City issues first bonds on new tax policy
Aaron Cedeño | Staff Writer
When the Lenexa City Council voted Oct. 16 to revise the city’s tax abatement policy, it was done in the hope that the changes would encourage future commercial growth.
It appeared Tuesday as if the plan bore its first fruit. The council voted unanimously to issue no more than $70 million in industrial revenue bonds to PERG Building LLC for further development of the Pineridge West Business Park.
With a commitment to invest at least $25 million, per the new abatement policy, PERG will be granted the standard 45 percent property tax abatement plus an additional 5 percent for 10 years. City finance director Doug Robinson said incentives could push the abatement as high as 55 percent, but that would remain unknown until the business park had tenants.
“(PERG) should have a project pretty soon,” Robinson said. “This is really just setting the master agreement, so it’s really kind of setting the outline, if you will, and then in the future they’ll be submitting multiple projects.”
By obtaining the abatement, PERG can make itself more attractive to potential tenants, Robinson said. When a tenant is selected, the amount of the abatement will be evaluated on a project-by-project basis.
“From (PERG’s) perspective, it comes down to if they’ve got the pledge for the abatement,” Robinson explained. “It just makes it easier because if you’ve got that you know your costs are going to be a little bit lower than they would be otherwise, and that just allows them to be a little bit more attractive to tenants.”
Prior to the abatement policy revision, Robinson said, property owners interested in developing their land may have been reluctant to do so. Now, he said, the city hoped PERG would be the first of many developers to take that next step.
“Before, maybe (developers) had property, but they weren’t willing to commit to building yet,” he said. “And now because we’ve got the abatement policy, they’re at least willing to look at it a little more closely.”

Parks director makes history come alive
Aaron Cedeño | Staff Writer
Bill Nicks loves the word “edutainment,” even if he didn’t make it up.
“It’s not mine,” he pointed out. “There’s a lot of edutainment out there. But it absolutely captures what I try to do.”
Nicks, the parks and recreation director for Lenexa, has brought tales of Lenexa’s past to groups throughout the area since 1995 — and he’s been doing it in the first person. Dressed as Octave Chanute, a mentor of the Wright brothers and the man responsible for mapping out Lenexa, Nicks provides a unique blend of education and entertainment; hence the term, “edutainment.”
The idea formed when Nicks stumbled across Chanute and discovered how influential he’d been in the development of the entire Kansas City area.
“I said, ‘Man, I’ve gotta tell people about this guy,’” Nicks remembered. “So I asked the Historical Society if I could put together a slide show on Octave Chanute, and they said ‘yeah.’”
The slide show quickly evolved into the first-person concept of today as Nicks’ passion for the material grew. At the urging of his aunt, he decided to give a test presentation to a close family friend. Though Nicks said the friend still kids him about how bad that first attempt was, Nicks always has been glad he made the switch. Today, he’s given hundreds of presentations as Octave Chanute, including many at area schools as part of the city’s “Learning About Lenexa” program.
Carol Jo Stealey, a third-grade teacher at Christa McAuliffe Elementary School, said Nicks always was well-received by the students.
“He has the kids convinced that this really is the original and only Octave Chanute,” she said. “He’s awesome with the kids, and he’s got a great rapport.”
Since 1995, Nicks has added two characters to his repertoire. In the course of his research on Chanute, he discovered he was an important figure in the early development of flight. In fact, he spent a significant amount of time with the Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk, N.C., helping them develop the first airplane. So the character of Wilbur Wright was born in 2002.
“When the Wrights wrote to the Smithsonian in 1899, saying ‘Send us all your information on flight,’ the Smithsonian sent back all their pamphlets,” Nicks said. “But they also sent back a note saying, ‘If you’re serious about this, you should go find Chanute in Chicago.’”
Nicks’ newest persona was developed in 2006. An avid sports fan, Nicks said he was reading a book on legendary University of Kansas basketball coach “Phog” Allen when another prominent figure in the sport’s history caught his attention.
“Well, (Dr. James) Naismith was in Phog Allen,” Nicks said. “And I thought, ‘That’s an even better story.’ So then I started digging into Naismith.”
Though he’s performed as basketball’s inventor only 40 times, a handful compared to Chanute and Wright, he said he’s delivering an important message. Speaking to coaching clinics and children’s basketball camps, Nicks focuses on Naismith’s 13 original rules and the overriding principles of sportsmanship and teamwork in which Naismith believed.
Nicks said that Naismith saw something beyond wins and losses in sports, and that today’s parents and coaches sometimes lost sight of that fact.
“We aren’t raising KU scholar-athletes here,” Nicks stated. “That’s a happy accident if they get to play KU basketball. We’re raising young men and women.”
Down the road, Nicks said, he sees new characters in his future. Former President Dwight Eisenhower, a notable Kansan himself, was a possibility. So was popular sports analyst and commentator Dick Vitale.
But as to a timeframe on how long he would continue to perform?
“As long as people keep needing edutainment,” he said.

