1995 Leader of the Year

Frank Meyer
Let me tell you about a seminar I attended some time ago. A businessman named Frank Meyer was making a presentation there, and I thought he missed his topic. According to the program, Frank was to address the future of American small business. But instead of talking about business, he talked about education of our young people.
And then I realized the point: Frank Meyer sees that effective education of our young people is fundamental to the long-term success of American small business.
That's a sign of a businessman with a vision. This example demonstrates the forward-looking vision of Frank Meyer. He is not only concerned with today's bottom line, he is thinking about the future.
Frank Meyer is owner and president of Custom Metal Fabricators Inc. in Herington, Kansas. Herington is a town of 2,685 people in the southeast corner of Dickinson County.
Of course, Herington looks like the big city compared to where Frank Meyer started. He grew up on a farm near Latimer, population 20. Yes, 20 as in 2-0. Now, that's rural. Latimer may win the prize for being the most rural town we've talked about yet.
Frank attended a one-room country school in Latimer, and then went to Herington High School. That was an adjustment -- he went from 4 in his class to 50! Frank says that's what made him bashful...but I don't think he's bashful anymore!
After school Frank worked for Ehrsam Manufacturing, a company which produced grain handling and farm equipment. In 1977, he went out on his own.
He formed a company called Custom Metal Fabricators. He get his start by buying scrap iron from an abandoned building at Forbes Field in Topeka. From that beginning he built a building and developed his own line of grain handling equipment. Then he started to diversify. His company got into the manufacture of abrasive blasting and shot peening machines and heavy industrial equipment.
To make a long story short: the company which Frank Meyer started in 1977 with four people today employs 76 people, and is engaged in marketing its products around the world. And the headquarters is in Herington, Kansas.
Did I say he wasn't bashful anymore? Listen to this. He was in the Leadership Kansas class of 1992, the Kansas Industrial Council Board of Directors and was named the 1992 SBA Small Business Person of the Year.
Did I say he believes in education? Listen to this. He is on the Human Resources Committee and Industrial Development committee of the Kansas Chamber of Commerce and Industry, business advisory council of the Occupational Center of Central Kansas, and president of the Herington school board.
Frank Meyer's vision extends world-wide. 95 percent of his company's products go outside of Kansas, and 30 percent go overseas.
I asked how such an international company could do business in Herington, Kansas. He said that labor costs and transportation were better there than on the east or west coast. Frank said, "I can get something quicker than you could around the block in a city."
For example, he knows his local delivery service people well. They will come to his plant to make their deliveries first, then make their rounds and come by again to see if there is anything more to pick up.
Frank says, "That's better service than I would get in New York City."
When inspectors from Philadelphia or New York have come to his plant, they have said to him, "What do you do to make these people work so hard?"
It's that Kansas work ethic -- and a business leader who cares about his people.
Another example is his commitment to education. Frank actually goes to the schools in Herington with a sample job description for a position in his company to show to the students.
Another of his strategies calls for businesses to adopt students. In one example, Frank hired a bright young student to sweep floors after work at the company plant. When the sweeping was done, Frank invited him into his office. Frank showed him something in an engineering manual, and said, "Figure this out by next week." The young man was stimulated by this real-world problem, and he would do it. That young man became a national merit scholar and went to Kansas State University.
It's another example of a business-education partnership that works.
Yes, I thought at first that Frank Meyer missed his topic at the seminar that day, but he hit it exactly right: the effective education of our young people is vital to the future of small business, and its making a difference in rural Kansas.

Gary Anderson
Gary Anderson has been helping put in a new gate.
That may sound like a fairly typical activity in rural Kansas, but this is no pasture gate. This is a gateway to the future.
It is a brand new, million dollar telecommunications and meeting facility. On the front of the building are these words: Gateway to the Future, Window on the World.
And where is this building? Try Oberlin, Kansas, population 2,197. Now, that's rural.
What is a million-dollar telecommunications facility doing in Oberlin, Kansas? For the answer to that question, let's visit with Gary Anderson.
Gary is with Farmers National Bank in Oberlin. He's a native of the area, having grown up on a farm in western Decatur County. He graduated from K-State and joined the bank in 1979.
This project came about through the generosity of Madonna. No, not the MTV Madonna nor the biblical Madonna. This was a woman named Madonna Morgan, whose husband's grandfather had first staked out the outline of the town of Oberlin. The family had accumulated substantial landholdings in the area over the years.
On March 4, 1990, Madonna Morgan passed away. And in her will was a special provision. She would donate her million dollar estate to the city of Oberlin for construction of a civic auditorium, if the entire million dollars was matched by the community.
A million dollars is a lot of money. The City Council pursued plans for the project, and proposed a bond issue to raise the matching funds. The bond issue went to a vote, and by 93 votes, the citizens of the community turned it down.
What do you do now? A million dollars is a lot of money to raise, but it's also a lot of money to lose.
A couple of nights after the vote, 60 local people met to discuss the project. They felt the opportunity to fund and build a new facility should not be lost. That led to the creation of a group called Citizens for Oberlin Civic Center. The co-chair of the group was Gary Anderson.
At the next city council meeting, Gary and more than 200 people attended.
Gary says, "I read to the group the headline from the front page of the Wichita Eagle. It said, 'Bequest too much for Oberlin.' It hurt our public image, and I felt we should prove them wrong."
Gary Anderson's comments and others spurred the city leaders to try again. The plans were revised. More community input was sought. A door-to-door campaign was initiated. The bond amount was lowered and a private fundraising drive was implemented.
Gary also chaired the fund-raising subcommittee. Gary says, "More than 200 people volunteered to go door-to-door." Letters were sent to 1,900 alumni of the school.
The effort paid off. More than one hundred thousand dollars were raised, and in June, the bond issue was approved by the voters.
The grand opening of the new facility was March 12, 1993. The facility includes an exhibition hall, theater, office space, recreation center, and interactive video classroom.
Since the opening, the facility has played host to everything from a John Deere show to violin concerts. Shows include "Up With People's '93/'94 World Premier Show" (and only performance in Kansas); nationally known country artists - "Bellamy Brothers" and "McBride and The Ride"; "The Russian Folk Life Festival"; and coming up next spring, The National Shakespeare Company's production of "Romeo and Juliet".
In October 1993, a telecommunications conference was held at the new facility. One highlight was when the conference was addressed by a U.S. Senator. The conference was in Oberlin, but the Senator was in Washington DC, addressing the participants through interactive video transmitted through telephone lines from halfway across the country.
Gary Anderson says, "There are many intrinsic benefits of living in rural America. They relate to our high quality of life. But one pitfall is a lack of access to cultural or other activities."
This modern facility bridges that gap. It creates that access.
Gary believes in the quality of life so much that he has purchased a building in downtown Oberlin. It was built in '86...That's 1886. It was built as a bank and became the first courthouse in 1896. Gary has gotten the building named to the National Register of Historic Places and is restoring it to be a bed and breakfast.
Meanwhile the new facility maintains a very busy schedule of meetings. But before it opened, one dilemma was what to name the building. Community leaders had used the phrase "Gateway to the future, window on the world." The phrase seemed to fit. Shortly before it opened, the facility was officially named The Gateway.
Yes, Gary Anderson has been helping to put in a new gate -- not to keep people out, but as a gateway to bring ideas in. His leadership is opening a gateway and making a difference in rural Kansas.

