This is Kansas Profile. I'm Ron Wilson, director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University.

Do you ever fall into the trap of going to the same old places to eat? Many of us do. Today, we’ll learn about a delicious new place to eat in a rural location. It’s no trap, but is called Trappers. We’ll get the story on today’s Kansas Profile.

Meet Tony and Becky Prochaska, owners of Trappers Bar and Grill.

Tony Prochaska’s grandparents live here in north central Kansas. Tony worked for a farmer in the area, but he wanted to try something new.

In 1994, he opened a restaurant called Trappers Bar and Grill. Tony’s bride Becky says, "Tony likes to hunt and trap and fish." It shows in the restaurant’s name and decor.

What has made Trappers a success? According to a report in the Salina Journal, Tony says the three key factors are accessibility, atmosphere, and large helpings of food at good prices.

By accessibility, he means that Trappers is located near and between several larger towns such as Beloit, Concordia, and Salina.

In terms of atmosphere, you just have to see Trappers to fully appreciate it. I would describe the decor as "early plywood..." The walls are unfinished, and adorned with a collection of mounted deer and other animals, along with old license tags and other rustic treasures. Old Kansas truck tags dating back to 1921 decorate the walls. There’s a whole variety of hides and mounted animals – even a double-barreled shotgun on the deer rack above the door.

In other words, this is a fun and relaxing place to visit.

Becky says, "The atmosphere here is real relaxed." People do come as they are, which is great for the farmers who live and work in the area. Becky says, "Some days you’ll come at noon and there are a bunch of rubber boots laid outside." And at night, people can come, even late, without having to dress up.

The good service is another part of the atmosphere. Becky says she hires hard-working local girls and also wants good personality. She says, "One girl stopped in for an application to work here, and I told her we don’t have any. Just come on back and we’ll talk. That way I can tell if they have the personality that our customers will like."

But even with a neat atmosphere, the third and final - and most important - factor is the food. As stated, Tony’s goal is large helpings of food at good prices.

The menu is a piece of newsprint with wildlife sketches, historic photos, and most of all, an offering of a variety of steaks, sandwiches, seafood dinners, appetizers, and more. The steaks are said to be charbroiled to perfection. An all you can eat prime rib buffet is offered on Friday and Saturday night, and this has proven to be a big draw.

So how has Trappers grown? It started in a small building which had been a post office and was turned into a restaurant. The area which is now the kitchen had been a beauty shop.

As Tony’s business grew, he added on another room to the back of Trappers and then another. Currently he is working on yet another expansion which will add 50 seats. A large grill sits outside the kitchen to charbroil steaks, and that aroma is bound to be good for business.

So where is Trappers? It is in the town of Simpson, just off Highway 24 east of Beloit in Mitchell County. One of Simpson’s distinctions is that it is the home of the Tri Century Bank, established in 1894. It may be the smallest town in Kansas to have its own bank, and now it has Trappers too.

Simpson is a town of 105 residents. Now, that’s rural. Yet this town of just over 100 people will have 5 to 600 people dining at Trappers during a weekend, and visiting from around the country. Becky Prochaska says, "There have been people here from California to Florida." Wow.

Do you ever fall into the trap of going to the same old places to eat? Yes, it’s a trap that many of us fall into. Today we’ve heard about a relatively new place in small town Kansas that is building its success. We commend Tony and Becky Prochaska and all those involved with Trappers for making a difference by helping a small town restaurant to succeed. Trappers can help you out of the same old trap, and it’s worth the trip.

For the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development, this is Ron Wilson with Kansas Profile.

Father Emil Kapaun

This is Kansas Profile. I'm Ron Wilson, director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University.

Service above self. Today we’ll meet someone who truly put that phrase into action. This is the true story of a young man from rural Kansas who gave his life for God and his fellow man. It’s a special historical edition of Kansas Profile.

Our story begins in Pilsen, Kansas, an unincorporated town in Marion County. Its residents number about 50 people. Now, that’s rural. Yet even this small town has a big, beautiful Catholic church. It is Saint John Nepomucene Church, a wonderful Gothic structure whose cornerstone was laid back in 1914.

But this church has something relatively new on its grounds. I’ll tell you what in a minute.

Here at this church, a young man named Emil Kapaun got his first education. Born in 1916, he grew up on a farm near Pilsen and chose to enter the Catholic priesthood. He was ordained in 1940 and came back home to the Wichita diocese.

Millie Vinduska, now retired in Pilsen, remembers young Father Kapaun as "a walking saint."

During World War II, Father Kapaun volunteered to become an Army chaplain. Later on, his military service would take him to Korea during the Korean War, where he ministered to the men on the front lines of combat.

He had several narrow escapes. On one occasion, he was crawling to reach a wounded soldier when North Korean bullets came close enough to shatter his pipe. Another time, Father Kapaun witnessed the death of an ambulance driver who was transporting wounded off the battlefield. Father Kapaun seized the wheel and drove the vehicle to safety through mortar and machine gun fire. One man wrote, "He became a legend to the men."

In a letter dated October 12, 1950, Father Kapaun wrote about casualties he had observed and said, "We wonder when our turn is next."

Twenty-one days later, his turn came. On November 2, 1950, his unit came under a surprise attack by the Communist Chinese. Casualties and numbers of prisoners were terribly high. Father Kapaun had the opportunity to escape, but chose to stay with his men, was captured, and marched to a communist prison camp.

Here Father Emil Kapaun found his highest hour. He called his fellow prisoners his wounded flock. His service and ministry to them was phenomenal. He celebrated Mass, protected the wounded, procured food, maintained morale, and set the highest standards of self-less behavior.

He violated prison rules by going from one unheated hut to the next to pray with the POWs at night. While the prisoners would be arguing over who had the clean the latrine, Father Kapaun would slip out and clean it. He gave away his food and clothing, comforted the sick, picked lice off dying men. His courage and stand for his principles infuriated the communists. He defied their rules against religious services, and it ultimately cost him his life.

He survived several illnesses, but in the spring of 1951 pneumonia set in. On Easter morning of 1951, he read the Easter service and collapsed. The communists refused to provide medicine, and on May 23, 1951, Father Kapaun died.

A protestant chaplain wrote, "I’ve never known a braver man or a more devoted Christian leader." Another man wrote, "He could turn a stinking mud hut into a cathedral."

Fifty years later, those prisoners who knew him are moved to tears when asked about Father Kapaun. Kapaun Mount Carmel school in Wichita bears his name. In 1993, the Vatican named Father Kapaun a Servant of God, which is the first step to sainthood – and there has never been a Kansan who has risen to sainthood. In my view, Father Kapaun has earned this distinction.

So what is it that is new at the church at Pilsen? Near the church, there is a new statue that was dedicated in June 2000. It depicts Father Kapaun helping a wounded soldier. He is a great Kansan, a phenomenal example for us all of faith and sacrifice.

Service above self. It was a way of life for Father Emil Kapaun, who truly made a difference by placing service above self.

For the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development, this is Ron Wilson with Kansas Profile.

Perry Crabb - Stinger Lifts - Axe Equipmt

This is Kansas Profile. I'm Ron Wilson, director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University.

Let’s go to the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Look at the sporty cars we see all around us. As we enter the rotunda of the museum, a beautiful classic Corvette is on display. It is on a lift, up off the ground for easy viewing. Now where do you suppose that lift came from? You’re right if you guessed rural Kansas. Stay tuned for an uplifting story on today’s Kansas Profile.

Meet Perry Crabb. Perry is Manager of AXE Equipment Company, which includes Stinger Lifts, the auto lift used at the National Corvette Museum. Perry explains that the AXE Equipment Company is a family-owned corporation. It is owned by Danny and Donna Axe - spelled a-x-e.

Danny Axe likes race cars. In the late 1970s, he started building race cars. He formed his own company called AXE Equipment, with a specialty in the automotive industry. In 1984, he got into producing equipment related to engine rebuilding. I suspect that the expertise for engine rebuilding came about from what happens when race cars crash...

Anyway, Danny Axe continued to build the business. Perry Crabb joined the company in 1989.

Today, AXE Equipment offers a variety of products for the automotive rebuilding industry. The company has also been an innovator that has set industry standards. Its first product was a manual stroke cylinder honing machine.

The next major product was a unique design for spraywashers used to keep shop floors clean. AXE Equipment manufactures the most unique series of spraywashers in the industry, designed with a built in hot tank using a lay down door. This helped shops maintain a much drier and organized cleaning area. AXE Equipment continues to be the only manufacturer with a complete line of spraywashers using these unique features.

Of course, shops have become increasingly sensitive to environmental issues. AXE Equipment again set another industry standard by introducing the first complete closed looped spraywasher cleaning system in 1989. This system gives engine rebuilders the benefits of wet cleaning with zero discharge, a significant environmental benefit.

Axe also offers cylinder head pressure testers, engine stands, glass bead cabinets, filtration systems, oil skimmers, agitating hot tanks, cylinder honing cabinets, and custom sheet metal products upon request. Perry Crabb says, "We are all about automotive products."

Clearly, this company has found its niche. Today, it has about 25 employees and around $2.3 million in sales coast to coast. Perry says, "There is no state we don’t sell product into. We also sell into Puerto Rico and Canada." Wow. Yet this company remains based in the community where it began, the town of Council Grove, Kansas, population 2,265 people. Now, that’s rural.

And what about those auto lifts? Perry explains that AXE Equipment bought the Stinger Lifts company in 1998. Several of their models are in use at the National Corvette Museum, as I said at the beginning, but the primary market for these lifts is residential.

In other words, homeowners buy these lifts so that they can store an extra car in their garage. Perry Crabb says, "You can park your hot rod on top and your regular car underneath." How many homes do you know where there is an extra car parked outside the garage? Well, I resemble that remark. The lifts make a great way to store a car indoors and use that garage space more efficiently.

Apparently, others see it that way too, because the Stinger Lifts are selling all over the country. More information on these products can be found on-line at www.axeequipment.com or www.stingerlifts.com. How exciting to see this company succeeding in rural Kansas.

It’s time to say goodbye to the National Corvette Museum. Oh, those cars look sporty. And just as we see on display here, you could have one on a lift in your own garage. We commend Danny and Donna Axe, Perry Crabb, and all the people of AXE Equipment and Stinger Lifts for making a difference through their innovation in the automotive rebuilding industry. It helps give rural Kansas a lift.

For the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development, this is Ron Wilson with Kansas Profile.

Randy Moll

This is Kansas Profile. I'm Ron Wilson, director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University.

Let’s go halfway around the world to the nation of India. Here is a young woman dealing with the typical issues of teenagers. As she seeks answers of a spiritual nature, she finds a website on the Internet which offers a Biblical perspective. So she emails a list of questions to the website’s producer, who researches her questions and emails back his responses. And would you believe? – the producer of this website is a Lutheran minister out in rural Kansas. It’s a remarkable story of faith and of what is possible through modern technology – and it’s today’s Kansas Profile.

Meet Randy Moll. Randy is the Evangelical Lutheran minister who produces this website and much more.

Randy’s father was a Lutheran schoolteacher and later a minister himself, so their family moved around serving various churches in Missouri and California. Randy went to seminary in St. Louis and served churches in Iowa, Nebraska, and then Stockton, Kansas.

Of course, it is a challenge for small churches to support full-time staff. Randy works at a full-time job during the week and leads worship on Sunday. He currently works as a truckdriver for Groendyke.

Another of his enterprises is photography, which he does professionally for weddings, for example. He specializes in scenic and landscape photography and even taught photography for Colby Community College. He also writes humorous columns and commentary for the local newspapers, under the pen name Griz Bear.