Scouts offer tree pickup for Lenexa residents
Aaron Cedeño | Staff Writer
Residents who don’t know what to do with their Christmas trees after the holiday can call on local Boy Scout Troop 136.
Picking up used trees is how the troop got its startup capital seven years ago. The initial project grew, and the boys now will pick up any tree in Lenexa and suggest a $5 donation.
Eric Arner, who has two sons in the troop, organizes the tree pickup. He said that the donations were a major source of the troop’s funds for the year, and that they used the money to purchase camping equipment and other essential items.
The tree pickup has become a troop requirement, but Arner said the boys usually enjoyed the chance to work outdoors.
The trees are taken to the City Service Center at 7700 Cottonwood, where they are ground into mulch. The free mulch is left for the public and used in the city’s landscaping. Tom Lowery, former parks and recreation superintendent who helped get the troop’s project off the ground, said the service the Scouts provided helps keep Lenexa beautiful all year.
Arner said that the troop would pick up any resident’s tree — with or without a donation — but that the money the project generated was a big help. He said they’d collected as many as 300 trees one year, with only a small portion of those accompanied by donations.
“Which was fine,” Arner said. “Because they still got collected, and it was still a community service.”
Call 982-3900, or e-mail troop136@everestkc.net for more.

Maranatha teaches students importance of reaching out
Aaron Cedeño | Staff Writer
As they caroled their way through the halls of the Good Samaritan Society on Dec. 14, Maranatha Academy fifth-grade teacher Linda Steinbrink noticed an impressive quality in her students.
“You know, this is what was such a blessing,” she said.
“They went up to the residents all on their own and would begin conversations. They really liked the interaction.”
Good Samaritan, 20705 W. 151st St., has been providing “Christian healthcare and rehabilitation services to the Olathe community for more than 50 years.”
Esther Galmarini is the director of special events for Good Samaritan, and she said the holiday season is the busiest time in terms of visiting youngsters. But, she said, Christian schools like Maranatha seemed to make an effort to visit more frequently.
“I think the residents really enjoy seeing the kids,” Galmarini said.
“That’s the main thing. Intergenerational programming like that, it helps the residents.”
Galmarini said that the students helped stir memories of the residents’ children, and that the residents greatly enjoyed the music. In fact, six schools performed the day Maranatha was there.
Steinbrink said it was important for families — and young people in general — to visit facilities such as Good Samaritan.
“We all need to recognize that, in our communities, we have a big facility filled with people who need friends, who need family, who need some attention,” she said. “We want to teach our children to think beyond their little world.”
Mindy Hughes, Maranatha’s other fifth-grade teacher, organized the event.
Now in her second year of taking students to sing for nursing home residents, she agreed with Steinbrink and said such trips helped maintain the school’s goal of fostering a desire for community service in its students.
“Seeing different generations, I think that really helps,” Hughes said.
“Definitely with the ‘servant’ part of it, they’re learning to deal with those who are in a way less fortunate than themselves and don’t get to spend the holidays with their family.”
Hughes indicated that the students would return for an Easter concert, which they performed last year. As someone who had worked in a facility like Good Samaritan, Hughes said the reactions of young people to the residents sometimes surprised her.
“But it also surprises me when the kids are mature enough to go up and talk to the people and just really have a conversation and get to know them on a personal level,” Hughes said.
“That surprises me, too.”

