Vincent J. Schultz, age 85 of Waseca, died on Friday, October 31, 2014 at his home. 

Born in Waseca County on September 12, 1929, Vince was the son of Jack and Lillian (Ross) Schultz. He attended country school in Waseca County. On June 3, 1950, he married Mary Kajewski at St Mary’s Catholic Church, in Waseca County. He farmed for most of his life until he and Mary moved into Waseca in 1991. He then began working at Lakeside Golf Course.

Most of the time, when I walk the hallways of NRHEG, or even out in our communities, I get called Mr. D. That’s just fine with me; it’s easier to say than Domeier, and easier to spell too, which I suspect is why it gets used so often!

So you would imagine that Mrs. D would refer to my lovely bride, Michelle. But you would be wrong. Mrs. D is one of our unsung heroes around here, Georgia Dinneen.

Georgia and I were both hired at NRHEG in 1996, part of a group of 13 new teachers. We were thrown on a bus and given a tour of the district as part of our new teacher workshop. Of course, Georgia is from here, so it was all old hat to her.

Mrs. Dinneen and I shared a common trait those first few years, even though I taught English, while she was in the business department. We both (along with Mrs. Schoenrock) started our days in New Richland and traveled over to Ellendale for the afternoon. We often commented that we enjoyed that break in our day, used to collect our thoughts and prepare for teaching a vastly different group of students in the junior high.

Our traveling days are long behind us, but it always brings smiles to our faces when we remember getting to Ellendale in time to have lunch with the office ladies. I garnered quite an education as a young man fresh out of college from those women. In fact, if you ask her, I’m sure Georgia will share with you why May 1 is the most important day of the year, one of many things I learned under her tutelage.

Mrs. D is an outstanding educator. She teaches such an array of classes, including junior high keyboarding and accounting. Plus, she helps plan the Washington, D.C., trips with Mr. Churchill and stays involved in so many aspects of the school. You can often spot Georgia and her husband Denny at sporting events and other extracurriculars.

One of the most important things Georgia does at NRHEG is organize the Veterans Day program. It is so important that our students have an awareness of what these men and women have sacrificed for our country, and every year is testimony to the amount of time and effort it takes to put this plan together. In recent years, we’ve had the privilege of listening to Tim Walz and Al Franken at NRHEG. These are not easy people to get on Veterans Day, but Georgia has been diligent in keeping after them to make an appearance. The students at NRHEG are better for these experiences, and I know they respect our veterans more, thanks in large part to Georgia’s work.

Georgia is so active in our community as well, especially as a cancer survivor, and helping to lead efforts to eradicate that enemy which takes too many people from us. I can only imagine that when Mrs. D is out and about, she has that same infectious smile for others that I see constantly around our classrooms. She epitomizes so much of our Panther Pride motto with her positivity and respect. While she’ll certainly let you know if something is nagging at her, she does it with a smile and quickly is refocused on positive ideas.

And of course, Georgia is a HUGE Minnesota Twins fan. I know she’s definitely had better seats at Target Field than I ever have, and I’m justifiably jealous! She’s stuck by them through thick and thin and has been nice enough to bring back Homer Hankies during playoff seasons for those of us not able to attend those playoff games. One can only hope her Doug (Mientkiewicz, former first baseman) might get a shot at perhaps being a bench coach this next season!

While not all 13 teachers that started in 1996 are still here (by last count, I think there are still six of us), we carry on from a good group of educators. I know Georgia is nearing a time when she can start thinking about retirement, but when she does decide to hang it up, I know I’ll miss the smile and nod that goes along with our greetings in the hall. Me: “Mrs. D.” Her: “Mr. D.”

I also know that Georgia would want to join me in encouraging everyone to get out and vote on November 4. It’s a very important year nationally, statewide, and locally. We’re voting on senators, representatives, a governor, and school board members. If you read this before 7 p.m. on October 30, stop by the NR school for our Meet the Candidates forum. Our school district is an important part of our communities, and the people who want to lead it will be sharing their views.

