Opinion
- April 30, 2025The Star Herald last week was pleased to be invited by Congressman Brad Finstad’s office to join him at the local John Deere dealership for a tour and visit with local people. “Congressman Brad Finstad (MN-01) will be visiting C&B Operations in Luverne on Friday, April 25, at 1:30 p.m. CT,” the email message read. “Press is welcome to attend. Please reply … if you plan to join.” We replied…
By Brenda Winter, columnistApril 30, 2025Her brow furrowed in disapproval, my nine-year-old violin instructor releases another exasperated sigh. “Gra-maw! Your ‘second’ finger!!!!” She reaches for the instrument and again demonstrates the finger progression required “to tell Aunt Rhody the old gray goose is dead.” We are in Kentucky where children play the violin and call their grandmothers “Gra-maw.” I have been a violin student…- April 30, 2025‘Junk Days’ are among many things to love about Luverne To the Editor: With recent social media criticism of the city of Luverne, I felt it in my heart to reflect on the past 23 years. Truthfully, I wasn’t supposed to move here. The plan was for my fiancé to move to where I was. But 24 years ago, he brought me to Luverne to try and change my mind. Moving here meant uprooting my daughter and…
By RIck Peterson, general managerApril 30, 2025Sometimes coming up with a topic for my column takes more time than actually typing it out. So the other day when I was throwing column ideas around in my head, I stumbled across writing a series of columns on how I think we have way too many choices. The first topic of overabundance of choices will focus on barbecue sauces to choose from. My area of research was conducted standing in front of…
April 23, 2025Held in April every year, National Volunteer Month is a time to celebrate and recognize the contributions of volunteers. It is an opportunity to join the impact of volunteerism and encourage more people to get involved in their communities. And it’s a great month to reaffirm personal commitments to giving back. In Rock County in 2024, 690 volunteers donated 53,835 hours of service at 64…
By Lori Sorenson, editorApril 23, 2025How was your Easter? It’s a fair Monday morning question following the Easter Sunday holiday. My short answer: I ate too much ham and cheesy potatoes and enjoyed my favorite people. My longer answer (which no one had time for after a three-day weekend): It was blessed (the two-syllable version of the word, bless-ed). For many reasons. First, there was the miracle in the riverbank at the…
By Scott Rall, outdoors columnistApril 23, 2025I can remember many decades ago that my local chapter of Pheasants Forever decided they needed some kind of a local project to let folks know we existed and to maybe get a little bigger footprint in the local community. We decided that if we adopted a section of Highway 60 between Worthington and Bigelow, Minnesota, we would get our name on the sign the Minnesota DOT would put up. It worked, and…
By Mavis FodnessApril 16, 2025My youngest daughter is getting married next Saturday, and she’s asked me to give a little speech at the event. I’m happy to oblige. It’s not very often that children ask parents what they think, let alone listen to what they have to say. Thoughts about what I’ll say are still being formed, as Lyndsey has taken a very long route in the choices of how she’s living her life. I’d liken Lyndsey…
By Thomas Getman, Star Herald guest editorialApril 16, 2025Our much-appreciated Sen. Tina Smith extolled the virtues of Luverne and Rock County in her weekly coffee for mostly small-town Minnesota visitors in her Senate office on April 10. She raved about the partnership among Luverne officials and child care leaders and the federal government, in which she and Sen. Amy Klobuchar played a role. She noted how the joint advocacy was critical in…
By By Evan Verbrugge, Rock County SheriffApril 16, 2025Recently I have received complaints about unusual activity by our deputies. When I investigated the complaint, I have come to discover that we have a couple of individuals driving around Luverne, Rock County, in decommissioned squad cars. These vehicles look exactly like our current fleet. The difference is that we have our shoulder patch on the driver and front passenger doors. According to…- April 09, 2025It’s been a rough week. When there’s a fatal crash, it’s always a dark day — for the drivers involved, for their families, for first responders, for law enforcement — and for us at the Star Herald. It’s hard to report sad news about local families, and it’s even harder to do that work under a barrage of social media criticism. “Shame on you for posting those pictures,” one wrote about the…
By Brenda Winter, columnistApril 09, 2025It was 1992. I was a young pup reporter for the Rock County Star Herald and was assigned to cover speakers for the Luverne School’s 125th anniversary. I sat with hundreds of folks on the courthouse lawn listening as dignitaries and others extolled the wonders of Luverne. Then it was Jim Brandenburg’s turn to speak. I waited for him to talk about the Great Big World out there and the delights of…- By Sgt. Troy Christianson, Minnesota State PatrolApril 09, 2025Question: Do you have any advice on what a person should do if they are driving along in the dark and their headlights go out? Answer: If your headlights suddenly go out, try using your parking lights, hazard warning lights or turn signals — one of them may work and give you enough light to guide you off the road. If your headlights fail on a busy or lighted road, you will probably have enough…
- By Lori Sorenson, editorApril 03, 2025It’s been a rough week. When there’s a fatal crash, it’s always a dark day — for the drivers involved, for their families, for first responders, for law enforcement — and for us at the Star Herald. It’s hard to report sad news about local families, and it’s even harder to do that work under a barrage of social media criticism. “Shame on you for posting those pictures,” one wrote about the…
- By Rev. Tim Olsen, LuverneApril 02, 2025Last summer Rock County was impacted once again by an extreme weather event in the form of heavy rains that flooded fields, basements and public places. My wife and I have lived in Luverne for more than 20 years. In that time we have witnessed at least three “100-year floods” with the most formidable being the Father’s Day flood of 2014. Our autumns are trending warmer and drier, and we have…
By Lori Sorenson, editorApril 02, 2025With our nation’s current political upheaval (that’s my best shot at a diplomatic description), I’ve increasingly wondered what I can do to make the world better. And I came across a quote from Anne Frank that struck a chord with me. “How lovely to think that no one need wait a moment. We can start now, start slowly, changing the world,” she wrote. “How lovely that everyone, great and small,…
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