By Sara QuamCommunity access channels through Luverne’s cable companies might soon have more to offer the community.Mediacom, PrairieWave, the city of Luverne and Luverne schools are looking into a new television studio that would serve as headquarters for the public access channels.City Administrator John Call said it would be especially useful to students, who will be able to broadcast plays or band performances that currently aren’t being shared with people who don’t attend the events in person."I think this could be an excellent opportunity for the school district and the city to partner on this project," Call said.Last week the Luverne Cable Board voted to form a committee to study the access channel studio."It would be great for students to be able to have their own news show, for example," Call said.The city collects a total of $25,000 annually in franchise fees from the two cable companies. Some of that could end up funding the studio.Although it would involve large, up-front costs to get started, actually running the local access hub wouldn’t have huge costs.The local access channels currently broadcast Luverne City Council meetings, church services and run a listing of events or meeting notices. Other than those things, the stations aren’t used.The new committee will bring information on costs and other details to the Luverne Cable Board.

By Sara QuamAs of Tuesday afternoon, Rock County Relay for Life totals came in at $87,000 — more than double the goal of $40,000.Chairman Glenda Schomacker said the results were outstanding, even though she expected to break the goal.People who planned and worked for Relay for Life will never forget this year’s event.Scheduled for Friday, it was put off until Saturday because of rain and high winds. So, as the storm approached, people gathered in shelters and loaded up luminaries and silent auction items in a hurry.Relay for Life usually goes on, rain or shine, but Rock County Emergency Management Director Kyle Oldre and Sheriff Mike Winkels said the park had to be cleared of people because of lightning and wind dangers.Vivian Holst handles the registration and financials for Relay for Life. "If the weather would have held out I think it might have been even better," Holst said about funds. "But all in all, it was magnificent."Co-chair Paul Pietz, who is also the chairman of corporate sponsorship, said, "The Rock County American Cancer Society Relay for Life Committee would like to thank the businesses and citizens of Rock County for making 2006 Relay for Life our most successful event ever."A standout fund-raiser was Tom Comsudes. He is from Georgia but has business ties to Rock County through Main Street Financial. He started walking Wednesday and put in 100 miles, raising a total of $17,470, including business and private sponsorships of his walking. Schomacker is a cancer survivor. "The weather Friday and the rain is sort of like what it’s like to have cancer and go through treatment," she said. "The day starts OK and then it gets rocky then dark and stormy, but it settles down and is OK for a while and so it goes."After the stress and hassles of postponing the Relay, Schomacker said she was surprised at how well the event went.Because some teams or individuals had other plans for Saturday, the turnout was slightly lower than it would have been Friday.But, Schomacker said, "I was more relaxed Saturday than I’ve ever been. We had to wing a few things, but it was good. … Our community does some awesome things."There were a few new teams Schomacker was particularly happy to see there.Jerry Klosterbuer is going through cancer treatment now, and his family quickly formed a team and raised money in a short amount of time for Relay for Life.Also, Schomacker said the teachers’ team was a new addition to the effort."There was a group of high schoolers who really made my heart feel good that they made a team," Schomacker said.

