W&N Construction crews tear down the walls of the brick building adjacent to Mary Aukes' Hair salon Monday to make room for an expanded Herman Motors car lot. By Tuesday afternoon, the building was gone, and the debris hauled away. For many years, the building housed Van RoekelÕs "Van's" service station, but most recently it has been home to Gary Theesfeld's paint business and Sudenga Communications. The building was empty when Herman Motors bought the property.

By Lori Ehde

By Lori Ehde
The Rock County Developmental Achievement Center is nearing the end of a major remodeling project that started last summer.

According to DAC Director Dorothy Cronin, the $300,000 remodeling project is something that will finally allow the DAC to operate with adequate space and above code.

"It adds the basic things we need to operate," she said. "We had to have an appropriate meeting room, we had to have an appropriate bathroom with a lift, we had to have a handicap-accessible ramp. These aren't really what we could call extras."

Code violations previously included handicapped accessibility inside and outside of the building, sanitary violations (including mop sinks and washer and dryer in the main areas), inadequate conference room, no special medication room (medication had been locked in a kitchen cabinet), no second legal exit and a bathroom that's too small.

Visitors to the DAC today will notice an expansive, sunny conference room with bay windows, a bathroom the size of a bedroom with ceiling tracking for a lift system, and an attractive three-season porch on the north that will serve as the second legal exit.

The remodeling project was financed in part by public and private donations.

The Rock County Board committed a no-interest loan of up to $120,000 to be paid back in eight years. The City of Luverne gave the DAC a $15,000 grant.

In addition to many other private contributors, Bremer Bank, Edgerton, through the Otto Bremer Foundation, donated $15,000 to the project.

Cronin said contractors expect to finish the work by late June, and final inspections will be set for mid-summer.

What is the DAC?
The DAC started 1967 in the basement of St. Catherine Church and is now located on the west end of Main Street.

It exists through public and private financing for the purpose of employing individuals with mental retardation, developmental disabilities or traumatic brain injuries.

More than 30 such individuals are currently employed through DAC, working on projects either at the West Main Street location or on jobs off-site at various locations.

In-house projects can include manual assembly, paper shredding, mass mailing and more. "The jobs change all the time, depending on what businesses need," Cronin said.

She said DAC employees are currently working on eight in-house projects, but they are busiest putting labels on packaging for Gold'n Plump, Luverne, and assembling medical equipment for Apex Medical Corporation, Sioux Falls.

DAC now has 12 off-site contracts, many of which include cleaning work.

"Right now we're busy," Cronin said, "but we're always looking for more work."

By Sara Quam
Diane Boyenga, of Nobles-Rock Public Health, inspects car seats in the Frankenhoffs' family car Friday as part of the first mobile car seat check-up in Luverne. Statistically, four out of five car seats are used incorrectly, and Boyenga showed Dawn Frankenhoff some minor adjustments she should make in her childrenÕs car seats. Frankenhoff's children are Jackson, 5 1/2, and Maddison, 2 1/2.

Boyenga outlined some things all car seat owners should know: Keep the instructions with the car seat; the life of a car seat is about six years; send in the car seat registration card so you can be notified if the car seat is recalled; when throwing out old car seats, dismantle or damage them so no one will retrieve them from the trash; don't buy used car seats; the safest place for children of any age is in the back seat; replace a car seat if itÕs involved in any car crash - even a minor fender-bender. Other information was outlined by age and weight groups.

Usually children weighing more than 80 pounds and 8 years old can fit in lap/shoulder belts: Never put shoulder belts under kids' arms or behind their backs; to fit correctly in a safety belt, children must be tall enough to sit with knees bent at the edge of the seat without slouching, and lap and shoulder belts should fit low over the hips and upper thighs and snug over the shoulders.

Children between 40 and about 60 to 80 pounds (usually 4 to 8 years old) should be in booster seats: Buy a special car seat that is for kids who weigh more than 40 pounds; correctly restrain children in car booster seats using a lap/shoulder belt. Move the vehicle seat as far back as possible and if your vehicle has a low back seat and your child's ears are above it, you need a high back booster seat to protect his or her head.

Children older than 1 and between 20 and 40 pounds can be in forward-facing car seats: Keep harness straps snug; place car seat in upright position; route the harness straps in upper slots at or above shoulder level and fasten harness clip at armpit level.

Infants until at least a year old and 20 pounds should be in rear-facing car seats: Never put an infant in the front seat of a vehicle with a passenger air bag; keep harness straps snug and fasten harness clip at armpit level; route harness straps in lower slots at or below shoulder level; put car seat carrying handle down, and recline a rear-facing seat at a 45 degree angle (a firmly rolled up towel under the car seat may help). Infants must ride in the back seat facing the rear of the vehicle to offer the best protection for an infant's neck.