Groves find benefit in volunteering for hospital
Aaron Cedeño | Staff Writer
When Don Grove retired 27 years ago, it would have been easy to relax.
In theory, at least.
“When I retired, the first day I came home she said, ‘Are you gonna go up to the hospital?’” Grove remembered. “The first day!”
“She” is Wanda Grove, Don Grove’s wife of 61 years. Together, the couple has nearly 50 years of volunteer service to Shawnee Mission Medical Center — Wanda Grove with 20 and Don Grove with 26.
Ultimately, Don Grove said, he decided to wait a year before answering the call.
“I wanted to retire,” he joked. “She said that, ‘You’d retire, then you’d lay around and sleep.’ I said, ‘I don’t see anything wrong with that.’”
“He would though,” Wanda Grove responded. “You’ve gotta keep busy.”
Today, the Groves can be found at the medical center on almost any day of the week, shuttling information, refilling literature racks throughout the hospital, comforting the sick’s loved ones or taking 10 minutes to listen to a patient who needed to talk.
That aspect has been the most rewarding, Wanda Grove said, and her husband agreed. Don Grove said that he’d worked in the hospital’s oncology ward, and that to his surprise he discovered the cancer patients were often the most positive of the bunch.
“It’s just neat that you can help them, talk to them,” Wanda Grove said, of the interaction. “We’ve met a lot of interesting people.”
It’s the nature of a hospital stay that a patient may lose control to a degree. Clothes are replaced with a dressing gown; home is replaced with an unfamiliar bed in an unfamiliar place. Mike Jacob has been a chaplain at the medical center for 18 years, and he said a friendly face and willing ear like the Groves provide can be valuable.
“You lose control when you come into the hospital, but if you’re telling your story you’re telling something you’re in control of,” Jacob explained. “There’s a sense of relief, a sense of camaraderie. But there’s a bigger sense of ‘I’m not alone.’”
One of the traditions the Groves have developed is giving handmade Christmas ornaments to employees in every department. Wanda Grove said she got the idea when her husband brought home one he had been given as a gift and had thoroughly enjoyed.
“I thought, ‘Oh, that’s a cute idea,’ and it keeps growing,” Wanda Grove said. “I think this year I made 150.”
The Groves reiterated that they felt it was important for individuals of all ages to volunteer their time in some way.
The giving spirit tends to emerge in people during the holiday season, but Don Grove knows that’s not the only time it’s needed.
“I think it’s important year-round,” he said.

Tile company contributes to TV house
Aaron Cedeño | Staff Writer
“Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” completed in November its third foray into the Kansas City area as Ty Pennington and Co. rolled into town to transform the home of Daniel Gilyeat, a veteran of the war in Iraq who lost his left leg in combat.
Thousands of volunteers donated everything from building material to time and effort to aid in the new home’s construction.
The Sunderland Brothers Company knows all about the frantic pace the show’s production window demands. An Omaha-based supplier of tile and other indoor building supplies, Sunderland’s largest market is the Kansas City area. As a result, the company opened up an 8,000-square-foot showroom and a 50,000-square-foot distribution center in 2004 in Lenexa.
When the show first came to Kansas City in 2005 to remodel the home of firefighter Stephen Johnson, the company was chosen to provide much of the tile.
“We were led into the project through one of our dealers who works with Kevin Green Homes, who was the builder on the project,” said Mark Chaney, branch manager for Sunderland. “When the designers decided they were going to do this house and needed tile, they referred them to this showroom.”
Per the show’s format, the family whose home is being rebuilt is sent away on vacation for a week, during which time their home is demolished and literally rebuilt. Considering it normally takes months to construct a new home, the pace is nothing short of remarkable.
“The timeline is just unreal,” Chaney said. “We were on the jobsite within the week, and supplied all the material, donated all the material. We felt it was a great cause, a great story, and it was fun for our employees.”
Like Chaney himself, one of those employees was Laura Flynn, sales manager for the Lenexa Sunderland office. She said that the experience was hectic, but well worth the effort.
“We were out there the day they did the tile install, and we were there 24 hours,” she said.
“We went out thinking we’d be there a couple of hours, and it was a little bit behind schedule. So we ended up being there all night.”
Large-scale projects like the production of the Johnson home are nothing new to Sunderland, Chaney said. Recently, the company supplied tile for several of the suites in the Sprint Center and imported tile from Italy to help repair the Superdome in New Orleans, damaged by Hurricane Katrina. Sunderland also does all of the tile distribution for Applebee’s, helping ensure the product within each of their restaurants remain consistent.
However, Chaney said, the company had seen a shift in recent years in the tile industry, a blurring of the lines between commercial and residential, which had forced it to adapt.
The Lenexa showroom is meant to accommodate both developers looking to work on large scale, commercial projects, and residents seeking to redesign their kitchen or bathroom.
Flynn said residents could come to the showroom with an idea, and one of the four full-time designers on staff would show them how to best make that idea a reality.
“It’s not always an easy process,” she explained. “So it’s nice to have someone kind of walk you through all the selections, what you need, and what products should go where in your house.”
For more information on the company, visit www.sunderlands.com.