Randy’s wife is Yolonda – known as Lonnie – and is a nurse at the Phillips County Retirement Center. Her family comes from the northwest Kansas town of Stuttgart, so Randy and Lonnie moved there in fall 2000. He now pastors St. Paul Evangelical Lutheran Church, which meets in their Stuttgart home.

Stuttgart, by the way, is spelled like the city in Germany, but the locals in Kansas call it Stu-gert.

Anyway, the church needed a website so Randy did some research on it. Private companies would charge a lot of money to develop a website, but Randy learned how to create one himself. Now that has become another enterprise for him, as he has created websites for several businesses and communities. He offers photography and web site design and hosting.

Randy says, "My wife and I talked about getting our own domain name on the Internet where several sites could be hosted, and several of the ones we were interested in were taken." Then Lonnie suggested God’s Prairie.com. Sure enough, www.godsprairie.com is now online. It showcases Randy’s beautiful photography as well as providing links to the church site and other sites. Then came the next step.

Randy says, "My wife and I were eating out one night and talking about how to more effectively reach teenagers for Christ." They decided to try to use technology – specifically, their website.

So Randy wrote some questions and answers about topics teens are facing and posted them on the web. They are listed as Teen Issues on the God’s Prairie.com website, which also has links to their church which has numerous other links to pages for prayer requests, biblical references, and devotions.

This website has struck a chord. It deals with very real and difficult questions which many teens face, about relationships and other issues, in a Biblical way. The website has generated responses from all over the country and around the world. Randy has had email requests come in from as far away as the UK and Australia, and of course, the example from India which I shared at the beginning.

And so, today, this resource is reaching people around the world through technology – yet it is based in the Phillips County town of Stuttgart, Kansas, population 45 people. Now, that’s rural.

How amazing that this technology can connect rural and urban people around the globe. That website, again, is www.godsprairie.com.

It’s time to say goodbye to this young girl from India who sought help through the Internet from a resource in rural Kansas. We commend Randy and Lonnie Moll for making a difference with their innovation, faith, and entrepreneurship in small town Kansas. The Internet truly uses a world wide web.

For the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development, this is Ron Wilson with Kansas Profile.

Doug Asper - Kansas Korn

This is Kansas Profile. I'm Ron Wilson, director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University.

Here is a story that will catch your ear. No, not the ears on your head, I’m talking about ears of corn. Today, we’ll meet a rural entrepreneur who is cooking and selling delicious ears of corn. It’s today’s Kansas Profile.

Meet Doug Asper, owner of an enterprise called Kansas Korn – that’s corn spelled with a K as in Kansas.

Doug Asper was born and raised at Anthony, Kansas, which is in a very rural area. Anthony is a town of 2,285 people. Now, that’s rural.

Doug says,"My wife Melissa and I have worked for other people around here, and we wanted to do something for ourselves."

They came up with some specialty foods which they could cook and sell – namely, sweet corn and turkey drumsticks. They had a special corn roaster built, and in June 2002, began selling the corn and turkey legs at various festivals and events around Kansas. I had some at the state fair. Now they are getting a concession trailer which will, of course, be painted corn-yellow.

Doug says, "We want to serve the best product in Kansas at the lowest price. Everything’s so overpriced these days. We do it to help the families."

They also try to support the local economy. For example, the turkey legs come from Wichita and their first choice as a source of sweet corn is a farm near Buhler. Doug says, "They’ve probably got the number one corn in the country." But when corn is out of season here, they may get corn from as far away as California, Pennsylvania, or Florida in their efforts to find the very best.

These are not skimpy portions. They sell 12 inch ears of corn, and the turkey legs weigh approximately two pounds each. Wow.

Then, of course, the products are specially prepared. Doug says, "We’ve got a specialty way of cooking these. Our corn is so sweet and tender it is good for all ages. We like to say you can eat it with no teeth or false teeth."

Doug and his family have gone to 40 different events around Kansas and Oklahoma. This includes county fairs, shows, and auto races. Wichita 81 Speedway has been a good site for them.

Doug says, "We would be home on Monday and Tuesday and leave on Wednesday. Then you start cooking at 10 in the morning and don’t stop until midnight. But if you’re gonna make something work, you’ve gotta hustle." He estimates that, in just a half-year, they have sold some 9,000 ears of sweet corn.

This is a family affair for Doug and Melissa. Their kids accompany them to the shows and help out. The kids do their share of the work, but there are also certain perks with the job, such as getting to eat their fill and going to stage shows and festivals all over the region.

Doug also tries to provide jobs for other kids in the community. They hire at least one highschooler for the summer season.

There have been times when a little kid will come by and look longingly at the ears of corn, but without cash in hand to by. Often those kids will get a freebee. Doug says, "You can’t turn a little kid away. We can give them some of the smaller ears we wouldn’t want to charge full price for anyway."

After all, it’s the people which make this worthwhile to Doug and Melissa. Doug says, "It was fun to travel around, and the people are so nice. This is one job where I can stand around and visit and not get in trouble for it."

This is a story that will catch your ear – not just those on your head, but the ears of corn which are prepared and marketed by the company called Kansas Korn. We salute Doug and Melissa Asper and their family, for adding value to Kansas products and taking them to the consumer, and making a difference with hard work and entrepreneurship – even if that sounds, well, corny.

For the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development, this is Ron Wilson with Kansas Profile.

Bob Awerkamp - Onyx Collection

This is Kansas Profile. I'm Ron Wilson, director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University.

Today we’re going to think about sinks. Yes, I said sinks – those vital fixtures also known as lavatories where we wash our hands. But today, the sink is not just a necessity, it can be a fashionable centerpiece of a modern bathroom. Now we’re going to meet a company which produces such top quality sinks and showers. They have sold these sinks from coast to coast – without any advertising. It is truly remarkable, and it’s today’s Kansas Profile.

Meet Bob Awerkamp, owner and manager of The Onyx Collection. Here is the company’s story.

Bob Awerkamp came from Quincy, Illinois, where he gained skills by growing up in the family machine shop. In 1981, he moved out to St. Marys, Kansas to put his kids in the Catholic school there. In 1985, he saw a market opportunity: producing sinks and lavatories. He says, "I hired a couple guys and bought a couple molds." They started by making lavatories to go with bathroom cabinets made by a local cabinet shop.

Today, the company called the Onyx Collection employs nearly 100 people and produces custom-made, high quality, elegant lavatories, showers, and related accessories that are sold through distributors and home stores. These products are made of molded, cultured onyx, created with polyester resins blended with pigments.

Just last year, the company grew 23 percent in gross sales – and yet the company has no salesmen. Bob says, "People hear about us through word of mouth. And we have companies calling us who want to sell our product."

Boy, that’s a nice position to be in. But the point is that this company has earned this position. What are the reasons for such success? One is an emphasis on quality and service. Another is a commitment to continuous improvement. Bob says, "We’re constantly working to improve the chemical mix and the features of our product."

Another key is Bob’s emphasis on his people. Bob says, "We have virtually zero turnover of people. In a given year, if I lose two of them out of a hundred it’s a surprise." Why such low turnover rate? Bob says, "I treat the people as I would like to be treated. And I hire correctly."

Bob says, "The best investment you can make is in the man and building up his knowledge. I invest in them rather than in fancy buildings." The result is a stable, productive, and continually improving workforce.

But how does a person successfully upgrade the product? Bob Awerkamp says, "Mainly it’s just listening to the customers."

The company’s website is www.onyxcollection.com. It includes photos of sample products, inlay pictures which can be added as accents, printable design sketches, scale drawings of various options, a color selector, printable care instructions, and more. You can order these fixtures in colors ranging from snowswirl to black onyx, and some 70 colors in between. You want Antique ivory, Coral Reef, French Burgundy, Burnt Amber, Adobe, or Heron Blue? You got it.

A final key is in using technology. Bob is striving to make the company more paperless, using the capabilities of the computer to track supplies and do cost accounting. And on their website, a person can actually select different color samples on-line and digitally put them side by side onscreen to see how they look. It’s a remarkable use of technology.

All this has had great results. Their products have been sold all over the country and as far away as France, Israel, Norway, Japan, and Russia. Wow.

Yet the company’s headquarters is in a remodeled school gym in Belvue, Kansas, population 222 people. Now, that’s rural.

How exciting to see this enterprise succeed in rural Kansas.

Think about sinks. That’s not something you and I do every day, but at the Onyx Collection, such thinking has produced an outstanding business. We salute Bob Awerkamp and all the people of the Onyx Collection, for making a difference with entrepreneurship and commitment to workers, customers, and quality. That’s something into which rural Kansas can sink a lot of hope.

For the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development, this is Ron Wilson with Kansas Profile.

Hazel Estes - Kanorado PRIDE

This is Kansas Profile. I'm Ron Wilson, director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University.

Let’s go to the Cinco de Mayo celebration. You know Cinco de Mayo is the colorful festival that is held each spring to celebrate Hispanic culture and heritage. At today’s festival, there is wonderful ethnic food, music, and dancing. Now where in Kansas do you suppose this festival is taking place? Perhaps Kansas City or Wichita, where many Hispanics live? Yes, they have it there, but this particular celebration of Cinco de Mayo is being held in a very rural place – namely, in Kanorado, Kansas. Cinco de Mayo is just one of the many community service projects sponsored by the PRIDE program in Kanorado, in far western Kansas. It’s today’s Kansas Profile.

Meet Hazel Estes, Mayor of Kanorado and chair of the PRIDE program. Hazel grew up here, went to college at Hays, taught school and then worked in real estate near Denver, before her father died and she moved back here.

In case you don’t know where Kanorado is, the name will give you a clue. The Kan- comes from Kansas and the -orado comes from Colorado. In fact, the town is just a mile from the Colorado border. That is truly far western Kansas.

In 1991, Kanorado joined the PRIDE program. PRIDE is a community betterment program jointly sponsored by K-State Research and Extension and the Kansas Department of Commerce and Housing.

Folks in Kanorado wanted to improve their community, and PRIDE provided a vehicle to do so. Volunteers met, identified community needs, and then developed a plan for activities which they could implement as the PRIDE committee.

These include several community enrichment projects, such as cleaning up the parks, painting signs, and holding events such as a recycling project, city-wide garage sale, Christmas festival, Thanksgiving dinner, business appreciation, and more. PRIDE involves kids in these projects, and this year PRIDE will hold a dinner for local parents and students who make the honor roll each quarter.

In 2002, a woman volunteered to chair a Cinco de Mayo celebration. Merchants donated door prizes and a street dance was held, complete with pinatas and an ethnic pot luck dinner. Some 100 people participated.

Now, I expect to find a Cinco de Mayo festival in the larger cities that have more resources and larger Hispanic populations, but this one was held in Kanorado – population 250 people. Now, that’s rural.

There is a significant Hispanic population in the area, dating back to the migrant workers who came to work in the sugar beet fields in the 1960s. Some families stayed, and now they work in various positions. But this is an excellent example of a rural community reaching out to diversity.

It’s just one example of community service in Kanorado. The PRIDE committee also sponsors the Twice-Loved Toy Shop. To operate this shop, PRIDE members collect used toys, clean them up, and sell them in the shop for 15 or 25 cents each. Then kids can come in and Christmas shop for brothers or sisters or parents, and it’s a real community service. PRIDE even puts on an annual Teddy Bear Picnic, where the food is free but the price of admission is one stuffed toy.

