SUPER SEASON — The 2013-14 NRHEG High School junior varsity girls’ basketball team. Front from left: Hailey Schuller, Gretchen Ramaker, Julie Kanngeisser, Rachel Collins, Katharine Lewer, Grace Johns, Natalie Aaseth and Ryley Koziolek. Back: manager Annie Prigge, coach Onika Peterson, Maci Surat, Autumn Thompson, Kayley Camerer, Emily Eder, Jennifer McKay, Sophie Fischer, coach Grant Berg. Missing: Jade Peterson, Ryann Hagen, Kelli Harrington. (Submitted photo)

By DALE KUGATH

Sportswriter

NEW RICHLAND – Coach Grant Berg had another fantastic winter coaching the New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva junior varsity team. 

The Panthers ended their season with a 19-2 record. 

The NRHEG JV teams have lost just six games in Berg’s four years at the helm. 

NRHEG was 12-2 against Gopher Conference teams and 7-0 in non-conference games. 

Waseca Soil and Water Conservation District, a local unit of government, has an open position for a supervisor. This is an appointed position until the next general election is held in November, 2014.

This is an opportunity for a citizen interested in natural resource conservation and improvement of our water quality to make a difference in our community’s future. 

The SWCD is governed by five locally elected supervisors who hold monthly public meetings.

The Waseca County Historical Society's Spring Luncheon-Lecture Series is proud to present writer Elizabeth Dorsey Hatle, author of "The KKK in Minnesota" on Thursday, April 24, from noon to 1 p.m.

We all know about "Minnesota Nice," so what were the roots of the organization known as the Ku Klux Klan, and how did it happen in Minnesota? In addition to the speech and books, there will be an original KKK hood on display.

The back cover of the book explains:

By KATHY PAULSEN

Staff Writer

Saturday, April 19 is the day to once again help fight cancer in Geneva. 

In January, Whitey Hagen was proud to deliver $100,000 to the Eagles Cancer Telethon in Rochester on behalf of the great people in our area who donated and supported the many cancer fundraising events held here over the past year.

The funds are raised through many different efforts and activities including the yearly cancer auction, the Wild Game Feed and gun raffle, the 51" Plasma HDV Blu-Ray player raffle, along with the "Hot Looks For A Cure" calendar. Don’t forget those great summer events including the Geneva Cancer Golf Outing, the Geneva Cancer Motorcycle Run, as well as the Matt Felt/Dillon Gordon Motorcycle Run. This past year also provided some "hair raising" events including one at the Bend in the Road, as well as money raised from Locks of Love.

Easter Bunny to be at Willows Sunday

The Easter Bunny will be visiting The Willows on Sunday, April 13. Local Girl Scouts (Bri, Elizabeth, Cecelia, Maci, and Maurya) will provide you a picture with the Easter Bunny for $5 during brunch. The Easter Bunny is happy to take pictures with anyone, young and old! The girls are raising money for a trip to San Francisco in 2015. Spread the word!

I can just hear what you're thinking -- where does she come off thinking about some of the things she does? That's what this is all about: whatever comes to my mind, and yours. Take it for what it is worth.

My thoughts today concern illnesses -- germs, colds, flu and allergies.

Common sense tells me that the jobs we do and the places we go all contribute to illness; it also tells me germs can only enter ones body through open orifices, such as our eyes, ears, nose, mouth and throat.

Simple as it seems, the best way to avoid illness is to keep your hands clean and out of your face. Most people are aware of this – just use good old soap and water, anti-bacterial is not necessary.

Second to not washing your hands, and a common mistake: failing to wash hands long and thoroughly enough. Children are taught to sing the “ABCs” while washing. Adults sing faster; so sing it twice. However, we’re constantly exposed to germs and bacteria, so I repeat – always keep hands away from your face!

Some stores offer sanitary wipes to use on grocery carts, and they are a plus, but aren't enough. How many things in that store carry bacteria and germs? Be sure to sanitize thoroughly before beginning your shopping, and maybe even after. Think about it!

I know, washing your hands every time you turn around is monotonous, but it sure beats coughing, sneezing, upchucking, sniffling, or anything from catching some illness.

People get colds from other people, not the weather. I know that is hard to believe, but ask the polar bear and Eskimos, who don't get ill until they make contact with outsiders.

How do you know if you have a cold or an allergy? People will usually see a rise in temperature with colds, not with allergies.

