Dorchester Times: Guest Letter: C'mon, Man! Clean Up That Property

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Guest Letter: C'mon, Man! Clean Up That Property

(Note: The following letter and photos were submitted to this blog by a guest reader and a Dorchester resident. The Times staff has determined that, despite its controversial nature, the article is appropriate for publication. Other guest articles may be e-mailed to Dorchester.Times@gmail.com for consideration.)

***

Dear Dorchester Times,

If you have watched ESPN's Monday Night Countdown during football season, you know

the phrase I'm about to invoke. During the show, the hosts will describe a play or series of plays that made them scratch their heads and say "C'mon man!"

Every community in Nebraska has a handful of neglected properties that also make you want to scream, "C'mon, man!" You know the ones I'm talking about. The ones that look like the owner is purposely trying to recreate the set of that old TV show "Sanford and Son." Dorchester is no different in that regard, even if it's just a very small percentage of homes that are painful eyesores.

Recently, on a walk around our town of Dorchester, my wife and I decided to snap pictures of the most offensive properties in Dorchester. I do understand not everyone is physically able to take care of their yards and homes the way they would like, but I'm talking about the properties that someone actually had to work hard to mess up!

I can count about seven or eight truly offensive properties. I am sending you pictures of some of them, though I know you've seen them, too. One is on main street! The owners of these properties should be forced to clean up immediately. How would you like to be a home owner next to one of these "beauties"? Neighbors have rights, too. We pay taxes, too.

What happened to consideration for our fellow man (and woman)? What happened to hometown pride? What happened to self dignity?

Sorry for this rant, but I am proud to be a Dorchester resident. I love our community and want it to never stop improving. I don't know how to force someone to take care of or clean up their property. Obviously, the town's threats of fines or even bulldozing isn't motivating some people, so maybe public pressure and shame are the only alternatives. It's sad to think so.

I doubt your blog will run this or my photos. I won't blame you if you don't, but I don't know what else to do other than to say, "C'mon, man! Clean up your act."

Sincerely,

NAME WITHHELD
Dorchester

10 comments:

AnonymousJuly 24, 2014 at 6:45 PM
The name should NOT have been withheld on this letter. If you have the balls to take the pictures and email them to the blog (when we all know who the properties belongs to), then you should dang well have the balls to have your name printed. C'mon, man!
ReplyDelete
Replies
AnonymousJuly 24, 2014 at 9:49 PM
What dumps. I say this every time I drive by them, and I'll keep saying in. Bet I'm not the only one.

Glad you guys printed the letter, name or no name.
ReplyDelete
Replies
AnonymousJuly 25, 2014 at 8:02 AM
oh wow, lets throw some more rocks at glass houses. people amaze me, so busy worrying about what someone else lives in, looks like, just cause they don't go to the same church, high society club or live in a brand new house. I am truly disgusted on how this small town acts like it is too good for reality!!!!
you know I tell my son the reason why people pick on/bully others is either cause they are jealous of you or they themselves are being picked on.

grown peeps, worry about your own back yard and keep your two bits in your own pocket!
ReplyDelete
Replies
AnonymousJuly 25, 2014 at 8:15 AM
so maybe public pressure and shame are the only alternatives.........

yes, lets bring back tar and feathering, better yet, lets attack the people who you can see are struggling. Does that make a person feel better?
lets all stand on a the highest rock and preach to others what we think is better for the common man when we ourselves live in so much sin and filth deep inside ourselves.

i bet the guy who wrote that letter is better than us all combined. heck, lets put him on a poster so we can all be just like him, we need someone like that in our little village!

What a narcissist, give me a break!!!!
ReplyDelete
Replies
AnonymousJuly 25, 2014 at 10:29 AM
I live next to a property in very, very bad condition.

The letter writer is correct in saying we have rights, too.

I, for one, will do everything I can to get the property next to me cleaned up. Everything and anything!

Life is too short to live next to something like that.

If you want me to help you move to another town or out in the country, to live like a pig, my family will help you pack.

Love,

Jim
ReplyDelete
Replies
AnonymousJuly 30, 2014 at 5:11 PM
You know, whoever wrote this letter, I just have one thing to say to you...