Cougars start strong, look ahead
Garth Sears | Special to the Lenexa Centennial
A 4-0 start isn’t bad.
But Ben Meseke’s Shawnee Mission Northwest basketball squad isn’t ready to crown itself champion yet.
After going 13-8 last season and 8-6 in the Sunflower League, Meseke and his Cougars have two team goals: They want to win the Sunflower League, and they want to place in the top four at state.
“It’s going to take a lot,” Meseke said. “Those are lofty goals. The Sunflower League is an extremely difficult place to play.”
The Cougars return three starters from last year — seniors Scott Fruehling and Brad Schnetke and junior Ryan Arel — but they are playing up to nine and 10 a game, taking players from all four grades.
“It’s been a little easier to get started this year because of our returners,” Meseke said. “But on the other hand we’re starting a lot of kids.”
Meseke said that drawing players from different grades can make for a turbulent going at first.
While the Cougars are learning their teammates’ names, working together in an offensive or defensive scheme can seem impossible.
But now, the Cougars look a lot more cohesive.
“We’ve got a long ways to go, but I’m pleased with how we’ve started out,” Meseke said. “Everyone is calming down and starting to make shots.”
It was making shots, especially from the 3-point line, that bothered Meseke for the first three games.
“We’ve played four games, and for the first three, the outside shooting was almost nonexistent,” Meske said. “I thought that was going to be a strength for us. But in the fourth game, we starting making shots.”
Meseke said that Arel, who was good for an excellent 50 percent of his shots beyond the 3-point arc, came through strong in that fourth game against Lawrence.
Now, with the outside shooting kicking in, the interior is opening up for the Cougars, and they should have an easier time scoring.
Still, Meseke isn’t looking to crown his team world champions. They are taking it a game at a time and looking to put together a strong season.
With his three returners, that is a good possibility. But a good season is anything but a given.
“To win league, you have to do it night after night after night,” Meseke said.

Former Viking Frankel punts himself into D-II all-star game
Tod Palmer | Sports Editor
Matt Frankel never expected to be in this position.
A 2003 Shawnee Mission West graduate, Frankel, who now punts and serves as a kickoff specialist for the University of Central Missouri football team, was selected to play in the 2008 Valero Cactus Bowl Division II All-Star Game.
It’s like the Blue-Gray game or the Hula Bowl for the NCAA Div. I level.
Only the best of the best are invited to apply.
Only the best of the very best are selected to play.
Frankel will be among the players suiting up Jan. 11 at Texas A&M-Kingsville University’s Javelina Stadium for the 7 p.m. kickoff.
Heck, there’s a 50-50 chance he’ll be the one who boots that kickoff down the field when the Fox Sports Southwest broadcast begins (DirecTV Ch. 643, Dish Network Ch. 416 or 119 HD).
Still, it will be an odd place for Frankel to find himself.
“Out of high school, I never would have expected to be in this position because I never expected to be punting,” he said. “Up until a couple weeks ago, I never even thought about going to the Cactus Bowl.”
With the Vikings, Frankel was a place kicker. He never punted.
But that all changed during his first two seasons — one a redshirt year — with the Mules, whose coaches converted him to punting.
“I had played around with (punting) in high school, and I had an idea what I was doing,” Frankel said. “But it’s definitely more of a challenge. Kicking always came natural from playing soccer my whole life, but punting is a completely different leg movement, and it was hard to master.”
In a few short years, the last three as UCM’s starting punter, Frankel has made great strides, though.
The second-team All-Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association punter averaged nearly 40 yards per punt and dropped 18 inside the 20-yard line.
He also recorded 10 touchbacks on kickoffs.
But learning the new leg motion and understanding the nuances of punting — not out-kicking the coverage, pooch-punting a ball when faced with a short field and preventing the ball, in some instances, from turning over — has been a challenge.
“The drop was a big challenge, too, and that’s the most critical part of your punt,” Frankel said. “It took me a while to play around with that and come up with the best way for me to do it.”
Given his selection to the Cactus Bowl, it’s safe to assume Frankel has picked up reasonably well on the craft.
He freely admits, though, he hasn’t reached his potential as a punter.
Frankel said he needs to get more flexible and refine his mechanics even more.
“I need to speed up my get-off time, too, because that’s crucial,” he said. “I’m still in the learning process since I’ve only been doing it a few years now.”
And he wouldn’t mind continuing to punt for a few more years. That’s where the Cactus Bowl comes in.
“I don’t know what my chances of playing on really are, but if I had a chance this will be it,” Frankel said. “NFL scouts will be down there, so it could really help out if they get a chance to see me.”
Frankel had applied for the all-star contest in early November, but assumed he hadn’t been chosen because the deadline for when Frankel was told he would hear if he had been selected passed with no word.
News finally came in early December — and Frankel couldn’t be more thrilled.
“It was great to win our last game here, but it’ll be nice to play again,” he said. “Hopefully, this will open up some opportunities for me. It’s an honor, a once-in-a-lifetime kind of thing, so I’m definitely excited for it.”