When developing better health habits, keep in mind my “rule of five.” If you're a Dr. Oz fan, you know he advocates protein five times a day. It doesn't take much; two tablespoons of peanut butter will do the trick.

Five is an important number regarding serving sizes of fruit and vegetables, but don't forget that a variety of color is also important. Our immune system relies on the flavored and other helpful ingredients they supply.

Most people like orange juice, which is good, but the whole fruit provides an added benefit, because of the fiber. If you like orange juice, scrub the entire orange thoroughly, then put the whole thing in the blender. Yes, leave the peel on. The best ingredients are in the peeling and white fiber that is usually discarded. Surprisingly, it does taste good – really, it does.

You aren't apt to go wrong if you indulge in vegetables, though some provide more benefits than others. Popeye wasn't wrong when he promoted spinach. It is far richer in nutrients than the lettuce commonly found on a salad. Before there were dozens of salad dressings on the market, our great grandparents always kept vinegar "with the mother," in other words new and unpasteurized, in a cruet on the table.

Tomatoes as a fruit are delicious, and also one of the few fruits/vegetables that are healthier when cooked because of the lycopene. Many are better raw or lightly steamed

Don't forget popcorn is a whole grain with lots of fiber and ability to fill you up more than out. Eat it plain or flavored with low-calorie enhancers. Popcorn contains a great deal of antioxidants like selenium and vitamin E, which help protect our cells from free radicals. Try putting cinnamon on your popcorn to help lower your blood sugar.

Eat like your life depends on it. It does!

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, April 10th: Kimberly Luhring, Sara Bergerson, Sarah Skroch, Sophia Rose Christensen, Luke David Olson, Daniel Gould, Liz Reichl, Harold Pitcock, Arlen & Coleen Brekke, Lawrence & Dorothy Sprankle

• Friday, April 11th: Barb Marcus, Ruth Benson, Lori Dobberstein Sodeman, Jessica Dobberstein, Jacob Alan Reynolds, Dan Nelson, Darrin Thostenson, Theresa Bartsch, James Thompson

• Saturday, April 12th: Tiegen Kay Richards, her 6th; Rory Ann Bickler, Guy Cromwell, Charise Oland, Cheryl Thompson, Deb Wilking, Allen & Betty Brandt, Roger & Reta Draayer

• Sunday, April 13th: Victor Mrotz, Jamie Johnson, Andrea Casteron Malo, Ava Raye Chapman, her 5th; David Clausen, Margie Nesdahl, Pat O'Conner, Jason Sullivan, Roxie Ritz Simmons, Megan Benson, Charlotte Miller, Curtis Klecker, Shannon & Jason Peterson, their 10th

• Monday, April 14th: Dakota Clark, Anna Elizabeth Bailey, Tina Hagen, Jason Vogt, Rachel Oswald, Marcia Hemingway Jensen, David Jensen, Ron Huber, Butch & Gail Ottesen

• Tuesday, April 15th: Mason Robert Klemmensen, his 6th; Terry Jensen, Barry Troe, James Benson, Sarah Christine George, Cayla Conroy

• Wednesday, April 16th: Linda Christensen, Eddie & Arlene Miller, their 62nd; Terry & Cindy Vaith their 30th

Wishing you every joy as you celebrate your special day!

There is one thing that almost everyone that I have talked to in the last month is ready for and that is summer. No matter what the temperature is or the weather is like at this time of the year there is one thing that can possibly make it just a little more bearable and that is thinking about or even planning a camping trip, family vacation or just looking forward to summer activities in general.

When I look back at the many years that our family spent camping and fishing together it gives me a good feeling. Although I know that I cannot physically relive those days the memories that I have are priceless. On more than one occasion I have found myself chuckling to myself when thinking of something funny that happened on one of our many camping trips.

I know that my love for camping first started when I was a youth who had, for all practical purposes only an imagination and a true love for the outdoors. I recall one time when few of us neighbor kids had decided that we wanted to sleep outside and the only tent that we had was one that we had made from an old flannel bed sheet thrown over the clothesline in our back yard with another blanket spread out on the ground for a floor and old sheets clothes pinned to the ends for doors. My mother had helped me make my first clothesline tent when I was a little younger but I had only played in it and not slept in it so now it was for real. The sheets and blankets were the same ones that my mother would use to cover her flowers and garden to protect them from an early frost.

