“Let’s go to the lumber yard.” At our house, that usually means we need supplies for carpentry repairs or a do-it-yourself project. Today we’ll learn about a lumber yard where one can find a whole different set of supplies. Instead of wood, we find wine. Instead of hardware, we find hamburgers. Instead of stacks of lumber, we find steak dinners. This business is owned by a pioneering cattleman from rural Kansas.

Last week we learned about the community of Zenda. One of the prominent businesses in Zenda is the Lumber Yard Steakhouse, now owned by local rancher Mike Molitor. Special thanks to Kansas writer Steve Suther and the Angus Journal whose 2014 article provides background about the Molitors.

In 1902, the Ultch Lumber Company built a lumber yard in Zenda, providing the community with the typical wood and building supplies that one would expect. The lumber yard operated on that spot for 73 years.

In 1991, a local family named the Grabers bought the property. When Zenda’s supper club closed in 1993, the Grabers decided to put a restaurant on that location. In order to be consistent with its history, the restaurant was named the Lumber Yard Steakhouse.

In 2010, the restaurant was bought by Mike Molitor. Mike wasn’t an expert in restaurants, but he did know about one key component: Beef.

The Molitor family came to south central Kansas around the turn of the 20th century. The Molitors were looking for a German Catholic community, and they found one in Willowdale, north of Zenda. Today, the beautiful St. Peters Church still stands at Willowdale.

The Molitor family farmed and raised cattle near Willowdale. Mike Molitor’s parents, Richard and Angela, started their Angus herd in 1952. Mike and his sisters showed cattle and sheep in 4-H. The family won lots of cattle shows and improved their genetic seedstock over time.

Mike earned college degrees in mathematics and business management and worked for Farm Credit Services before coming back to the farm and growing the Angus operation. Molitor Angus became a pioneering business in the use of embryo transfer, ultrasound technology, and effective marketing tools. Mike got involved with the Certified Angus Beef program. He was a founding member of U.S. Premium Beef and served as president of the Kansas Angus Association.

Continuous improvement has been a theme of the Molitor Angus operation. The Molitors have developed a 300-cow herd on 4,000 acres. New bloodlines have been introduced through strategic mating of individual females to proven sires. In 2014, the operation was honored as the national winner of the Certified Angus Beef Seedstock Commitment to Excellence Award.

That’s quite an honor for a rancher who comes from Willowdale, an unincorporated rural community with an estimated population of “30-some” people. Now, that’s rural.

When the Lumber Yard Steakhouse in nearby Zenda was at risk of closing, Mike bought it and upgraded it. This fits with his lifelong goal of producing high quality cattle and high quality beef.

“I see the full circle from conception on, but it’s not only about the big picture,” Mike said on the Lumber Yard website. “Whether we’re talking about diners at the steakhouse, bull buyers or cattle, the individuals are the most important consideration.”

Mike also sees the importance of such services for rural communities. “Small towns will die if they don’t have places like this,” Mike said. “It’s church, it’s community, it’s the whole works.”

Today, the Lumber Yard Steakhouse serves what the Molitors proclaim are the “best Angus steaks in Kansas.” The extensive menu also features salads, seafood, sandwiches, and full dinners. Travelers come from long distances to enjoy high quality food and friendly small town service.

For more information, go to www.lumberyardsteakhouse.com.

“Let’s go to the Lumber Yard.” No, not for a two-by-four, but for a terrific steak. We commend Mike Molitor and Richard and Angela Molitor for making a difference with leadership in the beef industry, all the way from the pasture to the plate.

We’ve had drought, wildfires, a spring blizzard, damaging hail and flooding in Kansas this year and it’s just the end of August. If your home or office was affected by a disaster, would you have an accurate record of what you lost? Would you easily know who to report it to and how to reach them? Would you know when, where and how much to pay for regular bills which are still due even if your property is damaged or destroyed?

Prepare Kansas 2017, an online challenge to all Kansans and others available through the K-State Research and Extension Facebook page, will guide you through steps to be more prepared for emergencies. We will also share information, links, and resources that can make recovery smoother and faster.

The Prepare Kansas social media campaign will run through September to coincide with National Disaster Preparedness Month, coordinated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Prepare Kansas this year will help you take steps to be more financially prepared in case of emergencies, plus it’s a good way to stay organized in your day-to-day life. So, follow “K-State Research and Extension” on Facebook and join in to learn more. Here are the topics which will be featured during each week in September.

Week 1: You don’t know where to get back to if you don’t know where you started, right? This week’s challenge takes you step by step through preparing a household inventory, a critical step in case of emergency, but also valuable for estimating insurance needs and documenting ownership anytime.