By Lori EhdeIt’s not a question of "if." It’s a question of "when." That’s what public health officials are saying about the next pandemic flu.The most likely virus to affect humans worldwide is the Avian flu, or bird flu, which has a 50-percent death rate in infected humans.Simultaneous drills in Rock and Nobles counties Thursday were designed to prepare the communities for a public health emergency like the bird flu, should one ever occur.In Luverne, a vaccine clinic was set up at the Armory to practice mass immunizing large numbers of people."Overall, we’re pleased with how it went," said Nobles-Rock Community Health Registered Nurse Diane Boyenga. "It helps us to know where our weak points are and where are strong points are."She said about 150 people in Luverne received "pretend" vaccine during the drill between 1:30 and 3:30 p.m. Thursday."We were hoping to do 100 volunteers, so we were pleased with the turnout," Boyenga said.The drill was funded by a Minnesota Public Health Preparedness Grant and a Homeland Security and Emergency Management Grant.Details of the drill were kept somewhat secret until the day before the drill.A last-minute twist that state health officials threw into the drill was the addition of people with contraindications to the vaccine.These individuals needed secondary oral antibiotics, and that made the process take longer."We had some bottle-necking and a backup of the lines," Boyenga said, "but it was nice to see it all play out."For the sake of the drill, health officials were pretending the flu had not yet reached the state, but there had been orders from state officials to set up a clinic to vaccinate.No real needles were used in the drill and no real pills were given out.Nobles-Rock Community Health and local agencies have been meeting for months to plan the drill, and they got together for a "table-top drill" in February."It’s a lot different setting when you’re talking about it than actually implementing it," Boyenga said.She said the entire staff of Nobles-Rock Community Health in the two counties was involved in the drill, along with law enforcement and emergency management and the hospital and clinic."We’ve been working together on this; no one entity has been at the forefront," Boyenga said. "We’re all valuable players in our own areas of expertise. It’s been nice getting to know everyone better."To simulate vaccinating the masses, volunteers from the city and county, in addition to private businesses, were asked to pose as people seeking vaccinations."Coming up with enough volunteers was the hardest part," said Rock County Emergency Management Director Kyle Oldre."We should have asked more business offices to participate."Boys from Southwestern Youth Services helped set up and take down tables and chairs in the Armory, but they also took their places in line several times over to receive "pretend" vaccine.About the bird fluBoyenga said in general pandemic flu viruses follow a 30-year cycle, so "we’re now overdue," she said.Given the existence of the Avian flu in the world today, it may likely present itself as the next pandemic flu. However, the drill was intended to be training for any pandemic disease.Right now, the only strain of Avian flu is spread from animal to animal and from animal to human. It has not yet mutated to spread from human to human, although health officials say that may likely happen.If that happens, no human will have natural immunity to the highly contagious disease, and it takes roughly five months to develop a vaccine for new strains of viruses.The Avian flu virus, like most flu viruses, affects the nose, throat and lungs and produces symptoms of fever, headache, runny nose and muscle aches.But unlike other viral respiratory infections, it causes severe illness and life-threatening complications in many people.If the virus mutates and becomes able to spread from human to human, it would be as contagious as regular influenza.

By John RittenhouseFour members of the Adrian High School baseball squad graced the roster of the 2006 All-Red Rock Conference Team.AHS juniors Cody Kontz, Will Lutmer and Brandon Diekmann and sophomore Glen Kruger were selected to the 20-player all-league team.Conference champion Southwest United placed five athletes on the team. Keith Rogers, Evan Place, James Anderson, Lon Eichenberger and Trevor Leopold are the Wildcats on the roster.Red Rock Central-Westbrook-Walnut Grove matched Adrian with four all-league selections. Jake Wahl, Jake Severson, Jake Sell and Tim Furth are the Falcons on the team.Murray County Central’s Tim Haberman, Paul Counter and Tom Spartz grace the roster.Edgerton’s Max Zwart and Reed Van Hulzen, and Mountain Lake-Butterfield-Odin’s Derek Radtke and Cody Fast round out the squad.Drawing honorable mention from the RRC coaches are SWU’s Alex Leopold and Bill Blumberg, RRC-W-WG’s Alex Scarsey, Colby Prins and Dylan Baker, MCC’s Brady Johansen and Derek Johnson, Edgerton’s Todd Landhuis, ML-B-O’s Lee Fast and Comfrey-Cedar Mountain’s Aaron Ludewig.

By John RittenhouseThe Luverne American Legion team couldn’t record its first win of the 2006 campaign when it entertained Adrian Tuesday.Luverne rallied from a 4-0 deficit to tie the game in the fifth inning, but Adrian outscored the Cardinals 2-1 in the final two innings to prevail 6-5 at game’s end.The loss was Luverne’s third straight to open the season.The Cardinals host Slayton for a single game Friday, they compete at the Jackson Tournament Saturday and Sunday, then host Okabena for a twin bill Tuesday.Luverne appeared to be in position to pick up a win after they rallied from an early deficit, but the Cards couldn’t complete the comeback.Adrian gained a 4-0 cushion by scoring three runs in the second inning and one in the third before Luverne answered with two-run rallies in the bottom of the third and fifth innings to knot the score at four.Seth Goembel singled, stole second and scored Luverne’s first run in the third on a wild pitch.Jake Clark, who moved Goembel to third with a single, scored the second run of the frame when Marc Boelman singled.Luverne loaded the bases with Clark and Chris Fitzer slapping singles and Micah Boomgaarden getting hit by a pitch in the fifth.Tyler Reisch delivered a two-run single to tie the game at four, but the rally stalled when Adrian recorded consecutive outs with runners standing on first and third base.The Dragons moved in front 6-4 by scoring two runs in the top of the sixth before Luverne plated the final run of the game in the seventh inning.A double by Boelman, a single by Fitzer and Reisch getting plunked by a pitch gave the Cards a bases-loaded situation with one out in the seventh.Ben Nath chased home Boelman with a sacrifice fly to right field to make it a 6-5 game, but the next batter grounded out to end the game.Boelman pitched the first 5 1/3 innings and took the loss for Luverne. He surrendered six earned runs before being replaced by Boomgaarden, who tossed the final inning and two-thirds."It was my fault we lost this game," said Isaac Schmidt, who took over the coaching duties for regular Luverne mentor Wade Hiller on Tuesday."I left Marc out there too long."Box score AB R H BIClark 4 2 2 0Boomgaarden 3 1 0 0Boelman 4 1 3 1Fitzer 4 0 3 0Reisch 3 0 1 2Nath 3 0 1 1Bruynes 4 0 0 0Richters 2 -0 0 0Goembel 3 1 1 0