Here’s another example. In November 1991, a series of snowstorms hit Kanorado. People were getting snowed in, and it was clear that many would not be able to travel to meet their families for Thanksgiving dinner. PRIDE committee members had an idea: Why not put on a community Thanksgiving dinner of their own? They cooked a turkey, had nice decorations, and it was a big hit – so big that they have done it every year since. Now people are even traveling in from neighboring counties to participate in this annual dinner.

Hazel Estes says, "We prepare plates and take them to the shut-ins in town also, so nobody has to eat Thanksgiving dinner by themselves." She says, "That’s what’s neat about small towns – you can take care of everybody."

It’s time to leave the Cinco de Mayo festival in Kanorado. We commend Hazel Estes and all those of the PRIDE program for making a difference through celebrating diversity and service to their community. Adios!

For the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development, this is Ron Wilson with Kansas Profile.

Ron Willis - Green Porch Swing

This is Kansas Profile. I'm Ron Wilson, director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University.

Let’s get into the swing of things. We’ll visit a company called Green Porch Swing Productions. No, they don’t build swings to hang on your front porch. What they build is people. Today we’ll meet a wonderful man from rural Kansas who is traveling the country helping people to be at their best. He is highly educated and well qualified – but his best education came while sitting on an old green porch swing. So set and swing with us a minute for today’s Kansas Profile.

Meet Ron Willis of Green Porch Swing Productions. Ron grew up at Concordia, has an education specialist degree from Fort Hays State and graduate work from K-State and the University of Denver. He was a school psychologist and then clinical director at the Juvenile Correctional Facility in Beloit.

Ron says, "My grandfather was a retired railroad engineer in Downs. I’d sit on his green porch swing each summer, and he would pour himself out to me, teaching me with stories."

In 1984, on his own time, Ron started doing continuing education sessions for nurses. He would weave stories and illustrations into his seminars, as his grandfather had done. His message struck such a responsive chord that he started doing more and more.

He called this enterprise Green Porch Swing productions, in honor of his grandfather’s teachings.

Then came 1999. Ron went in to the hospital for surgery, a repair of a hiatal hernia. It is the type of surgery that usually has a person in a hospital for two days. But complications developed, including pulmonary emboli and hemorrhaging. Very scary. At one point, his family gathered around him in prayer. The next day, the surgeon came in to check his numbers and said, "I don’t know how to explain this." But the recovery was real. After 14 days in the hospital, Ron went home.

Ron knew that his business of presenting seminars had been growing, but he told his wife Karen he needed a sign to tell him there was enough demand for his business to go full-time. When he came home from the hospital, there were 25 calls requesting his services from five states. Ron said, "Well, I guess I received the sign." So he took early retirement from his job in Beloit and concentrated full-time on Green Porch Swing Productions.

Ron’s goal is to help men and women be lifted up to a higher ground of partnership and service to others by the application of life principles in daily behavior. He uses stories to teach the daily application of vital life principles, such as integrity, compassion, honesty, affirmation and genuineness. He presents keynote addresses, seminars and training workshops to corporations, businesses, educational associations, health care providers, social service agencies and child care organizations across America.

His passion is to share concepts on how people should treat each other. His seminars deal with such topics as personal growth, enhancing workplace relationships, and enriching family marriages. He speaks with such a soothing and humorous manner that he has been called the Mr. Rogers of mental health. His seminars include titles like In Case We Have to Eat Our Words, Make Them Tender and Sweet, and, I’ve Fought less Fires since Recognizing I Was the Arsonist.

This isn’t just a feel-good message, it is good for business too. One Kansas City CEO said Ron’s message helped reduce turnover, increase productivity, enhance employee relationships and improve corporate morale.

Ron’s company offers 12 audiotapes and 4 videotapes which can be ordered on-line through www.greenporchswing.com. He has given presentations from Massachusetts to California and even up to Alaska, in 32 of the 50 states. Wow. Yet he remains based in Jewell, Kansas, population 483 people. Now, that’s rural.

Ron Willis says, "We become better professionals, parents and spouses in only one predictable way: we must become better people."

Today we got into the swing of things, by learning about the wonderful messages presented through Green Porch Swing Productions. We salute Ron Willis for making a difference with his message of helping people to be their best. It also helps rural Kansas to come out swinging.

For the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development, this is Ron Wilson with Kansas Profile.

Chuck Comeau - Dessin Fournir

This is Kansas Profile. I'm Ron Wilson, director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University.

Today let’s visit Elton John’s penthouse. As you might guess, it is stylishly and lavishly furnished. These furnishings are beautiful. Where do you suppose they came from? Stay tuned for the remarkable answer on today’s Kansas Profile.

Meet Chuck Comeau, owner of Dessin Fournir. This remarkable Kansas firm is the supplier of furnishings for this penthouse apartment of Elton John and many others. Here is the story.

Chuck Comeau comes from rural northwest Kansas, where his family has a ranch. He went to Fort Hays State University and became a petroleum geologist and then a banker. Meanwhile, his wife Shirley was in the retail business. Shirley collected antique furniture and fabrics, which Chuck also enjoyed. Chuck says, "I loved design, textiles, and beautiful furniture."

So in 1993, he decided to start a business which would specialize in those things. It is named Dessin Fournir, which loosely translates from the French to mean design and furnish. Just listen to what this company has done in just a decade.

Chuck Comeau says, "In our wholesale division, we design, manufacture, market and distribute furniture, textiles, and lighting for designers and architects across the U.S. and Europe." The company has 15 showrooms from New York to San Francisco.

The retail side combines the concepts of Shirley Comeau’s 20 year old gift store, the Pineapple Post, with her husband’s fabric and furniture companies. The result is called C S Post and Company, a general store in Hays, Kansas.

Chuck says, "We wanted a lifestyle concept store, with products that would enhance people’s lives." The store features a variety of high quality, upscale products. It also has a full on-line catalog. Its website at CSPostGeneralStore.com has been called by Instyle magazine one of the best websites in the country.

Do you suppose this website was built by a zillion-dollar-a-year New York web designer? No, by the inhouse staff of CS Post.

Dessin Fournir also has a website at www.dessinfournir.com. That’s www.d-e-s-s-i-n-f-o-u-r-n-i-r.com.

The company’s top quality products are targeted at the high end residential market, and in doing so, it has found its niche. These beautiful furnishings are sold coast to coast and overseas. They are marketed wholesale to designers and architects for such people as Oprah Winfrey, Bill Clinton, Dick Cheney, Mel Gibson, Paul Hogan, and Arnold Schwartzenegger. If Arnold’s a repeat customer, do you suppose he says, "I’ll be bock"...?

Elegant hotels from Budapest to the MGM Grand in Las Vegas use Dessin Fournir products. Wow. Yet the design and customer service for all these products are handled at the company headquarters in Chuck Comeau’s hometown of Plainville, Kansas, population 2,069 people. Now, that’s rural.

How exciting that a company in Plainville can serve such customers. Chuck explains that the fabrics are milled in nine European countries and the furniture is produced in California, but some of the manufacturing is in Kansas and all the design work is done in Plainville. The company now employs 107 people.

Chuck says, "We run a manufacturing facility in LA from Plainville." They utilize phone, fax, email and the website to communicate virtually instantly over the distance.

To be a devil’s advocate, I asked, Why not go ahead and move to LA? This business could easily be on the east or west coast. Why stay in Plainville? Chuck says, "This is a wonderful place to raise a family. We have a lower cost of doing business here. And you cannot get a workforce as hardworking, loyal, and intelligent as we have right here."

He says, "The one downside is that we have to travel a lot. But being in the middle of the country, we’re two hours from anywhere." He says, "Plainville is a wonderful community. We had an employee move here from LA, and he said, People here don’t realize how good they have it."

It’s time to leave Elton John’s apartment. Yes, his furnishings are beautiful, supplied by Dessin Fournir of Plainville, Kansas. We salute Chuck and Shirley Comeau and all the people of Dessin Fournir and CS Post for making a difference with entrepreneurship, innovation, and high quality. For rural Kansas, it furnishes a great example.

For the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development, this is Ron Wilson with Kansas Profile.

Josh Eilert - K-State basketball

This is Kansas Profile. I'm Ron Wilson, director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University.

Let’s go to the Virgin Islands. Sounds good, doesn’t it? Here are the beautiful waters and the sunny beaches. This is also the site of a pre-season basketball tournament, and here comes the K-State men’s basketball team. But what we see isn’t just a basketball team, it includes someone who is living a dream. Stay tuned for a special March Madness edition of Kansas Profile.

Meet Josh Eilert, a junior on the K-State men’s basketball team who has rural Kansas roots. Josh comes from Osborne, a town of 1,686 people. Now, that’s rural.

Josh Eilert’s hero growing up was another small town basketball player: Steve Henson, who came from McPherson, Kansas and went on to K-State. Henson had a great career, leading K-State to the NCAA tournament for four consecutive years. Henson’s jersey number was 12, as had been worn by Lon Kruger and Mike Evans before him. Josh imagined himself playing ball for K-State in that Number 12 uniform too.

Josh Eilert enjoyed playing ball. He says, "That was small town life. You had to grab a ball and entertain yourself." So he and his older brothers played football, baseball, and basketball. As Josh grew taller, basketball became his sport of choice.

By the time he was a senior, Josh had grown to be 6 feet seven inches tall. He had a great senior season, averaging 21 points and 10.1 rebounds a game. Some colleges contacted him, but he didn’t get scholarship offers from the big schools so he went on to play basketball for Cloud County Community College, where he started his sophomore year and became an Academic All-American.

Upon graduation, Josh still hadn’t received the interest from the big schools that he had hoped for, so he decided to concentrate on academics. He came to K-State, as his mom and dad and brother had done, and majored in marketing.

A friend of Josh’s was a manager for the K-State women’s team. He told Josh that the women needed players to play against in practice, so Josh agreed to help out. He says, "They needed a matchup with Nicole Ohlde."

Josh worked as a women’s practice player a couple of times. Then one day, as he walked off the court, men’s coach Jim Wooldridge approached him and asked if he would consider joining the men’s team as a walk-on. Josh says with a smile, "Two days later I was practicing, and one week later we were on our way to the Virgin Islands." As a walk-on, he practices and travels with the men’s team but receives no scholarship. However, Josh has been assigned a jersey and a number: The number 12. Wow.

Josh says, "I’m doing this for the love of the game. It’s a lot of work, and the practices are intense. But I’ve always done the blue collar work or whatever it took to get the job done. And those old days throwing bales back home have helped."

Josh says, "It’s a great experience, getting to see all the Big 12 arenas."

What about the importance of sports to small town Kansas? Josh says, "Sports are a central part of life in a small town. There’s great camaraderie among the little towns."

Noted scholars and sociologists these days are calling for a return to having community conversations, so I was intrigued when Josh happened to use the same term in describing sports. He said, "Ball games are a great place for the town to get together and converse. It’s great for the community."

The date is January 11, 2003. K-State is playing the number 23 ranked team in the nation, coached by Bobby Knight. Before a sellout crowd, K-State shocks the pollsters and steamrolls their opponent. And there on the court is number 12, Josh Eilert, living the dream.

It’s time to say goodbye to the Virgin Islands, with beautiful water and sunny beaches and also a pre-season basketball tournament. Among the participants is one Josh Eilert, wearing K-State’s number 12. We commend Josh Eilert and all those small town athletes who make a difference by providing a rallying point for their communities. It helps make March marvelous.

For the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development, this is Ron Wilson with Kansas Profile.

Tom Hemmer - Solomon Corp

This is Kansas Profile. I'm Ron Wilson, director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University.

