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

How’s your memory? Mine’s slipping, a little bit. But I have happy memories of visiting family and friends in lovely homes with nice antiques. I think of old homes which friends of ours have restored. These are happy memories also. Today we’ll meet a company which specializes in high quality antiques, interiors, and restoration work - from rural Kansas. Fittingly, the name of the company is Memories Restored. Stay tuned for today’s Kansas Profile.

Meet Vicki Dipman. Vicki is the founder of Memories Restored. She has been joined in the business by her daughter and son-in-law, Sandi and Jeff Bates.

Vicki started learning very young about the skills to do this enterprise. She says, "My mother started painting and papering in homes when I was seven months old. Many times I went with mom in a baby buggy."

Maybe that early exposure paid off. Vicki grew up, married a farmer near Larned, and had children of her own. She was doing some interior decorating work when the farm crisis hit in the 1980s. During those tough times, farmers were having to sell land which had been part of their family’s farms. Vicki told her husband, "If there’s anything in me, we’ll never lose any of this ground." She says, "That night, it came to me that this is what I should do."

Her idea was to add to the family income by opening an interior decorator, home restoration, and antique shop with antique restoration, right there on the farmstead.

Vicki says, "My husband was against it and the banker was against it, but they couldn’t stop me cause I had the money saved." So she had some Mennonite workmen build a building to house this new enterprise.

The building itself is built to look a little bit like a barn, but when you enter the store you are overwhelmed by the beautiful decor and striking antiques. The shop offers a selection of decorating and remodeling products as well as an array of antiques, bronze sculptures, victorian and custom designed lamps and shades, home accessories, and gifts for anyone’s taste.

Memories Restored is truly a family operation. As mentioned previously, Vicki’s daughter Sandi is now part of the business. Sandi grew up there on the place and went to K-State where she met and married Jeff Bates.

And you can see there would be a lot of it. Sandi says, "We don’t just design and pick things out, we also do the work. Everything we sell, we install ourselves. And we are very particular and demanding of our work. We’ve worked hard to get the reputation that we have among our customers."

That customer base has really expanded over time. They have done work as far away as Illinois and Texas, but more of their work is in and around Kansas. Not only do they do home restoration and residential remodeling, they have done commercial work in hospitals at Great Bend, Larned, and Ellsworth.

One of the banker’s concerns when this business got started is that it couldn’t work being located out in the country. The shop is there on the farmstead, on Route 3, a few miles from the Fort Larned National Historic Site, near the town of Larned, population 4,317 people. Now, that’s rural.

Yet this shop has become a fun trip for people who want to visit, and Vicki, Jeff, and Sandi will often travel to meet with customers at their own location. In the guest book of visitors who have come to the shop, you would find people’s names from as far away as Florida, California, and even Stockholm, Sweden. Wow.

Vicki says, "When friends and family come to visit people in our area, often they will come here."

For more information, you can contact Memories Restored at 620-285-3478 or www.memoriesrestored.com.

How’s your memory? However it is, you can restore happy memories with the restoration work, remodeling, and antiques that are available through this innovative rural business. We salute Vicki Dipman and her husband and Sandi and Jeff Bates for making a difference with their creativity and innovation. It’s a story to remember.

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

Blattner Manufacturing

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 feedyard in southwest Kansas, where it’s time to feed the cattle. But there is one problem: The feed truck is broken down, and there’s no way to dump the feed out for all those steers. And there are 4,000 hungry steers waiting to be fed. Wow, that’s even more hungry mouths than we have at our house.

So at the feedyard, when the feedtruck breaks down, who you gonna call? Not Ghostbusters. It just might be Blattner Manufacturing, a welding, repair and construction business in a truly rural setting. We’ll get the story on today’s Kansas Profile.

Meet Stan Blattner. Stan is President of Blattner Manufacturing, which is a truly family business in a rural place.

This business goes way back. According to a local history book, Jacob Blattner was a skilled iron worker in Germany who migrated to Kansas in the 1800s. He set up a blacksmith shop in Jetmore and taught the trade to his boys. When they got older, two of his sons, Charles and Louis, moved slightly east to Rozel and set up a shop of their own in 1906. Charles and Louis would be grandfather and uncle of the generation which is managing the business now.

Charles’ son Eugene came into the business when he got old enough, and later on the next generation did also. Eugene is now retired at age 77, but Stan says, "He’s here every day anyway, because it’s just fun for him."

Eugene and Evelyn Blattner had three sons: Stan, who is now president of the company; Steve, who is vice president and chief engineer; and Stuart who is now in St. Joseph, Missouri. Stan and his wife are alums of Fort Hays State University. Steve and Stuart went to K-State. Steve has a degree in Civil Engineering and was an Air Force pilot before coming back into the business.

So what is Blattner Manufacturing today? Stan explains, "There are three main facets of the business. One is we are a welding shop and do ag repairs. The second is construction work in feedlots, such as building fencing for corrals and sick pens and doing concrete work. The third is construction of ag buildings and small commercial buildings."

While the business has diversified, it is still a family affair. Stan Blattner says, "When I was 10 years old, I would come down here after school and help out Dad. I would help clean up the shop or put bolts in drawers. I was a phenomenal broom sweeper." He adds with a smile, "Guess what. I still do that."

I really like the relaxed atmosphere and family approach of this business in a rural setting. Stan says, "We are family oriented here. If somebody has a ballgame or boy scouts, we have flexibility to do that. We’ve been blessed to employ good people. Our people have a good work ethic, and they like it cause they’re not doing the same thing everyday."

He says, "Everybody that’s a welder for us has trained here." Their employees commute to Rozel from nearby towns such as Burdett, population 250, and Hanston, population 294.

Blattner’s territory is primarily within a 75 mile radius of Rozel. Rozel is located in Pawnee County west of Larned, between Great Bend and Dodge City. Rozel itself is a town of 180 people. Now, that’s rural.

What is the secret to maintaining and diversifying a family business like this for nearly a century? Stan Blattner says, "The Good Lord has blessed us through the good times and the hard times." He says, "We work hard, and we’ve been blessed.

He says, "Service is important to us. If we have a customer with a breakdown" - such as the feedtruck I mentioned at the beginning - "We hustle to get them going again."

He says, "Most of our business comes through word of mouth. Our work is what advertises our business. And we really appreciate the people who use us."

Let’s go to a feedyard in southwest Kansas, where it’s time to feed the cattle. There’s a big problem: The feed truck is broken down, and there’s no way to feed all those hungry steers. Who you gonna call? For many of those customers, they call Blattner Manufacturing, knowing that they will get prompt and reliable service. We commend Stan and Steve Blattner and all the people of Blattner Manufacturing, for making a difference by sustaining a multi-generation business in a truly rural setting. And now, I have to go feed some hungry calves of my own.

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

Ag Hall of Fame

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 Hall of Fame. Sounds like fun, doesn’t it? It makes me think of legends of sports, such as at Cooperstown or Canton. But this national hall of fame isn’t about sports games, it’s about a fundamental industry of our nation: Agriculture. Yet how many Kansans know that a national hall of fame is located right here in Kansas? Stay tuned for a Hall of Fame edition of Kansas Profile.

Meet Tim Nimz and Cathy Hahner. Tim is director and Cathy is assistant director for education and programming at The National Agricultural Center and Hall of Fame in Bonner Springs, Kansas. Perhaps you’ve seen the sign for the ag hall near Interstate 70 outside of Kansas City. Let’s stop in for a visit.

First, some background. As Tim Nimz says, "Agriculture touches the lives of every living person." From the food we eat to the values which shaped our country, agriculture has been at the heart of it. Yet modern society does not seem to fully appreciate the contributions of agriculture.

In the 1950s, agribusiness leaders in Kansas City and around the country envisioned a national center which could preserve and promote the history of agriculture. That center became a reality on paper when it was issued a federal charter by an act of the 86th Congress and signed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower on August 31, 1960. Although the museum was created by federal action, it receives no appropriation from local, state, or federal government.

Of course, the next question was where to put the ag center? After a nationwide search involving 29 applicant cities, the site was selected in western Wyandotte County, Kansas near Bonner Springs. Today it consists of 172 rural acres and several buildings.

The first building includes such things as the gallery of rural art, the national rural electric conference theater, and the hall of fame itself. There are displays about each of the 35 inductees to the Ag Hall of Fame, including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Eli Whitney, Abraham Lincoln, Cyrus McCormick, George Washington Carver, Arthur Capper, John Deere, Norman Borlaug, Squanto the Indian and more.

The largest building is the Museum of Farming, which contains many of the center’s 30,000 artifacts. Here you find antique farm machinery and tools used in agriculture since the early 1800s. The very first artifact donated to the center was the boyhood plow of President Harry S Truman.

On the grounds of the museum are nature trails, a 3 acre pond, 30 acres of cropland, plenty of parking, and a recreated turn-of-the-century village known as Farm Town USA. Here are replicas of a blacksmith shop, grocery store, and poultry hatchery, plus a 100 year old railroad depot and an operating narrow gauge railroad, great for kids.

Nearby is a replica farmhouse and shed, plus a one-room schoolhouse where the center does living history with hands-on activities for school-age visitors. Out front is the National Farmer’s Memorial, featuring three massive bronze relief panels honoring farmers of the past, present and future. A national agricultural communications center is also on the grounds, where the nationally syndicated AgriTalk radio program is produced.

The center plays host to special events, such as the International Lineman’s Rodeo, Farm Heritage Days, Kansas City Americana Weekend, and more. The new NASCAR track is just a few miles away, as is the new commercial complex that is being built. Since 1997, attendance at the center has increased by 75 percent. To date, nearly 2 million visitors have come to the ag hall of fame from around the world. Wow.

The center director himself has rural roots. Tim Nimz is originally from Healy, Kansas, with a population of about 250 people. Now, that’s rural.

The center celebrates and informs people about the rural way of life. There are five support staff, 12 tour guides and historical interpreters and 164 trained volunteers who assist with various aspects of operations.

Not only is all this educational, it is great for families. My kids love to ride the train, and their grandparents can tell about all that antique equipment.

The center is open daily, mid-March through November. For more information, go to www.aghalloffame.com.

It’s time to say goodbye to this national hall of fame – not about ballplayers, but about the farmers who are the backbone of our nation. We salute Tim Nimz, Cathy Hahner, the Board and all the volunteers of the National Agricultural Center and Hall of Fame for making a difference by honoring this vital part of our heritage.

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

Ian Bautista - Hispanic culture in Kansas

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

Hola. Habla Espanol? No, this isn’t the Spanish-speaking station, this is a special edition of Kansas Profile to celebrate the Hispanic culture in Kansas. The growth of the Hispanic population of Kansas is one of the striking trends demonstrated in the 2000 Census – in both urban and rural Kansas. Stay tuned for today’s Kansas Profile.

Meet Ian Bautista, Deputy Director of El Centro, Inc. in Kansas City, Kansas. El Centro is a not-for-profit social enterprise. It is both a social service agency and a community development agency, which makes it unique. El Centro’s primary service area is Wyandotte County and Johnson County, Kansas. Now, that’s urban. El Centro serves approximately 15,000 families annually, most of them Hispanic.

