By Jolene Farley
The "new" Wieneke Dairy, north of Adrian, officially began operation on Sept. 27 of last year after months of planning and construction.

The building may be new but brothers Chad and Kevin Wieneke, are the third generation of Wienekes to milk cows, despite a nine-year break when Wieneke Farms got out of the business in the early '90s.

The Wienekes began to consider re-entering the dairy business in 1998. Many steps later the dairy became a reality. The largest hurdle was obtaining a state permit and meeting environmental standards, according to Chad.

"It was two years from the day we started the process to the day we started building," said Chad.

"Grandpa milked cows and my dad milked for 20 years," Chad said when asked why they wanted to get back into dairy. "It was something we both wanted to do."

Both Wienekes graduated from Willmar Tech with a degree in dairy science.

Chad and Kevin formed a corporation with their dad, Dale Wieneke, and uncles John and Joe, to finance the dairy operation.

The equipment installed in the dairy added the most to the cost of the project. "It's priced to run 20 hours per day, not just one hour in the morning and one hour at night," said Chad.

Wieneke Dairy started during an all-time low in milk prices - $11 per hundred pounds. Current prices are $15 per hundred.

Three different herds were combined to come up with the 250 cows needed to fill the dairy. Chad and Kevin started with 180 cows and added the rest before Thanksgiving.

The major difference between milking now and milking in his grandfather and dad's day, according to Kevin, is "you save your back."

The cows are elevated so milkers stand up and do not bend over to connect and disconnect the cows.

"The cows come to us whereas in the Ôtie stall barnÕ you brought the equipment to the cows," said Chad.

With the "double 10 parlor" they built, the Wienekes can milk 20 cows at a time. Currently a 5,000-gallon milk cooler is emptied every other day.

Chad and Kevin came up with what they consider an equitable division of labor.

Chad handles the feed and helps with milking. Kevin keeps all the reproduction records and helps with milking.

"My body is just like a built-in alarm clock," Chad said. "I wake up at 4:30 a.m. and start milking at 5. I am done at 6:45 at night. I watch TV, eat supper and am usually asleep by 9:30."

The dairy currently employs one full-time person and three part-time people other than the brothers. Milking begins at 5 a.m. every morning and is repeated at 4 p.m. every afternoon.

In the future, Chad and Kevin hope to specialize in milking and move away from raising calves and heifers.

On the Wienekes' wish list is an Individual Cow ID System, which records each cow's day-to-day milk production.

"It's just a better management tool," Kevin said. With an ID system, any changes are detected quickly before a cow has "totally crashed" in milk production, according to the brothers.

Mastitis, which is an inflammation of the udder, is "the biggest battle that dairymen fight," according to Chad. It is the No. 1 cause of reduced milk production.

Despite all the battles, both brothers say the new dairy is a dream come true. "It's a good life. Milking cows is a way of life," said Chad. "It's not a job or anything else; itÕs a way of life."

By Jolene Farley
Blue Chip Book Binding, owned by Gene and Carol Scheerhorn, opened for business in 1980 and has stayed in business because it fills a business niche.

Blue Chip Book Binding began in a trailer adjacent to the Scheerhorns home in Hills. In 1986 Blue Chip moved to the former Demuth Hardware building. The business purchased the former John Deere building later and still uses both buildings.

Blue Chip Binding does perfect binding, spiral binding or multi-binding. A perfect binder glues pages onto a soft wrap-around cover. A multi-binder is a stapling machine that staples booklets.

The business serves mostly the South Dakota, Iowa and Minnesota region. Blue Chip is able to take on jobs with smaller quantities while larger companies usually do not want to gear up for such a small amount of work.

"We've had to change with the times," said Scheerhorn. "We are busy because not everyone has big orders, and big companies don't want to set up for small orders."

The Scheerhorns went into business one year after the Pipestone natives moved to Hills, according to Crescent reports.

Publishers Preston Ver Meer and George Schlueter encouraged the Scheerhorns to embark on their business venture. In fact, Gene designed his first coilmaker and his special binding punch in George Schlueter's garage.

"I built three machines for a little over $300 and a lot of time," said Gene.

Everyone said he couldn't do it, according to Carol Scheerhorn, but that just made him more determined.

It takes special people to run a small business. The Scheerhorns never bought new machinery for their business. "We just couldn't justify it," they said.

The Perfect Binder machine the Scheerhorns purchased at a sharply reduced price had two previous owners and would have cost $25,000 new. Gene is very mechanically inclined so he is able to work on the various machines the business uses.

