Star Tribune from Minneapolis, Minnesota • Page 10

Minneapolis 2B State mews 0mm to! TuesdayAugust 301977 mm Around Epr Minnesota Early corn crop maturity means safety from damage by frost consolidation for 3 cities time normally. As of Friday, topsoil moisture was short in all but northeastern and extreme southern Minnesota, the report said. However, heavy rains over the weekends in parts of the state probably helped soybeans. Corn probably was not affected much by the rain. Crops continued on page 5B this time.

Early reports indicate that tonnage is good," the report said. Rain last week helped soybean pods fill out. That crop is still about three weeks away from maturity, although early varieties are beginning to ripen, the report said. Fifty-one percent of the soybeans were reported turning yellow, a sign they are nearing maturity, compared with 26 percent by this its weekly crop-weather report. In addition, 22 percent of the corn crop is mature, compared with an average of 6 percent by this time.

The crop is estimated at a record 531 million bushels. "Many fields are rapidly drying, permitting early silage cutting. Farmers have already cut one-tenth of their intended silage acreage. Usually none has been cut at By Warren Wolfe Staff Writer Ninety-three percent of Minnesota's massive corn crop is almost beyond damage from frost, about three weeks earlier than normal, the state Crop Reporting Service said Monday. Normally, 37 percent of the crop has reached that stage by this time, the reporting service said in Buffalo: Airport study under way The Minnesota Department of Aeronautics and the Federal Aviation Administration are studying and promoting a proposal to build a joint airport in Wright County to serve Montlcello, Maple Lake and Buffalo.

All three cities already have airports. All three have expressed Interest in receiving federal assistance to improve them. "Basically each community would like to have an airport of its own," said Ron Lloyd of the aeronautics department, ''and each would like to upgrade its airport at a cost of $600,000 each There is such a close distance, rather than spend all that money on each site, we think, that they should consider looking at a joint airport." A special committee is considering the proposal, planned for a 640-acre site equidistant from the three cities on state Hwy. 25. The committee, made up of representatives Energy-savers turn to Milaca to learn easy, cheap tips for improvements Hibbing: Perpich's efforts reportedly fail in steel strike ftS5 ST I kiWcirl? iw hi mrmnri ir i imirtiiii i rnin in i igj ftmft Gov.

Rudy Perpich made no headway Monday in his effort to bring steel companies and the United Steelworkers union back to the bargaining table in the strike of 17,500 taconite miners in Minnesota and Michigan. Perpich failed in several attempts to reach Lloyd McBride, president of the steelworkers union. The governor called from his home at Hibbing, in the heart of the strike area. The union leader reportedly was moving into a new home at Pittsburgh, Pa. By Roberta Walburn Staff Writer Milaca, Minn.

Don and Abby Marier and friends hear from some Interesting folks. A man from Maine wrote about a house he designed. "I built it as a greenhouse," he said. "A five-foot deep fish and swim pond fills most of the house, with a deck over the back two-thirds of the pond to live on." From Moorhead, came the question, "Did you ever think of i what you could do with all those cans in the ditches along the highway?" And the answer, "One idea is' to use them to heat your house during the winter" by using them to build a solar hot-air furnace. From New Mexico came a series of equations leading to the conclusion that "under certain circumstances firewood may not have a significant energy advantage for home 9pace-heating over simply burning the petroleum used in firewood hauling." The Mariers and their associates publish a bi-monthly magazine, Alternative Sources of Energy, from the Marier farm and energy-effi-cfent house near here.

The magazine is distributed worldwide to about 5,000 subscribers. Alternative Sources of Energy depends on its readers to also be its writers. Their ideas for projects must be simple, cheap to build and energy efficient. The magazine masthead says the publication is "for people concerned with the development of alternative technologies for a decentralized society." "We see the whole political statement," thing said as a Mrs. Pine Island: First water skier dies at age 74 in nursing home Staff Photo by Regene Radniecki Abby Marier worked with Dana McDill, background, on a brochure.

from the airport commissions of each city, will conduct a public hearing on the Issue at 7:30 p.m. today at the Buffalo Junior High School. Robert Boyd of Buffalo; co-chairman of the special committee, predicted a large crowd would turn out at tonight's meeting because of concern by area landowners about the effect a new airport would have on their land. Boyd said Wright County residents were particularly concerned about the cost of a new airport. He felt there would be opposition to the proposal "unless they (state and federal aviation authorities) can convince us of the benefits of it." The proposed airport would have two runways capable of handling corporate jet traffic, Lloyd said.

One runway would be 5,000 to 5,500 feet long and the other would be about 4,200 feet long. No cost estimate for the project is available, Lloyd said. The governor spent Sunday meeting in Chicago with the chief negotiator for the steel companies and in Duluth with the union's district director. He now hopes to meet with McBride in Pittsburgh. An aide said Perpich is "cautiously optimistic" that negotiations can be reconvened.

The union and the steel companies have not met formally since the iron ore workers went on strike Aug. 1. -US Ralph Samuelson week before his death he entered a hospital in Zumbrota. He had been at the Pine Haven Nursing Home only two days when he died. Survivors include his wife, Hazel, two daughters and a son.