— Contact Tod Palmer at 764-2211, ext. 140, or todpalmer@theolathenews.com.

Bar has been raised for SM South
Tod Palmer | Sports Editor
Shawnee Mission South finished fifth at the 2007 Sunflower League Wrestling Championships, but fifth may not be good enough in 2008.
With six über-talented seniors and one of the top freshman wrestlers in the league, the Raiders’ goal is much higher.
“Expectations are up from last year just because we have a good group of seniors,” SM South coach Joel Rios said. “We expect to compete around the area.”
Competing is precisely what the Raiders did Dec. 14 and 15 at Blue Valley’s Johnson County Classic.
SM South — and this will sound familiar — finished fifth at one of the largest and toughest meets it will attend this season, but only one league school cracked the top four.
Gardner-Edgerton, St. Thomas Aquinas and Blue Valley North finished first through third with the reigning Sunflower League champion, Olathe North, nestled in fourth fewer than 20 points ahead of the Raiders.
But Rios doesn’t want to get ahead of himself.
“It’s kind of hard to gauge off the Johnson County Classic because not all the Sunflower League teams are there, and it includes several teams that aren’t in the league,” Rios said. “You have to kind of guess about who’s where and how do you match up as far as league.”
Still, Rios conceded that the Eagles probably remain the favorite after finishing highest among the nine league teams at the Classic.
Both Lawrence schools and Leavenworth, the only league schools not in Johnson County, don’t participate in the Classic.
“But I think anyone has a good chance depending on injuries and if kids get sick or change weights,” Rios said. “I definitely think we should do well, though, and I think we have as good a shot as anybody right now to win league. There are some good squads, but I think we have a shot. Everything just needs to fall into place.”
For SM South, that probably means the six seniors who have been to state before — Thomas Grafton (125), twins Charles (140) and Mark Roundtree, Shabir Sultani (160), Eric Rolston (171) and Sean Nguyen-Loyd (285) — must stay healthy and wrestle to their potential.
The good news, so far, is that they are doing just that.
Mark Roundtree, the Raiders’ 145-pounder, reached the championship match at the Classic.
Sultani suffered his first loss of the season against Gardner-Edgerton’s Greg Curtis in the semifinals but bounced back and won his consolation semifinal and third-place match.
Charles Roundtree and Rolston, meanwhile, each claimed fourth place, while Grafton placed sixth and Nguyen-Loyd reached Saturday’s bracket rounds.
SM South’s only champion was that aforementioned freshman, Tre Humphrey.
Humphrey has yet to lose this season in 17 matches and cruised to a title in the lightest weight class at the Classic.

— Contact Tod Palmer at 764-2211, ext. 140, or todpalmer@theolathenews.com.