Sleeping outside meant that we would be able to play outdoors later than usual and that also meant that we could play cowboys and Indians in the dark which was always fun. Tag was another good game to play at night and it didn’t even require any arguing about who shot who first. I am sure that playing these games today would get us in trouble with the ethics police and pointing a loaded finger and going “bang” might result in jail time. It seems like no matter what game we played every one of us would interpret the rules just a little bit differently; I guess that was just part of being kids.

Everything seemed to be going along pretty well until we got tired and decided to try and get some sleep. We didn’t have sleeping bags so we had to take blankets and pillows from our houses. Eventually we would settle in for the night in our makeshift tent with a trusty flashlight serving as a lantern. The sound of crickets chirping would be drowned out only by the buzzing of mosquitoes. Now you need to realize that a blanket tent is not mosquito proof so there was really not much separating us from the pesky critters of the night. On those warm summer evenings the dew would set in at dusk causing the blankets and pillows to become damp and clammy.

Eventually I would start to thinking about how nice it would be if I was laying in my dry bed inside our mosquito free house. No one ever wanted to be the first one to crack so we laid there sweating and swatting mosquitoes hoping that sleep would finally come and put us out of our misery. Once the blankets and pillows were soaked with dew you knew that it would be a long night unless somebody buckled under the pressure. If one of us were to bring up the fact that there were way too many mosquitoes or that it was too damp we were all on board with the idea of heading indoors.

The following day we would usually talk about our camping adventure as if we had survived a night in the north woods fending off wolves, bears and mountain lions. This is what kids did when they needed little more than a good imagination to entertain themselves.

The Minnesota DNR has issued the following news release which I think is pretty exciting and would be unique to this area of the state.

DNR proposes reintroducing bison to Minneopa State Park

The Department of Natural Resources Parks and Trails Division is proposing to reintroduce bison to Minneopa State Park, near Mankato, and is seeking public comments on a draft management plan amendment for the park.

The amendment describes the impacts and opportunities created by the reintroduction of bison for resource management, interpretive services, recreation and visitor services at the park. Citizens can ask questions or submit comments until Monday, May 5.

As part of the public review, DNR staff will hold an open house at the Blue Earth County Public Library, 100 E. Main St., Mankato, on Tuesday, April 22, from 5:30 to 7 p.m., for anyone interested in providing comments about the draft management plan amendment.

The draft management plan amendment is available for review online.

Copies of the plan will also be available to review at the DNR regional headquarters in New Ulm (at 261 Hwy. 15 S.), and at the office at Minneopa State Park, 5 miles west of Mankato off U.S. Highway 169 in Blue Earth County (at 54497 Gadwall Road.).

Minneopa State Park, established in 1905, contains southern Minnesota’s largest waterfall and the remains of the historic Seppmann Mill.  The park encompasses 2,691 acres of which 1,653 are owned and managed by the DNR.  Park facilities include a campground, group camps, picnic areas, a visitor center, and trails for hiking and cross-country skiing.

Those unable to review and comment on the draft amendment at the open house can submit comments via phone or email to Jade Templin at 651-259-5598 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Until next time, think spring and start planning that next family vacation or camping trip - even if it’s just in the backyard. If you take advantage of our many state parks and national forest campgrounds it will enhance the experience of spending time in our great Minnesota outdoors.

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

Echoes from the Loafers’ Club Meeting

Did you go to that meeting yesterday?

I did.

I thought you weren't going?

I wasn’t, but then I decided that going was the next best thing to not being there.

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: there is no exception to the rule that every rule has an exception.

Ask Al

"What is forensics?" Ten.

"What are Hartland residents called?" People.

"How could I attract butterflies to my yard?" Sound like a flower.

"How can I get more cardinals in my yard?" Move to St. Louis or Rome.

Cafe chronicles

At the table of infinite knowledge, retired guys looked back into the past and became tired. The cafe gives them a place to sit and hate other people's jobs. They were fellows who didn’t believe everything they thought. One, with optional hearing, said that he never wore his hearing aids. He's afraid that if he did, people would think he was listening. Another guy kept bringing up the subject of TV so he could tell everyone that he never watched TV.

I said that I’d been to a wild game feed where I’d eaten raccoon. No hush fell over the crowd. They began talking about lutefisk.

A boy at a nearby table bit off the end of a drinking straw cover, dipped the other end in ketchup, and with a puff of breath, blew it toward the ceiling in the hopes that it would find a suitable home and stick there.

