I like a good zone defense in basketball. Notice I used the adjective “good.” When a zone is run effectively, it forces teams to shoot from the outside more, which makes shooting percentage generally go down. However, every zone has holes in it which good teams can exploit. Once a team has figured out how to counter your zone, you have no choice as a coach except to change things up defensively.

Which is what made watching our Lady Gophers from the University of Minnesota so frustrating this year. I get it – we have a horse in the race with Carlie Wagner and want to see her succeed, which is one reason I get so passionate when I watch them, almost the same as I do while watching the Vikings or Twins.

Anybody with any amount of basketball knowledge who also watched the Gophers probably shouted at some point, “Stop with the zone defense! Man up!” I know I did, and I heard many people around me saying some variation on that at their final game, a loss to the Coyotes of South Dakota. Coach Marlene Stallings continued her obstinate ways by staying in the 2-3 match-up zone, even when the Coyotes repeatedly found the hole at the free-throw line for shots and demonstrated superior cross-court passing to find the open shooters on the outside.

The other way a zone sometimes hurts you is in the rebounding department, and that was a major Achilles’ heel for our home team this year. When you are in a man defense, you are always close to a player and can box out when a shot goes up. With a zone, you sometimes find yourself in space, which means the offense also has unguarded people who can crash the boards and get the easy rebound.

In conversations with Carlie, I’ve gotten the sense that the team might not like the zone much either. Again, to use it at times is a good idea, but you’ve got to switch things up and keep the other team guessing. My gosh, we were able to do it at the junior high level the last couple of years. We didn’t run a great zone, but we’d throw it on at times, always ready to return to a man defense at a moment’s notice.

Just look at our high school ladies in their section loss to NYA. Our zone wasn’t working as planned because one of their players seemingly couldn’t miss from outside. Onika switched it up and had one of our players face-guard that girl, which shut her down for a while. Ultimately, it wasn’t enough, but that ability to change what isn’t working, even when you look at it as your bread and butter, is what good coaches do.

The oft-used phrase is that defense wins championships. We see that played out time and again across all sports. What’s the first thing Mike Zimmer did when he took over as coach of the Vikings? He revamped the defense. Even without a great offense the past two seasons, the Vikings almost always had a chance to win. Now he’s revamping the offense, and that balance is what we loyal fans hope will result in a trip to the Super Bowl in the next couple of years.

When the Twins were winning consistently earlier this century, defense was the name of the game. They were always near the top in fielding percentage and rarely made errors. That has slipped recently. When the team started so poorly last season, they weren’t even making the routine plays at times; I remember watching an outfielder drop a normal fly ball, the kind that Little League kids make every day. The team’s defense improved as the season went on, but that early stretch cost them the playoffs.

Now they’ve put their best power hitter, Miguel Sano, in the outfield, where he is shaky at best. The Twins traded away a good defensive outfielder and signed another power hitter, but it’ll be interesting to see how this puzzle fits together. At the end of last season, our boys had one of the best defensive outfields in the game but little pop at the plate. Will the tradeoff of defense for offense result in more wins? That’s what we’ll hope for.

As a coach, I always set defensive goals for my teams. If we learned the basics of defense and played well at that end of the court or out in the field, we were going to have success. It would take all the players to buy in; good teams find weak points in your defense and exploit them. It’s hard to hide a bad defensive player in basketball, and the baseball always manages to find that kid who is afraid of a batted ball.

Hopefully all the teams we root for in Minnesota will focus on those defensive fundamentals. We’d all love to see the Twins and Vikings make runs in the playoffs, and defense will jumpstart those chances. And I know we’re all interested in seeing how Carlie adjusts to being the center point of the Gopher offense next year, but deep down we know defense will win out and she wants to be a winner more than anything.

Word of the Week: This week’s word is alar, which means relating to the armpit, as in, “The zone defense could also be known as an alar defense since all players’ hands should be held high.” Impress your friends and confuse your enemies!

On Sunday, March 13, after church, Genie and I loaded our red HHR Chevrolet, set the cruise at 75 mph as we got on I35 and headed south for Harrison, Arkansas.

After crossing into Missouri, we pulled into the first rest stop. The temperature was 71, making all the nearby frogs sing their get-together spring song. An interesting sight was an Indian brave on his horse herding five huge buffalo near the rest stop.

A few miles later, we pulled into the Comfort Inn at Bethany, Missouri. We ate a very good evening meal at the “Toot, Toot Restaurant” there.

