene.

A neighbor reportedly made the 911 call at 11:26, but Lenderts and her boyfriend called it in at about the same time.

"I'm pretty much beside myself right now," she said at the scene. "I can't believe this is happening to me."

Four of five house cats escaped unharmed, but Lenderts said one is still unaccounted for.

She said she and her fiancŽ, Brad Gould, were downstairs watching television in the kitchen when they heard a popping sound upstairs and saw sparks coming down the stairwell.

As of press time, it was too early to determine a cause of the fire, but Lenderts said they were burning the wood stove, and she wondered if something started in the chimney.

Lenderts said her house was uninsured, but she said she has a place to live. Her mother, Margaret Lenderts, died Feb. 23, and that house, near Ellsworth, is sitting empty, still furnished.

Fire crews remained on the scene into the early morning hours Wednesday and returned to control flare-ups later Wednesday morning.

Young Madison Spath gingerly accepts a piece of candy from the Easter Bunny (Stacy Kroon), Saturday afternoon in the Hills City Park. She and her mother, Robin Spath, Hills, joined more than 30 others to participate in the annual Easter Egg Hunt sponsored by the Hills Community Club.

Flames destroyed the rural home of Vicki Lenderts late Thursday night. Firefighters form Beaver Creek, Hills, Luverne and Valley Springs were called to the blaze, which apparently started sometime after 11 p.m. Story inside.

Pledge of Allegiance,
meetings in blizzards
and other editorial rants

I see our House Republicans are busy making themselves busy again. They want to make it a law that all students recite the Pledge of Allegiance in the classroom at least once a week.

Reciting the Pledge in the classroom is a time-honored tradition that teaches students patriotism to their country. I feel it's an important ritual that should be continued for centuries to come.

Children need to understand the importance of honoring the flag and the freedoms it represents - freedom that was fought for by men and women who paid for it with their lives.

I'm a little irked by the idea of making the Pledge a law.

There are countless classroom traditions I feel strongly about, but I wouldn't introduce legislation requiring schools to offer kindergarten naps or milk breaks. There are simply some things we should trust our local school boards and teachers to implement out of common sense.

I realize there are some Minnesota schools (obviously lacking this common sense) that have banned the Pledge of Allegiance due to its reference to God.

But this law wouldnÕt change the rules in these districts anyway.

The proposed legislation permits schools to opt out of the pledge requirement with a simple majority vote of the local school board. It would also allow any student who objects to participating in the Pledge to be excused without penalty.

These are decisions already handled at the local level. Families in districts where the Pledge is banned need only lobby their school board members to get the rule changed. Our representatives in St. Paul don't need to waste their time micromanaging classroom activities.

It's a patriotic gesture, due to the recent tragic events, but I would encourage our legislators to spend their time working on more practical laws, like finding a way to fund all day every day kindergarten.

Speaking of
public process...
As a civic news reporter, I rarely miss a Luverne School Board meeting. In my "watch dog" role for the public, I feel a government body with a multimillion budget warrants regular coverage.
But I didnÕt cover Thursday's Luverne School Board meeting.

A winter storm that day had caused school to be let out early, most community events that evening were cancelled and the National Weather Service had advised no travel in the entire tri-state region.

Conditions weren't deadly, but roads were slippery and visibility was poor. After getting myself and the boys safely home at 5:30, I made the personal decision not to venture out again that night.

At that point, the School Board meeting hadnÕt been cancelled, but I assumed common sense would eventually prevail.

It didn't.

I later learned the meeting took place despite the storm, and I have to say I'm disappointed. As a public body making decisions on behalf of the public with the public's money, they're bound by law to hold open and public meetings.

If the School Board Chairman (Don Bryan, Hardwick) can't make it to the meeting due to the weather, how accessible is that meeting to the public?

Pancake-size snowflakes
On a more pleasant note ... How 'bout those snowflakes Monday night? My mother called at about 8:30 and told me to go the window. I smiled, and told her I was already there.

It was mesmerizing to watch those "pancake-sized flakes," as she called them, float peacefully to the ground. It felt like the inside of a gift-shop snow globe.

Wednesday, incidentally, was the first official day of spring.

