By Bill Kelly, STATEWIDE Correspondent.

[Promotional Film Audio:] "AkSarBen is a myth. A once-upon-a-time myth that brings Kings, and Queens, and carnival colors to the State of Nebraska. It's a midwestern myth that started in 1895. AkSarBen IS Nebraska."
It's hard to imagine that you might not have heard of AkSarBen.... or more formally, the Knights of AkSarBen. You may connect the Knights with their annual ball. The century-old AkSarBen Coronation Ball gives the rest of the state a glimpse of the state's wealthiest and influential families at their glittering best.

Thousands of farm kids have earned AkSarBen Blue Ribbons at 4-H livestock shows. The events and even the barns were gifts of the group. Shiney new fire trucks and ambulences have been given to town all over the state. Dozens of other good causes have accepted the checks from the state's most famous charity.
They ran... and then sold... the horse racing track that legitimized legal gambling in Nebraska. (For a look at the future of horse racing, click here.)

[AkSarBen Queen:] "On behalf of the king and I, I would like to present two special awards..."

This summer the directors and governors of AkSarBen got out of Omaha and toured the state. They handed out awards to community leaders and checks to students and community groups. The King and Queen of the AkSarBen Ball served as ambassadors. The tour made some progress toward dispelling the group's image as "the rich guys who run the race track in Omaha." The track was, afterall, sold some time ago.

[John Gottschalk, King of AkSarBen:] "I think they are having a difficult time, I think, shedding that image. A lot of people still think of AkSarBen as the race track and I think there's a certain sense of elitism I think."
John Gottschalk, the current King of the organization's mythical Quivera... and the publisher of the Omaha World Herald... hopes he can convince people that AkSarBen is not only an Omaha old boys club.
"For heaven's sake, it's 'Nebraska' spelled backwards. It's not 'Omaha' spelled backwards."

It all started one hundred years ago when the business leaders in Omaha were fighting to keep the Nebraska state fair from moving to Lincoln.
[Historian Roger Reeves:] "With all the people coming in for the State Fair from throughout Nebraska and western Iowa when they were here in the city, as with any tourists, once they were here they would spend their dollars."
Roger Reeves has been commissed by AkSarBen to update its official history:
"It was a membership for men. They did have secret initiations. I know that if you were going to become a member or a part of the upper echelon of the organization you were expected to contribute X-number of dollars to do actual hands on work for the organization as well as contribute significant funds and to have the support of your company behind that."

"The folks who compose the board are, for the most part, chosen because of their proven leadership abilities."
Jack Baker... the owner of the supermarket chain that bears the family name... leads an organization that chooses only the most influential business leaders to serve as its directors.
[Question from Bill Kelly:] "This is a very powerful organization.
[Jack Baker:] "Power. I think power in the best sense of the word. I think knowledge is power. I think resources is power. Powerful because a group, a board such as this has the power ... the positive power ... to bring about positive change."

The monthly meetings might suprise some with their casual atmosphere.
[Baker:] "There's nothing mysterious about what happens in our board room. This is, after all, an organization with some strong egos. All those egos merge together. We have a rule here that no one leaves the meeting thinking it was not a good investment of their time."
[Kelly:] "You aren't always of one mind?"
[Baker:] "We are rarely of one mind. But interestingly, Bill, generally at the end of a discussion we are unanimous in our viewpoint."

Support for schools and education -- and specifically helping improve job training for teachers in the classroom -- reflects a recent change in the type of activities the Knights of AkSarben are supporting. They insist they are not backing away from their traditional support of agricultural programs like 4-H... but it's clear those organizations will be getting less of the group's financial help.

[Baker:] "AkSarBen seems to be the glue... an invitation for them to become involved, to meet other business leaders, to learn about our city, or state and our region and to the bring the resources they command to the table."

When the resources and power of the Knights has been used for more than 4-H ribbons and ambulances, there could be controversy. Not just about what they did, but how they did it.

[Reeves:] "Sometimes when the issues were tight it did take this organization to move the city ahead. Sometimes some people felt they were oversteeping their boundariies, but ... the community does need leaders."
In the 1970's the Orpheum Theater was falling apart fast. The debate about whether the city should save it dragged on for months. The Knights of AkSarben cut off the public debate by buying the building, giving it to the city, and helping line up the money to fix it up. Willis Strauss, the no nonesense CEO of Northern Natural Gas, recalled in a tape-recorded interview with an historian how AkSarBen told the Mayor, 'This is how it would be.'
[Willis Strauss:] "I was always interested in finding where AkSarBen could plug themselves in where others couldn't. While we weren't the major contributors, we were the ones who told Gene Leahy when he was Mayor: 'Look, do that Orpheum. We'll put up money, and we'll make sure and we'll see to it the other money will come out there.'"

[Bill Kelly question to Gene Leahy:] "Is that typical of how they got things done?"
[Leahy:] "Absolutely. Absolutely."
Standing in the lobby of the Orpheum Theater, Gene Leahy... the mayor who took that phone call from the Knights of AkSarBen... is proud to have his name listed below the 1972 directors of the Knights. The plaque is a who's who of Omaha corporate power at the time.
[Leahy reading names:] "Well, Nuremburger had Bell telephone, Owen had steel company, Skutt was Mutual of Omaha, Storz was Storz Brewery."
[Kelly:] "Whey they throw their support behind something like the Orpheum Theatre ...?"
[Leahy:] "It rolls, it moves, it's accomplished."
[Kelly:] "Because of their influence."
[Leahy:] "Absolutely. Well, you need these kinds of people."

That influence came to bear in the 1940's. At the time the only access to Omaha from Iowa was on a pair of privately owned toll bridges. Major business leaders thought it bad for business The Knights of AkSarBen simply bought the bridges... despite those who felt the appropriateness of such a bold move was open for debate.
[Reeves:] "Long Debate. Both locally and on the state level. The Governor felt that AkSarBen as a non-profit organization had no business getting involved in purchasing it. for the state or for the city."
Eventually, the Knights made both the downtown and South Omaha bridges toll free and then held a parade to celebrate their own chutzpah.

[Baker:] "These things happen because big people, powerful people, money people, influential people want them to happen."
[Gottschalk:] "There's a tendency to think, 'Well, whenever you have that much power gather, it's for ill.' That kind of perception has to be weighed in the light of a very clear record of significant achievment."
[Kelly: ] "This is a group that can get things done."
[Gottschalk:] "Not only can get things done, but does get things done."
[Baker:] "It certainly creates controvery. Why does it create controversy? Because the organization tries to do the right thing. The right thing is not always the popular thing or the easy thing."

The controversy is about to return in a very big way. The Knights of AkSarBen want to buy back its race track and the 360 Acres of land that surrounds it from Douglas County. All indications are the group would promptly move to shut down ... and even tear down ... the racetrack and turn over the land to the city and county for use as a park and perhaps a convention center.
[Baker:] "We have a once in a life time opportunity to develop this property for the highest and best use as opposed to tagging it for expanded gambling."

The same organization that brought horse race betting to Nebraska and gets part of its revenue from an on-site Keno parlour wants to step in and stop the arrival of slot machines or even casino gambling in Omaha. The organization will put up money and individual members are willing to add millions more to make it happen.
[Baker:] "We intend to put all of our resources and all of our energy to make that happen. It's controversial. We think its visionary... and a visionary issue to support. Whethor or not we can get it done is yet to be seen. We're sure gonna try to do it."

It would be a stunning and extrodinarily controversial way to celebrate the one hundredth birthday... while reminding everyone that this group is still a force to be reckoned with in Nebraska.

For STATEWIDE, I'm Bill Kelly.