Luverne grad responsible for new Viking designI recently received an e-mail from former Luverne resident Rolf Berg telling me that the newly designed uniforms announced by the Vikings recently were designed by his son Eric Berg.According to Rolf, Eric’s company, Berg Design Company, a graphics company in Minneapolis, has been doing the graphic design work for the Vikings for the past several years.Rolf also pointed out that Eric’s early artistic talents were cultivated at Luverne High School by LHS’s current teacher of the year, Kim Schmidt.Eric’s grandmother, Esther Paulson, also resides in Luverne.According to Reebok, the manufacturer, the jerseys are made of a new twill material that makes them 30 percent lighter.Stripes appear around the shoulder, down the seams and down the leg.The players will wear black shoes for the first time since 1983 and purple pants for the first time since 1964.Horns will still be on the helmet but will now appear three-dimensional.The team logo will be moved front and center above the jersey number.First care packages to be sent by FRG groupAccording to a recent e-mail from Gina Newman, project coordinator for the Family Readiness Group (FRG), the group will be doing their first care packages at the FRG meeting at 10 a.m. Saturday, May 13, at the Luverne Armory.If you have any items you would like included in the packages, contact Gina Newman at ginanewman@myclearwave.net or at 507-926-5220.Items may also be dropped off at the armory.According to Newman, she would like to include notes in the packages to let the soldiers know where some of the items are coming from, so if you drop items off at the armory, include a note.Sump pumps have been working hardAs most of you have probably noticed, the sump pumps around town have been working overtime this spring.According to a recent city newsletter, the average flow into our wastewater treatment plant for the month of March was 850,000 gallons per day.When the April rains started, that number went up to an average of 1.8 million gallons per day, with a peak on April 7 of 2.8 million gallons per day.The major cause in the increase is that sump pumps around town are being discharged into our sanitary sewer system instead of our storm drains.Overloading the sanitary sewer system, according to the city, can cause backups of sewage into basements and can create property damage as well as health problems.Bayliner celebrates no lost-time incidentsBayliner announced this week that its Pipestone production facility recently achieved 1 million hours of work without a lost-time incident.The safety achievement comes with a $10,000 prize from Brunswick that U.S. Marine employees can donate to the charity of their choice.In addition, U.S. Marine contributed an additional $10,000 to four local Pipestone charities.Approximately 12 workers from Rock County work at the Pipestone facility, according to a Bayliner spokesperson.Publisher Roger Tollefson can be reached by e-mail at tolly@star-herald.com