Marvin Malcom
All of us have adversities in our lives. Sometimes these adversities seem unbearable. Today's story is about a rural Kansan who took a bad situation and made it more bearable -- and I do mean bear-able...
This is the story of Pi Bear -- that's Pi, spelled P-I, Bear. Pi Bear is the creation of Marvin Malcom of La Crosse, Kansas. La Crosse is a town of 1,427 in Rush County. Now, that's rural. It's also the site of Pi Bear, Incorporated.
A few years ago, Marvin Malcom was a plant engineer at a packing plant in Cozad, Nebraska. He was having a normal career. And then one day, everything changed. Marvin was going through his normal work at the plant, and suddenly he slipped and fell on a long flight of metal stairs. When he awoke, he was paralyzed from the waist down. He didn't know if he would ever walk again.
Marvin says, "I was always the strong one. I never expected others to do for me."
Adversity was not new to Marvin's family. His brother is a paraplegic. His wife's mother suffered from MS. Both were bound to wheelchairs.
Marvin says, "Suddenly I was laying there. It gave me a lot of time to think. I thought, this is tough for me. Imagine how sad it is for little kids who are wheelchair-bound."
The germ of an idea had formed. But in the meantime, Marvin began to experience some recovery. He was in a wheelchair for 8 months before his legs began moving. Today he is fully recovered, and no longer confined to a wheelchair.
He used his time and skills to become an inventor of devices for the wheelchair-bound. He started making durable medical equipment and adaptive devices for the disabled, such as wheelchairs and dining plates with edges on the side to make it easier to eat.
Marvin opened a store to sell these devices in Nebraska, and operated there for five years. Then he relocated to Oberlin, and when his business outgrew the building, he moved again to La Crosse.
He continued to sell the medical devices, but he still had a heart for children who were wheelchair-bound. He thought of a way to help those children deal with their adversity.
Marvin's solution is a teddy bear who lives in a wheelchair and who has a life story. His name is Pi Bear, referred to in one story as Physically Inconvenienced Bear. Marvin's company assembles and markets the Pi Bears, and each one comes with a series of booklets.
They tell the story of how little Pi Bear experienced an accident in the mountains, and is taken to the hospital. Volume one tells of how he comes to accept his wheelchair. Volume two tells of coming home and his fears of denial or rejection from his friends. And Volume three tells of Pi Bear's first day of school.
The stories are written in simple language. They are accompanied by cute pictures. They can help little kids adjust to life in a wheelchair. And they are enough to make a grown man cry -- or at least they brought tears to my eyes.
Marvin says, "I simply related my own fears and insecurities about my wheelchair to a child's level. I want to help children see the wheelchair, not as a handicap, but merely as a new way of life."
For some children, a wheelchair will be a reality. Pi Bear can help make that life a little easier.
The Pi Bear company is new, but Marvin is building on the idea. He received help from the Mid-America Manufacturing Technology Center in Garden City.
Now a family can purchase a Pi Bear with a registered serial number and a certificate of membership to Pi Bear. PI BEAR comes with a chair backpack, which holds his three storybooks, and his very own personalized T-shirt. He is non-allergenic, non-toxic, and washable. Maybe this would be a good gift to build sensitivity in any child.
Marvin's company even has its own 800 number now. The number, of course, is 1-800-467-BEAR -- what else?
Marvin continues to work in manufacturing wheelchairs. Another person manages the Pi Bear company.
Marvin has found this effort to be rewarding, and he has found La Crosse to be a good place to live and work.
He says, "This is one of the friendliest communities. People go all out to help, they really do. We've had lots of love and understanding, and people going the extra mile."
So when you encounter adversity, remember Pi Bear. And remember Marvin Malcom, who found a way to make something good come from that adversity. That's making a difference in rural Kansas -- and more importantly, it's making a difference for unfortunate little children, who are finding life a little more bear-able.

John Stutz
Today let's talk about someone who established some "firsts." He was the first executive secretary of the National League of Cities, the first to conceive of the cash basis law in Kansas, and the first to achieve many other things as the long-time executive director of the Kansas League of Municipalities.
But let's go back a little further. On the first day of the first week in the first month of the year, he was born in a sod house dugout in Ness County, Kansas -- the first (of course) of eleven children. The year was 1893.
Now in the year 1993, we celebrate the 100th birthday of this remarkable Kansan. His name is John Stutz.
At 100 years of age, Mr. Stutz is still active today, living in a retirement community in Topeka. So as we celebrate his 100 years, it is a good time to appreciate his tremendous service to Kansas.
John Stutz was born and raised on the family farm outside of Ness City, a rural community of 1,485 people. Now, that's rural. One of his ancestors was a Revolutionary War captain. Young John graduated from common school in 1909.
In 1911, he enrolled in the ten-week short-course at Kansas State Agricultural College in Manhattan. Among the skills he learned there was blacksmithing -- hmm, I don't remember seeing that in this year's course catalog...
He taught school for a time and then returned to KSAC for college. Mr. Stutz told me he remembered getting his hair cut by a lady in Aggieville for 15 cents. I wish her price was still around...
While attending college, he and his roommate subscribed to the Kansas City Star. On November 15, 1915, it happened that the newspaper headline said: "Manager plan is best for taxpayers, Abilene Kansas official says." The article was about a city manager's convention in Ohio.
John Stutz read that article, clipped it, and began planning a career in city management. What a difference that article made.
He went on to KU, served in World War I, and then transferred from KU to the University of Chicago where he got his degree. While at Chicago, he met the young lady, sitting on the front row of one of his classes, who became his bride. Maybe we should tell our current students that's where they find them!
After graduation he applied for several jobs and returned to Ness County to help with harvest. On the last day of wheat threshing in August, he received a telegram offering him the position of Executive Secretary of the Kansas League of Municipalities. He took the job.
Thirty-five years later, he retired as Executive Director of the Kansas League of Municipalities. He could look back on years of tremendous change and progress, brought about in large part by his vision and leadership for Kansas communities. The list of his accolades, achievements, and honors is tremendous.
Here's just one example: Governor Alf Landon cited John Stutz as the man who contributed the most ideas for good legislation and public administration during his four-year term. That's a mighty good source.
Mr. Stutz' contributions didn't stop within the state. In 1924, he organized a meeting with nine other state league directors to discuss the idea of establishing a larger entity to assist state municipal organizations. This marked the beginning of what is now the National League of Cities. John Stutz was the first -- and unpaid -- executive secretary.
Here's an interesting story from those days. In his first financial report on the new association, Mr. Stutz reported expenditures of $149. These were paid from a budget of $65 in dues and $100 from an anonymous source. Forty-six years later, a letter revealed the identity of that anonymous donor: John Stutz.
And his leadership didn't stop at the national level either. He served seven years as executive director of the International City Managers Association. From 1936 to 1949, he served as vice president of the International Union of Local Authorities, which was officed in Brussels, Belgium.
After retiring from the League, Mr. Stutz was involved in public service, writing, researching, and business. In 1987, he published his autobiography, titled "Planning a Farm Boy to be a City Manager."
Mr. Stutz is now 100 years old. When I contacted him, he had his secretary send information to me -- and I learned that she is 75! Maybe there's hope for all of us in our later years.
It's time to take our leave of John Stutz. We appreciate the many firsts which he accomplished. We appreciate his decades of leadership for Kansas and the nation. And we appreciate the fact that he came from rural roots to a lifetime of service, which have made a difference in all of Kansas.