Ian himself comes from a Latino family. He grew up in Kansas City and went to K-State where he received degrees in Political Science and Spanish with a secondary major in Latin American studies. He went on to receive a masters degree in Regional and Community Planning from K-State. I remember Ian as a student leader here. Now he is in a three-year succession plan to become director of El Centro.

Recently I heard Ian on a program where he was describing the growth of the Hispanic population in the Kansas City metro area. During the last decade, Hispanics in Kansas City, Kansas increased by 130 percent. The growth of Hispanics in Johnson County was even higher, at 150 percent. Wow.

This was interesting to me, because it parallels the findings of recent research we did on demographics in rural Kansas.

For example, from 1990 to 2000, there were ten counties in which the Hispanic population increased by more than 100 percent. That includes the urban counties of Johnson, Wyandotte, and Sedgwick. But it also includes counties in rural central and southwest Kansas.

Here is a list of other counties and their county seats along with the percentage of growth in their Hispanic population in just the past decade: Finney County, Garden City, had 110 percent increase; Stevens County, where Hugoton is, had 115 percent; Seward County, where Liberal is, increased 159 percent; Saline County, Salina, had 164 percent; Lyon County, Emporia, had 184 percent increase; Barton County, Great Bend, had 187 percent; and Ford County, where Dodge City is located, had nearly a 200 percent increase in the Hispanic population. Wow.

And that only includes counties that had an increase of a thousand or more in their Hispanic populations. There were other counties with even higher percentage increases, but they had such a small base to begin with that the percentages could be misleading.

The point is that the Hispanic population is growing rapidly in certain areas of our state, and is a very important part of our overall population. In Stevens County, for example, the Hispanics represent more than a fifth of the total population. Hispanics are 43 percent of Finney County, 42 percent of Seward County, 38 percent of Ford County, and 35 percent of Grant County.

When approximately a quarter of their population is Hispanic in Haskell and Kearny Counties, that has an impact on their county seats - towns like Lakin, population 2,172; and Sublette, population 1,416 people. Now, that’s rural.

Of course, there is a reason that Hispanics are moving to these areas: Economic opportunity. In southwest Kansas, much of the labor force is provided from the Hispanic community.

In addition, the Hispanic culture provides great richness to the fabric of our society. Ian Bautista notes several ways in which our state benefits. First, he says new Hispanic arrivals to the US are largely interested in starting their own business, which adds to our entrepreneurial spirit and provides economic stimulus. Second, many Hispanic voters are being courted by both political parties.

Third, Ian says, "Given the migratory nature of Hispanic job seekers coming to Kansas,

it is a testament to Kansas' high quality of life that these otherwise migrant families or single workers would choose to stay and raise their families in the State." We need to do more to welcome them, in language training, cultural training for public servants, and appropriate social service networks in their communities.

Ian says, "We need to understand people individually."

Habla Espanol? I wish that more of us did. Becoming bilingual in Spanish is one way of bridging the cultural gaps which exist in our society. We commend Ian Bautista and the many leaders of the Hispanic community who are making a difference by the value and diversity which they bring to our state.

With an adios from the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development, this is Ron Wilson with Kansas Profile.

Rick Williams

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

Last Christmas while at the relatives, I saw a really neat birdhouse in a catalog for a company in California called Wind and Weather. They sell weather instruments and home and garden ornaments. One of the products they listed was a cute birdhouse in the shape of little white church, complete with steeple. It was an eye-catching product. The catalog description said, these are handcrafted in Kansas, the heartland of America. It turns out to be from a birdhouse business that is beyond belief. Yes, it’s tempting to say this story is for the birds. It’s today’s Kansas Profile.

Meet Rick Williams of Pittsburg, Kansas. Rick is the craftsman who produces these birdhouses and many more.

Rick grew up in Sharon, Oklahoma. He was in the car business in Oklahoma City for some 10 years, when tragedy struck his family. His wife died of a brain aneurysm at age 42. That is incredibly sad.

But life goes on. Rick eventually got in touch with his high school sweetheart, who was living in Pittsburg, Kansas. Sure enough, the two reconnected and were married. I love a happy ending.

And what about birdhouses? Rick says, "My uncle was a carpenter, and he taught me a lot of things growing up. I tinkered with things like this for years. As I traveled in the car business, I would visit gift shops and sports stores and get ideas, and come home to see if I could make something even better."

In 1997, he went into business for himself, producing theme birdhouses. Theme birdhouses are those that are not just a plain structure to house birds, but have some special feature or design incorporated into it also.

The church birdhouse is an example, but even more popular are those birdhouses that use a bent license tag with school logos for a roof. With one of those, you can provide your birds a home complete with Powercat or Jayhawk on it. Depending on your school loyalties, that can make bird-watching especially enjoyable. It might be a present for the fan who has everything.

Rick Williams produces two main types of birdhouses; those using weathered barn wood and those in what he calls shabby chic – that’s chic, spelled c-h-i-c. These utilize a dark stained wood covered with white paint that is partially rubbed off to render an interesting look. He adds features like roofs made of old ornate tin ceiling tiles and cast iron spears.

These products have proven extraordinarily popular. Within three years, Rick’s sales exceeded a million dollars. Wow. He has literally shipped birdhouses coast to coast, possibly to every state.

Rick may be a bird’s best friend. Even the Audobon Society doesn’t do that. Seriously, the point is that Rick has utilized his skills and craftsmanship into a remarkable business that is responding to markets nationwide. Besides the shop in Pittsburg, Rick contracts with a facility in Missouri where handicapped people sand wood and help assemble his products.

Rick’s products are available in Hallmark stores, other gift shops, and some grocery stores across the state. Rick also produces customized birdhouses as fund-raisers for local schools. In other words, your school could have its logo put on birdhouses and sell them to supporters and alumni.

One interesting example of that was found in McCune, Kansas, a small town just west of Pittsburg. McCune no longer has a high school, but it does have an alumni association. The McCune Alumni Association got birdhouses with their old school name and sold more than 400 of them. And McCune is a town of 492 people. Now, that’s rural.

It’s exciting to see a business like this that can both benefit rural Kansas and serve markets across the nation. To contact the Rick Williams company, call toll-free at 1-888-266-1714. That’s 1-888-266-1714. Or go to www.wrensport.com. That’s www.w-r-e-n-s-p-o-r-t.com.

Last Christmas, I saw a really neat birdhouse in a catalog from a company in California. Little did I realize that these birdhouses came from this company in Pittsburg, Kansas, that is making some 25,000 birdhouses a year. Wow. They are shipping birdhouses coast to coast – yet I wouldn’t even have known about it if not for finding this in a catalog from California. How often we don’t realize, or take for granted, the remarkable things we have right here in Kansas. We salute Rick Williams and the people of his company for making a difference with creativity and initiative. It’s helping rural Kansas to build a nest egg.

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

Women’s basketball

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

It’s like a tale of the old west. Three young sharpshooters come riding in to help the town. They are great shooters, and as they have success, they become heroes far and wide.

But today’s story isn’t about the old west, it’s set in modern times. These heroes aren’t shooting bullets, they’re shooting basketballs. And what’s more, they’re three of the nicest girls you’ll find. No, this isn’t an old western, it’s a modern miracle in Manhattan: Three small-town Kansas girls making their mark in Big 12 basketball. It’s today’s Kansas Profile.

Meet Nicole Ohlde, Kendra Wecker, and Laurie Koehn. These three girls are writing a new chapter in the history of women’s basketball in Kansas. All three are starting for the K-State’s women’s basketball team. Another Kansas team-mate is senior Kristin Rethman, who we profiled a year ago. Let’s meet these remarkable new talents.

Nicole Ohlde is from near Manhattan at Clay Center, where her mother is in school food service and her father works construction. At 6-4, she was a remarkable player even in high school. But how would she adjust to college?

The answer was phenomenal. Nicole was named Big 12 Freshman of the Year, after a season in which she averaged more than 17 points and eight rebounds a game. She led K-State in scoring 17 times and in rebounding 20 times. Until Laurie played, Nicole was only the second Wildcat in school history to have two 30-plus point games in a single season – and this was her freshman year! Wow. But the Wildcats struggled through a rugged Big 12 conference schedule, and thoughts turned to next season. What a season that would be.

Nicole was joined by outstanding newcomers, including Kendra Wecker. Kendra is from Marysville, where her mother is a cosmetologist and her father manages the NCRA pipeline station nearby. Kendra first gained national attention when, at age 12, she beat all the boys to win the state’s punt, pass and kick competition. She went on to win regionals and place second in the nation. We knew she was an athlete, and what a basketball player she would turn out to be. As of mid-season, she is leading K-State in rebounding and is third in scoring -- as a true freshman. Wow.

The third player in this young Kansas trio is Laurie Koehn from Hesston. Her mother is a nurse and her dad is a PE teacher and also coaches at Moundridge High, where Laurie went to school. She was a two-time Kansas Player of the Year in high school, and expectations were high when she came to K-State. But the injury bug bit: Laurie injured her foot and was unable to play at all. So she took a redshirt season, which set the stage for 2001: She scored 27 points her first game out and is the Cats’ leading scorer. In fact, she leads the entire nation in three-point shooting. Wow.

Even with all these individual achievements, when I asked these three about the highlight of their careers, their answers had to do with team success. They were excited about winning their Big 12 games, beating three ranked teams in a row, and playing before sell-out crowds in Manhattan.

Now let’s be frank. Athletics are so competitive today that coaches have to go all over for players, and we care less about where they come from and more about whether they can produce. But for fans in Kansas, it has to be extra-special that some of the best talent in the nation can be found in small-town Kansas.

After all, Nicole comes from Clay Center, population 4,692; Kendra is from Marysville, population 3,128; and Laurie played at Moundridge, population 1,541 people. Now, that’s rural.

Can small-town players succeed? These young women say yes. Laurie says, "There is so much pride in a small community." Kendra says, "The support you get from your community is just great."

And what would they advise an athlete in a little town? Nicole says, "Look at what you can do, not what people say you can’t." Laurie says, "Work hard." And Kendra says, "Dream big."

It’s like a tale of the old west: Three young sharpshooters become heroes. But these are modern heroes who are doing their shooting on the basketball court, and making K-State basketball history in the process. We salute Nicole Ohlde, Kendra Wecker, Laurie Koehn and all the athletes of rural Kansas for making a difference by building pride for communities across the state. With that, I’ll ride off into the sunset.

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

Formation Plastics

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

From the basement to the big-time. That’s our theme today.

Let's go to Denmark, where a worker is lifting a load with a heavy duty winch that has a plastic cover. Where did that cover come from? If you didn't guess Quinter, Kansas, then stay tuned for today's Kansas Profile.

Meet Penny Huffman of Formation Plastics, the company which produced this plastic winch cover and other products. Here is the story.

Galen and Karen Huffman are the owners of Formation Plastics. Galen is originally from St. Joseph, Missouri. His older sister married a farmer from Quinter, and as Galen came out to work during the summers, he found he liked it there.