Let’s talk transformers. No, not those little plastic robots my boys play with. I’m talking about electrical transformers – those essential components of our power system which make it possible for you and I to enjoy the benefits of electricity in our homes. Today we’ll meet a company which is a key player in the electrical transformer business. It’s located in rural Kansas. Stay tuned for a high powered version of Kansas Profile.

Meet Tom Hemmer. Tom and his siblings are the co-owners of this company, named the Solomon Corporation. Here is their story.

In 1971, Gene Hemmer was farming in South Dakota. Then he and some neighbors, being entrepreneurs, noticed a transformer and electrical supply business which they thought they could emulate. They looked for a location where they thought they could operate such a business and finally found one: An abandoned hardware store in Solomon, Kansas, just east of Salina. So that is where the Solomon Electric Supply Company began. There were three employees.

Today, that company is known as the Solomon Corporation. It employs more than 300 people, operates facilities in Kansas and Tennessee, and buys products from all over the country. Still, the company is family owned and operated. In fact, it’s in the hands of the next generation of the Hemmer family.

In November of 2000, Eugene Hemmer’s four sons and one daughter went into partnership together to purchase the business. Tom says, "We are rather unique in that we don’t have a corporate CEO. Each of the partners has their own managerial responsibility within the company. And fortunately," he says, "Each of us has different strengths and interests."

For example, brother Phil is in charge of production and operations. Brother Joe is an accountant and serves as chief financial officer. Brother Matt does procurement and manages the Tennessee facility. Sister Katie Platten is responsible for human resources and environmental issues. And younger brother Tom, a K-State alumnus and former chief of staff to Congressman Jerry Moran, is in charge of sales. Wow, talk about all in the family...

So what does this company do? Solomon Corporation produces and sells electrical equipment such as transformers, reclosers and regulators; and performs supporting services to electrical utilities and industries throughout the country. As they say, they offer solutions throughout the life cycle of electrical equipment — from manufacturing to maintenance and service to disposal.

The cornerstone of the business is selling and servicing distribution transformers to power systems such as municipalities and rural electric co-ops. Solomon Corp has some 10,000 units in stock and can even custom build a transformer. The transformer, by the way, gets its name from transforming electrical voltage from a very high level to a level that can be used by household appliances. Solomon Corp handles everything from small units to monster-size industrial type transformers. The company also helps reclaim and recycle old transformers in an environmentally safe fashion.

Service is a top priority for Solomon Corp. The company has six rolling repair shops in large trucks which can go to help customers. These have gone from Arizona to Pennsylvania.

The company performs a whole range of electrical system support services, which can be crucial when the power goes out. Solomon Corp has done business in all 50 states and sent equipment as far away as the Phillipines. It has sold raw materials to India and China. Annual sales are about 35 million dollars. Wow. Yet this company remains right here in Solomon where it began. In fact, that original hardware store is still part of its production facility.

Because of this company, the largest authorized Cooper Power repair center and the largest independent provider of voltage regulator repair and maintenance services in the nation is found right here in Solomon, Kansas, population 1,027 people. Now, that’s rural.

Let’s talk transformers -- no, not those little plastic toys, and not just those electrical transformers either. In a larger sense, the members of the Hemmer family are transformers too. They are making a difference by helping transform their business and community through entrepreneurship and initiative. That makes them the type of transformers we need in rural Kansas.

For the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development, this is Ron Wilson with Kansas Profile.

Barbara Oplinger - KFAC

This is Kansas Profile. I'm Ron Wilson, director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University.

Let’s go to a school in inner city Wichita. It’s a tough neighborhood. In fact, there was a shooting in the parking lot last night. But when morning comes, we find something new: A group of Kansas farmers in their coats and ties, coming into the school to teach kids about agriculture. What are Kansas farmers doing in an inner city school? They are there through the vision and inspiration of a young woman, who would later apply that vision to an organization known as the Kansas Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom or K-F-A-C. This program is celebrating its 20^th year. It’s today’s Kansas Profile.

Meet Barbara Oplinger, administrator of KFAC. She is uniquely qualified to coordinate this program. Why? For starters, she was a city girl. That may sound surprising, but it means she can relate to city dwellers. Barbara grew up in the city of Topeka.

But listen to the next step: Barbara married a farmer. She was studying education when she married Roger Oplinger and moved to the farm near Jewel. Barbara says, "It was culture shock." She learned agriculture first hand and became a producer herself. With this experience, she also understood the communications gap between rural and urban. Jewell is a town of 483 people. Now, that’s rural.

In 1993, she became a member of KARL - the Kansas Agriculture and Rural Leadership program. Barbara challenged her classmates to do more to tell agriculture’s story. She organized an experience for them to teach about agriculture in an inner city school in Wichita, as I described at the beginning. It would be a sign of things to come.

Barbara later came back to K-State and finished a dual degree in social work and family studies. In January 2000, she became administrator of the Kansas Foundation for Ag in the Classroom.

Nationally, this program began with leadership from USDA some two decades ago. The concept is to integrate an understanding of agriculture into the elementary school curriculum. It was applied differently in each state. In Kansas, KFAC is affiliated with the K-State College of Education and supported by various partners.

For many years, this program has offered a special summer class for teachers. The teachers learn about agriculture and then prepare educational programs which they can use in their home school districts. To date, some 700 teachers have taken these classes.

KFAC also reaches out in other ways. A Teacher of the Year is recognized annually. Now there is a new initiative called Connecting Kansas Kids, Crops, Critters, and Conservation. That includes a kids magazine called Kansas Kids Connection, an excellent educators guide that teachers can use, and a school assembly program about agriculture.

In just its first school year, 980 classrooms have the Educators' Guide and 45,000 kids have the magazine. Between those and the school assembly which has been in 45 counties, this program has reached every county in the state. Wow.

KFAC is primarily supported through private funding, although the Kansas Department of Education has also contributed. Funds go for teacher scholarships as well as operations. In fact, Kansas has the first non-profit foundation for Ag in the Classroom in the nation.

Barbara Oplinger says, "I have a passion for this, because too few people understand agriculture. If food cost 87 percent of people’s income instead of 7 percent, people would pay more attention to it." She says, "We are fortunate in that we have abundance, we have safety, and we have choices in our food supply."

It’s time to say goodbye to that inner city school in Wichita, where Barbara Oplinger organized an educational experience for these KARL class members to teach about agriculture. But perhaps everyone learned a lesson that day – that each of us can learn from each other. Barbara took that expertise to the Kansas Foundation for Ag in the Classroom, which is celebrating its 20^th anniversary this year. We salute Barbara Oplinger and all those affiliated with this program, for making a difference by educating our children about the importance of agriculture. Congratulations on 20 years. And now – class dismissed.

For the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development, this is Ron Wilson with Kansas Profile.

Community Leadership Day

This is Kansas Profile. I'm Ron Wilson, director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University.

Today let’s seal the deal. That sounds like a business transaction, but I’m really referring to the name of a leadership program. Let me explain.

Down in Meade County, Kansas, local people recognized that their county could benefit from additional leadership training. With help from neighboring county leadership programs and from K-State Research and Extension and others, they organized a new adult leadership program. They also came up with a catchy name for it: SEAL. That’s S-E-A-L. It stands for Seeking Effective Adult Leaders. This is just one example of an excellent leadership program which has been started around the state in recent years. So let’s seal the deal and learn about these innovative leadership programs, as well as an upcoming special event, on today’s Kansas Profile.

First, let’s rewind the clock about five years. The Board of Directors of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development was thinking strategically about how the Institute could help rural communities help themselves. After considerable research, the Institute decided to narrow its focus onto a crucial need: Local leadership development.

Dr. Marc Johnson, Dean of Agriculture and Director of K-State Research and Extension, further encouraged the board to set a visionary yet specific and measurable goal, which would provide accountability. The goal which the Institute adopted could be summarized in the phrase 500 in 5. That means the goal was for an additional 500 Kansans to participate in new leadership development training within five years.

It seemed like a lofty goal at the time. Fortunately, a lot of other Kansans were recognizing the need for new leadership also.

Actually, Kansas has been investing in leadership for years, through such programs as Leadership Kansas, the Kansas Agriculture and Rural Leadership program, and the Kansas Leadership Forum.

The Huck Boyd Institute’s goal was to create new and additional leadership development opportunities in rural communities. In addition, K-State Research and Extension set up an interdisciplinary team to work on leadership development issues. That team developed an extensive leadership development curriculum called LEADS – Leadership Excellence And Dynamic Solutions.

The Huck Boyd Foundation offered mini-grants to counties which wanted to start new county-level, educational leadership programs in partnership with Extension. Typically, these programs were called Leadership Scott County or Leadership Mitchell County. In Meade County, however, they came up with the new and catchy name I described at the beginning: Seeking Effective Adult Leaders, or SEAL.

This is an excellent example of an innovative program serving a rural area. The Meade county seat is the town of Meade, population 1,540 people. Now, that’s rural.

All in all, some 20 counties received mini-grants to start new county leadership programs. Others did various other types of leadership programming.

So, five years later, the results are in. How did we do on the 500 in 5 goal? The answer is, it has been achieved beyond belief. Altogether, counties report that during the five years, an additional 1,080 Kansans have received leadership training – more than double the original goal. Wow.

According to a recent survey, those leadership participants are contributing hundreds of additional volunteer hours of service to their communities because of these programs.

Now the achievements of these leadership programs are being recognized at a special Community Leadership Day, featuring idea sharing and inspirational speakers. Community Leadership Day will be Friday, March 28, 2003, at the K-State Union in Manhattan. Presenters include Terry Woodbury, President of the United Way of Kansas City; Leslie Small, a K-State student and Truman Scholar; and state 4-H specialist Pat Fultz. The invited wrapup speaker is Senator Sam Brownback. Contact the Huck Boyd Institute for more information at 785-532-7690. That number again is 785-532-7690.

Today, we’ve learned to seal the deal. Not about business transactions, but about an innovative leadership program called SEAL and other similar programs around Kansas. Great credit goes to those county extension agents, chamber of commerce executives, economic development professionals, and others who have made a difference by initiating new leadership programs across the state. We’ll give them our seal of approval.

For the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development, this is Ron Wilson with Kansas Profile.

Rob Phillips - Eldridge Hotel

This is Kansas Profile. I'm Ron Wilson, director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University.

Let’s make room for history. No, not room in your daily schedule. I mean let’s visit a place which is steeped in Kansas history, and it has rooms where you can stay. It’s the historic Eldridge Hotel, and it’s today’s Kansas Profile.

Meet Rob Phillips, owner of the historic Eldridge Hotel in downtown Lawrence, Kansas. Rob truly has rural Kansas roots. He was born in Eureka in southeast Kansas, but his mother died at age 7 and he lived with family in such places as Severy, population 374; and Virgil, population 87. Now, that’s rural.

Rob attended K-State and Wichita State, served in the Army in Vietnam, and came back to Kansas where he would ultimately settle in the city of Lawrence. It was there he encountered the Eldridge Hotel.

Talk about history. This historic location goes back to "Bleeding Kansas," when our state was in turmoil from the conflict between pro-slavery and anti-slavery forces.

In 1855, settlers from the New England Emigrant Aid Society built the Free State Hotel on this location. As you might guess from the name, the purpose of this hotel was to temporarily house the free state advocates who were flocking into the state. Of course, the other side was flocking into Kansas too.

In 1856, the Free State Hotel was attacked and burned to the ground by pro-slavery forces. An abolitionist leader named Colonel Shalor Eldridge had the hotel rebuilt and even added another floor, vowing that he would build on another floor every time it was destroyed.