Word of the Week: This week’s word is ganef, which means a thief or rascal, as in, “The voters had to sniff out the ganefs in order to keep them out of public office.” Impress your friends and confuse your enemies!

With another bonus week the scurs are convinced that the well-lubed heat control cable continues to produce warm temps from the Weather Eye. Nash-Rambler had it right! Will our good weather fortunes continue another week or is the other shoe about to drop? Starting Wednesday, mostly sunny with highs near 50 and lows in the mid-30’s. Mostly sunny and warmer with a slight chance of an overnight shower on Thursday. Highs in the upper 50’s and lows in the upper 20’s. For Halloween’s ghosts and goblins, sunny and cooler with highs in the low 40’s and lows in the upper 20’s. Saturday, sunny and slightly warmer with highs in the upper 40’s and lows in the upper 30’s. On Sunday, mostly cloudy and warmer with a slight chance of a shower. Highs in the low 50’s and lows in the low 40’s. Monday and Tuesday, partly sunny and continued mild. Highs in the low 50’s and lows in the upper 20’s. The normal high for October 31st is 51 and the normal low is 32. The scurs are tuning up the 3.8 liter six in the pumpkin orange ’74 Gremlin X, the perfect vehicle for collecting Halloween treats. Good thing there is no clock in it to set back at precisely 2 a.m. on Sunday morning.

Luckily Mother Nature gave us a treat in the way of a warmer-than-normal last half of October. Corn that everyone feared would never dry down was suddenly at very acceptable moisture levels. Even waxy corn, renowned for hanging onto its moisture and drying hard, has come down into the upper teens. Corn yields however have been fickle. Much of the corn on corn has been disappointing with yield in many cases in the mid-150 range when drown outs are factored in. Not surprisingly corn on prevent plant acres has yielded very respectably. The bias has also been towards corn yielding better as one goes east, partially because of the number of prevented plant acres but equally as important, rolling topography that allowed the heavy June rains to run off and not pond on those fields. Soybeans harvest is for all practical purposes complete but again, showed the same east-west bias as the corn yields.

The Indian summer had everyone feeling rather giddy in spite of the fact the breezes had largely taken our fall color and plopped it on the ground. Case in point being the bright yellow Norway maple leaves cascading down the road cut. The sheep are happy to see one more category of treat however in addition to the usual apple cores, peelings and misfit vegetables. There’s a distinct line where the fence divides the lawn and pasture. On the lawn: Leaves. In the pasture: No leaves. The mower will make short work of the leaves soon enough on our side of the fence, turning them to confetti for the earthworms and other soil dwelling invertebrates. 

The last of the apples were harvested Sunday afternoon. After giving away a few bushels earlier, there were still 3–4 bushels of Haralsons, a couple bushel of Firesides and about a dozen remaining SnowSweets. All have their fit and while some like their tart taste for eating raw, the Haralson is still a tough-to-beat cooking apple. They don’t turn to mush while the complex flavor comes through. The variety has been around a long time, released by the U of M in 1922. Fireside was released in 1943 and is primarily an eating apple although it is not real crisp. It makes up for that with its sweetness and also works well for baked apples.  SnowSweet is a 2006 release and is generally an eating apple that oxidizes slowly. It maintains the white flesh color as someone observed as I gnawed on one the other day. The apple can also be made into sauce but with caramel, some say they are better than (fill in the blank).

The fall birds are taking center stage more and more. More activity on the suet from downy and hairy woodpeckers as well as the red bellies. A nuthatch seems to always be on one of the sunflower feeders during daylight hours and the jays get their fair share not only of sunflowers but corn from the ear corn feeder. There are a few pine siskins hanging around too. Not sure why, but they pick at the thistle seed and leave, only to return again from parts unknown. 