Tom Ryan
What do these towns have in common: Lubbock, Texas; Hollywood, Florida; Louisa, Virginia; Neodesha, Kansas; and Colorado Springs, Colorado?
The answer is, they all had people from there at the same barn on the same week on a farm near Valley Falls, Kansas, a rural community of 1,240 people. Now, that's rural.
Did I say they were all at a barn? Yes, "barn": B-A-R-N. There is a barn near Valley Falls which has attracted visitors from around the nation, and even overseas.
It's a barn that used to store horses and hay, just like your grandfather's. But today, it holds king-size beds and a heated swimming pool.
This is no ordinary barn. And it belongs to no ordinary owner. It is owned by a man named Tom Ryan.
Tom and his wife have farmed in the Valley Falls area for a number of years. In the mid-1980s, Tom decided to turn the cropland over to a larger farm operator. As a result, the big barn on the farmstead was no longer used.
This was pretty much your typical barn. It was big and drafty, but built to last. In fact, it had been standing there since 1928.
Now, there's a barn at my parent's farm. It is lived in by horses, cattle, and a few barn swallows. But Tom and his wife began to wonder if their barn could be made livable for humans.
Sure enough, their first project was to convert the barn to a home. They found the building was structurally sound, so they did a total remodeling project complete with adding all the modern conveniences.
Tom's sister-in-law was an airline flight attendant. She suggested that they open a bed-and-breakfast.
It was a good idea. They certainly had plenty of room in a barn this size! Tom was able to build 10 rooms into the new design.
On April 1, 1986, the Barn Bed & Breakfast Inn first opened for business. And what was the customer response?
Tom Ryan says, "In two years, we were overrun. There were so many people wanting to stay here that we had a two-month delay for rooms."
They made plans for expansion. In October 1989, they built an addition with more sleeping rooms and glassed-in living rooms overlooking the countryside. Their latest addition includes a heated indoor swimming pool and an exercise room.
Today the Barn has sleeping quarters for 36 people, several meeting rooms, and a banquet room that will seat 200. Overnight guests are treated to a complete breakfast featuring eggs and bacon topped off with all the dollar-sized pancakes they can eat. Let's go right now!
What is the attraction of this place? If the typical city-dweller told his wife he was taking her to a barn for the weekend, she would want his head examined.
Yet the Barn has become very popular. Perhaps it's not only what the Barn has which makes it popular -- it's also what it does not have. It does not have traffic jams, noise, pollution, and crime. It has the modern conveniences, but it also has a quiet, pastoral countryside around it.
Tom Ryan estimates that 95 percent of his business is R & R -- rest and recreation. The Barn is a setting designed to relieve stress.
Tom says, "One of my customers is a woman who runs stress management seminars in Kansas City. She tells her clients, 'If you don't get out of the city every weekend, you're not going to make it.'"
Tom estimates that 78 percent of his business is repeat business. For example, the Barn has hosted more than 20,000 guests during its history -- but there are only 4,000 different names in the guest register. In other words, more than three-fourths of those people have visited more than once. That's a good sign.
The Barn hosts conferences, seminars and corporate retreats as well as family or individual visitors. Governors and legislators have participated in meetings there.
Tom Ryan says, with the economy in the shape its in, studies show that family discretionary dollars are being spent differently for entertainment. He summarizes the change in three ways: number 1, people want something to do every weekend; number 2, they want something close to home; and number 3, they want something inexpensive. The extended family vacation is becoming a thing of the past -- except in Chevy Chase movies -- and is being replaced by the weekend getaway.
The Barn fits this new buying pattern exactly. And it's a big business, with big benefits. Tom Ryan says, "If we bring in 150 people each week and each dollar they spend turns over seven times in the economy, that generates 1.5 million dollars a year."
But Tom Ryan's current passion isn't a barn, it's a railroad: specifically, the railroad line between the cities of Atchison and Topeka in northeast Kansas. In 1991, that line was sold by the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe company to an out-of-state railroad company. In 1992, the new owner filed a request with the ICC to abandon the line.
In the meantime, a grass-roots group met and formed in the community. They called this group the Atchison, Topeka, and Scenic Railroad. Their vision is to purchase the railroad locally, and to operate an excursion train along that line. They believe the same tourism principles which help the Barn will help the railroad as well.
This group is fighting the proposed abandonment through the ICC, and seeking to raise $3.8 million to buy and operate the rail line. The President of the Atchison, Topeka, and Scenic Railroad is Tom Ryan. He had a vision of what the Barn could be, and now he has a vision of what the railroad could be.
One day earlier this year, I stopped by the Barn while driving through the area. I saw how visionary leaders like Tom Ryan can make a difference. I read the names in the guest register from all those towns around the country. There have also been guests from Scotland, Sri Lanka, and Brazil.
It's a reminder that rural Kansas has some special qualities that can be marketed to an urban world, and that even a Barn can become a bonanza.

