The following appeared in The Rock County Herald on Feb. 22, 1935.
 
Birthday Ball Shows $157.15 Net Proceeds
 
Total Receipts From Sale of Over 800 Tickets, $215,10; Funds Will be Used for Health Activities
A financial report covering receipts and disbursements for the President Roosevelt birthday ball, held in Luverne on January 30th, was presented yesterday by F. A. Leicher, treasurer for the 1935 event. Total receipts from ticket sales were $215.10, more than 800 tickets having been sold, and net proceeds amounted to $157.15, after the various expenses had been met.
Items listed under disbursements were: Orchestra, $25.00; police, $2.00; announcement, $1.00; postage, cards, etc., $8.80; printing, $11.15, and use of the Armory, $10.00. Disbursements totalled $57.95.
Under the same arrangement that prevailed throughout the country, seventy percent of the net proceeds is retained to promote relief and rehabilitation work among persons in this community afflicted with infantile paralysis. The other thirty percent is being remitted to the national commission sponsoring research in the treatment of this disease, in which President Roosevelt is actively interested.
 
         Donations to the Rock County Historical Society can be sent to the Rock County Historical Society, 312 E. Main Street, Luverne, MN 56156.
Mann welcomes correspondence sent to mannmade@iw.net.

The following appeared in The Rock County Star-Herald on April 7, 1949.
 
County Public Health Nurse Would Cost Residents Estimated 40 Cents Per Person
 
Maximum Annual Outlay For Program Would Be $5,000, According to Report
Cost of maintaining a public health nurse in Rock county will average 40 cents per person per year, it was announced here Friday night.
A meeting, arranged for by the Luverne Mothers Club, to discuss the question of a public health nurse, was held at the high school building here. In attendance were three members of the county board, representatives of various civic organizations, several school teachers, and a group of nurses and public health workers from Nobles county.
Speaker of the evening was Dr. B. O. Mork, Jr., Worthington, director of the state department of health. County Supt. of Schools Barrett presented the figures on the cost in the absence of County Auditor Koehn, whose records were used as a basis for the computation.
Cost of having the nursing program, based on costs in other counties in the state, was estimated to amount to between $4,800 and $5,000; the state will pay $1,500; the remaining $3,500 being the county’s share of the cost. Figuring on the basis of $10,000,000 in assessed valuation of Rock county property, the nursing program would increase the total tax bill for each taxpayer by .35 of a mill. For the average quarter section of land with an average set of buildings, taxes would increase $1.75 over the present amount now paid, Mr. Barrett indicated.
(The county board of commissioners hires the nurse if a public health program is adopted. Costs incidental in the nursing program are paid from tax funds.)
Benefits which the people of the county would derive through a public nursing program would more than offset the offset the cost, Dr. Mork pointed out.
“The cost of a couple of movies or a couple of haircuts shouldn’t be too great for the people to pay for this health service,” he stated.
Among the benefits derived through a county nursing home program, Dr. Mork pointed out are:
(1) Tuberculosis testing (mantoux) on a county wide basis. Dr. S. A. Slater, of the Worthington Sanatorium, hesitates to make Mantoux tests on a mass basis when there is not a public health nurse in the county, because a nurse is needed for follow-up work, Dr. Mork stated.
(2) Work in cancer control, with funds made available by the American Cancer Society. The Cancer Society, it was pointed out, will work though a nurse in educating the public regarding cancer in its early stages. Death from cancer can be prevented, in at least one-third of the cases, if cancer is detected early enough.
(3) Earlier detection of such diseases as tuberculosis. Each case of tuberculosis that requires sanatorium treatment costs the county at least $2,000 per year for case. For every death caused by TB, in its early stages, Dr. Mork pointed out, the saving to the county resulting from such a discovery, would almost pay the nurse’s salary for a year.
Duties of a nurse, Dr. Mork said, fall into three categories. She would provide nursing care and health guidance to school children and families. In Nobles county, he said, the nurse calls on all mothers of newborn babies to give them assistance and advice. Secondly, she participates in educational work, assisting in training home nursing classes, etc. Thirdly, she cooperates with the medical profession and citizen groups in putting the county health program into effect. This may include TB testing, mass immunization, health examinations of school children, etc.
In breaking down the cost figures, Dr. Mork said that the nurse’s salary would run from $2,800 to $3,000 per year, based on what other counties are now paying. A part time clerk would entail an expenditure of an additional $1,000; $700 would go toward travel expense, while another $300 would be required for office supplies and incidentals.
Mrs. Jerry Simpson, a member of the Mothers Club Public health nurse committee, said she had investigated costs of counties of approximately the same size population and area as Rock county, to maintain a nursing program. Cost in Stevens county last year was $3,575; Sherburne, $4,067.57; Houston, $3,832.61; Dodge, $4,281.51; Pipestone, .4,013.72.
Rock is one of 21 counties in the state which does not have a nursing program, yet there is not a county in the state which has a greater agricultural valuation than Rock county, Mrs. Simpson pointed out.
Dr. C. L. Sherman said that the medical profession as a whole was in favor of the nursing program, and Dr. O. W. Anderson said that everyone he had talked to felt the same way.
County Commissioner G. V. Carstens, Luverne, when asked how the county board felt about it, said that if anyone were interested in how that county board felt about it, they were welcome to attend the county board meeting, and the county board would express their views at that time. He said that since the county board tabled the matter last year, two new members had replaced two of those who had been on the board at that time, and the board’s views may have changed since then.
County Commissioner W. G. Perkins said no one in his district had spoken to him in favor of a nurse, and he had had some speak against it. “If I thought the people of my district favored a nurse,” he said, “I’d vote for it. But, it’s my duty to represent the people of my district and vote as they want me to vote.”
County Commissioner Harry Leslie did not voice his opinion. Commissioner A. H. Halls and L. J. Moeller were not in attendance.
         Donations to the Rock County Historical Society can be sent to the Rock County Historical Society, 312 E. Main Street, Luverne, MN 56156.
Mann welcomes correspondence sent to mannmade@iw.net.