Galen graduated from McPherson College, where he met his wife Karen, and began a career as a drafting teacher and coach. Those mechanical design skills would serve him well. He taught at Oakley and Quinter, and then went into the business world.

In 1989, Galen Huffman built a thermoforming machine in his nephew's shop. What is thermoforming? It is a process by which a sheet of plastic is heated to just the right temperature and drawn into a mold by a vacuum to form plastic products of various shapes.

Galen says, "We had the single station thermoforming machine running in the garage. The pattern shop and office were in our basement and we rented storage." That was the beginning of Formation Plastics.

In 1992, the company expanded into an industrial building in Quinter. Today, the company serves such industries as agriculture, lawn and garden, recreational vehicles, electronics, health care, sporting goods, toys, industrial equipment, irrigation, and appliances.

Examples of the products they make are seed tubes for grain planters, hospital bed head & foot boards, cooling fan shrouds, greyhound dog muzzles, sweep guards for plows, speaker casings, lawn & garden parts and the winch cover we talked about at the beginning.

The company has grown to 15 employees, and sales in 2000 grew by 200 thousand dollars. Wow. The Huffman's daughter Penny has joined the business also.

The company is in Quinter, on I-70 in Gove County between Hays and Colby. Quinter is a town of 960 people. Now, that's rural.

What are the pros and cons of being in rural Kansas? Penny says, "We are far away from certain things - you can't just run downtown and grab something you might need in the shop - and some distributors may not want to ship out here. But we have an excellent work ethic among our people, and we have so many quality people who are willing to give above and beyond. People know its gonna take a little extra out here, and their values and faith motivate them to give that extra."

Karen says, "It's taken a lot of courage and determination to hang in there, but it's finally paying off. A small rural community like Quinter needs industry for jobs to keep it going. We think Quinter is a good place to live and to raise families, and we want to do all we can to help

maintain that." Galen's motto is: "We exist for the glory of God and our neighbor's good."

In 2001, the company purchased the building it was renting and doubled its size. They also brought in new equipment to do pressure forming. This uses air pressure to form the heated plastic to the mold, and allows for more detail. They also added a 5-axis CNC router, a kind of computerized robot that trims parts and makes tooling.

Assistance came from the Mid-America Manufacturing Technology Center, with field engineers at Hays and Manhattan.

Penny Huffman says, "Mom and Dad have tried to tap into every available resource to help. In the process, they have helped raise awareness of western Kansas."

The company has grown to serve customers in 12 states, yet it all began with one machine in Galen Huffman's garage and an office in the basement.

From the basement to the big-time. That’s what’s happened with Formation Plastics. Now it's time to say goodbye to Denmark, where a worker is using a winch with a plastic cover made by this company in Quinter, Kansas. How exciting to see an entrepreneur using his skills, accessing resources, and making this business work in a rural setting. We salute Galen, Karen, and Penny Huffman and all the people of Formation Plastics for making a difference with their entrepreneurship and free enterprise. They're serving markets and creating jobs which is good for our state's economy.

From the basement to the big-time, it's a benefit.

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

Miller Ranch Equipment

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

Have you ever tried to lift a 1 thousand, eight hundred pound bale of hay? Here, let me show you. These are really heavy. Yet these giant round bales are the modern way to gather, store, and feed hay to cattle. You’ve seen those big round bales along Kansas roadsides. But if you’re trying to move or feed that hay, it’s not easy to handle bales of hay that are so big and heavy. That’s why we need the folks we’re going to hear about today.

The old adage says, Make hay while the sun shines. That’s a fitting theme for today’s Kansas Profile.

Meet Connie and Carl Miller of Miller Ranch Equipment. They offer various types of equipment to be used for farm and ranch operations. They know these how these products work first-hand, because they’ve used them in rural Kansas. Here’s the story.

Carl Miller grew up in Douglas County near Lone Star lake. Connie grew up near Udall, down in Cowley County. They met at K-State, got married, and went into the ranching business in the Flint Hills east of Manhattan.

Carl knew ranch equipment well, and he also knew which products worked the best. So in 1985, they decided to go into the business of selling those top quality equipment products.

Carl and Connie became ranch equipment dealers, operating from their home. In 1991, the Millers moved to their current place, which is just off I-70 on Highway 99 north of Alma. Alma is a town of 842 people. Now, that’s rural.

From this setting, the farm and ranch equipment is a natural. For ranches and livestock operations, that means a lot of hay handling equipment.

Today, Miller Ranch Equipment offers various lines, such as Vermeer, Triple C HydraBeds, and Winkel livestock panels and flatbeds. This includes the balers which produce those heavy big round bales and the equipment to handle it. For example, there are units that go on trucks to carry and unroll the bales, and machines to chop up the bales if you’re going to feed them that way. Then there are the livestock gates and panels, other truck flatbeds, and various accessories.

This type of equipment is a great fit for the Flint Hills and other places where cattle are fed and handled. Miller units have been purchased from as far away as Texas and Montana.

Carl and Connie have literally built this business from the ground up. Since they used this equipment on the ground themselves, they have a lot of credibility with ranch operators.

Connie says with a smile, "What we know about business, we’ve learned ourselves." They’ve also raised a family. Carl and Connie have two boys, a junior at K-State and a senior in high school.

Now, when I was a kid, we raised hay on the farm too. It was baled in small square bales in those days. I started out as the little brat who rode on top of the stack of bales on the wagon, while the big boys pulled those bales off the baler and stacked them. I was told my job was to hold the stack together, but looking back, I think my older brothers were just trying to get me out of the way. Later on, I would stack those bales on the wagon myself.

But times have changed. On the one hand, the big round bales are a much more efficient way to handle hay, and at the same time, there often aren’t extra hands around to help.

Connie points out that these hay handling trucks have the versatility to respond to these changing times. For example, many families are operating ranches while covering lots of territory or working other jobs too, so they need equipment which the rancher or ranch wife can operate by themselves. The flatbed truck units which carry these big round bales have hydraulically operated arms that can lift and place those heavy bales for feeding. That’s a development with lots of pluses for the farm and ranch family.

Have you ever tried to lift a 1 thousand, eight hundred pound bale of hay? Yes, they’re heavy. They require special equipment – such as offered by Miller Ranch Equipment today. We salute Carl and Connie Miller for making a difference by responding to this need in rural Kansas.

Make hay while the sun shines, says the old adage. Today, this enterprise is helping provide a little extra sunshine for rural America.

Allright, can I put this hay bale down now?

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

Galen Ackerman - Triple C

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

Do it yourself. That sounds like the handyman section of a hardware store, but it might be today’s theme.

First let’s go to Montana. Here’s a truck from a utility company carrying big spools of wire out into the country. It’s a challenging task, to lift and unroll those giant spools of wire, but this truck has hydraulic arms on the truckbed which make it possible for one person to operate. Where did this equipment come from? Did you guess a cattle company in Kansas? I’ll explain on today’s Kansas Profile.

Meet Galen Ackerman of Triple C manufacturing in Sabetha, Kansas. Triple C produces truck beds with hydraulic powered arms which can be used by utility companies as well as in agriculture. Here is the story.

Galen Ackerman has rural roots. I remember him receiving awards at the state FFA convention. After school, Galen joined the family livestock business near Sabetha, a town of 2,421 people. Now, that’s rural. Galen was feeding big round bales of hay to the cattle herd, and he needed a machine on his pickup truck to help handle and feed the bales.

Here, our story takes a tragic turn. Galen’s brother was helping with the livestock also, when, as a high school senior in 1978, he was killed in a tractor rollover accident. That is such a tragedy.

It reminds us of the importance of farm safety and to be careful with tractors. Stockmen are better off using their trucks rather than tractors for road travel, but in those days few trucks were equipped to handle the big bales.

Galen needed something to fit on his truck to feed those bales, and he knew of a company which produced a bale feeder which bolted onto truck beds. Galen says, "I was just about to buy one of those when I realized that if I put it on my truck, I couldn’t use the truck for anything else. And we couldn’t afford to buy a second truck." He thought, "There’s gotta be a way to incorporate the bale feeder into the truck bed."

Galen says, "My father and another cattleman I worked for were good at building things for themselves." The idea was, if you want it, do it yourself. So Galen set out to design and build what he wanted.

He worked in an unheated corn crib that winter, but by spring he had built a truck bed with hydraulic arms that could carry big round bales and would fit down flush so that the truck bed could be used for other things too. That was the beginning of the product known as the Hydrabed.

As neighbors saw the unit, they encouraged Galen to go forward with the product. Galen got a patent and tried to sell the concept to Kansas companies, but those companies were unwilling to try it, given the impending farm crisis.

So once again, Galen was left to do it himself. A local welder built some units for him and they refined it further. In December ‘83, the first unit was sold to a large ranch in western Kansas. The winter was a really hard one, and this feeding unit turned out to be a lifesaver. The company began to grow.

The company is named Triple C Inc., using the initials of the Cottonwood Cattle Company which is the name their fifth generation cattle operation goes by. Galen says, "Each of these designs is tested on our place first," which gives it credibility with producers. He says, "An engineer would look at our products and say they are overbuilt, but we know they need to be strong cause they’re going into rough conditions."

The result of this testing and high quality work has been a success story. Having a one-person-operated hydraulic lift that fits down into the bed of a truck is an extremely useful thing, and more uses continue to be found. Hydrabed-mounted bale supplement feeders and post hole diggers have been developed. And now there are even more uses, such as municipal or utility applications. Today, Triple C’s Hydrabed product has gone from coast to coast and into Canada, and annual sales have grown to more than 3 and a half million a year. Wow.

It’s time to say goodbye to Montana, where a utility company might be using this versatile product which was first designed to benefit cattleman. We salute Galen Ackerman and all the people of Triple C for making a difference through creativity and entrepreneurship. It’s gone from do it yourself to Can do.

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

DEPCO Inc.

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 Whale Branch Middle School in Seabrook, South Carolina. It’s a school that looks like any other school: Shiny floors, lots of lockers, and gum under the desks. But when we step into the technology classroom, we find something especially advanced. This is not your grandfather’s classroom. It’s a modular classroom, complete with computers at work stations and a computer-based curriculum. It looks like a high-tech computerized classroom of the future. And where do you suppose the components of this modular classroom came from? Yes, from Kansas. Stay tuned for the story on today’s Kansas Profile.

Meet Dennis Hurt, the president of the remarkable company which produced this modular computer classroom. The company is called DEPCO Inc. The DEPCO stands for Dependable Educational Products Company.

The history of DEPCO begins with Dennis’ parents, Robert and Elma. Robert Hurt was a salesman in southeast Kansas, selling shop tools and supplies to schools. But as he looked at the instructions that went with some of those products, he believed they could be better.

So Robert and Elma set out to develop better classroom products in technology. Dennis Hurt says, "Mom and Dad started out on the kitchen table with a manual typewriter."

The year was 1981. Robert and Elma would go on to develop their own company to create and market these products. With the advent of robotics and computer-aided design in later years, the company added whole new dimensions. Of course, one of their best additions was their son Dennis. He joined the company in 1984.