The time change is upon us and not a minute too soon. I mentioned a few weeks back that the alien had struck and turns out it never left. I’ve been through numerous cycles of starting to feel better for a few days only to be dragged back down into feeling like crud for a few more. The coughing, as Mrs. Cheviot mentioned, was coming from down around my toenails. If that weren’t bad enough, no matter how much I’d sleep, I was still tired. After about a month of this nonsense, Monday I’d had enough and consulted the local doctor. As luck would have it the diagnosis was about what I figured: Walking pneumonia. Now, it sounds worse than it really is. There’s no high temp as one would have with regular pneumonia but as the name suggests, you just sort of keep going through the paces and the stuff keeps nagging you. With some wicked antibiotics and other tincture, I’m taking the gloves off so I can get back in the game. This seems to have gone on forever but there is no alternative. There are dozens of tasks to be accomplished before the snow flies. In the meantime, we get our stolen hour back for some precious extra sleep. I was beginning to think that day would never come.

See you next week…real good then.

This year’s theme at the Corn Palace in Mitchell, South Dakota was very interesting to me. In fact, so interesting that I’m donating most of this column to that very theme: “Remember When?” Put those two words in front of each of the following statements as you read this.

• Outdoor toilets weren’t portable.

• Most people failed the driving test to get their driver’s license (there was no driver’s ed.)

• Canadian geese weren’t plentiful.

• You could go to a movie with popcorn for less than five dollars.

• McDonald’s had only one kind of coffee.

• The interstate speed limit was 55.

• A box of crayons was either 8 or 16. 

• All barns were red.

• A fish house was heated with wood.

• A windmill was for water, not electricity.

• Helicopters were not used for crop dusting.

• Your fingers did the telephone dialing.

• There wasn’t a computer in your house.

• There was a school in Hartland, Hope, Geneva and Clarks Grove.

• There was a restaurant at the junction of Minn. 30 and I35. 

• Highway 14 went through Waseca and Owatonna.

• There was an “Uncle Sam” in every post office, with the words, “wants you.”

• New Richland and Ellendale each had a weekly newspaper.

• Flat tires were very common.

• Pheasants outnumbered turkeys.

• All pickup trucks had 2 doors.

• Your car didn’t shut off the lights if you didn’t.

• There weren’t any coyotes.

• Every Sunday church service began and ended with the ringing of the bell.

• You could drive north through Hope, take a right turn and cross the Straight River while driving east.

• Ellendale and New Richland were separate high schools.

• A rural address was rural route.

• There was a summer drive-in restaurant at the Junction of Minnesota 13 and 30 in New Richland.

• There weren’t any girls’ team sports in high school.

• A phone wasn’t a camera or anything else.

• You could drive the Lemond Road from Pontoppidan Lutheran Church to Owatonna.

• Jack rabbits and red foxes were common.

• Town water towers were silver colored.

• Everyone had a special “go-to” church Sunday outfit.

• Most people smoked cigarettes – especially movie stars.

• Christmas at Grandma’s was a few miles away.

• Your first fishing pole was not a rod and reel.

• You had to have a TV antenna to get a TV reception.

• Most homes had a one car garage.

— — —

Christmas by the Lake is the first Saturday in December yearly at Clear Lake, Iowa.

F.R.O.G. of Central Freeborn Lutheran Church has a bus departing at 3 p.m. on Saturday, December 6 from behind Slumberland in Albert Lea to Christmas by the Lake.

You can tour the activities on Main Street, view the lighted Christmas parade followed by fireworks over the lake (the parade and fireworks can be viewed from the bus) and then a KFC buffet meal in Clear Lake.

“Deal or No Deal” will be played on the bus en route to Clear Lake for prizes.

Reservations are needed. Contact Bob or Genie Hanson at 373-8655 or Wayne or Bev Inderlier at 826-3267 to attend. The price is $26 per person, with $5 cash back per person if the 56 passenger coach bus is full.

