{"id":184,"date":"2009-02-20T16:05:00","date_gmt":"2009-02-20T22:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/linux\/wordpress\/?p=184"},"modified":"2017-04-06T13:36:23","modified_gmt":"2017-04-06T19:36:23","slug":"constituents-bank-on-sen-utter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/?p=184","title":{"rendered":"Constituents bank on Sen. Utter"},"content":{"rendered":"

Above: Sen. Utter and wife Kathryn enjoy the view from a mountaintop near Breckenridge, Colorado.<\/em><\/p>\n

Some might call it being focused; others might call it being rooted in what you know. Whatever one calls it, Sen. Dennis Utter is pleased to say that he has had only three jobs since finishing college, all in banking. His most recent was with the Adams County Bank in Kenesaw, from which he is semi-retired.<\/p>\n

But Utter had his share of varied and interesting jobs while attending the University of Wyoming.<\/p>\n

His freshman year, Utter was a grasshopper scout. He explained that grasshopper infestations were common in Wyoming at that time, so the state hired young people to map the insects\u2019 patterns. Scouts were issued surplus army jeeps to track down the grasshoppers and direct pilots where to spray the infested areas.<\/p>\n

He also fed lab rats in the biology department and cleaned out their cages, a job that seems to have left a lasting impression. \u201cI hate rats to this day,\u201d Utter laughed. \u201cI don\u2019t care if they\u2019re white or not.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the things Utter loved was growing up on a farm in Wyoming.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s quite a bit of farm blood running through these veins,\u201d he said. In fact, early in his career, Utter briefly considered going to back to the farm. But with a family to support, Utter said, he stuck with a career in banking instead. Still, he found ways to stay connected to farm life.<\/p>\n

Utter volunteered to help friends with harvest and cattle feeding. \u201cIt was a chance to get back and drive a tractor again,\u201d he said. He also fed cattle as a second job, thinking that he\u2019d make extra money to put in his three children\u2019s college funds. But the money he made didn\u2019t turn out to be \u201cextra.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m the only one who got an education from that job,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Utter said he\u2019s always been political and, as a former city council member and mayor of McCook, felt that he had valuable experience to bring to the Legislature. But his interest in the work of the state\u2019s lawmaking body also is personal.<\/p>\n

Utter said he\u2019s very concerned about economic development in rural Nebraska, especially when it comes to providing the state\u2019s young people the opportunities they need.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to make sure our kids are able to stay here,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Utter\u2019s own three children have all left Nebraska. One son is a banker in South Sioux City, but lives in Iowa. Another son resides in rural Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n

His daughter is in Ft. Riley, Kansas, where her husband, who recently began a second tour in Iraq, is stationed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wish they were here,\u201d Utter said. \u201cI wish they\u2019d stayed.\u201d<\/p>\n

An avid golfer, Utter said his wife likely would describe him as a \u201cgolfaholic.\u201d When asked if he\u2019d ever shot a hole-in-one, Utter laughed. \u201cI\u2019ve played enough golf that I should have, but I never said I was good at it.\u201d<\/p>\n

But time for golf was in short supply during the campaign, and Utter doesn\u2019t see that changing anytime soon. The pace of the Legislature has been a little more intense than he expected, and he expressed \u201cgreat admiration\u201d for the younger members of the body.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe young people who have full-time jobs and small children \u2013 I honestly don\u2019t know how they do it,\u201d Utter said.<\/p>\n

He also appreciates the tradition that guides the legislative process in the Unicameral.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome might say it\u2019s archaic, but I think it\u2019s really important to honor those traditions,\u201d Utter said.<\/p>\n

And tradition is important to a man who has been married as long as he has.<\/p>\n

Utter met his wife, Kathryn, through family when they were teenagers. Both had won trips to the United Nations in high school, he from Wyoming and she from Nebraska.<\/p>\n

Utter worked for Kathryn\u2019s uncle at his filling station as an after-school job, and her uncle decided the two teenagers should get to know each other better.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd the rest, as they say, is history,\u201d Utter said. \u201cThat was over 50 years ago.\u201d Utter smiled warmly. \u201cAnd now I\u2019ve spilled all my family secrets.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some might call it being focused; others might call it being rooted in what you know. Whatever one calls it, Sen. Dennis Utter is pleased to say that he has had only three jobs since finishing college, all in banking. His most recent was with the Adams County Bank in Kenesaw, from which he is semi-retired.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21399,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[167,18],"tags":[217],"class_list":["post-184","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-senator-features","tag-sen-utter-and"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/MeetUtter_blog2017.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=184"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21719,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184\/revisions\/21719"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/21399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}