The funeral will be Wednesday in Pine Island with burial in Lake City. prices topic "We're not affiliated with any group. We're just a bunch of farmers who decided we've got to do something," said the organizer, who asked that his name not be used. Compiled from staff and AP reports. 779.49 acres of land in Meeker County.

And that brings to 2423 acres the total reported nonresident alien ownership of Minnesota farmland, not 105,000 acres as the Agriculture Department originally reported. "We thought it was just a misplaced comma, so we checked with him and he said it was right. But we didn't think to ask how he was using his comma," a department secretary said Monday after discovering the error. UUUIIIHJIIII NIL, W5f Ralph Samuelson, 74, the father of water skiing, died of cancer Sunday night at a nursing home. Samuelson introduced water skiing on Lake Pepin, a wide portion of the Mississippi River, on July 2, 1922.

He was 18 at the time. "If you could ski on snow, why not water?" he asked, fashioning his first skis from long pine boards which he steamed in boiling water to curve the tips. The American Water Ski Association certified his claim as inventor 10 years ago. But Samuelson never accepted a formal award. "I never thought it mattered," he said.

"I knew I was the first one and that is all I cared about." A year ago, a fountain honoring Samuelson and Lake City as the birthplace of water skiing was dedicated at Ohuta Park. Born July 3, 1903, in Lake City, Samuelson raised turkeys on a rural Mazeppa farm until retiring in 1962 and moving to Pine Island. A Clarkf ield: Crop State Agriculture Commissioner Bill Walker will speak to farmers who gather at Clarkfield, tonight to talk about crop prices. At least 40 or 50 farmers are expected to drive their tractors to the 7 p.m. meeting at Clarkfield High School to dramatize their discontent, an organizer said.

number of years by the poor quality of life in the city," Mrs. Marier said. Pollution, "people snarling at each other and ugh!" The magazine grew out of a project Marier designed in the summer of 1970. He built a hydraulic ram to pump water uphill at Abby's father's farm In northern Wisconsin, ran off mimeographed copies of the design, and a newsletter was started. It was transformed into the magazine format in 1972.

For a while the Mariers lived in the Wisconsin woods. Then they read about Martin Jopp of Princeton, who's been working1 with electricity and windmills for more than 55 years (and who now writes a column for the magazine). "I wanted to Marier said. be near Martin," He built a shack at Jopp's place and divided his time between Princeton and Wisconsin until the couple bought property near Milaca and began to build their energy-efficient house in 1974. After three years of work, the house was finished in the spring.

The sun heats the house. But there are no solar collectors or complex contraptions. The sun's rays just flow in and heat the house. Period. The position of the house and windows aid greatly.

The front of the house faces south and is dominated by huge win- Marler continued on page 5B tage. St. Olaf Coach Tom Porter said the extra width of the field about five yards will give pass receivers an edge. "A defensive back learns a territory," Porter said. "Increasing the territory by a couple of feet should make it tougher to cover the ends and backs, especially on the sidelines." The metric game was suggested by Dr.

Jerry Mohrig, professor of chemistry at Carleton, who said it was time for American football to take "one short step" Into international measurement. Marier. The Mariers, who are in their mid-30s, used to live in the Chicago area. He was an electrical engineer with Western Electric Corp. She taught elementary school in the suburbs.

The found that life wasn't for them. "We always wanted to do something more than just careers," he said. "We got so freaked out after a first down, the teams will have to gain 10 meters. Officials will have to stretch somewhat as they step out penalties and announcers will give player heights in centimeters and weights in kilograms. Coaches for the two teams say the additional distance for the first down and the added length of the field will affect the game.

Quist said he suspects there will be fewer first downs and that the team with the better punter and placekicker will have an advan- LlL ilw Land ownership was exaggerated St. Olaf, Carleton to go metric for football game in Northfield Don Marier in repose Anderson sells home, keeps land Associated Press Sen. Wendell Anderson, has sold his farm home in Washington County near WIthrow but will keep about 100 acres of farmland as a possible future home site, according to an aide. Anderson and his family were packing belongings Monday and will fly to Washington, D.C., Thursday to move into a new home in suburban Annandale, Va. Aides said the family hoped to be Anderson continued on page 5B I Friedrich Helnrich Frieher von Der Leyen does not own 77,949 acres of Meeker County farmland, as the Minneapolis Tribune reported Monday.

The West German dutifully reported to state authorities his land holdings in Minnesota, as required by a 1977 law of all nonresident aliens who control farmland. But as Europeans are wont to do, he used a common European punctuation, substituting a comma for a period as a decimal point. Von Der Leyen actually owns Tribune State News Bureaus Minneapolis Rochester Associated Press Northfield, Minn. Two Minnesota collegiate rivals plan to play their first metric football game this fall on a 109-yard field that should produce an announcer's nightmare. Carleton and St.

Olaf colleges, both of Northfield, have scheduled the game for 1:30 p.m. Sept. 17 in Carleton's Laird Stadium. The field will be 100 meters long 109 yards and 53 meters wide, about 58 yards. Instead of 10-yard offensive drives for the (6 1 2) 372-4542 708 Marquette Bank Building (507)288-1417 St.Cloud14N.7thAv.

(612)253-6366.