Bellevue has seen its share of changes over the past 25 years.
The names have changed, many of the faces are different and the landscape has a whole new look.
But one of the constants over the last quarter  century has been the presence of the Bellevue Leader and its captain, Ron Petak, who recently celebrated his 25th anniversary with the newspaper.
Ron has worked in many different capacities for the Leader and has left an impact on the schools, city government and athletic teams just to name a few.
He’s meant as much to the people who work each week putting the Leader together as he has to the people who have been loyal readers during his tenure.
People have entered the Leader office spitting nails and ready to bring the paper to its knees. But after a half hour in Ron’s office, those same individuals have left with a smile on their face and a better understanding of the message the paper was trying to convey.
I have been fortunate to work with Ron for nearly half of those 25 years and there’s rarely a day that goes by I still don’t learn a thing or two from him. He’s taught me how to work with people and see their point of view, even if it made little or no sense to me.
He’s been a great support for me because he cut his teeth as a sports editor in Bellevue and his passion for athletics still remains. I don’t have to go very far when it comes to needing advice on how I should handle a story or when I’m in search of background information.
But as much as Ron has meant to me, he’s meant even more to the thousands of people who read the Leader each week.
His “Making the Grade” is one of the paper’s most popular sections and people are always interested to see who made the list, be it good or bad.
Ron is one of the first people who gets the phone call when someone has “the inside story” on what’s going on in the city.
His familiarity with the city is a big reason for that, but another is that the people of Bellevue trust Ron. More than one person has told me when they go to Ron looking for answers, they know they’ve gone to the right place.
Ron would tell you he’s been fortunate to have a great newspaper to work at and a great city to live in for the past 25 years. Bellevue’s been equally blessed to have him in its corner.

— Eric Taylor
Leader Sports Editor

Only a few times in life do you get the opportunity to work with someone who transcends being either an employee or a boss and actually seems to embody the environment in which you spend the majority of your waking hours.
Ron Petak and the Bellevue Leader, to me, are one and the same.
I’ve only been with the Leader for about three years, but I long ago learned that working with Ron is like being coached by Joe Pa at Penn State or taking direction from Martin Scorsese – their craft is who they are and vice versa.
Of course, Bellevue isn’t Hollywood, or a Big Ten college town, for that matter. Bellevue is this little burg we live and work in, and Ron is as much an integral part of its function as any council member, city department head or businessperson. He is the conscience, the soul, the sounding board of the third largest city in Nebraska.
I talk frequently with the  leaders of this community. I go to council meetings, call the police chief when something big happens, and generally try to keep abreast of the goings on.
Invariably, the first questions these leaders have for me have to do with a bad grade they got from Ron. I genuinely believe they think the best way to get the pulse of public opinion is to find out what Ron thinks about it. Knowing what’s going on is the job of any newspaper editor. Being known as the moral barometer of a community is the sign of an intrinsic connection and the result of a deep commitment to making it a better place to live.
I might have a few more chances to encounter someone who is synonymous not only with their profession but with their town, but I know I’ll be telling people 30 years from now that I got to work with the one and only Ron Petak. There’s no way to put a grade on that.

— Jason Glenn
Leader Staff Writer

It’s typical for Ron to talk sports with Eric in the office for an hour on a Thursday. It’s also typical for Ron to go down to the Chamber of Commerce and talk to Megan Lucas or to City Hall to “see what’s new.”
It is all part of his routine. 
I go about my business every day at the Leader knowing Ron trusts I can make the best decisions. He doesn’t watch over me. In fact (gasp!), he doesn’t even know everything that’s going in the paper before it is printed. Nonetheless, it is comforting to know I can ask Ron for input whenever I need it.
I haven’t always had a supervisor who put his faith in me, who believed I could take on new challenges. And I definitely haven’t had a boss I felt as comfortable going to for advice. Ron doesn’t always have a quick fix, but he’s always willing to listen.
Ron certainly knows the history of Bellevue. If anyone on staff needs a point of reference, there’s rarely a need to look in the archives. Just ask Ron.
Several times I’ve been at an event and had someone ask me if Ron was still at the paper.
“Oh yeah, he’s around,” I say. (Those people clearly haven’t been reading the Leader, or at least his grades.)
He may have a fancy title,  Executive Editor, but Ron is not above doing small or tedious – but necessary – tasks like the rest of us.
Heck, he even shot photos recently, something he’d previously denied being able to do.
We are a team here at the Leader, and Ron knows better than anyone the importance of teamwork.
I worked places where you knew the “boss” was superior, because he acted that way. Like a king on a throne, that person mustn’t be bothered except as a last resort. Not Ron. He’s quite the opposite. He has an office, but he spends most of his time at his other desk – out with his people, his team.
Ron cares about Bellevue and I have come to appreciate it, as well. I’ve learned so much in my 3½ years here, and I can’t imagine having the same experience without Ron guiding me along the way.
Another perk? His sense of humor. We’ve shared many a laugh here at the Leader.
Here’s to many more years getting papers to the people.

— Carrie Kreisler
Leader Managing Editor

This week, Sports Editor Eric Taylor presents his top five music groups. Next week, look for Staff Writer Jason Glenn’s top five things about spending the Fourth of July in the country.

5) The Cult
 This English band hit the scene on the tail end of the Punk craze in the 1980s. They hit it big with songs like “Love Removal Machine” and “Firewoman” later in the decade before fading away in the early 1990s. Got a chance to see them live on one of their reunion tours and was impressed by how sharp they sounded.

4) Van Halen
 I have to preface this by saying this only counts with David Lee Roth as the front man. Their self-titled debut album in 1978 is one of my favorite albums of all time and this group personified hard rock in the 1970s. Even though Eddie and Alex Van Halen and Marc Anthony were core members, David Lee Roth gave the band an edge it never had with Sammy Hagar.

3) Rolling Stones
 Amazing these guys are still rockin’ after nearly 50 years together. They haven’t always been great years, but Mick, Keith and whoever filled in around them have built up quite a collection of great songs during their time together. The Stones of the late ’60s are still my favorites, but they still managed to keep things rolling over the next four decades.

2) The Beatles
 How could this list be complete without the Fab Four? During their run in the ’60s, no group has ever made a bigger impact on the musical scene. I prefer their music after they all started hitting the acid later in the decade, but it’s hard to find many Beatles songs I don’t like.

1) The Doors
 Jim Morrison and company had a short run (1966-1971) but made the most of their time together. Their 1967 debut album is a must-have for any music collection and their final album, “LA Woman,” has several great tracks. I’m not a big fan of Morrison when he goes off on his long poetry kicks, but he was a great songwriter and Robbie Kreiger, John Densmore and Ray Manzarek helped make this band an all-time great.