Remember When Dec. 19, 2019

10 years ago (2009)
•A going-out-of-business sign went up on the front of Gabe’s Clothing and Shoes store Sunday afternoon.
The sign tells the same story that was mailed to Gabe’s customers and that was advertised on the front page of the Luverne Announcer this week.
After seven years in business, owner Kathy Jarchow is closing the doors.
“This is by far the hardest message that I have ever had to write,” was the opening line in her letter to patrons.
“This decision was not what my heart wanted to do, but due to the many changes that have occurred not only nationally but also locally, I cannot see any future in keeping our doors open.”
Jarchow opened the business in February 2003 only three weeks after Cook’s Clothing closed its doors.
Leasing the 6,000-square-foot building from Bob Cook, an optimistic Jarchow said Gabe’s would offer much of the same inventory as Cook’s shoppers were familiar with.
 
25 years ago (1994)
•A police officer interrupted Virgil Thompson’s grocery shopping on Monday afternoon at Glen’s Food Center to ask him if that was his tan Buick lodged in a snowbank across the street.
Thompson was sure he’d left the vehicle right outside the door with the engine running, but little did he know his Boston terrier, “Madchen,” had a better parking spot in mind.
“She got up on the dash and hit the shift lever in reverse,” Thompson said. “She backed across the whole parking lot through the snow, over the curb and veered off northwest and ended up on Harvey Ball’s boulevard.”
Because it hadn’t gained much momentum in the trip of three-quarters of a block, the car received no damage and Madchen was not injured.
 
50 years ago (1969)
•The village of Steen, along with hundreds of villages, towns, and cities throughout the state and nation will have a new mayor Jan. 1, 1970. Only one man, S. O. (Mac) Mithun, has ever been mayor of Steen. Cliff VanWyhe was elected in the Dec. 2 election and will replace Mithin Jan. 1, 1970.
“I said before the election that if I was elected again I wouldn’t accept the office,” the 87-year-old Mithun told The Star-Herald.
Mayor Mithun was first elected mayor in the fall of 1942, when the village of Steen incorporated, and has been the mayor since. “I never once filed for the office but the people just kept on electing me,” he said.
 
75 years ago (1944)
•One of the questions being raised in Rock county this week is, “what are we going to do for summer feed?”
Despite the fact that farmers raised a bumper corn crop, and that Minnesota ranked fourth as a corn producing state, there may be a shortage of this vital grain next summer, due mainly to the high moisture content of the kernels. According to Leonard A. Arp, samples tested at the AAA office are running from 24 to 31.41 percent moisture. That this high percentage might result in considerable corn spoilage if it is kept until hot weather, is the opinion of many, Mr. Arp said.
To date, only one application for government corn loan has been found acceptable. Others have failed to comply from the standpoint of moisture content in the corn. Mr. Arp urges all farmers who are contemplating sealing their corn to bring samples in for a test before calling for a sealer. If the corn is in good condition, a sealer will be sent out.
 
100 years ago (1919)
•An entirely new record for a Rock county participant in a daily newspaper subscription contest has been established by Miss Linda Schmidt, of Magnolia township, by wining two automobiles in the Sioux Falls Daily Press contest, which came to a close Friday.
Not only was Miss Schmidt awarded the Maxwell automobile as a special prize for turning in the largest sum of money during a period of three weeks ending November 29th, but she also won second prize in the regular contest, which is an Oldsmobile Six valued at $1,585. The Maxwell car awarded as a special prize has valuation of $1,100, and Miss Schmidt has the option of selecting a touring car or a roadster.