MediterraneanGrocery Wholesalers in Omaha, NE

Steven J. Sempeck, 60, of Omaha was taken into custody on Friday, Oct. 13 for theft by deception and booked into the Cass County Detention Center at 8:34 p.m., according to information on the Cass County Sheriff’s Office website. He was released on Monday, Oct. 16.

According to a report from the Cass County Sheriff’s Office, Sempeck approached a Plattsmouth woman on March 17, 2022 about investing in a bowling alley he was managing. She then met with Sempeck and owner Steven Kucirek at the bowling alley at 601 Chateau Drive in Bellevue. She agreed to invest in the bowling alley and was to receive 3% of the profits after the first year. She delivered a cashier’s check for $25,000 to Sempeck at the bowling alley on April 12, 2022.

A month later, Sempeck contacted her again and said he needed $5,000 more, and she met him at her mother’s assisted living facility in Omaha and gave him a cashier’s check for that amount. On July 5, 2022, Sempeck contacted her yet again and asked for a short-term loan of $25,000. He came to her home, and she wrote him a personal check for $25,000, the report stated. She asked him later about paying the loan back in September, then November 2022, but he said he could not pay it. She asked him several more times, she said, but each time he refused to pay it and said she should only deal with him and not contact Kucirek.

Eventually, she did contact Kucirek, who said he had fired Sempeck in May 2023. He said none of the money she had given Sempeck had been used for the bowling alley. She confronted Sempeck about this, and he admitted he had used the money for something else but still refused to pay it back, according to the report.

In a message he posted on The Alley’s Facebook page on Monday, Oct. 16, 2023, Kucirek said he was not aware of Sempeck’s activities.

“Completely unbeknownst to myself, the owner, Mr. Sempeck had been falsely representing my company and the bowling alley,” Kucirek said in the Facebook post. He said he had been in contact with Sempeck’s accusers.

“I have also, on numerous occasions, been in contact with local authorities and have provided full and complete cooperation with investigators,” he said in the post.

Work on the facility has continued, and Sempeck’s arrest will not cause a “major setback,” Kucirek said.

The Alley is still receiving new furniture and equipment and has not yet announced an opening date.

West of U.S. Highway 75 just south of the Interstate 80 interchange in South Omaha sits a group of silos owned by flour manufacturer Ardent Mills.

For decades, they were anonymous — just concrete gray structures. Now, they catch the eye with a colorful mural titled “Starseeds.”

The “Starseeds” mural, whose creation was led by local artist Sarah Rowe, spans the 15 silos and depicts songbirds flying in a Nebraska sky that also features a sun and thunderstorm. It is located at the Ardent Mills plant at 2900 C St.

Other elements of the mural include two pillars of wheat and Rowe’s depiction of the Lakota people’s sacred Heyoka clown.

“I wanted to honor what’s happening here,” Rowe said at the unveiling of the mural Saturday. “I absolutely adore the Nebraska skies. … I wanted to celebrate this enormous structure that’s part of our landscape here and celebrate the colors of the sky like the sunrise on (the mural’s left) side and the thunderstorm on the other side.”

The mural adds a bit more color to the workday for Maureen Heffernan and her nearly 60 colleagues at the Omaha Ardent Mills plant.

“I think it’s awesome,” said Heffernan, a production manager. “It’s quite an addition.”

Rowe, who led the mural’s creation through the Faith Foundation’s Art + Infrastructure public art project, spent about six months conceptualizing and painting the mural in collaboration with Richard Harrison and his band of artists from A Midsummer’s Mural. Omaha By Design served as a facilitator for the mural project.

“We just really believe in shaping a city that is more vibrant and inclusive,” said Scott Dobbe, executive director of Omaha By Design. “Public art says something great about that. It says this is a place where creativity is valued. This is a place where all of us can benefit from the public realm that showcases those values.”

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The project started after an Ardent Mills employee suggested having a mural depicted at the Omaha plant, said Samantha Bryant, the plant manager for Ardent Mills’ facilities in Nebraska.