———

Bob is a retired AAL (Aid Association for Lutherans) agent, currently working on his master’s degree in Volunteering. His wife, Genie, is a retired RN, currently working on her doctor’s degree in Volunteering. They have two children, Deb in North Carolina, and Dan in Vermont. Bob says if you enjoy his column, let him know. If you don’t enjoy it, keep on reading, it can get worse. Words of wisdom: There is always room for God.

Echoes from the Loafers’ Club Meeting

I'm drinking too much coffee.

Why do you say that?

Because I’m awake.

Driving by the Bruces

I have two wonderful neighbors — both named Bruce — who live across the road from each other. Whenever I pass their driveways, thoughts occur to me, such as: brawl, scuffle, fracas, and battle are fighting words.

The cafe chronicles

He salted every food item but the pie. His doctor told him to cut back, but he was a rebel. The MD told him that he needed to exercise, saying, "Would you rather exercise an hour a day or be dead 24 hours a day?"

The discussion was about daylight-saving time. The fellow picked salt from between his teeth before saying, "Leave it to the government to cut a foot off the top of my blanket, sew it onto the bottom of the blanket, and then tell me that I have a longer blanket."

Rambling around

The roads were overcrowded and under construction. A truck accelerated so when the driver put the pedal to the metal that it passed everything on the road except a gas pump. A Mini Cooper driver enjoyed a beverage from a cup bigger than the car. That sight caused me to pull off the highway into a McDonald's in pursuit of an iced tea. As I waited, a man in line watched a football game on his cellphone. The cheerleaders exhorted the fans to chant, "Dee-fense." The crowd came back with something that sounded like "Duh-fence." Why don't they ever chant "Offense"?

A woman with three small, screaming kids was just ahead of me. "I'd like three Happy Meals," she told the clerk. I hope the Happy Meals worked.

Boys of all ages 

James Thurber said, "Boys are beyond the range of anybody’s sure understanding, at least when they are between the ages of 18 months and 90 years."

Over a couple weeks, I encountered a good number of 90-year-olds. That was a good thing. I learn from them. One told me that when he turned 50, he figured he would die soon. He decided that nothing would ever make him angry again. For some reason, he thought that meant he’d never die.

"That works?" I asked.

"Well," he said, "it has so far."

The other day, someone asked me, "Guess who died?"

I didn't want to guess. The question reminded me of my Grandma Batt who was fond of saying, "Whatshisname died again."

The man was dying. His family gathered about him in his bedroom. From his bed, he called to his wife. She responded. She'd been with him when he went bankrupt. She stuck with him when he went bankrupt a second time. She was bad luck, but he loved her. He called to each of his five children. Each called back. 

"Is the entire family here?" he asked.

"Yes," they replied, "we're all here for you."

There was a pause before he said, "Then why is the living room light still on?"

I was eating their words

The menu showed, "Wild Copper River Salmon with Creamy Balsamic Rosemary, Caramelized Onions, and Wild Mushrooms."

The price was nearly as long.

Dan Jurafsky, a professor of linguistics at Stanford, wrote in his book, "The Language of Food," that every additional letter in the description of a dish results in an increase of 69 cents in the price of that dish. Jurafsky found that the words "exotic" and "spices" also raised prices. Expensive restaurants tend to describe where the food comes from. Linguistic fillers such as "mouth-watering," "sublime," and "crispy" are featured most often on cheap menus. I’m looking for a menu that says "Food" and nothing more.

The news from Hartland

I don’t know much about cooking other than I can cook most anything by hitting the popcorn button on the microwave enough times. I do know that the Village Inn in Hartland is closing December 12. Sad news. It’s an eatery par excellence.

More bad news. The Freeborn Congregational United Church of Christ is ceasing operation after 141 years. The final worship service will be on December 28.

The good news. Happy 57th anniversary to Donald and Glenda Batt. My family makes it great to be me.