We took Missouri Highway 13 south off of I35 at Bethany to Highway 65 at Springfield, Missouri. Thus, we missed going through Kansas City, and it was about 20 miles shorter.

In a small town along 13 south at a church where the letters on the outside board are changed by hand was a great Easter message: “Easter is more than something to dye for.”

On our spring break to visit relatives Sandy and Frank Meng in Harrison, Arkansas, we stayed at the Quality Inn in Harrison. We walked in and were welcomed back by employees Janie and Carrie. Sandy and Frank took us on tours of the countryside outside of Harrison. We enjoyed lunch with Joe and Susan at their hobby farm (even a creek with a waterfall).

We had lunch at the Cliff House Inn and Restaurant overlooking the Grand Canyon of Arkansas.

Tonya, the town character, took us to the DQ for an ice cream cone while saying the treat was on her (I later found out it was free DQ cone day all across the U.S.).

Genie and I think all customer-related personnel should take a two-week training session with the Harrison Quality Inn employees to recognize how to get repeat customers. A prime example of seizing the moment to please the customer was when employees Tammy, Stacy, Katrina, Lucinda, April, Shaunna, Janie, Thomas, Tyler, Carrie, Jan, Bobby and Clancy all wore green on St. Patrick’s Day. They even served green tea at the motel guests’ free breakfast.

As we leave for home on Friday morning, Janie checks us out of the Quality Inn while giving her slow Southern drawl of a comeback, “You’re always welcome.”

We stayed at the Comfort Inn in Bethany on our way home and ate the evening meal at the “Toot, Toot Restaurant” with the same waitress as before. She remembered us, and asked if we would like the same meal as before. Genie and I looked at each other and said, “Sure.”

Madi, your rating on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the best waitress, is 12. Yes, readers, Madi remembered what we ate before and brought us exactly the same meal. When we walked into the restaurant, the hostess asked if it was O.K. if we sat at a table for six with two other people as the place was very busy and that way we wouldn’t have to wait to be seated. We gave the hostess our O.K., and she checked with the other party and they said O.K, too.

We introduced ourselves. A fourth-grade young lady and her mom from Princeton, Missouri, were most impressive. Her name was Gracie and she decided to keep Mom company while her three sisters were at their farm with Dad. Gracie, you were the highlight of our Bethany, Missouri experience.

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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

When I was a boy, we got only a couple of TV channels.

That’s a shame.

It was a good thing. We didn’t have a remote control.

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: I watched a family eat at a highway rest area. Nasty weather had forced them to dine in the car. I counted six kids in the SUV, each eating French fries with ketchup. The restaurant couldn’t have had enough napkins. It’s a rare car that doesn't hide a stale French fry. This has nothing to do with French fries, but I’ve found that I learn the most when I say that I don’t know.

My crowdom for a spatula

I watched five crows looking at flattened fauna on a highway. They seemed concerned as they stared at the roadkill that had been run over by many tires. It was obvious that the crow that was supposed to bring the spatula had forgotten it.

I quoted Red Green in the hopes that the crows found it helpful. "Remember, I'm pulling for ya. We're all in this together."

We all forget things.

A voice crying for peace

I was driving a tractor hitched to some implement that was changing the landscape. My mother brought lunch out for me. I was pleased. She seemed pleased, too, as she said, "I hope something is hot and something is cold and that they are the right things."

I was in a packed Perkins wishing Mom could bring lunch. We had ordered. As we waited, I considered shooting a sanitary drinking straw wrapper across the table, something I do with uncanny accuracy. I’ve a compulsion to shoot straw wrappers because I’m a knucklehead.

A baby cried. I lowered my straw cannon. The baby kept crying, proving once that a baby’s cry is louder than 100 adult voices.

A bibliotaph

"The cat does not offer services," William Burroughs wrote. "The cat offers itself."

I write for a living, which means that I must write.

The cat sits next to me on the chair. She makes a sound whenever I sigh or groan. She is my mews.

A bibliotaph is a person who caches or hoards books.

I might be one. I’m trying to reform, but I love books.

Too many books and too few shelves put me on a book tour from my basement to the Friends of the Public Library Bookstore. The problem is that I greet books as old friends and reread them before donating them. I read of Christy Mathewson, a great pitcher in the early twentieth century. Mathewson won 373 games in 17 seasons and was among the first inductees into Major League Baseball's Hall of Fame. His memory was so sharp that he’d play eight teammates at a time in checkers. I don’t know anyone who takes on one other in checkers.