Week 2: Things change. Circumstances change. Know the right questions to ask as you review homeowner’s or renter’s insurance and auto insurance coverage.

Week 3: If you had a few precious minutes to leave your home or office, what would you take? Learn the basics about what to include in a grab-and-go kit to help get you back on firm financial footing more quickly after a disaster.

Week 4: Communication is key. The final Prepare Kansas weekly challenge is to develop and practice a family emergency communication plan.

The Prepare Kansas Facebook Challenge will be interactive, with information and resources to help individuals and families be better prepared and the opportunity for participants to comment on their own experiences and what they’re doing for personal and community preparedness.

You can also learn more at the free noon-hour program “Disaster Preparedness for Home, Family and Furry Friends” on Thursday, September 14 at noon at the Cottonwood District Extension Office, 601 Main Street in Hays.
Extension agents Alicia Boor and myself will present information on preparing a disaster survival kit and grab-and-go kit for people and pets. The Prepare Kansas campaign runs during September, but K-State Research and Extension provides emergency preparedness information on many topics throughout the year on the Prepare Kansas blog at https://blogs.k-state.edu/preparekansas/.

Instead of just hoping to avoid a disaster, it is important to put some time and thought into preparing for the possibility. In case of emergency, you’ll be glad you planned ahead.

Linda K. Beech is Cottonwood District Extension Agent for Family and Consumer Sciences.

Many colleges have rules against “hate speech.” But racial supremists and others fire back that the counter-demonstrators who yell back “fascist” and other epithets are engaging in hate speech too. In the wake of the violence at the University of Virginia at Charlottesville, higher education institutions across the country are facing a dilemma in how to handle controversial speakers, attempting to balance the need for open dialogue with the risk of physical violence on campus.

Unfortunately, we do not teach much about “free speech” and the restrictions to speech. As a result, many graduate into society believing that they can say anything they want.

Yes, the First Amendment reads: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

Some may recall that free speech does not extend to yelling “Fire!” in a crowded theater. But speech can cause harm in many other ways. And that provides the basis for a considerable number of legal restrictions on speech.

It is our U.S. Supreme Court that encounters the many ways speech harms others, and has imposed limitations on freedom of speech. In many cases, these limitations are specific to various institutions including the press, the courtroom, the government, industry, schools, and other venues. And restrictions may be crafted differently in different states.

Libel and slander laws limit what we can write and say about others, although if the target is a public figure, only a statement made with malice is actionable.

In Kansas, you cannot parade obscene material in public; but medical doctors and teachers have an exemption from obscenity restrictions for appropriate materials in the doctor’s office or classroom. There is no free speech right when it comes to child pornography.

Sedition is speech or organization to overthrow the government. Speech that promotes armed insurrection is illegal. Incitement to riot is therefore a no-no. Get in someone’s face and shout fighting words and get slugged in response; you can probably forget claiming assault.

Lie in court and you can be charged with perjury—no freedom to say anything you want there. Legal settlements can also involve a non-disclosure agreement; you agree to curb your freedom of speech.

In some civilian jobs, as well as military service and government, there is classified information that may not be revealed to the public. Schools cannot disclose grades and hospitals are restricted in issuing patient information. –No public disclosure of your social security number. And of course there are those government leaks, acts also subject to prosecution.

So there are many situations where “freedom of speech” in America is rightly constrained. And nearly all center on the issue of preventing harm. There are additional restrictions that can be applied in academic institutions, based on varying state laws, whether the school is public or private, and even the nature of the environment (a crowded downtown urban campus versus a spacious rural setting).

Looking back on the violence at the University of Virginia at Charlottesville, various authorities have noted that the torches could have been banned or confiscated, as well as the guns and clubs. And there was no right to be masked; such individuals can be excluded.

These tragic events should provide American teachers with a teachable moment to discuss the complexities of “freedom of speech” and its limitations. Yet, the reaction of many administrators is to avoid controversial speakers and barricade the doors. Meanwhile, the ignorance of the younger generations continues. While some recognized the Nazi swastika, I have yet to locate a student who knows what the symbol was on other shields: crossed bundles of sticks forming the handle to a battleaxe. Those were “fasces,” Mussolini’s symbol for fascism. You can be pretty sure that our 90-year-old World War II veterans know. That is why “freedom of speech” is culturally-dependent.

There is no better time than now for social studies teachers from high school up to seize this teaching moment to discuss our very complicated freedom of speech. And the best textbook for that is Stanley Fish’s book, clearly titled: “There’s No Such Thing as Free Speech…and It’s a Good Thing Too.”