Dorothy Cronin, manager of the Rock County Developmental Achievement Center, was one of many who stepped in for their turn in the dunk tank. $1 paid for three chances to soak the victim. The proceeds went to recreational activites for the residents of the DAC.

By Katrina Vander Kooi
The first crops workshop in Rock County took place Tuesday near the new baseball diamonds, Luverne.

Weed science specialist Jeff Gonsolus and integrated pest management specialist Bruce Potter gave the audience information about current weed and insect problems in fields.

Watch out for weeds
Gonsolus encouraged rotating herbicides that are used on land. "If you use the same herbicide every year, you will select a certain type of weed," Gonsolus said. "We need to develop a more diverse weed management system."

Gonsolus used water hemp as an example. "Water hemp is a wimp," Gonsolus said. He said it is hard to grow in a lab because it is temperamental. In southwest Minnesota, however, it is thriving. "We could tell that something was up with our management strategies," Gonsolus said.

He characterized the problem, by comparing water hemp to a plant unknown to those attending the workshop, biannual wormwood.

Water hemp and biannual wormwood share a number of characteristics. First, they have a long emergence period, which means they take a long period of time to grow out of the ground. Second, they have a high seed production which helps them stay alive from year to year. Third, they have fast growth in open canopies, and fourth, they are the result of post weed management. This means that herbicides sprayed on the crops at the usual time will not kill them.

Adapted rootworms
Potter said that some populations of the northern corn rootworm have adapted to the corn-soybean rotation and now have a two-year life cycle.

This two-year life cycle is called "extended diapause" because the eggs remain dormant in the soil for almost two years before hatching.

"Spend some time looking at cornfields," Potter said. "Keep track where there are lots of beetles. That's where you're going to have problems in two years."

He suggests farmers scout weekly beginning one to two weeks after beetles first appear in the field and ending when silks are brown and dry. The best time for scouting is between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m.

According to Potter, if a plant is found to have four or more beetles per plant, there are three options for action.

"The first option is to do nothing," Potter wrote in his handout. "There is not certainty that you will have lodging and especially yield loss in 2001 or 2002. Given prospective corn prices, a low-cost strategy is simply to plant hybrids with good root scores.

"The second option is to change rotation and plant another non-host crop instead of corn, and the third option is the use of corn rootworm insecticide in rotated corn," Potter said.

For more information on material presented at the workshop, contact the Rock County Extension office at 507-283-8685, Ext.4.

Nicholas Nekali, Luverne, sits on the curb to eat his hot dog at the 39th Annual Hot Dog Night last Thursday.

Photo by Katrina Vander Kooi

By John Rittenhouse
The Hills-Beaver Creek-Steen Baseball Association staged what has become its biggest fund-raiser of the season at Hills-Beaver Creek High School Saturday.

The Association's annual 3-on-3 Basketball Tournament drew an estimated 188 players who competed with 47 teams at the event.

Teams from Minnesota, South Dakota and Iowa were represented at the tournament.

By John Rittenhouse
The Hills Thunder came up empty in two attempts to post a victory in front of their home fans Sunday.
Hills' amateur baseball team hosted Pipestone and Luverne for an afternoon set.

Pipestone blanked the Thunder 5-0 in the opener, and Luverne toppled the hosts 16-5 in the second game.

Hills had four players slap two hits in Game 1 against Pipestone, but the Thunder couldn't produce any runs against the A's.

Pipestone blanked Hills in the seven-inning tilt while scoring single runs in the first, second, third, fifth and seventh frames to win by five.

Adam Hansen pitched all seven innings and took the loss for the Thunder. Hansen fanned one batter.

Matt Carroll, Eric Harnack, Matt Funke and Wade Jellema all went two-for-three at the plate. One of Jellema's two hits was a double.

Hills' scoreless stretch reached 10 innings for the day before it produced a run in the bottom of the fourth in Game 2 against Luverne.

