As an LHS alum and basketball player, I want to congratulate the boys basketball team and coach Tom Rops on a great season. I also would affirm Terry Althoff’s letter in the March 17 issue, that the greatest success is getting better than they were. Additionally, hats off to all the fans that have continued to be supportive of the basketball teams during the lean years. I don’t know coach Tom Rops and have not been able to see him coach, so I can’t say if he’s too tough on the players. Here’s what I do know. One-time head coach and long-time assistant coach Harry Franz was on our backs much of the time (along with coach Laurin Carroll, too), and some of us grumbled. But Harry would often say, "Don’t worry when I yell at you. Worry when I stop yelling." Of course, that would have meant he had given up on us. One more detail, though, to let you know where Harry’s heart was. We invited more than 30 of our former teachers to our 20th class reunion. A couple sent notes of regret that they were unable to attend, but Harry was the one and only former teacher who made an appearance. So gruff doesn’t always mean uncaring. Congratulations again to the boys on their hard work and success this season. It’s Friday morning, March 18, and even if you don’t win in the semifinals or finals at state, hold your heads high knowing you did your best, and encourage others to do the same in the future. Then you will also live a successful life. Rich FitzerClass of ‘78

If unattached, older women hope to attract men, they must smell like teenage girls. That’s the finding of researchers at Harvard University, where hormonal scents, or pheromones, isolated from a young woman’s armpit sweat were dabbed on 22 post-menopausal women. Another group of women received placebo dabs. During the next six weeks, 68 percent of the pheromone users experienced substantial increases in what the researchers referred to as "four intimate, sociosexual behaviors." In other words, the pheromone users partied until the cows came home. The most interesting part of the study was the statement in New Scientist magazine that neither the researchers nor the women knew who was in each group until the study’s end. That seems highly unlikely. The post-menopausal women who splashed on pheromones every morning and were suddenly attracting men of all ages like magnets must have noticed a difference in their lives. They must have asked themselves plenty of questions. "Is it the new support stockings? Could it be the tooth whitener I’ve been using? Could it possibly be the stuff the researchers dabbed behind my ears that’s attracting men like so many flies?" So if you’re a post-menopausal woman from the Midwest and you take a vacation in the Boston area, and a researcher from Harvard offers to spritz you behind the ears with some unidentified scent, be forewarned. After your return home, be prepared for the following changes: When you’re leaving the local grocery store, the carryout boys from the high school tussle with each other in a frantic attempt to carry your groceries to the car, but they don’t know why they’re acting that way. When you offer the local car dealer considerably less than he’s asking for a new car, he smiles helplessly, flutters his eyelids and whispers, "OK." You’ve lost any semblance of personal space when people are around. Men, in particular, hover around so closely you would think they need extra body warmth to make it through the rest of the winter. But you know that can’t be the reason — it’s sunny, it’s 70 degrees outside and it’s July. Countless men of all ages appear out of the blue, grab your arm and help you across the street, even when you don’t want to go there. With all of the unnecessary street crossings, your shopping trips to town are at least twice as long as they should be. Even when they don’t have packages to deliver to your house, the UPS and FedEx guys have begun showing up at your door just to ask how you’re doing. The mailman now hand-delivers the mail to your door rather than leaving it in the mailbox at the end of the driveway. "It’s the least I can do, " he confides, with a tip of his hat and a wink of his eye. "What are YOU wearing?" finally demands one woman in your bridge group. "You smell like a sweaty gym locker room!" A new twist on an old expression comes to mind — instead of "one man’s trash is another man’s treasure," this time it’s "one woman’s sweat is another woman’s perfume." At this point you recall that you had to break three dates to play bridge in the first place, and you vaguely remember the Harvard researchers dabbing some stuff behind your ears. Ah, that must be it.

