By Lori Ehde
An Adrian man has posted $10,000 bail and is back at home in the same neighborhood as the young girl he allegedly raped.

Since accused sexual offender William Joseph Kafka posted bail on Feb. 22, Adrian residents have been calling the Nobles County Courthouse to complain of his release.

"Everyone's quite upset about it, wondering who bailed him out and why," said Pat Thier, who lives near Kafka.

"We're quite concerned about the fact that he's out, in light of all the evidence and what he's done."

Kafka's home is on Main Street in Adrian, within a block of the elementary school, and in the direct path of students walking to and from class.

Even more upsetting for residents is the fact that his alleged victim lives on the same block, along with several other young families and a home day-care provider.

"We're just still in shock that he's out," Thier said.

Kafka, 37, was charged on Feb. 21 with two counts of first degree criminal sexual conduct and one count of kidnapping.

The charges stem from an incident late in January involving a 9-year-old girl who said Kafka grabbed her and molested her in his house.

According to the criminal complaint filed in Nobles County District Court, the assault wasn't reported until two weeks later when the girl reportedly confided to an aunt that she had been bleeding.

The complaint details a grisly account of a girl who was tied with rope and muzzled with duct tape while her offender raped her.

The girl told authorities that when he was finished, he untied her, took the tape off her mouth, put her clothes on (while keeping her underwear) and let her go - but not before he threatened to kill her if she told anyone.

When the girl's parents took her to Luverne Community Hospital on Feb. 13, hospital staff referred her to Child's Voice, a Sioux Falls facility that specializes in treating sexually abused children.

Court documents state that examiners at Child's Voice concluded their interview with the girl is consistent with the belief that she'd been sexually assaulted.

During execution of a search warrant in Kafka's home, officers found a .38 caliber revolver in a desk drawer, a piece of brown rope, several sexually oriented videotapes, items to which duct tape had been applied, feminine undergarments and a tube of lubricating jelly, among other things.

When Kafka was arrested, he reportedly refused to give a statement.

When asked about Kafka's Feb. 22 release, Worthington Judge Jeff Flynn, who set Kafka's bail, said his decision fell within constitutional and state law.

"Everyone accused of a crime is entitled to reasonable bail," Flynn said Tuesday. "All bail is intended for is to insure appearance of the defendant at the next court hearing."

He said other factors, such as the defendant's employment, ties to the community and the nature of the offense, are also considered when setting bail.

Further, Flynn said Kafka's bail was set along with other clear conditions. For example, he is not to have contact with the victim or with other children, he is not to possess or consume alcohol, and he's to keep in contact with his attorney and keep his scheduled court appearances.

Flynn said if residents have reason to believe he's violating these conditions, they can contact law enforcement.

First degree criminal sexual conduct in this case means sexual contact and penetration with a person younger than 13 by individual more than 36 months older than the victim.

If found guilty of the charges, Kafka faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison and $40,000 in fines for criminal sexual conduct. The maximum penalty for kidnapping is 20 years in prison and $35,000 fine.

The case has since been assigned to District Court Judge Timothy Connell.

By Sara Quam

Luverne could have another banquet and meeting place option as soon as mid-June.

Glen Gust, starting up the Blue Mound Banquet and Meeting Center, was granted a variance to allow less than the required 60-foot setback Tuesday night by the Board of Appeals and Adjustments. The actual setback will be 37 feet after a final finding of fact is approved by the board.

"Since the Blue Mound Inn closed, there's only one other meeting facility, [Sharkee's] in Luverne. We thought it'd be nice to have another one," Gust said.

The 401 West Hatting Street site by M-M will use the existing building and add on to the north side.

The northerly addition brought some objections from neighbors, who want a generous setback from their homes. (The building is in a B-2, highway service business district.)

Gust said he wants to do the facility "right."

"I'll do what it takes to be a good neighbor," Gust said. "We want to make it a nice facility, and landscaping is part of that."

Gust will also use minimal lighting to be less intrusive on neighbors. Traffic activity will be limited to the east and south on Gabrielson Street to impact neighbors even less. About 95 percent of the traffic will be on the south side of the building.

In granting the variance, board chair Jim Kirchhofer said he did so reluctantly.

"At least one citizen has indicated that traffic shifted to the other street is worth something. But I still hate to vary from the setbacks in the code books."

The Blue Mound Banquet and Meeting Center will be unique. It will offer a smoke-free environment with three soundproof rooms that can be used for wedding receptions, dances, family reunions, business meetings or seminars.

Gust plans to get a liquor license, but the facility won't be a bar.

Another attraction Gust looks forward to providing is high-speed Internet access and technologies that could be used for taking classes at the facility or for other kinds of communications.

