10 years ago (2010)
•Alex Miller is helping connect Madagascar with the technology U.S. residents take for granted every day.
“The great promise of this technology is that it can be used everywhere to get information to and from persons in need at a very low cost,” Miller said.
“These applications are as relevant to Minnesota and South Dakota as they are to Africa.
Miller and his wife, Karen, live on an acreage near Edgerton. They have four children. Kristin is a civil engineer in Springfield, Va. Emily is a nursing student at South Dakota State University in Brookings, S.D. Caitlin is a senior at Luverne High School and has been accepted at the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Conn., and John is a first-grader at Luverne Elementary School.
With a month leave from his current job with the State of Minnesota Guardian ad litem program, Miller’s current volunteer work provides rural Madagascar with global connections.
As of Monday, March 8, more than 7,500 people had used the service.
“This is without any advance notice of the service and no advertising,” Miller said.
25 years ago (1995)
•Sometimes bigger is better.
That may be the case for the Luverne Farmers Elevator and the Magnolia Farmers Co-op. The two boards of directors have been meeting since January and have decided to recommend a merger of the two cooperatives.
A letter was sent to all the stockholders on March 23 announcing the planned merger. For the merger to go through, two-thirds of the stockholders must vote in favor of the plan. …
A few positive reasons for the merger include better service to customers, volume buying and merchandising, savings passed on to customers through more competitive prices and eliminating duplication of services.
According to Gary Lee, manager of the Magnolia Farmers Co-op, joining forces with Luverne would be a win-win situation for both entities. He said both co-ops are financially healthy, and a merger would only result in a stronger cooperative in the end.
“Right now, we’re both small enough we can’t justify hiring full-time people,” he said. “With a merger, we can hopefully become more departmentalized and offer specialized services to meet farmers’ needs.”
50 years ago (1970)
•Teachers in the Hills-Beaver Creek school district will receive average annual income wage hikes of $520 for the 1970-71 school year, according to Supt. Russell Castor.
Salary negotiations were completed there last week, with the “total package” representing an increase of 8%.
The base salary for a new teacher, with a B. A. degree was fixed at $6,900, up from $6,600 paid for the present school year. This increases to $9,760 annually in 13 steps.
Base salary for a starting teacher with an M. A. degree was set at $7,383, which goes to $10,683 in 14 steps. This represents a 7% increase. Average increase for teachers with M. A. degrees will be $541.
An added benefit provided all teachers for the coming year was single coverage hospitalization insurance, with the school district providing the full amount of the premium.
75 years ago (1945)
•Gene Baustian, 17, son of Mr. and Mrs. Raymont Baustian, and Mark Skattum, 16, son of Mr. and Mrs. Oliver Skattum, both of Hills, are recovering from injuries sustained in the crash of a small airplane about 1½ miles southwest of Hills Friday evening. They are both in the Sioux Valley hospital at Sioux Falls.
The ship, piloted by the Baustian boy, crashed in to a field on the Skattum farm after the motor stalled while making a bank following a takeoff. The plane went into a spin at about 500 feet so that it dropped to the ground, landing on its wheels with a terrific impact. The Skattum boy was knocked unconscious, but Baustian was able to get out of the plane without help. Members of the Skattum family came from the house about 40 rods distant to assist the lads. They were later rushed to Sioux Falls for medical aid.
100 years ago (1920)
•Supt. H. C. Bell and twenty-two of the instructors and teachers of the Luverne public schools were tendered re-election to their present positions for the next school year, at a meeting of the board of education held Monday evening.
The instructors and teachers re-elected were C. I Fleming and J. A. Rolfing, and the Misses Ella Lorentzen, Ethel Armstrong, Harriet Smith, Nellie Hansen, Georgia Adams, Oliva Savage, Lucille Keech, Anna Tuttle, Mary Wiberg, Louise Fogarty, Helga Johnson, Esther Jensvold, Florence Holter, Cesiah Hughes, Mabel Rice, Margaruite Baller, Mary Jones and Augusta Gunderson, and Mrs. S. C. Rea.
In connection with this action the superintendent’s salary for the coming year was fixed at $3,150, with a minimum scale of $125 a month for grade teachers, and $150 a month for high school instructors.
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