Mabel Eidahl, 94, Owatonna, died Saturday, Nov. 23, 2002, at Cedarview Nursing Home in Owatonna. She was the mother of former Luverne resident, Konrad Eidahl.

Services were Wednesday, Nov. 27, at Grace Lutheran Church in Albert Lea. The Rev. Todd Walsh officiated. Burial was at Graceland Cemetery, Albert Lea.

Mabel Knutson was born to John E. and Bolette (Haugsdal) Knutson on June 19, 1908, at her rural family home south of Emmons. She was baptized by the Rev. P.G. Ostby and confirmed by the Rev. O.T. Storaasli at Emmons Lutheran Church in Emmons. She attended rural Rovang school in Worth County and Lake Mills, Iowa, high school. After school she worked for Dr. K.I. Roshiem for many years.

She married Kenneth A. Eidahl on June 10, 1931, at Emmons Lutheran Church in Emmons. After marriage they lived in Leland, Iowa, until 1942 when they moved to Albert Lea. In 1950, they moved to Lake Mills and owned and operated Kenny’s Lunch. They moved back to Albert Lea in 1955. She worked at Skinner Chamberlain, Albert Lea Bakery, Land O’Lakes, and as a nursing assistant in several local nursing homes.

Mrs. Eidahl was a charter member of Grace Lutheran Church in Albert Lea. She taught Sunday School and was active in mission circle, Ladies Aid and Bible study. She liked nature and animals of all kinds and especially loved music and playing the piano.

Survivors include one son Konrad (Javonne) Eidahl, Emmons, two daughters, Katherine (Luther) Hermanson, Lester Prairie, and Marcia Kay (Richard) Ferguson, Owatonna; nine grandchildren, Kyle (Carol) Eidahl, Pamela (Tim) Christensen, David (Lynn) Eidahl, Brenda (Tim) Schmitz, Patrice (Jody) Hocking, Lucienne (David) Wurster, Karalee (James) Byl, Troy Folven and Melanie (David) Morrison; 18 great-grandchildren, Jessica Mann, Cara (Justin) Muth, Daniel Mann, Lindsey, Stephanie and Alexandra Schmitz, Stephanie, Matthew and Cody Christensen, Marcus and Christian Eidahl, Jessica (Justin) Maalis and Mandra (Chris) Peterson, Dylan and Madison Wurster, Bryce, Mariah and Megan Byl; one great-great-grandson, James David Maalis, one sister, Burnette Grunhovd, Albert Lea, one sister-in-law, Dorris Knutson, River Bend, Ariz., and many nieces, nephews and cousins.

Mrs. Eidahl was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, Kenneth in 1972, one daughter-in-law, Barbara Eidahl, one grandson, Mark Eidahl, three brothers, Albert, Eddie and Roy, and two sisters, Alma Herfendal and Bernice Knutson.

Bonnerup Funeral & Cremation Services, Albert Lea, was in charge of arrangements.

By Sara Strong
Women seem to be driving the exercise and fitness market in Rock County.

Last week, the Rock County Pool and Fitness Center Committee voted unanimously to turn the existing community room into a weight room for women only.

Manager Carol Wessels said it’s something members and non-members have shown interest in for years.

"It’ll meet the needs of people we have now who aren’t using the facility as they could," Wessels said.

As well as pleasing current members, Pool and Fitness Center Director Darrell Huiskes said women who don’t do any form of exercise will probably feel more comfortable doing so now.

The Pool Commission voted to spend $30,000 on new equipment for the overall facility, with most of the new weights going to the existing co-ed weight room.

The cardio room will also see some new equipment, but the biggest change will be in the women-only area.

The community room is now infrequently used as a party room and for different classes or staff programs.

Wessels said she’s personally glad to see the room get more use, and at the same time add variety to the facility. "We’re all really excited about it," she said.

The same theory of offering a comfortable atmosphere, centered on women and wellness, was put into practice through the type of fitness center offered at Curves for Women, downtown Luverne.

"There’s a market that is intimidated to some extent by the thought of a weight room," said Deb Meyer, manager of Curves for Women.

