The Luverne High School Brass Choir practices early Wednesday morning for Friday night’s performance, part of the Christmas at the Palace program. Pictured are: Chris Thacker in front and Greg Helle. Christmas at the Palace begins at 7:30 p.m. Friday in the Palace Theatre. It is a fund-raiser for Blue Mound Area Theatre to help preserve the theater and continue offering movies.

Along with the High School brass choir, other performers will be: the Luverne High School mixed ensemble, American Reformed Church, Joe Dorhout, New Life Celebration Church, Wendy and Heidi Sandbulte and Amy Donth, St. Catherine Catholic Church Jubilant Choir, First Baptist Church Ladies Ensemble, Grace Lutheran Church Exaltation Worship Team, Carol Zwaan and First Presbyterian Church.

Photo by Sara Strong

The sixth annual Winterfest celebration brought lots of light to downtown Luverne Saturday and heavy traffic throughout the town.The Green Earth Players lead carols in the Carnegie Cultural Center after the Winterfest parade. They are: (back, from left) Fred Manfred, Phil Voigt, Cheryl Nath, (front) Noreen Woodle, Katie Galer, and Fran Bohlke. Story inside.

Photo by Sara Strong

By Jolene Farley
Hills City Council members had many unanswered questions concerning the proposed $219,000 rural water improvements at their meeting Tuesday.

Dan Cook, Rock County Rural Water Manager, will be invited to the next council meeting to answer those questions.

Improvements proposed by Rock County Rural Water so far would include the installation of a six-inch line from two miles north of Hills to the northern edge of town.

Council members noted the proposal didn’t include replacing the four-inch line from the edge of town to the water tower. Not replacing the line would mean water supply would increase but water pressure wouldn’t.

"Everything else will stay the same," said city employee Wayne Ward. "They’re not changing anything in the water plant."

Mayor Jim Jellema said the line should be replaced to the water tower as part of the project.

A citizen voiced his opinion that rural water seemed to be enhancing their system at the cities’ expense.
After reviewing the initial contract from Rock County Rural Water, council member Linus Svoboda asked for the official plans and specifications on the improvements.

The council also questioned why the contract guarantees certain usage only during off-peak periods. The off-peak periods aren’t specified in the contract.

"If we go with that six-inch line, why should there have to be an off-peak," said Jellema?

"If you bore in the six-inch line you should have water when you want it and no off-peak," agreed Ward.
The council tentatively decided to finance the improvements, once agreed upon, through the Exchange State Bank at 5.25 percent interest.

Rock County Rural Water had agreed to finance the improvements at 5.5 percent interest for 20 years.

Personnel
The council voted to change the benefit structure for two city employees. The employees will receive three weeks of vacation for ten years of service with one day for each year after ten years. One month of vacation time is the maximum accumulation.

The council agreed to increase the percentage of health insurance premium the city pays for city employee Wayne Ward from 70 percent to 75 percent in lieu of comp time and shift-off time.

"Right now we have three or four different systems going," Svoboda said of the current benefit and wage package.

Both employees also received a 35-cent hourly wage increase.

City treasurer Joann Goehle refused a pay increase.

Council members didn’t vote on a pay raise for themselves.

"We don’t know what the taxes will do," said Jellema. "I’m not doing this for the money."

Specific information on the wages of city officials and employees is public information available at city hall upon request.

In other business …
The city will no longer burn leaves and branches on the southern edge of town. Another hole will be dug on rural property owned by Doug Chapman, and small branches will be transported for burning.

This should alleviate smoke at the football field and in residential areas.

The council also discussed putting up a fence with a gate around the dump area to stop unauthorized dumping and traffic. The council tabled the idea until spring.

After reviewing the bills, the council instructed Ward to purchase items for the city in Hills whenever possible.

By John Rittenhouse
An Ellsworth High School junior joined a select group during the course of Thursday’s basketball game between EHS and Southwest Christian played in Ellsworth.

Curt Schilling, who has played varsity basketball for three years under coach Ken Kvaale, became the third Panther boy in recent history to score 1,000 career points.

Schilling drained a three-point shot from the top of the key with 2:45 remaining in the second period to reach the milestone.