Now how exactly does this work? Dennis Hurt says, "We produce and integrate technologies into a modular education format." For example: Instead of desks in rows, this type of classroom will have modular work stations, equipped with computers, at which students work in pairs and can rotate every 10 days to a different topic.

Dennis says, "This allows a classroom teacher to teach 15 to 18 different subject matters simultaneously. The content is delivered through multimedia, including video, slides, and books. This is self-directed and hands-on. That means the teacher has time to work with individuals as needed."

Dennis says, "The students will learn a certain technology application and then use it."

In other words, if you were a student in a technology class, you and another student might spend several class days on the computer working through a unit on virtual reality, see a video depiction, read a unit, and then actually get to experience it in a sample headset, before moving on to the next module where robotics might be taught, for example.

Dennis says, "We show `em, they read it, and then they do it." That sounds like a formula for good education.

DEPCO Inc. produces everything from the curriculum that is presented, the software that runs the computers, and the modular cabinets that they go in.

So is this being used very much? Oh my goodness. DEPCO offers 58 different career and technology units, 34 materials and processes books, and 55 family and consumer sciences units. Dennis estimates that there are nearly 800 labs completely furnished by DEPCO around the country and nearly 4,000 classrooms where some DEPCO products are used. Wow.

DEPCO Inc. is one of the leading providers of technology education programs throughout North America. The school in South Carolina that we described at the beginning is just one example. On the day I visited, a delegation of Canadians was coming to town. Yet the company remains in the town where it was founded: Pittsburg, Kansas, population 18,073 people. Now, that’s rural.

Dennis says, "We’re often asked, why Pittsburg, Kansas? Economics is a factor. We’re centrally located, with affordable land and labor, but most of all, this is our hometown."

How exciting to see homegrown Kansas businesses succeed. Dennis says, "Since 1990, we’ve been on a 22 percent growth pattern." DEPCO has built a new building at the airport and is up to 115 employees.

And recently, Dennis’ parents retired. I think Robert and Elma should be proud.

It’s time to say goodbye to this high-tech classroom in South Carolina. How exciting to think that it was furnished by an entrepreneurial company way out in Kansas. We commend Dennis Hurt, Robert and Elma, and all the people of DEPCO Inc. for making a difference with entrepreneurship, innovation, and technology in education.

And now, school’s out.

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

Michael Boss

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

Planes, trains, and automobiles. That was the name of a movie some years ago, but it also could be a description of some artwork done by the man we will meet today. He has a knack for bringing to life wonderful images of aviation, outer space, and railroad history. His artwork has been featured on book and magazine covers and can be found in collections across the country - yet he comes from rural Kansas. It’s today’s Kansas Profile.

Meet Michael Boss. Mike is this excellent historical illustrator. He’s from Hill City, in Graham County in northwest Kansas.

Mike’s artistic abilities showed themselves at an early age. He says, "As a kid, I was drawing all the time." His older brother steered him toward an interest in the arts. Mike liked music also.

And like lots of kids during that time, he built model airplanes. Remember the model plane kits they had in those days? Inside the box would be those little pieces you could put together to make a miniature of some famous plane, and on the outside of the box was a fantastic illustration of that airplane in action. Those pictures were worth the price of the kit itself. Mike Boss built those model airplanes, and he kept the boxes for the artwork.

Mike studied music at Colby Community College, Southern Illinois University, and K-State, but a real turning point came when he happened to pick up a copy of Private Pilot magazine that had an article about the illustrator who created those action scenes of airplanes on the model airplane boxes. That illustrator was Jack Leynnwood.

Leynnwood had a long and distinguished career in California. Mike Boss got in touch with him, and Leynnwood took Mike under his wing. Today, Mike credits most of his art training to this renowned illustrator, now deceased.

They shared a passion for historical illustration. Now, Mike is an independent illustrator who has been professionally creating aviation, space, and railroad history paintings for more than 20 years. Perhaps you’ve seen Mike’s work on the cover of a book or magazine. He loves to do paintings of old time railroads and old time airplanes, and he has a passion for doing so with meticulous realism.

This is not abstract art. His work includes striking images which make you feel as if you are there at the scene.

He did a whole railroad series from Kansas City to Denver, originally the Kansas Pacific Railway, featuring scenes there such as depots and water towers. He went to nearly every location and used historical photos to enhance the accuracy of his depictions. Then there was the aviation series, where he painted old air terminals and airplanes in southern California and elsewhere. Now he is doing a series of historical paintings featuring Kansas riverboats from the 1800s, visiting such places as Manhattan, Fort Riley, Lawrence, and Kansas City.

One of Mike’s paint suppliers is a company in Wisconsin. One time Mike sent them a message requesting a couple of new greens. Mike says, "I sent them a couple of samples. The next thing I know the company president is on the phone, and they were saying, ‘Your work is stunning.’"

Words really don’t do justice to these works of art. You just have to see such works as his painting of Vail Field in Los Angeles and his night scene of the train at the Granite Dells in the southwest. One aviation art magazine described him as a "treasure."

Not only has he done trains and planes, he does outer space scenes. His pieces are in the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory in Tucson, Arizona and the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC. One of his pieces is as far away as Sweden. Wow. But he remains in the town of Hill City, Kansas, population 1,654 people. Now, that’s rural.

A few years ago, I was in Omaha, Nebraska doing some research with the Union Pacific railroad. As I finished my business, I stopped at the company gift shop. Among the things I spotted and purchased that day was a print of a train stopped at a depot in Manhattan, Kansas. The artist? None other than Mike Boss.

Planes, trains, and automobiles. No, it’s not just a movie, it’s a description of the type of scene that is depicted so well by Michael Boss. We commend Mike and other illustrators and artists of Kansas, for using their talents to make a difference in the lives of others.

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

Rick Hitchcock - Chieftain Meats

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 get to the meat of the matter. We’ll go to Omaha, Nebraska, to a national tournament of kid baseball teams. There are kid’s teams from all over, including one from around Alva, Oklahoma. Now you need to know a little background about this team. The kids are ages 13 and 14, and they had to raise their own money to travel to this tournament. It turns out that the primary source for this particular team’s fundraising was a line of meat products from a processing plant in rural Kansas. So when I say, get to the meat of the matter, I mean that literally – it was meat sales that helped this team of kids travel all the way from Oklahoma. This meat business is benefitting rural Kansas as well. Stay tuned for a meaty edition of Kansas Profile.

Meet Rick Hitchcock of Chieftain Brand Meats in Kiowa, Kansas. Chieftain Meats is the source of the meat products which this baseball team sold to pay its way to the national tournament. But more than that, Chieftain Meats, as a company, is an innovative response to the changes of the marketplace. Rick Hitchcock explains.

He says, "My father bought this locker plant in 1970," when it became Kiowa Locker. It had been operating as a local meat locker plant since 1941, and has always been family-owned and operated. Rick came into the business also, after college and the military.

Over time, the business expanded. In 1998, the company began a total remodeling of the plant. The company replaced the old gas-fired smokehouse with two larger computer-controlled electric smokehouses, and added a kitchen and other equipment.

At the same time, the company was looking to expand markets for its products, and Chieftain Meats was formed in 1999. Rick says, "In our county, we have 5,500 people and 60,000 head of cattle. With those numbers, it’s clear we need to be looking outside our county to find more customers."

Another issue was the meat inspection system. You need to understand that the government has a two-tier meat inspection system: A state system, for plants that ship products within state borders, and a federal system for plants which ship interstate. The Kiowa Locker had historically been state-inspected like most of our smaller, homegrown plants, but that meant they couldn’t sell across state lines, and Kiowa is only half a mile from Oklahoma. In July 2001, Chieftain Meats reluctantly changed over to federal inspection.

Today, Chieftain Meats offers a full line of federally-inspected meat products, including fresh items such as ribeyes, T-bones, Kansas City strips, and boneless sirloins; fully cooked items like Maple Sugar Cured and Hickory Smoked hams, Beef Summer Sausage, Smoked Sausage and Hotlinks; and Shelf Stable items such as Spicy Beef and Pepperoni Sticks, Smoked Sausage Sticks, and Beef Jerky.

I was at a collegiate ballgame recently and ordered a spicy beef stick at the concession stand. It was from none other than Chieftain Meats at Kiowa. They have shipped products from Washington State to New Jersey. Sales have gone from less than 200 thousand dollars in 1980 to more than three-quarters of a million today. Wow. Yet Chieftain Meats is located in Kiowa, Kansas, population 1,046 people. Now, that’s rural.

The company does contract work for other meat companies too, and even slaughters buffalo and elk. It does not slaughter deer but will process boneless venison brought in by hunters.

One innovative marketing approach they use is helping kids with fund-raisers. Chieftain Meats offers a special deal for school groups or kids organizations that want to raise money. The groups can order and sell the shelf-stable meat products and keep the proceeds. This has worked successfully for a variety of schools and groups, such as high school bands raising money to go to a bowl game.

Rick Hitchcock says, "We do a lot of work with kids. That’s the most fun part."

Now we’re getting to the meat of the matter. It’s time to wrap up our visit to this national baseball tournament in Omaha, where a team from Alva, Oklahoma paid its way there by fundraising with Chieftain Meats. And just to give this story a perfect ending, how do you suppose that Oklahoma team did at the tournament? Sure enough, they won it all: National Champions – powered by Chieftain Meats. We commend Rick Hitchcock and the people of Chieftain Meats for making a difference with their innovation and their service to youth. This type of business is helping rural Kansas make both ends meat.

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

John Suhr - Terrapin Creek Manufacturing

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 Bahamas. Here among the scenic tourism attractions is a horse-drawn trolley carrying people back and forth. Where did that horse-drawn trolley come from? Sure enough, from rural Kansas. And how did it make it to the Bahamas? For the answer, sit down and enjoy the ride on today’s Kansas Profile.

Meet John Suhr. John is the owner-operator of Terrapin Creek Manufacturing, which produced this horse-drawn trolley which we found in the Bahamas.

Our story begins more than a quarter-century ago, with the Arnold Suhr family in northeast Kansas. Suhr, by the way, is spelled s-u-h-r. Arnold Suhr always had saddle horses around, like many of us did growing up. But around 1975, he had a problem: He and his wife were having kids, and not all could fit on a horse at the same time. If only there was a way for the little kids to all go together.

Now I can vouch for the fact that this is a real problem. My wife and I are currently dealing with this very thing at our house. All the kids want to ride the horsey right now.

Arnold Suhr came up with the perfect solution: He bought a pony wagon and a team of ponies to pull it, so all the kids could ride at the same time. Arnold liked the ponies, but with time he became interested in the larger horse teams. He ended up in the draft horse business, specifically with those big, beautiful Belgian horses.

Mr. Suhr has been in the draft horse business for some 20 years now. Every time there was a festival or function in town, the Suhrs would be invited to bring a team of horses and provide rides. It started as kind of a hayrack ride, but then the Suhrs had the chance to use other types of wagons.

Arnold’s son John was grown and helping out by now. You might say he picked up the lines from his father...