Allan Lindfors
What do you know about Marquette, Kansas? I first learned about Marquette years ago from a fellow named Dev Nelson, known to generations of K-State sports fans as the "Voice of the Wildcats." He was proud to be from Marquette.
Dev passed away in January of 1993, so I thought I would visit his hometown in his memory as I was driving through that area one day. Traveling cross-country, I came through a number of small towns with boarded up storefronts and decaying main streets, depicting the tough times facing rural communities. And then I came to Marquette.
What a contrast! Marquette is a beautiful little town, with a well-maintained main street and restored historic storefronts. I was told that someone local had been a catalyst in bringing this about. His name is Allan Lindfors.
Allan was born and raised in Marquette. After graduation from Bethany College, he went to work for a bank in Salina. Then one day a call came with an opportunity to come back and work in his hometown bank, and he took it. That was 18 years ago.
Marquette is a town of 593 folks. Now, that's rural. It is due west of Lindsborg in northwest McPherson county. It has a strong Swedish heritage in its population. Allan believes that is part of the success.
He says, "We are family-oriented, and our Swedish roots run deep." In Allan's office, he showed me a black and white photo from 1907 showing the main street of Marquette. Visible in the photo are Victorian designs on some of the buildings.
But by the mid-1970s, Marquette and other smaller towns were losing their historic roots. They were feeling the impact of declines in the rural economy. It was time to fight back. One of those who wanted to reverse the tide was Allan Lindfors.
Through the Marquette Businessman's Association, he and others began to work on community improvements. The K-State Extension Community Forestry program provided assistance in adding trees and benches downtown.
Then in the late 1980s, Allan led the effort to restore the old historic storefronts to their Victorian design. Some of the front work had to be rebuilt, which was done by the Lions Club and other volunteers.
Allan says, "We started at one end of main street and talked to each business. Some paid for the cost of the paint on their building, some paid to have it painted, and donations paid for the rest." He says, "It took a year to get it done, and it took a tremendous amount of cooperation."
Allan is quick to share the credit for the downtown improvements with other local citizens.
For example, there's Larue Olson and his son Dana. Their family has been operating a furniture store in the same building in downtown Marquette since '86 -- no, not 1986, 1886. That original building has been expanded and remodeled several times, and Olson's is a key part of downtown.
Then there's the president of the bank where Allan works, Scott Johnson, who is the fourth generation to own the bank. Allan was right -- the roots do run deep here...
And then there's Nyla Rawson, the editor of the Marquette Tribune. She told me how great it was that the young people fixed up the storefronts. By young people, I thought she was referring to high school kids -- then I found out she meant people my age! That makes her a friend for life...
All this makes me think of the state government's program for downtown redevelopment, called Main Street. I asked Allan if Marquette had considered that program. He said, "We talked to other communities who are in the main street program, but it seemed we were already doing the things that the main street cities do. If you join the government program, you have to fill out the paperwork -- and we have enough of that already."
In fact, how much government money would you guess went into this project? Try "zero." It happened through local initiative and private volunteerism.
So why put all this time and labor into a town this small? Allan says, "I want Marquette to be here for my children and grandchildren. We feel safe in Marquette. Our kids are 8 and 10, and we know they can go anywhere in town and be okay. We are close to Salina, Hutchinson and Wichita, but with the advantage of not having to lock our house."
He says, "I've had opportunities to go elsewhere, but I like not being just a number. In a big city, a person doesn't know his neighbor -- or want to. In a town like Marquette, everybody cares about everybody. I wouldn't trade it for anything."
Local initiative. Caring for others. Volunteering to improve one's community. These are the things that make a difference.
I enjoyed my visit to Marquette, Kansas. And as I go, I believe that somewhere up in heaven there is an old sportscaster by the name of Dev Nelson who is smiling. He can be mighty proud of the people in his hometown, for they are making a difference in rural Kansas.

Merle Miller
Today let's visit the office of a country newspaper publisher. We see some typical things hanging on the office walls. There are lots of pictures of grandchildren, various awards, a golf prize or two, and some photos with famous politicians.
And then there is a small map of the world, with 73 pins placed in it. That's a pin for each of the countries he has visited.
This is no ordinary publisher. Yes, he publishes a weekly paper in a rural Kansas town, but this is a publisher with an international vision.
We are in Belleville, Kansas, population 2,165 people. Now, that's rural. The publisher we are visiting is Merle Miller.
Merle is the publisher of the Belleville Telescope. He has deep roots in Kansas newspapering.
The story begins with Merle's father, A. Q. Miller. A. Q. was born in what is described as a "thatched roof hut situated on a rocky Kansas homestead." His father's country store was located near Clifton, Kansas. After graduation from high school, he applied for a job as a printer's devil at the local newspaper, the Clifton News.
The story goes that Mr. Miller didn't know what a printer's devil was, but he got the job. I didn't know either. Apparently a printer's devil is the lowest man on the totem pole in a newspaper office.
From this humble beginning, A. Q. Miller began his career in journalism. After a stint in Colorado, he returned to Kansas and bought the Belleville Telescope. He became a nationally renowned publisher and civic leader, much like Huck Boyd himself. He worked for progressive government and improved transportation.
He also raised five sons and a daughter, all of which attended Kansas State University. Today, the School of Journalism and Mass Communications at K-State proudly bears the name of A. Q. Miller.
The Miller sons and daughter carry on the family tradition in various ways around the country. The one who is continuing to publish in Belleville, Kansas is Merle Miller.
In addition to publishing the Belleville Telescope, Merle also continues his father's tradition of seeking improved transportation. Early in his father's day, they began trying to upgrade from dirt roads to gravel and then concrete roads. In 1911, Merle's father led an effort to build a north-south road across Kansas.
Today, his vision has grown into the Pan American Highway.
The Pan American Highway links North and South America. In fact, it reaches the Alcan Highway of Alaska at its northern end and touches the strait of Magellan at its southern end. In Kansas, it is known as U.S. 81 north of Salina.
Thanks to a lot of effort from Merle Miller, Bob Dole, and others, U.S. 81 is being four-laned almost all of the way across Kansas. It is already mostly four-lane across much of the U.S.
When I say it has taken a lot of effort, I mean a lot. The Pan American Highway has been the labor of a lifetime for the Miller family. In 1991, Merle received a plaque for 38 years of service as president of the Pan American Highway Association.
One of their more interesting promotions came in 1967. That year, Merle led a caravan of 23 cars and 63 people on a three-month road trip from Winnipeg, Manitoba to Buenos Aires, Argentina.
This trip passed through some fairly primitive territory, by today's U.S. standards. Merle's stories about this trip are fascinating -- and almost unbelievable.
Would you believe they used chewing gum to patch holes in the gas tanks of their cars? In South America, Merle's group found that roads had been built using boulders from the neighboring streams. That was okay, until a truck would come by and dislodge one of these boulders. When the boulders were loose, they would hit the car's gas tanks and knock holes in them. Chewing gum was the solution to temporarily patch the holes.
One time, when one of their cars broke down, a gang of men on horseback rode up to them. They could see the men were carrying guns. Then the rest of the group came along, and the prospective banditos rode away.
If you think that sounds interesting, listen to this one. Merle's group was enroute to Managua, Nicaragua when they met an American salesman who had just been there. He told them that 80 people had just been killed at a hotel in Managua. What hotel? The Grande -- which was the hotel where Merle's group was supposed to stay!
Merle called ahead to a friend outside of Managua. The friend offered them a place to stop and a plan for getting safely into the town. Merle says they had rioters beating on the fenders of their cars at one point, but managed to get safely to the hotel. Merle says, "I could lay in my bed and count 50 bullet holes in my hotel room."
In the end, the group made it back to the U.S. safely. In fact, instead of losing any lives, they gained one: one lady had a baby while on the trip! And in the same vein, a young bachelor on the trip met a girl in Chile whom he subsequently married.
All this sounds quite amazing. It generated a great deal of interest in the Pan American Highway, and lots of stories for Merle Miller's newspaper.
Merle hasn't lost sight of the reason for all this effort. He says, "Transportation is the key to economic growth. We need it for the entire state. And I've learned that if I can help build the economy of the surrounding area, it will help me as well."
As we conclude our visit, we look again at the map of the world showing Merle Miller's travels. As Merle says, "I've been fortunate. I could have lived anywhere. But we've chosen Belleville. It's a wonderful place to raise a family, and the people are great. And now our grandchildren are moving back to Kansas too."
Match an international vision with a commitment to rural Kansas -- that's what you'll find in Merle Miller, a leader who is making a difference.

