By John Rittenhouse
Football playoffs don't officially begin until Tuesday, but the Luverne Cardinals have already found themselves in a must-win situation.

After dropping a 42-16 decision to Redwood Valley in Redwood Falls Friday, 2-5 Luverne played last night's regular season finale against Jackson County Central at Cardinal Field with a sense of urgency.

In order to qualify for the Section 3AAA playoffs, the Cards had to knock off a JCC squad that has lost two games (to Worthington and RWV) all season. To complicate matters, JCC had something to play for as the Huskies could wrap up a No. 1 seed in their section with a win over LHS.

"This game (against JCC Wednesday) basically is a playoff game for us," said Cardinal coach Todd Oye. "We need a win and a loss by either Yellow Medicine East or Morris to get into the playoffs. JCC is playing for a No. 1 seed."

Friday's 28-point loss in Redwood Falls, and every other setback Luverne has taken this year, has left it in ninth place out of nine teams in the Section 3AAA points' standings. Since only eight teams make the playoffs in the section, Luverne's post-season hopes all hinged on what happened last night.

As they have in other games this season, Luverne simply made too many mistakes in Redwood Falls to win.

A turnover and a missed field-goal attempt kept the Cards from opening a big lead early. Two more turnovers and a possession that ended on downs led to a 27-point fourth quarter for RWV, which put the contest out of reach.

The first-quarter mishaps potentially cost the Cardinals 10 points.

A 28-yard pass from LHS quarterback Tony Smedsrud to Canaan Petersen helped set up a field-goal attempt at the end of LuverneÕs first possession of the game, but the kick was off the mark.

Luverne got the ball back and moved it inside the RWV 10-yard line with the help of a 21-yard pass completion to Marcus Walgrave. The Cards, however, lost the ball moments later on the RWV five.

The Cards did mount an eight-play, 30-yard scoring drive that ended with Walgrave scoring on a six-yard run and a successful extra point with 35 seconds left in the opening quarter, but Luverne's 7-0 lead could have been a lot bigger at that point.

"We miss a field goal during our first drive, and we fumble on the five the second time we have the ball. If we don't fumble and make that field goal, itÕs a 17-0 game," Oye said.

RWV erased Luverne's 7-0 lead when quarterback Mike Karsky hit Trevor Wittwer for a seven-yard touchdown pass with 8:05 remaining in the second quarter. A two-point conversion followed the touchdown.

Luverne regained the lead at 13-8 with a nine-play, 73-yard drive that was capped by a three-yard touchdown pass from Smedsrud to Aaron Schmidt with 1:32 left in the first half.

The drive featured 12-yard runs by Walgrave and Mark Remme, and an 11-yard run by Joel Evans.

RWV, however, moved in front with a 30-yard touchdown pass from Karsky to Tom Ellingworth with 35 seconds remaining in the half. A successful extra point gave RWV a 15-13 edge at the intermission.

Luverne regained the lead at 16-15 with its second possession of the second half. A 46-yard drive ended with Adam Kurtz booting a field goal with 5:51 left in the third quarter.

RWV countered Luverne's kick with a long drive that ended with a touchdown early in the fourth quarter.

Once RWV gained the lead, it was able to take advantage of two LHS turnovers while putting together a 27-point fourth quarter.

"Our missed opportunities hurt us, but the difference in the game was our fourth-quarter turnovers, and our inability to stop them," Oye concluded.

Team statistics
Luverne: 220 rushing yards, 81 passing yards, 301 total yards, 19 first downs, three penalties, three turnovers.
RWV: 246 rushing yards, 81 passing yards, 327 total yards, 11 first downs, nine penalties, one turnover.

Individual statistics
Rushing: Walgrave 16-114, Evans 11-63, Remme 6-27, Andy Stegemann 2-14, Kurtz 2-11, Schmidt 2-4, Joey Pick 1-4, Smedsrud 2-minus 17.
Passing: Smedsrud 7-13 for 78 yards, Kurtz 1-1 for three yards.
Receiving: Pick 3-19, Ben Cornish 2-10, Petersen 1-28, Walgrave 1-21, Schmidt 1-3.

By Jolene Farley
Twenty Hills-Beaver Creek High School students have signed up for an educational adventure to Costa Rica, Central America, in June.

Spanish teacher Teri Richards and science teacher Janette VandenHoek planned the trip and will chaperone, along with Janette’s husband Rick.

Students will see endangered rain forests, the Arenal Volcano and wildlife reserves with populations of rare wildlife. Costa Rica, a stable, democratic country, is home to one-tenth of the world’s bird species and one-tenth of the world’s butterflies.

VandenHoek wants her students to see the diverse plants, insects and animals in Costa Rica.

"They are going to get to see a lot of different landscapes," said Richards.