During our most recent blast of winter, the loving husband was stuck in Minneapolis for his job. When the time came to remove the massive snow deposit in the driveway, the job fell into my petite and frail hands. On Friday morning April had to pick me up for work because my truck was snowed in. I shoveled a path out to the road, but that was all I accomplished. That evening I tried to shovel, but the gale-force winds got the best me. I yelled at the wind and stomped into the house. I forgot to mention, the loving husband wouldn’t tell me how to start the snow blower for fear I would start the garage on fire. Supposedly it’s rather temperamental. Saturday morning I hefted my heavy-duty Columbia ice-fishing boots out of storage and put them on. I braced myself for the inevitable. As I stepped outside, I came face to face with a thigh-high snowdrift in front of the garage. I grasped the trusty shovel and began to scoop. Being the fragile petite flower that I am, it was a back-breaking task. Fortunately I’d been lifting weights for the last three months, so my arms were a little beefier than usual. Still the snow was very heavy. When I got to the end of the driveway, the real nightmare began. I had a waist-high barricade of "plow snow" to beat into submission. For those who are unaware, there are two kinds of snow, sky-snow and plow-snow. Sky snow comes from above and falls to the ground. Plow snow is clumpy, heavy, icy snow that comes in the driveway when the plow goes by. Frankly, I didn’t need to take the truck anywhere, but there’s always that desperate need to be free. I attacked the snow with vigor. I finally got a width cleared exactly the same width as the pickup. I measured it. So I fired up the truck, backed out of the driveway and went downtown to get a cup of coffee. Did I have coffee in the coffee maker sitting on the kitchen counter? Yes, I did. But there was a principle involved: freedom. Five minutes after I left, I was back home. I retrieved the shovel and stood by my snow mountain in despair. By then my back hurt, my knees hurt, and my beefy arms hurt. I was pooped. Suddenly, and with great relief, I remembered: I had to plant the tomato seeds in my mini-indoor greenhouse. I had to do it NOW. Tomorrow was too late. I tossed the old shovel in the corner of the garage, put on my warm fuzzy slippers and began to garden. Some time went by and I looked out the front window to see if the plow-snow had melted. It hadn’t. Instead there were two incredibly vigorous men engaging in battle with the barricade. Melvin leveled the snow wall with his massive tractor and blade. Roger fired up his powerful snow blower and reduced the plow-snow to a fine powder that blew off into the yard. I was happy. An hour later, Mr. Happy-Go-Lucky (the loving husband) drives up. Melvin, who is still doing the detail work on his driveway, yells out, "Well, you got home just in time!" I’m grateful to have such good neighbors. Thank you, Melvin and Roger, for rescuing a petite feminine flower in distress. The loving husband thanks you, too. Announcements: Don’t forget to visit the bus museum, "Behind Barbed Wire: Midwest POWs in Nazi Germany" from 3 to 7 p.m. Friday, March 25. The bus museum will be parked at the library. There is no charge to see this exhibit. Next Thursday, March 31, is the last day to turn in your reading log for the "Melt Away The Hours" adult reading program and pick up your prize.

Other headlines from the Rock County Herald on Dec. 26, 1884.The following appeared in the Rock County Herald on Dec. 26, 1884, in the local news: It appears that the relict of the late Herman Berkholtz, who scandalized the town by marrying her old lover three months after her husband’s sudden and mysterious death, has already tired of her new husband and has applied for a divorce. H.C. Spaulding brought home with him from his recent trip to Nebraska the head of a fine buck he had the good fortune to capture during his absence. The specimen was mounted by Charles Bartlett and is now on exhibition in Dr. Crawford’s drug store. (I doubt our laws now would allow this!)E.N. Darling sold his Devon bull a short time ago to H.B. Curtis and purchased of that gentleman the celebrated Galloway bull "Sir William." This animal is said to be one of the finest in the county. He cost Mr. Curtis $180 and is now held at a much higher price. It is stated that a sleeping car can be secured from Luverne to New Orleans for $600 and there is talk of getting up a company of twenty in this place to charter a car. This plan would reduce the expense to $30 a piece and secure the added advantage of going through without a change. Wm. Fay, a brakeman on the Burlington road, had his right hand badly mangled Christmas morning while coupling cars. It appears that in taking hold of the coupling his mitten froze to the iron and before he could release his hand the member was caught between the bumpers. The unfortunate man was taken to Dr. Spaulding’s office where the amputation of his first and second fingers was performed. J.S. Joles met with a painful mishap Tuesday evening which interfered somewhat with his Christmas enjoyment but fortunately occasioned no serious injury. In driving the ‘bus’ into the barn just after dark he neglected to "dodge" quite quick enough and got a bad squeeze between the seat of the ‘bus’ and the timbers over the doorway. His right arm and shoulder were badly bruised and other injuries were sustained, but it is hoped that he will be "all solid" again in a few days. Judging from present indications the Masque carnival at the rink next Friday night will be a grand affair. The projectors of the enterprise are laboring industriously to make it so and will spare no expense in providing as enjoyable entertainment for the dancers. Those who desire to rent costumes may be accommodated by calling on Mrs. Ed. McKenzie at her millinery store on Main street. Messrs. Lambert & Brown, the champion amateur double team roller skaters of the west, have made an engagement with T.H. Upton to give an exhibition of fancy and scientific roller skating at the Luverne roller rink Jan. 6. The skaters are said to be all they claim for themselves and their performance will doubtless furnish a pleasant entertainment. The public rhetorical exercises at the M.E. church last Friday evening were very interesting and alike creditable to the scholars and to the management of the schools. Luverne’s educational advantages are a just source of pride to every citizen and the success which has attended the progress of schoolwork under the direction of Mr. Merritt is especially gratifying. Donations to the Rock County Historical Endowment Fund can be sent to the Rock County Historical Society, P.O. Box 741, Luverne, MN 56156.Mann welcomes correspondence sent to mannmade@iw.net.