By the late 90s, John had married a local girl named Lisa and returned to the area to raise kids of his own. He was working in a metal fabrication shop, as he and his dad thought about the cumbersome wagons they had been exposed to, so John set out to build the ideal horse-drawn trolley.

John designed and built the trolley at home, but his boss let him use the company’s metal fabrication equipment after working hours. In 1998, he took his first trolley to a draft horse auction in Missouri and it sold really well.

That was the beginning of Terrapin Creek Manufacturing, named for the creek that runs below their house.

Now this company has produced trolleys that have gone from coast to coast, and even as far away as the Bahamas. These trolleys are a sight to see. They are 20 feet long, eight feet wide and low to the ground for ease of passenger boarding. Typically they are two-tone, painted in hunter green and regal red. They have handmade oak benches with ornate cast iron ends, a torsion suspension rear axle, hydraulic brakes, and a fifth wheel steering assembly that enables it to turn around on most any street.

John says, "My mother works at a nursing home, so it makes sense that we would be asked to provide rides for the residents. So we built these low to the ground and easy to get on." Using the tail gate as a wheelchair ramp, they can even be handicapped accessible. They can be made either open-air or partly enclosed. And they can be made with a battery on board, so the trolley can have its own CD player, speaker system, and headlights. Wow. They can be built as trams or to be pulled by a motorized vehicle, in addition to the horse-drawn model.

When you see the workmanship, you can tell why these are popular for cities, carriage companies, resorts, weddings, or other places or events where people are to be transported. These trolleys have gone from Washington State to Virginia and even overseas, but they are built here in Sabetha, Kansas. John and Lisa Suhr live near the Brown County town of Morrill, population 282 people. Now, that’s rural.

It’s time to say goodbye to the Bahamas, where we find a horse-drawn trolley built in rural Kansas. We commend Arnold and John Suhr and their families for making a difference with their entrepreneurship and creativity – and maybe I should say, some good old horse sense.

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

Winkel Manufacturing

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

I’m going to bed. No, I’m not being lazy – in fact, I’m talking about truckbeds, not the kind of bed you can take a nap in. I’m going to see flatbeds for trucks made by an innovative manufacturing company which makes these and related products in a truly rural setting. It’s today’s Kansas Profile.

Meet Roy Winkel of Winkel Manufacturing. Winkel Manufacturing is a producer of various kinds of livestock and hay related equipment, including truck beds.

Our story begins in the 1950s, when Roy’s father Paul Winkel was working for the township running a roadgrader. Paul was good at working with metal, and he started to custom-build some equipment.

As more people became interested in his products, he made more of them. In 1957, Mr. Winkel started on this full-time. He was building his products in an old garage, probably about a 20 by 30 foot building. Some of the equipment had to stand outside. And some of the jigs they used to hold the metal folded up into the wall.

So you get the idea. It wasn’t exactly a giant manufacturing center, but it was a start.

His first product was those slip-in pickup truck stock racks that were popular in those days. With time, he developed new products and branched out.

The core of their business remains in the livestock and hay equipment, which they know best and which is a natural for this part of the country.

Roy says, "My dad always ran a few cows. When we made something, we could try it ourselves, not just try to get it from a piece of paper." He says, "I think that’s probably helped us."

I agree. There is no substitute for that first-hand knowledge of how the product is used in the real world. And it has paid off. The company sells lots of products in the midwest, and has sent products from coast to coast, Hawaii and Alaska, and even internationally. Instead of that original garage, there are now seven buildings hooked together. And in spring 2002, the company will move into another building addition of 8,000 feet.

The company remains family-owned in a rural setting. Paul’s sons Roy and Alan have come into the business, and now the next generation is starting there. The business is near Glen Elder, which is in Mitchell County in north central Kansas. It is a town of 439 people. Now, that’s rural.

Today, Winkel Manufacturing produces quality, custom flatbeds for a variety of trucks, plus various types of gates, corrals, and livestock feeding equipment. A lot of their equipment is made for handling and feeding hay. Roy says, "We sell the balers to bale it, the forks to move it, and the feeders to feed it." They offer various types, sizes, and styles of feeders to fit various needs.

Another of their really neat products is their portable corral system. This consists of a loading chute and a set of frames and gates that can be mounted on a wheeled trailer. You can pull that trailer carrying the panels into an open pasture and then set up your own corral, wherever you need and with whatever features you need. When you are done working cattle there, you can load those gates up and take them to wherever you will need them next.

That flexibility is a wonderful thing. It lets you take the corral to the cattle, instead of having to drive all the cattle in to one fixed corral.

And then there are the flatbeds. These are sturdy, custombuilt flatbeds that can fit vehicles ranging from a mini-truck up to a five ton dually. All types of features and accessories are available, from sideboards and light packages to built-in toolboxes to custom rear plate designs and pop up king pins for hauling trailers. Importantly, these flatbeds come with a steel frame on the front that protects the cab. Roy says, "I knew a guy who was in a wreck and that kept the cab from being crushed." Because of this protection, some insurance companies will provide a discount on the truck insurance for trucks that get a flatbed.

I’m going to bed. No, not to take a nap, I’m talking about flatbeds for trucks and other products for handling hay and livestock. They’re made by Winkel Manufacturing of Glen Elder, Kansas. We salute Paul, Roy, and Alan Winkel for making a difference with their hard work and entrepreneurship. And with that, I’ll put this program to bed.

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

Bert and Wetta

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 go to an upscale neighborhood in the suburbs around Atlanta, Georgia. If you were to find a woman with a plastic bag here, you might expect it to be a shopping bag from some fancy store. But in this case, it’s a plastic bag containing some special hay which is being fed to a horse. The owner wants nothing but the best for her beautiful equine, and she also wants ease and convenience. So she isn’t feeding her horse just any old bale of hay, she is feeding premium quality dehydrated alfalfa hay packaged in a plastic bag. And where do you suppose this product came from? Sure enough, from rural Kansas. Now, rural Kansas produces lots of hay, but what makes this product special is the packaging, marketing, and distribution which takes it across the country. We’ll explain on today’s Kansas Profile.

Meet Carlton Bert of Bert and Wetta Sales in Larned, Kansas. Bert and Wetta is the source of this high quality, high value hay product. Here’s the story.

The company name Bert and Wetta comes from its founders, Ray Bert and Joe Wetta, who had rural roots. They grew up around Wichita in the 1930s. Joe was from Maize, population 1,774, and Ray was from Sedgwick, population 1,451 people. Now, that’s rural.

They both went to K-State and were even fraternity brothers there. Then came World War II, which would send them around the world in different uniforms. Joe served in the Army and Ray was in the Navy. But their paths would converge again.

One day in 1946, Ray Bert and Joe Wetta happened to run into each other back on the streets of Wichita. The old friends got to talking about what they were going to do now that the war was over. They discussed some of the new feed processing technology. Later that year, they joined forces to form the company Bert and Wetta, manufacturers of dehydrated alfalfa meal.

Many years have passed since that first meeting. Now Carlton Bert is running his father’s operation. Carlton went to the University of Arkansas and then worked for the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City before coming back into the family business.

The alfalfa processing business has seen many changes and challenges through the years. Frankly, the last quarter-century has been devastating to the industry. Some 200 alfalfa processing plants in 26 states have closed during that time.

Bert and Wetta has gone through changes too. Years ago, the company’s headquarters moved to the prime hay growing area of central Kansas, specifically to Larned.

Today, the company has nearly a million dollar payroll with 64 employees in three locations, and ships products to some 25 states, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico. Wow.

Alfalfa dehydrating has historically been done to produce good quality livestock feed, as pellets or meal for cattle, horses, rabbits, and unusual animals such as ostrich.

Bert and Wetta has pursued innovative products, such as the high quality, chopped, dehydrated hay in plastic bags that I described at the beginning. Bagged hay has numerous advantages as a horse feed, since it is higher quality and higher in protein than alfalfa cubes or conventionally grown hay. This bagged hay is cleaner to transport and store, easier for the horse to chew and swallow, and easier for the owner to handle, store, and feed. By being packaged in the plastic bag, there is less waste, virtually no spoilage, and more consistent quality.

Another development is alfalfa as a human health food. Bert and Wetta have a separate processing line in their facility to produce the alfalfa product for human health and nutrition.

One development that Carlton Bert is especially excited about is their recent addition of a special drying unit. This unit uses wood waste to heat and dehydrate the alfalfa. It utilizes an environmentally friendly fuel product which would otherwise be earmarked for the landfill.

This is a win-win situation. It puts to use what would otherwise be a waste product and helps cut the cost of drying the alfalfa. That’s good for the environment and good for the bottom line.

It’s time to say goodbye to this upscale suburb of Atlanta, where a girl is feeding her horse this high quality chopped and bagged alfalfa which originally came from rural Kansas. We salute Carlton Bert and all the people of Bert and Wetta for making a difference with their innovation and hard work. For rural Kansas, innovations sometimes mean that success is in the bag.

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

Living Water Ranch

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

The ranches in Kansas are very productive. They produce lots of cattle, horses, hay, and other cash crops. Today we’ll meet a ranch which has different products on its list: Such things as happy times for families, a more unified leadership team for various groups and organizations, and maybe even a better spiritual life. Yes, this is a very special ranch: It’s called the Living Water Ranch. We’ll get the story on today’s Kansas Profile.

Meet Alan and Donna Phillips, managers of Living Water Ranch. This ranch is located 16 miles north of Manhattan, Kansas. The mailing address for the ranch is actually Olsburg, a nearby town of 187 people. Now, that’s rural.

It is tempting to say that Alan Phillips has deep roots here, but that is almost a painful pun. You see, Alan’s great-grandparents came here from England and homesteaded in the beautiful Blue Valley north of Manhattan. But during the 1950s, Tuttle Creek Reservoir was built and the Blue Valley was flooded – covering the Phillips home farmstead. So while the roots are deep, you might say they are deep under water. But of course, the water did not cover the nearby hills, where the Phillips family owned pasture.

Alan was a student at K-State during the time Tuttle Creek was built. Due to the dam’s construction, the Phillips family moved the dairy to Nebraska. Alan was working in Nebraska when he met and married Donna.

Alan and Donna were seeking some divine guidance as to what they should do for their lives and careers. Alan says, "We prayed for the Lord to tell us if He wanted us to do something different. Within three weeks, a couple from Colorado invited us to join them in building a Christian camp and conference center out there. We went out for a visit, and while we didn’t feel that this was the particular couple that we should work with, we became really interested in the idea."

But they were still soul-searching when they were visiting back in Kansas and took a picnic lunch out in the family pasture near Tuttle Creek. Alan says, "As we talked about things, Donna looked up at the hillside and said, `That’s the very hill I have seen in a vision of what we ought to do.’"

So that was the beginning. Alan and Donna knew that this was the site to build a Christian camp and conference center. They bought a portion of the pasture from Alan’s brothers and started to build on it in 1975. It was named Living Water Ranch.

Today, Living Water Ranch offers a range of facilities for families, youth groups, individuals, churches, companies, and organizations. There is an air-conditioned dining and meeting lodge plus smaller buildings for lodging and meeting space for families and other groups, plus camping areas with shower houses and hookups. There is indoor and outdoor recreation, including swimming and a hot tub, hiking trails, a water slide, canoes, and fishing, and in the winter, snow tubing and sledding.