By John RittenhouseThe Luverne VFW baseball team remained three games above the .500 mark for the season after splitting a home double-header with Worthington Thursday.Worthington topped the Cardinals by two runs in the opener. Luverne gained revenge by nipping the Trojans by one run in the finale.Luverne, 9-6 overall, plays one game in Marshall before traveling to Edgerton for a double-header Monday.Worthington 6, Luverne 4A two-run fifth inning for Worthington proved to be the difference during Thursday’s opener in Luverne.The Cardinals rallied from a 4-0 deficit to knot the score at four in the bottom of the third inning, but Worthington’s two-run fifth inning settled the issue.Worthington gained an early lead by scoring two runs in both the first and third innings before the Cards tied the game with a four-run rallyi n the bottom of the third.Chris Den Hoed drew a walk and Phil Paquette singled for Luverne before Brent Dinger cut Worthington’s lead in half (4-2) with a two-run double.Zach Olson doubled home Dinger before scoring the tying run when Zach Clark singled.Paquette pitched the first five innings and took the loss. Five of the six runs he was charged with were unearned.Olson tossed two innings of scoreless relief.Box score AB R H BIHoff 4 0 3 0Den Hoed 3 1 1 0Paquette 4 1 1 0Dinger 4 1 2 2Olson 4 1 1 1Ossefoort 3 0 1 0Christensen 1 0 0 0Connell 1 0 0 0Clark 2 0 1 1Skattum 1 0 0 0Graphenteen 2 0 1 0Luverne 2, Worthington 1Luverne scored two late runs to gain a split with the Trojans during the finale.After the teams played to a scoreless draw through five innings, Luverne plated single runs in the fifth and sixth innings to nip Worthington by one.Luverne broke through the game’s first run when Olson doubled and scored on a single by Paquette in the top of the sixth.Worthington countered with a run in the bottom of the sixth to tie the game, but the Cards scored again in the seventh and blanked the Trojans in the bottom of the frame to pull out the victory.Clark singled, stole second base and scored the eventual winning run when Jeremy Hoff delivered an RBI single.Dinger hurled a complete game to lead the Cardinals to victory.The Luverne pitcher fanned nine batters, walked two and yielded two hits.Box score AB R H BIHoff 4 0 2 1Den Hoed 3 0 0 0Olson 2 1 0 0Dinger 3 0 1 0Paquette 4 0 2 1Skattum 2 0 0 0Ossefoort 1 0 0 0Connell 2 0 0 0Altman 1 0 1 0Graphenteen 3 0 0 0Clark 3 1 1 0

By John RittenhouseHe’s only 12-years old, but Luverne’s Ryder Reed is in the process of making a comeback.Four years ago, he was involved in an on-track accident on his off-road dirt bike. Now he’s decided the time has come to resume his motocross racing career that was a big part of his life years earlier.If the results of the first two races during his comeback serve as any indication, it appears Ryder made the right decision.During his first two races in 88cc Mini Class competition of the season at Saddleback Race Park (SRP) near Renner, S.D., he had recorded fifth- and second-place finishes respectively.Ryder is the son of Rick and Lori Reed, owners of Luverne Kawasaki."He’s doing excellent," said Rick Reed."There was some apprehension on our part when Ryder said he would like to try it again, but he really has been doing well."The Reeds had reason to be apprehensive when their only child decided it was time to re-enter the world of motocross racing.Physically and mentally challenging, the sport is not attractive to everyone.Motocross racing involves cyclists competing in a timed race on a closed dirt course consisting of difficult jumps and hairpin turns.So, when Ryder said he wanted to race again, it was decision time for his parents.They knew their boy had been riding motorcycles since he was 3, the same year he took the training wheels off his bicycle.Still, the reoccurring vision of Ryder’s on-track accident four years ago at SRP still runs through the minds of his parents, and the decision to let him race again wasn’t an easy one."It was partly my fault," said Rick Reed, recalling Ryder’s accident in 2002."He had been racing 50cc bikes in the Pee Wee Class all year, and we entered him in the 65cc class for this race. Anyway, a kid who fell earlier in the race was coming up from behind Ryder later in the race. As they were heading into a turn, Ryder made the turn and the other kid didn’t, and there was a collision."With the exception of bumps and scratches, the young Reed wasn’t seriously injured physically. The accident, however, changed Ryder’s mental approach to the sport."It scared him," his father said."He started looking at what was going on behind him instead of concentrating on what was going on in front of him. You really can’t race that way, and since we were busy enough trying to get our new business at that time, we thought it would be best to get out of racing at that time."The decision to race again was Ryder’s choice, and it was one his father now embraces.Rick Reed is a retired motocross racer with 26 years of competitive experience.He can draw from his experience to give his son racing advice. Even more importantly, the sport gives the father and son a common interest to share."It’s such a good family sport for us," Rick Reed offered."It gives us some father and son binding time. We work on the bikes together, and we go out and practice one to two nights a week together. We’ve really been working on his focus and concentration on the track, which he really seems to be doing a good job of."If Rick Reed sounds like a proud father, it’s because he is.His son overcame the adversity of being involved in a motorcycle accident, but it has not curbed his will to get back on the bike."What he’s doing does take a certain amount of courage," Rick said.