Luverne's Kay Franklin chips away at layers of ice that finally began to melt on her driveway Friday. It was a common sight all over the county during the past week as temperatures inched their way above the freezing point. Much to everyone's delight, spring appears to be on its way.

Photo by Lori Ehde

As I sit at my desk looking out the office window at the end of my day, the first thought that occurs to me is that all the snow gently falling looks so beautiful.

My second thought, closely following the first, is that I will not find it nearly as beautiful after I finish driving through it and scooping it.

After my daughter calls to report thatwe are now in a blizzard warning, I know my second thought is the most accurate.

She dramatically states, "Mom we are going to have a blizzard in 25 minutes!" At 10 years old, she has not learned that weather prediction is more of an art than a science. Our blizzard could begin anywhere from 25 minutes, two days, to never.

After two mild winters in a row, this winter has been a rude awakening. The fact that I now have to drive the 15 miles from Adrian to work has added to my perception of this winter as long. Although I am fortunate enough to drive a sports utility vehicle, four wheel drive is no help on ice.

There are those who would argue that my own driving should scare everyone the most, but it is the driving of others that strikes fear in my heart.

When vehicles pass you driving 105 mph and you are driving 10 mph and have been fishtailing all over the slick road you tend to tense up. "Over driving road conditions" is the term that comes to mind.

I have found I feel safer off the interstate. There is just enough traffic on Old Highway 16 that someone would offer help if you happened to slide into the ditch but few enough cars that you do not have to worry about meeting Mario Andretti on the road.

Thinking "safety first," this winter I invested in a sleeping bag to keep in my vehicle permanently.

I briefly thought about throwing together a winter driving emergency kit. It is December, but I have not purchased any food or any of the other items needed to polish off my kit. So if I do happen to go in the ditch on my drive home today, I will be warm but hungry.

I would like to just forget about my emergency kit and go south! I feel the urge to book a trip somewhere - anywhere warm.

The Beach Boys song, "Kokomo," from the Tom Cruise movie, "Cocktail," rings in my head.

Avoiding my drive home, I do a search on the Internet trying to locate one of the destinations mentioned in the song. Typing in "warm places" doesn't produce any hits (no pun intended).

Not knowing the correct spelling, I type in Coco Mo. All that comes up is something about a German shepherd and information on a house painting company. I found no information about a wonderful vacation destination.

Not to be discouraged, I type in Arouba (which should have been spelled Aruba). All that search produces is something about the Austrian president and his wife.

A co-worker announcing that the "blizzard" is due to hit us at 5 p.m. quickly snaps me back to reality. It is time to quit searching for my fabulously warm vacation destination and brave the cold Minnesota winter once again.

Oh, well. I probably would not have traveled anywhere anyway. I just keep telling myself a winter emergency driving kit is much cheaper than a vacation. For now, I'll just have to work on learning to love these wonderful Minnesota winters!

P.S. My new travel policy is if I cannot spell the name of my vacation destination I don't need to go there anyway.

By John Rittenhouse
The Hills-Beaver Creek boys will enter post-season play on a winning note as the Patriots defeated Lake Benton 69-46 in the regular season finale in Hills Monday.

H-BC, which had a conference game against Edgerton cancelled due to Friday's snowstorm, rode a 35-21 rebounding advantage against the Bobcats to a 23-point victory.

"We played pretty decent," said Patriot coach Steve Wiertzema. "We probably won the game on the boards again. We outrebounded them by 14, so we did a good job in that area."

H-BC will open the South Section 3A Tournament tonight in Fulda with the momentum of winning two of its last three games. The eighth-seeded Patriots, 7-14 overall, play No. 9 Ellsworth in a preliminary-round game at 6 p.m.

The Patriots opened a six-point cushion (15-9) over LB in the first quarter before using an 18-14 scoring edge in the second quarter to make it a 33-23 game at the intermission.

With Chris Fransman netting five of his 11 points to lead the way, H-BC went on a 20-9 scoring run in the third quarter to open a 21-point (53-32) lead. The Patriots used a 16-14 scoring edge in the final eight minutes of play to increase the final margin of victory to 23 points.

Matt Buck had 14 points, six rebounds and four assists for the winners, while Lyle DeBoer added 12 points to the cause.

Lance Crawford and Brad Haak snared five rebounds each for H-BC. Darin DeBoer had five assists and David Top three steals.

Box score
Jess 0 1 0-0 3, D.DeBoer 1 0 0-0 2, Van Batavia 0 0 0-0 0, Van Maanen 0 0 0-0 0, Fransman 2 3 1-3 11, Haak 2 0 1-2 5, L.DeBoer 3 1 3-4 12, Van Wyhe 3 0 2-2 8, Top 3 0 2-6 8, Crawford 3 0 0-0 6, Krull 0 0 0-0 0, Buck 6 0 2-2 14.