Curves now has 270 members, surpassing the business goal of 150 memberships by Christmas.

"We’ve gone above our goal by far," Meyer said. "Another thing we’re doing is offering classes on weight loss after Christmas and looking into adding more machines."

Even with another facility available, memberships at the Rock County Pool and Fitness Center haven’t suffered. Curves and the Pool and Fitness Center are hoping to reach an untapped market in Rock County.

The county facility still holds a steady 312 pool memberships and 418 fitness memberships.

The Pool Commission and management hope that the new weight room brings in more memberships. With the added members, more staff time will be dedicated to training and supervising use of the equipment.

The Pool and Fitness Center is also implementing a weight loss program called Choose to Lose.

Curves and the Fitness Center aren’t the only businesses that have shown a warm welcome to women who might otherwise not exercise. The trend of a friendlier atmosphere is national and regional.

Sioux Valley Hospitals and Health System fitness centers have started offering "transitional" rooms that are well suited to seniors or people new to exercise.

Staying fit isn’t about vanity for a lot of people who exercise. Older women — up to age 89 in the case of one Curves member — exercise now more than ever as it increases strength and flexibility and helps prevent falls and even osteoporosis.

The new fitness room for women, which doesn’t have a specific name yet, should be available by Jan. 1.

New equipment coming to the Fitness Center:
leg extension
leg curl
lateral pull down
assisted chin dip
rotary torso
total chest
total leg
total shoulder
flat/incline bench
supine press bench
incline press bench
decline press bench
Smith machine
3-way press bench
preacher curl
cable crossover
thera crunch
glute press
inner/outer thigh

The Pool and Fitness Center is also getting a rubber mat to protect carpet in the weight room from damage caused by metal weights.

Manager Carol Wessels said some active members helped suggest some new purchases.

By Sara Strong
Landlords concerned that they could get stuck with tenants’ unpaid bills asked the Luverne City Council to reconsider its utility policy.

The council heard concerns from property owners Evy Vanden Berg and Mike Jarchow at the Tuesday, Nov. 26 meeting.

Other alarmed property owners and managers have been communicating with the council after receiving letters last week.

The letter explained the city policy on unpaid utility bills, which hasn’t previously been enforced according to code. That policy essentially calls for certifying unpaid utilities (except electric) to the property taxes of the owner, even though the actual utility user wasn’t the property owner.

The city will still go through collection processes, but in the end, the property owner is viewed as the utility customer, as interpreted by an assistant city attorney.

Landlords asked the city to clarify some of its policies before enforcing them as written.

For example, will the city notify property owners when utilities are not being paid so the landlord can intervene before the unpaid amount increases?

Vanden Berg said she had a tenant who paid rent on time, but ran up other bills. Vanden Berg worries that in that situation, she wouldn’t have known her taxes would eventually be assessed unpaid utilities until after the tenant moved.

Among other questions is this: Will the city continue to ask renters for utility deposits? If so, that could signify that the legal contract is with the renter, not the property owner.

Council member Keith Erickson said, "Maybe we need to hold a meeting on this to hear from the people it affects."

Mayor Glen Gust objected to the letter itself and the overall policy at a previous council meeting.

Matt Hylen, City Administrator, said that it’s well within the City Council’s rights to change the code, which hasn’t been examined for an estimated 20 years.

Concerns from landlords who didn’t speak out at the meeting were also shared with individual council members and the mayor.

Assistant City Attorney Jeff Haubrich first brought the issue to the council. He said it’s typical for city codes to call for landowners to pay utilities.

He said all Luverne citizens would, in effect, subsidize the business of renting to tenants if the city services weren’t paid.

The council will reopen the issue at a future meeting to allow for more feedback.

Luverne senior Aaron Schmidt (22) drives around Fulda’s 6-6 forward Dan Hup during Tuesday’s boys’ basketball game in Luverne. The Raiders handed the Cardinals a 62-31 setback in Luverne’s season opener.

By John Rittenhouse
The Fulda Raiders spoiled Luverne’s season-opening boys’ basketball game by rolling to a 62-31 win over the Cardinals in Luverne Tuesday.

