Sackmann takes on new challenges

Editor’s note — This is the second of a three-part series.

Washtucna – Dennis Sackmann grew up on a wheat farm.

“We farmed 1,800 acres and half that land was annually in wheat,” Sackmann recalled. “We farmed under the name ‘Sackmann and Son.’”

But in the early 1980s, wheat prices were falling and farming was becoming more difficult.

In 1983, the family went to the bank for an annual operating loan. A new banker had moved to town and after reviewing the farm records, “Sackmann and Son” was turned down for the loan.

So Sackmann’s father ended up leasing the entire 1800-acre farm to Dean Sutherland, a farmer who owned adjoining land.

“Dad stipulated that Connie and I could stay in the farm house and Dean would take me on as a hired man,” Sackmann said. “Dean was like a dad to me. He took me in, mentored and supported me, and was very appreciative. He was a great person to work for.”

While working for Sutherland, Dennis and Connie Sackmann brought their first daughter, Amber, into the world.

And life began to change.

In 1985, Ron Bauman, a member of the Washtucna Grain Supply board, talked to Sackmann one day when he was plowing.

“I stopped the tractor and Ron asked if I’d like to become a store manager at the grange,” Sackmann said. “To this day, I don’t understand why Ron asked me to consider that job. I guess he saw something that indicated I’d be a good manager.”

Employees at the Washtucna Grange Supply sold feed, repaired tires, and hauled fertilizer and fuel.

“I was the store manager,” he said. “But I was really a jack-of-all-trades.”

Eventually, the grange bought the Arco gas station across the street and Sackmann and his team maintained that site, as well. As the business grew, they incorporated the supply store into a nearby fertilizer shop.

“I ended up doing a lot of the construction work in that building,” he said.

Shortly afterward, the Washtucna and Lind grange supplies merged.

Don Sanger was the fertilizer manager in Washtucna and in the late 1980s, he was offered the general manager job at Marcellus Grange Supply in Ritzville.

“Don called and told me that his store manager, Jay Weise, had decided to pursue a career in law enforcement with Adams County,” Sackmann said. (Weise is the Adams County Commission chairman.) “So, Don offered me the store manager position and Connie and I moved to Ritzville.”

Because Rummers — the local clothing store — was in the process of closing, the Ritzville store expanded its product line to include work clothes and boots for farmers and ranchers.

“There were two hardware stores in town,” he said. “Our store focused on farm supply, cattle equipment, and feed. Each store had its own niche.”

At that time, another merger was in the works.

Ritzville merged with the Washtucna and Lind grange supply stores, and a new general manager was hired to oversee all three businesses.

The new manager started looking for ways to downsize. One day he told Sackmann about planned layoffs and a strategy to move the store down the street.

“I was upset and didn’t see the need for those changes,” Sackmann recalled.

In those days, the Lind store handled the financial records for all three stores. One of the bookkeepers contacted Sackmann because the new manager had claimed that several departments were not operating at a profit.

“I was skeptical,” he said. “Our feed supplier in Spokane had awarded us jackets for being one of their best sellers. The Marcellus grange was one of that company’s top five distributors. I found it hard to believe that we weren’t profitable,” Sackmann said.

“The financial statements showed that we were operating at a profit in feed, clothing and farm equipment. So, in my view, the general manager was being dishonest with the board.”

The issue came to a head at a general meeting of co-op owners, he said.

At one point, the board solicited comments from the audience.

“I stood and told the board that they weren’t being given an accurate picture of the organization’s financial status,” he said. “In a sense, I was like a whistleblower.”

When Sackmann laid out the financial statements for the board, “the new manager was ready to come over the table and grab me. The next morning, he walked into the store and told me to turn in my keys.”

“MacGyver” was now free to take on new challenges.

— See Part 3 in the Feb. 15 edition of The Journal.