The hotel stood until 1863 when along came a fellow named Quantrill. Quantrill made his infamous raid, burning downtown Lawrence – including this hotel.

Colonel Eldridge promptly rebuilt the hotel, which is now four stories tall, and gave it his own name – The Eldridge Hotel. Fortunately, there were no more raids.

The Eldridge Hotel became one of the finest hotels this side of the Mississippi. By 1925, however, the hotel had begun to deteriorate. A group of Lawrence business leaders tore down and rebuilt the Eldridge Hotel and restored it to its former place of dignity and elegance.

This time, however, a changing economy accomplished what Quantrill could not. Downtown hotels were becaming fewer and fewer during the 1960s. The Eldridge finally closed its doors as a hotel in1970. In fact, a key had to be made to lock the front door because it had been lost many years earlier. The hotel was converted to apartments and so it remained until 1985.

Fortunately, Rob Phillips and a group of Lawrence business leaders had an appreciation of what The Eldridge Hotel had been, and could be again. They set out to rebuild and renovate this historic hotel. The City of Lawrence committed two million dollars in Industrial Revenue Bonds to match the one million dollars in private money raised by Phillips and the investors.

Now, the hotel has been completely rebuilt and converted. The lobby has been carefully restored to its original elegance and beauty. Each one of the suites is named for a local historical figure. The first one at the top of the stairs, for example, is the James Naismith room – very fitting for the inventor of basketball.

Today, The Eldridge Hotel is a 48 room, all suite, full-service hotel, including the Jayhawker Lounge and Shalor's Restaurant. The Eldridge Hotel is the only full-service hotel in Lawrence, offering 24 hour room service, twice daily maid service, and a courtesy van for guests.

Those who have stayed at the Eldridge have made modern history too. Those include Martin Luther King, Clarence Thomas, Michael Landon, Cheryl Ladd, John Wayne, Danny Glover, and Bill Kurtis. Wow. For more information, go to www.eldridgehotel.com.

Let’s make room for history – no, not room on your calendar, but take an opportunity to literally stay in a room at the historic Eldridge Hotel. We commend Rob Phillips and all those involved with the Eldridge Hotel for making a difference with their commitment to quality and history.

And that’s just the beginning. There’s a whole `nother dimension to the Eldridge. What’s that about? A horse, of course. We’ll get the story on our next program.

For the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development, this is Ron Wilson with Kansas Profile.

Rob Phillips - Horse-drawn Parade

This is Kansas Profile. I'm Ron Wilson, director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University.

I love a parade – especially when it has horses, wagons, and riders, going proudly down the street. Today we’ll learn about such parades, which are helping to celebrate our state’s western heritage and the cowboy experience. Saddle up and enjoy the ride on today’s Kansas Profile.

On an earlier program, we learned about Rob Phillips of the historic Eldridge Hotel in Lawrence. This classic, luxury hotel reflects the history of our state. Now Rob Phillips is taking it to a new level.

Rob Phillips enjoys Kansas history – particularly the legacy of the American west and cowboy life. He is incorporating this appreciation into the Eldridge Hotel.

For example, several years ago Rob went on one of those old-time wagon train rides which are offered around the country. He noticed that people would come out and watch as the wagons went by.

Not long after that the Eldridge Hotel was involved in promoting a Christmastime festival in downtown Lawrence. Rob suggested, "Let’s have an old-fashioned parade to publicize the event."

So downtown Lawrence became the site of an old-time parade sponsored by the Eldridge Hotel, featuring horse-drawn vehicles. Rob Phillips says, "That first year’s parade had 25 horsedrawn vehicles" - of which three were his. It lasted about twelve and a half minutes long and had a handful of spectators watching.

But listen to this. That parade has become a holiday tradition on the first Saturday of December in Lawrence. Last year there were 118 entries, of which 90 were horses or horse-drawn vehicles, from 10 different states. The parade lasted about an hour, and an estimated 20,000 people came out to watch. Wow.

This is just one example of the way Rob Phillips is giving leadership to the opportunities for western heritage tourism in the state of Kansas.

The Eldridge Hotel itself is now offering chuckwagon suppers each Wednesday night. This includes an all-you-can-eat menu of barbecue brisket, beef sausage, cowboy beans, potato salad, biscuits, and peach cobbler. Each night also features authentic cowboy singers.

Rob says, "We can be innovators because we are not a corporate hotel, so we can make changes quicker."

In January 2003, the hotels in Lawrence went together to sponsor a cowboy gathering. That included two days of exhibits and western entertainment, headlined by the Sons of the San Joaquin at Liberty Hall. Some 2,000 people participated. The chair of this initiative was Rob Phillips.

Rob is especially proud of the partnering which is going on throughout the state. In the case of Abilene, for example, Rob donated to their county historical society some gift certificates for a stay at the Eldridge Hotel.

Rob says, "We want to be the Kansas hotel. The thing I’m most proud of is that we’re working with the rest of Kansas."

Rob Phillips is now serving as chair of an alliance of western heritage attractions in the state. One of these locations is the central Kansas town of Ellsworth, population 2,654 people. Now, that’s rural.

Ellsworth was a destination point on the old cattle trails. Today it’s the site of the Cowboy Mercantile store which features authentic old-time western wear and gifts. It is also the home of the Kansas C.O.W.B.O.Y. Society, as has been featured on this program previously. COWBOY has a double-meaning in this case. Besides the literal meaning, it is an acronym for Cock-eyed Old West Band Of Yahoos.

On April 12, Rob Phillips of the Eldridge Hotel is going to help put on a horse-drawn parade in Ellsworth, in conjunction with the spring cowboy gathering there. Because of the horse-drawn winter parade in Lawrence, the Eldridge has a data base of some 550 horsedrawn vehicles in the midwest. Besides the parade, the cowboy gathering will feature two days of rip-roaring fun.

I love a parade – especially with horses and riders. We commend Rob Phillips of the Eldridge Hotel and the folks of Cowboy Mercantile in Ellsworth, for making a difference by promoting tourism through western heritage. Such tourism reflects genuine Kansas history, and it’s a good opportunity to market to those with an interest in the American west world-wide. It’s time we join the parade.

For the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development, this is Ron Wilson with Kansas Profile.

Argonia

This is Kansas Profile. I'm Ron Wilson, director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University.

Let’s stamp out discrimination against women in politics. When I say to stamp out discrimination, I mean it. There is a campaign underway to honor a pioneering Kansas woman by having a postage stamp issued in her honor. It’s an effort to recognize the very first elected woman mayor in the history of the nation, and it’s today’s Kansas Profile.

So where in this broad country of ours do you suppose was the very first elected woman mayor? Not in trendy California or the historic east coast. The nation’s first elected woman mayor was found right here in Kansas, back in 1887.

Her name was Susanna Madora Salter. Today, her hometown of Argonia, Kansas is generating renewed interest in this history. Elizabeth Hemberger, chair of the PRIDE committee in Argonia, provided me information. A Washburn University website also provided excellent background.

Susanna Madora Kinsey was born in Ohio in 1860. When she was twelve years old, her family moved to a farm near Silver Lake, Kansas. At the age of sixteen, Susanna entered what was then Kansas State Agricultural College in Manhattan. While attending college, she met Lewis Salter. They married in September of 1880 and in 1882, came to Argonia.

In the 1880s, anti-alcohol groups such as the Women’s Christian Temperance Union were active. Susanna Salter was involved in the Argonia WCTU. Sometimes these anti-alcohol advocates were called "drys" for short. The other side, of course, was called "wets."

In 1887, the wets and drys were competing hard for city elections. The Argonia WCTU chapter held a public meeting and pointed out that the current administration was not adequately enforcing prohibition laws. They developed a proposed list of alternative candidates for city office – all gentlemen – which they would recommend.

After that, a group of the wets met in the backroom of a local restaurant. They decided they would play a joke on these uppity women. They nominated Susanna Salter for mayor. They thought Mrs. Salter and her organization would be embarrassed if only a few people voted for her, so they put her name forward.

As a side note: History does not record if they were under the influence of alcohol while coming up with this idea.

In any event, they put her name forward as a joke. But when the ballots were all counted, of course, the joke was on them. Susanna Salter received two-thirds of the votes and became the nation’s first elected woman mayor.

Perhaps the wets did not realize that she was more familiar with politics than people realized. Her father had been Argonia’s first mayor and her father-in-law had been lieutenant governor of Kansas.

The election of a woman brought national attention to Kansas. She received congratulatory telegrams from as far away as Italy, and served well as mayor though she declined to run for re-election. She died in 1961 at the age of 101 years old.

Today, the Salter House Museum, mural, and city park in Argonia provide a tribute to this historic woman. Since 2000, students in Ms. Lawanna Ford’s fifth grade class of Argonia Elementary School have been conducting a campaign to have a postage stamp issued in honor of Mayor Salter. They are organizing petitions to go to the U.S. Postal Service in Washington DC. As the class writes, "She did her job well and proved that a woman could serve in the same office that had formerly been held only by men."

Argonia is located southwest of Wichita. Today it is a town of 523 people. Now, that’s rural. How fitting that she should make history in rural Kansas.

For more info, contact the Argonia Elementary School, Salter Project, 202 Allen Street, Argonia, Kansas 67004, 620-435 - 6716. That’s Argonia Elementary School, Salter Project, 202 Allen Street, Argonia, Kansas 67004, or call 620-435 - 6716.

Let’s stamp out discrimination against women – in fact, let’s issue a postage stamp in honor of Susanna Salter. We commend the school children of Argonia, their teacher Ms. Lawanna Ford, and the citizens of the PRIDE committee for making a difference by honoring and promoting this historical figure. She is one who put her stamp on Kansas history.

For the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development, this is Ron Wilson with Kansas Profile.

Valley Graphics

This is Kansas Profile. I'm Ron Wilson, director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University.

It’s a sign of the times. There are economic problems and corporate layoffs all around. People say, Well, it’s a sign of the times, as they comment on the times we’re in. Today, we’ll talk about signs in a different sense. We’ll meet a company which specializes in designing and producing customized signs and banners. They have found a niche which has grown across the country, yet they remain in rural Kansas. Consider yourself signed up for today’s Kansas Profile.

Meet Patti Morgan, co-owner of a family business named Valley Graphics and Design in Arkansas City, Kansas. Here’s the story.

Patti Morgan is a chemist. She went to KU and worked for oil refineries in the Ark City area. She and her husband have two children.

Patti’s husband works in Ark City. At one point, his company told all their distributors that they should make more signs to advertise and promote their product. Patti looked into this and found there were ways to make certain signs and banners themselves, so she gave it a try.

Patti also got into another unusual enterprise: Llamas. Yes, Patti became interested and invested in a llama.

A friend of theirs wanted a banner which she could hang above her llamas at a show. So Patti worked up a design for her. It went so well that one thing led to another.

Today Valley Graphics and Design produces a variety of banners and signs for all types of needs. These include banners as a large as six feet long, with optional colors, artwork, and photos. The company produces flags, pennants, magnetic signs, decals, license plates, and more.

I mentioned this is a family business. Her co-owners are her daughter Lindsay and son Michael – truly a family business. Son Michael is a student at Southwestern College in Winfield. Daughter Lindsay has an undergraduate degree in art education and is working on a masters in graphic design at K-State.

So where have these signs and banners gone? Thanks to the llama connection, many of them have been used for breed shows and sales all over the region. She does similar banners for other specialty animals such as donkeys.

Of course, they can design items for all types of products. For example, a customer in New Jersey orders signs for his customized automotive parts and supply business.