For more information, contact the Minnesota Child Passenger Safety Program at 1-800-818-9296 or www.buckleupkids.state.mn.us

By Lori Ehde
When Alex Miller was a trial attorney with a law firm in downtown Chicago, he spent an hour and half commuting to and from work every day.

Considering the demands of a trial attorney, he was lucky to be home by 7 or 8 p.m. on a good night.

Two years ago, he and his wife, Karen, and their three daughters decided it was time for a change.

"We thought if we were going to enjoy our family, it was better to do it sooner than later," Alex said.

Their life change landed them on a hobby farm north of Hardwick, where they market chemical-free produce as well as fresh chicken eggs. In addition, the former city slickers are planning to expand their livestock to eventually include cattle and goats.

Their favorite hobby is gardening, something they enjoyed on a 12-foot kitchen garden in Chicago.

It didn't take them long to cultivate their own garden here. After establishing a sizable plot on the farm last year, they plan to market their produce this year under the name, "Sorella Farms."

Sorella is the Italian word for sister. "It was a roundabout way of naming it for our daughters," Alex said.

In November, the Millers attended a conference in Indianapolis on small-scale organic farming.

They soon realized people in Rock County are hungry for organically-grown produce.

"Going in, we had no idea what the demand was going to be," Alex said. "We're finding so many people are interested."

It didn't take long for the Millers to connect with the Little Buying Club on the Prairie, a group of local residents who pool their orders to buy organically grown produce and health food in bulk.

Buying Club members were excited to learn about a local grower offering chemical-free produce.

This year, Sorella Farms will offer 50 varieties of vegetables: four varieties of broccoli, three cauliflower, six lettuce/greens, three beans, sweet corn, three varieties of sweet bell peppers, three tomatoes, two different potatoes, beets, radishes, carrots, summer squash, zucchini, peas, pumpkins, melons and cabbages.

The way their system works is that they sign on subscribers for $150 a year. For that, subscribers receive a box of produce every two weeks.

Alex said similar growers who are well-established charge anywhere from $350 to $550 a year.

The Millers can’t market their first year’s produce as organically grown because the land they purchased was industrially farmed. Nonetheless, the produce is grown free of pesticides and herbicides.

They intend to use composted manure from their own farm animals - a scientific process involving the right mixture of sun, air and biodegrading vegetation.

"Really it's just a grand experiment," Alex said. "We fully expect to learn as we go along."

Considering Alex grew up in Chicago and Karen is from St. Louis, the change of pace was dramatic coming to Luverne.

"It was quite an adventure. We didn't know what we would find. But we're really enjoying it. It's working out really well for us," Alex said.

"We had some kids come up from Chicago - some friends of our daughters - and they didn't want to leave. It has to do with room to roam and wide open spaces."

Alex now works as a guardian ad litem for the Nobles and Rock county court systems, representing children in divorce or custody cases or in child endangerment cases.

Karen is a nurse at McKennan Hospital, Sioux Falls, working three 12-hour days a week.

Their daughters, Kristin, 16, Emily, 11, and Caitlin, 9, attend school in Luverne.

By Jolene Farley
A storm traveled through the area early Saturday morning damaging buildings and trees on several farm places northeast of Beaver Creek.

Bob Beyenhof was awakened at about 3 a.m. when one of his bins landed on the roof of his attached garage. "I jumped right out of bed," said Beyenhof. "I could feel the whole house shaking."

Delmar DeVries watched the storm from his bedroom window. "I heard it coming," he said. "It was one big racket, here and then gone."

It sounded like a railroad train coming through, according to DeVries and his wife, Marlys. The couple said every drain in their house was gurgling.

They said sparks flew when a piece of their cattle shed roof flew into overhead electrical lines, cutting off power. The storm left their greenhouse severely damaged and debris scattered in their yard.

A cattle shed collapsed on the Orville Bork farm across the road from the DeVries place. Bork said he's fortunate no cattle were lost, since they were locked out of the shed because of the nicer weather. The shed was not insured.

A large tree that graced the entry to BorkÕs driveway was snapped in half by the force of the storm.

This is the second building Bork has lost in a month. In mid-March his machine shed collapsed from the weight of snow on the roof. He carried insurance for that building.

Damage was also reported at the Gary Top, Jim Van Santen and Frank Matus farms. Most hit by the storm spent the weekend cleaning up.

The storm carried strong straight-line winds, according to meteorologist Todd Heitkamp of the National Weather Service in Sioux Falls.

In south and southwestern Rock County, winds were estimated at 67 to 75 mph with widespread rainfall of more than one inch in the area and higher amounts farther north near Watertown, S.D.

There was little damage in the city of Beaver Creek. Some signs blew down, and there was slight damage at the elevator, according to Lloyd DeBoer.