Perhaps the cat would play me?

Tales of a traveling man

I learned that the road to Hell, Michigan is paved in asphalt.

I felt guilty that while standing at The Wailing Wall in Jerusalem, believed by many to be the remains of a great Jewish temple, I thought of Emo Phillips who said, "So I'm at the wailing wall, standing there like a moron, with my harpoon." 

I stayed in Wood River, Nebraska. The owner of the place where I holed up had a Jack Russell puppy. Someone had wound up the canine. Around and around it ran. The carpeting was tattered from all the wear and terrier.

While visiting friends, Jim and Mary Lou King, in Juneau, I learned that their daughters had been born in Fairbanks on days when the temperature never got above 50 degrees below zero.

The news from Hartland

Echo Point goes silent. Name changed to Good Listener Point.

Man honored for 25-year career as sneezeguard security at buffet restaurant.

Winery received complaints about product. Owner said, "It sounds like sour grapes to me."

Nature notes

Is the robin the harbinger of spring? Robins are seen here throughout the winter, sturdy survivors dependent upon fruit, berries and open water for sustenance. Overwintering robins look worn after battling the elements. Like us. The new migrants, mostly males, are noisier, fatter and look tan. 

Meeting adjourned

"Life is an echo. What you send out, comes back. What you sow, you reap. What you give, you get. What you see in others, exists in you. Remember, life is an echo. It always gets back to you. So give goodness." — Unknown

The 9-13 inches of snow predicted for our area thankfully did not materialize. We did, however, get more snow than needed at this time of year. Luckily for me, two of my grandsons, Trevor and Grant, came and shoveled my driveway and walk. I really appreciated it and I know that my back was extra thankful. It’s nice to have good grandsons!

In March of 1965 I was working at the Conger Creamery as a milk truck driver when we had the worst storm that I personally can remember in my lifetime. It started out as rain and sleet, which caused a lot of trouble for me as I was hauling a load of skim milk to Freeborn Foods and the roads turned to glare ice about the time I had gotten half way to Albert Lea. The Conger road was gravel at that time, and with the spring thaw we’d already experienced, the frost was out and there were deep ruts in the road. The gravel was every bit as icy as the pavement and as I rounded the curve at Upper Twin Lake, the rear of the truck was sliding toward the ditch but my tires were in the rut. I had the door open and was driving half-standing with my foot on the gas ready to bail if the truck went over the edge; luckily I made it. After I unloaded I headed back to Conger on Highway 16 and slowly but surely made it back to the creamery.

As the sleet turned to snow, it turned into a full-fledged blizzard so me and a couple of my fellow workers who all rode together spent the night at the creamery. After the snow subsided I picked up milk at the farm places that I could access. When the snow finally let up we were able to drive back to Albert Lea. Shortly after I arrived home, the blizzard got its second wind and howled for a couple of days, so I was going nowhere. One evening my dad said he was going to walk to the Northside Confectionery so he could buy smokes, bread and milk. There was no way I was letting him go alone, so I went along. We walked on top of the snow, which was almost on the level with the top of the hill on Bridge Street by the fairgrounds, and the power and telephone lines weren’t very far from the top of the snow.

When the storm finally subsided and Hwy. 16 opened, my co-workers and I headed back to Conger. Driving on the road was like going through a tunnel and along the way there were graders, semis and snowplows buried in the snow on the side of the road. Once in Conger we had to try and get the milk from the farms we could access. There were places south of Conger where only a few feet of telephone poles were sticking out from the top of the snow. Farmers dumped a lot of milk down the drain that week because they only had so many cans and so much room in their bulk tanks. I know that I shoveled more snow that winter than I probably have the rest of my life. That was the worst blizzard I can remember and it was surely one winter I will never forget.

Mille Lacs regulations designed to keep walleye fishing open

Regulations designed to protect the fish needed to rebuild Mille Lacs Lake’s walleye population will require that walleye anglers use only artificial bait and immediately release all walleye when Minnesota’s 2016 fishing season opens Saturday, May 14.

“A catch-and-release walleye season allows us to protect future spawners yet acknowledges the desire that fishing remain open,” said Don Pereira, fisheries chief for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. “Not allowing harvest is a difficult decision, but it provides our best option.”