Talking with the Holstein

The Holstein is a retired dairy cow, so she has time to talk. I asked her why forgiveness is difficult.

The Holstein chewed her cud thoughtfully before saying, "The first step to forgiveness is the realization that the other party is a complete knucklehead."

Customer comments

• Helen Abramson of Meadowlands sent, "A new study found that women who carry a little extra weight live longer than the men who mention it."

• Harold "Hap" Hagen of New Richland showed me a lovely painting on a circular saw blade of two houses he’d lived in. Art is the loveliest when it has special meaning.

Nature notes

The common carp, native to Europe and Asia, was introduced into Midwest waters as a gamefish in the 1880s. Its feeding muddies water and causes the decline of aquatic plants needed by waterfowl and fish.

Meeting adjourned

If you’re of school age, you’re out of danger of being killed by kindness.

A friend of my mother’s, Hilda, once told me she often likes to just sit and think - to rest - to allow things to run through her mind. I find myself doing just that at times.

I’ve always felt that the extremes of the seasons can help make up the character of those who live here. 

We start out with winter. There is a lot of adversity in winter, but it doesn’t sneak up on us - we know what is coming, we prepare for it, and some of us have learned to embrace it. We know that there will be an end to it; sometimes, it is just something we have to get through.

Spring; not just an end of adversity, but the beginning of new life, it is a time of planning and optimism.

Summer is a time that those in this part of the country have earned; long days making up for the short ones, a time when you can put in a full day’s work and still have hours of leisure time.

Fall – the term “September of our years” fits it well. It’s a time for relaxing after the bustle of summer before the winter sets in. It’s a time to slow down as the days get shorter, to appreciate the fall colors, to harvest what we have worked so hard for, and to prepare for what comes next.

I believe that our seasons help make us who we are.

In my daily ventures, on all kinds of roads, some less traveled and some I use every day, I cannot help but think there is something magical in the art along the roadside. Watching the changing of the seasons when fields that were once black then green with new life now turn brown, then become white, covered with snow before they return to black again.

It is rather Biblical in a way. God’s promise is that one should live and grow and when his task is done, it dies like a brown field before it is harvested, not knowing if times will be good, bad, or indifferent.

God said we should labor but that we should also take time to rest, but it doesn't always work that way.  Sometimes we forget, or there just isn't time. Hopefully God forgives us if we have to "juggle" that day of rest at times. We do have to remember how important those days of rest are in the cycle of life.

We also need to rely on the knowledge that new life will come again in the spring just as God has promised.

When the outside world seems difficult to take, and the stress in your life becomes overwhelming, look inside for your strength.

Let us not forget - even if we want to.

Election Day is Tuesday, November 4th. By the time the candidates this year throw enough mud around and bring up what the other person did or didn't do, would you really like to vote for anyone?

I know it is good politics to get the "name" out but I am sorry to say I feel many voters vote for a particular political party, or a family or special sounding name. 

Throughout the campaigning, if you dig deep enough and twist enough words you can usually make something out of nothing. There are those who know little or nothing about the candidates, but maybe they do better than some of us who think we know who we are voting for.

In this day and age one can look up almost anything, including information about many of the candidates, on the computer, but few take the time to do it. They just vote, and later complain because they aren't doing things the way one thinks they should be done.

One can only hope an honest person with integrity and intelligence for what he is working for, who knows the value of a dollar or who is spending it will be elected to represent us.

I for one feel the campaigning is too long and too costly. I don't really need a half dozen campaign cards filling my mailbox every day, whether it is good for the postal economy or not. And we can't forget the television, radio and newspaper ads, too. Meanwhile, who is running the government when everyone is out campaigning?

If candidates didn't spend so much money on ads and flyers sent out in the mail, and put that money into what we need to run our country, we would be in good financial shape. Maybe we need to think – if a candidate spends too much money on campaigning they will be just as extravagant in running the government.

