By Sara Strong
Beyond its popular aesthetics, the Rock County Courthouse is the hub of county government activity.
Unfortunately, it’s also outdated and costly in some regards.

A private firm has spent a few months studying the Rock County Courthouse and came up with some projects that would make the county more efficient. Johnson Controls presented its findings and a proposal to the Rock County Board of Commissioners Tuesday.

Commissioners didn’t indicate they favored all components of Johnson Control’s proposal for the courthouse, highway building and Family Services, which came at a cost of $801,000. That figure includes a maintenance agreement.

First, the courthouse boiler is almost 40 years old and was converted from a steam to hot water boiler years ago. There is no back-up heat source and a new boiler system would improve energy efficiency.

Humidity in the courthouse is also an issue, so an upgraded cooling system is also a part of the proposal for the courthouse.

The county can elect to use parts of the proposal instead of "all or nothing."

Other parts of the Johnson Controls proposal were lighting retrofits to brighter, whiter light; increasing heating and cooling receivers for specific areas of the courthouse that aren’t currently reached effectively; ventilation improvements, and Highway Department garage radiant heat installation.

Johnson Controls said the most important upgrades would be the mechanical improvements, heating and moisture control.

When the courthouse was last remodeled in 1987 improved ventilation and a new boiler were included in the plans, but because of budget strains, were deleted from the final project.

The county can bond for up to $295,000 of the costs and finance the rest through Johnson Controls.

The Board of Commissioners will discuss the proposal at its next board meeting to include Ron Boyenga, who was absent Tuesday, in the discussion.

In other business Tuesday, the board:
Proclaimed April 2 through 9 as Stomp Out Youth Tobacco Use week. Rock County 4-H Ambassadors Sarah Nath, Lindsy Sells and Lindsay Den Herder made the request to the board. They are planning youth activities for the Stomp Out week.

Accepted a request from Holli Arp, director of the University of Minnesota Extension in Rock County, to hire a summer intern.

Arp said, "We just feel we need something to keep our 4-H program strong."

The intern will cost about $830 more than budgeted, but with Fraser Norton leaving, Arp said the budget will more than make up for it. It’s still not known whether the University will fill his position.

oApproved a pursuit policy from the Rock County Sheriff’s Office. Essentially, the policy asks officers to use their judgment based on individual circumstances. Sheriff Mike Winkels said the department is probably involved in three pursuits a year.

"The guys use their discretion really well," he said.

Winkels said the level of crime is a major factor in determining whether to pursue a vehicle that is clearly avoiding law enforcement.

Sometimes officers are able to know who they are pursuing and can use measures other than vehicle chases to apprehend suspects.

The policy is reviewed annually. The board requested to hear from Winkels after three deputies were involved in an accident during a pursuit.

Luverne High School students helped the Mary Jane Brown Good Samaritan Center deliver Valentine greetings around town Friday. Pictured are Kyle Bitterman, Jamison Tooley, Tim Boen, Daniel Amborn and Colby Anderson singing "Earth Angel" a cappella. The fund-raiser got 60 orders this year, most of which were able to be delivered, despite the snowy weather.

Other serenaders were Alisha Moeller, Becky Antoine, Melissa Boeve, Kristen Radley, Angie Cleveringa, Dan Nath, Phil Voigt and Kevin Aaker.

Photo by Chantell Connell

Luverne's Kathy Jarchow (second from right) will open Gabe's (named for her maiden name, Gabrielson) with her former Cook's employees, Cindy Kooiker (left), Cleone Honken and Henrietta Remme. Story inside.

Photo by Chantel Connell

By John Rittenhouse
The Luverne-Hills-Beaver Creek-Ellsworth wrestling team climbed out of the Southwest Conference cellar Thursday night in Luverne.

Taking on Jackson County Central in a match between a pair of 0-5 SWC squads, the Cardinals locked up sixth place in the league by besting the Huskies 54-25 on Parents’ Night in Luverne.

Both Dusty Seachris and Kerry Fink, H-BC members of the squad, participated in the regular season finale.

The night was not the best one of the year for Seachris and Fink, who lost their matches.

Seachris lost by technical fall at 135 pounds to Jordan Burmeister.