The following appeared in The Rock County Herald on March 31, 1949.
 
Monday Was Pay Day For National Guardsmen
They’re Not Phoney So Don’t Pass Up $2 Bills
Some over 1,000 two-dollar bills will be in circulation here during the next few days and weeks. And there’s nothing phoney about them either.
The bills represent the quarterly payroll to members of the Luverne National Guard unit, who received their “paychecks” in two-dollar bills Monday night.
Big Annual Payroll
Two-dollar bills are rather unusual in this part of the country and their appearance at this time will serve to stress the role that the national guard plays in the local business picture, says Capt. Lester U. Tollefson, commander.
During the year March 1, 1948 to March 1, 1949 $27,075.11 was paid to members of the unit. Full-time employees at the armory received $15,780; $8,564.86 was paid to the 67 men and officers for regular drills, and $2,730.25 was paid to the local men who attended national guard camp at Camp Ripley last summer.
Camp Dates Announced
National guard camp at Camp and field maneuvers will begin June 12 and continue through June 26 at Camp Ripley. The 135th Regiment of which Headquarters Company of Luverne is a part, will be the only Minnesota regiment in camp at that time. The other units will come from South Dakota this year for this period of training, Capt. Tollefson said.
 
         Donations to the Rock County Historical Society can be sent to the Rock County Historical Society, 312 E. Main Street, Luverne, MN 56156.
Mann welcomes correspondence sent to mannmade@iw.net.