Valley Graphics and Design has sent products from Utah to North Carolina. In fact, through daughter Lindsay, the company has done team basketball banners in Florida. Wow. The Florida Fury semi-pro women’s basketball team has a team banner made in Arkansas City, Kansas, population 12,694 people. Now, that’s rural.

How exciting to see that this company in rural Kansas is serving a customer half a continent away in Florida.

There is a saying in community development work that every town is looking for a quick economic development solution that can take care of 100 percent of our problems – but what we really need are 50 two-percent solutions. In other words, for most rural communities there is no magic wand or silver bullet which will create zillions of jobs overnight. But there are lots of small businesses which we should foster and encourage.

The cumulative effect of those decentralized small businesses will create jobs through the years. It can be a slow, long-term process, working with entrepreneurs one new job at a time, but those become the building blocks of a solid yet diverse economy. We should celebrate and encourage those small businesses and entrepreneurs.

One of those many two-percent solutions just might be found in Valley Graphics and Design, a small business based in rural Kansas.

It’s a sign of the times. There are economic downturns and corporate layoffs, but independent companies like Valley Graphics and Design are moving forward due to entrepreneurship and creativity. We commend Patti, Lindsay, and Michael Morgan for building this enterprise with signs and banners. Having people who are willing to try these new ventures will make a difference in the long run. It may be premature to say that this can mean a banner day for rural Kansas, but at least – it’s a very good sign.

For the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development, this is Ron Wilson with Kansas Profile.

Misty Schultz - Curio’s Inc.

This is Kansas Profile. I'm Ron Wilson, director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University.

It is July 3, 2001. Friends and family have gathered for a home fireworks display to celebrate Independence Day. Unfortunately, this happy celebration would take a tragic turn. One of the fireworks displays is a box of small missiles. When it’s lit, the box suddenly tips over and the missiles sail into the crowd, hitting one little girl directly on the shoulder. The missile explodes, searing her arm and face. Her family rushes her to medical care. That trip would begin a journey – not just to a hospital, but to a recovery and beyond, to the development of a soothing skin lotion and then to a new business venture. It’s today’s Kansas Profile.

Meet Misty and Chris Schultz, whose daughter suffered that fireworks accident. Misty is originally from Manhattan. She married Chris Schultz in the early 1980s. Their careers took them to Cincinnatti and Orlando, where Misty worked in mortgage banking.

But when Misty and Chris had their second little girl, they wanted to raise their kids in small town Kansas. They settled in Wamego, population 4,260 people. Now, that’s rural.

Chris now works for a bank in Wamego and Misty stays home with the kids. But on July 3, 2001, their youngest daughter was burned in that fateful accident. She was rushed to Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City. There she had a severe allergic reaction to her pain medicine. Misty says, "For about 20 minutes there, we weren’t sure they could save her."

But thank goodness, their daughter recovered. Then she went into the burn unit where the long, difficult road to burn recovery began. Misty says, "Our surgeon said she would suffer from itching the rest of her life, and would have to have liquid benadryl and cortizone cream every day."

As their daughter endured those treatments, Misty started searching for a better way. She asked the surgeon what types of components would be helpful to her skin. They talked to chemical companies and experimented with lotions of their own. Misty developed a type of lotion using hydrolyzed silk amino acids which really helped their daughter.

Misty says, "Since that time, she has not had to use any benadryl or cortizone or anything else." Wow. Misty says, "It worked so well on her, and it left my hands silky smooth too."

Misty and Chris saw a market opportunity. Now they have developed their own business called Curio’s Inc., which markets a line of high quality, home-made bath and body products. For K-State fans, they offer a lotion called Wildcat Silk Body Lotion. There is an unscented lotion called Simply Misty. There is one called "It’s a Guy Thing, " with a masculine scent, and one called "It’s a Girl Thing." Nice balance.

There is a Wildcat Men’s Cologne and a Lady Cat Women’s Cologne. Misty even has special items such as fizzing bath bombs, lip balms, oatmeal soap – I’m not sure what that is, but it sounds like it would make a healthy breakfast – and something called a sea salt scrub.

Misty says, "Some of our customers have psoriasis and find this very soothing, but most of our customers are just regular body lotion users."

The K-State products are sold through GTM Sportswear in Manhattan. Curio’s Inc. products are available at some craft shows and through direct purchase. Misty is working on opening Curio’s Bath and Body Boutique, a retail store which would include a small manufacturing facility. Until then, however, this is literally a home-based business, with Misty making small batches in her home. Misty says, "My kitchen looks like a laboratory."

Through friends, family, church, and word of mouth, these products are going all over. They have been sent as far away as Colorado, Florida, and Vermont. Wow.

July 3, 2001. After their daughter is severely burned in a fireworks accident, they developed a skin lotion which would benefit their daughter and turn into a business opportunity for the family. We commend Misty and Chris Schultz and their family for making a difference by turning tragedy into opportunity. Misty says, "My daughter’s face has healed wonderfully, you’d never know this happened." That is soothing to the soul.

For the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development, this is Ron Wilson with Kansas Profile.

Lydia Hein - Grannie’s Homemade Mustard

This is Kansas Profile. I'm Ron Wilson, director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University.

Was your grandma sweet? Or did she get a little spicy when you misbehaved? Today we’ll meet a very special grandma who has developed a food product that is sweet, tangy and delicious. This product is mustard. It was developed by a little old lady in rural Kansas – and it’s selling coast to coast. Stay tuned for a spicy edition of Kansas Profile.

Meet Lydia Hein, also known as Grannie. Lydia lives near Hillsboro, Kansas, a town of 2,395 people. Now, that’s rural.

Lydia married Emice Hein. They raised a family, and Lydia was working as a dietary aide at Prairie View at Newton. Then in 1990, she was diagnosed with spinal problems. Her doctor told her, "Your work will aggravate your back problems and you need to quit your job right now."

Lydia was already age 63 at that point, but she didn’t feel ready for that type of immediate, forced retirement. She says she was sitting at home feeling sorry for herself. But youngest son Eugene provided some encouragement. He reminded her of the delicious homemade mustard that she had made for 20 years. He said she should make some and sell it at the upcoming Hillsboro Arts and Crafts Fair.

Lydia wasn’t too excited about the idea, but she remembered the Bible story about the mustard seed. It says that the kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field, which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree.

With that encouragement, Lydia made a batch of mustard from her family’s secret recipe, and guess what: It was a hit. People loved it. Orders started coming in from all over.

So she organized a business. Since Lydia really is a grandmother and looks the sweet, grandmotherly type, it was called Grannie’s Homemade Mustard. Grannie even wears her bonnet and granny glasses at trade shows. She is assisted by her husband Emice, also known as Gramps. Son Eugene is marketing manager and daughter-in-law Rita delivers to stores. They’ve hired a retired gentleman to help with the manufacturing, and the grandkids help out also.

This mustard is delicious. Her original mustard is called Sweet and Tangy. Now she also offers Jalapeno, Horseradish, Cajun, Ole Smokee, and Sugar Free. And you thought the only kind of mustard was yellow....

This mustard is handmade and home-made in the state-approved kitchen in their home near Hillsboro. You can buy it in a ten ounce Squeezable bear container or a 40 ounce Jug. Grannie also offers gift packs with three or four to a box, and an assortment in a cute wooden box with a rope handle which she calls Little Sweeties. Grannie’s mustard is available at grocery stores, including Dillon’s, craft shops, cafes, farmers markets, and gift shops across Kansas, or directly from Grannie.

She has shipped her mustard all over the country, from New York to California – even the Pentagon -- and to Hawaii, Alaska, Canada, and London. When Russian President Boris Yeltsin visited Kansas, he took home a plastic bear filled with Grannie’s Homemade Mustard. Wow.

Now Grannie has her own website at www.grannieshomemademustard.com, or call her at 620-947-3259. That’s 620-947-3259. Now she’s been accepted into the nationwide edition of Who’s Who in Executives and Businesses. I wonder if she’s listed under G for Grannie...

Yes, the mustard seed may be the least of all seeds, but when it is grown it is the greatest among herbs and becometh a tree.

So, an old family mustard recipe, coupled with the loss of Grannie’s job due to health, has turned into a successful business enterprise – as well as some great mustard.

Was your grandma sweet? Or did she get spicy when you misbehaved? Lydia Hein has produced a mustard that is sweet and tangy, tasty and delicious. We commend Grannie Lydia Hein, Emice, Eugene, Rita, and all those involved with Grannie’s Homemade Mustard for making a difference with her talent and entrepreneurship. Good things come out of your grandmother’s kitchen – and from rural Kansas too.

For the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development, this is Ron Wilson with Kansas Profile.

Cynthia Black

This is Kansas Profile. I'm Ron Wilson, director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University.

Let’s go to Las Vegas, to a One Stop convenience store. See the artwork on the border around the top of the store wall? Where do you suppose that comes from? Would you believe, rural Kansas? Today we’ll meet the innovative printer who created and produced that design. Not only is she a successful printer, she is contributing to the leadership of her county. We’ll get the story on today’s Kansas Profile.

Meet Cynthia Black of High Plains Printing in Colby, Kansas. Cindy grew up at Colby and was an elementary education major at Colby Community College. As a student, she started helping out in the college print shop. She found she really liked it, and went back to school to earn a certificate in printing.

After graduation, she went to work for High Plains Printing, which she eventually bought in 1986. Meanwhile, she met and married Jay and had a foster son Robert and then their daughter Jaylea.

High Plains Printing produces all types of products from business cards to birth announcements. Often customers simply have an idea or a situation, and Cindy’s crew takes it from there. Cindy says, "People come in with a problem and we help `em fix it. I never know what I’m going to be working on from one day to the next."

Much of their business is local, but they have also worked on projects as far away as Denver and Arizona. Through one contact, Cindy designed the artwork and borders for a chain of convenience stores in Las Vegas, as I mentioned at the beginning.

Cindy says she likes the flexibility of her job, so she can be involved in volunteer activities. In 1992-93, she participated in Leadership Thomas County and it would have a tremendous impact. She went on to be elected the very first chairman of the Leadership Thomas County alumni group.

Then Leadership Thomas County was selected as one of 17 communities by the Kansas Health Foundation to participate in the Kansas Community Leadership Initiative. Each community could send two representatives to this exclusive training. Thomas County sent its program coordinator, Leilani Thomas of the Colby Convention and Visitor’s Bureau. But there was also need for a volunteer from the community. The person who stepped up was Cynthia Black.

Now Cindy is using these leadership skills to help transform her home county. She was instrumental in the creation of the Thomas County Community Foundation which has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to benefit the region. The mission statement of the Foundation is simple: Forever Betterment. Its objective is to endow funds to improve the quality of life for all citizens of Thomas County.

Note that they are thinking county-wide, which is really important in rural areas.

For example, one project which the foundation has supported is called Kids Can Do. This was designed to help kids in the fourth and fifth grade classes select and implement some community service project. All schools in the county were invited to participate. That included the schools in Colby, the county seat, but also in the smaller communities such as Brewster, population 290, and Rexford, population 176 people. Now, that’s rural.

These kids did such projects as buying books for the library, reading to the head start children, sanding down an old school bus to be repainted and used, holding a Thanksgiving dinner for those who didn’t have a place to go during the holidays, and putting together packets for kids who had to go into the hospital. Wow. Doesn’t that touch your heart?

It did Cindy Black. She says, "My heart and my goal is with leadership training for youth, and making sure that every kid has a chance to participate."