Richards hopes the trip will show students more about the world.

"I think it will be a really good experience for them to get out of the United States and see how the rest of the world lives," she said.

Students began working last spring to raise money for the $1,600 trip (spending money not included). Students hosted a burger and brat feed, sold various products, ran the concession stand for sporting events and washed cars for three days at a car dealership in Sioux Falls.

"Oh, my gosh," said Richards. "That was a lot of work. But that was a good little fund-raiser, we made a lot of money off that."

The next fund-raiser is a babysitting service for the Holiday Tour of Homes on Saturday, Dec. 7.

Students have the option to participate in fund-raisers and can earn as much or as little as they want to defray the cost of the trip.

"Some people have really been fund raising a lot," said Richards. "We are really leaving it up to them. We just wanted to create the opportunity."

Richards is looking forward to the trip to Costa Rica. She has visited Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Mexico.

"I really love the culture, the food, the people," she said. "Any of the time I’ve spent down there I just really, really like it."

VandenHoek finds the rain forest interesting and wants to see monkeys in their natural habitat.

If all goes well, Richards and VandenHoek hope to plan another student trip in two years.

By Jolene Farley
Home improvement enthusiasts can tour five beautiful area homes from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 7, during the Holiday Tour of Homes. Proceeds from the event go to the Hills-Beaver Creek After Prom fund.

The tour features the homes of Harlin and Yvonne Rozeboom and Dave and Eunice Roozenboom, all of rural Steen, the Brad and Linda Bosch home, Steen, the Chris and Grace Van Wyhe home east of Hills, and the Beverly Wassenaar home, Hills.

Tickets and maps for the tour are available at Hills-Beaver Creek High School and Steen Reformed church on the day of the tour.

Tickets are $7 for ages 10 to adult.

Parents are asked to drop off children younger than 10 at the babysitting service provided by the Hills-Braver Creek Spanish Club. Proceeds will be used to fund the students’ trip to Costa Rica in June. To pre-register children, call Teri Richards at 962-3240.

Junior parents will serve lunch at Steen Reformed church.

Also on Saturday, Country Flowers and Crafts will have a holiday open house featuring Premier Designs jewelry. The location of Country Flowers and Crafts is included on the Holiday Tour of Homes map.

Five local men appeared in Rock County District Court Monday on drug charges stemming from Nov. 26 arrests. Story inside.

Photo by Lori Ehde

Better than ever
Luverne High School Marching Band drum majors Becky Antoine (left), Alisha Moeller and Emily Brandel (back) display their take of trophies and plaques from the 2002 competitive season. Results from the Luverne High School Marching Band season are as follows: Waseca Marching Classic: second place in both parade and field; Tri-State Band Festival: first place in both parade and field, in addition to Outstanding Guard and Outstanding Drum Majors awards; Sioux Falls Festival of Bands: second place in field; Brandon Big Sioux Review: second place in field; Spirit of Madison Competition: first place in field and Outstanding Guard award; and Brookings Optimist Competition: third place in field. Luverne High School Marching Band, under the direction of Dale Nelson, competes among schools in the Class AA division.

Photo by Lori Ehde

Are Thanksgiving shoppers missing the point of the holiday?

It’s an irony, to me, that the day after Thanksgiving is the biggest shopping day of the year.

We spend Thanksgiving day being thankful for all our blessings — typically priceless things like good health and love of family. Then, we rush out the next day to buy the pricey things that we presumably need for Christmas.

I’m not opposed to Christmas or shopping, it’s just that staging both major events back-to-back seems a little … well … missing the point.

Considering this is the time of year people often spend themselves into debt, it’s probably not a bad idea to reconnect with some priceless assets and re-evaluate wealth.

According to a new book by inspirational leader and financial adviser Steve Rhode, money problems are often not about money; they are about who we are underneath what we’re trying to be.

The process of becoming someone we’re not can often be expensive, and the resulting low self-esteem can lead to more spending.

His book, "The Path to Happiness and Wealth: How to Enjoy Money and Life at the Same Time," is worth at least a page skimming.

He encourages people to strive for 10 personal attributes in order to prioritize values. A few of his more poignant mentions are:

Kindness — The nice thing about kindness is that as you give, you are repaid a little in your life’s savings account. The more you are kind to others, the better you will feel about yourself.

Gratitude — The only thing you are entitled to in life is … let’s see … nothing. That’s right. Everything more than nothing is a blessing in your life.

Responsibility — Before you can move forward in your life you must accept responsibility for those things for which you are responsible. Don’t assign blame when things go wrong; take responsibility for fixing them and move on.

Mindfulness — To be mindful is to be aware of what we are seeing and what we are thinking. Be aware of your intentions and how you see them through your actions.

Introspectiveness — The hardest person for us to answer to is ourselves. We need to examine the motivations behind what we do with money, credit and debt.