Frank Meyer

Let me tell you about a seminar I attended some time ago. A businessman named Frank Meyer was making a presentation there, and I thought he missed his topic. According to the program, Frank was to address the future of American small business. But instead of talking about business, he talked about education of our young people.

And then I realized the point: Frank Meyer sees that effective education of our young people is fundamental to the long-term success of American small business.

That's a sign of a businessman with a vision. This example demonstrates the forward-looking vision of Frank Meyer. He is not only concerned with today's bottom line, he is thinking about the future.

Frank Meyer is owner and president of Custom Metal Fabricators Inc. in Herington, Kansas. Herington is a town of 2,685 people in the southeast corner of Dickinson County.

Of course, Herington looks like the big city compared to where Frank Meyer started. He grew up on a farm near Latimer, population 20. Yes, 20 as in 2-0. Now, that's rural. Latimer may win the prize for being the most rural town we've talked about yet.

Frank attended a one-room country school in Latimer, and then went to Herington High School. That was an adjustment -- he went from 4 in his class to 50! Frank says that's what made him bashful...but I don't think he's bashful anymore!

After school Frank worked for Ehrsam Manufacturing, a company which produced grain handling and farm equipment. In 1977, he went out on his own.

He formed a company called Custom Metal Fabricators. He get his start by buying scrap iron from an abandoned building at Forbes Field in Topeka. From that beginning he built a building and developed his own line of grain handling equipment. Then he started to diversify. His company got into the manufacture of abrasive blasting and shot peening machines and heavy industrial equipment.

To make a long story short: the company which Frank Meyer started in 1977 with four people today employs 76 people, and is engaged in marketing its products around the world. And the headquarters is in Herington, Kansas.

Did I say he wasn't bashful anymore? Listen to this. He was in the Leadership Kansas class of 1992, the Kansas Industrial Council Board of Directors and was named the 1992 SBA Small Business Person of the Year.

Did I say he believes in education? Listen to this. He is on the Human Resources Committee and Industrial Development committee of the Kansas Chamber of Commerce and Industry, business advisory council of the Occupational Center of Central Kansas, and president of the Herington school board.

Frank Meyer's vision extends world-wide. 95 percent of his company's products go outside of Kansas, and 30 percent go overseas.

I asked how such an international company could do business in Herington, Kansas. He said that labor costs and transportation were better there than on the east or west coast. Frank said, "I can get something quicker than you could around the block in a city."

For example, he knows his local delivery service people well. They will come to his plant to make their deliveries first, then make their rounds and come by again to see if there is anything more to pick up.

Frank says, "That's better service than I would get in New York City."

When inspectors from Philadelphia or New York have come to his plant, they have said to him, "What do you do to make these people work so hard?"

It's that Kansas work ethic -- and a business leader who cares about his people.

Another example is his commitment to education. Frank actually goes to the schools in Herington with a sample job description for a position in his company to show to the students.

Another of his strategies calls for businesses to adopt students. In one example, Frank hired a bright young student to sweep floors after work at the company plant. When the sweeping was done, Frank invited him into his office. Frank showed him something in an engineering manual, and said, "Figure this out by next week." The young man was stimulated by this real-world problem, and he would do it. That young man became a national merit scholar and went to Kansas State University.

It's another example of a business-education partnership that works.

Yes, I thought at first that Frank Meyer missed his topic at the seminar that day, but he hit it exactly right: the effective education of our young people is vital to the future of small business, and its making a difference in rural Kansas.

Gary Anderson

Gary Anderson has been helping put in a new gate.

That may sound like a fairly typical activity in rural Kansas, but this is no pasture gate. This is a gateway to the future.

It is a brand new, million dollar telecommunications and meeting facility. On the front of the building are these words: Gateway to the Future, Window on the World.

And where is this building? Try Oberlin, Kansas, population 2,197. Now, that's rural.

What is a million-dollar telecommunications facility doing in Oberlin, Kansas? For the answer to that question, let's visit with Gary Anderson.

Gary is with Farmers National Bank in Oberlin. He's a native of the area, having grown up on a farm in western Decatur County. He graduated from K-State and joined the bank in 1979.

This project came about through the generosity of Madonna. No, not the MTV Madonna nor the biblical Madonna. This was a woman named Madonna Morgan, whose husband's grandfather had first staked out the outline of the town of Oberlin. The family had accumulated substantial landholdings in the area over the years.

On March 4, 1990, Madonna Morgan passed away. And in her will was a special provision. She would donate her million dollar estate to the city of Oberlin for construction of a civic auditorium, if the entire million dollars was matched by the community.

A million dollars is a lot of money. The City Council pursued plans for the project, and proposed a bond issue to raise the matching funds. The bond issue went to a vote, and by 93 votes, the citizens of the community turned it down.

What do you do now? A million dollars is a lot of money to raise, but it's also a lot of money to lose.

A couple of nights after the vote, 60 local people met to discuss the project. They felt the opportunity to fund and build a new facility should not be lost. That led to the creation of a group called Citizens for Oberlin Civic Center. The co-chair of the group was Gary Anderson.

At the next city council meeting, Gary and more than 200 people attended.

Gary says, "I read to the group the headline from the front page of the Wichita Eagle. It said, `Bequest too much for Oberlin.' It hurt our public image, and I felt we should prove them wrong."

Gary Anderson's comments and others spurred the city leaders to try again. The plans were revised. More community input was sought. A door-to-door campaign was initiated. The bond amount was lowered and a private fundraising drive was implemented.

Gary also chaired the fund-raising subcommittee. Gary says, "More than 200 people volunteered to go door-to-door." Letters were sent to 1,900 alumni of the school.

The effort paid off. More than one hundred thousand dollars were raised, and in June, the bond issue was approved by the voters.

The grand opening of the new facility was March 12, 1993. The facility includes an exhibition hall, theater, office space, recreation center, and interactive video classroom.

Since the opening, the facility has played host to everything from a John Deere show to violin concerts. Shows include "Up With People's '93/'94 World Premier Show" (and only performance in Kansas); nationally known country artists - "Bellamy Brothers" and "McBride and The Ride"; "The Russian Folk Life Festival"; and coming up next spring, The National Shakespeare Company's production of "Romeo and Juliet".

In October 1993, a telecommunications conference was held at the new facility. One highlight was when the conference was addressed by a U.S. Senator. The conference was in Oberlin, but the Senator was in Washington DC, addressing the participants through interactive video transmitted through telephone lines from halfway across the country.

Gary Anderson says, "There are many intrinsic benefits of living in rural America. They relate to our high quality of life. But one pitfall is a lack of access to cultural or other activities."

This modern facility bridges that gap. It creates that access.

Gary believes in the quality of life so much that he has purchased a building in downtown Oberlin. It was built in `86...That's 1886. It was built as a bank and became the first courthouse in 1896. Gary has gotten the building named to the National Register of Historic Places and is restoring it to be a bed and breakfast.

Meanwhile the new facility maintains a very busy schedule of meetings. But before it opened, one dilemma was what to name the building. Community leaders had used the phrase "Gateway to the future, window on the world." The phrase seemed to fit. Shortly before it opened, the facility was officially named The Gateway.

