Discover Eudora | Winter 2018 by Sunflower Publishing

WINTER 2018

D I SCO VER

EUDORA A COMMUNITY GUIDE

Sweet Acres Inn Hosting Eudora Visitors

Meet the Townâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s New Police Chief

What Fossils and Relics Tell Us of Our Past

All About the After-School Programs

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Discover Eudora D I S C O V E R

EUDORA A COMMUNITY GUIDE

v WINTER 2018

D I S C O V E R

EUDORA A COMMUNITY GUIDE

Sweet Acres Inn Hosting Eudora Visitors

WINTER 2018

Discover Eudora is an official publication of the City of Eudora, the Eudora School District and Eudora CVB with editorial, design and advertising placement provided by Sunflower Publishing.

cityofeudoraks.gov Mayor Tim Reazin City Manager Barack Matite School District Superintendent Steve Splichal School District Communications Director Kristin Magette Eudora CVB President Jeff Ingle

sunflowerpub.com Director: Robert Cuccinielo Production Team Leader: Shelly Bryant

What Fossils and Relics Tell Us of Our Past

All About the After-School Programs

City Liaison Leslie Herring School District Liaison Kristin Magette Chamber Liaison Keith Nowland Eudora CVB Liaison Jeff Ingle Editor Nathan Pettengill Art Director Jenni Leiste Graphic Designer Amanda Nagengast Copy Editor Leslie Andres Photographers Brian Goodman Cindy Higgins Janene Rothwell Writers Melinda Briscoe Thaddeus Haverkamp Cindy Higgins Seth Jones

Meet the Town’s New Police Chief

ON THE COVER

Interior of Sweet Acres Inn; photograph by Brian Goodman

Dear Reader, One of the things I love most about Eudora Schools and the community we serve is the commitment we have to the entire student learning experience, both in and out of the classroom. Our students, after all, deserve the best from our community all day long -- not just when school is in session. For several years, we have invested in meaningful opportunities for students to engage and learn after school, in a safe and supportive environment. From the Eudora Elementary School Science Club to the Eudora High School cross country team -- and so many other programs in between -our students have access to caring adults ready to encourage their interests and passions. The 2017-2018 school year has delivered new enrichment opportunities for middle school students, thanks to grants from the Eudora Schools Foundation, the Lawrence Memorial Hospital Endowment Association and other generous donors. Sixth, seventh and eighth graders have read together, solved problems together, learned together -- and even packed thousands of meals for hungry families together. And, of course, we are exceedingly proud of our after-school programs, Quest for kindergarten through fifth grade, and The Zone for our middle school students. These optional fee-based programs bring art, recreation, technology, creativity, academic support -- and old-fashioned fun -to a student’s day. Quest and Zone also offer families a safe option for supervision after school. Simply put, we offer our students this rich and supportive range of opportunities, thanks to the support we get from our community. From gifts to the Eudora Schools Foundation, to taxpayers willing to support our work, to partners willing to find creative ways to succeed together, Eudora is a place where people care about each other. Because when we work together for the benefit of children and teenagers, the rewards come to all, many times over.

Steve Splichal All material and photographs copyright Sunflower Publishing, 2018. For editorial queries: Nathan Pettengill (785) 832-7287 npettengill@sunflowerpub.com For advertising queries: Nathan Peterson (785) 832-7109 or (785) 823-7264 npeterson@sunflowerpub.com

School District Superintendent

With the Eudora mobile app, users can quickly search and get information about the city. Whether you are looking for services, places or events, all you need to do is search your mobile app installed on your cell phone. More importantly, the city will send out alerts on emergencies, traffic congestion, road maintenance, environmental issues, weather updates and other beneficial services. The City of Eudora mobile app is available for download on Apple and Android devices. Scan the QR code to the left to download the app and begin browsing its capabilities.

cityofeudoraks.gov

Contents

Winter 2018

Departments 6

EVERYTHING EUDORA

The Sweet Acres Way

PLACES TO VISIT

10 CALENDAR OF EVENTS 16 MAP OF EUDORA 30 QUICK GUIDE

Features 12 THE JASMINS OF EUDORA

A popular downtown restaurant grows along with its namesake

18 THE RELICS OF OUR PAST

The artifacts of local history are plentiful and powerful reminders of our connection to an ancient timeline

22 BEYOND THE SCHOOL HOURS

Two after-school programs offer Eudora Elementary and Middle School students a safe place to learn

26 THE NEW CHIEF IN TOWN

After 24 years serving Prairie Village, Wes Lovett takes the reins of the Eudora Police Department

06 cityofeudoraks.gov

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Everything Eudora

Winter 2018

The

Sweet Acres

WAY

A EUDORA BED AND BREAKFAST THRIVES AT THE INTERSECTION OF WEST VIRGINIAN HERITAGE AND KANSAS HOSPITALITY story by MELINDA BRISCOE

ou can take the girl out of West Virginia, but why would you want to take West Virginia out of the girl? Sue Howig’s establishment, the Sweet Acres Inn, is proof of the charm of blending your heritage into your ventures. The name of her bed and breakfast

photography by BRIAN GOODMAN

is from Howig’s childhood street in her native West Virginia hometown. Portraits on the wall feature her great-grandfathers, one of whom has a town, Hundred, in that state named for him. Sweet Acres’ hospitality has that Southern touch you can still feel in parts of West Virginia.

cityofeudoraks.gov

And while Sweet Acres Inn has modernized, eclectic styles and influences, at its heart is a feeling of home. And home for Howig was West Virginia. But now home is Kansas and the core of her inn is Kansan, as well as the circumstances that made the inn possible.