From May 14 to Thursday, Dec. 1, anglers targeting walleye must use artificial bait and immediately release all walleye caught. Anglers targeting northern pike and muskellunge may possess and use sucker minnows longer than eight inches, but all other anglers must not possess any other bait that is live, dead, frozen or processed.

Other changed regulations:

• Walleye — Night closure beginning Monday, May 16, from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. and continuing through Dec. 1. Muskellunge anglers may fish at night but all baits, live or artificial; in possession must be at least eight inches long.

• Northern pike: Five fish with only one longer than 40 inches. All northern 30-40 inches long must be immediately released.

• Bass: Four fish with only one longer than 21 inches. All fish 17-21 inches long must be immediately released. This year’s safe walleye harvest level established by the DNR and Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission remains at 40,000 pounds, with 28,600 allocated to state anglers and 11,400 for tribal fishing. Allowing fishing beyond those limits puts the walleye population at risk and a federal court decision requires that walleye fishing be suspended.

“These new regulations reflect the DNR’s commitment to continue providing world-class fishing at one of Minnesota’s premier vacation destinations,” Pereira said.

Launch operators receiving a permit can use live bait provided they agree to participate in efforts to collect data from fishing trips, launch customers and cooperate with the hooking mortality study. Their permits would be suspended if walleye fishing on Mille Lacs is closed.

Although I am not an expert on much of anything I do feel that the total catch and release plan for walleye fishing on this big lake coupled with the no live bait rule could be devastating to many resorters and bait shop owners. I don’t know of too many folks that would pay to go out on a launch to purposely catch fish that they can’t keep. I don’t really believe that you could hype up the musky, northern and bass fishing enough to make up for the walleye fishing.

Until next time, after a little setback in the weather we may once again be able get out and enjoy some outdoors activities that don’t involve a shovel. Please remember to keep our troops in your thoughts and prayers while we are enjoying our freedoms  that our men and women serving their country are preserving for us. They are the reason that we are able to enjoy all the freedoms that we have today.

Isn’t it strange that we try to change the obvious because? Because why? I watched a segment on television about how they are now enhancing the teaching of math classes by using dance and exercise. For how many years have we fought, bribed and disciplined children into adult thinking when all the time those kids were just acting normal and learning the easy way?

What do I mean? It doesn’t mean we let children believe without restrictions or using discipline. It means we’ve simply put rules in place that are often unnecessary and destroyed the national instincts of childhood. For example: jumping on the bed. It is natural and children love it. Parents don’t, but then they come up with trampolines.

How slow were we to realize the value of washing our hands to protect them from the bacteria that is all around us? So simple, and yet the doctors didn’t think about its importance until the last few years.

If your children were like my children, the fascination with stairs was something to reckon with. Yes, it is dangerous in some respects, so you teach children to respect them. So what did somebody finally come up with? Climbing walls, that’s what. 

Climbing is a natural thing for children. Ask your parents about climbing trees when they were kids. For far too long we have worked against the natural instinct of children and have not given them credit for what they knew naturally.

Often children have adverse feelings about certain foods and tastes, so do we argue, urge and run the risk of having them hate that food forever or develop bad eating habits? In Head Start, children are allowed to eat their food in whatever way they choose. Dessert before dinner is fine. Just make sure the meal is something good and healthful.

We’ve come to learn that breakfast isn’t breakfast as we once knew it. It might be beneficial to eat the protein and more sustaining meal we usually call “supper” for breakfast and the lighter “breakfast” foods for dinner or supper. After all, when do you need the energy? In the morning before the day’s workout or at night when you should be getting ready to sleep? What and when you eat should be a bit negotiable. Some say breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Our ancestors probably ate a hardy breakfast and retired at night with less, like a bowl of oatmeal or leftovers.

Back to the children. Most will grow up without that taste of “flavored sugar water” called “pop” if they don’t see it as a mainstay at home by their elders. Even juice should be monitored and should not be used to take the place of fresh fruits. 

We didn’t always know that peanut butter sandwiches didn’t have to have jelly on them. Peanut butter, though high in calories, has potentially as much protein as about the same amount of meat – two tablespoons.

Most kids will eat most anything if they are started out right and have good models to follow and no negative language like, “not that again,”  “Yuck,”  or “I don’t like” whatever.