It’s time to say goodbye to the convenience store in Las Vegas, which features artwork on a border from High Plains Printing in Kansas. How exciting to see that Cindy Black’s business in Kansas is reaching that market, but more importantly, that Cindy is making a difference in the lives of people around her. This is one printer who is having a positive imprint on her community.

For the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development, this is Ron Wilson with Kansas Profile.

Kent Kerschner - Foto Cowboy

This is Kansas Profile. I'm Ron Wilson, director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University.

What do you get when you cross a bull with a camera? Hmm, either a bull that requires film instead of feed or a camera that is really, really strong. Okay, maybe it’s not the funniest riddle you ever heard, but it does describe the twin interests of a young man from Kansas who has transformed those interests into a business niche that has reached across the nation. It’s today’s Kansas Profile.

Let’s say you’re watching a Professional Bull Riders event on TV. In the arena, you see a powerful bucking bull, a cowboy riding that bull for dear life, and probably a rodeo clown. But someone else is the arena too, that we may not even notice. It’s the rodeo photographer, who takes those dramatic photos of the riders in action.

Meet rodeo photographer Kent Kerschner of Hutchinson, Kansas. He combines his love for photography with his love for rodeo, and the result is a remarkable business that has sent his photos across the country and overseas.

Kent’s interest in photography can be traced back to his grandmother, who had truly rural roots. Before moving to Hutch, Kent’s grandmother lived near McPherson in a tiny settlement called Turkey Creek. In its day, Turkey Creek might have had 50 residents. Now, that’s rural.

While Kent was in grade school, his grandmother gave him a special gift: a Brownie Kodak camera. This was a type of box camera. You had to look down into it from above and it had the shutter on the side. The camera might have been a bit primitive, but Kent was immediately hooked on photography.

Kent also became hooked – this is a very painful pun – on bull-riding. Bull-riding is often considered to be the most exciting and dangerous event in the rodeo, but Kent became interested and competed in it for years.

Kent says, "I’d ride the bulls, and as soon as I got off, I’d grab a camera." His picture-taking at the rodeos earned him the nickname Foto cowboy.

After twenty years of bull-riding, his career came to a – shall we say – transition. It happened at a rodeo in Cassoday, Kansas, where Kent rode a bull named Catfish. The result was a broken leg -- Kent’s, not the bull’s -- and Kent decided to retire from bull-riding and do photography full-time.

Now Kent has been the photographer at big events by the North American Bull-riding Association and the International Professional Rodeo Association. His action photos were recently featured in the center spread of the international rodeo publication called Humps N’ Horns.

I asked if being the photographer was safer than being the bull-rider. He said no. Why? Objects in the mirror are closer than they appear. In other words, the photographer is concentrating so hard as he adjusts the image that he may not realize how close the bull is getting.

However, Kent’s experience does make for great photos. He says, "Me being an old bull-rider, I know what’s gonna happen."

Kent has photographed events from Canada to Texas and Memphis to Colorado, and lots here in Kansas. Besides rodeo, he does photos of class reunions, Senior high students, Family, and Sports teams. He also produces photo business cards and autograph slicks. Speaking of photo business cards, he has one for himself. It features a full color picture of him taking a picture.

Remember that old Brownie camera? Technology has changed dramatically since then. Now Kent uses a digital camera and posts his photos on the Internet, where anyone world-wide can view them and order them on-line. Wow. Whenever he does a kids rodeo, for example, the grandparents want to buy those photos, wherever they are.

Kent has sent photos across the nation and as far away as Australia and New Zealand. Kent’s website is www.fotocowboy.com. That’s www.f-o-t-o-c-o-w-b-o-y.com.

So what do you get when you cross a bull with a camera? Not a picture with horns. In this case, you get a young man who is making a difference by successfully combining these diverse interests to build a remarkable business that is reaching customers coast to coast.

For the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development, this is Ron Wilson with Kansas Profile.

Cowboys at Carnegie

This is Kansas Profile. I'm Ron Wilson, director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University.

In New York City, an out-of-town visitor asks a cab-driver, "How do I get to Carnegie Hall?" The cabbie replies, "Practice, man, practice." It’s an old joke, but it reminds us that only the best musicians perform in Carnegie Hall. So I’m excited that an upcoming event at Carnegie Hall will feature some of Kansas’ best musicians, with an emphasis on our historic western heritage. It’s a historic event, and it’s today’s Kansas Profile.

Meet Thomas and Cheryl Etheredge of the Prairie Rose Chuckwagon Supper near Wichita. Thomas and Cheryl have been featured on this program before, because Prairie Rose Chuckwagon Supper has turned into a huge tourism draw for rural Kansas. The Etheredges host these Suppers, complete with western music and entertainment, on their family ranch near Wichita. They feature a wonderful western music group called the Prairie Rose Wranglers.

One year, Thomas was contacted by the people at Carnegie Hall in New York City. Now if your mental picture of Carnegie Hall is of a symphony playing classical music, you’re right. But the Carnegie Hall people were working on some sort of celebration and asked if the Prairie Rose Wranglers could play some small part in it. The Prairie Rose folks said sure, but Thomas, who is quite a visionary, said: Why limit it to that? Why not have a complete concert honoring the music and heritage of the American West? So he made a proposal to Carnegie Hall to that effect.

Shortly after that came September 11, 2001. What a tremendous impact the events of that day had on our nation. I think it caused lots of people to rethink their basic values, and to regain appreciation for the simple but important things like family, faith, and courage.

I don’t know if September 11 changed their minds, but when Thomas again contacted the people at Carnegie Hall, not only did they agree to host a special concert, they cleared a Friday evening to make it possible. Carnegie Hall is booked for years in advance, yet they cleared a date for this event.

So listen to this: On May 30, 2003, Carnegie Hall will play host to an event called "The Great American Cowboy in Concert" – the largest cowboy gathering ever to perform on the world’s greatest stage.

Starring on the show will be Kansas’ own Prairie Rose Wranglers. They will be joined by such famous performers as the Sons of the San Joaquin, Roy Rogers Jr., and cowboy Waddie Mitchell. Also included is Joni Harms, winner of the Will Rogers Award for Entertainer of the Year; Johnny Western, the western film and music star from Wichita; Mickey Dawes, President of the Western Music Association in Nashville; and Kansas cowboy singer Barry Ward.

Barry is an example of genuine cowboy talent from rural Kansas. He is a working fourth generation cowboy who just released an album under the Prairie Rose Record label. He hails from near the western Kansas town of Copeland, Kansas, population 289 people. Now, that’s rural.

How exciting that genuine cowboy talent including rural Kansas will be featured on stage in New York. This landmark event would not have happened without the vision and drive of Thomas Etheredge and the people of Prairie Rose Chuckwagon Supper.

For more information or to make reservations for the chuckwagon Supper, or for that matter to order tickets for the performance at Carnegie Hall, contact the Prairie Rose at 316-778-2121 or go to www.prairierosechuckwagon.com. That number again is 316-778-2121 or www.prairierosechuckwagon.com.

So how do I get to Carnegie Hall? Practice, man, practice. Such practice, plus some vision and initiative on the part of the Prairie Rose, is bringing rural Kansas talent to New York City to celebrate the heritage of Kansas and the American West. We commend Thomas and Cheryl Etheredge, the Prairie Rose Wranglers, and all those who are making a difference by sharing their talents and honoring our heritage.

Speaking of vision, can you envision a western music event which would bring thousands of people to Kansas from across the country? Guess what – that’s happening too. We’ll hear about that on our next program.

For the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development, this is Ron Wilson with Kansas Profile.

Western Music Awards

This is Kansas Profile. I'm Ron Wilson, director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University.

Imagine an event which will bring thousands of people from across the country to Wichita, Kansas. It will be nationally televised and will have an economic impact of more than a million dollars. Isn’t that music to your ears? Sure enough, music is what it’s all about. It is the nationally-televised Western Music Association Awards Show which is coming to Kansas, and it’s today’s Kansas Profile.

On our last program, we heard about Thomas Etheredge of Prairie Rose Chuckwagon Supper near Wichita. He has built his Suppers into a premier event, featuring a musical group called the Prairie Rose Wranglers. His interest in western heritage and western music led Thomas to become active in the Western Music Association, headquartered in Nashville. In June 2002, Thomas became the Executive Vice President of that organization.

The WMA sponsors the Western Music Association Awards Show and Festival, which is the equivalent to the Grammy's in Western Music. It was held in Las Vegas in 2002 and for ten years before that, was held in Tucson, Arizona.

But in January 2003, it was announced that the Western Music Association Awards Show and Festival for 2003, 4, and 5 will be right here in Wichita, Kansas. Wichita won out to host this event over such places as Anaheim, California; Branson, Missouri; Casper, Wyoming; and Las Vegas, Nevada.

It’s just another example of the remarkable vision and energy which Thomas provides. He and his wife Cheryl began the Prairie Rose Chuckwagon Supper on their family ranch near Benton, Kansas. Benton is a town of 761 people. Now, that’s rural. Yet in only its fifth season, the Prairie Rose Chuckwagon Supper served some 50,000 people. Wow.

The growth of this enterprise is phenomenal. Since we last featured the Prairie Rose on this program, their facility has been further developed to include an open air ampitheater and recreation grounds, the Wagons Ho RV park with capacity for 100 motor homes, and more.

In August 2003, yet another feature will be added: the only authorized national Hopalong Cassidy Museum. It will include one of the largest collections of Hopalong Cassidy memorabilia in the country, plus a theater which will feature all of the Hopalong Cassidy television shows and the 66 full length movies. Also to be included in the new complex is the Kansas Saddlery, a working saddle shop.

All this is in addition to the existing features of the Prairie Rose, such as the Opera House where the delicious meals are served and where the Prairie Rose Wranglers provide fun and great music. The Roy Rogers Theater is nearby, along with the OK Corral, a livery stable, native American Indian tepee, shady gazebo, pretty lake, and a horse-drawn wagon for wagon rides. The Prairie Rose Chuckwagon Supper has turned into one of the midwest’s largest western tourist attractions.

On our last program, we told about how the Prairie Rose helped bring about the Great American Cowboy in Concert at Carnegie Hall. It is neat to be sending Kansas cowboys to New York. But think about the economic benefit of having people from all over the country come out to Kansas.

Thomas Etheredge has managed to do both. The Carnegie Hall concert will be May 30, and the Western Music Association Awards Show and Festival will be in Wichita on November 12 through the 16^th, 2003.

Yes, that event which we imagined is coming true. We commend Thomas Etheredge and John Rolfe’s Convention and Visitors Bureau in Wichita for making a difference by making this reality. The five-day festival will consist of many events, with performers from around the country. The televised Western Music Awards Show will take place Saturday night, November 15, from Century II Convention Hall. Some 7 to 8,000 visitors are expected to come to Wichita, and the economic impact could be as much as 2 million dollars. That is sweet music to hear.

For the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development, this is Ron Wilson with Kansas Profile.

Enterprise Facilitation

This is Kansas Profile. I'm Ron Wilson, director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University.

Grow your own. That’s good advice for gardeners who want fresh tomatoes or other veggies. It’s also good advice for economic development. We can try to drag businesses into our rural communities from somewhere else, but we may be better off in the long run if we can build our businesses from within. Today we will learn about an innovative initiative from the state of Kansas to facilitate the creation of new business enterprises. It is helping to reach the most rural areas of our state. Stay tuned for today’s Kansas Profile.

Our story today really begins with a guy named Ernesto Sirolli. Sirolli, who is Italian by heritage, might seem an unlikely candidate to solve the issues facing rural Kansas. But Ernesto Sirolli pioneered a new approach to business development in the rural areas of Australia. It is called Enterprise Facilitation.