From this spot nestled in the Flint Hills, there is a beautiful view of Tuttle Creek Lake in the distance. Guests can go down to the lake if they wish. When the lake is low, you can see some old stone and timber which was part of the structures on the Phillips family farm.

The ranch is only 16 miles from Manhattan and has modern amenities, but is scenic and pastoral.

There’s lots of safe recreation for kids and a comfortable setting for the adults to relax and visit. This facility is a natural for family reunions, staff retreats, special events, school functions, and even weddings. One thing I can say for sure: I never saw a swimming pool in the shape of a dove until I came here.

The Phillips’ deep faith is obvious. Both sons, Mark and Mike, have gone into the ministry. Mike is pastoring a church at St. John, Kansas. Mark is now a pastor in Germany, but he founded the Living Water Church which operated at the ranch for 16 years before moving into Manhattan in 1999.

Over the years, we can estimate Living Water Ranch has served well over 100,000 people. Wow.

The ranches in Kansas are very productive. But this ranch isn’t about horses and cattle, it’s about families and faith. We salute Alan and Donna Phillips, their sons Mark and Mike, and all those with Living Water Ranch who are making a difference in people’s lives. That’s a crop that brings heavenly rewards.

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

Jane Hatch - Artrain USA

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

Let’s visit an art exhibit today. It features a Norman Rockwell original, followed by works of art by such artists as Peter Max, Andy Warhol, and James Wyeth. Sounds pretty impressive, doesn’t it? So where is this exhibit? Chicago, Kansas City, New York?

Would you believe: LeRoy, Kansas? LeRoy is an eastern Kansas town of 613 people. Now, that’s rural. How in the world would such a tremendous collection of artwork be coming to a rural Kansas town like LeRoy? The answer is, by train. Stay tuned for the story on today’s Kansas Profile.

Meet Jane Hatch. Jane is the County Library Administrator for Coffey County Library in Burlington, Kansas. She played a key role in bringing this wonderful art exhibit to Coffey County.

Jane explains that in April 2001, she and a friend decided to go visit another friend of theirs who they had known in Kansas City but who had moved away. This friend had left to take a job traveling with something called Artrain USA. Jane didn’t know what Artrain USA was, but she wanted to see this friend so they went to the exhibit that was coming through.

Jane says, "We got there and it was magnificent." It turns out that Artrain USA is a train that carries traveling art exhibits around the country. In fact, it is the nation’s only traveling art museum on a train. It includes internationally acclaimed artists’ work, presented in a top quality format.

Jane says, "It had excellent art, beautifully displayed." And why is this on a train? The answer is that Artrain was founded in Michigan in 1971 as a way to deliver art viewing opportunities to the rural areas of that state. It worked so well that the idea was adopted nationally.

Jane thought this was wonderful and she wondered if the Artrain could be brought to Coffey County. She wrote a letter and got a response saying that it might be possible in 2005. But a couple of days later she got a phone call, saying that while Kansas was not a destination in 2002, the train would be traveling through the state and there would be an opportunity.

When it was all said and done, the deal was set: Artrain USA will be in LeRoy, Kansas for public viewing on March 9 and 10, 2002. In fact, the train will stay two days after that for school visits and private tours.

The current exhibit on Artrain USA is called Artistry of Space. It includes 78 paintings, drawings, prints, music, and fiber art from NASA and the National Air and Space Museum art collections. Wow.

The train actually consists of five cars. Visitors will be able to tour the gallery, take part in an interactive program, visit the gift shop, and view Artrain USA’s resident artist and local community artists demonstrating their skills.

Registration for Artrain USA will be held at LeRoy High School, 1010 Main Street, and shuttle buses will then take people to the train cars. An Artrain USA Expo will also be held at the high school during these days, featuring 18 various organizations and businesses.

The national sponsor of Artrain USA’s Artistry in Space tour is Daimler Chrysler. That makes a nice connection for a local Chrysler dealership, Beyer Motors of Gridley, which will display new Chrysler vehicles. The East Central Kansas T Club will have vintage model T vehicles on display and the Heartland PT Cruiser Club will have a poker run in conjunction with the activities.

So it turns out that this is quite a community event. A coalition of local organizations has come together quickly and effectively to make this possible. Mid-America Arts Alliance also provided funding.

LeRoy is one of the smallest towns in the nation that Artrain USA has visited. LeRoy was the only town in the county that had a siding available, so this is a wonderful opportunity for rural Kansas.

For those who want to visit Artrain USA, reservations are preferred but walk-ins are accepted. Call toll free for reservations to 877-364-2002. That number again is 877-364-2002.

Jane Hatch says, "This has been a great project to work on because people have been so willing to help."

It’s time to say goodbye to this art exhibit. It features internationally-known artists but can be found in rural Kansas, thanks to Artrain USA. We commend Jane Hatch and the people of Coffey County for making a difference by coming together to make this possible. They are bringing a wonderful opportunity to their region. All Aboard!

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

Ride Into History

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

Let’s take a ride. Where to? Into the country? Into the next town? In to the store?

How about if we ride...into history? Stay tuned for the explanation on today’s Kansas Profile.

Meet Joyce Thierer and Ann Birney. These two remarkable women are the founders of a cultural and educational project called Ride Into History. They mean Ride into history quite literally. They will come riding in on horseback and in costume to perform as characters from Kansas history. Here is their story.

Joyce Thierer and Ann Birney are both native Kansans. Joyce’s ancestors came to Kansas in 1856. She grew upon a farm in Wabaunsee County between Alma and Alta Vista. Joyce’s mother was concerned about preserving and promoting farming history, so they opened a museum about farming on their home place. Joyce has a Ph.D. from K-State in agricultural history and now teaches various classes at Emporia State, while operating the Ride Into History project with Ann.

Ann Birney grew up in Emporia and Topeka. She says she really was a city girl, but she loves horses. She has a masters degree from Emporia State and recently received a Ph.D. from KU. She previously worked at the K-State Library and now does Ride Into History.

Ann and Joyce first met at the library at K-State. Both are accomplished horsewomen. And both happened to be working in Nebraska, when Joyce came to a tragic time in her life. Joyce’s mother had cancer, and so Joyce was moving back to the state to care for her mother.

Coincidentally, Ann Birney called during that time to say that she had taken a job in Kansas and did Joyce know of a place to live? Joyce said, "I just rented a place near my mom’s. Why don’t you live there and share the rent?" So they did, and later they would buy a farm together.

At one point, Joyce was asked by the Kansas Humanities Council to present a lecture at a summer seminar for teachers. As she prepared, she hit writers block. Finally Ann suggested, "Let’s take a break and go for a ride."

As they rode, Joyce explained that she had not been the easiest student to teach as a child, and was having a hard time convincing herself that, even though she was now a college teacher, those teachers would take her seriously.

Ann asked, "So how did you get through school?" Joyce replied that she was inspired by Calamity Jane, whom she discovered while doing a high school paper on outlaws. Calamity's life was so much harder that Joyce figured she could make it, with a mother who loved and supported her no matter what.

So the idea came to present a performance in the historical persona of Calamity Jane. Joyce got out some of the items she had donated from the family’s museum, including her grandfather’s saddle made in 1900, and prepared. They invited the teachers out to their place and had food for them in the backyard by the firering. When it was time, Joyce came riding in at full gallop in her costume as Calamity Jane, and started talking in character. The teachers loved it, and wanted it for their students.

Joyce began doing more of these performances when one day, another character was needed for a performance. The person who was pressed into service was Ann Birney.

She did so well that Ann and Joyce formed Ride Into History in 1990. Now they perform three true-to-life characters and four composite characters: Calamity Jane; aviator Amelia Earhart; Julia Archibald Holmes, a Santa Fe Trail traveler; Rosa Fix, a pioneer farm woman; Elizabeth Hampstead, a teacher-turned-suffragist; Jo, a woman who fought in the Civil War disguised as a man; and Grower, a Native American woman from the time of Lewis and Clark. They perform in historically accurate costumes.

When performing outdoors, they gallop to the staging area on horseback. Indoors, they enter carrying saddles and accessories. They conduct workshops for other performers

and people who want to learn to do historic performance.

Ride Into History has performed for school and adult groups from New York to Nevada and from Texas to Washington DC – even the Smithsonian. Wow. But they operate from their home outside Admire, population 149 people. Now, that’s rural.

Let’s take a ride. No, not to the store or into town, but into history. We commend Joyce Thierer and Ann Birney for making a difference by bringing this history alive from rural Kansas. It looks like the ride of a lifetime.

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

Hasty Awards

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 the awards ceremony for the Olympic swim trials in Indianapolis, Indiana. The top qualifiers in the various events are being presented with their medals. Wow, an Olympic medal. Where do you suppose those medals come from? Would you believe, from small town Kansas? Stay tuned for this award-winning story on today’s Kansas Profile.

Meet Jim and Judy Hasty of Hasty Awards company in Ottawa, Kansas. Here is their story.

Jim Hasty comes from Denver originally. He was a teacher and coach in the Denver school system, and he saw first-hand the problems facing urban schools. So in fall 1978, he and Judy and their young family moved out to Ottawa, Kansas where they had relatives. Jim substitute-taught in the schools, but he knew he wanted to start his own business. He had been an industrial arts teacher, so he always had a shop and was good at making things work.

His other role had been as a high school swim coach, where he had a great deal of success. Many of his teams and individuals qualified for ribbons and medals. Eventually, he got tired of those same old ribbons and medals, and thought that plaques should be offered for those winners.

Jim designed some plaques of his own and made them out of walnut – of which there is a great deal in eastern Kansas. His walnut plaques were well-received, so he expanded his business into selling trophies and then more.

Meanwhile, his wife Judy worked for the city of Ottawa. Their two sons went to KU. One is a doctor in Indiana. The other studied business at KU and came back into his father’s company with ideas about further diversifying. That son has now purchased the business from his dad.

Today, the Hasty Awards company is an international supplier of medals, plaques, trophies, pins, ribbons, apparel, promotional products, and the finest custom awards. Hasty Awards has grown to 40 employees and serves customers in all 50 states. As I mentioned at the beginning, this company provided medals for the Olympic trial winners in Indianapolis. Hasty Awards has shipped products to Venezuela, Switzerland, Italy, New Zealand, and more. Sales in 2001 reached 4.5 million dollars. Wow.

What has made such success possible? Jim Hasty says, "We believe strongly in customer service."

Judy told about a large order they had in Wichita where the customer made a mistake and mis-ordered by 300 trophies. Unfortunately, he didn’t realize his mistake until the day Jim delivered them, which was the day that the trophies were to be presented. Ouch.

But when they realized the problem, Jim called his son in Ottawa and had him print new plates to go on the trophies as fast as he could. Then the son drove them toward Wichita. Jim met him at the McDonalds in Emporia, exchanged the plates and delivered the new ones back to Wichita – with 20 minutes to spare. Whew. That’s customer service.