Honesty — The simple ability to see your situation for what it is. Be honest with yourself, because there are plenty of people who will lie to you.

Rhode reminds readers that enough can actually be enough.

"We take everything for granted," he said. "Instead, we need to start each day believing that everything — breathing, shelter, love, money and the rest — are luxuries."

Happy Thanksgiving, and happy (smart) shopping.

Luverne has new $100,000 winner
The Korner Gas Stop at Main Street and Hwy. 75 in Luverne was a lucky stop for Mary Ellen Polge last week.

The Luverne resident purchased five quick-pick tickets for the November 30 Powerball drawing.

The first line of numbers matched the numbers 1-4-19-21-29 (the Powerball was 8) for a $100,000 prize.

Odds of winning a prize in the Powerball is 1 in 36, and 1 in 120 million for the winning jackpot.

According to lottery officials, prizes of $100,000 from the Dec. 22, 2001, Jan. 19, 2002, March 27, 2002, June 19, 2002, Aug. 10, 2002, Aug. 17, 2002 and Oct. 2, 2002, are unclaimed

One ticket worth $500,000 (Power Play) from the Oct. 12 drawing is also unclaimed.

Players have one year from the date of the drawing to claim their prize.

Palace to show "Jack Frost" for Winterfest weekend
Those looking forward to movies at the Palace, will have the opportunity to go to the show this weekend.

The Palace will open its doors this Winterfest weekend for the movie, "Jack Frost".

"Jack Frost", starring Michael Keaton and Kelly Preston, (John Travolta’s wife) will be shown three times: first at 1 p.m. Saturday, again after the Winterfest parade, and then at 1 p.m. Sunday.

Members of the Blue Mound Area Theatre Group, owners of the Palace, are hoping movies at the Palace will be a regular event sometime after the first of the year.

The most likely scenario being discussed by the board would be a movie on the first weekend of every month.

Take advantage of 0 percent finance
Now that Thanksgiving is behind us, the Christmas shopping ritual is well underway.

Since buying such a large number of Christmas presents are compressed into a few weeks, can be taxing on the bank account, the Chamber of Commerce is once again offering Luverne shoppers a 0 percent Christmas loan program.

Twenty-two Luverne Chamber members have teamed up with the three Luverne banks to help make the shopping experience a little gentler on the pocket book.

Here’s how it works.

1. Go to either First National Bank of Luverne, First Farmers and Merchants National Bank or Minnwest Bank and apply for a loan.

2. Banks will issue gift certificates for the amount of the loan.

3. Certificates may be used at any participating business up to Dec. 24, 2002.

4. Merchants are not permitted to give change for certificates. You will be required to pay any amount over the nearest $10 increment in cash.

5. Certificates may be applied to your bank loan if done so by Dec. 27, 2002, with maximum allowable amount set at 10 percent of loan total. Example: One payment in six months of $300 per $300 borrowed.

This is the 14th year for the loan program.

Last year more than $32,000 was borrowed for Christmas shopping through the program.

MnDOT announces safer bridges
According to the Minnesota Department of Transportation, two bridges on I-90 in southwest Minnesota will be safer for the traveling public thanks to a new automated de-icing system.

The Freeze Free system has sensors on the bridges that automatically activate the system or enable the MnDOT staff to remotely active equipment to apply chemicals that prevent the formation of ice on the bridges and overpasses.

Overpasses are generally the first places where ice forms.

The two overpasses, located at Beaver Creek and Worthington, have an average of 12 snow and ice related crashes every year.

The de-icing allows the application of chemical much sooner than under traditional methods.

Pavement sensors monitor surface conditions when they are approaching the freezing point.

Within minutes, 36 to 40 application nozzles mounted along the bridge and guardrails spray anti-icing chemicals. Obviously, this is much quicker than dispatching trucks to the site for the traditional method of de-icing.

When the chemical is dispensed, motorists could encounter a spray as high as 18 inches from the ground.

In another test, MnDOT will also test automatic gates.

During a severe storm, MnDOT will be able to close the gates from a remote location to prohibit access to roads that are unsafe.

The automatic gates are expected to save approximately 15 percent of the cost to clear roads more quickly.

Publisher Roger Tollefson can be contacted by e-mail at tolly@star-herald.com

Gladys Helgerson, 97, Grand Junction, Colo., former Hardwick resident, died Saturday, Nov. 23, 2002.
Crematory services will be at a later date.

Survivors include her children, Betty Blasick, Grand Junction, and Bob Helgerson, Bonners Ferry, Idaho; two brothers, Virgil Thompson, Luverne, and Clarence Thompson, La Crosse, Wis.; and two sisters, Ruby Viland, Luverne, and Harriet Bryan, Billings, Mont.

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.