10 years ago (2009)
•A report of early morning deer shining and shooting from the road resulted in a citation Sunday, Nov. 29.
According to the Rock County Sheriff’s Department, an individual had called to report someone shining deer and shooting along a roadside in the area northeast of the Blue Mounds State Park lower dam.
The incident was reported just after 6:30 a.m. Statute prohibits shooting until 7:10 a.m. — one half hour before sunrise at 7:40 a.m.
A deputy met the complainants near the Blue Mound Lutheran Church and was directed about a mile to the northeast where the suspects had driven.
Witnesses said they saw the vehicle shining headlights at deer and they heard shots fired from the roadway. No deer were taken, but they watched the vehicle proceed north on 150th Avenue and turn east at the first intersection.
The deputy reportedly caught up with the suspect and questioned them about their activity.
He seized the firearms and turned the information over to DNR Conservation Officer Gary Nordseth, Round Lake.
25 years ago (1994)
•A fire gutted the home of Vance and Becky Walgrave Saturday afternoon, sending them and their family to temporary housing for the holidays.
The Luverne Fire Department was called to the Walgrave home east of Luverne at about 12:30 p.m. A neighbor called 911 when he heard glass breaking and noticed flames coming from the north windows.
No one was home at the time the fire broke out, but Becky said she and Katie and Suzie were just returning home after picking out a Christmas tree. “We stopped to water the neighbor’s tree and saw the fire trucks,” Becky said. “We looked out and saw it was our house.”
Firefighters managed to salvage some of the sooty living room furnishings, but the rest of the interior and belongings were ruined. “The firemen were great,” Becky said. “They took my stuff out so carefully.”
Vance agreed, “Those guys were impressive,” he said. “They came in and knocked that fire down with probably only 20 gallons of water.”
Fire fighters said the blaze, which started in Katie’s bedroom, was likely caused by candle, but a waterbed heater or an aquarium heater are other possible culprits.
50 years ago (1969)
•An estimated 10,000 gallons of water was needed at midnight Friday to cool two propane tanks at the Hamann Brothers farm, located nine miles west and one and a half miles north of Luverne.
A heater was being used to keep the tanks warm for better pressure. The cover over the tanks caught on fire and propane being released from the pressure relief valve ignited. What it amounted to, according to Luverne firemen, was a big gas fired torch.
Fireman from the Luverne and Beaver Creek departments fought the fire.
The tanks, which are owned by the Luverne Farm Store, were just filled Friday and contained between 600-700 gallons of propane. New valves have to be replaced on the tanks and they’ll have to be checked by the manufacturer but I can’t see any damage to the outside of the tanks, George Golla, owner of the Luverne Farm store said.
75 years ago (1944)
•Christmas greeting cards, mailed unsealed with only a 1 ½ cent stamp on them go through the mails as ordinary circulars or third class mail, thus causing slow delivery, Postmaster Jacob Ohlsen reminded this week.
He further pointed out that if cards mailed in that manner are incorrectly addressed, they will not be returned to sender.
“If you value your friends to whom you are sending these cards, you are urged to heed the post office department’s plea to place three-cent stamps on all of them,” he said. “They will then be considered first class, and will be treated the same as letters.”
Every year, Ohlsen declared, hundred of cards are left at the post office because they bear 1 ½ cent stamps and therefore cannot be forwarded or returned.
100 years ago (1919)
•That the people of Rock county, and especially residents of Luverne, are today facing the most serious shortage of coal that has confronted them at any time within the last four years is the consensus of opinion of coal dealers and others who have taken the trouble to investigate the matter.
As a consequence the people of this city, in particular, are urged to save fuel in every possible manner, and the patrons of the City Heating Co., and the municipal light, power and water works plant, are asked to cut down consumption of these products to the lowest degree in order to conserve fuel at the power house.
There is virtually only a thirty days’ supply of coal at the power house, and much of this must be retained on hand as a guarantee in regard to the city’s water supply, for it is said to be only by this course that fire insurance carried in the city may be kept valid.
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