Korea RPCV Kyle Kopitke guilty of respassing in a former Korean War museum he had operated in Oxford, Nebraska



Kopitke, an Army veteran and a former Peace Corps volunteer, had operated a Korean War museum at a former Oxford nursing home for a few months in 2005 before moving that museum to Edgar and opening a Vietnam War museum in Nelson. He was arrested before dawn June 10 inside the Oxford facility, which he had agreed to vacate eight months earlier. The Nebraska Attorney General's Office recently said it was investigating Kopitke's activities. In recent interviews, officials in both Nelson and Edgar have questioned the viability of the two museums.

Korea RPCV Kyle Kopitke guilty of respassing in a former Korean War museum he had operated in Oxford, Nebraska

Museum Booster Guilty of Trespass

By Paul Hammel, Omaha World-Herald, Neb.

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)

Aug. 15--BEAVER CITY, Neb. -- It took a Furnas County judge less than an hour Monday to find a troubled museum developer guilty of trespassing in a former Korean War museum he had operated in Oxford, Neb.

But while it's clear that Kyle Kopitke, 49, of Nelson, Neb., now faces up to a year in jail or a $1,000 fine, or both, it was unclear how his misdemeanor conviction might affect two half-finished war museums he now operates in old schoolhouses in the small towns of Nelson and Edgar, Neb.

Kopitke did not comment as he left the courtroom. His sentencing is scheduled for Oct 2.

Furnas County Attorney Tom Patterson joined two Korean War veterans and former Kopitke supporters in hoping that justice will include an opportunity for veterans to retrieve memorabilia they donated to Kopitke.

"Our big concern is we don't want this stuff ending up in a landfill or on eBay," said Irene Anderson of Overton, Neb. Her husband, Elmer, a Korean War Navy aviator, had donated time and items to Kopitke.

Patterson said several other veterans had called Kopitke's office concerning the whereabouts of items donated to the now-closed museum in Oxford and presumably now housed at a new Korean War museum in Edgar.

"I think they'd just like some accountability," Patterson said.

Kopitke, an Army veteran and a former Peace Corps volunteer, had operated a Korean War museum at a former Oxford nursing home for a few months in 2005 before moving that museum to Edgar and opening a Vietnam War museum in Nelson.

He was arrested before dawn June 10 inside the Oxford facility, which he had agreed to vacate eight months earlier.

The Nebraska Attorney General's Office recently said it was investigating Kopitke's activities. In recent interviews, officials in both Nelson and Edgar have questioned the viability of the two museums.

Scott Stemper, a former mayor of Nelson, said Monday that he sees no visitors at the museum in his town.

"It's a big discredit for our Vietnam veterans. They wanted to make it into something," Stemper said.

In testimony Monday, officials with Lantis Enterprises of Spearfish, S.D., which owned the building in Oxford that briefly housed the museum, said Kopitke stopped making nominal payments shortly after he entered into a lease agreement in January 2005.

Travis Lantis, the company's chief executive officer, said Kopitke played on the emotions of his late father, a Korean War veteran, in obtaining a favorable purchase agreement.

Eventually, though, the younger Lantis said his father came to consider Kopitke a "criminal" for his failure to live up to his financial obligations and his promises to develop a top-notch museum.

"He promised a lot of things, a lot of artifacts he was going to bring. . . and nothing was ever produced," Lantis said.

Kopitke's court-appointed attorney, Roger Benjamin of Oxford, unsuccessfully argued that Lantis failed to notify Kopitke in writing that he could no longer enter the museum in Oxford after a termination agreement was signed in October 2005.

Furnas County Judge Cloyd Clark rejected the argument, however, saying Kopitke had surrendered his rights to enter the building when he turned in his keys shortly after terminating his purchase agreement.

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Copyright (c) 2006, Omaha World-Herald, Neb.

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