AUGUST 2019
LEAVENWORTH COUNTY
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Banks are constantly playing games with their loan and deposit rates. Whether it’s quoting loan rates withPg. 4 Summertime in Leavenworth County................................................................................................ points paid by the borrower or short-term CD specials Music is a great extracurricular activity for local students................................................................ Pg. 5 designed to catch customers in a lower rate at rollover, most of our competitors are routinely working to hide Small Business Spotlight: Petite Fleur............................................................................................... Pg. 7 the pricing ball from their customers. At Mutual Savings we have a different philosophy. The Joys of Summer Vacation............................................................................................................ Pg.We8
offer straight-forward, honest pricing designed so our LEAVENWORTH customers can quickly and COUNTY easily understand what Brought to you by they Leavenworth Times are paying on their loans and earning on their deposit 422old Seneca accounts. If you are tired of the same banking Leavenworth, KS 66048 games, and you are ready to work with a community bank you can trust, call or stop by one of our locations and experience the Mutual difference.
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Music is a great extracurricular activity for local students By LISA SWEET Special to the Times
It is widely accepted that playing a sport in school has many of benefits. But what if your student isn’t an athlete? Check out your school’s music program. Katie Peterson, Miss Southern
States Princess of America 2019, says she wasn’t an athlete growing up. “Having music or chorale and band opportunities gives (students) an extracurricular activity that acquaints them with other students who share their interests and gives them socialization opportunities that are important when
in school,” she said. Music is imperative in helping students achieve academic greatness. “Music encourages creativity, has been shown to increase intelligence, promotes empathy, improves cognition in the classroom, is a universal language and translates to skills that extend beyond the studio that will last a lifetime,” said Wujeong Duncan, owner of the Leavenworth Music Academy. Studies referenced by outlets like the National Association for Music Education, Mr. Hol-
land’s Opus Foundation and VH-1’s Save the Music reinforce Duncan’s sentiments as well as tout how music in schools can help students learn teamwork, build imagination and teach discipline through hard work. One major study proclaims that students who take four years of arts and music classes average almost 100 points higher on their SAT scores than students who take only one-half year or less. A more recent study took it further by taking into account what type of music a student studies as well as their socio-economic status. The study was featured in a recent article in Forbes Magazine. The study states that “students who took music lessons in high school performed better in subjects such as English, science and math.” In Leavenworth, there are many opportunities for musically curious students returning to school
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Music Lessons (Contiuned from Page 5) to participate, practice and learn. As with any academic or extracurricular endeavor, support is crucial to helping students succeed. According to Jared Prost, band teacher at Leavenworth High School, “Parents can make sure that their student has an adequate space to practice at home. This would be a place that is as free of distractions as possible, well lit and has an adequate chair and a folding music stand. Parent support should also include attendance at performances and if possible, providing private music instruction. “Private lessons allow a teacher to tailor music to the specific needs of the student. In conversations with Eric Rathburn, owner of the Tune Shop, and an amazing local musician Chris Burnett, we have all agreed that private lessons should be structures to offer the student the opportunity to catch up to their classmates if they are behind or enrich beyond what is taught in the classroom.”
Leavenworth has a multitude of opportunities to help boost musical education through private lessons. Here are a few businesses in the local area: Urban Music Store 221 N. 5th St. 913-682-0602 Saturday in-store lessons Ages 4-adult Lessons in piano, drums and trumpet
Tune Shop 514 Delaware St. 913-682-3453 In-store lessons/30 minutes $80 per month private/one-on-one instruction Lessons in brass, guitar, percussion, piano, strings, voice and woodwinds
Leavenworth Music Academy 423 Chestnut St. 913-775-1116 In-studio lessons $20/30-minute lesson Lessons in piano (4-over) and voice (7-over)
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SMALL BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT: Petite Fleur NAME OF BUSINESS: Petite Fleur
anything at the moment?
