By John Rittenhouse
The Hills Thunder were backed against a wall during the second round of the Gopher League Playoffs Wednesday night in Pipestone.

After dropping their playoff opener to Wilmont in Luverne Tuesday, Hills needed to beat second-seeded Hadley in last nightÕs second round to keep its season alive.

A win over Hadley would send the 2-15 Thunder into Sunday's round of play. A loss ends their season.

Hills came up on the short end of a 6-1 tally during TuesdayÕs playoff opener against Wilmont in Luverne.

Fifth-seeded Wilmont scored three runs in the bottom of the fourth inning and never lost the lead to the sixth-ranked Thunder.

Hills did plate a run in the top of the fifth to trim Wilmont's cushion to a pair of counters (3-1), but Wilmont scored three runs in its final two at bats to prevail by five.

Wilmont scored once in the seventh to make it a 4-1 game before capping the scoring with a two-run eighth inning.

Hills' lone run was of the unearned variety in the top of the fifth.

Chad Rauk reached base on an error before scoring on Matt FunkeÕs run-scoring double.

Rauk pitched all eight innings to take the loss for the Thunder. He walked six batters and struck out five.

Cade Lang led Hills at the plate by going two-for-four.

Funke and Chris Putnam went one-for-four and one-for-three respectively. Both of their hits were doubles.

By Jolene Farley
Superintendent Tom Knoll informed Hills-Beaver Creek School Board members Monday evening that costs are more than anticipated for the locker room addition to the high school.

"It really is not quite enough ($200,000) to do it in the proper measure," said Knoll. "It is really the board's call."

Group II Architects, Sioux Falls, provided a rough cost estimate to the district for no fee.

The board voted unanimously at the March 12 meeting to retain the services of Group II Architects for the project.

Knoll said, "The funding mechanism is the key to doing this." He suggested the board invite the financing group Ehlers and Associates to make a presentation to the board on obtaining an additional $200,000 in financing.

Minnesota statute doesn't allow school districts to obtain direct financing from lending institutions, according to Williams.

Plumbing costs added tremendously to the cost of the project, according to Knoll.

The question board members must decide is "Will it jeopardize the districtÕs fund balance?," said board member Dave Roozenboom.

After much discussion it was decided to table the issue until all board members are present. Ann Boeve and Lois Leuthold were absent.

Knoll also advised the board that they should try to negotiate lower architectural fees for the project.

Fees are currently set at 12 percent of total construction costs, not including reimbursable expenses. Twelve percent of a $200,000 project would be $24,000, and of a $400,000 project $48,000.

"We could buy a teacher for that," said Knoll.

At a Feb. 26 board meeting, Knoll advised the board not to go over the $200,000 mark for the project. At the time, both the board and Knoll thought the amount would be adequate to build a 2,000-square-foot locker room.

At the same meeting, board member Gary Esselink made the motion that $200,000 was the maximum amount the district could spend on the locker room project. The motion carried.

The board hoped private donations and money from the city of Hills would also help finance the project.

By Jolene Farley
Daryl Williams, Dell Rapids, brings plenty of experience to the job of interim superintendent for the Hills-Beaver Creek School District.

Williams is filling in until a replacement is found for Tom Knoll, who is leaving the district for a superintendent job in Hayfield, Minn.

Williams began his career as a teacher and then became principal in the Franklin, S.D., school district in 1966. He landed the job of Ellsworth superintendent in 1970 at the age of 27.

"I have worked in districts the size of Ellsworth with 400 students, to Willmar with 4,600 students," Williams said.

Williams also worked in private industry for four and one-half years for two-way radio and cellular phone company E.F. Johnson Company.

When Williams heard there was an opening for interim superintendent at H-BC, he contacted the district. He had been waiting for an opening within driving distance of Dell Rapids, S.D. "Being 40 miles away and having been a superintendent as recently as July 2000, I thought I could help out," said Williams.

He doesn't anticipate any difficulties with his new job. Williams says the job of an interim superintendent is to "keep the ship afloat" until a new superintendent is found. He said the Hills-Beaver Creek district has good people to rely on and support him.

In addition to his duties as interim superintendent, Williams plans to continue working for the consulting firm Midwest Management Resources, which helps school districts, counties and churches with studies, construction management and policy development.

Williams and his wife, Dianne, recently moved to Dell Rapids, where more of his family also lives. They have two adult children, Darrin, an accountant with Ernst and Young of New York, and Kelli, a fifth grade teacher.

By Jolene Farley
The Hills-Beaver Creek School Board was updated on the superintendent search at their board meeting Monday evening.