“This facility was built in 1926,” Bryant said. “We’ve been part of the South Omaha community for almost 100 years so far. It was really something we wanted to do: To be able to serve the community in a different way and provide some beauty.”

Ardent Mills is no stranger with having murals on its buildings, Bryant said. Two other plants — Denver and Mankato, Minnesota — also have murals.

Similarly, Harrison also has experience creating murals particularly in South Omaha. With that experience, he, along with Zach Storz, Mike Giron, Benter Mock, Amelia Koneck, Mary Ensz, Weston Thomson, David Manzanares, Holly Carey and Rowe who all worked on the mural, was able to identify and execute techniques to create a mural that will stand up to the elements.

Those techniques include the use of doodle grids, Photoshop sketching, and paint that is resistant to the sun’s ultraviolet rays.

“We did a perspective from a point up by the highway. Every time we tried to analyze whether we liked the lines going through things or not, we got on a ladder over the fence up by a highway so we could see if we liked the perspective,” Harrison said.

What resulted is a “Starseeds” mural that will be catching eyes for decades to come.

“It will outlive me, that’s for sure,” Rowe said.

Development

Creighton senior Shaun Campbell’s dazzling finish on the Throw Down Up Top at the new Landmand, north of Homer, Nebraska, helped the Bluejays to a school-record score of 35 under for 54 holes. They were 18 under in the second round, another program record.

Campbell received Big East golfer of the week honors for his second college victory. The New Zealander finished at 10-under 209, closing with a 73 after being 5-over before his late barrage.

Grant Feldman was third, with Owen Price and Omaha Skutt grad Charlie Zielinski tying for fifth. Jake Boor from Creighton Prep had a 6-under 67 in the second round.

Creighton's team title was its third in the last 20 years among events with more than five teams. Feldman and Zielinski shared Big East honors in mid-September.

Nebraska women: Kelli Ann Strand and Michaela Vavrova have been Big Ten golfers of the week. Each has a scoring average better than 72.

Nebraska men: The Huskers had their first winning head-to-head record (38-35-1) in the fall since 2012-13. They were in the top third in invitationals hosted by Wisconsin and Purdue. Harry Crockett, from England, had the fall’s best finish with a tie for third at the Little Rock Classic last week.

Creighton women: Eleanor Hudepohl was Big East golfer of the week twice after her third-place tie at the rain-shortened Big O Classic was her 11th consecutive top-15 finish. The streak ended in the Jays’ final fall event. Their best finish was eighth out of 17 at the Missouri State meet to open the fall.

UNO men: The Mavericks tied Creighton’s split-squad for first at the Big O Classic at Indian Creek. They were fifth at Landmand, where Josh Peters from Millard North was eighth as an individual. Christopher Atkinson from Gretna has had three consecutive top-20 finishes.

UNO women: Macarena Garcia set the Mavs’ 54-hole scoring record with a 3-over 219 at Missouri’s invitational. They were sixth. Nicole Hansen and Elkhorn North grad Emily Karmazin had top-20 finishes at the Loyola-Chicago meet.

Men elsewhere: Luke Gutschewski from Omaha (Elkhorn Mount Michael) is holding the lowest career scoring average all-time at Iowa State. He had all three rounds in the 60s to win Drake’s invitational. Luke Kluver from Norfolk went 4-0 for Oklahoma in the Big 12 Match Play, winning his matches by a total of 20 holes. He tied for fifth, shooting a career-low 67 in the final round, at the season-opening event in San Antonio.

Women elsewhere: Kaitlyn Hanna from Omaha Westside is playing No. 1 for Iowa, which has one tournament left in the fall. She had a career-best tie for 12th at Texas Tech’s tournament. Nicole Kolbas from Lincoln Pius X has played in two of Indiana’s first four events. Kate Strickland from Lincoln returned to the Oral Roberts lineup for its final fall event.

Omaha’s new Lost Rail Golf Club has been a double winner this year in awards determined by Golf Inc.

The magazine said Lost Rail was voted “Clubhouse of the Year” after it was named one of the world’s top three new private clubs.