Unfortunately for the Thunder, Luverne had plated seven runs by then and added nine more to win by 11 runs in six innings.

The Redbirds opened a 7-0 lead by scoring once in the first and six times in the third before Hills came up with its first run of the day in the fourth.

Harnack drew a walk and scored the initial run when Funke singled to make it a 7-1 game.

Luverne ended up scoring the next nine runs (three in the fifth inning and six in the sixth) to extend its lead to 15 runs (16-1).

Hills, however, scored four runs in the bottom of the sixth to make it an 11-run difference at game's end.

Funke, the lone Thunder player to pick up two hits in the game, started the bottom of the sixth by clubbing a solo homer over the left-center field fence.

Hansen reached base on an error and moved to third when Jellema singled before scoring on Justin Van Maanen's fielder's choice.

Carroll and Jarud Lang capped the four-run rally by supplying RBI singles.

Chad Rauk worked the first three and one-third innings on the mound, taking the loss for the Thunder. Hansen tossed one and two-thirds innings, while Lang pitched one frame.

The losses left Hills with a 2-11 record for the season.

The Thunder play Windom and Heron Lake and noon and 2 p.m. respectively Sunday in Jackson.

By Jolene Farley
Lions Club representative, Ron Feucht, was present at the Hills City Council meeting Tuesday evening to offer a donation of about $3,000 from the Lions to be used toward construction of a basketball court, possibly at the city park.

Feucht mentioned a possible $1,000 donation from the Hills Community Club also. Estimates for a 110-foot by 70-foot court are about $12,000. Feucht suggested possibly splitting the project up into parts - lay the cement in two sections and add a fence later. The council is considering adding the expenditure into the parks and recreation budget for next year.

In other board business:
oWayne Ward, city maintenance director, addressed specifics of the city's burn permit, which only allows a 20x20-foot-wide and 10-foot-high burn pile. Ward said the pile is currently much bigger than the permit allows.

The council suggested burning more frequently but decided against it after City Clerk Connie Wiertzema spoke up about the proximity of the burn pile to children practicing ball every morning. According to Wiertzema, the children are inhaling smoke during their practices.

"I think we should look for a place out of town," said council member Arlen Leenderts. "If the wind switches (with the burn pile located in its current spot), you cannot go outside, hang clothes out, nothing."

Langford instructed the council to look for a piece of property outside the city limits.

o The council received a letter from the Hills-Beaver Creek school district asking for a $1,000 contribution to the Community Education Summer Recreation Program. A motion passed a few years back to contribute $1,000 every year to the program. Leenderts asked if Steen and Beaver Creek contribute to the programs.

Councilman Jim Jellema said he attended some Community Education meetings and was frustrated about funding for some of the programs.

"The Summer Rec program has the largest number of participants but the least amount of money," said Jellema. "I think Summer Rec is a good program."

Mayor George Langford suggested the council ask for a financial statement detailing the contributions and expenditures for Community Education. After the council reviews the financial statement it will decide whether to contribute.

By Jolene Farley
Steen resident Anthony Reese, 20, is in critical but stable condition at Avera McKennan Hospital in Sioux Falls, S.D. Reese was injured in a head-on collision four miles south of Luverne Friday, June 29.

Reese suffers from a broken left arm and shoulder, a right leg broken in two places and a left leg broken knee to ankle. Both his spleen and gall bladder have been removed, and his kidney and heart are bruised, according to family friend Cory Nowka.

Reese's liver shuts down intermittently so he will undergo surgery to finish repairing organs damaged in the crash and to determine the cause of his liver problems.

Reese has not given up the fight, according to Nowka. He is in a coma but moves his head and eyes when spoken to. Family members and friends say it is something they take day by day.

Reese's vehicle, a 1997 Jeep Cherokee, was totaled in the accident. If Reese had been wearing a seat belt the crash would have been fatal, according to Nowka. "If Tony had been wearing a seatbelt he would have been killed," said Nowka. "Both legs would have been crushed."