The game started in a promising way for LHS when senior Joey Pick drained a field goal to give the Cards a 2-0 lead, but Fulda stole the momentum by reeling off 21 straight points to take control of the game for the rest of the night.

With a pair of 6-6 posts starting for the Raiders, Luverne simply couldn’t stop Fulda’s inside game.

"I think their size kind of shocked us," said Cardinal coach Tom Rops. "It’s hard to simulate playing against tall kids like that in practice. They were much more physical than we were, and we didn’t play well the entire game."

Fulda’s 21-0 run led the Raiders to a 25-5 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Luverne trimmed the difference to 16 points (25-9) early in the second quarter before being outscored 8-5 the rest of the period, which ended with the hosts facing a 33-14 deficit.

The Cards trailed by 17 points twice early in the third period and were down by 15 (35-20) when Jake Studer buried a field goal at the 3:53 mark, but the Raiders scored the final six points of the stanza to lead 41-20 at the quarter break.

Fulda outscored the Cards 21-11 in the fourth quarter to prevail by 31 points in the end.

"I thought we would be much more competitive than we were," said a disappointed Rops. "We didn’t do anything we needed to do to be competitive in this game."

Studer led the Cards with 11 points and three steals. Jesse Kuhlman and Andy Stegemann nabbed four rebounds each.

The 0-1 Cards play in Pipestone Friday before hosting Worthington Tuesday.

Box score
Studer 5 0 1-3 11, Pick 1 0 0-0 2, Kuhlman 1 1 0-0 5, Schmidt 1 0 0-0 2, Stegemann 1 2 0-0 8, Deragisch 0 0 0-1 0, Boelman 1 0 0-0 2.

Team statistics
Luverne: 11 of 44 field goals (25 percent), two of six free throws (33 percent), 17 rebounds, 10 turnovers.
Fulda: 28 of 60 field goals (47 percent), one of seven free throws (14 percent), 39 rebounds, 10 turnovers.

By John Rittenhouse
The Adrian girls’ basketball team started the 2002-03 season in promising fashion by securing a pair of non-conference victories.

The Dragons toppled Sioux Valley-Round Lake-Brewster by 22 points in Round Lake Tuesday, Nov. 26 before besting Southwest Star Concept by 22 points in Adrian Tuesday.

Adrian will try to extend its winning streak by hosting Edgerton tonight, Pipestone Monday and Southwest Christian Tuesday.

Adrian 51, SSC 29
A big fourth quarter carried the Dragons to a 22-point win in their home opener against the Quasars Tuesday.

With Kylie Heronimus netting seven of her 11 points and Maria Gengler adding six of her 12 points, Adrian turned a five-point (27-22) advantage heading into the fourth quarter into a comfortable win by outscoring SSC 24-5 in the final eight minutes.

The game was tight through three quarters of play.

Adrian led 10-9 at the end of the first period, but the Quasars knotted the score at 17 at the intermission.

The Dragons moved in front 27-22 in the third quarter before icing the contest with their late-game domination.

Andrea Lonneman led the Dragons with 15 points. Gengler snared a team-high 12 rebounds. Sarah Kruger passed for five assists.

Box score
S.Henning 0 0 0-1 0, Heronimus 5 0 1-4 11, Honermann 2 0 0-0 4, Henning 1 0 0-0 2, Kruger 0 0 2-3 2, Cox 1 0 1-2 3, Lonneman 6 0 3-5 15, Gengler 5 0 2-2 12, A.Henning 0 0 0-2 0, Mulder 1 0 0-0 2.

Team statistics
Adrian: 21 of 60 field goals (35 percent), nine of 19 free throws (19 percent), 32 rebounds, 13 turnovers.
SSC: 11 of 50 field goals (22 percent), seven of 13 free throws (54 percent), 28 rebounds, 23 turnovers.

Adrian 56, SV-RL-B 37
The inside play of Adrian’s Andrea Lonneman and Maria Gengler paved the way to a 19-point, season-opening win over the Raiders in Round Lake Tuesday, Nov. 26.