The shot was an important one at the time as it gave the Panthers a 23-21 lead over the state’s No. 10-ranked Class A team.

Ellsworth, which is ranked second in Class A, went on to beat SWC 57-49.

Schilling led the Panthers with 22 points, 13 rebounds and six assists in the win.

Schilling joins 1994 EHS graduate Scott Heidebrink and 1987 graduate Chad Boom as players to reach the 1,000-point club in the last 15 years.

School officials were unsure if Ellsworth had any 1,000-point scorers prior to Chad Boom.

Schilling reached the 1,000-point club nine days after Jenna Groen became the first Panther girl to reach that milestone.

By John Rittenhouse
Hills-Beaver Creek High School athletes produced a combined three wins at the Flandreau (S.D.) Wrestling Tournament Saturday.

Dusty Seachris and Kerry Fink, members of the Luverne-H-BC-Ellsworth wrestling squad, mixed it up at Saturday’s event.

Seachris went 2-2 to place fourth at 145 pounds.

Fink went 1-2 without placing at 130.

Seachris ran into Howard’s Scott Stangohr, the eventual runner-up at 145, in the tournament’s first round. Stangohr pinned Seachris 1:44 into the second period.

The Cardinal senior bounced back to pin Elk-Point Jefferson’s Mark Donnelly in 58 seconds before notching a 9-3 victory over Sioux Valley’s Burton Moe in the consolation rounds.

Seachris placed fourth when he lost by technical fall to Flandreau’s Wade Quick.

Fink was pinned at 1:36 by eventual 130-pound champion Derek Pirner, of EP-J, in the tournament’s first round.

Fink then pinned Flandreau’s Noah Luttman in 2:49 before being pinned in 2:14 by Garretson’s Sam Johnson in the consolation bracket.

L-H-BC-E placed seventh out of eight teams at the tournament. Cardinals’ Canaan Petersen and Cody Jagow placed second at 152 pounds and heavyweight respectively to lead the Cards in the event.

L-H-BC-E wrestles at the Jackson County Central Tournament Saturday before competing at the Garretson (S.D.) Triangular Tuesday.

Hills-Beaver Creek sophomore Kale Wiertzema prepares to shoot the ball during Friday’s boys’ basketball game against Sioux Valley-Round Lake-Brewster in Hills. Wiertzema scored 11 first-half points to help the Patriots record their first victory of the season.

By John Rittenhouse
A fast start and a strong finish carried the Hills-Beaver Creek boys’ basketball team to its first victory of the season Friday in Hills.

Entertaining Sioux Valley-Round Lake-Brewster for a non-conference clash, the young Patriots turned in a positive performance.

Their fast start allowed the Patriots to take a lead they would never relinquish, and the strong finish featured H-BC outscoring the Raiders 41-21 in the second half to win by 29 points.

H-BC raced to a 7-0 lead to start the game and led 14-2 with 4:21 remaining in the first quarter.

Kale Wiertzema led the charge by scoring five of his 11 first-half points in the first three minutes of the tilt.
SV-RL-B answered H-BC’s early run by scoring the final eight points of the first period to trail 14-10 at period’s end.

The Patriots extended their lead to eight points three different times in the first three minutes of the second quarter.

H-BC led by 10 points (27-17) with 1:30 remaining in the first half and sported a 31-19 lead when Clint Roozenboom connected for a field goal with 27 seconds left before the Raiders scored three points to trail 31-22 at the intermission.

The Patriots iced the contest in the third quarter, when they went on a 23-8 run to open a 54-30 advantage.

Tyson Metzger, who had a double-double for H-BC with 16 points and 13 rebounds, led the way in the third quarter by netting eight points.

H-BC padded the final margin of victory to 18 points by outscoring SV-RL-B 18-13 in the fourth quarter.

Jesse Leuthold scored 10 of his 14 points in the second half for H-BC, which led by as many as 31 points in the fourth quarter.

Wiertzema added seven assists and six rebounds to the cause, while Tyler Bush chipped in six rebounds, six steals and six assists. Trey Van Wyhe contributed five rebounds and three steals to the winning cause.

