Pipestone County Star

Participation numbers continue to grow for the Pipestone Area Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Bureau golf tournament. Chamber executive director Erica Volkir reported 26 teams vied for the 20th annual championship on Thursday, June 4 at Pipestone Country Club. “That’s 104 golfers,” Volkir said in a press release. “It’s the largest number of golfers to date.” The tournament featured a scramble for...

This weekend, the region will celebrate the life and times of Joseph Douty with the third annual #LiveLikeJoe Memorial Golf Tournament. The event will begin at 8 a.m. Saturday, June 13 at the Pipestone Country Club. There will be two 9-hole rounds with 18 teams per session. The first round will begin at 9 a.m. with a shotgun start. The second round starts at 2 p.m. The scramble-formatted tournamen...

Pipestone City Council members during their June 1 meeting voted not to extend a land lease and solar easement as requested by New Energy Equity LLC. The company had originally entered into a lease with the city in 2021 and planned to build a 1-megawatt solar garden on about 8.5 acres of city-owned land east of the city’s water treatment plant north of Pipestone. In 2024 the City Council approved...

Pipestone City Council members during their June 1 meeting voted not to extend a land lease and solar easement as requested by New Energy Equity LLC. The company had originally entered into a lease with the city in 2021 and planned to build a 1-megawatt solar garden on about 8.5 acres of city-owned land east of the city’s water treatment plant north of Pipestone. In 2024 the City Council approved...

The Pipestone Area Schools’ boys tennis team conducted its season-ending awards program on Wednesday, May 27 at Pizza Ranch in Pipestone. Arrow head coach James Skyberg reported Brady Dunn was named the most valuable player. Mathew Swenson earned the prestigious most valuable teammate honor. Joel Cardenas was named most improved player. Mikah Weets was tabbed as Mr. Hustle. In addition, Dunn was n...

MARSHALL — Jackson County Central senior Mady Wachal tossed 16 strikeouts in eliminating Pipestone Area Schools during the Section 3AA championship game. “Mady was effective,” PAS head coach Robert Petersen said. “She was able to get us to swing on pitches outside the strike zone. We couldn’t lay off them. Good pitching defeated good hitting.” Despite the loss, PAS returned to the section title ro...

MILROY — The Adrian-Ellsworth baseball team proved to be Russell-Tyler-Ruthton’s kryptonite all season long. And the Dragons earned their fourth win of the season over the Knights, 5-3, in the Section 3A Tournament elimination bracket semifinals on a cool, cloudy Saturday, May 30 at Irish Yard. With the exception of the Section 3A South subsection contest between A-E and RTR on May 23, an 8-0 Drag...

LUVERNE — The Pipestone Area Schools’ baseball team saw its season come to an end with a Section 3AA South subsection loss to rival Luverne. “They are a good program,” PAS head coach Rick Zollner said. “They take baseball seriously, and play a lot of games.” The Cardinals were simply better in the three major categories: offense, fielding and pitching. PAS finished the season with a 7-14 record. T...

WORTHINGTON — Russell-Tyler-Ruthton senior Teigyn O’Leary qualified for the Minnesota State High School League Class A state tournament a fourth time. That was by virtue of her finish at the Section 3A tournament on Wednesday, May 27, at GreatLIFE Golf & Fitness Club. O’Leary carded a 30-over par 172 in this 36-hole tournament spread over two days, with the earlier round on May 20. She tied Ca...

MARSHALL — Bird Island-Olivia-Lake Lillian pitcher Kaitlyn Flann threw a complete-game four-hitter to eliminate Edgerton/Southwest Minnesota Christian during a Section 3A elimination game on Tuesday, May 26. Flann struck out 10 and allowed just one walk in 93 pitches, 69 of them for strikes (74.2 percent efficiency). Cara Ruiter went 2-of-2, Cali Wagner doubled, Kaya Voge singled and Liana Bloemen...

The Pipestone City Council during its June 1 meeting tabled the lone bid of 8,000 to repair the east wall of the former Carnegie Library building in order to obtain more information about another potential funding option. The bid included an alternate involving the use of salvaged stone from the city’s stock pile that would deduct ,000 and another alternate involving the use of a manufactured ston...

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — Five Elkton-Lake Benton athletes earned podium finishes at the South Dakota High School Activities Association Class A state meet. The drama unfolded at Howard Wood Field, with recent ELB graduate Taiton Boersma grabbing silver in the discus with a mark of 167-feet even. Boersma also was sixth in the shot put, marking at 50-4.75. ELB head coach Mark Harming said Boersma is cons...