The following appeared in The Rock County Herald on Aug. 17, 1877.
At a meeting of the St. Paul board of education held recently, a contract was entered into with Wilson, Hinkle, & Co., of Cincinnati, by which text books are to be furnished the city schools at one-half the rates formerly paid for the same books. The Superintendent was duly authorized, and directed to furnish an estimate to parties handling them of the probable number of each kind that will be needed during the first term in the ensuing year.
The following is a schedule of the books, with the prices at which they will be furnished by agents appointed to handle them. It is proper to add that all but two of the series of books named in the contract are at present in use in the city schools, so that no extra expense will be incurred by pupils.
       Schedule:
Harvey’s first reader - 14c,
Harvey’s second reader – 27c, Harvey’s third reader – 55c, Harvey’s fourth reader – 44c, Harvey’s fifth reader – 66c, Harvey’s primary speller – 14c, Harvey’s language lessons – 20c, Harvey’s elementary grammar – 30c, Harvey’s English grammar – 57c, Electic geography, No. 1 – 48c, Electic geography, No. 2 – 95c, Electic primary copy book – 7c, Electic copy book – 10c, White’s primary arithmetic – 20c, White’s intermediate arithmetic – 31c, White’s complete arithmetic – 57c, Brown’s physiology – 85c, Norton’s philosophy – 95c.
From the foregoing it will be seen that prices have been reduced to something like reasonable figures, bringing necessary text books within the reach of many people in very moderate circumstances and breaking up, so far as the city schools are concerned, one of the worst monopolies with which the parents of this country have to contend. It is altogether probable that other publishing houses will have to reduce the former exorbitant prices, in which even our public school officials should take the necessary steps to secure the benefit of such reduction. In this way, whether the law enacted last winter is carried out or remains a dead letter, parents of school children will be relieved in a great measure of a most unconscionable tax, and one for which there can be offered no reasonable excuse.
         Donations to the Rock County Historical Society can be sent to the Rock County Historical Society, 312 E. Main Street, Luverne, MN 56156.
Mann welcomes correspondence sent to mannmade@iw.net.

The following appeared in The Rock County Star-Herald on March 17, 1949.
 
County Pioneer Growth of Certified Southern Type Brome Seed in State
Rock county has gained distinction as being one of the pioneer counties in raising certified Fischer and Lincoln brome grass, a plant of vital importance to soil conservation.
Soil Conservationist Jerry Simpson said this week that Luverne was the only place in the state where certified Fischer brome could be bought over the counter. The Luverne Farm Store had been selling certified Rock county grown Fischer brome, but was now sold out. They purchased their seed from Roger Pengra, Mound township farmer, who raised the first plot of Fischer brome in the state to be certified outside of nursery plantings.
Fischer and Lincoln brome are in great demand. As a matter of fact a Faribault seed firm is planning to sow 130 acres of it for seed this year—if it can get the seed. Dealers throughout the state have been able only to get about 1,000 pounds each from the seed sources throughout the country, and little, if any, of this certified.
Fischer and Lincoln are both “southern bromes.” They are more quickly established upon planting, start growing earlier in the spring, and yield about 20 per cent more seed in southern Minnesota. Brome is valuable as hay and feed, and for its root system which is of great importance in soil conservation work.
Planted with alfalfa, red clover or alsike clover, it has a feed value almost equal to legumes, and at the same time it increases the hay yield close to a ton per acre.
It has a vast root system, producing 5 to 6 tons of dry roots per acre on a two-year-old stand.  These roots add organic and building erosion, and the water intake and the water holding capacity of the soil is increased.
Livestock raisers like it because when planted half and half with some legume such as alfalfa, it makes a safe pasture for livestock, where pure alfalfa does not.
When sown on crop land, it can be cut as hay, and then pastured. It is ideal for use in building waterways, turn rows at the end of fields, for seeding weedy fence lines, and is the most drouth resistant grass available for pasture improvement. It requires considerable nitrogen, and for that reason, thrives best when planted with a legume such as clover or alfalfa.
Rock county has perhaps more acres sown to brome than any other county in the state. The first bag of certified Fischer and the first bag of certified Lincoln brome was brought into the county three years ago when the soil conservation supervisors managed to secure 100 pounds of seed. J. E. Sells, Beaver Creek township, planted a five acre tract of Fischer, and L. J. Hofelmann planted a five acre tract of Lincoln. Seed was produced the second year, and sold locally.
Mr. Pengra purchased his first seed in 1946, and planted it that fall. Last year, he harvested 2,800 pounds, and the seed qualified for state certification.
There were eight other seed plots in the county last year, which in all produced about 10,000 pounds, all sold locally. Farmers growing the seed were John Shurr, Kanaranzi township; James Dunn, J. E. Sells, and Crawford Bros., Beaver Creek township; and Paul Iverson Vienna township.
Thus through the efforts of the soil conservation district supervisors, who obtained the first seed, Rock county has a good start in raising new crop which is steadily increasing in importance in the vast program of soil conservation.
Donations to the Rock County Historical Society can be sent to the Rock County Historical Society, 312 E. Main Street, Luverne, MN 56156.
Mann welcomes correspondence sent to mannmade@iw.net.