A 42-20 rebounding cushion and better shooting from the floor (47-37 percent) played key roles in H-BC’s win.

Box score
Bush 3 0 2-5 8, Elbers 0 0 0-0 0, Wysong 0 0 2-2 2, Jackson 0 0 0-0 0, Roozenboom 3 0 3-6 9, Broesder 1 0 2-4 4, Wiertzema 3 1 2-2 11, Metzger 4 1 5-8 16, Leuthold 6 0 2-2 14, Van Wyhe 4 0 0-2 8, Spykerboer 0 0 0-0 0.

Team statistics
H-BC: 26 of 55 field goals (47 percent), 18 of 31 free throws (58 percent), 42 rebounds, 21 turnovers.
SV-RL-B: 18 of 49 field goals (37 percent), five of nine free throws (56 percent), 20 rebounds, 21 turnovers.

By John Rittenhouse
The Hills-Beaver Creek Patriot girls’ basketball team knocked off long-time rival Southwest Christian in a Red Rock Conference game played in Hills Thursday.

The Patriots struggled to score points in the second and third quarters, but they scored enough in the first and fourth periods to set the stage to a 38-29 win.

H-BC’s nine-point win upped its RRC record to 2-0 in the young season.

The victory, however, didn’t come easy.

Leading 21-13 at the intermission after a five-point third quarter, H-BC’s shooting woes continued in the third period. SWC battled back to knot the score before the Patriots regained the lead at 25-23 heading into the fourth quarter.

The E-Gals tied the game again early in the fourth quarter before the Patriots used a late surge to outscore SWC 13-6 in the period.

"We got a few transition baskets, got a few steals and made a few free throws to pull away in the final four minutes," said Patriot coach Tom Goehle.

H-BC also played well in the first quarter.

Cassi Tilstra, who led the Patriots with six assists, scored six of her 10 points to help the Patriots double (16-8) SWC’s scoring output in the first eight minutes of play.

The fast start for H-BC was followed by cold-shooting efforts in the second and third quarters.

"We went stone cold in the second and third quarters," said Goehle. "It’s unbelievable to score nine points in the second and third quarters and still win the game."

Erin Boeve had a double-double for the Patriots with 15 rebounds and 10 points.

Brittney Rozeboom charted 10 points, nine rebounds and six steals.

H-BC turned the ball over eight fewer times (20-12) than SWC, and that helped the Patriots overcome a rough night at the charity stripe (11 of 26).

Box score
B.Rozeboom 2 1 3-9 10, Tilstra 3 0 4-10 10, S.Rozeboom 2 0 0-0 4, Boeve 4 0 2-5 10, Olson 0 0 2-2 2, Mulder 1 0 0-0 2.

Team statistics
H-BC: 13 of 47 field goals (28 percent), 11 of 26 free throws (42 percent), 39 rebounds, 12 turnovers.
SWC: 11 of 37 field goals (30 percent), seven of 11 free throws (63 percent), 38 rebounds, 20 turnovers.

By Jolene Farley
For nearly 20 years, the Steen Reformed Church choir has presented a Cantata during the Christmas season.

This year’s "Hark! The Angels Sing," by Dennis and Nan Allen, was performed Sunday, Dec. 8, but practices began Oct. 1 under the direction of Steen’s Sharon Top. Top has directed since 1996.

Twenty-one singers performed in the 40-minute production, and Hills-Beaver Creek High School students played the drama parts.

The search for a cantata to perform begins early in the year, according to pianist Lorraine Sandbulte.
"Sharon likes to do something new every time," Sandbulte said.

Five or six samples are checked out from Crossroads Book and Music, Sioux Falls, and the directors listen to them and narrow down the selections.

"It just kind of has to appeal to us," Sandbulte said. "Whether it’s the difficulty of the music or the range."

She said the event is well-attended, unless the weather is uncooperative.

Last-minute touches on the production continue until the actual performance.

The final pages of the Cantata are fine-tuned in the final days of practice, and this year, a platform for the angels above the choir was also added.

"As long as they’re not afraid of heights, they’ll be alright," Sandbulte said.