Fink was pinned in 1:34 by Justin Kolander at 125 pounds.

L-H-BC-E was scheduled to open the Section 3AA Team Tournament in Westbrook Tuesday, but poor weather conditions forced the match between the 11th-seeded Cardinals and No. 6 Pipestone to be postponed until tonight.

The teams square off at 6 p.m. in Lamberton, which is the new site of the match.

By John Rittenhouse
The Hills-Beaver Creek girls’ basketball team upped its season record to 13-8 with a 58-46 win over Murray County Central in Hills Tuesday.

H-BC opened a 12-point halftime lead and maintained it by battling the Rebels to a draw at 27 in the second half.

The win was H-BC’s fourth straight, which is the Patriots’ longest winning stretch of the season.

H-BC, 9-5 in Red Rock Conference play, ends the regular season by playing in Adrian tonight and hosting Fulda Tuesday.

According to Patriot coach Tom Goehle, H-BC turned in a solid performance on both ends of the court against MCC.

"Our girls did a great job defensively all night," he said. "Offensively, we moved the ball really well and attacked the basket very well. We received quality minutes from every one of our girls."

The Patriots opened a 14-9 lead in the first quarter before outscoring the Rebels 17-10 in the third period to boast a 31-19 halftime cushion.

MCC fought back to trim the difference to eight points (42-34) in the third quarter, but H-BC returned the favor by outscoring the Rebels 16-12 in the final eight minutes of play to prevail by 12 points.

Cassi Tilstra led the charge for H-BC by netting 19 points and passing for eight assists.

Erin Boeve had a double-double with 18 points and 15 rebounds.

Melinda Feucht scored 12 points for the winners.

Box score
Bush 0 0 0-0 0, Feucht 4 0 4-7 12, Sandstede 0 0 0-0 0, Tilstra 3 3 4-5 19, S.Rozeboom 2 0 0-1 4, Boeve 5 0 8-13 18, Olson 2 0 1-3 5.

Team statistics
H-BC: 19 of 43 field goals (44 percent), 17 of 29 free throws (59 percent).
MCC: 17 of 54 field goals (31 percent), 12 of 18 free throws (67 percent).

Hills-Beaver Creek senior post Jesse Leuthold prepares to shoot the ball during Monday’s 59-56 boys’ basketball win over Sioux Falls Christian in Hills. Leuthold scored six points to help the Patriots win their 10th straight game.

By John Rittenhouse
A second-half comeback by the Hills-Beaver Creek boys’ basketball team gave the Patriots a 59-56 victory over Sioux Falls Christian in Hills Monday.

H-BC’s nine-game winning streak appeared to be at risk when the Chargers sported three- and two-point edges at the end of first two quarters.

The Patriots, however, rallied to outscore SFC 36-31 in the second half to win by three and secure their 10th straight win.

H-BC will go for its 11th consecutive victory when it travels to Adrian Tuesday.

Monday’s game against the Chargers was a battle.

H-BC trailed by as many as 10 points in the first half and faced a five-point deficit in the third quarter using three runs in the second half to win the game.

SFC, which led 25-23 at the intermission, led 30-25 in the early stages of the third quarter.

H-BC tied the game at 32 with a field goal from Kale Wiertzema at the 3:07 mark of the third quarter and gained its first lead since early in the first quarter when Trey Van Wyhe connected for another field goal with 2:40 remaining to give the Patriots a 34-33 edge.

The field goals were a part of a 12-2 run that gave the Patriots a 37-32 lead, but a late three by SFC made it a 37-35 game heading into the final eight minutes of play.

H-BC opened the fourth quarter with an 8-0 run capped by two free throws from Wiertzema with 5:59 remaining that gave the Patriots their biggest lead of the game at 45-35.

SFC countered with a 12-4 surge to trim H-BC’s lead to two points (49-47) with 2:25 left to play.

H-BC then made seven free throws (three by Tyson Metzger, two by Wiertzema and two by Tyler Bush) to extend its lead to nine points at 56-47 with 36 seconds remaining.

SFC outscored the Patriots 9-3, but the Chargers didn’t have a possession in which they could have tied the game during that span.