OWNERS: Heidi Smith
Baby and children’s clothes (we take all the way up to size 18/20), shoes, books and toys are our most popular items. We accept all seasons at all times, so clean out those closets, double-check our website for our guidelines as to what we can accept or not, and drop them by the shop. We will happily sort through and contact with an offer of cash or in-store credit for the items that we can use.
ADDRESS: 506 Delaware St., Leavenworth PHONE: 913-250-5094 WEBSITE: www.petitefleurleavenworth.com NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES: Zero, it is a family-run business HOURS: Tuesday through Friday 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Saturday 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
4. Will you be hosting any back-to-school specials?
1. What is a brief history of your business? We have long had a nomadic lifestyle with the military. While forever grateful for all we have seen and done, we are excited to put in some roots. When we were stationed at Fort Leavenworth two years ago. This area quickly worked its way into our hearts. We were a little surprised that there was not a children’s resale shop somewhere in Leavenworth and the suggestion was made to us to open one. We love the historic downtown area and started researching locations. One thing led to another and by the grace of God, we were able to open Petite Fleur. We are humbled and honored to be a part of downtown Leavenworth.
2. What makes your business unique? We believe that you can dress your children in great clothes but not have to break the bank while doing
MARK ROUNTREE/LEAVENWORTH TIMES
Heidi Smith is the owner of Petite Fleur, 506 Delaware St. in downtown Leavenworth. so. We very selectively cull our items so that we can provide you with great quality items. We pay cash or provide in-store credit for gently used name brand clothes – no need to wait for a consignment check or deal with the hassle of tagging/pricing items yourselves. We also have a heart for local and Fair Trade items and actively support both. Shopping Fair Trade and secondhand is a fun way to take care of each other and our beautiful world.
3. What are some of the most popular items in your store? Are you in need of
We will be hosting a raffle for back-to-school. In order to give back to our local elementary schools, any new school supply donation that people bring in the month of August will automatically enter their name into our raffle. We will hold this for the entire month of August. Please stay tuned on our Facebook or Instagram for upcoming details.
5. Why is downtown Leavenworth a good place for a small business? We are honored and humbled to be a part of downtown Leavenworth. We love small-town America and the quaint downtown areas and love seeing the revitalization put back into these areas. The Leavenworth Main Street program, the fellow merchants and, of course, the fabulous customers have made the past six months a pure joy and we look forward to many more. – Lisa Sweet
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Leavenworth County Living 7
THE
JOYS
OF SUM ME R VA CA T
I O N
Writing & Phottos by Lisa Swee
N
o one is full of more false hope than a parent organizing a long road trip. This year, my family embarked on a 23-day, 4,500-mile crosscountry adventure. We visited national parks and monuments while having once in a lifetime experiences. Yet, if I knew that one night I would end up in a hotel bathroom, crying, covered in vomit (for the 15th time), I would have pulled the ignition coil from my family truck and feigned ignorance. We left on a balmy Saturday morning with birds chirping, kids smiling and gas prices at the lowest they’ve ever been. Well, not really. The kids kicked off the “fun” in the traditional sense (or scents) with random smells that emanated from the back seat. OK, I could handle that, but then feet plunged into the backs of our seats while requests for WiFi hotspots never stopped. Say WiFi 50 times fast, and you’ll catch my drift. Complaints of nothing to do, look at and being bored happened as quickly as we crossed from Kansas to Nebraska. Again, nothing I couldn’t handle, but it just … kept … going. Arguments over who was hogging bandwidth compounded with ignored parental pleas of “Look outside at this gorgeous scenery” culminated in what has been deemed “The mass electronic confiscation of summer 2019.” Passive-aggressive teen questions were non-stop. “How many days again?” “Where are we going?” “Are you sure we can’t just skip that?” “Is it really important to see the world’s largest potato?” (Yes.) I began to wonder, how did I forget to pack my earplugs and why are we doing this? That was day one. Seriously, within hours my husband and I were already driven to bring out the big guns and threaten “We’re going to turn this car around and