Lonneman and Gengler, who led AHS with seven rebounds each, scored a combined 39 points in the contest.

After falling behind 9-7 in the first quarter, Gengler netted seven of her 13 points when Adrian outscored SV-RL-B 16-9 in the second period to give the Dragons a 23-18 halftime cushion.

Lonneman burned the nets for 21 of her 26 points in the second half, when AHS put the game away by outscoring the Raiders 33-19.

"We didn’t play good basketball until a four-minute span of the third quarter," said Dragon coach Randy Strand. "We had five straight steals that we converted into 13 points. That spread the difference for us."

Jenna Honermann contributed five assists and five steals to the winning cause. Ashley Cox and Sarah Kruger contributed six rebounds and five steals respectively.

Box score
Henning 0 0 2-2 2, Honermann 2 0 1-2 5, Kruger 0 0 2-6 2, Cox 3 0 0-0 6, Lonneman 10 0 6-8 26, Gengler 6 0 1-3 13, Wolf 1 0 0-2 2.

Team statistics
Adrian: 22 of 53 field goals (42 percent), 12 of 23 free throws (52 percent), 34 rebounds, 19 turnovers.
SV-RL-B: eight of 41 field goals (20 percent), 19 of 33 free throws (58 percent), 18 rebounds, 22 turnovers.

By John Rittenhouse
The Luverne-Hills-Beaver Creek gymnastics team experienced a successful start to the 2002-03 season by posing a win over West Central in Sioux Falls Tuesday.

Cardinal athletes won three individual events to set the stage for a 112.7-107.05 win over WC.

Callen Bosshart, who was the all-around champion with 29.8 points, won the floor exercises with an 8.4 effort.

Bosshart also placed second on the vault (8.4), fourth on the bars (7.0) and tied for fourth place on the beam (6.0).

Danielle Cook and Amanda Dooyema also won individual events for L-H-BC.

Cook, who was third on the beam with a 7.2, won the vault with an 8.6 tally.

Dooyema, who was third on the floor with a 7.5, won the bars title with an 8.1.

Cardinal Brittany Mulder, who finished fifth all around with 24.2 points, tied for third place on the vault with a 7.9.

L-H-BC’s Brittany Boeve tied for second place on the beam with a 6.2 score.

The 1-0 Cards host Marshall tonight and Pipestone Thursday.

Individual results
Floor: Bosshart, 8.4; Dooyema, 7.5; Cook, 6.9; Boeve, 6.05; Mulder 5.5.
Beam: Boeve, 6.2; Bosshart, 6.0; Dooyema, 5.85; Mulder, 4.8.
Bars: Dooyema, 8.1; Cook, 7.2; Bosshart, 7.0; Mulder, 6.0.
Vault: Cook, 8.6; Bosshart, 8.4; Mulder, 7.9; Boeve, 7.8; Victoria Arends, 7.1

Ellsworth senior guard Jenna Groen scored her 1,000th career point during a Nov. 26 home game against Southwest Christian. Groen is the first EHS girl to reach the 1,000-point milestone.

By John Rittenhouse
History was made during a Nov. 26 girls’ basketball game between Ellsworth and Southwest Christian in Ellsworth.

Jenna Groen, a senior guard for the EHS squad, made school history when she became the first Panther girl to reach the 1,000-point milestone for her career.

Groen, a three-year starter for the Panthers, needed 13 points heading into tilt to reach the plateau.

According to Panther coach Dean Schnaible, a layup midway through the third quarter etched Groen’s name into EHS history.

"She got it in the middle of the third quarter," Schnaible said. "She becomes the first female to score 1,000 points in Ellsworth school history."

Groen’s historic hoop came during a dramatic rally for EHS.

Trailing 29-17 at halftime, Ellsworth bounced back to outscore SWC 42-14 in the second half to win the game 59-43.

Groen, who led the Panthers with 24 points, struck for 10 counters in the fourth quarter.

She was awarded a game ball that was signed by the coaching staff and her teammates to mark the occasion.