What is Enterprise Facilitation? It is a way of assisting entrepreneurial businesses that has been described as intense business development handholding. It has also been compared to a community barn-raising. Enterprise Facilitation uses local citizen leaders and sound business practices to assist small business people in succeeding.

It has two components: A large, locally formed Enterprise Facilitation Board and a hired, trained facilitator. An Enterprise Facilitation Board might include 50 people, for example. They help provide a link to community resources. They also introduce entrepreneurs or prospective business people to the trained facilitator.

There is a key concept that is the backbone of Enterprise Facilitation: It’s called the Trinity. No, not the Holy Trinity, but the three components of business management: production, finance, and marketing.

The concept is that a small business person often has a passion for one or more of the components, but rarely all three. In other words, an entrepreneur might love making the product and telling people about it (production and marketing), or making the product and keeping meticulous books on the costs of producing and selling (production and finance). The lack of passion in the third area can influence success and/or failure of the business. Enterprise Facilitation draws on the strength of community resources, including the Board members, to fill the gap for the small entrepreneur in the areas needed.

Enterprise Facilitation has proven so successful that it has been adopted in several countries around the world. The Sirolli Institute was created in Chicago, based on the idea. Now the state of Kansas is making it possible for Enterprise Facilitation to be used here.

In 2002, the Community Development Division of the Kansas Department of Commerce and Housing launched an initiative in Enterprise Facilitation. Now five clusters of counties are involved in this initiative. They received state grants and federal CDBG funds to use with local funds to organize the boards and hire trained facilitators.

I’m especially pleased that this project is reaching the most rural areas of our state. The five clusters are in northeast Kansas, southeast Kansas, south central Kansas, mid-central Kansas, and far western Kansas.

The far western Kansas group includes Greeley County, which has only 1,754 residents in the entire county. And in the southeast Kansas Quad County group, the lead municipality is Greenwood County. The Greenwood County Economic Development coordinator comes from the town of Severy, population 374 people. Now, that’s rural.

Sometimes large businesses are reluctant to come to rural areas because there is not enough of a labor force. As a result, is rural Kansas going to attract a huge auto manufacturing plant, for example? Not likely. The more appropriate strategy for them is to build on their base, identify small businesses and entrepreneurs within their communities and build them from within.

Grow your own. Yes, it is good advice for gardeners and economic developers too. We commend Ernesto Sirolli, Marilyn Graham of the Community Development Division of the Kansas Department of Commerce and Housing, who provided this information, and especially those local people involved with the enterprise facilitation project in these county clusters. They are making a difference by planting the seeds of new businesses and providing the care and management to produce a bountiful harvest. Now, please pass those home-grown tomatoes.

For the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development, this is Ron Wilson with Kansas Profile.

Sara Deighton - Leadership class

This is Kansas Profile. I'm Ron Wilson, director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University.

Let’s flip on the TV and see what’s on the six o’clock news. Look, it’s one of our local high school students, doing a broadcast about school activities. It was through her initiative that this local broadcast was created. Wow, it must have taken a lot of vision, creativity, and effort to bring this about. In short, it took a lot of leadership. Today, we will learn about a remarkable rural school leadership initiative on Kansas Profile.

Meet Sara Deighton, a teacher of English, as well as Leadership, at Macksville High School in central Kansas. Macksville is a town of 486 people. Now, that’s rural.

Sara explains that their principal Mike Harvey came to Macksville from Pratt, where he had been actively involved in leadership programs. When he came to Macksville, he said, "I want a leadership program in my high school."

In fall 2001, Mike taught a leadership class with help from Sara. She then took over the class, in addition to her other duties, in fall 2002.

The class is for high school juniors and seniors. It includes classroom instruction plus a community service project.

Stafford County Extension agent Glenn Newdigger is a key partner in the class. He teaches units on servant leadership, visioning, learning styles and other key principles taught by the Kansas Health Foundation’s Community Leadership Initiative.

In the first year, there were seven students in the class. In the second year, there were 15 students in Leadership I and three more enrolled in an advanced class called Leadership II.

The class uses Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teens as its textbook. Students are graded on their papers and participation. When they are involved in their internship, they must write about it in a journal daily. And, Sara says, "There’s occasionally a test if they’re not paying attention."

One key is an internship, which each student must design and implement. For example: One girl is teaching organizational skills to middle school students. Another girl redesigned the girls’ locker room. Another one is teaching leadership skills to freshman boys and girls.

Several students are helping in the elementary and middle school. Two boys are building and refinishing benches at the school.

I challenged Sara on that one and asked what leadership skills were learned from building benches? She replied that, in addition to work ethic, they were working with a staff person who was a stickler for details, so the young student had to use a lot of leadership skills to get the job done successfully.

Other projects include peer tutoring and designing publicity and advertising for a local horse show. One girl picked four elderly ladies in the community which she would visit and help each day during the class period. Sara says, "These ladies couldn’t get out much, and their faces would just light up when they would see her coming."

Then there was a hispanic student in the leadership class. He tutored another hispanic student who had just come to the U.S. and spoke almost no English. Another student served as the first-ever student director for the school play. Sara says, "Both the faculty director and the students said she was very helpful."

Finally, one of the girls in Leadership II wanted to do some public outreach for their school. She devised a plan to do a local television broadcast about school activities. Unfortunately, there was no TV station in Macksville. However, they do have cable owned by a company based in nearby St. John. The company agreed to let her do this project. She videotapes the program at school, and then the tape is taken to a local transmitter each week.

Let’s flip on the TV and see what’s on the six o’clock news. Yes, it’s one of our local high school students, doing a broadcast about school activities. It takes a lot of leadership to bring about such a project, along with all the other service learning that these students are doing. We commend Sara Deighton, Mike Harvey, Glenn Newdigger, and especially those students who are making a difference by implementing leadership and service. That’s good news.

For the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development, this is Ron Wilson with Kansas Profile.

Bill Hawley

This is Kansas Profile. I'm Ron Wilson, director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University.

Hello to Hawleywood. No, this isn’t a tour of movie star homes, this Hawleywood is spelled a different way: H-a-w-l-e-y- wood. This play on words is an example of the creative marketing done by a remarkable Kansas business that is marketing recreational vehicles all over the country. Sit back and enjoy the ride on today’s Kansas Profile.

Meet Bill Hawley of Hawleywood RV Ranch in Dodge City, Kansas. He tells the story of how his company began, with many of the misadventures that often strike new businesses.

Bill Hawley’s father was in Chicago and then served in World War II. During the war, he was stationed in Dodge City, Kansas. At that time, Dodge City was a town of about 8,500 people. Now, that’s rural.

After the war, Mr. Hawley returned to Chicago, but it just didn’t look the same after living in the wide open spaces at Dodge City. Mr. Hawley and his brother wanted to go into business together, but they weren’t quite sure doing what. His brother knew someone who was in the venetian blind business in Chicago, so they decided to give that a try. Mr. Hawley came back to Dodge City to look for a location for their venetian blind production business, and he found one.

The next step was to visit this friend’s venetian blind business in Chicago – but there was a problem. It turns out there was no venetian blind business at all - that business was just a front for a gambling operation. Bill Hawley says, "It was the biggest bookie joint in Chicago."

The Hawleys couldn’t learn much about venetian blinds there, but they were still committed to the idea. So they opened their venetian blind business in Dodge.

Their first order was from a lady who ordered blinds for her dairy operation. The Hawleys dutifully ordered the supplies they needed, and they were delivered c.o.d. The Hawley brothers said, "What is c.o.d.?" Told they had to have the money to get the goods, that was a problem because they didn’t have the money. So they went back to the lady who had ordered the blinds, and she paid them in advance so they could get their supplies.

After this rocky start, the business began to grow. They diversified into a home improvement products company.

In 1966, their company began selling Winnebago pickup toppers. In 1967, Mr. Hawley saw the brand new Winnebago motor home. He thought that was great, so his company got in the business. Eventually, the home products company was sold and Hawley Brothers concentrated on the recreational vehicle business.

Bill Hawley eventually bought the business from his dad. He says, "I’ve worked here since I was two."

Today, the company’s retail sales and service facility at Dodge City is called the Hawleywood RV Ranch. They also offer their products over the Internet.

Now listen to this. The Hawley Brothers company draws customers from six states and is selling used units over the Internet from coast to coast. They have sent units from Washington state to Rhode Island. Wow.

One of their RVs is actually in Sweden. The wife’s family was from Kansas, and they contacted Hawleys to special order an RV to travel around the U.S. for a year and then take back to Sweden with them.

Times have changed since those early R Vs. An original Winnebago camper cost less than four thousand dollars. Now, new motor homes may cost from seventy to one-hundred-eighty thousand dollars or more, and they are loaded with amenities.

Bill Hawley says, "These are people’s homes. These units come with microwave ovens, built in TVs, satellite dishes, slide-out rooms, and computer-controlled engines. We call it wheel estate."

Today, the Hawley Brothers is the oldest Winnebago dealer in the nation, and therefore the world – and it’s found right here in Kansas.

It’s time to say goodbye to Hawleywood – no, not the movie stars, but to Hawleywood RV Ranch at Dodge City. We commend Bill Hawley and all those involved in making a difference with this remarkable business. In my book, they are Hawleywood stars.

For the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development, this is Ron Wilson with Kansas Profile.

Bob and Tracey DeBruyn

This is Kansas Profile. I'm Ron Wilson, director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University.

Remember your favorite teacher? Or a teacher who made a difference in your life? I'm picturing Mrs. Hansen, Mrs. Dodds, Mrs. Haas, and Mr. Bartel. Probably each of us can remember a special teacher. A really outstanding one will sometimes be called a Master Teacher. Today we will learn about a remarkable company which is helping build master teachers in schools all over the world. It's today's Kansas Profile.

Meet Bob and Tracey DeBruyn. Bob is founder of the company known as The MASTER Teacher, based in Manhattan, Kansas. His wife Tracey is President of this phenomenal business.

Bob DeBruyn grew up on the south side of Chicago. His mom was a nurse. His dad had a fourth grade education and worked in the oil refineries. Times were tough. They wanted a better life for their son, and they knew the key was education.

Bob went to college in Indiana and worked for Standard Oil and Dunn and Bradstreet. Then he was drafted into the military and was stationed at Fort Riley, in the Finance Corp. He liked Manhattan, so he stayed after his discharge and received a graduate degree from K-State. He wrote ads and sold time for WIBW to help make ends meet.

He also wanted to be a teacher, and in 1963 began his teaching career. On his first day, he received a nice welcome from his principal who gave him a couple of books and a class roster and sent him into the classroom with 150 students.

That is a challenge. How can someone be expected to become a master teacher overnight?

Almost no one can. Bob saw many fine teachers around him who began the school year with great zeal, but by Thanksgiving, both their enthusiasm and their ideals were gone. Those teachers knew their subject matter, but they did not have the ongoing skills and training to be successful in dealing with people.

He wrote down some ideas and concepts that could help a teacher be more effective. In the fall of 1969, he published those in a publication called The MASTER Teacher, and started marketing it to schools.

As a former radio and TV ad salesman, he knew that time was valuable. He wrote short, pithy summaries which could be read in 5 to 8 minutes--the time it took for the teacher to walk from the office back to his or her classroom.

His ideas hit the target. In nine weeks, the MASTER Teacher was the eighth largest educational publishing company in the country. During the first year, he moved his business location seven times as it continued to grow.

In 1973, he built a company building in