Team statistics
H-BC: 27 of 56 field goals (48 percent), 11 of 19 free throws (58 percent), 35 rebounds, 14 turnovers.
LB: 16 of 47 field goals (34 percent), 11 of 20 free throws (55 percent), 21 rebounds, 23 turnovers.

By John Rittenhouse
The basketball season came to a stunning conclusion for the Hills-Beaver Creek girls with a last-second shot in Edgerton Tuesday.

Playing No. 2 Southwest Christian in a quarterfinal round clash, the seventh-seeded Patriots erased a 28-24 deficit entering the fourth quarter to knot the score at 38 with 15 seconds left to play.

When Cassi Tilstra, who tied the game at 38 with a free throw, missed her second attempt, SWC collected the rebound and pushed the ball past midcourt before calling time-out with eight seconds remaining.

SWCÕs Lisa Holleman received the ball when play resumed and delivered a leaping, cross-court pass to Renita Buys as time was winding down. Buys, who had not made a field goal all night, drained a four-foot shot with two seconds remaining to deliver a 40-38 victory to the E-Gals.

After losing two decisive games to SWC during the regular season, H-BC coach Tom Goehle was happy his team took the E-Gals to the limit Tuesday. On the other hand, coming so close to advancing was equally disappointing to the Patriot mentor.

"It's kind of a bitter-sweet thing. The girls played so well in this game, and now they have to live with the fact that it was their last game," he said.

The Patriots did turn in a strong performance against SWC.

The E-Gals led 10-8 after eight minutes of play before H-BC gained a 20-18 edge by halftime.

SWC extended its lead to four points during the third quarter, but H-BC drained 12 of 14 free throws during the fourth while outscoring SWC 14-10 to knot the score at 38.

"It probably was one of the best high school basketball games you'll ever see," Goehle said. "I was really pleased and proud of our girls. I don't think they could have played any better than they did."

Erin Boeve led H-BC with 13 points and seven rebounds. Becky Broesder, Shanna Tilstra passed for three assists each. Cassi Tilstra produced three steals.

H-BC ends the season with an 11-13 mark.

Box score
C.Tilstra 1 0 1-2 3, Olson 0 0 0-0 0, Sandstede 0 0 0-0 0, Rentschler 1 0 2-2 4, S.Tilstra 1 0 6-6 8, Broesder 3 0 0-0 6, DeNoble 1 0 0-0 2, Boeve 5 0 3-6 13, Arp 1 0 0-0 2.

Team statistics
H-BC: 13 of 40 field goals (33 percent), 12 of 16 free throws (75 percent), 21 rebounds, 10 turnovers.
SWC: 16 of 35 field goals (46 percent), seven of 15 free throws (47 percent), 20 rebounds, 12 turnovers.

By Jolene Farley
Hills-Beaver Creek Elementary students participated in Pennies for Patients, a program that benefits the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

The program raises money for leukemia research and patient aid in Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota. Students were encouraged to bring their pennies Feb. 6 through Feb. 23 to their classrooms at H-BC.

Student Council members presented information at Lift Off, the weekly school meeting, to help students understand the diseases the program helps combat.

H-BC students collected $321 in pennies. Sixth-graders qualified for a pizza party by collecting the most donations, more than $100.

In 2000, Minnesota schools collected more than $240,000 - all in pennies - for Pennies for Patients. These dollars helped several patients in Minnesota.

Sponsors of the statewide program are WCCO Radio and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

On March 9, WCCO will announce on the air the 10 schools in the state that collected the most money.

Each school that collects more than $400 in pennies will celebrate with a pizza party for the room that contributed the most.

Each H-BC class set a goal, and those who reached their goals received rewards.

Council members pictured above are: (back, left) Brandon Boeve, Amanda Tilstra, Ashley Hoyme, Adam Finke, Thomas Scholten, Aleesa Arends, (front, left) Meagan Stueven, Rosie Aristeo, Leah Hup, Joel Van Batavia, Grant Hoogendorn.

By Jolene Farley
The architectural firms Group II Architects, Spitznagel Inc., and Hartman Architecture Inc., all from Sioux Falls, made presentations to the Hills-Beaver Creek Board of Education concerning the proposed locker room and fitness center addition Monday evening.

The board has been considering construction of a new locker room facility and community fitness center at Hills-Beaver Creek High School.

Current locker rooms in the basement of H-BC are not handicap accessible, have space limitations and present air quality issues.

Cost estimates for renovation of the current locker rooms ranged from $80,000 to $100,000, so the board decided to pursue new construction.

Superintendent Tom Knoll invited the firms to attend the meeting and sent them a list of pertinent questions the board would like answered during the interview.

