Nebraskaland

58 Nebraskaland • July 2022 It's always wise to keep your garage door closed and locked at night. And not just at night, but at all hours of the day. Larry Dendinger knows there's wisdom in safeguarding home possessions and personal safety, but he runs a 24-hour-a-day, seven-days-a-week business from his garage. His garage door is always open. Dendinger, 75, owns L&A Bait in southwest Omaha. It's not the fi rst bait shop he's owned — Dendinger is an accidental bait store owner. From 1985 to 1998, Dendinger operated Millard Bait & Tackle from a storefront in a shopping plaza. Born and raised in Hartington, Nebraska, Dendinger's childhood included milking cows, trapping varmints and feeding hogs, and in between farm chores, he fi shed Lewis and Clark Lake, the Missouri River, farm ponds and Gavins Point Dam. "I'd go to nearby creeks and seine my own minnows," Dendinger said about a once-common practice that is now outlawed in Nebraska. After graduating from high school, Dendinger operated heavy equipment for Cedar County. He didn't know it then, but his experience as a heavy equipment operator would come in handy as a bait shop owner. Dendinger's brother-in-law encouraged him to move to Omaha and work for the Western Electric Company. As a heavy equipment operator, he could make more money in one week than in a month. So, he moved in 1969 and worked 40 to 48 hours a week. But the slow pace didn't satisfy the hard- driving, adventurous Dendinger. He left Western Electric in 1979 and opened a lawn service company — Dendinger Lawn & Garden. He and nine employees landscaped, fertilized and mowed lawns around Omaha. He still operates the company today as its only employee. Between yard work and raising three children, Dendinger still found time to fi sh. He joined Cornhusker Bass Club and competed in tournaments. He got his minnows at Millard Bait & Tackle. One day, the store owner said to him, "Why don't you buy me out?" "I don't need more work," Dendinger replied. Around that time, Millard Bait & Tackle was to permanently close its doors, and the owner tossed Dendinger a set of keys. "Look it over," he said, meaning the shop. "This is what I want out of it." He quoted Dendinger a sales price. Dendinger went home and talked it over with his wife, Adrian. "We thought, 'Why not?'" A few days later, the Dendingers were bait shop owners. They expanded Millard Bait & Tackle and relocated to a larger storefront in the same shopping plaza. Adrian had a signifi cant role in managing the business. Meanwhile, Dendinger kept the lawn service business going. Then in 1998, he sold Millard Bait & Tackle. Adrian's health was starting to decline. She had a stroke shortly after the sale. Between 1998 and 2012, the shop changed owners fi ve times until it eventually closed. Now that they had one business, life was admittedly slower for the Dendingers. Then a South Dakota bait representative showed up at their front door. He tried convincing Dendinger, a former customer, to open a bait store in Omaha. He said local fi shermen were underserved because of the dearth of bait shops in the area. However, Dendinger wasn't interested in owning another bait shop. His lawn service was thriving, and Adrian's health wasn't great. He gave the sales rep the names of two Omaha men who might have an interest in opening a store, but the men declined. The rep came back to Dendinger, who fi nally relented. "I told him I'd open a bait shop, but only if I could do it out of my home." Subsequently, the Omaha Planning Board didn't like A DIFFERENT BAIT SHOP By Tim McNeil MIXED BAG

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