Russell Hoiland, 84, rural Magnolia, died Thursday, Aug. 30, 2001, at Sioux Valley Hospital in Sioux Falls, S.D.

Services were Tuesday, Sept. 4, at Bethany Lutheran Church in Luverne. The Rev. Paul Fries officiated. Burial was in Maplewood Cemetery.

Russell Hoiland was born to Ole and Anna (Anderson) Hoiland on Oct. 18, 1916, in Magnolia Township. He attended rural school in Magnolia Township. He farmed with his family until Feb. 13, 1942, when he served his nation in Europe during World War II. After his honorable discharge on Dec. 9, 1945, he returned and farmed on the family farm until his death.

Mr. Hoiland was a lifetime and charter member of Bethany Lutheran Church in Luverne. He served as Sunday School superintendent and also served as a trustee. He enjoyed fishing, playing cards, pool and especially farming.

Survivors include many nieces and nephews.

Mr. Hoiland was preceded in death by his parents, six brothers, Steiner, Selmer, Selmer G., Obert, Erling and Walter, and four sisters, Tilda, Gena, Esther and Martha.

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

Services for Marian Hamann will be at 1:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 6, at Zion Lutheran Church in Hardwick with the Rev. Mark Mumme officiating. Burial will be in Luverne Memorial Gardens, northwest of Luverne.

Marian E. "Tootie" Hamann, 72, Luverne, died Monday, Sept. 3, 2001, in Luverne Hospice Cottage.

Marian Elizabeth Hunstad was born to Rudolph and Elsie (Beyer) Hunstad on Sept. 2, 1929, in Rose Dell Township, Rock County. She attended country school at District 36 Central and one year of high school in Jasper. Following her education she worked at Northland Cafe in Pipestone.

She married Virgil Hamann on June 14, 1947, in Luverne. Following their marriage they farmed in Rose Dell Township. Mr. Hamann preceded her in death on May 20, 1975. She continued to live on the farm until her failing health caused her to move. She was admitted to Luverne Hospice Cottage on July 16.

Mrs. Hamann was a member of Zion Lutheran Church in Hardwick. She was an avid racing fan and enjoyed sporting events. She bowled for many years and served as secretary for the Jasper Women's Bowling Association. In her later years she loved to go deer hunting as well as snowmobiling and fishing. She enjoyed entertaining her family and friends at her lake home.

Survivors include her six children, Roger and Deanna Hamann, Slayton, Douglas Hamann and his special friend, Dianne, Neale Hamann and his special friend, Vickie, all of Luverne, Barbara and Larry Olesen, Hurley, S.D., Gene and Barb Hamann, Hardwick, and Nancy Hamann, Denver, Colo.; 13 grandchildren; four great-grandchildren; one brother, Gordon Hunstad and his wife, Dorothy, Pipestone; and two sisters, Luella Zirtzman, Lakewood, Calif., and Florence "Jo" Gewecke, Pipestone.

Mrs. Hamann was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, Virgil, and two brothers, Orlen and Raymond Hunstad.

Foster Hartquist Funeral Home, Jasper, is in charge of arrangements.

Corinne Ann Cerney, 85, Adrian, died Monday, Sept. 3, 2001, at Arnold Memorial Nursing Home in Adrian.

Services were Wednesday, Sept. 5, in St. Adrian Catholic Church, Adrian. The Rev. Gerald Kosse officiated. Burial was in St. Adrian Catholic Cemetery, Adrian.

Corinne Ann Bullerman was born March 3, 1916, to Theodore and Louise (Handwerk) Bullerman in Adrian. She attended St. Adrian elementary and high school, graduating in 1934. After her schooling she worked at Silverberg's Department Store in Worthington.

She married Frank "Bosco" Cerney in Lake Charles, La., on July 12, 1943. She lived in Worthington while Mr. Cerney completed his tour of duty in the Army Air Corps. After his return they lived in Worthington until moving to Adrian in 1949. She continued working at Silverberg's Department Store for 14 years. She then worked at Donnely's Drug Store, Lien Drug Store and Kroon Drug Store, all located in Adrian. She worked a total of 38 years and retired in 1990.

Mrs. Cerney was a member of St. Adrian Catholic Church, Adrian, and the CCW. She belonged to the neighborhood bridge club, collected figurines and liked visiting with family and friends.

Survivors include her husband, Frank "Bosco" Cerney, Adrian; many nieces and nephews; and her godchild, Lisa Strand.

Mrs. Cerney was preceded in death by her parents, sisters: an infant sister, Lauretta Bullerman; Emma Voss and Veronica Thom, brothers: an infant brother, Joseph; Theodore, Frank, Florian and Aloysious "Butch" Bullerman.

A tree will be planted in memory of Corinne Cerney by Hospice of Luverne Community Hospital.