When asked what she enjoys about accompanying the choir for the cantata Sandbulte said, "touching the people’s hearts."

By Jolene Farley
The state of Minnesota’s new system of funding education has jeopardized students’ futures, has taken funding options away from rural school districts and hasn’t done that many favors to local property tax payers.

That’s the position asserted by the Minnesota Rural Education Association in a video detailing the effect of the 2001 property tax reform on rural Minnesota schools.

The Hills-Beaver Creek School Board and Superintendent Dave Deragisch reviewed the video, "Tax Reform One Year Later," at a recent meeting, and Deragisch agrees with the MREA.

"I thought what they said was very true for rural state of Minnesota schools," he said.

It is MREA’s position that the dramatic property tax reform left students with less stable funding, rural school districts with smaller tax bases, students with less funding and taxpayers with increasing property tax bills.

Cost of the takeover
It cost $1 billion to remove education from property tax rolls, according to MREA. When the economy was doing well, costs where covered by surplus sales and income tax revenues. By the second year, after an economic slowdown, the legislature turned to the schools to borrow to cover the cost.

Less stable funding
Dollars are no longer dedicated exclusively to education. In the past, local property taxes paid one-third of the entire cost of education.

"Education is forced to compete with other aspects of state budgets," said the video. "The takeover left education with less stable revenue."

Rural districts have smaller tax bases
MREA maintains that students in rural districts went from a buying power comparable to students in metro districts to having a tax base only one-half as big.

With the removal of agricultural land from the tax rolls, homes and businesses in rural areas may be unable to sustain the cost of excess levies.

If property tax is used to increase basic education funding, MREA believes:

It should be a statewide general education tax on all property.

It must be levied by the state and not at the discretion of local school boards.

It must be fully equalized to be fair to each student.

Students with
less funding
Districts are funded on a per pupil basis by the legislature. Administrators and school boards are sometimes unable to trim costs as quickly as they lose students.

Deragisch agrees. "Everything is based on student pupil numbers, in the rural schools we struggle every year to maintain our number of students," he said.

Currently throughout the state, increased costs are driven by higher special education costs, health insurance cost increases, technology costs, and limited English usage.

Internet access charges for students vary from district to district. For example, the cost per student per year in one district is $530 while in another metro district the cost is $1 per student per year.

In 2003, state funding to equalize technology will be eliminated.

Limited English costs have increased by 230 percent in the last 10 years, according to the video.

Property taxes creep up
Decreased tax burdens implemented in 2002 are creeping back to higher 2001 levels.

Operating or bond levies for schools increased 66 percent between 2002-03.

The dramatic buy down of school levies in 2002 could make a 2003 increase appear large or property valuation increases, from 8 to 10 percent over the last four years, could contribute.

Reimbursement of consistent costs
Deragisch thinks the state should reimburse districts for costs that are consistent from one district to the next, regardless of whether the district is rural or metropolitan. This reimbursement wouldn’t be driven by enrollment.

Some fixed costs are heat, fuel and special education. Every district pays for these costs no matter how many students are in the district.

"There’s direct costs that could be funded that are constant throughout the state," he said.

With a $4.6 billion projected state deficit, Deragisch doubts the new administration, under Governor Tim Pawlenty, will solve funding problems in the near future.

"I along with every superintendent in Minnesota is nervous as to how the schools will be affected," he said. "Any reduction in school funding would be devastating to a lot of school districts."

Deragisch would like to see the state fund mandated programs. "We have mandates, and many times, they are funded the first year and then the funding is absorbed and we still have the reoccurring costs."

Adequate, predictable funding is the goal
MREA is an association of 150 school districts, about 40 percent of the state’s independent school districts, located in non-metropolitan Minnesota, according to their Web site.

The organization was founded in 1985 by a group of school board members and administrators who believed that non-metro school districts need a clearer voice in St. Paul. Members include teachers, school board members, and administrators.

MREA’s 2003 platform includes adequate, predictable funding which includes the full cost of special education mandates, a continued state commitment to equitably and entirely fund basic education, broad technology access and more state technology support and incentives to reorganize district administrative and financial services.