It is important for everyone to get out and vote on Election Day, but it is hoped that you know who and what you are voting for! Be informed.

Some of our Star Eagle readers have commented they like to read about events such as family and school reunions, birthdays and anniversaries, and birth and wedding announcements. In order to read about these important things we need our faithful readers to pass along the information to us. Also if you have an idea for a story that you think would be of interest to our readers, please contact me. 

If you have birthdays and anniversaries you would like include, or news to share please contact me via e-mail, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.; by postal mail, P. O. Box 192, Geneva, MN 56035 or telephone, 507-256-4405.

This week’s birthdays and anniversaries include:

• Thursday, October 30th: Lilly Jane Wacek, Gordon Goette, Angie Broskoff Klemmensen, Allen & Barb Dobberstein

• Friday, October 31st: Happy Halloween! Kyra Barbara Kotsmith, Brooke Hanson Berg, Heather Wayne, Emily Smith, Carrie Thompson, Roseann Kasper, Jerry Neitzel, Lorraine Lent, Kaye & Mike Cady, Vonda & Andrew Komba

• Saturday, November 1st: Dakota Wangsness, Garrett Wangsness, Troy Hagen, Mike Reistad, Jamie & Sergio Hernandez

• Sunday, November 2nd: Gary Dummer, Karen Osmundson, Tracy Farr Simon, Janis Klinger, Troy Sommers, Dan Nord, Sylvia Janet Baker

• Monday, November 3rd: Nakayla Joy Butler, Preston Dean Shaunce; Brian Muri, Paula Degan Conroy, Jennifer Misgen, Lois Conklin, Tim Hanson, Aaron Sargent, Sydney McCamish, Quinn Sebastian Briedenbach, Angie & Josh Lair

• Tuesday, November 4th: Jeff Carlson, Brant Hemingway, Stuart Vangen, Grant Neitzell, Scott Anderson, Andrew Farr

• Wednesday, November 5th: Faith Jennie Nielsen, Preslie Jean Nielsen, Hope Ann Nielsen, Alyssa Hagen, Kerri Newgard d'Eustachip, David Wayne, Mavis Langlie, Chad Braaten, Allison Hanson, Allison Jensen, Skyla Kundtson

Make your special day a day you'll never forget, filled with smiles, good cheer and laughter! And may you have a very happy Halloween!

We are well into the fall season and so far, so good. The weather has been pretty cooperative so the farmers have been able to get into the fields to harvest their crops. This fall has also been pretty good to the duck hunters and there seem to be enough deer around to keep the bow hunters going. I’d like to think that there are still enough nice days ahead to get in another day of fishing before the water starts to harden.

There is still time to latch onto that lunker you have been looking for. Late fall is a great time for catching the “Big One” that has eluded you all summer. It’s a fact there are more big fish caught in the fall than any other season of the year. In late fall the fish are hungry and are trying to “bulk-up” for the winter season when their metabolism slows.

Although you may not find the sheer numbers of fish in the fall, when you do catch one it may very well be that elusive big one you have been seeking. A few years back I caught a dandy walleye on Spider Lake in early October that up until last year was a personal best. Last fall my grandson Dylan and I had great pike fishing on a mid-October fishing trip to our cabin and he caught his personal-best northern on that trip.

Many musky fishermen hit the lake hard from October until ice-over because they know their chance for that trophy fish increases in late fall. A few years back I had a permanent camp spot at Best Point on Lake Tetonka and decided to do a little October fishing. I trolled the outside weed edges of a large flat using a “Little Joe” spinner and a minnow. Although I had visions of that lunker walleye, I instead found the northern fishing to be great and ended up catching my limit of nice pike.