The driver of the other vehicle, Ralph Edward Kingery, 48, was pronounced dead at the scene. Mary Theresa Elliot, 41, was transported to the Luverne Hospital, then airlifted to Sioux Valley Hospital, Sioux Falls, S.D. She died of head and internal injuries on Friday, June 29.

Reese has received flowers and a sympathy card from the family of the two crash victims.

The Reese family wants to thank a truck driver who called in the accident. Nowka credits him with saving Reese's life. He said if emergency personnel hadn't arrived when they did, Reese would not have made it.

The truck driver called in a detailed report of the accident, warning the Luverne emergency staff of the severity of the crash and the number of victims.

Although only family is allowed to visit Reese, a tablet is available to write notes on which are read to Reese periodically. "It lets him know who is there to see him and that people are thinking of him," said Nowka.

Letters or cards can be sent to Tony Reese, c/o Cory Nowka, 3068 Presentation Ct., Sioux Falls, SD 57104, or visit Reese's family at the Avera McKennan Intensive Care Unit waiting room.
Alan Reese, Steen, and Judy Reese are Tony's parents.

By Jolene Farley
Eighty-six-year-old Beaver Creek resident Elmer McDowell has many memories to share.

Elmer was born on a farm northeast of Beaver Creek and lived there with his parents and two brothers.

"I can remember coming to Beaver Creek to get groceries when I was a kid," said McDowell. "It was just a cow trail into town."

McDowell thinks he was about 4 years old when his family moved to the Rock County Poor Farm, two miles west of Luverne, for about a year.

He clearly remembers being scared of some of the other residents. One fellow was kept in a room that was supposed to be off limits to McDowell. He was shocked to see a man in a high chair with his ears, nose, hands and feet frozen off.

His parents would take food in to him and he wouldn't touch it, so McDowell assumed he ate it like a dog after they left the room.

It wasn't only the physically challenged that put McDowell on edge. He said there were rough characters living in the house with them.

According to reports from a 1977 Star Herald article, most people who went to the Poor Farm were workers or bachelors who had no place to go in the winter and the elderly with no family.

His time at the Poor Farm would later spur McDowell to bring food and fuel nine miles out in the country to a couple during the blizzard of 1936. He didnÕt want the couple to freeze like the person he remembered.

When McDowell was 7 years old his family moved to Sherman, S.D., where they farmed until his father passed away in 1937.

McDowell only attended school until "the second year of high school." He said he was forced to quit school to help with farm work.

McDowell also tells tales of Frank and Jesse James. He said the railroad wanted to push through the land of the boys' father.

The young men in the family started robbing banks. When the posse came, on several occasions, looking for the James Gang, area residents would point them in the wrong direction. "No one would turn them in," said McDowell.

Elmer said he will never forget how his wife, Dorothy, died in his arms at the age of 49. She was given a clean bill of health just two days before her death. The McDowells had two children, Dennis and Gary.

McDowell moved back to Beaver Creek in 1974. "This was home country to me," he said. "This is where I grew up. Most of my friends are here."

Later in life, McDowell enjoyed attending dances, usually at the Moose Lodge, the El Riad Shrine or the V.F.W. hall in Sioux Falls. "I canÕt dance like I used to," lamented McDowell.

While playing in the sand, Madison Fick, Beaver Creek, listens to music Sunday evening during the Community Outdoor Concert. The Reformed Church of Steen sponsored the event in the Steen Community Park. The Steen Reformed Praise Team led a sing-along at the beginning of the evening with performances by the "In His Service" Quartet, The Wassenaar Ladies, The De Jong Family, Jodi Ackerman leading "Songs for Kids" and the "Potter's Clay" Quartet of Hospers, Iowa. Gawaine Diekevers and Rod Scholten were masters of ceremonies for the evening. The Steen Reformed Church ladies served bars, ice cream and beverages. Many turned out for an evening of music, food and fellowship.

Photo by Jolene Farley