In the past, a large portion of the business was devoted to making covers for funeral guest registration books. At one time, Blue Chip Book Binding produced more than 100,000 cookbooks per year from all over the world.

"Our end and the printers' end has increased in cost so they (cookbooks) are not quite as profitable as before," said Gene.

Gene estimates jobs for the company. He says he has been in the business so long he can just about estimate how long it will take and the costs involved.

The Scheerhorns stated it is not unusual for some of their machines to sit idle for a few months while the company uses another process. It is this flexibility that has kept the company going.

Blue Chip relies on word of mouth to keep the business going. "We try to do good work and get it done on time," said Gene.

"The business has its ups and downs. You don't always have a paycheck at the end of the week," said Gene. "We started a business and we made a good living at it."

By John Rittenhouse
Golf, volleyball and baseball were some of the spring attractions during the annual Friendship Days celebration in Hills last weekend.

The Hills Thunder took on a pair of amateur baseball teams at the diamond in Hills Saturday afternoon. (Look for related story elsewhere in the sports section.)

An 18-hole golf tournament staged at the Rock River County Club near Rock Rapids, Iowa, was on tap for Friday.

Fourteen four-player teams made up the field for a best-ball scrambler.

When the tournament was complete, a team consisting of Tim Plimpton, Duane Fiala, Claude Van Driel and Tom Arends emerged as the champions.

Brad Berkhof, Jon Finke, Kelly Demuth and Scott Olson formed the second-place squad.

Denise Wysong produced the women's longest drive during the tournament, while Travis Korver slapped the men's longest drive. Blake Wysong drained the men's longest putt.

An eight-team volleyball tournament was played on Saturday.

A team captained by Amy Behr won the championship.

Teams led by Lowell Rozeboom and Doug Diekevers placed second and third respectively.

By John Rittenhouse
The Hills Thunder posted their first win of the 2001 amateur baseball season while playing four games in a five-day period late last week.

Hills opened the week by losing a 13-3 game in Luverne Wednesday, June 6.

The Thunder hosted a pair of tilts on Saturday, nipping Wilmont 7-6 in the opener before falling by a 13-4 score to Vermillion (S.D.) later in the day.

Hills traveled to Wilmont Sunday and came up on the short end of a 6-1 decision.

The highlight of the busy stretch was Saturday's win over Wilmont.

Trailing 6-2 heading into the bottom half of the sixth inning in a scheduled seven-inning tilt, things didn't look good for the Thunder.

Hills, however, scored four runs in the bottom of the sixth to knot the score before winning the game with a run in the bottom of the eighth.

Eric Harnack, who drove in four runs with two hits in the game, came up big when the game was on the line for Hills.

After Matt Funke drove in a run with a double to make it a 6-3 game in the bottom of the sixth, Hills loaded the bases for Harnack, who delivered a three-run double to knot the score at sixth.

After Jarud Lang was hit by a pitch in the bottom of the eighth, Harnack produced the game-winning single in a 7-6 win.

Wilmont scored two runs in the first, third and sixth innings off Hills' pitcher Adam Hansen, who fanned six batters in eight innings to pick up the win.

Cade Lang singled and scored Hills' first run in the bottom of the first. Jarud Lang singled and scored the teamÕs second run when Chad Rauk singled in the bottom of the fifth.

The momentum of posting a win didn't carry into Saturday's second game, when Vermillion handed the Thunder a 13-4 setback.

Vermillion scored three runs in the top of the first and didn't lose the lead as the game progressed.

Hills trimmed the difference to one run (3-2) when Chris Putnam walked and scored on a passed ball in the bottom of the first. Rod Scholten (who led Hills with two hits) doubled before scoring on Derek Sammons' double in the second, but the visitors put together three-run rallies in the third and sixth innings to make it a 9-2 difference.

Hills did plate two more runs in the bottom of the sixth, but Vermillion countered with four runs in the seventh to win by nine.

Darin DeBoer and Cade Lang singled and scored on errors in the sixth for the Thunder.

Putnam (one strikeout and four walks) tossed the first 6 and two-thirds innings and took the loss for Hills. Funke recorded the final out.

Wilmont gained revenge on Hills during SundayÕs game in Wilmont.

The hosts scored two runs in the first and seventh innings and added single runs in the third and fifth frames to open a 6-0 lead that would turn into a 6-1 win.

Hills came up with a run in the top of the eighth, when Hansen doubled and scored on Putnam's single.

Rauk tossed the first seven innings and took the loss. He fanned three batters and walked two. Hansen tossed one frame.

Putnam and Funke had two hits each.