That same day I noticed only one other boat on that large lake and he was fishing for bass. I knew the spot he was fishing very well because I had fished there many times before. I was actually headed to that spot when I spotted him there and decided that a lake this large has plenty of other places to fish. About a week later I read in the Minneapolis paper that the state record largemouth bass had come out of Tetonka on the same day I was there. That is probably the closest I will ever get to a state record, but it reinforced my belief that Tetonka was a good fishing lake and fall is a great time for big fish.

Speaking of fish, the DNR is in the final phase of reclaiming State Line Lake and has issued the following news release:

Rehabilitation project enters final phases with rough fish eradication

A multi-year cooperative effort to improve water quality, fish and wildlife habitat on State Line Lake near Emmons, is entering its final phases.

For many years the lake has been infested with carp and other rough fish, and exhibited poor water quality. Carp aggressively forage through bottom sediments, uprooting aquatic plants and reducing water quality.

“Once a lake becomes dominated by carp and black bullheads, the ecosystem goes out of balance,” said Jeanine Vorland, DNR area wildlife supervisor. “We are using a multipronged approach to get rid of the rough fish, restore aquatic habitats and improve the lake.”

The cooperative effort includes partners from Freeborn County, State Line Lake Restoration. Ducks Unlimited, the Worth County Conservation Board, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.

Vorland said water levels on the lake were lowered last fall to allow for construction of a new dam and fish barrier. The work on the new outlet has been completed. The lake has remained low during the summer to allow vegetation regrowth. With the new fish barrier in place, the lake and some tributaries will be treated with rotenone to eliminate fish remaining in the lake. Vorland expected the treatment would be on Oct. 9 or 10, weather permitting.

Following treatment, lake water levels will be restored and the DNR will restock the lake with compatible game fish and pan fish next spring.

A majority of the funding for this project was provided by the Outdoor Heritage Fund. This fund was created after voters approved the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment in November 2008, which increased sales tax by three-eighths of 1 percent. The fund receives one-third of the sales tax dollars and may only be spent to restore, protect and enhance wetlands, prairies, forest and habitat for game fish and wildlife as approved by the Minnesota Legislature.

State Line Lake covers about 450 acres and at normal water level has an average depth of 3.5 feet.

— — —

Has anyone noticed that there is an election going on? I can’t remember the last time I have heard or read so many negative things said about the opposing candidate by their respective parties. Whatever happened to running on your own merit and telling the voters what you hope to accomplish if elected? Then there was a candidate and his wife who were reportedly wrestling with a homeowner over a campaign sign. Really?

Until next time, enjoy the fall and take advantage of some late season fishing weather.

Please remember to keep our troops in your thoughts and prayers because they are the reason that we are able to enjoy all the freedoms that we have today.

NRHEG Elementary Basketball Kickoff day is set for Saturday, Nov. 8 from 9-10:30 a.m. in the south gymnasium in New Richland.

The program is open to boys and girls in grades 3-6.

Players should bring $10 (made out to NRHEG), basketball attire, enthusiastic attitude and a desire to have fun!

While the kids are playing there will be a short parent meeting in the cafeteria.

By JIM LUTGENS

Editor/Publisher

Football statistical gurus will tell you that any time you hold a team to 10 yards rushing and have a plus-three turnover ratio, you should win.

Sometimes, though, statistics can be deceiving.

The NRHEG Panthers controlled the game in many facets but fell short 21-20 in overtime in a Section 3AA quarterfinal at Maple River Tuesday, Oct. 21.

The loss ended the season for the seventh-seeded Panthers, who finished 3-6. The No. 2 seeded Eagles improved to 8-1.

Altrichter finishes atop conference

Last week was a tough and disappointing one for the NRHEG clay target squad.

Shooting in the final week of the fall season, the team saw some of their lowest scores posted. They only managed to put two scores in the top 10 for the week and only five scores above the 40 mark. At the same time, their only competition, Hermantown put together a phenomenal week scoring the most points of any team for the season.  The result was a 400-point swing between the teams which put the NRHEG squad solidly in second place.