H-BC scored the first four points of the game before the Chargers went on a 7-0 run to take a 7-4 lead before sporting a 9-6 lead at period’s end.

The Chargers outscored H-BC 13-6 in the first four minutes of the second period to open a 22-12 advantage. H-BC put together an 8-0 run capped by a pair of charity shots from Bush to trail 22-20, and it remained behind by two points at halftime.

Van Wyhe led the Patriots with 22 points and nine rebounds in the game, while Wiertzema added seven assists, six rebounds and 12 points. Jesse Leuthold pulled down six rebounds.

The 17-4 Patriots outscored the Chargers 23-7 at the free-throw line during the game.

Box score
Bush 0 0 7-8 7, Wysong 0 0 0-0 0, Roozenboom 1 0 0-0 2, Broesder 0 0 2-2 2, Wiertzema 1 2 4-7 12, Metzger 1 0 6-8 8, Van Wyhe 9 0 4-4 22, Leuthold 2 0 0-0 6.

Team statistics
H-BC: 17 of 40 field goals (43 percent), 23 of 29 free throws (79 percent), 34 rebounds, 14 turnovers.
SFC: 17 of 50 field goals (34 percent), seven of eight free throws (88 percent), 14 rebounds, 14 turnovers.

By Jolene Farley
Hills native Doug Deragisch has been named Middle School Principal of the Year by the Minnesota Association of Secondary Principals.

Deragisch, Marshall’s middle school principal, beat out seven other candidates to represent Minnesota in national competition in Washington, D.C.

Deragisch was notified Wednesday, Jan. 29, at Winter Work Shop in Minneapolis that he was the winner.

The MASP is an association of high school and middle school principals in Minnesota.

"It’s a great honor and I appreciate it very much," he said. "It’s recognition for the entire, in my case, the building. I want to give teachers, staff and the superintendent credit for what they’ve done here in Marshall."

Under Deragisch, the Marshall Middle School has evolved from traditional to block class scheduling.

Interdisciplinary teaming, a teaching technique, is now used by the teachers. Teachers build on topics in different subject areas. For instance, if the topic is the 50’s and 60’s, items pertaining to the same era would be taught in music, history, English, etc.

"We switched from a junior high philosophy to a true middle school philosophy," he said. "It’s knowing the middle school student, what makes them tick. … We have to help develop a program to fit the students needs instead of trying to make them fit our needs."

For the state competition, Deragisch answered four written questions. One question asked what major change in a school system he was involved with. In his answer, he detailed the switch to a true middle school at Marshall.

Deragisch, the son of Doris Deragisch Blom and the late Dean Deragisch, graduated from Hills-Beaver Creek High School in 1981. He earned a teaching degree from the University of Sioux Falls.

He taught eighth through eleventh-grade social studies at Storden-Jeffers after earning his degree. He coached volleyball, basketball and track and was a drivers’ education instructor.

After four years of teaching, Deragisch decided to return to college for a master’s degree in administration. He continued to teach at Storden-Jeffers while furthering his education.

When the school consolidated with another, he was squeezed out of a job.

He landed a job as the assistant principal at Worthington Junior High for two years before accepting the position in Marshall.

In addition to his junior high school duties at Marshall, this year Deragisch added fifth-and sixth graders to his roster.

"I enjoy the kids," he said. "I enjoy the spontaneity of them. They’re very excited about school."

Doug married another Hills native, Danette Hadler, and they have three children.

The groundhog reportedly saw his shadow Sunday, officially signifying six more weeks of winter (or non-winter, as the case is this year).

Despite the bad news that spring will arrive on time, as usual, I have my own silly reasons for optimism this time of year.

It’s a little known fact that mid-February is a turning point of sorts in the darkness factor of winter.

It’s a point at which the days are as long now as they were in late October when summer was drawing to a close.

Technically, we’ve been gaining daylight since Dec. 22, but now we’re able to see daylight at quitting time, and that makes all the difference in the world to working mothers with small children.

We’re gaining an average of two minutes of sunlight per day, which means moms everywhere are earning renewed respect from their children in daycare.

For little ones with no reliable mechanism for telling time, lengthening shadows are their only indicator that it’s almost time to go home. Darkness could only mean one thing: Mom’s late — or worse yet, has forgotten them.

