NEWS BRIEFS: Museum Open House This Sunday

• Saline County Open House This Sunday: The Saline County Museum in Dorchester will host an open house this Sunday, Oct. 12, from 1-5 p.m. The program will begin at 2 p.m. Les Vilda will perform a comedy spoof on the old original medicine shows of the late 1800s and early 1900s. Vilda promises to bring an entertaining and educational look at a piece of American history by putting on a show that contains ingredients from the original 19th century shows, but with a new twist. We at the Times can't think of a better way to spend a beautiful fall Sunday afternoon.

• Two Chances To See New School: Dorchester area residents will get a couple of opportunities to tour the new Dorchester School building and campus. The Dorchester School open house will be held 7-9 p.m. Monday (Oct. 13). This weekend, the Dorchester Booster Club will host a "Sundae on Sunday" ice cream social this Sunday (Oct. 12) at 3 p.m. at the school. All area residents are invited to check out the new 33,500 square foot facility, which features new elementary and high school classrooms, a multi-purpose room/new gym with stage, library, restrooms, locker space and administrative offices.

• Automatic Gas Meters Go Into Effect Tomorrow: Black Hills Energy customers in 25 southeastern Nebraska communities -- including Dorchester -- will get their natural gas meters read automatically, via radio signal, starting tomorrow (Oct. 10). About 13,000 residential and commercial natural gas meters have either been upgraded or replaced as part of a $1.8 million upgrade which began in April. Don Nordell, Nebraska business operations director for Black Hills Energy, said estimated meter readings are now eliminated and it’s more convenient for customers because "company meter readers will no longer have to access a customer’s property to manually record natural gas usage each month." Customers who have questions can call Black Hills Energy toll free at (888) 890-5554.

• Dorchester Connection In Latest Safe Haven Drop-Off: Unfortunately, there's a Dorchester connection to the latest case in which a child was left at a hospital under Nebraska's new safe haven law. According to the Lincoln Journal Star, a 51-year-old grandmother left her 12-year-old grandson at Lincoln's Bryan LGH Medical Center West late Sunday night. The boy had lived with his grandmother, who was his legal guardian and said she had "done everything in her power to provide for him, get him to church and school and his youth football games." The boy's mother recently moved to Dorchester, according the the article. The boy, who had been acting violently and showing signs of mental disturbance, is the 16th child left at a hospital under the safe haven law since Sept. 13. "About 6,600 children are currently state wards in Nebraska," reported the Journal Star. "The 12-year-old from Lincoln will likely be one soon."

• Dorchester -- Home Of The Armadillos?: Last month, we received an e-mail from a reader who asked us to look into an armadillo spotting in the Dorchester area. Frankly, we didn't take the request seriously, especially considering the recent Bigfoot hoax in Georgia. However, the Associated Press is reporting that "another armadillo has shown up in Nebraska" -- this time as roadkill in Lincoln. The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission says the leathery mammals have been spotted across the state for about a decade, but are still rare. Armadillos are common in the South, where they're a nuisance because of burrowing. The animals don't hibernate, so their survival depends on the severity of winter. One zoologist says Nebraska's recent winters have been mild enough that armadillos have established small breeding populations in the state.