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10 years ago (2008)
•The recent robbery at the Minnwest Bank in Luverne called attention to the need to improve emergency call and notification lists, according to Rock County Sheriff Evan Verbrugge.
In the instance of the April robbery, the Luverne Area Chamber of Commerce notified some Chamber members on a call list and some memberships by e-mail, Verbrugge said.
“Due to many factors, everyone did not receive the information,” he said.
He said the Sheriff’s Office was notified of a concern about the notification system, and a meeting was organized to discuss the issue and look for solutions. 
 
25 years ago (1993)
•One way to avoid getting caught at a crime is to display fraudulent license plates on the get-away vehicle.
Rock County Sheriff Ron McClure said this may be one explanation for the rash of stolen license plates reported this weekend.
Seven license plates were reported stolen Saturday from Blue Mound Towers and the Viking Inn parking lots.
“It’s unusual,” McClure said. “We’ve never had anything like this happen here before.”
While the plates are valued at only $6, there are likely reasons other than money for stealing them,” McClure said.
“People will drive around town and do vandalism and whatever,” McClure said, and other than finding out that the plates are stolen, they’ll have no way to connect them to the crime.
 
50 years ago (1968)
•Sometime between the hours of 2:00 and 11:00 a.m. Sunday morning burglars entered the Luverne V.F.W. club but found the life of a burglar isn’t all gravy, as they were only able to pocket between $3 and $5 from a juke box, as far as could be determined up to yesterday.
Jim Bagbey closed the V.F.W. club at 2:00 a.m. Sunday morning and Mr. and Mrs. Boyd Iveland came at 11:00 a.m. to clean. They happened to look in a closet, located next to the men’s wash room, and noticed a 12 inch square hole in the roof. The roof serves as the ceiling in this closet because of several pipes that run above it. In checking at the club, the only thing found missing was the change from one of the juke boxes.
Sherriff Dean DeBooy who investigated the burglary stated that the burglars must have left the club the same way they came in because the only way the club can be locked is from the outside, and all doors were locked when the Iverlands arrived. He also stated that it would take a small man to get through the hole.
This was the same method used to enter Les’ Foodland May 2, when burglars obtained only $65.
 
75 years ago (1943)
•Two Hubbard, Neb. Boys, Henry and Wallace Lumsden, about 12 and 14 years of age, started pedaling their bicycles toward home at 7 a.m. Monday, after spending one of the most dismal days of their lives in Rock county.
Lady Luck frowned grimly on the youngsters, who were returning to their homes, after they had helped their uncle at Duluth plant his truck garden. It was late Saturday afternoon when they were caught in the rain near the Carstens turkey farm north of Luverne, so they stopped there to wait until the shower had passed. They asked Mr. Carstens to take them into town in his truck, and offered to pay for it, but when the boy who had the money reached into his pocket for his purse, it was gone. …
Mr. Carstens, however, brought them to Luverne, where Sheriff Roberts learned about their plight, and offered to let them sleep at his home that night. He bought them a ticket to the evening movie, gave them breakfast the following morning. Although somewhat downhearted, they took the misfortune as one of life’s inevitable hard knocks.
 
100 years ago (1918)
•A deal which had been underway for several weeks was completed last week, whereby the Journal, which had been published by W.W. Latta for the past few years, underwent a change of ownership and in connection therewith the name of the publication was changed to the Rock County Leader.
The names of the new owners have not been announced, but it is understood that the purchasers are individual members of the Nonpartisan League, who expect to further the interest of that organization in this county through acquiring the paper.
For several weeks a few persons who are strong advocates of the league’s principles had been making a canvass among those who were said to be “all right” for the sale of stock in the paper, and the deal was closed last week.

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