Tonight, the sun will set at roughly 5:45. On Tuesday, it was still above the horizon when I picked up the boys at 5:25. "Mom, how come you’re early?" Jonathan said, surprised.

"I just missed you," I said slyly.

Pretty soon, minute by minute, I’ll be Super Mom in his eyes, as I’m able to still get all my work done, while picking him up sooner and sooner every day.

Speaking of dark days
Gov. Tim Pawlenty made quite an impression on me during his visit to Luverne last month — for two reasons.

For one, his presentation was the most dark and dismal commentary on government budgets that I’ve ever heard.

What impressed me about that was his statement that EVERYONE would have to share in the responsibility of balancing the budget.

I was sure to quote him on that, because anyone who knows anything about how things work at the Capitol knows that those with the most effective lobbyists are the ones who come out ahead.

It will be interesting and entertaining to watch the song and dance and see if the burden is actually shared equally — or at least fairly — in the end.

In addition to his message, the other thing that impressed me about our governor was his delivery style.

I came to the event curious to meet the weasel who had come up with such idiot proposals, but I freely admit came away understanding his motives and appreciating his candor.

He addressed the crowd respectfully and articulately without a prepared speech, and he seemed to be well-versed on a number of miscellaneous issues thrown at him afterward.

I know style won’t count for much when we assess our governor’s performance at the end of his term, but I for one, found him to be a refreshing change from our former governor.

And, after the predictable State of the Union address last week, I’m just glad to know there are some politicians who know how to put a sentence together that isn’t scrolled across a teleprompter.

Green Earth Players ‘bring ‘em in’ for the Palace
The Green Earth Players, Luverne’s community theater group for the past 25 years, used that event last weekend to help raise money for the Palace Theatre.

GEP showcased a song or an act from each of the 25 years, using original cast members whenever possible.

The event started with Tom Brakke, one of the founding members of the GEP, giving the audience 25 years of Green Earth Players’ history.

Ben Vander Kooi served as Master of Ceremonies.

The productions were performed both Saturday night and Sunday afternoon.

According to Dianne Ossenfort, 423 people attended the two performances and raised more than $2,500 to help refurbish the Palace Theatre.

Prudence Johnson at the Palace
Well known Twin Cities recording artist, Prudence Johnson, will be making an appearance at the Palace Theatre later this month.

Johnson, formerly with the jazz group "Women That Cook," is described as "an artist that sings cool jazz, torch songs and ballads with heart and soul."

Pulse Magazine described her as a "national treasure."

They went on to say "This is no ordinary vocalist. Whether jazz, country, pop, folk or Broadway, Prudence Johnson has spent more than 25 years masterfully giving each song its due. And her latest recording project, "Moon Country," an exquisite collection of songs by American icon Hoagy Carmichael, is no exception.

Along the way, Johnson has done two tours of Russia, earned a Grammy nomination in 1992, and had a cameo role in Robert Redford’s Academy Award-winning film, " A River Runs Through It."

Her performance at the Palace will be at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 23.

Advance tickets are available, and doors will open one hour prior to show time.

Making ‘Do Not Call’ tougher, or eliminate it?
John Marty, Minnesota State Senator from Roseville likes the "do not call" list.

In fact, the only thing he doesn’t like about it is that there are too many loopholes.

If Marty has his way, changes to the bill will include:
Eliminate a "prior relationship" as grounds for exceptions. He said, "it’s too broad, because a "prior relationship" could go back years."

As an example, he said, "Tell me how many people have not had Qwest service. If you‘ve ever had it, any of their affiliates could call you."

Tighten up the exception for companies that have a "current relationship" with the consumer. Calls would be allowed only if they are not made with a computer dialing system.

Prohibit telemarketers from calling in order to establish a business relationship and then calling back later with a sales pitch.

Eliminate the exception that now allows telemarketers to make sales pitches over the phone as long as they complete the transaction face-to-face.

They’re trying to get you to give them permission to come to your house and make a heavy sales pitch," Marty told the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

While Marty is trying to make the law tougher, telemarketers went to court last week in an attempt to stop the U.S. government from setting up a proposed nationwide "do-not-call" list.

I’ll tell you more about that next week.

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