By John RittenhouseThe Luverne Redbirds played their first home game in nearly four weeks when they entertained Fox Lake on Sunday.The Father’s Day game proved to be a fruitless outing for the Redbirds, who dropped their second straight decision after coming up on the short end of a 7-2 decision.Luverne’s inability to generate much offense proved to be costly in the game.Fox Lake limited the hosts to two singles in the contest, during which the Redbirds plated single runs in the fifth and sixth innings.The teams played to a scoreless draw through two innings before Fox Lake gained the upper hand by plating four runs in the top half of the third inning.The score remained the same until the bottom of the fifth, when Luverne produced its first run.Tony Sandbulte drew a walk and moved into scoring position before shortstop Zach Wysong slapped a run-scoring single to make it a 4-1 game.Fox Lake curbed Luverne’s momentum in the top of the sixth when it plated two more runs to gain a 6-1 advantage.Luverne plated its final run in the seventh inning to make it a 6-2 game before Fox Lake capped the scoring in the top of the eighth.Jared Pick, who was saddled with the pitching loss, reached base on an error in the seventh.Pick advanced to second when Rob Fodness walked and moved to third on a fielder’s choice before scoring on a wild pitch.Pick fanned nine batters during a seven-inning stint on the hill. He surrendered nine hits, five walks and six runs (five were earned).Jesse Kuhlman tossed two innings of one-run relief. He recorded two strikeouts and yielded two hits.The 7-6 Redbirds will host a tournament this weekend.Luverne plays Renner at 6:30 p.m. Friday to open the event. Depending upon the outcome of the opener, the Redbirds will play at 2:30 p.m. or 7 p.m. on Saturday.Box score AB R H BISandbulte 2 1 0 0Fodness 4 0 0 0Wysong 2 0 1 1Fisher 5 0 0 0Kurtz 4 0 1 0Studer 0 0 0 0Boen 3 0 0 0Kuhlman 1 0 0 0Nath 3 0 0 0Shelton 1 0 0 0Pick 4 1 0 0

By Lexi MooreTen years ago Monica Bork left for a week of participation in democracy as the Hills American Legion Auxiliary delegate to Girls State.Since 1996, the 45-year tradition faltered. Changes in Auxiliary membership, coupled with a lack of interest from the student body, brought the long list of participants to a halt.This year the Hills American Legion member and Boys/Girls State Chairman Wendell Erickson decided to bring the tradition back to life. He pushed hard to get a local student involved and found interest in Hills-Beaver Creek junior Ashley Hoyme.Hoyme is the daughter of Eric and Wanda Hoyme of Hills. Last week she attended the 60th annual session with 400 other young women at Bethel University in Arden Hills.Nelson, who helped choose many of the delegates throughout the years, describes the experience as "a week of citizenship training for girls who are high school juniors. They ‘live’ in mythical cities and counties."She continues, "They establish laws, hold offices, write and debate legislative bills and learn the privileges and duties of citizenship."Hoyme admits that she was scared when she first arrived, but quickly found comfort in the group that became her mythical city."Everyone agreed that our city was the best – we didn’t fight or have any problems during the week."At the start of the week Hoyme was appointed to be a federal election judge. Holding this office meant she played a role in every election held throughout the week.Hoyme encourages her younger classmates to participate next year."The experience motivates you to go after your dreams. The people you meet all support and believe in you, but when you get home you don’t have that same support," she said. "But your will to succeed is still there. The week teaches you that you can go after your dreams and do whatever you want to do."