never bring you on vacation again!” Ironically this was met with cheers instead of tears. In the first of an unspeakable amount of self-pitying crying fits (yes, I’m talking about me) I asked myself, “When did our kids become stereotypical tweens/teens that don’t think we’re the coolest people ever?” By day seven I started googling, “ramifications and legality of quitting motherhood” and “can family trips cause long-term trauma?” It was bad enough the kids were anti-family fun. But then our car decided to get in on the act. I heard a slight humming and even though I turned up the radio it became louder and more menacing. I guess it wasn’t the road after all. Eventually we ended up hanging out in a car rental facility, trying to shove our luggage in a car that was two sizes smaller than ours, while “enjoying” their burned coffee. This was a harbinger of things to come. Somehow we made it 1,001 miles away from Leavenworth to Craters of the Moon. We were driving to take the traditional national park sign picture and I guess I didn’t realize this small act was inadvertently thumbing our noses at the vaca-
“can family trips cause long-term trauma?” tion gods. By now the kids had resigned to the forced family fun so perhaps that was the tipping point since we were smiling and singing along with the radio with the windows down (airing out all the acrid smells). How were we to know these actions would cause our first flat tire? Yes, I said first, we had three total. How does that happen? Were we having too much fun? Did our very hubris bring us to tragic places called House of Tires and Roadrunner Auto? Instead of petroglyphs and volcanic cinder cones, we spent a lot of time with guys named Bob who saw it in their hearts and the big tips we gave them to fix our tires. I won’t say it was my husband’s driving that brought on our car woes, instead I’ll blame it on the construction we drove through. That’s right, nails everywhere. Even after all the car headaches we tempted fate as we cockily proclaimed, “Look at us kids! Your parents are rockstars! We have dealt with all of this car drama and never once lost our cool!” Between you and me, we did lose our cool – a lot. Perhaps it was that extra glass of pinot grigio I drank each night that made me forget my husband cussing after each can of Fix a Flat he purchased and how I woke up in a cold sweat each night envisioning my untimely death in the Great Salt Lake desert while waiting for a tow. Still we continued onward. Then the acts of God began. Threats of avalanches caused detours, hiking trails were flooded, mudslides on seemingly innocent nature walks, we witnessed falling rock in an actual falling rock zone, we couldn’t cross the overflowing rivers,
Jump to Page 11 Leavenworth County Living 9
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Family Vacation (Contiuned from Page 9) and I swear I felt an earthquake one night, but then again that could have been me shaking uncontrollably from stress. My cortisol levels really starting spiking while, through fake smiles, we assured the kids that even though our adventures were being cancelled, darn it, we were still hap-hap-happy! Rest assured, no one died. But one night my youngest woke up with what could only be described as a Linda Blair level sickness. It seems we had the perfect storm (there is that natural disaster theme again) of altitude and heat (and a suspicious burrito) that even an hour drive to the closest ER couldn’t fix. Well, that, my friends, is how we reached our breaking point. At 1:30 a.m., while cleaning up puke and trying not to gag, I wondered “how does throw up end up on the ceiling.” We cancelled the rest of the trip. My husband and I were laugh-crying. How did we get here? We’re not sure, but we did learn something from all of this. We learned that every family trip has its problems like smelly feet in the car, arguments, flat tires and unmet expectations, but in the end the bad memories fade and the good are what remain. Don’t get me wrong, the bad hasn’t faded but it is becoming more comical and my therapist has assured me my consequent anxiety will lessen over time. I am also 100% certain this will go down in family folklore with plenty of embellishments and wild inaccuracies. In the end, we saw elk and mountain sheep
in astounding numbers, learned to rock climb, rafted some incredible rapids, glamped under the stars, ate potatoes in Idaho, hiked in canyons and slid down an alpine slide. Like the amnesia after childbirth, I’m already planning next year’s trip. Anyone want to join us?
Leavenworth County Living 11
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