Get your old photosFor a variety of reasons, people bring photos into the Star Herald office.Most of them are graduation pictures because a graduating senior made the news. Engagement photos, wedding photos and anniversary photos are also very common.For the most part, they are very nice photos, and I’m sure they have sentimental value to somebody, so stop down and pick them up.We even have a composite photo from the class of 1966. Anyone want it?To make our workspace more efficient we need to clean things up a little every now and then, and that time is now.If you have left a photo in recent years, or maybe not so recently, stop down and see if you’re in the file.Maybe you just want to check to see if any family or friends are in the mix.We would love to get them back to their owners or family.Good Sam receives Intergenerational grantThe Good Samaritan Communities of Luverne recently received a grant for $8,000 to fund a program that builds relationships between the elderly and the community through interactions and intentional intergenerational programming.The grant was one of 19 grants recently announced from the Southwest Minnesota Foundation.In total, $164,135 was granted over the months of November and December and recently announced.In addition, grants totaling $65,777 were awarded during the same period by community and component funds administered by SWMF.Community and component funds are organized and managed by local ?Unemployment benefits added to online servicesA new online, self-service option for Unemployment Insurance (UI) is available, according to the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development.Applicants can apply for UI benefits, or if they already have an account, they may reactivate, request payment or view and maintain their account using a personal identification number.Other new features include:
Benefits estimator to estimate the potential benefit amount.
Account maintenance capability that allows claimants to change their address, view payment status, request and manage direct deposit information or change tax withholding.
Reactivate an account, request payment, and answer employment separation questions.According to Matt Kramer, DEED commissioner, they plan to launch a new Unemployment Insurance Employer Account System this summer. The system will give employers the ability to manage their own accounts and to communicate electronically with the UI program.Thinking about planting new trees?The National Arbor Day Foundation is giving away 10 free white pine trees to each person who joins the Foundation during the month of March.The tree giveaway is part of the Foundation’s Trees for America Campaign.According to John Rosenow, Foundation president, the white pines are "a fast-growing landscape tree with soft needles and graceful branching. You can use them as specimen trees or as a privacy screen or windbreak. They even make a beautiful sheered hedge."Members also receive a subscription to Arbor Day, the Foundation’s bimonthly publication, and The Tree Book with information about tree planting and care.For more information, go to their web site at www.arborday.org.Publisher Roger Tollefson can be reached by e-mail at tolly@star-herald.com

Last week and weekend was a special one for a pair of Rock County grandparents.With grandsons participating at state tournaments in the Twin Cities and Sioux Falls, some creative schedule-juggling had to be made by rural Luverne’s Junior and Mavis Berkhof.The Berkhofs happen to be the grandparents of Luverne’s Brandon Deragisch, a starting guard on the Luverne High School squad.They also happen to be the grandparents of Sioux Falls’ Jesse Clark, a starting guard for Sioux Falls O’Gorman’s basketball squad.With Luverne playing in the Minnesota tournament and Clark competing at the South Dakota State Class AA Tournament in Sioux Falls on the same days, loyalties were divided in the Berkhof household for three straight days."Thursday was a mess for them," said Dave Deragisch, father of the Luverne guard."Brandon’s game started at 6:30, and Jesse’s game started at 7. They stayed home and had two radios going at the same time."Dave’s wife, Lori (Berkhof), is the sister of Susan (Berkhof) Clark, who married LHS graduate Jim Clark, son of Luverne’s Bernard and Tillie Clark.With Jesse Clark playing in Sioux Falls, Bernard and Tillie Clark’s decision was easy. They took in the games in Sioux Falls.Things were a bit more complicated for Junior and Mavis Berkhof, who made a wise decision by staying home and listening on the radio to all of the games played by their grandsons.In the end, everything worked out well for all involved.Brandon Deragisch and the Cardinals placed third at the Minnesota event, and Jesse Clark and the Knights placed second in South Dakota.Way to go,LHS fansSupporters of the Luverne High School boys basketball season should be recognized for their contributions to an outstanding post-season.Taking advantage of a great opportunity, LHS fans filled their side of the gym for both home games to start the South Section 3AA Tournament.Their involvement didn’t dissipate during the South Section and Section 3AA championship games in Marshall, and fan representation for the team at the state tournament last weekend was incredible.The thing that will stick with me most was the way Luverne’s faithful stayed behind the team during Saturday’s third-place game at Concordia University in St. Paul.After watching the Cards fall to Crookston during a 9 p.m. tilt Friday night, I didn’t get back to my hotel room until 12:30 a.m. Saturday. And, I’m sure it was a short night for every LHS backer in the Twin Cities.With the Cardinals scheduled to play at noon on Saturday, I expected to walk into an emotionless, less-than-full venue.I was wrong on both counts.The LHS fans attended the game in numbers, and they were as excited as they were at any other state tournament game.During Saturday’s Welcome Home gathering for the team, assistant coach Kim Schmidt thanked the faithful for making basketball fun again.I’d like to tip my hat to the Cardinal fans as well. Your support of the team was sensational, and I’ll always remember it being one of the best parts of an extraordinary, three-week run that started in late February and ended last weekend.

Get the drift?Four-wheel driveisn’t always a ticket outMy mom blames me for the foot of snow we got last week.I came home from Connell Car Care a couple of weeks ago with a new (10-year-old) vehicle. It's a Chevy Blazer, and I mentioned that I couldn't wait to try out my four-wheel drive."Are you happy now?" were Mom's words through the phone line after the Friday blizzard.I suppose she fancied me in a make-believe truck commercial, wheeling around with all four tires kicking up dramatic snow sprays."No, mom," I replied. "I'm not happy."Not only had I not had the chance to try out my four-wheel drive option, I hadn’t even been out of the garage.The Thursday-Friday blizzard and its northeast winds strategically crafted a drift on my yard so long and so deep, I actually took a snow day from work. That's something that's happened only one other time in my 12 years at the Star Herald.At first I was excited about the snow.I watched Thursday night as a delicate finger drift stretched across the cement by the garage doors.We haven't had much snow this year, so I actually appreciated its beauty and got caught up in the adrenaline of hyper TV meteorologists.Through the night Thursday and into Friday morning, the finger drift evolved and became something that could be described as anything but "delicate."Every time I checked, it looked less "delicate" and more "foreboding." Certainly it was something not to be traveled through, even with a four-wheel drive vehicle. Bummer.As the howling winds sent horizontal snow swirling around the northeast corner of the garage, the finger drift soon resembled a giant Nike swoosh, and the end result Friday morning was a four-foot-high, six-foot-wide, 20-foot-long wall of cement-like snow.And it was still blowing and snowing.Even if I had accepted offers for help digging me out, I still had to get back in at the end of the day, and the wind clearly intended to blow shut any openings we could make in "the wall."So, all four wheels stayed safely parked in the garage Friday and I resigned myself to working at home.The only thing worse than being snowed in, I reasoned, was being snowed out.