The 10,517 square-foot clubhouse, resembling a 1920s Tudor mansion, offers views of the Platte and Elkhorn River valleys.

“It’s a second home with a first-rate view,” one of Golf Inc.’s judges wrote.

In the new private club judging, Lost Rail was third.

“Unique golf course well fitted to the land. The only-golf setting with a reasonable size clubhouse is refreshing," judge Tripp Davis wrote.

Lost Rail was designed by Scott Hoffman, built by Landscapes Unlimited and operated by sister company Landscapes Golf Management.

Landmand was third in Golf Inc.’s category of best new resort/daily fee course.

Making it to second stage of the PGA Tour’s revamped qualifying tournament were Alex Schaake from Omaha, Nate Vontz from Lincoln and Noah Hofman from McCook.

Schaake tied for fourth in a first-stage event at Muskogee, Oklahoma. His brother, Carson, shot 66 in the final round at Maricopa, Arizona, but missed advancing by one stroke.

Vontz birdied the 18th at Wilderness Ridge in Lincoln to advance on the number at 3 under. Alex Scott from Michigan won the event in blustery conditions.

Hofman made it by two strokes at Albuquerque, New Mexico. He and Carson Schaake had limited status on last year’s Korn Ferry Tour, getting into only the Pinnacle Bank Championship at Indian Creek through sponsor exemptions.

Next year’s PBC will keep its spot on the Korn Ferry Tour, playing at Indian Creek Aug. 8-11.?

OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) - After 10 months of grueling work, hundreds of hours of classes and training, 11 Omaha firefighters are ready to take on their new roles in the department.

Saturday morning, the on-duty officers graduated from the first-ever paramedic partnership program between Creighton University and the Omaha Fire Department.

“On the fire department, over 85% of the calls are actually medical calls,” says Rebecca Phillips, who has been with OFD for three years. “Before, I would ride on a truck or an engine and respond to calls, help the paramedics, and then go back to the station, now I’ll be on the ambulance, responding to calls, transporting those patients to the hospital, writing those reports, and basically doing all the patient care from start to finish.”

Phillips is one of the 11 graduates. She says even though it’s much more work, being a paramedic is something she’s always wanted to do.

“Actually my goal was always to get on the fire department and be a paramedic, so being here, going through this course just fulfills goals that I had even before getting on the fire department, I love the emergency medicine aspect of pre-hospital work, I love being on an ambulance so far, so I was just really excited and grateful to take that step,” she says.

As the community continues to grow, program organizers say the partnership between Creighton and OFD is exactly what the city needs.

“There’s a huge workforce gap, huge increased demand post covid economy, just a lot more people in need of critical care,” says Dan Stein, the OFD paramedic program coordinator. “OFD, as they’re starting to see their numbers diminish in paramedics and advanced life support, Creighton and Omaha came together and said let’s be proactive about it, and let’s create a program that can thrive and succeed in this environment.”

Having women and men who are as dedicated to caring for and protecting the community as the 11 graduates honored on Saturday is something to be celebrated, Stein adds.

“It shows the commitment they have to themselves but also to the community, wanting to know their job but knowing it at the top tier of it, where they go into a situation and can be a person that has an answer. it’s a great thing to have I think the taxpayers should be proud of what happening behind the scenes at the Omaha Fire Department.”

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Sunday Roadhouse series has hosted dozens of performers, including Lake Street Dive, Lucinda Williams and Todd Rundgren

LINCOLN — You could call it “Two Guys and a Concert Series.”

But just recently, two guys from Omaha — Dean Dobmeier and Gary Grobeck — celebrated 20 years of bringing music they love to audiences in Omaha and Lincoln.

Their act is known as the “Sunday Roadhouse” series. They have staged about 200 concerts in halls and nightclubs in Omaha and Lincoln, featuring 80 artists, since 2003.

It’s a part-time labor of love for Dobmeier, an account manager who used to book bands for the long-defunct Jones Street Brewery in Omaha, and Grobeck, a former construction contractor who now works as a building inspector for the City of Omaha.