Mayor George Langford and Councilman Jim Jellema, representing the city of Hills, also asked a few questions during the interviews.

The firms were asked to explain their business histories, to estimate their fees, provide insurance information, demonstrate their experience with similar projects, say what type of engineers they used in similar projects, explain what type of contracts they generally use and provide lists of references.

Group II Architects sent three representatives to Monday's meeting. They proposed a $3,500 fee for schematic services to establish the project scope and budget. Reimbursable expenses, estimated in the range of $1,000 to $1,500, including printing of bidding documents, mileage and long distance phone calls, would also be billed out.

In projects with construction costs in the range of $200,000 to $300,000 total fees are estimated at 12 percent of total construction cost, not including reimbursable expenses.

The Spitznagel Inc. representative proposed fees of $1,090 for pre-design and programming and a fee of $3,280 for the schematic design. He proposed total project fees of $21,850 for a $200,000 to $250,000 project. The firm would also bill for reimbursable expenses.

Specialty consultants such as surveyors, geo-technical and civil engineers would be billed directly to the school or separately through the firm.

Hartman Architecture proposed they handle not only the design of the addition but that they contract for construction management. They stressed they could save some general contractor markups on materials by providing construction management services themselves.

"We watch construction dollars closely; we make sure what you get is what you are paying for," said firm owner Roger Hartman. Hartman Architecture designed the last addition at Tuff Memorial Home and listed Administrator Dana Dahlquist as a reference.

They stressed their "hands-on approach to projects." Their fees for a $200,000 project would be in the 8-percent range for architecture alone, and in the 15-percent range including general contractor services. Reimbursable expenses would be $50 per set of plans with an estimated 35 sets needed, according to Hartman.

The board asked each candidate the minimum square footage needed for a locker room. Answers varied depending on if the district built individual showers or group showers and the materials used for construction.

"We need to find out what is totally necessary and what we can cut back on," said School Board member Ann Boeve. "We don’t need gold pipes in the walls."

Board members Boeve, Lloyd DeBoer and Dave Roozenboom had traveled to two area schools and toured their locker rooms. They had "no frills," according to Roozenboom.

"Budget will drive what you can do," said the Spitznagel representative.

"I don't see any way we can get away from construction costs of $100 per square foot," Knoll said after the firms left.

Since the board plans to pay for this project out of the general fund balance, Knoll advised the board not to go over the $200,000 mark for the project.

Using the $100-per-square-foot construction estimate, $200,000 will build a 2,000-square-foot locker room addition.

After much discussion, board member Gary Esselink made the motion that $200,000 is the maximum amount the district can spend on the locker room facilities. Lloyd DeBoer seconded and the motion carried.

No decision was made concerning which architecture firm to hire. The board plans to make a decision on this issue at their next meeting.

The board previously tied up about $200,000 of the $590,000 fund balance when it passed a motion requiring a fund balance of $500 per pupil at all times during its Feb. 12 meeting.

The board added that private donations could increase the amount allotted for the project.

The city of Hills had verbally agreed to help with the fitness center project, according to Boeve, but needed concrete information about the project to proceed.

By Lori Ehde
The past few mild winters are mere memories by now as area residents dig out from yet another storm system that moved through region over the weekend.

The storm, which meteorologists had predicted a week in advance, made its first appearance in Rock County Friday late afternoon.

By nightfall, snow accumulations totaled only an inch, and Saturday dawned quiet but gray.

With sure predictions of more to come, area residents planned evening events "weather permitting."

By about 4 p.m. Saturday, those predictions started coming true in the form of pouring rain, which eventually turned to snow.

When the winds came up around 7 p.m., flakes fell horizontally, causing near-zero visibility for motorists.

Saturday’s accumulations came to about 3 inches.

Interstate 90 was closed that evening first from Mitchell to Chamberlain, S.D., and as the storm system moved eastward, all lanes were closed all the way to Blue Earth. In addition, all state and county highways in southwest Minnesota were also declared closed.

Sunday church services were cancelled, and area residents and highway workers spent most of the day digging out.

The sun shone brightly most of the day on Sunday, and when the winds died down, the Interstate opened after stranded vehicles were removed from ditches and shoulders.

Many area residents went to bed Sunday night thinking their hard shoveling efforts would allow them clear passage to work the next day, but, as if to add icing on the cake, Mother Nature delivered another healthy inch of fresh snow during the night.

For rural ditches that are already piled high with snow, it doesn't take much for remote township roads to plug, and area schools were forced to start two hours late Monday morning.

The weekend's storm brings the total snowfall this year in Rock County to more than 50 inches - about three times what the area receives in a normal winter.

Forecasters topped off their weekend reports with the happy news that spring is only a few weeks away.... But they also warned that March is typically the snowiest month of the season.