Yes, Gary Anderson has been helping to put in a new gate -- not to keep people out, but as a gateway to bring ideas in. His leadership is opening a gateway and making a difference in rural Kansas.

Marvin Malcom

All of us have adversities in our lives. Sometimes these adversities seem unbearable. Today's story is about a rural Kansan who took a bad situation and made it more bearable -- and I do mean bear-able...

This is the story of Pi Bear -- that's Pi, spelled P-I, Bear. Pi Bear is the creation of Marvin Malcom of La Crosse, Kansas. La Crosse is a town of 1,427 in Rush County. Now, that's rural. It's also the site of Pi Bear, Incorporated.

A few years ago, Marvin Malcom was a plant engineer at a packing plant in Cozad, Nebraska. He was having a normal career. And then one day, everything changed. Marvin was going through his normal work at the plant, and suddenly he slipped and fell on a long flight of metal stairs. When he awoke, he was paralyzed from the waist down. He didn't know if he would ever walk again.

Marvin says, "I was always the strong one. I never expected others to do for me."

Adversity was not new to Marvin's family. His brother is a paraplegic. His wife's mother suffered from MS. Both were bound to wheelchairs.

Marvin says, "Suddenly I was laying there. It gave me a lot of time to think. I thought, this is tough for me. Imagine how sad it is for little kids who are wheelchair-bound."

The germ of an idea had formed. But in the meantime, Marvin began to experience some recovery. He was in a wheelchair for 8 months before his legs began moving. Today he is fully recovered, and no longer confined to a wheelchair.

He used his time and skills to become an inventor of devices for the wheelchair-bound. He started making durable medical equipment and adaptive devices for the disabled, such as wheelchairs and dining plates with edges on the side to make it easier to eat.

Marvin opened a store to sell these devices in Nebraska, and operated there for five years. Then he relocated to Oberlin, and when his business outgrew the building, he moved again to La Crosse.

He continued to sell the medical devices, but he still had a heart for children who were wheelchair-bound. He thought of a way to help those children deal with their adversity.

Marvin's solution is a teddy bear who lives in a wheelchair and who has a life story. His name is Pi Bear, referred to in one story as Physically Inconvenienced Bear. Marvin's company assembles and markets the Pi Bears, and each one comes with a series of booklets.

They tell the story of how little Pi Bear experienced an accident in the mountains, and is taken to the hospital. Volume one tells of how he comes to accept his wheelchair. Volume two tells of coming home and his fears of denial or rejection from his friends. And Volume three tells of Pi Bear's first day of school.

The stories are written in simple language. They are accompanied by cute pictures. They can help little kids adjust to life in a wheelchair. And they are enough to make a grown man cry -- or at least they brought tears to my eyes.

Marvin says, "I simply related my own fears and insecurities about my wheelchair to a child's level. I want to help children see the wheelchair, not as a handicap, but merely as a new way of life."

For some children, a wheelchair will be a reality. Pi Bear can help make that life a little easier.

The Pi Bear company is new, but Marvin is building on the idea. He received help from the Mid-America Manufacturing Technology Center in Garden City.

Now a family can purchase a Pi Bear with a registered serial number and a certificate of membership to Pi Bear. PI BEAR comes with a chair backpack, which holds his three storybooks, and his very own personalized T-shirt. He is non-allergenic, non-toxic, and washable. Maybe this would be a good gift to build sensitivity in any child.

Marvin's company even has its own 800 number now. The number, of course, is 1-800-467-BEAR -- what else?

Marvin continues to work in manufacturing wheelchairs. Another person manages the Pi Bear company.

Marvin has found this effort to be rewarding, and he has found La Crosse to be a good place to live and work.

He says, "This is one of the friendliest communities. People go all out to help, they really do. We've had lots of love and understanding, and people going the extra mile."

So when you encounter adversity, remember Pi Bear. And remember Marvin Malcom, who found a way to make something good come from that adversity. That's making a difference in rural Kansas -- and more importantly, it's making a difference for unfortunate little children, who are finding life a little more bear-able.

John Stutz

Today let's talk about someone who established some "firsts." He was the first executive secretary of the National League of Cities, the first to conceive of the cash basis law in Kansas, and the first to achieve many other things as the long-time executive director of the Kansas League of Municipalities.

But let's go back a little further. On the first day of the first week in the first month of the year, he was born in a sod house dugout in Ness County, Kansas -- the first (of course) of eleven children. The year was 1893.

Now in the year 1993, we celebrate the 100th birthday of this remarkable Kansan. His name is John Stutz.

At 100 years of age, Mr. Stutz is still active today, living in a retirement community in Topeka. So as we celebrate his 100 years, it is a good time to appreciate his tremendous service to Kansas.

John Stutz was born and raised on the family farm outside of Ness City, a rural community of 1,485 people. Now, that's rural. One of his ancestors was a Revolutionary War captain. Young John graduated from common school in 1909.

In 1911, he enrolled in the ten-week short-course at Kansas State Agricultural College in Manhattan. Among the skills he learned there was blacksmithing -- hmm, I don't remember seeing that in this year's course catalog...

He taught school for a time and then returned to KSAC for college. Mr. Stutz told me he remembered getting his hair cut by a lady in Aggieville for 15 cents. I wish her price was still around...

While attending college, he and his roommate subscribed to the Kansas City Star. On November 15, 1915, it happened that the newspaper headline said: "Manager plan is best for taxpayers, Abilene Kansas official says." The article was about a city manager's convention in Ohio.

John Stutz read that article, clipped it, and began planning a career in city management. What a difference that article made.

He went on to KU, served in World War I, and then transferred from KU to the University of Chicago where he got his degree. While at Chicago, he met the young lady, sitting on the front row of one of his classes, who became his bride. Maybe we should tell our current students that's where they find them!

After graduation he applied for several jobs and returned to Ness County to help with harvest. On the last day of wheat threshing in August, he received a telegram offering him the position of Executive Secretary of the Kansas League of Municipalities. He took the job.

Thirty-five years later, he retired as Executive Director of the Kansas League of Municipalities. He could look back on years of tremendous change and progress, brought about in large part by his vision and leadership for Kansas communities. The list of his accolades, achievements, and honors is tremendous.

Here's just one example: Governor Alf Landon cited John Stutz as the man who contributed the most ideas for good legislation and public administration during his four-year term. That's a mighty good source.

Mr. Stutz' contributions didn't stop within the state. In 1924, he organized a meeting with nine other state league directors to discuss the idea of establishing a larger entity to assist state municipal organizations. This marked the beginning of what is now the National League of Cities. John Stutz was the first -- and unpaid -- executive secretary.

Here's an interesting story from those days. In his first financial report on the new association, Mr. Stutz reported expenditures of $149. These were paid from a budget of $65 in dues and $100 from an anonymous source. Forty-six years later, a letter revealed the identity of that anonymous donor: John Stutz.

