Two weeks after Christmas in 2007, Allan Vyhnalek received a call from the Platte County Sheriff’s Office about the suspicious machine gun ammunition box that he left near the secured boundary of the hydroelectric power plant in Columbus the previous summer. It was deemed a threat and blasted open by shotgun attached to a state patrol robot on Christmas Day. The sheriff’s office sought an explanation.  

Vyhnalek, at the time an educator with Nebraska Extension in Platte County, begrudgingly explained that the box, which has been marked and placed with permission, was part of a 4-H geocaching program that taught students how to use compasses and electronic GPS devices to locate hidden stashes of knick-knacks like bouncy balls and pencils. In his next breath, he then offered to conduct his GPS training for the entire county sheriff’s department — a proposal he asked the deputy to pass along.  

Vyhnalek will retire from Nebraska Extension on April 7 after spending the past six years as a statewide educator for farm and ranch transition and succession. Though the Platte County Sheriff never took up his training offer, the interaction demonstrated Vyhnalek’s unwavering passion for educating that has driven his entire career.  

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