The Thunder also fell behind early and never recovered during a 12-2 June 6 loss in Luverne.

The Redbirds scored two runs in the first and second innings, three in the third and fourth innings, and one run in the sixth and seventh frames.

Funke drove in a run for Hills with a single in the seventh. Matt Carroll picked up an RBI in the seventh with a fielder's choice.

Jarud Lang pitched the first three and two-thirds innings and took the loss. Putnam worked the last three and one-third innings. Both pitchers walked one batter and had one strikeout.

The 1-6 Thunder host Hadley Sunday (3 p.m.) and play in Pipestone Wednesday, June 20.

By John Rittenhouse
A Hills-Beaver Creek junior became the school's second individual state champion during the Minnesota State Class A Track and Field Championships in Blaine Friday and Saturday.

Brad Haak, a three-time state qualifier in the 800-meter run, proved the third time can the a charm when he won the Class A title at the National Sports Center in Blaine.

Haak, who ran the second best qualifying time while winning his heat in Friday’s preliminaries, led Saturday's championship race from start to finish to become the school’s first runner to win a state individual title.

Steve Esselink won the long jump title in 1999 to become H-BC's first individual champion at a state meet.

"It was pretty awesome," said Patriot coach Tom Goehle, of Haak’s championship performance. "He ran a great, smart race. He led the whole race, but he started to get some challengers with 300 meters to go. They stayed with Brad for a while, but he started to pull away in the final 200 meters and won by eight-tenths of a second. It just was Brad's day. He was going to run whatever it took to win a state championship."

In Haak's case, it took a school-record setting performance to win the state title in the 800.

After running a 1:57.03 to surpass the long-standing school record of 1:58.5 set by Durant Kruger in 1980 during Friday's preliminaries, Haak ran an even stronger race in the finals. He covered 800 meters in 1:57.03 to reset the H-BC standard for the second straight day.

Setting the school record was something Haak thought he could accomplish. Winning a state championship, however, was something the Patriot thought was out of reach.

"I knew I could get the school record," Haak said. "I was seven-tenths of one second off the school record last year, so I thought I could do it. Winning [the championship race] was a total surprise. The returning champion (Plainview's Jordan Barnes) was coming back, and he was having a pretty good season. My goals were to set the school record and contend for first place at state, but I knew that would be difficult. I was happy and surprised [when I won]."

Haak said having taken on the pressures of competing at state in the past helped him last weekend.

As a freshman, Haak was unable to advance past the preliminaries in his first state appearance. He made some adjustments as a sophomore, and they led to a fifth-place finish. Those two outings played a big part in Haak winning it all Saturday.

"I felt really good. I was relaxed and wasn't nervous like I had been at state the last two years. I credit experience and knowing how to run better for what happened," he said.

Haak's win in the 800 accounted for 12 of the 17.5 team points H-BC-Ellsworth scored while finishing 19th as a squad in the Class A field.

All in all, it was a pretty good weekend for the H-BC-E program.

"We had four boys competing in five events, and all four came home receiving all-state honors. That's pretty impressive. We had a great meet," Goehle said.

Seniors Chris Willers and Chris Fransman and sophomore Chris Reid joined Haak in Blaine.

Reid, H-BC-E's lone state participant in two events, placed in one event and didn’t make the finals in another.

While competing in the Class A long jump on Friday, Reid produced a season-best distance of 20-11 to place seventh overall.

Chisholm’s Marcus Barto was the champion with a distance of 22-3 1/2.

After competing in the long jump, Reid ran an 11.84 in the preliminaries of the 100-meter dash on Friday. Reid’s effort was the 16th best, leaving him out of Saturday’s finals. Morris Area's Chris Esterling won the state title with a time of 11.33.

Willers, a two-time state qualifier in the 400-meter dash, earned a berth in the finals for the first time by running a personal best time of 50.59 in Friday’s preliminaries.

Willers' effort in the preliminaries was the fifth best on Friday, but he couldn't match it on Saturday. The Patriot senior ran a 51.26 to place eighth overall. Stewartville's Lance Moen was the champion in 48.93.

A Saturday morning thunderstorm forced the high jump competition to move indoors, where Fransman battled his way to a ninth-place finish.

Goehle said the senior made strong bids to clear 6-2, but only could get past 6-0 that day. Comfrey-Springfield's Kyle Marks cleared 6-6 to win the state title.

By Jolene Farley
Steen Mayor Mel Van Batavia goes above and beyond the call of duty when needed. He takes calls from residents who call when they need dead squirrels removed from their mailboxes or when they want to complain about dogs "depositing" on their lawns.

