Chris Hahn

Original article published in the Mower County Independent, Thursday, April 17, 2025.   Reprinted with permission and gratitude.

By Gretchen Mensink Lovejoy

The wheels on the bus go ‘round and ‘round, then Brian subs or cranks, and then he gets back on and drives.

That’s dedication worth ceremony.

“This award exemplifies outstanding achievement and dedication to safety,” said Spring Valley Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Senior Vice Commander Ross Heusinkveld, standing before the post’s members last Tuesday evening, April 8, sharing, “I asked the superintendent at Kingsland to come up with a candidate, and Mr. (Scott) Klavetter wrote a very nice letter about Mr. Brian Miner.”

Retired Fillmore County deputy Miner attended the meeting and heard words written by Klavetter in a letter of support for the VFW to present the Minnesota VFW School Bus Driver Safety Award to him based on his devotion to the work of making the wheels on the bus go ‘round the rural rounds to convey students to school safely in all kinds of weather.

Klavetter elaborated on why he felt that Miner would be a fitting candidate for the award. “It is my honor to recommend Mr. Brian Miner for the Minnesota VFW School Bus Driver Safety Award. Mr. Miner has been a bus driver at Kingsland Public Schools throughout my eight years as a principal and superintendent in the school district. Like so many school districts across the state, recruiting and hiring enough qualified school bus drivers has been challenging at Kingsland. As a full-time sheriff’s deputy for Fillmore County Law Enforcement, Brian regularly drove school bus routes at Kingsland before and after his police shifts to help the school district as much as he could. When he retired from the police force in 2023, Mr. Miner began driving school bus full time. As his successful career in law enforcement might suggest, Mr. Miner does not drive school bus to make a living. He does it to serve his local community and support kids.”

He went on, “Whether it is getting kids to and from school safely or taking them to a basketball game and heading inside to cheer them on, Mr. Miner is always there to support our Kingsland students. He is calm, consistent, and friendly yet firm when working with children. Students respond positively to his approach, which helps limit challenging behaviors on his school bus. This quality contributes just as much to providing a safe ride to and from school as Mr. Miner’s driving record.”

Klavetter then acknowledged that Miner doesn’t simply pocket or hang up the bus keys and go home once students are delivered to the school each morning. “While he has certainly been a great bus driver, Mr. Miner’s contributions to our school community do not end with his time behind the wheel. Since his retirement from the police force, Mr. Miner has become a licensed substitute teacher and regularly fills in wherever needed inside the school. It is quite common to see Mr. Miner drive a bus full of students in to school, park his bus, teach all day, and then hop back on his bus to take students home. When he is not needed in a classroom, he can often be found in the bus garage performing routine maintenance on the vehicles to ensure they are in proper working order to transport students safely.”

The superintendent concluded by citing that “Mr. Miner’s dedication and contributions to the children and community of Kingsland are beyond measure…he provides so much more than a safe ride to school for students.” Klavetter continued, “He is a tireless advocate and champion for all kids, whatever the need might be. He would be an incredibly deserving recipient of the VFW School Bus Driver Safety Award. We are grateful to Mr. Miner for his service to Kingsland and honored to nominate him for this great award.”

Miner then stood to accept the award as Heusinkveld relayed how thankful the VFW’s membership is that he is among the dedicated Kingsland bus drivers who roll out the fleet each school day and that even when he brings the bus to a stop at the curb and then in the bus garage, Miner just might not be done yet – he could very well be called to stand in or gear up, and he certainly does so with community in mind.

Courtesy of the Mower County Independent, 135 E Main St. LeRoy, MN 55951, (507)-324-5325

Original article published in the Mower County Independent, Thursday, April 17, 2025.   Reprinted with permission and gratitude.

By Gretchen Mensink Lovejoy

The Spring Valley Kiwanis Club honored Brayden Betts with a Kiwanis Academic Excellence Award during a recent club meeting. He is the son of Jessy Betts and Heather Kaster.