Everything Eudora

Winter 2018

Howig and her cousin Gordon Fitzsimmons owned a construction company in Lawrence that did a lot of work building wheelchair ramps and providing residential renovations. As their experience in remodeling and reselling homes grew, they turned their eye to a Eudora property that Howig’s husband, Robert, had owned for several years. This 1,400-squarefoot home was built in 1905 with somewhat of a vernacular farmhouse style. The Howigs and Fitzsimmonses expanded this home with a 3,600-squarefoot addition, leaving the original section as a separate residence for Sue, Robert and their dog, Sebastian, and creating three bedrooms, a living room, a projector room, a large dining room and a wrap-around deck. “We designed as we went,” Howig recalls. “We are scroungers. So we would find different things at thrift stores, garage sales and resale shops and think about what we could do with it all.” Once they completed the project, Howig began rethinking her original plan of reselling the property. “I liked it a little too much,” she explains with a smile. Instead, she decided to make the roomy building into a bed and breakfast.

cityofeudoraks.gov

Everything Eudora

Winter 2018

At this point, Howig brought in her interior-designer daughter, Kat Overfield, who is responsible for the eccentric pieces, the warm accoutrements, the pretty decorative touches now found throughout the inn. Some of the original artwork hanging on Sweet Acres’ walls was created by Overfield as well as Howig’s mother-in-law. But don’t expect everything to remain the same from one visit to another. “Designing this place is an ongoing process. My cousin and I aren’t done with it yet,” says Howig. “And, of course, my daughter finds things that she knows will fit in well with the rest of stuff.” While the furnishing continues, Howig embraces the other tasks in what was an entirely new venture for her. “I really like to cook, I like to clean and I love people. So this is the perfect fit for me,” she says. And with each of these duties, Howig has learned from her growing experience—and from her guests— as to what works best. Take cooking, for example. Howig features her specialty breakfasts of yogurt parfaits, mini quiches and baked French toast with fruit, but leaves it up to the guests as to when they take breakfast. “They can have it any time they want it.” Although, she says that usually it is much earlier than later. “I wouldn’t mind if someone wanted breakfast at two in the afternoon, but the special request is usually for very early in the morning.” As she continues to make Sweet Acres Inn even better, Howig sees her own business developing along with a new group of city ventures, many fellow members of the Eudora Chamber of Commerce. “What I love to see are people from other places coming here and setting up shop,” says Howig. “They blend in with the established businesses and that is one of the reasons I am so glad to be in this town.”

cityofeudoraks.gov

Everything Eudora

Winter 2018

Places to Visit IN EUDORA

BLUEJACKET CROSSING VINEYARD AND WINERY

EUDORA TOWNSHIP PUBLIC LIBRARY

QUILTING BITS AND PIECES

Award-winning local wine 1969 N. 1250 Rd. 785.542.1764

Books, DVDs and public space 14 E. 9 St. 785.542.2496

Quilting supplies from experts 736 Main St. 785.542.2080

COUNTRY SPA AND GARDENS Rural rejuvenation 2152 N. 700 Rd. 785.883.4944

D-DUBS

Sebastian’s Star Performance Instead of dinner and a show, guests at Sweet Acres get breakfast and a show. Sebastian, the inn’s resident Pekingese, has an unusual talent of producing something that is somewhat between a howl and a boisterous ditty. Whatever it is, Sebastian seems proud to share it and will often “sing” to guests who request it. “He knows he’s special,” Howig laughs. Like many great performers, Sebastian will also provide an encore (though it helps if he is offered a little extra treat, his “singing bone”).

Bar and grill 10 W. 9 St. 785.690.7212

DAVENPORT ORCHARDS AND WINERY Award-winning local wine 1394 E. 1900 Rd. 785.542.2278

DAIRY QUEEN Frosty treats 1502 Church St. 785.542.5050

EUDORA COMMUNITY MUSEUM Our past told 720 Main St. 785.690.7900

EUDORA MARKET ON MAIN Handmade goods and more 724 Main St 785.691.6231

EUDORA PARKS AND RECREATION Parks, pools and leagues 1630 Elm St. 785.542.1725

EUDORA YOGA CENTER Beginners and advanced 706 Main St. 785.550.5928

GAMBINO’S PIZZA Original pies 1402 Church St. Suite D 785.542.2727

GENE’S HEARTLAND FOODS Local grocer 1402 Church St. 785.542.2727

HIS HANDS CLOTHING CLOSET Nonprofit clothing and goods store 736 B Main St 785.690.7220