Another key to their success is found in the way they deal with their workers. Jim says, "We treat our people like family. They can bring kids to work if needed. If it’s somebody’s birthday, we’ll treat for lunch and they get to choose whatever they want to eat." They must like it – the oldest employee is a lady who is 78 years old.

The jobs created by this company help the economy, including rural communities in the region. Jim says, "Some of our best workers are young people who came through the ag program over at Williamsburg." Williamsburg is a nearby town of 292 people. Now, that’s rural.

Jim delivers many of his orders in person. He estimates that he drives 60 thousand miles a year.

Jim also reports that the Internet has been good for them, since people can order from anywhere. He says, "Over the Internet, we can send people pictures of something they ordered and they can see it virtually instantly." The company’s web address is www.hastyawards.com. Again, that is www.hastyawards.com. Or you can call toll-free at 1-800-448-7714.

He says, "I tell our employees what I told my kids when I was coaching: Concentrate on the fundamentals and the conditioning, and winning will take care of itself."

It’s time to say goodbye to the Olympic trials, where the winners receive medals that came from Kansas. We salute Jim Hasty and all the people of Hasty Awards for making a difference with entrepreneurship and customer service. All in all, it makes rural Kansas a winner.

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

Jack Beauchamp - Buffalo

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

Here’s a riddle for you: What is a bison? The answer is, it’s what a guy in Australia washes his hands in.... Okay, maybe it’s not a very funny riddle, but it does get us thinking about bison. No, not a wash basin, the bison – that massive prairie animal that many Kansans would call a buffalo. The proper name for the American buffalo is bison, although I’ll use the terms buffalo and bison interchangeably today. This animal is considered by some to have had a greater impact than any other animal in Kansas history. Wow. Today, buffalo are being raised by entrepreneurial producers in rural Kansas. We’ll get the story on today’s Kansas Profile.

Meet Jack and Lyndell Beauchamp. The Beauchamps are bison producers, and they are also innovators and community leaders. They have deep roots in Kansas agriculture and a strong belief in public service.

For example, the farm where they live has been in Lyndell’s family since 1902, and her grandfather served in the Kansas Legislature in the 1920s and 30s. Her uncle served on the state fair board.

In later years, Jack would maintain that tradition. He served on the state fair board and Kansas Board of Agriculture for 18 years, and was elected to the Kansas Legislature in 1986. So service has been important to this family.

One other interesting note about Lyndell’s family: She had 4 uncles who all lived to be over 90 years old. In fact, the last one died in 1999 at age 104. How about those genes??

Anyway, Jack and Lyndell operate this family farm, called Shadeland Stock Farm, near Ottawa in eastern Kansas. In the 1980s, Jack was seeking new opportunities for the farm and he decided to try bison production. He began with one female buffalo. Today, they have a beautiful 100-head buffalo herd and a shop selling buffalo meat and related artifacts on the farm. They offer tours by appointment and have converted a granary and smokehouse into a facility where they provide wonderful barbecue dinners.

This creates opportunities for rural tourism. The Beauchamps have had visitors from Europe, China, Russia, and Greece.

Jack Beauchamp tells visitors the fascinating history of this remarkable animal. The bison has been described as the majestic monarch of the plains for more than 200 centuries. Bison are native to the North American continent. Of course, they were integral to the lives of the native people of the prairies, providing food, hides, and all types of uses.

Then came the white man and the railroad. Men like Buffalo Bill Cody got their names and fame from hunting and killing huge numbers of the giant animals. By 1900, less than 500 of the animals survived.

Fortunately, there were those who chose to preserve this remarkable breed of animals, and today some quarter-million bison are grown in the U.S. Kansas has a significant number of producers, including Jack Beauchamp.

The Beauchamps sell their buffalo meat direct from the farm and also to restaurants and stores in Kansas City, Lawrence, and elsewhere in the region. The Kansas Buffalo Association has a list of restaurants all across the state that sell buffalo meat products. These range from Wichita to the town of Longford, population 66 people. Now, that’s rural.

Bison production provides an alternative opportunity for entrepreneurial ag producers. It also produces a healthy, nutritious product. Buffalo meat is very low in fat and cholesterol. This is why many cardiologists recommend buffalo as an alternative to more fatty meats. Buffalo meat has a higher protein content than beef – in fact, it has the highest percentage of protein of any meat tested.

If you would like more information about producing buffalo or about finding a place to get buffalo meat in your area, you can call the Kansas Buffalo Association toll-free at 1-888-28-BISON. That’s 1-888-282-4766. Or you can contact Jack and Lyndell Beauchamp at 785-242-3540. That number again is 785-242-3540.

So here’s a riddle: What is a bison? No, not just something an Australian washes his hands in. The American bison is a fascinating part of Kansas history and is now a positive alternative for innovative ag producers. We salute Jack and Lyndell Beauchamp for making a difference by combining tourism opportunities with production of a natural and healthy product. It’s helping solve the riddle of rural economic development.

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

Dennis Main - Tech agent

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

High tech, high touch. That’s a phrase that combines high tech, modern technology with the personal touch – a real person who is close enough that you can touch. Sometimes that personal touch gets lost in our modern high tech society, but when you combine the two – high tech and high touch – there is a great strength there.

Today we’re going to talk about a new type of position that is offered through K-State Research and Extension in Sedgwick County, Kansas. A good description for this position might be high tech, high touch. It’s an innovative approach for the Extension service, and we’ll learn about it on today’s Kansas Profile.

Meet Dennis Main. Dennis is the new Extension agent for Technology and Community Development in Sedgwick County.

If that title sounds a little unusual, let me explain. Here’s some background.

First, a word about the Extension service itself. It’s a part of our nation’s landgrant system, where a century ago, states received a grant of land as a basis for creating public universities that would serve the people. The Extension service was created to extend the research findings from those universities into the field, to help farmers, homemakers, and citizens at large.

Through Extension, a network of county offices was created with university-supported professionals in every county who do educational work in the field. Historically, those agents have been organized into four types of work: Agriculture, Family and Consumer Sciences or FACS for short, 4-H, and community development. Thus, in many counties, there is an ag agent and a FACS agent and both work with 4-H youth.

Now there is a new type of agent on the scene. We might call it a Tech agent. This person’s mission is like other Extension agents, in that his role is to deliver educational programming. But instead of being about wheat management or diet and nutrition, his educational area is technology – particularly computers.

Bev Dunning is the County Extension Director in Sedgwick County. She created this new tech agent position after consulting with the state Extension director at K-State. In March 2001, Dennis Main became this new agent.

Dennis Main is a farm boy from Michigan who got hooked on electronics when he became a ham radio operator as a kid. He moved to Kansas and eventually established his own company, Main Electronics, which provided calibration services for electronic devices and microcomputer system repairs. He later served as a consultant, finished an MBA at Friends University, and teaches there still.

One day he was working on delivering a certain program by satellite and he happened to drive by the Sedgwick County Extension office. He noticed a satellite dish on top of the building and he wondered if that dish was available to rent for his program. So he stopped in, hardly knowing what Extension was. Once he learned about Extension, he became excited. He became a technology consultant for Sedgwick County Extension and eventually took this new agent position.

Not only does he provide tech support for the Extension staff in Sedgwick County, he does educational outreach for citizens at large. Because of the need, he has targeted such populations as seniors, shut ins, and specialized cases. He has enhanced the county Extension website, added streaming media, and is working on an online community radio station. And while he is based in Wichita, he is willing to help throughout the county. Already he has done programs in Sedgwick County towns such as Haysville, Valley Center, and Kechi, a town of 831 people. Now, that ‘s rural.

How exciting to see Extension change with the times to add technology to the scope of its educational mission.

High tech, high touch. That combines the most modern technology with the personal touch, which is a powerful combination. We salute Bev Dunning and Dennis Main for making a difference through innovation in Extension programming and serving Kansans in a new, much-needed way. It’s high tech, high touch – and that’s a highlight.

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

Huck Boyd - 10^th Anniversary Program

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

Today we celebrate a birthday. Sorry, no cake and candles. It’s not a birthday of a person, it’s the birthday of a program – specifically, this radio program. Today’s program marks the 10 year anniversary of Kansas Profile on the radio. We’ll reflect on that decade and revisit our very first program on today’s Kansas Profile.

It’s hard to believe it was a decade ago when I first approached the K-State extension public radio station about this concept. As director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development, I knew I wanted to do some outreach to encourage rural entrepreneurs and community leaders. It seemed that rather than preaching at people about what they ought to do, or telling them what the academic theories were about rural development, it would be most effective to share actual examples of what real people were doing in a rural setting.

So I suggested to the station manager that we would do a series of features about rural entrepreneurs and community leaders. He agreed on one a week and suggested that his office could distribute it to other stations around the state, which he did.

We figured it would last six months. That was 10 years ago. By doing one story a week, I have had the opportunity to learn about and tell about more than 500 wonderful people during the decade this program has been on the air.

Let’s revisit that very first Kansas Profile. It is the story of McDill "Huck" Boyd himself.

Huck came from northwest Kansas. He went to K-State and came back into the family newspaper business, where he became editor and publisher of the Phillips County Review. He became deeply involved in his community, working on issues of economic development, rural health care, and more.

Huck got involved. He became county chairman with the political party of his choice, and worked his way up the ranks to become national committeeman for Kansas. When senators and presidents wanted to know what rural people thought about an issue, they would call on him.

When the Rock Island Railroad took bankruptcy, it proposed to abandon 465 miles of rail line across the heartland -- including Huck's hometown. Loss of the rail line would have been devastating to the communities, farmers, and other businesses served by the railroad.

I was working in Washington DC at that time, as a flunkie staff member for Senator Nancy Kassebaum. She introduced me to a man who was visiting from Kansas: Huck Boyd. He was in Washington leading the fight to maintain rail service for his region. The experts said it couldn’t be done, but Huck found a way. He led the effort to form a Mid States Port Authority to buy the line and continue service.

Today a private sector shortline railroad is operating on what would have been abandoned track. It’s testimony to what a committed leader can do.

Today the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development strives to build on that legacy of service to rural Kansas. We are working to develop community leaders across the state, in partnership with K-State Research and Extension.

And we’re still having a lot of fun doing this program. I’m proud to report that we have done profiles featuring people in every county of the state, ranging from people in our more urban counties to communities as small as Freeport, Kansas, population 9 people. Now, that’s rural.

I would like to thank the professionals of KKSU radio and the other radio stations across the state which carry this program. And most of all, I would like to thank those faithful listeners who follow this program regularly.

When I encounter some remarkable rural business, I will sometimes tell the business owner, "Your business is so successful that you could be in New York or California. Why do you remain here in small town Kansas?" The answer I generally get is, "We want to be here. This is our home. This is where we grew up, and where we want to raise our families." And they go into all the economic reasons, of their investment in their plant and their employees’ good work ethic. But it is clear that they care about their community.

So happy birthday to Kansas Profile, in honor of rural entrepreneurs and community leaders. As I said to conclude that first program 10 years ago, "May Huck Boyd's example remind countless others of what is possible when local people want to make a difference." Now let’s have some birthday cake anyway.