Memorials to Luverne Hospice are preferred by the family.

Dingmann Funeral Home, Adrian, was in charge of arrangements.

Funeral services for Asle Skattum will be at 11 a.m. Friday, Sept. 7, at St. Catherine Catholic Church in Luverne with the Rev. Andrew Beerman officiating. Burial will be in St. Catherine Catholic Cemetery, Luverne. Visitation is from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 6, in Engebretson Funeral Home in Luverne and will resume one hour prior to the funeral mass at the church on Friday.

Asle Ole Skattum, 92, Luverne, formerly of Hills, died Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2001, In Luverne Community Hospital.

Asle Skattum was born to Oliver Marius and Minnie (Sjolseth) Skattum on May 14, 1909, on the family farm in Lyon Township, Lyon County, Iowa. He attended Hills Public School for 12 years and then worked on the family farms for 10 years.

He married Rose Ann McDermott of Beaver Creek on Aug. 2, 1940, at St. Catherine Catholic Church in Luverne. Following their marriage they lived in Fullerton, Calif., until 1941 and then made their home in Sioux Falls, S.D., where he worked at Zip Feed Mills.

He enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1945. Following his tour of duty with the Master Corps in Austria he resumed his life in Sioux Falls working at Zip Feed Mills until 1947 when they moved to Hills.

He purchased the Hills Feed Mill. In later years he was co-owner of a trucking and excavating company in Hills, owned his own trucking business, farmed the family farms with his brother, Donald (Toby) Skattum, owned a fertilizing business, then worked at the Hills Co-op Elevator until his retirement in the 1970s. They continued to live in Hills until they moved to Luverne in 1997. He entered Mary Jane Brown Good Samaritan Center in April 1999. Mrs. Skattum died Aug. 26, 2000.

Mr. Skattum was a member of St. Catherine Catholic Church in Luverne where he was also a member of the Knights of Columbus. He was a 54-year member of the American Legion Post #399 of Hills and was on the Hills City Council. He enjoyed gardening and taking care of his lawn. He also enjoyed fishing in his earlier years.

Survivors include two sons, Roger (Donna) Skattum, Edgewood, Iowa, and their children, Laura (Mark) Boomgaarden, Prior Lake, and Tom Skattum, Chicago, Ill., and Paul (Jeanne) Skattum, Rochester, and their children, Meghan and Joshua, Rochester; two brothers, Wendell (Teddy) Skattum, Deerwood, and Mark (Jeanette) Skattum, Denver, Colo.; and a sister-in-law, Harriet Skattum, Hills.

Mr. Skattum was preceded in death by his parents, his wife, Rose Ann, two brothers, Orlando and Donald Skattum, and three sisters, Myrtus Earl, Marie Johnson and Sylvia Godfrey.

Engebretson Funeral Home was in charge of arrangements.

Harry E. Janssen, 89, Luverne, died Sunday, Sept. 2, 2001, in Mary Jane Brown Good Samaritan Center, Luverne.

Services were Wednesday, Sept. 5, in St. John Lutheran Church, Luverne. The Rev. Charles Boeder officiated. Burial was in Maplewood Cemetery, Luverne.

Harry E. Janssen was born July 19, 1912, to Henry and Anna (Miene) Janssen in Gladstone, Ill. As a young boy he moved with his family to South Dakota where he attended school. He moved to Luverne in 1934.

He married Helen Beyer on May 22, 1938, in Luverne. He was a salesman for various companies. He also owned and operated a car dealership called Smith & Janssen in Luverne and sold feed for Walnut Grove.

Mr. Janssen was a member of St. John Lutheran Church in Luverne and also of the Luverne Sportsmen's Cub. He was an avid fisherman and enjoyed hunting. He became a resident of Mary Jane Brown Good Samaritan Center on Jan. 14, 1997.

Survivors include his wife, Helen Janssen, Luverne; two sons and daughters-in-law, Wayne and Judy Janssen, Russell, Kan., and Lyle and Karen Janssen, Brandon, S.D.; two daughters and one son-in-law, Linda Koranda, St. Joseph, Mo., and Louise and Martin Parent, Beverly Hills, Mich.; six grandchildren; four great-grandchildren; two brothers, Richard Janssen, Luverne, and Eddie Janssen, Flandreau, S.D.; and one sister, Margaret Bowman, Slayton.

Mr. Janssen was preceded in death by his parents, four brothers and two sisters.

A tree will be planted in memory of Harry Janssen by Hospice of Luverne Community Hospital.

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

By John Rittenhouse
All three cross country programs from the Star Herald coverage area got together for the first time this season at the Dragon Invitational in Adrian Tuesday.

Athletes representing the Luverne, Adrian and Hills-Beaver Creek-Ellsworth programs competed at the meet in varsity, junior varsity and junior high races.