That’s what the retired men had done.

Hartland news

An Englishman, an Irishman, a Dane, an Aussie, a German, an American, a Mexican, a Spaniard, a Russian, a Pole, a Lithuanian, a Swede, a Finn, an Israeli, a Romanian, a Turk, a Greek, an Italian, a Norwegian, a Czech, and a Canadian went to the Snobbish Trapshooting Club, where the elite meet to skeet.

The bouncer said, "Sorry, I can’t let you in without a Thai."

Homeward bound

I was trapped in an airport. I spent a night on the floor near my gate. I slept in three-minute intervals between announcements. My delayed flight had been delayed.

I longed to be home. Home is where the heart is and sometimes the luggage. My luggage and I have lived in both Freeborn and Waseca Counties. I remember learning in grade school about the great County War way back when. Some Waseca County residents had thrown dynamite across the county line into Freeborn County. The inhabitants of Freeborn County lit the dynamite and threw it back. That’s how wars start.

Scene from a marriage

My wife thought the horoscope had said that she’d meet a tall, dark man. Actually it had said that she would meet a tall dork. Me.

"What are you thinking about?" she asked.

I was sitting in my favorite chair. That meant I wasn't thinking about anything. I told her that I’d been thinking about the theme song to "Green Acres."

I had been.

With a featherbed

I was hunkered down in a hotel in Ankeny. The weather had been that of winter even though it was spring. At the front door of the hotel, there was a mallard drake quacking furiously. I’ll bet he wanted a room.

Did you know?

• The average person blinks 15-20 times per minute. That's up to 1,200 times per hour and 28,800 times in a day. We spend about 10 percent of our waking hours with our eyes closed.

• Parts of Chicago are food deserts. A food desert is an entire city neighborhood or cluster of neighborhoods without a mainstream grocery store.

• In 1890, the US had 800 German newspapers and at the start of WWI, Baltimore had four elementary schools teaching in German only.

Nature notes

Roger Batt of Algona asked, "Can birds smell?" The apparatus for detecting odors is present in all birds. Shearwaters and fulmars are attracted to the smell of fish oil. Turkey vultures are believed to use their sense of smell to locate carrion. Kiwis, flightless birds from New Zealand, appear to sniff out earthworms. I hope that the great horned owl that eats skunks has a poor sense of smell. Robins are believed to be able to smell worms, goslings use their olfactory sense to find food, and starlings employ a sense of smell to find aromatic green nesting material. Even with the ability to detect odors, a mother bird will accept her baby back after it’s been touched by a human. She’s a mother.

Meeting adjourned

There is always room for a kind word.

To me, “Minnesota Nice” is a great label for many Minnesotans.

One of the best examples was when two Minnesota sophomore high school students wrestled for the Minnesota 120 lb. state title. The loser was pinned by his opponent. Did the loser throw his headgear, pout and stomp off the mat? No, he went over to his opponent’s dad – who was dying of cancer – and gave him a big hug. Then it was the winner’s turn to hug his dying dad. The crowd cheered, clapped and cried while standing to show their appreciation.

Closer to home, the NRHEG school board most certainly knows the meaning of Minnesota Nice. How so? Because they closed school on Wednesday and let out school early on Friday so NRHEG-Land could take part either in person or watch the great NRHEG girls win the Minnesota Class AA State Basketball Championship the second year in a row. (For those of you with the last name of Johnson: You may have the most common last name in Minnesota; however, Wagner is the most popular last name in NRHEG-Land.)

When you’re the editor of the local NRHEG newspaper, you get to prove how great you and your staff are  promoting Minnesota Nice by publishing a “State Tournament Souvenir Edition” of the NRHEG Class AA Minnesota Girls 2014 State Championship basketball team. (There are 59 photos in the edition. Thanks, Star Eagle staff!) To me, the best picture was of the Mighty Team of 12 girls.

When you’re recognized as the Albert Lea-Freeborn County Chamber of Commerce Farm Family of the Year, is one of the requirements being Minnesota Nice? Most certainly, as in the example set by Paul and Linda Lynne of rural Hartland.

Even Minnesota weather can be nice, as March went out like a lamb!

A personal Minnesota Nice was shown to me. I went to Meg for teeth cleaning at the dental office of Dr. George Lundstrom in Albert Lea. When she was done, I sit up to stand up and leave. As I did so, the room was spinning and I was dizzy. I managed to leave and get to Dr. Salazar in Urgent Care at Mayo in Albert Lea the next day. My blood pressure and heartbeat were sitting up, lying down, and standing up. The readings were very different. A blood test was done, and Dr. Salazar told me my problem was easy to solve. “Drink Gatorade, on a daily basis,” was the answer. I am now drinking 12 ounces of Gatorade with no dizziness.

Where does the Minnesota Nice apply to the dizziness? Two days later, on a Saturday morning, a nurse from Urgent Care called to see if the Gatorade solved the problem. She told me she knows me from Beaver Lake, and her in-laws are Joe and Marge LaFrance, longtime cabin owners on Beaver Lake. Fellow Lion Kevin LaFrance, your wife is truly “Minnesota Nice.”

———

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.

Lately, I’ve been part of a wonderful process in our school district called Strategic Planning. We have a group of teachers, administrators, and board members working together with the South Central Service Cooperative to really plan ahead and set some realistic, concrete goals for NRHEG.

When I started teaching, I was told by veteran staff that every time a new initiative was introduced, you could count on hearing about it for two-three years before something new took its place. They were absolutely right.

Since I began, we’ve seen the Profiles of Learning, the Basic Standards Tests, Advisor/Advisee groups, Curriculum Mapping, Response to Intervention, No Child Left Behind, NWEA testing, MCA testing, Professional Learning Communities, Problem Based Learning, Sustained Silent Reading, Common Core Standards, Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports, and many others I’m sure I’ve forgotten. Just keeping track of what we’re supposed to be focused on is an initiative unto itself.

Every one of those ideas above has had its merits. Many of them have gone the way of the dinosaur. Others most likely will. It’s just the nature of the beast; someone comes up with a brilliant “new” idea and markets it, when in reality it’s an old concept wrapped in new paper.

We have to continually reinvent ourselves in education and try new ideas. I’m loving SSR and PBIS, but we always need to keep moving ahead and finding ways to keep those good ideas fresh and relevant to the students.

My long-time readers know how I feel about standardized testing; we can chuck it all as far as I’m concerned. The target keeps moving on the tests, making it difficult to know just where the students should be. Calls to the Department of Education are as frustrating as talking to a politician on the campaign trail: no real answers and a lot of avoidance of anything remotely going against the grain.

During one of our Strategic Planning sessions in Mankato, our facilitator gave great rationale for why the standardized tests currently being pushed on us by the powers-that-be started and why they continue to make life difficult for teachers and students. The government is trying to get more and more involved in education by forming tests made to look schools look bad.

Any time you see a study that shows the United States is behind all these other countries in education, remember one important fact: the USA educates every child in the same system. Many other countries put students on a tracking system early, and their futures are determined by the time they are teenagers. In the United States, all students are supposed to be able to read and do math at the same level.

This is ludicrous. Every child is not the same. Brain studies show that our cognitive functions are often geared toward math or toward reading and not always both. People all have different strengths; they all have different needs. Should I be able to read and comprehend any story in the newspaper? You bet. Should I be able to do some basic math to balance my checkbook and keep a budget? Absolutely.

Reading and math both offer more than that, though. Those skills help develop brain connections and make us better at so many things, problem solving being first and foremost. Still, is every child going to reach a level of math and reading as it is currently placed? Not in America. Children have so many different needs that the basics are what are necessary for the vast majority. I’ll be honest; I don’t know how well I’d do on the high school math test currently put forth in Minnesota. Does that mean I should turn in my teaching license?

I have a natural suspicion of every new idea that is presented to us. We’ve been burned so many times by “This is the real deal! This will be around for the rest of your career!” that it’s hard to think anything is the ultimate solution. As one senior staff member told me my first year, “Figure out what’s important and keep teaching it. You’ll find a way to cram it into whatever they throw at you.” Wise words, indeed.

Hopefully, our Strategic Planning committee can sort through the morass that we face in our school and decide what is truly important and how to get there. The ultimate goal is that rather than, “This, too, shall pass,” we can say, “This, too, shall last.” Meanwhile, it’s once again testing season and I could possibly be more excited, but don’t hold your breath.

Word of the Week: This week’s word is bloviate, which means to speak pompously, as in, “The speaker bloviated about the latest fad in education.” Impress your friends and confuse your enemies!