And his leadership didn't stop at the national level either. He served seven years as executive director of the International City Managers Association. From 1936 to 1949, he served as vice president of the International Union of Local Authorities, which was officed in Brussels, Belgium.

After retiring from the League, Mr. Stutz was involved in public service, writing, researching, and business. In 1987, he published his autobiography, titled "Planning a Farm Boy to be a City Manager."

Mr. Stutz is now 100 years old. When I contacted him, he had his secretary send information to me -- and I learned that she is 75! Maybe there's hope for all of us in our later years.

It's time to take our leave of John Stutz. We appreciate the many firsts which he accomplished. We appreciate his decades of leadership for Kansas and the nation. And we appreciate the fact that he came from rural roots to a lifetime of service, which have made a difference in all of Kansas.

Tom Ryan

What do these towns have in common: Lubbock, Texas; Hollywood, Florida; Louisa, Virginia; Neodesha, Kansas; and Colorado Springs, Colorado?

The answer is, they all had people from there at the same barn on the same week on a farm near Valley Falls, Kansas, a rural community of 1,240 people. Now, that's rural.

Did I say they were all at a barn? Yes, "barn": B-A-R-N. There is a barn near Valley Falls which has attracted visitors from around the nation, and even overseas.

It's a barn that used to store horses and hay, just like your grandfather's. But today, it holds king-size beds and a heated swimming pool.

This is no ordinary barn. And it belongs to no ordinary owner. It is owned by a man named Tom Ryan.

Tom and his wife have farmed in the Valley Falls area for a number of years. In the mid-1980s, Tom decided to turn the cropland over to a larger farm operator. As a result, the big barn on the farmstead was no longer used.

This was pretty much your typical barn. It was big and drafty, but built to last. In fact, it had been standing there since 1928.

Now, there's a barn at my parent's farm. It is lived in by horses, cattle, and a few barn swallows. But Tom and his wife began to wonder if their barn could be made livable for humans.

Sure enough, their first project was to convert the barn to a home. They found the building was structurally sound, so they did a total remodeling project complete with adding all the modern conveniences.

Tom's sister-in-law was an airline flight attendant. She suggested that they open a bed-and-breakfast.

It was a good idea. They certainly had plenty of room in a barn this size! Tom was able to build 10 rooms into the new design.

On April 1, 1986, the Barn Bed & Breakfast Inn first opened for business. And what was the customer response?

Tom Ryan says, "In two years, we were overrun. There were so many people wanting to stay here that we had a two-month delay for rooms."

They made plans for expansion. In October 1989, they built an addition with more sleeping rooms and glassed-in living rooms overlooking the countryside. Their latest addition includes a heated indoor swimming pool and an exercise room.

Today the Barn has sleeping quarters for 36 people, several meeting rooms, and a banquet room that will seat 200. Overnight guests are treated to a complete breakfast featuring eggs and bacon topped off with all the dollar-sized pancakes they can eat. Let's go right now!

What is the attraction of this place? If the typical city-dweller told his wife he was taking her to a barn for the weekend, she would want his head examined.

Yet the Barn has become very popular. Perhaps it's not only what the Barn has which makes it popular -- it's also what it does not have. It does not have traffic jams, noise, pollution, and crime. It has the modern conveniences, but it also has a quiet, pastoral countryside around it.

Tom Ryan estimates that 95 percent of his business is R & R -- rest and recreation. The Barn is a setting designed to relieve stress.

Tom says, "One of my customers is a woman who runs stress management seminars in Kansas City. She tells her clients, `If you don't get out of the city every weekend, you're not going to make it.'"

Tom estimates that 78 percent of his business is repeat business. For example, the Barn has hosted more than 20,000 guests during its history -- but there are only 4,000 different names in the guest register. In other words, more than three-fourths of those people have visited more than once. That's a good sign.

The Barn hosts conferences, seminars and corporate retreats as well as family or individual visitors. Governors and legislators have participated in meetings there.

Tom Ryan says, with the economy in the shape its in, studies show that family discretionary dollars are being spent differently for entertainment. He summarizes the change in three ways: number 1, people want something to do every weekend; number 2, they want something close to home; and number 3, they want something inexpensive. The extended family vacation is becoming a thing of the past -- except in Chevy Chase movies -- and is being replaced by the weekend getaway.

The Barn fits this new buying pattern exactly. And it's a big business, with big benefits. Tom Ryan says, "If we bring in 150 people each week and each dollar they spend turns over seven times in the economy, that generates 1.5 million dollars a year."

But Tom Ryan's current passion isn't a barn, it's a railroad: specifically, the railroad line between the cities of Atchison and Topeka in northeast Kansas. In 1991, that line was sold by the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe company to an out-of-state railroad company. In 1992, the new owner filed a request with the ICC to abandon the line.

In the meantime, a grass-roots group met and formed in the community. They called this group the Atchison, Topeka, and Scenic Railroad. Their vision is to purchase the railroad locally, and to operate an excursion train along that line. They believe the same tourism principles which help the Barn will help the railroad as well.

This group is fighting the proposed abandonment through the ICC, and seeking to raise $3.8 million to buy and operate the rail line. The President of the Atchison, Topeka, and Scenic Railroad is Tom Ryan. He had a vision of what the Barn could be, and now he has a vision of what the railroad could be.

One day earlier this year, I stopped by the Barn while driving through the area. I saw how visionary leaders like Tom Ryan can make a difference. I read the names in the guest register from all those towns around the country. There have also been guests from Scotland, Sri Lanka, and Brazil.

It's a reminder that rural Kansas has some special qualities that can be marketed to an urban world, and that even a Barn can become a bonanza.

Allan Lindfors

What do you know about Marquette, Kansas? I first learned about Marquette years ago from a fellow named Dev Nelson, known to generations of K-State sports fans as the "Voice of the Wildcats." He was proud to be from Marquette.

Dev passed away in January of 1993, so I thought I would visit his hometown in his memory as I was driving through that area one day. Traveling cross-country, I came through a number of small towns with boarded up storefronts and decaying main streets, depicting the tough times facing rural communities. And then I came to Marquette.

What a contrast! Marquette is a beautiful little town, with a well-maintained main street and restored historic storefronts. I was told that someone local had been a catalyst in bringing this about. His name is Allan Lindfors.

Allan was born and raised in Marquette. After graduation from Bethany College, he went to work for a bank in Salina. Then one day a call came with an opportunity to come back and work in his hometown bank, and he took it. That was 18 years ago.

Marquette is a town of 593 folks. Now, that's rural. It is due west of Lindsborg in northwest McPherson county. It has a strong Swedish heritage in its population. Allan believes that is part of the success.

He says, "We are family-oriented, and our Swedish roots run deep." In Allan's office, he showed me a black and white photo from 1907 showing the main street of Marquette. Visible in the photo are Victorian designs on some of the buildings.

But by the mid-1970s, Marquette and other smaller towns were losing their historic roots. They were feeling the impact of declines in the rural economy. It was time to fight back. One of those who wanted to reverse the tide was Allan Lindfors.

Through the Marquette Businessman's Association, he and others began to work on community improvements. The K-State Extension Community Forestry program provided assistance in adding trees and benches downtown.