The H-BC-E boys made a strong showing at the varsity level by scoring 47 points to win the team championship. Luverne finished one point behind the Patriots with 48 counters, and Adrian finished third with 65 points.

Murray County Central ran away with the girls' team title by scoring 33 points. Southwest Star Concept was second with 45, and Luverne was third with 70.

Adrian fielded an incomplete team in girls' varsity competition, and H-BC-E had no runners entered in the race.

Brad Haak led the Patriot boys to victory by winning the varsity run with a time of 18:46.

Matt Buck finished sixth with a time of 20:46, and teammates Nathan Fick (11th in 21:13), Kale Wiertzema (14th in 21:37) and Lee Walraven (15th in 21:46) helped H-BC-E's winning cause.

Patriot Paul Jess placed 24th in 25:34 without contributing to the team tally.

Jake Studer and Nick Otten set the pace for the Luverne boys by placing second and third with respective 19:15 and 19:41 times.

Jesse Kuhlman (seventh in 20:59), Jesson Vogt (13th in 21:22) and Kyle Bitterman (23rd in 24:22) round out the scoring for LHS.

Adrian's Jason Eickhoff and Josh Markl led their team by placing eighth and ninth with 21:06 and 21:07 efforts.

Paul Honermann (12th in 21:17), Derek Vastenhout (16th in 22:12) and Kelly Seeman (20th in 23:32) chipped into Adrian's effort as a team.

Jake Salter placed 21st in 23:50 without influencing the scoring for AHS.

Luverne may have placed third in the girls' varsity team competition, but it did have the top runner in the field on Tuesday.

Sadie Dietrich, an LHS freshman, won her first cross country individual title with a time of 17:47. A strong kick in the final 200 yards allowed Dietrich to pass a pair of runners to record her win.

Breanna Studer (15th in 21:40), Nicole Cronquist (16th in 21:56), Krista Wynia (18th in 22:29) and Jessica Willers (20th in 23:44) helped the Cards place third as a team.

Kelly Banck and Krissi Thier turned in strong efforts for Adrian in the girls' varsity race, placing eighth and ninth with respective 19:30 and 19:53 times.

Here is a look at how the individuals from Luverne, Adrian and H-BC-E fared in the junior high and junior varsity races Tuesday.

Junior varsity boys
Luverne: Devan Goembel, fourth, 16:48; Dusty Antoine, sixth, 16:52; Ruston Aaker, eighth, 17:24; Taylor Graphenteen, 13th, 18:47; Travis Halfmann, 15th, 19:05; Michael Nelson, 20th, 20:32; Brent DeGroot, 21st, 21:08; Nick DeWispelaere, 23rd, 23:47.

Adrian: James Matthiesen, 10th, 17:49; Kyle Knips, 12th, 18:39.
H-BC-E: Jared Drenth, 14th, 18:58.

Junior varsity girls
Luverne: Amanda Saum, fourth, 19:11; Sara Wynia, 16th, 25:28.
H-BC-E: Brittney Rozeboom, third, 20:44; Becky Broesder, seventh, 21:35.

Junior high boys
Adrian: Joe Henning, fifth, 6:51; Ethan Wieneke, seventh, 7:06; Colin Lynn, 10th, 7:34; Aaron Mormann, 11th, 7:46; Dustin Lonneman, 14th, 8:01; Trent Lutmer, 17th, 9:32; Eldon Vaselaar, 18th, 9:57.

H-BC-E: Nathan Mahone, first, 6:21; Devin DeBoer, second, 6:22; Kerry Fink, third, 6:35; John Sandbulte, eighth, 7:09; Adam Finke, ninth, 7:14; Grant Hoogendoorn, 12th, 7:48; Justin Hinks, 19th, 10:11.

Junior high girls
Luverne: Victoria Arends, first, 6:49; Kelsey Dooyema, second, 7:15; Amber Church, 11th, 9:38.
Adrian: Samantha Ferguson, fourth, 7:33; McCall Heitkamp, fifth, 7:34; Megan Henning, eighth, 7:57; Kaitlin Leinen, 10th, 8:36.

H-BC-E: Amanda Tilstra, sixth, 7:39; Stacy Bush, ninth, 8:11.

By Katrina Vander Kooi
After a day of record high temperatures, there was no promise of air conditioned relief for 240 Luverne residents Thursday night.

For five and a half hours that evening from around 5 to 10:30 p.m. customers in west-central Luverne did not have power.

According to Public Utilities Coordinator Red Arndt, the reason for the outage was that Mediacom was burying cable television wires and accidentally cut an electrical wire.

The problem was fixed that evening.

By Lori Ehde
It's a ritual nearly all kids must endure before they can go to school: a kindergarten physical that includes a round of immunizations.