Talking to people is what Van Batavia enjoys the most about his job as mayor of this community of 192. "Trying to keep the town running smoothly, you get to talk to everyone," said Van Batavia. "They always come to you if they want something."

It all started seven years ago when Steen needed a mayor. Van Batavia, who owns M & M Repair in Steen, was asked to take the job three times before he finally gave in.

"Since then I've always just re-run and never had anyone run against me," he said.

Van Batavia said Steen used to be a retirement community, but recently young families are moving to town. Most work in Sioux Falls and came in search of cheaper housing.

Some of Van Batavia's goals for Steen are to pay off the city's debt, blacktop the roads and upgrade the sewer system. He would also like to see more businesses locate in town. He said when the feed store and elevator closed it really hurt the town.

According to the most recent census, Steen has enjoyed a population boom. Steen is at 192 residents, up from 160 residents 15 years ago.

Van Batavia would also like to see property values continue to increase. When he began his term as mayor, properties were literally selling for hundreds of dollars rather than the thousands they sell for now. He approached homeowners and told them they didn't have to sell so cheaply.

Demand has increased so homes don't stay empty for long, according to Van Batavia. "It seems like there is a real demand for homes in smaller towns," he said.

He is proud that a new home has been built in Steen almost every year since he took office.

"I know everyone in town, the number of kids they have, the name of their dogs and cats and the make of their cars because they all bring them (the cars) here," said Van Batavia.

Residents of Steen feel safe leaving their children home because they know their neighbors will automatically look out for them, Van Batavia said.

Van Batavia was born and raised in Beaver Creek and moved to Steen in 1964, after buying the auto repair shop from Clarence Erickson. He built his current building on Steen's Main Street 10 years ago.

Van Batavia's business is about 99 percent auto repair, but he has fixed washing machines, vacuum cleaners or whatever else came along.

Van Batavia enjoys fishing so much that he recently added a fishing tackle section to his business - kind of a novelty in a town with no lake. Friends call it Mel's Cabela's, after the national hunting and fishing retailer.

Van Batavia and his wife, Minnie, have four boys, one married and three attending Hills-Beaver Creek school.

Jessica Sandbulte can't wait for the next fun activity, a tour of an ambulance, at Steen Reformed Church Vacation Bible School. Vacation Bible School, with a theme of "Jesus to the Rescue," began Monday, June 18, and continues through Friday. More than 107 children attended the weeklong program.

By John Rittenhouse
A season-long, four-game winning streak came to an end for the Luverne Redbirds when the local amateur baseball team dropped a four-run home decision to Brandon, S.D., Tuesday.

The streak reached four games with seven- and one-run wins over Wilmont and Hadley respectively on Sunday at Redbird Field.

Luverne, 5-3 overall, plays Heron Lake and Jackson at 4 and 6 p.m. respectively Sunday in Jackson. The Redbirds host Wilmont for a 7 p.m. game Wednesday.

Brandon 12, Luverne 8
Luverne's baseball roll ended Tuesday when visiting Brandon topped the Redbirds by four runs Tuesday.

The Redbirds played their way to an 8-3 advantage through six innings, but Brandon scored nine unanswered runs in the final three frames to pull out a come-from-behind victory.

"We didn't play very well," said Luverne manager Micky Sehr. "We basically have Brandon two games this year."

The Redbirds got off to a good start when Jeff Sehr, who was three-for-five at the plate, doubled home a run to give the hosts a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first.

Brandon scored three runs off Luverne starting pitcher Jon Jarchow in the top of the second, but the Redbirds scored four times in the third and three runs in the sixth to take an 8-3 lead.

Cole Irish, Jeff and Micky Sehr all slapped RBI singles during the four-run rally in the third. Mike Wenninger added a sacrifice fly.

Brian Weber singled home a run and Corey Nelson added a two-run single during Luverne's sixth-inning uprising.

The final three innings belonged to Brandon.

The visitors pulled to within one run (8-7) of the Redbirds by scoring four runs in the seventh before moving in front 10-8 with a three-run eighth inning. When Brandon added a pair of insurance runs in the ninth, the scoring was complete.

Jordan Petersen relieved Jarchow in the seventh, and left the mound after allowing four runs while registering two outs. Travis Eernisse allowed three runs in the next inning and one-third. He was saddled with the loss. Derek Ohme, who had three hits at the plate, yielded two runs in the ninth.

Luverne 2, Hadley 1
Terry Eernisse's fifth-inning homer proved to be the difference during Sunday's second game against Hadley.