YOU SUMMED UP EXACTLY WHAT 99% OF US ARE THINKING!
ReplyDelete
Replies
Don HoffmanAugust 1, 2014 at 7:49 PM
Once again, interesting conversations, and the same question? Why is everyone anonymous? If there is a problem with the way things are being run, don't be shy, speak out about it or even do something about it. But it is hard to take anyone seriously if they won't even use their names in a public discussion of the issues. I realize that this is a small town and people get their feelings hurt easily. Instead of tearing each other down, trading barbs & insults, or making threats, you should present solutions, offer to help out a neighbor (remember when that was the norm?), but don't just whine behind your anonymity
ReplyDelete
Replies

Add comment

Village Dweller checks all reader comments to determine if they are appropriate for print.

Dorchester: A Good Little Family Town

Dorchester, Nebraska (est. population 630) is located in northern Saline county. Close in proximity to Interstate 80, Dorchester is only 25 minutes from the state capital of Lincoln (est. population 250,000) and about 55 minutes from Omaha (metro population 725,000).

Dorchester's median resident age is 37 years. In 2005, Dorchester had a median family income of approximately $35,600. The median house value was about $63,000. About 95 percent of Dorchester residents commute to work via Interstate and highways.

The village has a quality public school, which received a $4.1 million expansion and modernization in 2008; it offers a small classrooms and individualized attention. Total enrollment of grades K-12 is around 230-250 students.

Ancestries of the Dorchester area are primarily German (42.4%), Czech (24.9%), Irish (12.5%), English (5.4%), and Dutch (4.9%).

Dorchester Historical Facts

* On July 4, 1871, the railroad reached Dorchester.
* Incorporated in 1881, Dorchester's population grew from 200 to 500 by 1882.
* In 1882, Dorchester had 90 buildings, 35 of which were businesses or public facilities. Brick buildings lined both sides of Washington Avenue for two blocks.
* Dorchester's longest-running newspaper was The Dorchester Star, which was published until the late 1940s.
* By 1889, Dorchester's population is said to have reached 800, while the town housed an opera house, a two-story brick schoolhouse with a bell tower, and four churches.
* By the 1910s, Dorchester had electricity, a water tower and a fire department.
* Dorchester's main arteries, Highways 6 and 33, were graveled in the 1940s.
* Dorchester's first irrigation well was drilled on Chris Weber's farm and rural electrification was finished following WWII.

A Village with History

Dorchester is one of the "alphabet towns" on the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad line built west from Lincoln. The town site was selected for its pleasant location in the northern part of Saline County, about eight miles west of Crete. This situation is an attractive one, being on the level prairie land, midway between the West Blue River and Turkey Creek. The first named stream is three miles north, and the latter about the same distance south from the town. Dorchester was platted in 1870 and incorporated in 1881. The name "Dorchester" came from either for a suburb of Boston by that name or a town in England. No one is sure. Two of the very first settlers were James Seely and Edward McIntyre, who both made Dorchester their permanent home.

Dorchester: In The Beginning

Here is a look at Dorchester around 1890, less than a decade after its official incorporation, as documented by Andreas' History of the State of Nebraska:
* POPULATION: "About 300, and is made up of a substantial and progressive class of citizens, who are moral and industrious. ... The town grew but very little until the year 1879, for the reason that Pleasant Hill, on Turkey Creek, a short distance south, was the county seat and naturally drew a trade for quite a large scope of country."
* BUSINESS: "The business and professional interests of the town are represented by three general merchandise stores, two drug, one grocery, one furniture, two hardware, and two millinery stores, one bank, two restaurants, two hotels, three livery stables, a post office, one newspaper office, two elevators, two lumber yards, two coal yards, two blacksmith shops, two lawyers and four physicians."
* SCHOOL: "The schoolhouse is a good one. The schoolhouse was built in 1872, since which time the public schools have been continually kept up. The present schoolhouse is 24' x 40' in size, two stories high. The school is graded and consists of three departments. The house is found too small, and arrangements will soon be made to increase its size."
* CHURCHES: "There are three substantial churches."
* HOMES: "The residence portion of the village is made up of neat houses of different styles of architecture, but none of them very large."
* NEWSPAPER: "The Dorchester Star, which was established August 21, 1881, by H. C. Bittenbender, who edited it until January 19, 1882, when he sold it to Ryerson & Bullock, the present proprietors. The Star is a bright weekly paper, five-column quarto, in size, and is Republican in politics."