Send Lori an e-mail

Things you can still do at Mag
It may be a few months before you can have dinner and a drink at the Magnolia Steak House, but donÕt cancel all of your Mag plans.

While the plans go on for fixing and cleaning after the March 19 fire, so do the plans for other Mag events.

According to Amy Dispanet-VerSteeg, plans for the sand volleyball league and the Cruise-in for Buffalo Days are proceeding along with the clean-up.

A captains' meeting for the volleyball league is scheduled for April 22, with a start date for the league set for June 4.

Contact Amy with questions.

Kennedy plans to run in different district
Second District Congressman Mark Kennedy has decided to stay a little closer to the metro area for his second run for Congress, or the courts decided it for him.

Kennedy, whose home is in rural Watertown, south of the metro area, found himself in the newly redesigned 6th District, about 100 yards from his old 2nd District territory, which used to run from Rock County to Chaska.

One option was to move a short distance and take up residence in the newly created 2nd District, where no incumbent exists.

But on Monday, Kennedy decided to stay where he is, which means he will have to take on four-term DFL incumbent Bill Luther.

Although Luther has always won his district, he has never won by a large margin.

Some analysts think the slightly reconfigured 2nd District could have changed to enough of a Republican edge for Kennedy to continue on for a second term.

Meanwhile the newly created 1st District, also known as the I-90 district, is what we will be a part of starting next year.

So who will run in the 1st, our new district?
If the incumbent wins, our new congressman will be Republican Gil Gutknecht.

Gutknecht has been elected four times, starting in 1994.

On the DFL side, Todd Rasmussen, a banker from Winona, has shown some interest in the position as has Steve Andreasen , currently a Rochester resident, but originally from Adrian.

Both candidates recently made appearances at the Rock County DFL Convention.

Anytime a district changes as much as the new 1st did, the opposition gets interested, so the new 1st could get some national attention as well as national money.
Is your wading pool a swimming pool
Should Minnesota set the same standards for wading pools that it does for swimming pools?

Rep. Mulder thinks that is a little excessive.

Mulder recently introduced legislation that would prevent certain wading pools from being held to the same standards as public swimming pools.

Mulder's bill defines wading pools located at family day-care homes as private residential pools, providing they have a maximum depth of 24 inches and can be manually emptied and moved.

At the end of the last session, a wading pool exemption expired which forced day-care providers to follow rules intended for Minnesota public swimming pools.

Some of those rules would include having a certified lifeguard on site, providing toilets, showers and dressing rooms, and installing ladders in the "deep end" of the pool.

According to Mulder state records indicate a poorly maintained wading pool has never caused a death, disability or illness in Minnesota.

Publisher Roger Tollefson can be contacted by e-mail at
tolly@star-herald.com

Clifford Elroy Hansen, 83, Ellsworth, died Thursday, March 21, 2002, at Avera McKennan Hospital in Sioux Falls, S.D.

Services were Sunday, March 24, at Zion Presbyterian Church in Ellsworth. The Rev. Robert Raedeke officiated. Burial was in Grand Prairie Cemetery in Ellsworth.

Clifford Hansen was born to Thorwald and Alvina (Moeller) Hansen in Clear Lake, S.D., on Aug. 25, 1918. As a child he moved with his family to Minnesota where he was raised and attended school in Kanaranzi and Magnolia. Following high school he continued his education at Nettleton College in Sioux Falls.

He married Arlene Meester on Feb. 19, 1941, in Ellsworth. Following their marriage he owned and operated Skelly Bulk Oil Company in Ellsworth and also drove school bus for 55 years. He entered Avera McKennan Hospital on March 12.

Mr. Hansen was a member of Zion Presbyterian Church in Ellsworth and served on various church boards. He was a member of Ellsworth Optimist Club, chairman of the Parkview Manor Nursing Home Board and was an active supporter of the Ellsworth school and community.

Survivors include his wife, Arlene Hansen, Ellsworth; two sons, Ron (Michele) Hansen, Castlewood, S.D., and Scott (Kristi) Hansen, Rochester; one daughter, Sherri (Roger) Willard, Colton, S.D.; eight grandchildren; two great-grandchildren; and two sisters, Arlene Lee, Kanaranzi, and Doris Olson, Adrian.

Mr. Hansen was preceded in death by his parents.

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