SONIC DRIVE-IN Nostalgic car-hop food 1420 Church St. 785.542.1799

SUBWAY Customized sandwiches 318 E. 15 St. 785.542.2626

SUNFLOWER STATE DANCE Dance lessons 104 E. 20 St. #4 785.690.7200

SWEET ACRES INN Bed and breakfast 103 E. 7 St. 785.542.2466

TWILL TRADE BOUTIQUE

JASMIN RESTAURANT

Women’s clothing store 704 Main St 785.363.0008

Chinese and Mexican 719 Main St. 785.542.1111

TWIN OAKS GOLF COMPLEX

KAW RIVER ACCESS POINT

Tee time 1326 E. 1900 Rd. 785.542.2844

Entry for canoes/kayaks 500 Main St. kansasriver.org

LULU’S BAKERY Pastries and baked goods 1004 Locust St. 785.393.1907

WAKARUSA BREWERY Beer, mead and eats 710 Main St 913.256.5119

Discover Eudora

Winter 2018

Calendar of

EVENTS JANUARY

2016 WOW Eudora Health Fair Photograph courtesy City of Eudora

A DAY IN PARIS Eudora Public Library; 2-4 pm; a youth party with French snacks, drinks, crafts, activities and décor; $10 per child eudorapubliclibrary.org

EUDORA INDOOR GARAGE SALE Sponsored by Eudora Parks and Recreation; Eudora Community Center; 8 am-noon; Registration required, call (785) 542-2153 eudoraparksandrec.org

NO SCHOOL Eudora Public Schools closed for teacher inservice day

22-23

MARTIN LUTHER KING JR DAY City and school offices closed

HISTORY OF IMMIGRATION IN KANSAS Eudora Area Historical Society hosts free program by the Kansas Humanities Council at Eudora Community Center; 7 pm

KINDERGARTEN MUSIC PROGRAM Performing Arts Center, Eudora High School; 6:30 pm eudorapublicschools.org

PRESIDENTS’ DAY City and school offices closed

CHAMBER ANNUAL DINNER Eudora Chamber of Commerce annual dinner; BlueJacket Crossing Vineyard and Winery; 6-9 pm; $50 per plate eudorakschamber.com

NO KINDERGARTEN CLASSES Eudora Public School kindergarten classes closed for fall screening

FEBRUARY

PRINCIPAL FOR A (HALF) DAY The Eudora Schools Foundation welcomes business and community leaders for a special behind-the-scenes school experience; reservations required eudorapublicschools.org

FAMILY FUN NIGHT Eudora Parks and Recreation sponsored event at Eudora Community Center; 6-8 pm eudoraparksandrec.org

MARCH

PANCAKE DAY Eudora Parks and Recreation hosts pancake meal at Eudora Community Center; 7-10 am; free with cash or canned goods donations accepted eudoraparksandrec.org

NO SCHOOL Eudora Public Schools closed for teacher workday

LEPRECHAUN CHALLENGE 5K Sponsored by the Eudora Parks and Recreation, race begins at Eudora Community Center, 10:30 am; registration is required call (785) 542-2153

12-16

SPRING BREAK Eudora Public Schools closed for spring break

LOCAL HISTORY Eudora Area Historical Society hosts free program at Eudora Community Center; 7 pm

WOW EUDORA HEALTH FAIR Lions Club 5K at 9 am, then exhibits at Eudora Public Safety building 10 am-12:30 pm

For a full and updated calendar of events, go online at eudoraevents.com, eudoraschools.org, eudorapubliclibrary.org and eudoraparksandrec.org

cityofeudoraks.gov

EASTER EGG HUNT Eudora Parks and Recreation sponsors community-wide hunt at Lucy Kaegi Park; 1 pm; free and open to public eudoraparksandrec.org

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Discover Eudora

Winter 2018

The

JASMINS of Eudora

A POPULAR DOWNTOWN RESTAURANT GROWS ALONG WITH ITS NAMESAKE story by THADDEUS HAVERKAMP

photography by JANENE ROTHWELL

cityofeudoraks.gov

Discover Eudora

Preschool • All Day Childcare Certified Teachers • 12 months to Kindergarten

ost Eudorans know Jasmin as a long-standing downtown establishment run by one family, but split evenly in its decor and menu between Chinese and Mexican. This one-of-a-kind Chinese-Mexican restaurant goes back to when J. Ramirez and his wife, Maria, immigrated to the United States in 1982 and began spending decades in kitchens across the country, cooking American, Chinese and Italian cuisine. After moving to Douglas County, the couple opened their simple, distinctive cuisine combo that smells equally of General Tso’s chicken and fresh salsa in April 2000.