The visiting Buttermakers led 1-0 after scoring in the top of the first, but the Redbirds tied the game in the second inning before Eernisse's lead-off blast in the fifth provided the margin of victory.

Luverne plated an unearned run to tie the game at one in the second inning.

Cole Irish walked and scored when Hadley’s left fielder misplayed a ball hit by Mike Boen.

Jeff Sehr pitched five and two-thirds innings to pick up the win for Luverne, while Mike Wenninger tossed one and one-third innings to gain a save.

Sehr limited Hadley to five hits and one run while recording five strikeouts. Wenninger fanned three of the four batters he faced.

Box score AB R H BI
Schneider 3 0 0 0
Ohme 3 0 0 0
J.Sehr 3 0 0 0
Irish 3 1 1 0
Wenninger 3 0 1 0
M.Sehr 1 0 0 0
Eernisse 2 1 1 1
Boen 2 0 0 0
Weber 2 0 0 0

Luverne 7, Wilmont 0
Micky Sehr and Travis Eernisse tossed a combined two-hit shutout to highlight Sunday's win over Wilmont in the first game of the day at Redbird Field.

Sehr worked the first six innings to pick up the win. He yielded two hits and had two strikeouts. Eernisse pitched a scoreless seventh inning to end the game.

The Redbirds supported their pitchers by scoring one run in the second inning, two in the third and four in the fifth.

Sehr walked and scored the game's first run in the second when Boen singled.

Sehr and Terry Eernisse doubled home runs to make it a 3-0 game in the third.

Three fielding errors by Wilmont and Billy Schneider’s RBI single accounted for Luverne's four runs in the fifth inning.

Box score AB R H BI
Schneider 4 0 2 1
Ohme 4 2 1 0
J.Sehr 3 1 1 0
Wenninger 4 0 0 0
M.Sehr 3 3 2 1
Te.Eernisse 4 1 1 1
Boen 3 0 1 1
Petersen 3 0 1 0
Shelton 2 0 0 0
Tr.Eernisse 2 0 0 0

By Sara Quam
The Rock County Auditor-Treasurer's Office completed property tax receipts for the 2001 taxes, the first half of which was due May 15 for 2001.

The Star Herald is printing a list of the 10 who paid the most.

County Auditor-Treasurer Margaret Cook said that some entities may pay more than the listed Top 10 but aren't accounted for here because they may own property in different names. The assessor decides how properties are tied together.

#1, Agri-Energy, LLC - $193,795
The Luverne ethanol plant has been on the west edge of town since 1998 and also paid the most taxes in 2000. The plant is operated by CORN-er Stone Cooperative, which is comprised of about 200 farmer investors in the tri-state area.

#2, Interstate Power - $119,080
This major electrical supplier is taxed on properties, such as towers and transformers, that occupy land in Rock County. This equipment is assessed at market value and taxed accordingly.

#3, SWMN Farmers
Co-op - $61,024
The Southwest Minnesota Farmers Co-op buys and sells grains, grinds and mixes fees and has a full-service agronomy department. The Co-op is made up of elevators in Luverne, Magnolia, Kenneth and Kanaranzi.

#4, Minnkota Farmers
Co-op - $60,170
The concrete grain structure in Jasper has been known as Minnkota Farm Co-op since the local operation merged with Baltic, S.D., five years ago.

#5, Eagle Broadcasting Inc. - $54,984.64
The company is owned by Grand Forks, N.D., brothers Troy and Todd Ramage. In addition to a number of cable television franchises, they also own motels in several states. They own the Comfort Inn and Super 8 motels.

#6, Christensen Corporation - $52,816
Virgil Christensen, Luverne developer, was instrumental in building several Luverne structures, including the Medical Center and the old and new Pamida buildings.

The Christensen Corporation is listed as the owner of these properties, but most are leased to other entities who likely end up paying the taxes.

#7, Tri-State Insurance Co. - $46,678
The property-casualty insurance company has operated in Luverne since 1902. Future plans for the 33,000-square-foot building are unknown as the company announced last year it was relocating to Sioux Falls. No movement has yet started, however.

#8, Luverne Economic Development Authority - $43,500
The LEDA, by nature of its purpose to promote economic development, owns numerous properties in Luverne, both commercial and residential.

#9, Burlington Northern - $40,516
The major railroad company makes the Top 10 list primarily due to right-of-way property it owns along the rail lines. It also has equipment and other taxable properties.

# 10, Cargill, Inc. - $39,049.94
The Cargill grain elevator has been operating near Hills for the past 11 years.