The following appeared in The Rock County Star-Herald on Feb. 9, 1950.
 
Lunch Program Inaugurated at Hardwick School
 
Hot Dish, Sandwich, Dessert and Milk Now Are Served to Children
The traditional lunch bucket — as important to the pupil as pencils and books in years gone by — has vanished from the Hardwick public school scene.
The cold lunches, which for years were a part of the everyday life of the rural students, have been replaced with hot noon day lunches, a program recently inaugurated at the school.
Every noon, over 100 growing, hungry youngsters can be seen seated at tables enjoying good, wholesome warm food, prepared by Mrs. Richard Goettsch and her assistant, Mrs. Reuben Abraham. And the children’s mothers are happy, too. Now their boys and girls no longer have to carry their lunches, many of which were brought back home with evidence of only a nibble here and there.
At Hardwick, the “A” type lunch is served. This consists of one hot food, sandwich, dessert and milk, which is served to the youngsters at a cost of 20 cents per day. The district recently remodeled the basement into a lunch room and kitchen to provide the lunches for the children.
The hot lunch program combined with the bus service now in use for the second year since the consolidation of a number of rural districts with the Hardwick District No. 48 is proving advantageous for both children and taxpayers alike, residents of the community state. …
District officers report that the school is open to further expansion, and that they are willing to share their facilities with other neighboring districts so that they may enjoy the privileges of a larger school system.
Rural districts in the Hardwick area are being invited to join with Hardwick. However, increasing the size of the school will mean enlarging the school facilities, and the board is anxious to know what to expect in the way of future enrollments, as, one director said, “We don’t want to over-build or under-build, but build according to our needs.”
 
         Donations to the Rock County Historical Society can be sent to the Rock County Historical Society, 312 E. Main Street, Luverne, MN 56156.
Mann welcomes correspondence sent to mannmade@iw.net.

The following appeared in The Rock County Star-Herald on Feb. 2, 1950.
 
County Receives Larger Allotment For 1950 Soil Conservation Practices
 
No Definite Information Available as Yet About 1950 Corn Acreage Cuts
The 1950 appropriations for agriculture conservation practices in Rock county will be $51,600, about $2,000 more than in 1949, Leonard Arp, Rock county PMA chairman, announced on Monday.
The funds will be available for payment to farmers who are carrying out conservation practices for the 1950 program, Mr. Arp said. An official announcement of practices which must be followed to qualify farmers for payments has not yet been received in his office, he added, but it is expected that the program will be very similar to that of 1949.
Largest appropriation to counties in this area will be Murray county’s $89,100. Nobles county will receive $75,800; Jackson will get $65,600; Cottonwood, $64,800; and Pipestone, $56,600.
Corn Acreage Data
No information has been received about corn acreage adjustments for Rock county so far. “However,” Mr. Arp stated, “we have been informed that there is to be a cut of 19.7 percent in acreage for the entire commercial corn area.” The state of Minnesota has not yet announced acreage allocations for the individual counties. Mr. Arp would not speculate about when these allocations could be expected to be made.
Mr. Arp set the three-year average of acres in the county planted in corn at “approximately 110,000.” He said that the figure could not be entirely accurate because some farmers still refuse to submit any information about their farms and in other cases it has been impossible to secure complete information about crops.
 
         Donations to the Rock County Historical Society can be sent to the Rock County Historical Society, 312 E. Main Street, Luverne, MN 56156.
Mann welcomes correspondence sent to mannmade@iw.net.

The following appeared in The Rock County Star-Herald on Jan. 26, 1950.
 