Luverne junior defenseman Steven Berghorst pokes the puck away from Mankato East’s Taylor Sorgatz during a boys’ hockey game played at the Blue Mound Ice Arena Tuesday, Nov. 26. The Cardinals beat the Cougars 4-2 in the first game of the season for both teams.

By John Rittenhouse
The Luverne boys’ hockey team racked up a pair of wins to open the 2002-03 season last week.

The Cardinals nipped Mankato East by two goals at the Blue Mound Ice Arena Tuesday, Nov. 26. LHS then recorded a one-goal win against Minneapolis Edison in Minneapolis Saturday.

Luverne, 2-0 overall, hosts Fairmont tonight.

Luverne 1, Edison 0
A solid defensive effort anchored by senior goalie Cody Gehrke set the stage for Saturday’s win over Minneapolis Edison in Minneapolis.

Gehrke blanked the hosts while stopping 26 shots. According to Cardinal coach Lee Chaffee, the net-minder received a lot of help from his defenders.

"Cody played very well — as you would expect in a 1-0 game, there was a lot of defense involved. Our defensive coverage was good. Every once in a while we got a little bit sloppy, but we did the job," he said.

The lone goal of the game came in the second period when Cardinal Dan Park found the net after being set up by Andy Hess and Gregg Fuerstenberg.

Edison sported a 26-24 advantage in shots on goal in the game.

Luverne 4, ME 2
The Cardinal boys enjoyed a successful start to the season when they toppled Mankato East by two goals at the Blue Mound Ice Arena Tuesday, Nov. 26.

A three-point performance by senior Eric Lammert set the pace offensively for LHS. A solid goal-tending effort by Gehrke also played a key role in the win.

The teams skated to a scoreless draw in the first period before scoring a combined four goals in the second period.

Matt Reverts gave the Cards a 1-0 lead when he scored after being set up by Lammert at the 7:58 mark of the second stanza, but the Cougars knotted the game at one when Chad Hager found the net with 4:31 remaining in the period.

Luverne took the lead for good by scoring twice in a 21-second span late in the second period.

Lammert put the Cards in front 2-1 after being assisted by Reverts. Tony Smedsrud drilled a slap shot into the net at 1:17 to make it a 3-1 game. Lammert and Chris Morgan received assists for Smedsrud’s tally.

ME made it a one-goal difference when Cody Drysdale scored 1:27 into the third period, but Luverne’s Hess got the goal back with an unassisted effort with 3:53 remaining.

Gehrke stopped 32 of 34 shots in net for the Cards. Luverne had 26 shots on goal.

By Lori Ehde
Five local men appeared in Rock County District Court Monday on drug charges stemming from Nov. 26 arrests.

A 17-year-old girl faces drug charges in juvenile proceedings.

Arrested were 39-year-old Gregory Lynn Wade, 35-year-old Tony Tyler Tate, 48-year-old Oliver Eugene Crawford, 18-year-old Gregory Charles Stratton, Dustin James Kruger (who will be 19 next week) and 17-year-old Noi Chitmany.

All are from Luverne.

According to Rock County Investigator Clyde Menning, the arrests were the result of a 10-week investigation of the local methamphetamine market.

"We had put an awful lot of work into achieving what we accomplished that day, and it was very gratifying," Menning said. "Obviously it’s one of the largest investigations we’ve done here, short of homicides, and it was quite intense at times."

The arrest involved 20 officers, 11 of which were Rock County personnel, eight from the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, and one Minnesota State Patrol officer.

Menning said warrants were issued for simultaneous arrests to prevent any of the suspects from fleeing. "There was no significance to the date we picked," he said. "It had been going on for 10 weeks and it was time to wrap it up."

He said the arrests went smoothly, despite one of the defendants, Wade, claiming he was injured in the process.

"He’s got some old injuries and when we made the arrests, of course we ordered everyone to the floor," Menning said, "and he started complaining right away that he was hurt."

The Sheriff’s Department had been monitoring local drug activity for several months, but officers were able to step up investigations with help from a BCA confidential informant, who was in Luverne for 10 weeks.

In a local motel room, the informant made several videotaped exchanges with local dealers resulting in the purchase of roughly 66 grams of methamphetamines for a total of about $7,700.