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

Walter Wulf Jr. - Monarch Cement

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

Have you ever heard the phrase "cement the relationship"? I’ve heard it used in connection with a couple of organizations that are moving to work together. They will take steps to cement the relationship, meaning to strengthen or solidify their partnership. Today, we’ll meet a company that has cemented its relationship with its home community, and I mean that literally – because what this company produces is cement. We’ll get the story on today’s Kansas Profile.

Meet Walter Wulf Jr., President of The Monarch Cement Company. He tells the company’s fascinating history.

Our story begins early in the last century. Mr. H.G.F. Wulf was running a farm implement and hardware store in Cheney, Kansas, when some farmer friends of his urged him to buy stock in a cement company over in southeastern Kansas. It was the Monarch Portland Cement Company that was organized in 1908.

So Mr. Wulf bought stock, and this same group wanted him to serve on the board of directors. They got him on the board, but after he had been to a board meeting or two, he came back to them and told them he didn’t like what he was seeing – he advised them to sell their stock. They disregarded his advice, but it turned out he was right. It wasn’t long before this company went into receivership.

Now this group was even more impressed with Mr. Wulf. In fact, they went to the judge and asked him to appoint Mr. Wulf as the receiver, which he did.

Meanwhile, another stockholder was Mr. August Kreitzer, a successful farmer who had retired and moved to Wichita. He wanted to save his investment in the company also, so he and Mr. Wulf reorganized the company in 1913 as The Monarch Cement Company. In fact, the two lived near each other. Mr. and Mrs. Wulf had a son and Mr. and Mrs. Kreitzer had a daughter. What do you suppose happened? Yes, as sometimes happens with the girl next door, those two would eventually marry. Talk about cementing a relationship...

Anyway, the son was Walter Wulf. He ran the company for years until his son Walter Wulf Jr. took over. The senior Mr. Wulf passed away in 2001 at age 101.

Back in 1913, when the company was reorganized, it had the capacity to produce 1.5 million barrels of cement or 282,000 tons a year. Today, it has the capacity to produce some 850,000 tons of cement. Now Monarch is working on a 35 million dollar expansion which will expand that capacity to more than a million tons.

Some of the primary things you need to produce cement are limestone and natural gas – both of which are found extensively in Kansas. For example, limestone is taken from a quarry and crushed to make the primary ingredient of cement.

Back in 1913, the stone from the quarry was loaded by hand into mule-drawn cars. By 1920, the mules had been replaced by 8-ton steam engines. Today, the quarry is operated using giant front-end loaders, conveyor belts, and 50-ton trucks.

The limestone from the quarry is carried to the processing plant where the rock is crushed, mixed with certain other ingredients, heated to 2,700 degrees Fahrenheit, and ground to the fineness of face powder to make cement. Two giant kilns do the heating. In addition to the natural gas, Monarch Cement found that they could use waste tires as fuel for the kilns also - up to 2,000 tires a day. That is a win-win deal. The tires save Monarch Cement from using scarce fossil fuels, and those tires don’t fill up a landfill someplace. That’s good for business as well as the environment.

Processing and quality control are computer-controlled and closely monitored. Monarch cement goes to ready-mix operators and concrete products companies through the central U.S. Monarch now has terminals in Iowa and Dodge City and owns several subsidiaries. But the headquarters remains in the company’s original home community, the southeast Kansas town of Humboldt, population 2,139 people. Now, that’s rural.

Walter Wulf Jr. estimates that there are 165 Monarch employees at Humboldt and, counting all subsidiaries, some 700 employees overall. Wow.

Have you heard that phrase "cement the relationship"? It’s fitting in this case, because The Monarch Cement Company has cemented the relationship with the community of Humboldt for more than nine decades. We commend Walter Wulf Jr. and all the people of Monarch Cement for making a difference through their hard work and growth through the years. It helps make the rural economy rock solid.

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

Bret Albers - Art's and Mary's

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

Would you eat a food product recommended by a Maniac? Sounds suspicious, doesn't it? Today we'll meet a company which produces a potato chip that is endorsed by Maniac, but don't worry -- it's all good. In this case, MANIAC is an acronym for Movement for Americans Not Into Average Chips. Those initials spell MANIAC. And you thought you'd heard every acronym in the books...We'll get the whole maniacal story on today's Kansas Profile.

Meet Bret Albers and Jeff Albers. Bret and Jeff are co-owners of Art's and Mary's Chips, a potato chip company in south central Kansas.

Bret explains that the company began in the early 1980s with a couple in Wichita. Their names, remarkably enough, were Art and - you guessed it - Mary. This couple made a homegrown type of potato chip which was delicious, and so they formed a company to produce and sell them.

In 1994, Art's and Mary's was purchased by another company in Wichita, but unfortunately, two years later the company closed. No more Art's and Mary's chips were produced, and that left lots of unhappy consumers.

Among those unhappy consumers were Bret Albers and Jeff Albers. Bret says, "We loved Art's and Mary's chips." He says, "We go down to Grand Lake in Oklahoma a lot, and in those days the chips were sold only in Kansas. So when we would go to the lake, we would stop in Fredonia - which was the last convenience store in Kansas that we knew had Art's and Mary's chips - and buy all we could get our hands on."

You can see that Art's and Mary's chips had quite a customer following, and they were sad that Art's and Mary's chips were no longer produced. But then a thought came to Bret and Jeff. They were young entrepreneurs who owned pizza restaurants in Cheney and Harper. Bret says, "We figured, hey, we're already in the food business. What if we could do Art's and Mary's chips?"

So they gave it a try. First, they gained the license rights to the name and the processes which the company used. One thing led to another, and in September 1999, Art's and Mary's chips were re-introduced in Wichita. Now the product line has been expanded and the chips are selling all over Kansas and into Missouri and Oklahoma.

Bret and Jeff have remained true to the basic values that made Art's and Mary's chips distinctive in the past. For example, their chips are still sliced thicker than the average potato chip, and they still use the striking shiny foil bag with the striped design.

Bret says, "Our goal was not to create something new, but to give the people what they had grown to love over the years." Fortunately, there were still lots of customers who want the chips. Bret and Jeff have made improvements in the business also.

Today, Art's and Mary's chips come in seven flavors: Hot 'n zesty jalapeno, tangy dill, thick 'n crunchy original, naturally tasty no salt, mesquite smoked bbq, herb garlic parmesan, and classic salt 'n vinegar. Yum.

Bret says, "Our seasoning helps set us apart. We use lots of bold flavors and we do a lot of testing. Our jalapeno bites you back."

It's good to see that these young entrepreneurs are having success, and it's especially pleasing to find that they are doing it from a rural setting. Brett and Jeff are running their business, including the main warehouse, from their hometown of Cheney, Kansas, population 1,683 people. Now, that's rural.

And what about the Maniac? Bret says, "We did an ad and had some t-shirts made saying that our chips were endorsed by MANIAC, which stands for Movement for Americans Not Into Average Chips. People were calling up and saying they were maniacs for our chips, all right. We have people who tell us they grind up our parmesan chips and use them as casserole topping, or mix the dill chips in with their ham sandwiches." So there may not be card-carrying MANIAC members out there, but there are some wearing t-shirts and using these chips.

Would you eat a food product recommended by a maniac? Well, in this case, you should. For if you eat Art's and Mary's chips, you will not only get more than the average chip, you will be supporting a rural Kansas company. We salute Bret and Jeff Albers and all the people of Art's and Mary's chips for making a difference through entrepreneurship and creativity. It's enough to make you a maniac.

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

Jeff Davidson - Flint Hills Overland Wagon Train

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

Imagine being in the heart of the Flint Hills and coming across a wagon train, complete with horsedrawn covered wagons. Wow, is this a time warp or are they filming a movie? No, this is a real wagon train operating today in rural Kansas. It provides people of modern times the opportunity to experience a wagon train like our pioneer ancestors. So hitch your wagon to the radio for today’s Kansas Profile.

Meet Jeff Davidson. Jeff tells about the Flint Hills Overland Wagon Train which provides this remarkable experience for modern-day pioneers.

This began back in 1978, with an attorney from El Dorado named Ervin Grant. Apparently Mr. Grant is an old west history enthusiast. He participated in a wagon train trip out west and wanted to try it in the Flint Hills of Kansas.

So he found folks that had horses and wagons and signed them up to help. Flint Hills Overland Wagon Train began offering weekend wagon train rides each summer.

Through the years, they enhanced the experience. In 1985, Jeff Davidson was asked to come play his guitar and sing western songs at the evening campouts, which he has been doing ever since. He brings songbooks so the people can sing along, and he also weaves in some fascinating Kansas history about the old west and the historic trails that cross the state.

So how does this work? The wagon train rides are offered most weekends from June into September, and school groups or other special event excursions are also done by request. Advance reservations are required.

When Saturday comes, the wagons are boarded at 10 a.m. and then they head across country.

These wagons are authentic type equipment, pulled by teams of horses or mules. There are breaks, including a ham lunch and an afternoon watermelon stop at a place with outhouses. Somehow I don’t think the boys on Rawhide had those...

Anyway, when evening comes, it’s time to camp. Each person brings their own camping gear. Supper is a hearty, campfire cooked dutch oven meal, including son-of-a-gun stew with beef or buffalo. Then it’s time for western entertainment, and a campout under the stars.

Sunday morning begins with a big breakfast and an inspirational service. There may be old-fashioned kids games, such as roll the hoop or sack races, or maybe lessons on harnessing the horses. The wagons make it back to the cookshack in time for a Sunday lunch of sloppy joes plus fixin’s and the conclusion of the ride.

This is all done with fun and good humor. The coffee is described as made from freshly ground beans and brewed in a sock. The wagons are described as round-trip, first class transportation -- 1878 variety.

Jeff Davidson often accompanies the wagon train as an outrider. He takes the opportunity to use this time for education on grazing management and plant identification. Trail riders sometimes accompany the wagons, and there are special fees for such rides, one day trips, and other options.

Jeff says, "This is a chance for them to get away from it all. And you meet some really nice people doing this. We get lots of families, sometimes grandparents bringing grandkids, so they can share this history together."

As you might guess, the scene of a modern day covered wagon makes a compelling picture, which has been used in Kansas promotions. Jeff Davidson says, "My horse was in the Christian Science Monitor."

People from the Carolinas to California have been on these wagon rides. They have even had riders from Germany and Japan.

This happens in the heart of the scenic Flint Hills. Guests are directed to meet at the old schoolhouse at Bazaar in Chase County, Kansas and then they drive to the designated boarding area at the Josh Hoy ranch. Bazaar is an unincorporated town, but it is estimated that there are about 15 people actually living in Bazaar. Now, that’s rural.

How exciting to see that our rural heritage is being utilized and promoted for the benefit of Kansas. For information or reservations, call 316-321-6300. That number again is 316-321-6300.

It’s time to unhitch our covered wagon from this wagon train. We commend Jeff Davidson, Ervin Grant, and all those involved with Flint Hills Overland Wagon Train for making a difference by sharing and marketing this wonderful part of our old western heritage today. And with that, I think we’ve got this wagon covered.

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