July 2022 • Nebraskaland 59
Dendinger's plan and rejected his application. His property
didn't have enough parking space.
"I told the board that what I wanted to do was no diff erent
than operating a small sweet-corn stand," Dendinger said.
"People will come in and out of the bait shop in minutes,
because they know what they want to buy."
Never one to be deterred by obstacles, Dendinger
approached the union hall next door. He got permission to
use their parking lot. In exchange, he agreed to mow their
lawn and plow the lot when it snowed.
Dendinger had what he needed to open L (Larry) & A
(Adrian) Bait. But there was a fi nal obstacle. Adrian's health
was getting worse. She couldn't give any time to the new
store, and Dendinger still had the lawn service and many
customers to consider. He couldn't simultaneously operate
L&A Bait and the lawn service, so he did the unthinkable.
Rather than hire an employee, Dendinger decided to do
business by the honor system. Shoppers would choose from
his inventory and deposit their money through a slot on a
wall.
"My friends and family thought I was crazy," Dendinger
said. "But they didn't know what I knew. Sportsmen are
trustworthy people."
The inventory at L&A Bait includes red worms,
nightcrawlers, chubs, minnows, green sunfi sh, golden
shiners, chicken liver, catfi sh bait, leeches, ice and minnow
buckets.
"I have an excellent customer base — ice fi shermen and
open water fi shermen."
Dendinger raises his bait on a 78-acre farm south of Yutan.
It has 13 small ponds that he dug with a CAT excavator, the
same piece of equipment he operated in Cedar County nearly
50 years ago. Unfortunately, the many mounds of black dirt
ringing the ponds can't fi ll the giant hole in Dendinger's heart
left by Adrian's death last December. But it keeps him busy.
He visits his Yutan farm to check on the ponds every day.
Many times, it's dark when he returns to his home in Millard.
The L&A Bait sign above the garage is always lit, and the
double wide door is open for any trustworthy sportsmen.
Water gurgles in aluminum tanks, and every day, at every
hour, at every minute … of the year, a ceiling light illuminates
a sign fastened to one of the tanks: It says "Honor System."
JEFF
KURRUS,
NEBRASKALAND