$15,000 Polio Fund Drive Starts
 
Nearly $22,000 Spent For Polio Care by Local Chapter the Past Year
Civic and social organizations have united to carry the March of Dimes campaign through its most crucial test, John Kurvink, county director, said this week.
Chairmen named to date for the various communities are as follows: Battle Plain, Walter Rolfs; Beaver Creek twp., Eldo Oehlerts; Denver, Leonard Arp; Kanaranzi, Eddie Hansen and Don Jackson; Luverne twp., Harry Beers; Magnolia, Lewis Boomgaarden; Martin and Hills, Ed Schellhouse; Mound, Ray Brandenburg; Rose Dell, Lloyal Fields; Springwater, Olaf Bakke; Vienna and Kenneth, Henry Nieuwboer; Beaver Creek, village, Don Sandstede; Steen, Lewis McEldowney; Magnolia, Herbert Cain; Hardwick, Alfred Staeffler.
The Luverne National guard unit was first to contribute toward the county’s $15,000 goal, giving $42.50 from its funds, and the members matching it with their own individual contributions, making a total donation of $85. Then, the American Legion Auxiliary last week voted to donate $50 from their treasury. Other organizations throughout the county are expected to follow suit.
First rural contribution directly to the county treasury was a $15 check from Ed De Groot, of Magnolia, Kurvink said.
A look at the Rock County Chapter’s balance sheet for the year 1949 gives a vivid picture of the scope of the organization’s activities on a local scale. Care of county polio patients amounted to $21,936.59, of which $19,798.14 was used for hospitalization, $1,948.50 for doctors’ fees, $130.00 for nursing and physiotherapists, and $59.95 for braces, special shoes, etc.
To defray these expenses, the local chapter drew on its $12,205.21 fund collected during the 1949 March of Dimes campaign in the county, and $13,400.00 advanced by the National Headquarters.
 
         Donations to the Rock County Historical Society can be sent to the Rock County Historical Society, 312 E. Main Street, Luverne, MN 56156.
Mann welcomes correspondence sent to mannmade@iw.net.

The following articles appeared in The Rock County Herald during 1895.
 
Jan. 11, 1895
The HERALD takes great pleasure in announcing to its readers that it has again made arrangements by which it is enabled to furnish the Weekly New York Tribune to its patrons for 25 cents per year, or both for 58 cents, per year. This price is probably less than the cost of the white paper, and the offer is a bargain which no one who wants to “keep posted” and desires to have reliable information respecting political questions of current importance, can afford to miss.
 
Feb. 15, 1895
The Gospel Temperance union celebrated the first anniversary of its organization in an appropriate manner Wednesday afternoon and evening at Armory Hall Opera house. During the afternoon refreshments were served in the rooms in the second story of the Opera house, and a large number of people from all parts of the county enjoyed the feat. Wednesday evening a delightful programme was successfully rendered to an audience only measured by the capacity of the building. People were present from Adrian, Hardwick, Beaver Creek, Hills, Steen, Ash Creek, Magnolia and other points, and a happier crowd was never assembled in Luverne. The W. C. T. U. has the Gospel Temperance Union under its wing, and the HERALD asserts that anything is bound to succeed over which it casts its protecting influence.
 
March 1, 1895
Readers of the HERALD will remember that sometime last summer we published an item stating that a snake seven inches in length had been removed from the stomach of Ole Evenson, of Denver township. Mr. Evenson called at the HERALD office Tuesday and gave more complete particulars regarding the affair. He is under the impression that while on a trip through South Dakota some eight years ago he swallowed an egg or small snake while drinking water from some of the springs or sloughs. For seven years he suffered untold agony. He could feel that “animal” crawling around his insides and was unable to retain any food whatever which did not suit the fancy of his snakeship. Any food of a sour or salty nature would cause Mr. Evenson the most excruciating pain followed by violent vomiting until the contents of his stomach were entirely removed. Last summer he took a big dose of strychnine which did not agree with the snake, nor Mr. Evenson, either for that matter, but the snake was dislodged and when vomited up was still alive. Mr. Evenson now has the snake in a bottle pickled in alcohol. Since the removal of the snake Mr. Evenson has gained 23 pounds in weight and experiences no discomfort from any food he may eat. Physicians, however, tell Mr. Evenson that the snake perforated his stomach with small holes which may in time cause him serious trouble.
 
         Donations to the Rock County Historical Society can be sent to the Rock County Historical Society, 312 E. Main Street, Luverne, MN 56156.
Mann welcomes correspondence sent to mannmade@iw.net.