By John Rittenhouse
The wrestling season came to an end for Hills-Beaver Creek seventh-grader Kerry Fink during the Section 3AA Individual Tournament in Luverne Friday and Saturday.

Fink, the 103-pound entry for the Luverne-Hills-Beaver Creek-Ellsworth squad, went 0-2 without placing during the second event.

He opened the tournament by getting pinned by Windom-Mountain Lake-Butterfield-OdinÕs Jeff Stuckenbroker in 56 seconds Friday.

Stuckenbroker went on to place second at 103 pounds to qualify for the state tournament.

Fink was eliminated from the competition when he was pinned in 2:23 by Pipestone-Jasper's Kyle Evans in the wrestle backs.

L-H-BC-E junior Chris Tiesler won the 119-pound championship and senior Zach Skattum placed second at 171 pounds to qualify for the state tournament.

By John Rittenhouse
The Hills-Beaver Creek-Ellsworth track teams made there debut as a program during the Class B Version of the Dan Lennon Invitational at the Dakota Dome in Vermillion, S.D., Tuesday.

After competing against each other for years in the Tri-County Conference, H-BC and Ellsworth have joined forces in track for the first time.

Considering Tuesday's results, which featured H-BC-E racking up a combined nine top 10 performances at a meet that attracts 1,315 athletes, the sharing agreement will be a success.

"We had a great showing," said Patriot coach Tom Goehle. "All the relays at this meet had 50 or more teams, and there were between 60 to 80 kids in each running event. Considering we’ve only had a little more than one week of practice, we had a great meet."

Brad Haak came up with the top individual performance for H-BC-E. A two-time state qualifier for H-BC, Haak got off to a strong start this season by winning the 800-meter run with a time of 2:05.6.

Haak also was a member of H-BC-E's medley and 800-meter relays, which placed second and third with respective 3:50.21 and 1:39.59 times.

Chris Reed, Chris Fransman and Chris Willers ran with Haak in both relays.

Fransman and Willers came up with seventh-place performances individually.

Fransman cleared 5-10 in the high jump. Willers ran 400 meters in 55.24.

The Patriot girls secured four top 10 performances during the opening meet.

Cassi Tilstra and Janelle Jenniges came up with the top individual efforts for H-BC-E.

Tilstra finished sixth in the 400-meter dash with a time of 1:06.99. Jenniges ran 1,600 meters in 6:00.62 to place sixth.

Erin Boeve and Brittney Olson placed ninth in individual events.

Boeve covered 14-10 1/2 in the long jump. Olson ran 800 meters in 2:43.31.

By John Rittenhouse
Two Hills-Beaver Creek players were selected to the 2001-All-Tri-County Conference Boys' Basketball Team last week.

The league officially disbanded at the end of the regular season, so Patriots Lance Crawford and Matt Buck will be the last H-BC players to grace an All-T-CC roster.

Crawford, a senior, and Buck, a junior, both are posts.

The All-T-CC Team consisted of 10 players.

Conference champion Southwest Christian and runner-up Edgerton shared the other eight positions on the roster.

Eagle seniors Reed Mesman, Kyle Van Dyke and Justin Snyder and junior Jeff Schaap made the roster.

Edgerton seniors Jeff Evink, Jonny Kooiman and Eric Elgersma and sophomore Zach Hadler represent the Flying Dutchmen on the team.

Five more players drew honorable mention from the league's coaches.

Southwest Christian seniors Tony Schnyders and Nick Bork and junior Daniel DeWitt, and Edgerton senior Chase Schelhaas, and Ellsworth senior Dean Moss were so honored.

By John Rittenhouse
Three Hills-Beaver Creek Patriots graced the roster of the 2001 All-Tri-County Conference Girls' Basketball Team.

H-BC, which placed third in the final season of the league, claimed three of the 10 all-conference positions when the list was released last week.

Senior wing Shanna Tilstra, junior guard Becky Broesder and freshman post Erin Boeve are the Patriots who made the squad.

H-BC gained more all-conference selections than Ellsworth, a team that finished ahead of the Patriots in the league standings.

Ellsworth is represented by seniors Connie Lewis and Holly Timmer.

League champion Southwest Christian drew five selections to the All-T-CC Team.

Seniors Lesa Holleman, Renita Buys and Tosha Top and junior Christa Kuipers made the team for the E-Gals.

Edgerton junior Angela Hulstein caps the 10-player roster.

Ellsworth and Faith Christian players secured four of five honorable mention selections to the All-T-CC Team.

Ellsworth senior Janelle Jenniges and sophomore Jenna Groen were so honored, as were FC juniors Annette Bosma and Andrea Teerink.

Southwest Christian junior Brigette Schelhaas also drew honorable mention.