By Lori EhdeWith gas prices over the $2 mark, ethanol supporters remind consumers E-85 fuel is 52 cents cheaper in Luverne than regular gasoline."It’s always a good idea to use E-85, because 85 percent of the money stays in America, and 85 percent of the fuel is made in America," said Stan Gyberg, one of the farmer investors in local ethanol projects."But when the price spread is 52 cents, E-85 makes a lot of sense," he said.On a 15-gallon tank, that comes to roughly $8 per fill at the pumps, and that savings will only increase if gas prices continue to rise as predicted. On a 35-gallon pickup tank, the savings is upwards of $18 per fill.Gyberg is a member of CornerStone Co-op, the farmer board that operates the Agri-Energy Ethanol Plant in Luverne, and he's also invested in the Pump 'N Pack on South Highway 75 in Luverne."Maybe Åmerica’s gotta wake up and ask, ‘Why are we spending money on foreign oil when we can circulate that money here in the United States?’" Gyberg said.The convenience store was started five years ago by investors in CornerStone Co-op, in addition to those in Southwest Minnesota Farmers Co-op Elevator and New Vision, which owns elevators in Hills, Beaver Creek and surrounding counties.The station offers standard 10-percent ethanol blend fuel in addition to diesel fuel (soy diesel?) and E-85, which is a gasoline blend of 85-percent ethanol.E-85 is intended for use in vehicles specifically designed for 85-percent ethanol, but Gyberg said he's been using E-85 fuel in his pickup."I haven't noticed a difference," Gyberg said about the way his engine reacts. "When I'm at the pump, I put in mostly gasoline and then a little E-85. It's probably about a 35-percent blend."He said he wouldn't go on the record advising people to do this with their vehicles, but he does say the E-85 is worth looking into, now that gas prices are so high."People are driving E-85 vehicles and don't even know it," Gyberg said. "The car manufacturers don't do a very good job marketing that option."New car owners can check their owner’s manuals to see if their vehicles are designed for E-85 fuel.According to Pat Connell at Papik Motors, Luverne, several manufacturers are making vehicles with flex fuel engines, which means they can use standard gasoline or 85-percent ethanol blends.He said Chevy Suburbans and Chevy Tahoes have come standard with flex-fuel engines for the past couple years.Dodge Caravans and Chrysler Town and Country vans have available flex-fuel engines, but that option generally costs $200 to $250 more.Until now, it's an option that hasn't been a big seller, Connell said."We do say a flex-fuel engine is available, and we say here's the charge for it," Connell said. "And when they hear what it costs, most people say, 'No, thanks.' But today, they might look at the pump and wish they took the flex fuel engine."Leroy Fick paid for the option on a 2005 Chevy half-ton pickup he bought this year at Papik Motors."With gas prices the way they are now, he'll have that paid for in no time," Connell said.Fick, a local corn producer and ethanol plant investor, said he opted for the flex-fuel engine for a number of reasons."E-85 is a cheaper fuel, and it's our own, home-grown fuel," Fick said Monday.He said more people should consider the flex-fuel option. "Right now is when people should pay attention to it because of the price spread (between E-85 and gasoline)."

By Lori EhdeMost Luverne boys basketball fans left town Wednesday night and Thursday morning just in time to miss the storm, and they returned home to piles of snow on streets and driveways.More than a foot of snow fell in southwest Minnesota communities for the biggest weather event of winter — only two days before the first official day of spring.Sheriff Mike Winkels said his office didn’t respond to serious accident reports, and that’s due in part to the interstate being closed."Trucks from the interstate pulled into Luverne, but there’s not a lot of places they can park," Winkels said. "They pulled into the Pump ‘N Pack and Sharkee’s, I know."I-90 closed between Luverne and Albert Lea from the hours of 3 p.m. Friday to 8 a.m. Saturday.That meant increased business for Luverne hotels and other businesses.Frank Dowie of the Sunrise Motel, for example, said all 11 of his rooms were full, and he ended up turning others away."I had a room I was working on, and I finished up painting and they took it," he said. "They said they were going to sleep in their truck if they couldn’t have it."He said his Friday night customers were truckers and travelers alike.Restaurants like Country Kitchen and McDonald's say a closed interstate isn't necessarily good news for them. Manager Mary Lou Gonnerman said Country Kitchen closed at 7 p.m. because crowds were sparse. "If they’d been out driving and went to the motel, they’re not going to head out again for supper," Gonnerman said. McDonald’s closed early, too."We closed the store at 9 p.m. instead of midnight," said assistant manager Diana Reisdorfer. "We were really slow for the whole day because of the weather."According to reports by some travelers, eastbound motorists were notified as early as Sioux Falls exits that I-90 was closed in Luverne, so not all travelers got off in Luverne."When they close the interstate, we close our business, because a lot of our business comes from the interstate," Reisdorfer said.Because so many Luverne residents were out of town for the state basketball tournament, a snow emergency for plowing streets was delayed somewhat.Sheriff Winkels worked with the Luverne Public Works Department to discuss the issue."With the state tournament going on, a lot of vehicles were left on the street," Winkels said."A lot of people were calling friends and family members to get cars off the street."Snow removal started early Friday, but on Saturday morning a snow emergency was declared, and most of Luverne’s streets were finished that day.By the end of the day Saturday, all major streets and side streets were cleared.Luverne schools were already closed Friday because of the state basketball tournament, but many businesses and some government offices closed early that day.