Then in the late 1980s, Allan led the effort to restore the old historic storefronts to their Victorian design. Some of the front work had to be rebuilt, which was done by the Lions Club and other volunteers.

Allan says, "We started at one end of main street and talked to each business. Some paid for the cost of the paint on their building, some paid to have it painted, and donations paid for the rest." He says, "It took a year to get it done, and it took a tremendous amount of cooperation."

Allan is quick to share the credit for the downtown improvements with other local citizens.

For example, there's Larue Olson and his son Dana. Their family has been operating a furniture store in the same building in downtown Marquette since `86 -- no, not 1986, 1886. That original building has been expanded and remodeled several times, and Olson's is a key part of downtown.

Then there's the president of the bank where Allan works, Scott Johnson, who is the fourth generation to own the bank. Allan was right -- the roots do run deep here...

And then there's Nyla Rawson, the editor of the Marquette Tribune. She told me how great it was that the young people fixed up the storefronts. By young people, I thought she was referring to high school kids -- then I found out she meant people my age! That makes her a friend for life...

All this makes me think of the state government's program for downtown redevelopment, called Main Street. I asked Allan if Marquette had considered that program. He said, "We talked to other communities who are in the main street program, but it seemed we were already doing the things that the main street cities do. If you join the government program, you have to fill out the paperwork -- and we have enough of that already."

In fact, how much government money would you guess went into this project? Try "zero." It happened through local initiative and private volunteerism.

So why put all this time and labor into a town this small? Allan says, "I want Marquette to be here for my children and grandchildren. We feel safe in Marquette. Our kids are 8 and 10, and we know they can go anywhere in town and be okay. We are close to Salina, Hutchinson and Wichita, but with the advantage of not having to lock our house."

He says, "I've had opportunities to go elsewhere, but I like not being just a number. In a big city, a person doesn't know his neighbor -- or want to. In a town like Marquette, everybody cares about everybody. I wouldn't trade it for anything."

Local initiative. Caring for others. Volunteering to improve one's community. These are the things that make a difference.

I enjoyed my visit to Marquette, Kansas. And as I go, I believe that somewhere up in heaven there is an old sportscaster by the name of Dev Nelson who is smiling. He can be mighty proud of the people in his hometown, for they are making a difference in rural Kansas.

Merle Miller

Today let's visit the office of a country newspaper publisher. We see some typical things hanging on the office walls. There are lots of pictures of grandchildren, various awards, a golf prize or two, and some photos with famous politicians.

And then there is a small map of the world, with 73 pins placed in it. That's a pin for each of the countries he has visited.

This is no ordinary publisher. Yes, he publishes a weekly paper in a rural Kansas town, but this is a publisher with an international vision.

We are in Belleville, Kansas, population 2,165 people. Now, that's rural. The publisher we are visiting is Merle Miller.

Merle is the publisher of the Belleville Telescope. He has deep roots in Kansas newspapering.

The story begins with Merle's father, A. Q. Miller. A. Q. was born in what is described as a "thatched roof hut situated on a rocky Kansas homestead." His father's country store was located near Clifton, Kansas. After graduation from high school, he applied for a job as a printer's devil at the local newspaper, the Clifton News.

The story goes that Mr. Miller didn't know what a printer's devil was, but he got the job. I didn't know either. Apparently a printer's devil is the lowest man on the totem pole in a newspaper office.

From this humble beginning, A. Q. Miller began his career in journalism. After a stint in Colorado, he returned to Kansas and bought the Belleville Telescope. He became a nationally renowned publisher and civic leader, much like Huck Boyd himself. He worked for progressive government and improved transportation.

He also raised five sons and a daughter, all of which attended Kansas State University. Today, the School of Journalism and Mass Communications at K-State proudly bears the name of A. Q. Miller.

The Miller sons and daughter carry on the family tradition in various ways around the country. The one who is continuing to publish in Belleville, Kansas is Merle Miller.

In addition to publishing the Belleville Telescope, Merle also continues his father's tradition of seeking improved transportation. Early in his father's day, they began trying to upgrade from dirt roads to gravel and then concrete roads. In 1911, Merle's father led an effort to build a north-south road across Kansas.

Today, his vision has grown into the Pan American Highway.

The Pan American Highway links North and South America. In fact, it reaches the Alcan Highway of Alaska at its northern end and touches the strait of Magellan at its southern end. In Kansas, it is known as U.S. 81 north of Salina.

Thanks to a lot of effort from Merle Miller, Bob Dole, and others, U.S. 81 is being four-laned almost all of the way across Kansas. It is already mostly four-lane across much of the U.S.

When I say it has taken a lot of effort, I mean a lot. The Pan American Highway has been the labor of a lifetime for the Miller family. In 1991, Merle received a plaque for 38 years of service as president of the Pan American Highway Association.

One of their more interesting promotions came in 1967. That year, Merle led a caravan of 23 cars and 63 people on a three-month road trip from Winnipeg, Manitoba to Buenos Aires, Argentina.

This trip passed through some fairly primitive territory, by today's U.S. standards. Merle's stories about this trip are fascinating -- and almost unbelievable.

Would you believe they used chewing gum to patch holes in the gas tanks of their cars? In South America, Merle's group found that roads had been built using boulders from the neighboring streams. That was okay, until a truck would come by and dislodge one of these boulders. When the boulders were loose, they would hit the car's gas tanks and knock holes in them. Chewing gum was the solution to temporarily patch the holes.

One time, when one of their cars broke down, a gang of men on horseback rode up to them. They could see the men were carrying guns. Then the rest of the group came along, and the prospective banditos rode away.

If you think that sounds interesting, listen to this one. Merle's group was enroute to Managua, Nicaragua when they met an American salesman who had just been there. He told them that 80 people had just been killed at a hotel in Managua. What hotel? The Grande -- which was the hotel where Merle's group was supposed to stay!

Merle called ahead to a friend outside of Managua. The friend offered them a place to stop and a plan for getting safely into the town. Merle says they had rioters beating on the fenders of their cars at one point, but managed to get safely to the hotel. Merle says, "I could lay in my bed and count 50 bullet holes in my hotel room."

In the end, the group made it back to the U.S. safely. In fact, instead of losing any lives, they gained one: one lady had a baby while on the trip! And in the same vein, a young bachelor on the trip met a girl in Chile whom he subsequently married.

All this sounds quite amazing. It generated a great deal of interest in the Pan American Highway, and lots of stories for Merle Miller's newspaper.

Merle hasn't lost sight of the reason for all this effort. He says, "Transportation is the key to economic growth. We need it for the entire state. And I've learned that if I can help build the economy of the surrounding area, it will help me as well."

As we conclude our visit, we look again at the map of the world showing Merle Miller's travels. As Merle says, "I've been fortunate. I could have lived anywhere. But we've chosen Belleville. It's a wonderful place to raise a family, and the people are great. And now our grandchildren are moving back to Kansas too."

Match an international vision with a commitment to rural Kansas -- that's what you'll find in Merle Miller, a leader who is making a difference.