The Kingsland senior is active in Kingsland’s robotics, HOSA, drama club, game club and Knowledge Bowl. “I’ve mostly just done these extracurriculars, but I did try golf for one year. Robotics is my favorite because I really enjoy all the people in it, and it aligns with what I plan to do in my future. My favorite subject is any sciences, but especially physics, and my least favorite is English.”

He’s rather invested in his school activities, as he noted, “I’m not in many activities outside of school besides extracurriculars. I work at the Pizza Place, and I enjoy all the people and the vibe there, as well as the flexible schedule. I spend most of my spare time playing video games or watching YouTube. I don’t watch many movies, though, so I don’t have a favorite to think of, and I don’t read often, but my favorite book is ‘My Side of the Mountain,’ as I remember reading it often when I was younger and only wanting to read that book.” He added, “I usually listen to J-Pop or Nerd core – I really enjoy music, and I even considered going into it as a career at one point. My biggest pet peeve is people stating obvious things for no reason, and I could live on grilled cheese for the rest of my life, but I think the grossest food is sardines.” If he could travel to any country in the world for free, he’d choose Japan. “I enjoy learning about the culture, and I think the architecture looks really cool. If I could travel to any state, I’d go to California because it’s warm and big, so I think there would be a lot to see.”

The 18-year-old maintains that people ought to have a strong sense of who they are. “I don’t have people I admire in a usual sense. There isn’t really anyone I look up to or want to be like.” He remarked that if he could do one thing to change the world, he’d “end homelessness because it would improve everyone’s life and solve many other problems in volved with that.” After graduation, he’d like to pursue a career as a software engineer. “I find the realm of coding re ally fun, and it aligns with my way of thinking really well. When I was younger, I wanted to be a pediatrician.”

The Kiwanis recognized Brayden and his parents during a recent club meeting. The Spring Valley Kiwanis Club meets at noon on Wednesdays at the Spring Valley Community Center and welcomes any visitors interested in becoming members.

Courtesy of the Mower County Independent, 135 E Main St. LeRoy, MN 55951, (507)-324-5325

Original article published in the Mower County Independent, Thursday, November 20, 2025.   Reprinted with permission and gratitude.

By Gretchen Mensink Lovejoy

While his brother, Mitchell, wanted to game, Marcus Plaehn always wanted to be a cruncher.

This approachable beer’s calling Marcus’s workweek bluff.

“Our goal has been to make approachable beers that people can come in and try. Don’t be scared to come in and try our beers – the theory people might have is that they have to drink heavy beers, but we want our beer to be approachable,” said Bluff Brothers Brewery co-proprietor Mitchell Plaehn, as his brother Marcus concurred, “We wanted to create a nice, warm environment with good vibes so that people can enjoy that beer.”

This plan’s quite the shift from what Marcus, who graduated from Kingsland in 2015, wanted to do post-education. In fact, he was determined to be a cruncher, just like their father, Doug. “My plan was pretty much always to go into school for accounting and follow my dad’s footsteps,” he admitted, while 2010 graduate Mitchell cited that he had experienced his own shifts in addition to the newer dream of becoming a brewer and owner of a taproom. “In high school, I wanted to be a game warden, then I changed my mind in college and ended up in finance.”

Mitchell outlined how the introduction to beer-craft happened as just a simple flirtation with kitchen distilling. “We started at the end of 2019…our homebrewing started in my kitchen with a typical kitchen distiller, and I moved it to the garage… made a couple of beers for my wedding, and it was sort of marketing for us…to see what everybody thought, and everybody liked our beer.”

Having established that their suds were as friendly as a handshake, the pair began searching for a building to open their brewery in September 2021, and with the relocation of the Spring Valley Veterinary Clinic to a new building in the industrial park to the northwest, they began overhauling the rooms where puppies and kittens were introduced to the veterinarian for the first time. They had considered a building downtown but determined that it didn’t have as much exposure or potential for amenities as they’d have liked, but the clinic’s square footage won them over. From November 2022 to October 2023, they tore out walls and renovated, brewed some good beers and tasted them, tasted other beers and compared them, and applied for their brewery license so that they could officially open in October 2023. Marcus recounted, “We did a full renovation.” Mitchell added, “We put in all new wiring, new plumbing…took a lot of trips to Stewartville with the demoed materials. We accomplished it, and it was rewarding.” Marcus concurred, “Our hard work paid off. It’s exciting…and we are now finally able to share our beers. We’ve gotten advice from others who said that ‘if you like your beer, (others will, too)’.”