“I would serve just the regulars, not the big tables. I was too shy.” --Jasmin Ramirez But this Jasmin—both the Chinese and the Mexican portions of it—were actually the second Jasmin in the Ramirez family. The original Jasmin, the new restaurant’s namesake, was the couple’s 1½-year-old daughter, who spent much of her time with her parents near the kitchen. “Ever since I was little, literally in diapers, I’ve been here,” Jasmin recalls. “People still come in and tell me they remember me when I was in diapers.” Eventually she grew out of diapers and grew into work roles. By age 11, Jasmin was serving select diners. “I would serve just the regulars, not the big tables. I was too shy.” Jasmin recalls.

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The Ramirez family (from left), J., Jasmin and Maria, run the popular Jasmin restaurant in downtown Eudora.

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Discover Eudora

Winter 2018

At the time, Jasmin learned from her two siblings. Her older brother, Omar, was the restaurant’s first waiter. He then passed his regular customers down to their sister Janet, who eventually left to become a police officer in Topeka and passed her customers down to Jasmin. To this day, Jasmin continues serving at the restaurant. But she balances this work with studies to become a firefighter and EMT. Jasmin says that two incidents in her childhood clarified her career goals. One happened when the family lived in a duplex and their next-door neighbor accidentally started a kitchen fire. When Jasmin came home, she saw her house in flames and immediately thought about her grandmother. Once she saw the firemen putting out the fire and pulling her grandmother to safety, she knew what she wanted to do. Another brush with tragedy gave Jasmin the inspiration for adding the emergency responder qualification. When she was 15, working in the restaurant, a customer collapsed from a seizure. “Obviously I wasn’t medically trained. I was just 15; I didn’t know what to do at all,” Jasmin recalls. “But then the medics came in and I thought, ‘yup, I want to be you.’” A year after this incident, Jasmin began doing ride-out time with the Eudora Fire Department. She is now a recruit at the Wakarusa Township Fire Department and is finishing her EMT training at Johnson County Community College. Though Jasmin may have a career of civil service ahead of her, her heart is never far from her family’s restaurant. “When you get a job, will you quit the restaurant?” her parents have asked her. “Well, I can’t abandon you, it’s my home. So, I can’t leave you alone,” Jasmin has replied. For the near future, at least, there will continue to be two Jasmins of Eudora.

The Ramirez family cooks up both Mexican (left) and Chinese (right) dishes at the café, whose décor is also divided equally between Mexican and Chinese.

cityofeudoraks.gov

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Restoring

Relationships

with God Sundays | 10:30 a.m.

Eudora Middle School

Meeting Address: 2635 Church St, Eudora, KS 66025 (785) 917-2263 | www.refugecc.us

Vidan Dental

G E R A L D

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W .

V I D A N ,

1 0 3 W. 1 0 th St. Eu d o r a , KS 6 6 0 2 5

D D S

785-542-2993

Kansas River I-70 6.5 miles

karusa River Wa

K-32 3.5 miles

W 7th St

18 19

W 9th St

Lawrence 10 minutes

Old K-10

District

Tallgrass Dr

E 13th St

E 14th St

Elm St

W 15th St

Locust St

Fir St

r St Ceda

MAP

28 30

Church Street Commercial District

W 20th St

23rd St

34 35

E 2200 Rd

S Fir St

Stratton Dr

26 10

E 15th St

W 26th St

Intech Business Park

Cardinal Dr

Maple St

Oak St

Walnut St

W 16th St

E 10th St

W 11th St

Peach St

Pine St

Spruce St

10th Street

W 10th St Commercial Cherry St

Church St

Main St

Acorn St

W 8th St

N 1400 Rd

Ash St

6th St 9 10 11 12 13 14 16 15 17

Birch St

7 8

N 1300 Rd

Downtown District

Community Necessities 6 7 8 11 12 13

Old K-10

Kansas City 35 minutes

14 15 16 17 19 20

Wakarusa River Boat Ramp

W 6th St

Schools 1 24 32 33

Eudora Schools District Office Eudora Elementary School MAP Eudora High School Eudora Middle School

E 8th St

Downtown Commercial District

W 9th St

Eudora Public Library E 9th St

CPA Park

Eudora Public Safety Building

1,000 ft W 10th St

Map created for City of Eudora by Leslie Flowers, Print Media Ink

Church St

W 8th St

Locust St

Railroad

Locust St

9 Charles Pilla House 31 Beni Israel Cemetery

Eudora Community Museum

Maple St

Historical Places

Eudora Chamber of Commerce

U.S. Post Office

Elm St

West Sports Complex Disc Golf Course (9 Hole) Wakarusa River Boat Ramp Kerr Field East Sports Complex Eudora Parks & Recreation Department, Community Center, and Aquatic Center 30 Babe Ruth Field

Building Inspector & Codes Admin. E 7th St Sweet Acres Inn

W 7th St

Recreational Areas 2 3 5 21 25 28

City Manager’s Office City Hall

Main St

Bluejacket Park Pilla Park CPA Park East Side Park Paschal Fish Park Lucy Kaegi Park South Park