They should be given a right to choose, but suggest they try one teaspoon of everything just to taste, or even a tiny little bite. My mother tried the “It’s O.K., you probably aren’t old enough to appreciate how good it is” tactic. That doesn’t always work. Though it is often true. Do you eat food now you would have turned your nose up to as a child?

Medical science has now decided that for every time you sit for a period of time, you should get up and move around. Yet, for years we have expected children to sit at a desk without moving and if they moved too much they were labeled AD, Attention Deficit, and are often, sadly, “showed down” with drugs. It is part of being a kid.

We now know the value of getting up and moving around for exercise and circulation. Children are born with natural instincts. It is society that makes the errors. But thank goodness teachers and doctors are learning.

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Some of our Star Eagle readers have commented that 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 to 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.

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Birthdays and anniversaries:

• Thursday, March 31st: Carson LaShawn Ray, his 8th,  Hannah Haroldson, Melissa Collins, Jill Anderson, David Hemingway, Ross Johnson, Shane Johnson, Doug Hunt, Joanne Neuhart. Jinny Nielsen, Mollee & Joseph Tscholl

• Friday, April 1st: April Fools Day!  Madison Hanson, Irene Paulson

• Saturday, April 2nd: Harold Wayne, Leanna Burns, Genevieve Wayne, Deb Nelson, Luke Miller, Joyce Tufte Sorenson, Sonja Larson, Teresa Jensen, Kaleb Smith, Dwight Schewe, Greg Nelson, Matthew Halla, Bill & Pat Draayer, David & Shelly Mangskau, Brian & Lois Nelson

• Sunday, April 3rd: Solvieg Sorenson, Linda Goodnature, Jase Dean Knudson, Mikayla Moon, Joanne Christensen, Randy Kronberg, Patty Slater, Kevin Born

• Monday, April 4th: Daryl Paulsen, Jena Richards Thompson, Erik Smith, Rachael Nicole Rhoades, Erin Elaine Peterson, Nathan Spande, Theresa Kasper, Danny Larson, Don Larson, Ann Michelle Larson, Diane & Dave Broskoff, Amber & Daryl Jacobson

• Tuesday, April 5th: LaVada Jensen, Colette Bauers, Samuel Thompson, Alyssa Haried, Brian Schultz, Duane Nelson, Mike Johnson, Gary & Sue Hunnicutt, Dale & Nancy Kelly

• Wednesday, April 6th: Skip Cromwell, Dean Westrum, Andrew Hareid, Paul Underland

• Thursday, April 7th: Janice Jensen Skovera, Michael & Kari Ingvaldson,

• Friday, April 8th: Ivy Obermoller, Bob Donnovan

Surprise somebody. Call someone. Send a card and make their day.  Little things mean a lot.

New Richland City Council

By JESSICA LUTGENS

Staff Writer

It’s no question the property at the southwest corner of Hwy. 30 and 13 in New Richland is an eyesore.

The question is if and when something will be done about it.

A public hearing on the property, the official address of which is 420 2nd St. SE, was held during the New Richland City Council’s second meeting of the month on Monday, March 28. All members were present, along with the property owner, Jeremy Wilmes, and two local residents who voiced their concerns.

As discussed during a council meeting in February, the property was found to be in violation of city zoning after complaints were received about the growing number of vehicles on the lot over the last two years. A notice was sent to Wilmes in 2015 requesting the nature of the business being conducted at the property. After receiving no response, the city delivered a second notice of non-compliance earlier this year stating that the property must be cleared of autos, machinery and other items by May 16, 2016.

The annual meeting of the St. Peter Cemetery Association will be held at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 2 at New Richland City Hall.

The annual meeting of the St. Peter Cemetery Association will be held at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 2 at New Richland City Hall.

The NRHEG PTO will host its Community Night Out Saturday, April 2 at the Geneva Community Center starting at 4:30 p.m. Tickets are available at the NRHEG Elementary School office in Ellendale.

Troy Donald Luoma, aged 49, of Hartland, MN and recently of East Hampton, CT, passed away on Friday, March 25, 2016, at St. Mary's Hospital in Rochester after a lengthy illness. He was surrounded by his family and friends.

Troy was born in Minneapolis, MN on June 6, 1966. He graduated from New Richland High School, and subsequently joined the United States Army as a Small Arms Repairman. Troy served with the 503rd Maintenance Company in Panama and Honduras, and later as Military Police with the 18th MP Brigade in Saudi Arabia and Iraq under operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm.