Police arrest Korea RPCV Kyle Kopitke



Lynnita Brown, a Korean War educator in Tuscola, Ill., told the Hub Kopitke has a history of coming into a town, hyping up a museum, and then never following through. Kopitke abandoned a donated 110-acre site in Utah in 1999 after failing to raise enough money for a museum. A museum he started in Hawaii also closed its doors a couple years ago after going bankrupt. Brown, who also has had unsatisfactory dealings with Kopitke, said she feels for the towns that let him in. “He goes from town to town to town with his pitch, and they want this so badly,” she said of the veterans who want to have their war remembered.

Police arrest Korea RPCV Kyle Kopitke

Police arrest former curator

By AMY SCHWEITZER, Hub Regional Editor
06/13/2006

Caption: A vintage set of U.S. Marine Corps dress blues and an A-frame Korean backpack are among the items curator Kyle Kopitke has on display in the 38 galleries of the National Korean War museum in Oxford. (Eric Gregory)

OXFORD — A man who started a Korean War Museum in Oxford, then moved it to Edgar pleaded not guilty Monday in Furnas County Court to criminal trespassing in the former museum.

Kyle Kopitke was spotted at the museum building about 5:30 a.m. Saturday, said Furnas County Chief Deputy Kent Kapperman.

“A member of the public reported that a strange vehicle was sitting at the museum,” he said. Kopitke was found inside “attempting or intending to take things from the building.”

Police contacted the owner of the building and learned Kopitke did not have permission to be there.

Kapperman said there is a dispute about who owns the items that Kopitke was removing. Kapperman said it was unclear what Kopitke was trying to remove.

Kopitke’s bond was set at $1,000. He was being held in Furnas County Jail this morning. First-degree trespassing is a Class I misdemeanor punishable by one year in jail and a $1,000 fine.

The Korean War Museum in Oxford opened in April 2005 in a former nursing home. The museum was closed for the winter in September but never reopened. Kopitke owed the village of Oxford for several months’ utility bills when he left.

Some Korean War veterans who had donated artifacts to the museum in Oxford were able to retrieve their donations before Kopitke left town, but others, such as Jack Kurtenbach of Kearney, still are trying to get back their items.

Kurtenbach, a Korean War veteran, said he donated many personal items such as medals, badges, a uniform and newspaper clippings as well as items he had received from diplomats.

He said he had been told his items are on display in Kopike’s Korean War museum in Edgar. He said Kopitke has said he will return Kurtenbach’s donations but hasn’t yet.

Kopitke moved to Nelson where he also set up a National Vietnam War Museum in a former high school.

Chuck Tuttle of Nelson, who was on the Friends of the Museum board of directors, said as far as he knows, the museum still is open in Nelson, but the oversight committee set up by the town has been “pushed out.”

He said the town has tried to work with Kopitke, who lives in the museum and drives a vehicle given to him by the town.

Kopitke has a contract to purchase the Nelson building at $2,000 a year payment. The first year’s payment was made through local donations.

“He’s made it impossible; it’s all take and no give with him,” Tuttle said.

Tuttle, a Vietnam War veteran, said he and many other residents still hope to keep the museum, but perhaps without Kopitke.

“It’s a shame. We were looking forward to having the museum,” Tuttle said. “We put a lot of work into it just to be pushed aside.”

Tuttle said the town had heard about problems with Kopitke in other places but thought they would have enough oversight that it wouldn’t be a problem.

“We figured we had enough control that he couldn’t get away with anything,” Tuttle said. That oversight has worked to some degree, but Tuttle said that Kopitke is a hard person to work with.

Lynnita Brown, a Korean War educator in Tuscola, Ill., told the Hub Kopitke has a history of coming into a town, hyping up a museum, and then never following through.

Kopitke abandoned a donated 110-acre site in Utah in 1999 after failing to raise enough money for a museum. A museum he started in Hawaii also closed its doors a couple years ago after going bankrupt.

Brown, who also has had unsatisfactory dealings with Kopitke, said she feels for the towns that let him in.

“He goes from town to town to town with his pitch, and they want this so badly,” she said of the veterans who want to have their war remembered.

Kurtenbach said he feels partly responsible because, “When he first set up I was gung-ho. As time went on, we learned about Hawaii and Utah,” he said.

e-mail to:
amy.schweitzer@kearneyhub.com

When this story was posted in June 2006, this was on the front page of PCOL:




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