Charles Pilla House

Pilla Park

Parks 4 10 18 26 27 29 35

E 6th St

Main Street Terrace

22 23 34

City of Eudora Public Brush Dump Eudora Public Works Department Public Recycling Drop City Hall (City Commission, City Clerk, & Billing) City Manager’s Office Building Inspector & Codes Administration Eudora Chamber of Commerce US Post Office Sweet Acres Inn Eudora Community Museum Eudora Public Library Eudora Public Safety Building (Police Station, Municipal Court, and Fire Station) Holy Family Catholic Cemetery Eudora City Cemetery Public Recycling Drop

E 10th St

Discover Eudora

Winter 2018

The

Relics of our

PAST

THE ARTIFACTS OF LOCAL HISTORY ARE PLENTIFUL AND POWERFUL REMINDERS OF OUR CONNECTION TO AN ANCIENT TIMELINE story & photography CINDY HIGGINS

his winter and early spring, the freeze-thaw cycles will once again break up rocks and expose newly visible fossils that testify to Eudora’s geologic record and archaeological past.

“At Eudora, Kansas, fossils are abundant and well preserved,” wrote nineteenth-century geologist Charles R. Keyes. For anyone interested in a personal encounter with our distant past, there’s plenty to discover in

cityofeudoraks.gov

Eudora’s sediment layers deposited by shallow seas that covered the region millions of years ago. Dan Kuhlman, a retired Eudora Middle School earth science teacher, took his students fossilhunting from 1987 to 2012.

Discover Eudora

Winter 2018

“You’ll find a variety of invertebrates, mainly brachiopods, crinoid stems, bivalves, and a few more exotic ones from about 300 million years ago,” says Kuhlman. “They’re on K-10’s exposed road cuts, especially on the Edgerton exit where we used to go.” Artifacts connected to nomadic hunter communities are also often discovered by fossil hunters and by farmers who till up the historical remains in their fields. “People have been in the Great Plains a lot longer than anyone thinks—at least 13,400 years,” says Brad Logan, Kansas State University research associate professor of archaeology. The earliest known indigenous people on the Great Plains, the Paleo-Indian hunter-gatherers, migrated from Asia when the climate

warmed and glaciers melted. They and migrating bands who followed them in time trailed animal herds and supplemented their meat diet with fish, freshwater mussels, nuts, fruits, and edible plants. Rare in Kansas but plentiful in neighboring states, Paleo-Indian campsites typically are along waterways where people have lived off and on for thousands of years. However in Eudora, along the Kansas River, skeletal remains have been found of Paleo-Indian prey. Town newspapers of the past told of a mammoth shoulder blade weighing 65 pounds; a mastodon shoulder blade; a femur from a giant ground sloth; and bison bones that are believed to be 8,000 years old. Early human inhabitants in Eudora’s prehistory left little else to mark their existence except shaped

stones to process their game and chipped stone projectile points (arrowheads) for hunting. Attached to shafts as darts, projectile points also served as knives and were thrown with atlatls, spears used for many more centuries than the relatively recent bow and arrow. Frank Kramer, Medicalodges Eudora resident, and his family donated 800 of these projectile points, potsherds, and other surface finds from 8000 B.C. to 1300 A.D. to the Tonganoxie Community Historic Site, 201 W. Washington St. The museum debuted these artifacts on September 2017 in a permanent exhibit. Logan, who worked on the Kramer property, said the collection has a “variety of diagnostic artifacts from different time periods and represents a variety of Indians around Stranger Creek and adjacent areas.”

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Frank Kramer says the collection that he and his family donated to the Tonganoxie museum includes his best finds.

Jesse Montgomery grew up in Eudora and graduated from Eudora High School. When he went to college, he worked on the summer 2006 dig of the Kansas River with Kansas State professor Brad Logan. “People on Paleolithic and prehistoric archaeology digs are mostly looking for ‘debitage,’ which is basically trash,” explains Montgomery. “It’s where they were making and refining arrowheads.”

According to the Kansas Geological Survey, echinoid (sea urchin), single-cell fusulinid, and crinoid fossils can be found in the limestone bluffs along the Kansas River east of Eudora, the lower part of Captain Creek, and Little Wakarusa Creek. Eudora’s shale outcrops and quarries also have these fossils as well as eel-like conodonts, brachiopods, and bryozoans.