Pipestone Area Schools’ senior track and field athlete Aurora Winsel has enjoyed a storybook career. Winsel will add one final chapter this week at the Minnesota State High School League Class A state meet. That’s because Winsel earned gold in the 400-meter run, her signature event, with a time of 1:00.10, which also happens to be a season-best performance. “I’m extremely happy and grateful to be...

Several years ago, the Pipestone A’s approached Pepsi Bottling Company President/General Manager Tim Haubrich about sponsoring a local amateur baseball tournament. A partnership was formed. The Sixth Annual Pepsi Invitational is set for Friday, June 5, and the A’s will play the opening game versus the Volga (S.D.) Cormorants at Westview Park. “We’re big on sports and everything Pipestone,” Haubric...

When it came to the “Windy Cities,” Chicago sound of the ‘60s, no single group quite defined the sound as well as Chi-Town’s New Colony Six. This sextet, along with the Buckinghams, Cryan’ Shames, Shadows of Knight, American Breed, Chase and the Ides of March jointly defined Chicago ‘60s rock and roll. The New Colony Six were a recording and hit making machine. In total they recorded for such labe...

The long-awaited sunshine and summer months are here. Kids are at home with new routines, or you could argue no routine at all. If you have followed my column long enough you know that we like routines in my house. With four kids in the house, and a 10-year age difference between the oldest and the youngest, the activities that fill the calendar vary greatly. Weightlifting, softball games in the J...

The Pipestone Economic Development Authority (EDA) during its June 1 meeting approved a childcare incubator application from Rhonda Van De Brake, allowing her to use the former Good Shepherd Evangelical Lutheran Church as a daycare for 0 a month for the first six months. EDA members also approved a childcare development forgivable loan for Van De Brake that she plans to use for daycare equipment,...

LUVERNE — The Pipestone Area Schools’ baseball team will open the Section 3AA South subsection tournament on Tuesday, May 26. The Arrows will square off with longtime Big South Conference and section rival Luverne, with the first pitch set for 5 p.m. at Redbird Field. PAS (7-10 record) drew the No. 7 seed when pairings and seedings were announced on Wednesday, May 20. Luverne earned the second see...

The Southwest Minnesota Opportunity Council (SMOC) plans to build a Head Start facility on property it owns at the corner of North Hiawatha and 11th Street Northeast. SMOC purchased the property from the county in 2022. The property is zoned multi-family residential (R-3) and the city of Pipestone’s zoning ordinance requires a conditional use permit for schools in R-3 districts. The Pipestone Plan...

Several Memorial Day programs are planned in Pipestone County on Monday, May 25. Below is an overview of when and where the programs will be and what they will include. Pipestone The Memorial Day program will begin at 10 a.m. at New Woodlawn Cemetery. Lieutenant Colonel Myron Koets, of Pipestone, will be the keynote speaker. Koets was drafted into the U.S. Army in the fall of 1965 at the age of 19...

Rich and Theresa Stangle, of Pipestone, have purchased the Hot Spot property at 223 West Main Street in Pipestone and plan to create business spaces and add murals to the building. Theresa Stangle presented their plans to the city of Pipestone’s Heritage Preservation Commission (HPC) during its May 12 meeting. Stangle said they plan to put in a new door and window and create a new entrance for an...

About 74 members of the Pipestone Area Schools (PAS) graduating class of 2026 will receive diplomas on Sunday, May 24 in the high school gymnasium. The ceremony begins at 2 p.m. Each year the senior class committee helps plan certain elements of the graduation ceremony and other events leading up to graduation. This year’s senior class committee includes Vivian Brockberg, Trevor Doppenberg, Samant...

For too long, a common-sense solution to lower gas prices and support American energy independence has been tied up in red tape. Families and farmers in Western Minnesota and across the country have been subjected to frustrating, outdated, and unnecessary regulations. The House of Representatives has taken a major step toward cutting that tape by passing H.R. 1346, the Nationwide Consumer and Fuel...

The Jasper City Council during its May 12 meeting voted 3-2 to take a neutral position on a conditional use permit Wm. D. Scepaniak Inc. is requesting from Pipestone County that would allow the company to operate a rock quarry northeast of Jasper. Pipestone County’s zoning ordinance requires a conditional use permit for all open pits and excavations. The zoning ordinance indicates that “In the eve...

Desire expressed for curbside collection Maureen Bell asked the Jasper City Council during its May 12 meeting to bring back curbside collection during the city-wide clean up days. The City Council plans to consider the request later this year when the fall clean up day is scheduled. Typically, the city requires items to be brought to the public works shop as it did during this year’s spring cleanu...