Both Superintendent Tom Knoll and Interim Superintendent Daryl Williams attended the meeting.

Williams asked who the board wanted involved in the permanent superintendent hiring process - community members or just the board.

"I feel for a superintendent it should be the board," said board president Roland Crawford.

"Sometimes you can get too many people involved in the process," Crawford said.

Williams suggested all board members, instead of a committee, be involved in the interviewing process for the candidates.

He was concerned about the timeline of the interviews because they could fall during September or October during the busy harvest season.

But board member Gary Esselink mentioned that board elections are coming up later in the fall. "At least two, maybe three board members may be out, and we may have to acclimate new members," Esselink said.

The position will be advertised in some trade publications and the Argus Leader. In addition, letters announcing the vacancy will be sent to about 100 school districts.

The board hopes to have a new superintendent hired by Jan. 1, 2002, at the latest.

Board members Esselink and Harnack offered a special thanks to Superintendent Tom Knoll for his years of service. "A lot of us feel if it wasn't for the fact he was here, we wouldn't be here," Esselink said.

In other business the board:
Filed for the four Hills-Beaver Creek School Board openings, each a four-year term, begins Aug. 28 and closes Sept. 11.
oFormer Hills-Beaver Creek elementary teacher Chris Louwagie may fill the secondary learning disability position vacated by Angie Wegner, according to Knoll. LouwagieÕs contract for elementary teacher was not renewed this year because of funding issues.
Even though Louwagie is not licensed for special education, a variance could be obtained because the district advertised extensively but was unable to fill the opening.

Workmen place this bell, salvaged from the original Steen Reformed Church, on its new bell tower. When Steen Reformed decided to replace the old church, built in 1914, the congregation wanted to keep as many items from the old church as possible so the bell was saved. The bell is one of the last projects to be completed on the new construction that began in 1993. Brick will be added around the base of the tower, up to the first level, and a roof matching the church roof will be added.

Photo by Jolene Farley

By John Rittenhouse
Rock County drivers experienced a lot of success during last weekend's races at tracks throughout the area.

Local talent produced a total of five feature victories and six heat wins while competing at four different tracks Friday through Sunday.

Area drivers had a big night Friday at Rapid Speedway in Rock Rapids, Iowa, where they posted two feature titles and four heat victories.

Ellsworth's Mark DeBoer and Darren Korthals, a Hills-Beaver Creek High School graduate who now lives in Rock Rapids, led the way by winning three races in the late model street stock competition.

DeBoer won his heat race before taking the checkered flag in the feature event. Korthals, who was fourth in the feature, also posted a heat victory.

Luverne's Chad Overgaard also mixed it up in the late model street stock class at Rapid Speedway, placing second behind DeBoer in the feature.

Local talent posted two more wins in the hobby stock class in Rock Rapids.

Steen's Tammy Kracht raced her way to victory in the B feature, while Magnolia's Larry Kracht won a heat race.

Luverne's Anthony Mann finished fourth in the hobby stock feature race.

Luverne's Scott Overgaard registered a heat victory in the sportsman class before placing sixth in the feature race at Rapid Speedway.

Adrian's Brad Klaassen, who also drove in the sportsman competition, placed second in the feature race.

Rural Luverne's Todd Wessels raced his way to a fifth-place finish during the 360 sprint car feature race at the Iowa track.

Luverne;s Josh Reisch was a double champion as an outlaw modified competitor at two different tracks over the weekend.

Reisch won the feature race in his class at Murray County Speedway in Slayton Friday, and he claimed the feature title in his class at Worthington Speedway Sunday.

Worthington Speedway was a place for success for two area sportsman class drivers Sunday.

Kanaranzi's Colter Deutsch posted heat and feature wins in his class. Luverne's Josh Klay was second in the feature and third in his heat race in the same class.

Scott Overgaard also competed in Worthington Sunday, placing second in his heat race and fifth in the late model street stock feature.

Chad Overgaard spent his Sunday evening at Huset's Speedway. He posted a heat win and finished third in the feature race at the track near Brandon, S.D.

By Sara Quam
The Luverne City Council will vote at its Tuesday meeting whether to use money from the hospital sale for economic development.

Selling Luverne's hospital to Sioux Valley Hospitals and Health System last year netted the city about $4.5 million. The council at that time decided to set aside $3 million in a fund from the sale proceeds.

Councilman Keith Erickson said that at the time, the sale seemed solid, but the council didn't want to be without money if Sioux Valley tried to resell the hospital or close it. It was a very conservative move, he said, because of the community's feelings of vulnerability.

The hospital fund is just sitting in the cityÕs accounts earning about $180,000 interest annually.