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Discover Eudora

In hunting fossils, never dig on private property without permission. Fossil hunters must also recognize that it is illegal to collect objects from public lands. With the proper approach, finding fossils and artifacts isn’t difficult. “They’re just everywhere,” says Lorene Reetz Cox, who has many of her finds displayed at the Eudora Community Museum, 720 Main St. Cox has found specimens used for pounding and other functions. “When they shaped rocks, they had a reason for doing that,” she explains. Besides projectile points and petrified wood, Cox’s artifact finds include pottery fragments from the Delaware (also called the Lenape), who built homes on the land that is now her property. Relocated north of the Kansas River by the U.S. government in 1829, the Delaware’s short stay ended after a subsequent 1866 treaty relocation to Oklahoma, similar to the Shawnee treaty relocation south of the Kansas River. Before the Delaware and the Shawnee, the Kansa (also known as Kanza or Kaw) lived in the Kansas River area. According to historian David Dary, in the 1700s some Kanza had a settlement where the Wakarusa River meets the Kansas River. Cox says making these discoveries can be as simple as watching the ground when walking. “I found a scraping specimen—and it was a very hard quality limestone—on top of the hill by the river. You always look down. You’ll find them before the grass turns green and gets tall.” Fossil-hunters should be cautious and considerate about digging, even on their own land. “I’ve never dug and wouldn’t know where to start digging. Plus, you don’t want to cause erosion,” Cox cautions. Two archaeology enthusiasts using metal detectors spotted Delaware items on Cox’s property. Among their findings were tool fragments, square nails, lantern parts, lead bullets, and a 3-cent coin dated 1850. Interested in discovering your own relics? Besides pinpointing artifacts in exposed rock, check out plowed ground and other disturbed topsoil, especially after a lengthy rain. “Look in ground that has been worked after rain and have a little bit of luck,” Kramer suggests. Another good bet are sandbars during low water levels and stream shorelines after flooding has carved into shore soil deposits made hundreds of thousands of years ago. “Know that under your feet, the ground hasn’t always been there,” Logan advises. “Streamways flush artifacts out and move them. You won’t find Indian points unless they have been eroded out on a channel or gravel bar or on bluff tops that don’t get eroded quickly.”

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BEYOND the School Hours TWO AFTER-SCHOOL PROGRAMS OFFER EUDORA ELEMENTARY AND MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS A SAFE PLACE TO LEARN story by SETH JONES

photography by JANENE ROTHWELL

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Discover Eudora

23 We’ve Moved!

orget first-day jitters, Lily Herron was pumped for her first day of kindergarten. Lily had the benefit of seeing big sister Ava navigate the first day of school waters before her, and she knew there was a lot to look forward to: new friends, recess, lunch. But what was she most looking forward to on her first day of school? That would be for the day of school to actually end … so Lily could jump on a bus with her big sister and go to Quest, Eudora’s afterschool program for elementary school students. “Lily was super excited because Ava was in Miss Heather’s room, and she knew from Ava that Miss Heather is lots of fun,” says Courtney Herron, Ava and Lily’s mom. “It’s a lot different picking the kids up from daycare, compared to picking them up from Quest. It’s nice as a parent when you pick up your kids and they don’t want to leave. And it’s not like they’re just running around,” she adds, “they’re doing educational activities. I can’t praise the program enough.” For parents like Herron and her husband, who both work full-time jobs in Lawrence, Quest is a program they couldn’t imagine living without. Herron says besides the relief of having a place for her kids to go after school, she also loves the staff and the additional study time her kids get with things like spelling, memorization and writing stories. “I also like it that the Quest kids stick together,” Herron says. “It doesn’t matter what grade they’re in, the Quest kids all talk to each other.” For an annual fee (see information on page 25), parents can sign their kids up for one of two programs: Quest for students in kindergarten through 5th grade, or The Zone for students in 6th through 8th grade. Quest is held at West Resource Center, 1310 Winchester Road, with students being bused to the location. The Zone is hosted at the middle school library. Yemen Shaaban was hired in October 2009 to create both programs for the Eudora School District, and has been director since the programs began in January 2010.

Yemen Shaaban, director of the school district’s elementary and middle-school after-school programs, leads an activity for children in the Quest group.

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“We find out what the kids want, what the parents want, and we tailor it to their needs.” --Yemen Shaaban

“I came to the school district with the intent of developing these after-school programs to supplement and increase the social and emotional learning of these students,” Shaaban says. “We find out what the kids want, what the parents want, and we tailor it to their needs. It’s not just supervising them and sending them home.” Shaaban says the school district provides the critical resource of space, then she and her team come up with the programming. A typical day might be reviewing sight words for the Otter class (kindergarten and first grade) while the Meerkat class (2nd and 3rd grades) practices multiplication tables. “The school district is the real champion; they have given us spaces that are our own,” Shaaban says. “This gives the kids a sense of community. They work together in groups. We want the kids to feel connected, secure and safe, and if they want, they can also work individually.”

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Currently, there are approximately 70 children enrolled in Quest and 30 enrolled in The Zone. There is a ratio of about 12 students to 1 staff person at Quest and The Zone (the younger the students, the smaller the groups). Shaaban is there herself everyday, along with her employees, who are mostly college or graduate students. She also has the occasional high school volunteer—former Quest and The Zone students themselves—who come by and help with the kids. Shaaban says the most rewarding thing about her job is seeing her after-school students progress through the grades and come back as young adults. Having led the program for eight years now, she says welcoming returning students is more common each day. “I’ve had students who have gone off to college, and they’ll stop by and reminisce, or they’ll call and talk to me about how this program shaped them and how they feel about themselves,” Shaaban says. “It’s not something you think about at elementary age. At that age it’s just hugs and the excitement of seeing each other every day. But the payoff to me now is seeing someone go on in life and succeed.”