Five-year-old Evan Bolt, Edgerton, wasn't looking forward to the shots Monday, but he and his classmates are the lucky first-time users of a new ointment that makes the needle less painful.

"Emla" cream is applied on the skin where the shots are given. After several minutes it numbs the area much like a shot of Novocaine would.

"We've had some kids who haven't moved (when given the shot). They just sat there," said Dr. Diane Kennedy. It was her idea to use the cream for kindergarten shots this year at Luverne Medical Center.

While it numbs the pain, the new ointment doesn't make the needles less scary, and many young patients, including Evan, cry anyway.

"So much of it is the fear of the shot more than the pain," Kennedy said. "But it's still much better than before."

With school starting in only a few weeks, LPN Lori Mead said the clinic sees several kindergartners a day for physicals and shots.

All clinic doctors are now using the Emla cream, and it has made her job smoother.

"We use it on preschoolers, because they're the ones that fight. It just makes it a little easier," Mead said.

"They don't necessarily feel the needle, but they might feel the solution going in. That sometimes burns a little."

Emla cream isn't new on the market. Luverne Community Hospital has been using the cream the past couple years on children to start intravenous needles.

The state of Minnesota requires all children entering kindergarten this fall to be up to date on their immunizations.

For most children, that means three shots: one for diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis, another for polio and another for measles, mumps and rubella.

The kindergarten round of shots complete most immunization programs for children until their required tetanus booster at age 11 or 12.

By Mary Crawford
Nine 4-H teens and three chaperones recently visited the East Coast state of Maine through another 4-H exchange.

The group spent eight days visiting Oxford County and soon realized the similarities to their home state of Minnesota, even from more than 1,600 miles away.

The purpose of the 4-H teen exchange is to develop career awareness, promote cultural diversity, view another part of our country and to make new friends.

Rock County has participated in exchange programs for at least 30 years. This year delegates from all over Rock County traveled to Maine, and next year they will be hosts for their new-found friends.
The week was filled with excitement in anticipation of several taking their first airplane rides, although not all were enjoyable.

Arriving in Portland, Maine's largest city of around 120,000 people, they were greeted with open arms on the first leg of this two-year exchange.

A short, historic scenic drive viewing the beautiful brick buildings through the city brought us to the ocean with our first view of Port Head Light - one of the oldest and most scenic lighthouses (since 1791) still operating in Maine.

The beautiful jagged coastline was lined with lobster buoys of various colors.

After a picnic lunch on the grass, the Minnesota members were escorted to their respective homes in this large county for a time of getting acquainted with their families.

Various group activities were planned throughout the week, as well as free days to spend with their host families. Maine is composed of 90 percent trees and many lakes - very much like northern Minnesota - and boasts of an abundance of loons as well as maple syrup.

The weather was quite pleasant, and we avoided the high humidity that we have had in southern Minnesota.

Horticulture is extremely popular in the state as large, beautiful hanging baskets and window boxes adorn most homes as well as businesses and give a nice touch of beauty, very healthy and well attended. Many summer visitors arrive in July and stay for the fall color of the leaves in September and October.

One of the most difficult and confusing differences for the Rock County group were the very curvy narrow highways without shoulders which went on and on and on. Driving from one small town to another you don't realize where you are or the miles driven. This often produced nausea for a few of the square-milers from Minnesota. Without mile markers anywhere, travel was measured in minutes at a much slower speed.

Gravel roads, if any, were out of reach or maybe just out of sight.

Maine's main agriculture crop is potatoes. They are primarily produced in the extreme northwest part of the state which is quite uninhabited. Many from the group did not see any corn or soybean fields and only one small herd of 10 cows. However, livestock is very much a part of the 4-H program in Maine as well.

Most of the people live along the Atlantic coastline and the southern part of the state. The laid-back attitude of the Maine folk produce an accent such as "lobstah" and how "fa" are we going! They tend to forget their "Rs" - so an attentive ear for listening was required.

Their motto: "Maine - the way life should be."

Some of the various activities during the week, both fun and educational, included a huge fireworks display over the river at Rumford, a lobster feed requiring the Minnesota visitors to wear plastic lobster bibs, a visit to Maine state museum and Fort Western in Augusta, outlet shopping at Freeport, a relaxing cruise on Casco Bay, canoeing on the Androscoggin River, FunTown, more shopping, an old covered bridge, Snowshoe Falls, and other activities with the respective families.

It was a fun and busy week. With everyone short on sleep, the group was ready to leave for home to develop their photos and begin planning for next year's visit with their new-found friends, the "Mainiacs."

Supporting the "Popstop" at the Rock County Fair contributes to the expense of traveling and hosting. Any donations are greatly appreciated, as well as other work opportunities for the group.