New beers have bubbled up in addition to the original list of favorites, and they determined at the outset of brewery ownership that they would maintain certain beers and leave room for new pints to populate the rotation. Mitchell pointed out that their own favorites and those of their customers are “consistently” available until sold out, but experimentation’s always underway behind the brewery’s back wall and in conversation between people holding the glasses. Mitchell stated, “It’s like baking a new batch of cookies…it takes a few weeks to try it.” Marcus agreed that beer-craft adventures often begin much like neighborly recipe exchanges. “A lot of times, we’ve either had a beer at another place that we like or we’re looking into something that people like.”

The brothers, who have maintained day jobs in finance alongside brewing for the weekends, acknowledged at their brewery’s outset that things – like enjoying a lager or ale and a good chat – are much friendlier with room for children and for good eats, and that meant that they welcome families to bring their half-pints and order pizza to feed them if they’d like to do so. “We want to create a nice, warm environment with good vibes,” Marcus reiterated, while Mitchell observed, “We want this to be a place for people to hang out. We have big TVs for people to watch football. And it’s a good problem when we’re running out of beer.”

The Plaehns marked the one-year anniversary of their sociable hops house on Oct. 5, 2024 with an Oktoberfest at their establishment, and expansion is on their horizon in 2025 as they aspire to purchase and install a new brew system and fermenter and buy kegs. Meanwhile, they’ve added canned beers to their menu, they’ve kept a steady lineup of food trucks stopped outside their front door to make the choice of what to eat with a cold one easier, and they’ve taken their suds to the streets during Spring Valley community events such as Wednesdays on Broadway and Ag Days – they don’t always stay home to help people celebrate what’s satisfying in this life.

Finally, the brothers themselves have been as approachable as their beers, as highlighted by an article on the Spring Valley Economic Development Authority (EDA) website written by former Bluff Country News Group (BCNG) owner David Phillips, who relayed, “Bluff Brothers Brewing received the first-ever Community Spirit Award during the annual meeting and banquet of the Spring Valley Area Chamber of Commerce Jan. 15 at the Spring Valley VFW Hall. The award is the successor to the previous Volunteer of the Year Award, which the Chamber has awarded to individuals the past several years.”

The article went on, “Chamber President Angie Gensmer said that there are many deserving people, but often it is the same people getting recognized by various organizations. ‘Since we are a chamber that represents businesses, we should try to give an award to a business instead of an individual,’ she said. Bluff Brothers Brewery is always trying to help out in the community, which is why it is deserving of this first-ever award, noted Gensmer. ‘I think the Bluff Brothers are a very great new business in the community,’ she said. ‘They bring a lot of people with a lot of their activities, and they are constantly evolving with their different events.’ She explained that the business gets a lot of attention, not just from the local community, but also by others from outside the area. The owners are ‘out-of-the-box’ thinkers’ who work with multiple local nonprofit organizations, even opening their business after hours for events, she added.”

The Plaehns’ beers are ever-changing, of course, because that’s part of the fermented fun – raising a glass to introduce tastebuds to different delights — but what remains the same is that they’re two guys who know just how to bubble up the best brews in town.

Bluff Brothers Brewery, at 817 N. Broadway Ave., Spring Valley, is open Thursday from 3:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., Friday from 3:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m., Saturday from 11:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m., and Sunday from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. For more information, call 507-218-0548, email bluffbrothersbrewingllc@gmail.com, or log onto the Bluff Brothers Brewing Facebook page.

Courtesy of the Mower County Independent, 135 E Main St. LeRoy, MN 55951, (507)-324-5325