Based on that evidence, warrants were obtained for the arrest of Wade, Tate, Crawford, Stratton, Kruger and Chitmany.

Those warrants were executed simultaneously Tuesday afternoon, Nov. 26. All but Kruger were arrested that day, and Kruger was arrested Thanksgiving day, Nov. 28.

Charged Monday
The five men appeared for their first court hearing Monday, when they were formally charged and bail was set.

Wade was charged with first-degree controlled substance crime for selling 11.2 grams of meth Nov. 3, and he was charged with fifth-degree controlled substance crime for participating in the sale of 10.7 grams of marijuana.

His bail was set at $50,000.

Tate was charged with first- and second-degree controlled substance crime for selling a total of 13.6 grams of meth on four separate dates in October. His bail was set at $35,000.

Crawford was charged with first-degree aiding and abedding a controlled substance crime for assisting Wade in the sale and delivery of 11.2 grams of meth. He was charged with third-degree attempting to commit a controlled substance crime for discussing the sale of meth and accepting $560 over a period of time to secure the sale of meth.

Crawford was also charged with fifth-degree controlled substance crime for selling 10.7 grams of marijuana. His bail was set at $50,000.

Stratton was charged with two counts of first-degree controlled substance crime and one count of second-degree for selling a total of 21 grams of meth on Nov. 2 and Nov. 5. His bail was set at $25,000.

Kruger was charged with second-degree aiding and abetting a controlled substance crime for driving Stratton to and from what he knew to be a sale of controlled substance. His bail was set at $5,000.

Chitmany was charged in juvenile proceedings with two counts of sale of methamphetamines.

Sentence guidelines for first-degree controlled substance crime, the most serious of the felony charges, call for more than seven years in prison.

Bail is determined by a number of factors, including likeliness of a defendant to flee the area and prior criminal records. Crawford, incidentally, is standing trial today for his role in the Harvey’s Trading post burglary with Luverne’s Scott Wentler, who has already been convicted.

Kruger has posted bail, but the rest are currently held in the Nobles County Jail, Worthington, pending their next hearing.

For defendants to post bail, they typically pay 10 percent up front through the services of a bondsman.

A battle won in an ongoing war on drugs
When asked if he felt last week’s arrests made a worthwhile dent in Rock County’s drug problem, Menning said it’s bound to help.

"Time will tell on that. We felt comfortable — with the number we arrested — that it was a success," he said. "…. I can’t speculate what it will be six months from now. The parents of Rock County need to be very vigilant about what’s going on in their homes."

Assistant County Attorney Terry Vajgrt said he is pleased with the outcome of the investigation.

"I think we made significant progress in addressing the problem," Vajgrt said. "Through community policing, good investigating and aggressive criminal prosecution, we plan on making Rock County a dangerous place to sell drugs."

Not at easy as it may seem
Menning said he’s just glad to have wrapped up the investigation.

"The whole process has been underway for six months, but we’ve been waiting for something like this to occur for a long time," Menning said.

He said despite what television police dramas portray, it’s difficult to arrange for a successful confidential informant such as the one that was used to broker the local sales.

"It’s quite rare," Menning said. "It’s very difficult to get someone with as much knowledge and experience as we need to infiltrate these groups and to gain their confidence. It may be a very long time before we can arrange for that again."

Menning said last week’s arrests were gratifying for the whole law enforcement department.

"The officers worked very long and very hard on this, and they’re the ones who deserve a pat on the back," he said. "It was team effort by everyone here at the Law Enforcement Center."

Lila Bauer, founder of the local group Parents: The Anti-Drug and Violence Task Force, said she is happy about the arrests, and encourages continued awareness in the community.

Bauer and other concerned parents started the group in September to educate parents on the warning signs of drug use and to raise community awareness about the problem.

When asked if those efforts contributed to last week’s arrests, both Menning and Vajgrt said awareness is a good idea, but that the investigation had begun long before the group organized.

"I know it’s been difficult for law enforcement to remain silent when asked what they’re doing to address the local drug problem," Vajgrt said.

"They’ve certainly been called to task over the last several months."