After the brewery closed down, Dobmeier said he was enjoying a few drinks with Grobeck, his brother-in-law, after a show at the South by Southwest music festival in Austin, Texas, when the conversation turned to bands they’d seen there. So many of those incredible acts, however, never make it to Nebraska, he said.

‘We can do this’

“I looked at Gary and said, ‘We should bring this stuff to Omaha. We can do this,’ ” Dobmeier said.

The pair books the bands and lines up sponsors to help support the cost of the performances, which initially included building a stage in some venues. The Sunday Roadhouse series has been held at several sites, with the nightclubs keeping the proceeds from drinks. Mostly, the series has used locales in the Benson area of Omaha, such as the Waiting Room and the smaller Reverb Lounge.

“They’re a giant part of the music scene in Omaha,” said Steve Monson, a long-time drummer for the Linoma Mashers”and other Omaha groups.

Unlike for-profit music promoters, Dobmeier and Grobeck are patrons of the arts, paying to bring bands they like that are touring near Nebraska. Each year, ticket sales have been enough to finance more shows.

“They have good taste in music, and they’re willing to do what they need to do,” Monson said. “They take the risks.”

Dobmeier, who once played in the long-gone Omaha rock band, Norman and the Rockwells, said the standard for being booked for a Sunday Roadhouse show is, “We have to like it.”

“We’re not going to waste your time or money here folks — this is going to be good,” he said.

They call them “curated” shows because they select carefully chosen performers they’ve checked out and want to bring to Nebraska.

“If they don’t knock us out, we don’t want to do it,” Grobeck said.

Americana music

They describe the style of music they present as “Americana,” a catch-all for all kinds of roots-inspired music, from blues and rock, jazz and folk, and twang and soul.

They have booked national acts such as Todd Rundgren, Dave Alvin, Lucinda Williams, James McMurtry and Ray Wiley Hubbard, best known for the country-western outlaw anthem “Redneck Mother.”

They booked Lake Street Dive, which originated in Boston, before it became famous, and they keep booking performers they feel should be better appreciated, such as California singer-songwriter Chuck Prophet.

“I think people trust our judgment,” Dobmeier said.

Johnny Iguana, the founder and keyboard player for the Chicago-based indie rock/pop band The Claudettes, said he enjoys playing the Sunday Roadhouse shows because they attract an audience of “real music heads” who are there to appreciate the music.

A real ‘listening’ crowd

“It’s nice to play in a place where there’s energy but also when you turn it down, you can hear a pin drop. It’s a real listening room,” said Iguana, who has toured with Junior Wells and Otis Rush, and played on albums that featured Mick Jagger and Johnny Winters.

The Sunday Roadhouse shows, as the name implies, are usually held on Sundays.

They typically begin early, at 5 p.m., because, Grobeck said, the pair didn’t want their shows to take away patrons “from people trying to make a living at this.”

The COVID-19 pandemic was a challenge — venues shut down, musicians stopped touring — and the series was suspended for two years. This year, the Sunday Roadhouse booked only four shows, instead of the typical 10 to 12. (The next show, on Nov. 18, features New Orleans-stalwarts “The Iguanas,” featuring Omaha native Joe Cabral.)

Similar music series in McCook ended

People and performers, Dobmeier said, still haven’t returned to going out like they did before the pandemic.

The pandemic, and the shortage of performers still touring, was a part of the reason a similar, long-running curated music series in McCook, recently closed down.

Dale Dueland, a local farmer, and Matt Sehnert, a bakery/restaurant owner, focused on “emerging acts” they saw. But their series never returned after the pandemic, in part because Sehnert sold the venue.

Dobmeier said he and Grobeck plan to keep booking shows, though they’re now more likely to discover acts at Kansas City’s annual “Folk Alliance International Conference” or at regional venues at the recommendation of friends.

“We always have our eyes and ears open,” Dobmeier said.

Both Grobeck and Dobmeier said there’s nothing like looking out over a crowd at one of the Roadhouse shows and watching people enjoy the same music they do.

“It makes life worth living,” Dobmeier said. “It’s one of the pleasures of life, and there’s nothing else like it.”

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