Program details HOURS: 3:00–5:20 p.m. each school day COSTS FOR QUEST: One student: $125 a month ($1,250 for the 10-month school year); Two or more students: $210 a month ($2,100 for the 10-month school year) COSTS FOR THE ZONE: $100 for the 10-month school year

STUDENT TO STAFF/TEACHER RATIO: 12 to 1 SNACKS: Yes REGISTRATION AND QUESTIONS: Yemen Shaaban, (785) 542-4940, ext. 1278 (office); yemenshaaban@eudoraschools.org

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Winter 2018

The

New Chief in

TOWN

AFTER 24 YEARS SERVING PRAIRIE VILLAGE, WES LOVETT TAKES THE REINS OF THE EUDORA POLICE DEPARTMENT story by SETH JONES

photography by BRIAN GOODMAN

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Discover Eudora

After almost 50 years in Downtown Lawrence, we would like to reintroduce ourselves.

udora’s new chief of police, Wes Lovett, could easily be teaching high school history right now. After 20 years serving the police department in Prairie Village, he was eligible to retire from the police force and thought about becoming a teacher. For about a minute. “I had considered when I was eligible to retire—would I like to do something different?” Lovett recalls. “And then I instantly thought, I love doing this, this is what I know, this is what I do pretty well—I decided to stay in this line of work.” It wasn’t the first time that Lovett chose law enforcement over teaching history. As an undergraduate at Kansas State University, Lovett studied history and education until he decided he didn’t want to be in the same classroom all day, every day. He switched to criminal justice and joined the Prairie Village police force about a year after graduating college. It took him a year to land the job, he says, because most jobs he applied for had a pool of about 200 applicants. “Today you can’t get 200 people to apply for a job on the police force,” Lovett says. “It’s very difficult to find good quality candidates today. It’s definitely changed in the last 25 years.” Lovett currently lives in Shawnee but will move to Eudora within a year. He’s been married for 23 years and has three daughters: a 16-year-old and 14-year-old twins. Discover Eudora sat down with Chief Lovett to get to know him and discuss his new job and the challenges the Eudora Police Department faces.

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Discover Eudora (DE): Tell us a little more about yourself. Chief Lovett (CL): I grew up in Mission, Kansas, and went to Shawnee Mission North. From there I went to a small junior college in northern Kansas called Highland Community College. I played sports up there a couple years. Then I went to K-State. After college my first job was with Prairie Village. I was there for exactly 24 years, then came here. DE: What appealed to you about this job in Eudora? CL: I hadn’t planned on leaving Prairie Village unless, I told myself, the right job, the right opportunity became available. I knew the right job would be a community about this size. DE: Were you familiar with Eudora? CL: Just a little bit. What I did when I applied here, I purposefully didn’t ask any of my fellow law enforcement people that I knew about what kind of police department it was, what kind of people did they have, what kind of community did they have—because I wanted to base my own opinions. And so far, everything I’ve seen is great.

Eudora police chief Wes Lovett has been in his new position since August 2017.

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DE: What’s the hardest thing about your job? CL: Doing a lot more with less. Where I came from, I was the commander of the investigations unit and I had people working for me, doing things for me. Now I have to do all of it myself [laughs]. If somebody came in and complained about speeders on the streets, I’d hand that assignment to the traffic unit. Well, we don’t have a traffic unit here. All these issues we were able to work through at Prairie Village, here you have to work through them yourself and do more with less.

DE: What do you like about Eudora? CL: It’s a small community, and I wanted to go somewhere where you could get to know a lot of people. I wanted to go somewhere where you could go to the Casey’s and know the person behind the counter, say “hi” to them. DE: What are your goals for the police department? CL: One thing I’ve learned from Chief Edwards, who was here before me, it’s a very good police department, very professional. One of the biggest things that I need to do is make sure we stay fully staffed. In a community this size, with a police department this size, if you lose one or two people it’s really difficult to keep providing the same expectations as far as police work goes. DE: What do you consider “fully staffed?” CL: Twelve people—11 plus me. We have a school resource officer, we have a fulltime detective and ten people on patrol.

DE: How big was the operation at Prairie Village? CL: Fully staffed, 47 plus 15 non-sworn employees such as dispatch, records, property—all positions we don’t have here. A lot of people here do multiple jobs. We have a patrolman who has been here two years; he’s a field training officer, and he’s also in charge of the property room. One of the reasons you have to be fully staffed, as I learned quickly when I got here, is all these officers have additional responsibilities. Once you lose somebody, now you’re dividing his responsibilities going forward. It just becomes really cumbersome for a patrolman to not only go out and patrol the streets and answer the calls but also to have to do all the other things here at the station as well. DE: You mentioned earlier that you could have left law enforcement but you didn’t because you enjoy it. Why do you find it enjoyable? CL: Besides your pat answer that everyone likes to help people, I like the variety of the work. I had the opportunity to work in a drug unit, investigations, patrol, all kinds of different units. I really liked coming to work not knowing what was going to happen during that shift, and adapting to all the things that can happen. And obviously you’re helping people along the way.