The fund came into discussions Monday, when the council met as the Committee of the Whole, because the Luverne Economic Development Authority wants to give a sizable loan to the company Netbriefings.

The LEDA can always come to the council for special requests, but the council discussed setting aside money for the LEDA to use for grants or loans as it sees fit.

It already researches companies on its own and in 17 years of helping businesses, only three have defaulted. City Administrator Matt Hylen said, "Over the years, theyÕve really done their homework. It's very impressive."

The issue the council wanted to address was whether the money from the hospital fund should sit or be invested back into the community.

Councilman Jim Kirchhofer, who was also on the previous council, said, "If we can essentially preserve that fund - giving the EDA a half million or so, in three years' worth of interest, you'd have the original amount back."

Barb Berghorst, financial manager, said, "If preservation of the principal $3 million is the goal, it would be mathematically simple to put the interest earnings into a revolving loan fund."

Erickson said, "How long do you sit on the money? We were trying to be conservative and patient to set it aside, but let's start turning that money over to do something for the betterment of the community."

The fund for the LEDA would involve the council giving it a set amount of money and the LEDA could loan that out is it wanted, earning interest on what was paid back.

The original $3 million in the hospital sale fund would then be regenerated through annual interest earnings on that account. City staff is putting together different options for the council to vote on.

By Sara Quam
It may be the dog days of summer, but the city of Luverne is already thinking about snow removal.

The Luverne City Council met as Committee of the Whole Monday to discuss, but not vote on, a few items, including snow removal.

Unlike many larger cities, Luverne can clear streets for travel in a matter of hours after a snowfall. Citizens donÕt have to wait days to safely drive all streets, but the process requires cooperation from the community to be efficient.

When citizens park cars on streets, efficiency is compromised.

The public works department and law enforcement personnel donÕt regularly ticket or tow vehicles that are parked during snow emergencies, but that poses problems for crews working on clearing streets.

The snow removal issue is resurfacing because the city has no way to notify residents when it intends to start plowing snow. Luverne used to interrupt television programming for announcements but can no longer do that because of Federal Communications Commission regulations. The local radio station is syndicated at night, so announcements there wonÕt get to residents either.

The council discussed what ordinances it could write that would allow the city easier snow plowing.

City Administrator Matt Hylen said to the council, "What level of laws and enforcement do you want?"
A concern to city workers is hitting parked cars with blades and having to reblade roads that have been previously cleared around parked cars.

Public Works Director Darrell Huiskes said it would be easiest if people parked off the street when they noticed snow or heard the forecast for snow.

Councilman Keith Erickson said that for people going to bed early, late-night storms would be missed. "It would be easier if we knew that during the winter, let's just not park on residential streets."

The downtown business district already has year-round parking restrictions from 1 to 6 a.m. In purely residential areas, though, it may be a more difficult regulation to enforce.

Councilman Jim Kirchhofer said that some residents donÕt have garages or off-street parking, and creating an ordinance that forbids winter street parking would cause some isolated problems.

Huiskes said that doing an adequate job blading streets saves the city money because less sand and salt is needed.

Graffiti ordinance
Rock County Sheriff Ron McClure was present to discuss graffiti issues and what role the city should play in managing it.

The City Council had a copy of Worthington's ordinance to get direction.

This spring's graffiti activity will likely result in restitution and wasn't gang-related.

Some graffiti is still around town, although most has been removed. An ordinance could require property owners to remove it instead of waiting for the graffiti perpetrator to be caught.

Erickson said community service is an appropriate punishment for the crime, although that's decided in the court system. "Too often," he said, "the parents end up paying it off."

The council leaned toward requiring property owners to erase the vandalism and then be reimbursed through restitution when someone is prosecuted.

Councilman Tom Martius said, "Could there be some type of fund where the property owner can pay for it through there? If there's a big project, a business owner could be saddled with that cost."

Fines for graffiti could go into a fund for that, but city administration and law enforcement are looking into that further.

BMX track
When the new skate park was looked at for insurance purposes, the BMX (bicycle motocross) bike track was also inspected. The bike track is near the Rock River dam by the city park.

Berkley Risk Administrators evaluated the area and said that facilities like it, in general, represent an exposure to injury and liability problems.

The company listed minimum measures the city should take on the track area. Many cities have removed their tracks or fenced them off for use only during sanctioned races because of liability concerns.

First grade Spotlight Dancers (from left) Hannah Hemme, Hailey Stulen, and Salinda Fletcher performed to the song "Boots are Made for Walkin' " at Hot Dog Night. Luverne Tae Kwon Do also performed at the event.