NRHEG Star Eagle
137 Years Serving the New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva Area
Newspaper of Record for NRHEG School District
Newspaper of Record for Waseca County, MN
PO Box 248 • New Richland, MN 56072
507-463-8112
email: steagle@hickorytech.net
Published every Thursday
Yearly Subscription: Waseca, Steele, and Freeborn counties: $52
Minnesota $57 • Out of state $64

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By TRISTAN JENSEN
Editorial Assistant

Geneva Cancer Auction continued its work raising money for cancer research with the first weekend of its annual auction event January 6 and 7 at Geneva Bar and Grill. The auction is scheduled to continue January 13 at 7 p.m. and 14 at 2 p.m. In addition to the live auction, raffle tickets are being sold throughout the event, and the drawing will take place at 10 p.m. on Saturday, January 14 with a Grand Prize of $1,000. Sunday, January 15 the Geneva Cancer Auction committee will officially pledge their donation and announce the amount raised for 2023. Since its inception in 1985, the auction has raised over $2 million. “It was nothing when we started,” said Whitey Hagen, founder, “but people grabbed onto it and it's been like this ever since. It takes a lot of work by a lot of people who don't like cancer.”

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Straight River Youth Singers

By MELANIE PILTINGSRUD

Staff Writer

Straight River Youth Singers organizers from left, Amelia Harthan, Heidi Brasher, and Melissa Williams.
Three Northwestern College graduates, Amelia Harthan, Melissa Williams, and Heidi Brasher, are collaborating on a project that will have 4th - 12th graders in the area singing for joy.  
Straight River Youth Singers [SRYS], a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, is the brainchild of Amelia Harthan of Owatonna, Minn., whose dream is to provide an opportunity for young people in Waseca, Steele, and Rice Counties to use and develop their musical talents in choral harmony. The organization will comprise not just one choir, but three: the 4th - 6th grade Straight River Treble Choir, the 7th – 9th grade Straight River Chorale, and the 10th – 12th grade Singers of Straight River.“I first came to the idea of SRYS during the course of my daughter's involvement in Honors Choirs [HC] in Rochester,” said Harthan, accompanist for two of the ensembles, who works for the Wenger Corporation in Owatonna. “She sang under Bill and Amy Nelson with HC from third grade through 6th grade, when her involvement came to a rather abrupt close in the middle of the pandemic.”
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By TRISTAN JENSEN

Staff Writer

Standing in front of a new electronic sign in Ellendale are Susan Eberline, representing Keen Bank, and Ellendale Community Action president Allison Muilenburg.
 
 
In 2018, the Ellendale Community Action Group (ECAG) came together with the goal to “improve and better Ellendale and make it a great place to live.” Group member Donavan Eaker proposed an electronic sign which area civic groups, churches and the school would be able to use to share events and news with the community. Residents of Ellendale and those passing through may have noticed the sign has become a reality, located on Highway 30 just east of the railroad tracks. It is the same design and concept as the sign outside the high school building in New Richland, and was ordered from M&M Signs in Mankato. “I wasn’t sure at first because it’s a big project,” said Allison Muilenburg, ECAG President, but as ideas of how the ground would look and all the possible uses developed, she saw how the community loved the idea. 
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By DEB BENTLY

Staff Writer

NRHEG’s “Truth in Taxation” meeting was held just prior to the regularly scheduled Dec. 19 school board meeting. No members of the public were in attendance. District Business Manager Karla Christopherson observed that residential property values, and thus tax evaluations for homes across the district had risen by about 20%.

Christopherson proceeded to present a detailed, 30-minute report summarizing the distribution of local tax levies used to support the district. While significant portions of the district’s $11 million annual budget are covered by state aid and, especially during the time of Covid, federal money, roughly $2,500,000 is collected as local tax revenue.

Of that amount, slightly more than half comes from taxing residential property. The next largest contributors, about 30%, are commercial and industrial properties. Although farmland comprises more than 17% of the property value in the school district, farm owners pay less than 7% of the taxes because of a “school to ag” credit under which the state protects farmers by paying much more than half of their “share.”

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Larry Otto of Ellendale died unexpectedly at his home Saturday night. He was 73.

Otto was elected in July as chaplain of the Minnesota American Legion. He

said at the time that although he does get emotional, he doesn’t cry, his eyeballs just sweat profusely.

He said his one main goal in life was to, through whatever means, help the world understand that “there’s a heavenly Father up there who loves them.”

Otto was a member of the Ellendale American Legion, Post 296 for 51 years. He also served as chaplain for District 1, which serves 10 counties in southeastern Minnesota. Also, in Ellendale he was a member of the Community Foundation of Ellendale group.

Otto regularly dedicated and donated his time and energy to improving the lives around him in addition to the community. Over the years Otto has been mentioned in numerous Star Eagle articles, photos and snip-its. Most recently, he led the Ellendale Memorial Day program.

Otto is survived by his wife Emily, two children and seven grandchildren.

Funeral arrangements are pending.

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