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DE: Have any of your mentors given you words of advice that have stuck with you through your career? CL: Probably my biggest mentor was Chief Wes Jordan. He’s now the city administrator at Prairie Village. He was my first supervisor. As he kept getting promoted to lieutenant, sergeant, captain and chief, I was right behind him, and I worked a lot with him over the years. He’s a real family-oriented person, and that’s how he tried to make Prairie Village. There was a family atmosphere. He cared about people. And the biggest thing was, always be professional. That’s what I’m trying to do here, build a good relationship with the community. There was already a good relationship when I got here, but there are always ways to make it better, which is a goal I have. DE: Has there been a day in your career that stands out, where you said to yourself, “This was a good day; I’m glad I’m doing this.” CL: Prairie Village is one of those communities where you have an opportunity to do self-initiated activity. You can be as busy as you wanted to be. I was one of those guys who was busy all the time. I don’t know if it’s old-school, but I came in and gave you eight hours of hard work. It’s hard to pinpoint one thing that stands out in my mind because you see so much in law enforcement, you see so many good things, but you see so many bad

Discover Eudora

things too. Unfortunately, a lot of times the bad sticks with you more than the good. I really enjoyed my time in the drug unit, doing some things undercover. We were a 2-man unit, and we had the freedom to do what needed to be done. You go through all of Johnson County and work with the other agencies. One of the things I’m most proud of was being a part of “Lunch with Law Enforcement,” creating that and having law enforcement go to the grade schools once a month and eat with the kids. We also did “Coffee with a Cop”; we did “Shop with a Cop.” Programs like that make me more proud than any one call. DE: Will you be bringing those programs to Eudora? CL: Yes. We would take five or six employees and go and have coffee. It gave the citizens the opportunity to ask questions that they’d probably never call and ask. In a public setting, people are more comfortable. There were people who would just stay there and talk to us for an hour. It’s a great program. DE: OK, a couple random questions … who is your favorite musician? CL: I like country music. George Strait. But I mostly listen to my kids’ music … DE: Favorite book? CL: I’m a John Grisham fan. DE: Favorite cop show? Or do you even watch them? CL: Typically I don’t watch them, but my kids and wife love Blue Bloods, so we watch that one. And I think, as far as cop shows go, they stay relevant with law enforcement; there’s a good message in there. A lot of the episodes are about family. That’s the only cop show I watch, but we watch it as a family. DE: Do you have any hobbies? CL: I like to bird hunt—I just went to South Dakota. And golf. Those are the two things I squeeze in. DE: Are you a sports fan? CL: I’m a huge Royals fan. My 16-year-old plays competitive softball. I’ve coached her team for seven years. It’s a yearround job with competitive sports. DE: How do you motivate people? CL: I lead by example. I’m not going to ask anyone here to do something that I’m not willing to do. I told the guys here I’m not bringing Prairie Village to Eudora, I’m bringing some ideas, but I’m not going to bombard them with ideas. The good thing about here is quite a few of the officers live in Eudora and quite a few were born and raised here. I think when you have that buy-in, if I lived here my whole life, I want this community to be safe … when you live here your whole life, you take a lot of pride in the town, and you can see that in the people who work here.

CAREN ROWLAND Eudora Realtor for over 25 years 785-979-1243 caren@askmcgrew.com 1402 Church St. Suite E, Eudora, KS 66025

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QUICK GUIDE Resource

Website

Telephone

Emergency & Medical

911

Kansas Poison Control

(800) 222-1222

Lawrence Memorial Hospital

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(785) 505-5000

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Kansas Crisis Hotline Tip Hotline (Kansas Bureau of Investigation) Child Abuse Hotline

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(785) 542-4113

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(785) 542-3124

atmosenergy.com

(888) 286-6700

eudoraparksandrec.org

(785) 542-1725

Building, Planning & Zoning Atmos (Gas) Parks and Recreation Department

Douglas County Services Douglas County Douglas County Sheriff

douglas-county.com dgso.org/web/index.php

(785) 841-0007

lawrenceks.org/fire-medical

(785) 832-5259

ldchealth.org

(785) 843-3060

douglascountyks.org/depts/youth-services

(785) 331-1300

Douglas County CASA

dccasa.org

(785) 832-5172

Cottonwood Inc.

cwood.org

(785) 842-0550

bertnash.org

(785) 843-9192

Eudora Chamber of Commerce

eudorakschamber.com

(785) 542-1212

Eudora Public Library

eudorapubliclibrary.org

(785) 542-2496

cityofeudoraks.gov/100/Eudora-Community-Museum

(785) 690-7900

eudoraevents.com

(785) 542-2153

eudoraschools.org

(785) 542-4910

Douglas County Fire & Medical Douglas County Health Department Douglas County Youth Services

Bert Nash Community Health Center

Living in Eudora

Eudora Area Historical Society Eudora CVB

Public Schools Eudora School District

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