Rev. Hagen, Frederick H. (88) died June 21st (on the 48th anniversary of his ordination in Geneva, MN) at his home in Burnsville, MN after battling cancer.

Fred was born November 12, 1923 in Toledo, Ohio to Henry and Margaret (Hahn) Hagen. His mother died when he was 9 months old, and at 18 months he was placed in the Lutheran Orphans' Home in Toledo, Ohio (the youngest child ever placed in that orphanage) and lived there until age 18.

After working in the Merchant Marines on the Great Lakes, he entered the US Navy during WWII and served on the USS Missouri. Upon his discharge, he returned to the Orphans' Home to work a variety of jobs including as a boys’ supervisor. It was then that he met his wife, Dorothy Weckwerth (New Richland, MN) who was also working at the orphanage. They were married May 24th, 1950 at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church in New Richland. Together they raised four children.

Jeanne L. Mittelsteadt, age 72 of Waseca died on Thursday, June 21, 2012 at Methodist Hospital in Rochester.

Born on May 3, 1940 in Waseca, Minnesota she was the daughter of Chester and Lois (Schultz) Bartelt.  She graduated from Waseca Central High School in 1958.  Jeanne married Allan B. Mittelsteadt on February 27, 1960 at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Waseca.  Over the years Jeanne worked as a telephone operator in Waseca, in food service with the Dept. of Defense schools, at Truth Hardware in Owatonna, the Americinn in Waseca, Ellendale Liquor, and Wal-Mart in Owatonna and Waseca before retiring in 2011.  She enjoyed reading, gardening, shopping, and spending time with her children and grandchildren.  She was a member of the American Legion Auxiliary and had been active as a Girl Scout Leader for several years and served on the Girl Scout Council.

The Quad Cities Baseball Association 14-and-under team took second place in the JWP 14-15 Tournament at Waldorf Saturday, June 16. Front from left: Zeke Erickson, Palmer Peterson, Luke Overgaard, C.J. Schiltz, Trey Hoppe and Trai Wicks. Back: Jim Peterson, Dempsey Tucker, Eli Lutgens, Brody Hanson, Wyatt Fitterer, Karter Sletten and coach Tom Schiltz. (Star Eagle photo by Jim Lutgens)

Nominations sought for Grand Marshall

The New Richland Farm and City Days Parade Committee is seeking nominations for the 2012 Farm and City Days Parade Grand Marshall. We are again asking for the input of members of the community to help honor an individual or a couple that plays an active role in our community and has helped to make our community great. If you feel you know someone that is truly deserving of this honor, we ask that you send a letter of nomination highlighting the reasons this person(s) should be considered. Letters should be sent to: NR Farm and City Days, P.O. Box 262, New Richland, MN 56072.

Ellendale Community Cookout set for Friday

The annual Ellendale Lions Club’s Community Cookout is set for Friday, June 22 from 5 to 8 p.m. at the Ellendale Community Building. The menu includes sloppy joes, hot dogs, chips, baked beans, bars, juice and coffee. Cost is free-will donation with all proceeds going to community service projects.

NRHEG Family Swim Night set for June 29

NRHEG PTO Family Swim Night at the Waseca Water Park is set for June 29 from 6:30-8:30 p.m.

This event is free and open to all families who have children attending NRHEG schools.  =This includes pre-school age children. Concessions will be open for purchases. Check the Web site www.wasecawaterpark.com for any updates or cancellations due to inclement weather.

CLAY TARGET TEAM – Front from left: Kyle Holz, Cody Mosher, Josh Fleming, Tyler Raimann, Cordell Peterson, Dustin Esplan, Haylie Mosher, Larissa Peterson and Emily Habeck. Back: Kirsten Olsen, Nathan Hager, Tyler Holz, Frank Altrichter, Travis Callahan, Zach Edon, Tyler Logan, Ryan Schlaak, Brandon Hager and Geoff Ramaker. Not pictured: Todd Erickson. (Submitted photo)

The NRHEG Clay Target Team, now in its second year, traveled to Alexandria, MN for the 2012 State Clay Target team competition. More than 900 student athletes were present at state this year, making it the single largest trapshooting event of any kind in the state of Minnesota. 

This is indicative of a league that in five years has grown from three teams in 2008 to 57 teams in 2012. This year, the NRHEG group brought 16 shooters to the event, which is broken up into the three divisions of Novice, Junior Varsity, and Varsity.

In the Novice division, Ryan Schaak and Tyler Raimann represented the team. Tyler, who is the team's winner of the Most Improved Shooter award, scored 54 out of 75 targets, which placed the 7th grader in the top third of all novice shooters. Junior Varsity fielded Emily Habek, Kirsten Olsen, Larissa Peterson, Haylie Mosher, Josh Fleming, Kyle Holz, and Cordell Peterson. 

By JESSICA LUTGENS

Editorial Assistant

On Friday and Saturday, the 22nd and 23rd of June, 80 of Minnesota’s best recently graduated baseball players will gather to participate in the annual Minnesota Lions All-Star Tournament. It is an incredible opportunity and honor to be selected to play in, and one of those players is a member of our own community who graduated from NRHEG High School this May.

Sam Lundberg is a remarkable athlete. Not only was he all-conference and awarded MVP for NRHEG’s 2012 baseball season, but he has also been chosen to play in the Lions All-Star Tournament this weekend.

“The opportunity that I am getting is really one that is pretty incredible,” said Lundberg. “Not many guys get this chance to play in such a prestigious game.” 

Do you take your own advice? It’s something to think about when you are telling others what they should do. I can think of many tidbits I passed on to others and forgot to do myself.

My Uncle Paul had all his kids take bookkeeping while they were going to school because he felt it was something they would have to do regardless of their station in life. I thought it was a great idea. 

My Uncle A.J. on my mom’s side of the family always kept a little book in his pocket and recorded everything he spent. I thought that was worth telling someone else. 

The diet doctor advised writing down every bit of food taken in. For one thing, it kept one from thoughtless eating if you didn’t want to have to stop and write down a spoonful of something. I passed on that good advice.

Another good idea is having a place for everything and returning it to its place immediately after use. That way, you always know where it is. 

Don't wait until the day before Christmas to send out greetings to family and friends. That is why we are often late. The same thing goes for greeting cards and letters. Make lists: grocery, things to be done, places to go, etc. I'd score pretty well on that one.

Shop locally. Think of how important that business is and how inconvenient it would be if you had to go elsewhere. 

Don't throw garbage out your car windows. That is not really advice, but more of a command. 

My mother has always had a thing about this. She taught my sister and me well because when I see papers or trash by the roadside, it really bothers me that someone could be so inconsiderate they would dirty our pretty world.

Eat antioxidants like tomatoes and carrots because it helps keep your blood pressure down.  Celery stimulates your immune system and good blood cells to aggressively attack viruses and bacteria. Celery also contains vitamin C and is a natural anti-inflammatory agent shown to ease upper respiratory track infections.

Drink two glasses of water the first thing in the morning to hydrate your body.

Never raise your voice in the house unless there is a fire or some other emergency.

Look where you walk. My dad was almost fanatic about nails, screws, and other objects that might flatten a tire. Grandma always said you might find a penny or two, and she was right.

Grandma also said to cut 100 dandelions or pull 100 weeds every day and you'd get rid of them without using chemicals.

Recycle, Recycle, Recycle.

Walk 30 minutes a day, briskly if possible.

Think of all the good things in life.

A recent visit to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester made me think a little bit more seriously about the facility and all it has to offer and does for so many people, including employment.

Think the Mall of America is big? Think again. The Rochester Mayo Clinic, which occupies approximately 15 million square feet, is about 3.5 times the size of the MOA. 

The personnel, physicians, scientists, residents, students, fellows and clinic and hospital staff all adds up to approximately 33,505 people. And that’s just Rochester.

There are also Mayo Clinics now located in Jacksonville, Florida and Phoenix/Scottsdale, Arizona.  Collectively these locations care for more than one million people each year. We don't always realize how fortunate we are, having a facility of this value almost next door. 

Patients from throughout the world and from all walks of life look to the Mayo Clinic, a pioneer and innovator in medicine, for hope and healing. 

Check out the license plates in the parking lots and on the streets of Rochester, where almost every state is represented every day.

*****

All of a sudden, I heard a fire siren blowing. It gave me goose bumps and reminded us to stop and say a prayer for everyone involved and to tell a fireman how much his services are appreciated.

Before I could return back home again on Thursday from one fire call in Ellendale, a second call came in, this time in Geneva. Fire departments from Ellendale, Geneva, Clarks Grove, Hollandale, New Richland, Owatonna, as well as ambulance personnel from Blooming Prairie all made their appearances when the fire whistles blew. With firemen who leave what they are doing to answer those calls, don't forget to tell these people thank you!

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. If you have news 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. 

Birthdays and anniversaries:

• Thursday, June 21st: Shirley & Greg Tennant, Dorothy Kilian, Terry Van Kampen, Robyn Schmidt Beckler, Harmony Mattson Anderson, Greg Ramaker, Jay Ditlevson, Teri Jahnke and Haley Katherine Meiners.

• Friday, June 22nd: Jessie Cleven, Marilyne Donahue, Travis Broskoff, Bruce Hunter, Barbara Haberman, Cheryl Peterson, Becca Schei, Mark & Sharon Sorenson, Chris & Linda (Harding)  Newgard and Dale & Suzanne Boverhuis Jr.

• Saturday, June 23rd: Ralph & Alyce Randall, Carlie (Thompson) & Joseph Sevcik, Greg Bartsch, Ann Farr, Amanda Wacek, Rhonda Reichl, and Rebecca Schei.

• Sunday, June 24th: Rhyan Rebea Fritz, LuAnn Hanson, Gordon Hanson, Joel Butler, Andy Sommers, Mary Harty, Sheryl Berg, Rick A. Miller, Julie (Krieg) & Brian Hove, Valerie (Tobiason) & Scott Quiring, Stephanie (Morris) & Brad Hendrickson, Jennifer (Pence) & Juan Ortega, and Danielle (Cook) & Travis Johnson.

• Monday, June 25th: Paul & Deb Wallace, Brad & Jannell Tufte, David & Lori Lembke, James & Mardelyn Thompson, Boyd & Jeanene Reese, Brady Nelson, Rachel Lerum, Michael Bell, Hugh O'Byrne, Brady Nelson Heimer, Marilyn Nelson, Boyd Reese and Steve Lunning.

• Tuesday, June 26th: Michelle Marie & Marissa Ann Leeman, Brock Nelson, Tony Muri, Richard Holmes, Michelle Davidson, Tiffany Olson, Ray Jepson, Pennie Ladlie, Tristan & Michael Ingvaldson, Chuck & Ann Southworth and Tom & Wilma Arbogast.

With each passing year, grow stronger, grow wiser, and grow richer in spirit. May the year be filled with new discoveries.

When I was growing up on the north side of Albert Lea, I had a lot of options when it came to the outdoors. We lived on the west side of Bridge Avenue north of town.

I can recall as a young boy that there weren’t many houses around when we first built ours. Our house was actually one that my folks had purchased from Mabel Nelson. 

It originally sat back on the old mink farm, which was located where Bancroft Bay Park is today. They had it moved onto a new basement and then remodeled the inside. 

At the back of our lot was a pasture. I can remember my Grandpa Winjum’s cows grazing right up to the back of our land in the early years.

There have been a lot of changes to the area over the years, but every so often, I will drive through the old neighborhood and reminisce about those days long past. As kids we were never lacking for things to do and being creative was what we were best at. 

Early summer was when we’d spend endless hours at “the bridge” catching minnows and frogs. Our eyes were also peeled for bigger fish to swim through. This was a great way for a kid to learn about nature and the outdoors in general.

We were always trying to come up with a better minnow trap to catch minnows and small fish. I can still remember how excited I would get if I caught a small sunfish or crappie in that minnow net I had rigged up. 

My minnow net was actually an old window screen that I had rigged with wire coming from the four corners to the center. After working on it in the garage for quite some time, I stepped back and admired my handiwork all the while thinking that this is really going to work. Unfortunately, in those days window screens were made with wood frames and wood floats.

When the time finally arrived for me to use my latest fish catching invention, I dropped it into the water. And instead of sinking to the bottom, the fast flowing water of the “crick” was soon carrying my fish trap away. 

I had a rope on it, which I had intended to use to haul in the bountiful catch that I had envisioned. But now, it was needed to retrieve my escaping invention. I eventually added enough rocks to sink the thing, but as I recall, that particular trap never did work all that well.

As summer moved on, the water would get lower and the fish would be scarce. This meant it was time to move on to other adventures. 

You needed a pretty good imagination and a little ingenuity to make most of my ideas work back then. I think that I may have had a 50 percent success rate at best on most of my ideas. That never kept me from trying though.

Whenever I got the urge to build something out of wood, I would have to ask before I could use a particular board that I had in mind. I usually ended up getting permission to use a board, if I wanted to pull the nails out of it. 

I became a master of nail straightening because the nails for my building projects were to come out of the “used nail” can. I think I still have a can of those nails left from when we cleaned out the folks’ house. I might need them some day!

I spent many summer days building and rebuilding my “race car” to be used on race day or any time I wanted to haul it to a hill. My friend Kim Dilling lived across the street and we’d spend a lot of afternoons racing it down the hill by his house. It wasn’t a long hill but it was fairly steep with a lot of oak trees to maneuver around, which gave me a chance to use a few more of those second hand nails. 

We were big fans of stock car races which were held every week at the fairgrounds. When the fair came around, they would feature Aut Swenson’s Daredevil’s in front of the grandstand, which was a thrill show with guys T-Boning cars and crashing motorcycles through burning boards. 

The rollover contest was one of my favorites. There was also the guy that blew himself up with dynamite. The grand finale was the “Ride of Death.” It featured a little cement car that would go down this long, steep ramp and do a summersault, hopefully landing on the pad below. 

I guess some guy died attempting it at one time so thus the name. Yes, these were some of the things we’d try to emulate with some boards, bent nails and a set of old wagon wheels. Every kid needed a role model back then, but I think Roy, Gene or Hoppy were probably the ones that our parents would have preferred.

There have been some nice walleye caught below the dam in the past couple of weeks. While I was up north, my grandson Trevor sent me a text message with a picture of a 27-inch walleye and a 17-incher that he had caught that morning. 

He also caught a couple more in the 17-inch range. He released the 27-inch fish and kept the rest for the table. There are also some sunfish and crappie being caught at various spots around Fountain Lake. 

I know that the northern fishing has started to pick up after a steady decline for many years. I have to think that the stocking of Goose Lake a couple of years back has had something to do with that. So, if you’re thinking about wetting a line, there are plenty of spots for shore fishing to be found right in your own backyard.

Take a Kid Fishing weekend was last week, but there doesn’t have to be any designated time or date to help a kid enjoy the sport. Buy yourself a license and take a little time to take a kid fishing. 

Our youth are the future of the sport of fishing and hunting and of the outdoors that we enjoy.

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