Dorchester Times: 'Meet The Candidates' Forum To Be Held April 8

Friday, March 28, 2008

'Meet The Candidates' Forum To Be Held April 8

Nebraska's primary election is only six weeks away. On May 13, Dorchester area residents will have several

candidates to choose from for local office -- including five candidates running for the Dorchester Village Board.

The Dorchester Area Community Association (DACA) has asked the five candidates running for the village board to participate in DACA's "Meet the Candidate" forum. The forum will be held Tuesday, April 8 at 7 p.m. at the Dorchester Community Building.

"The sole purpose of this event is for the voters to meet the candidates and come away with information that will help them to make an informed decision in casting their vote," said Carol Olson, president of DACA.

DACA has asked each village board candidate to name and explain his top three priority issues. Candidates have also been asked to answer questions on issues important to DACA members, including the issues of street paving and community involvement with projects and activities.

Candidates and all Dorchester voters are urged to attend this important civic event on April 8.

7 comments:

AnonymousMarch 28, 2008 at 11:55 AM
great idea, carol and daca. this is exactly what is needed with so many candidates to choose from. many of us appreciate your leadership. this is how towns grow and get better.
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AnonymousMarch 28, 2008 at 7:33 PM
will there be a forum for the school board candidates as well?
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AnonymousMarch 29, 2008 at 1:49 PM
please discuss who will be reembursing me for the pavement that I paid for the first time, against my will, I might add.
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AnonymousMarch 29, 2008 at 9:02 PM
Oh quit your whining, you anti-pavers. Do you even care about doing anything for the community?

I want to know who at the city office is in charge of the baseball field. It is overgrown with weeds. Its dugouts are very shoddy ... it's UNACCEPTABLE. Don't we pay for general maintanance of public areas? Isn't this the job of the city crew???? I'm so angry that this isn't being taken care of. Last year there was gravel on the field. I don't know if the pitchers mound has been rebuilt since I played ball in the 70s!
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Corbey AabergMarch 30, 2008 at 10:09 AM
Dorchester Parent: I couldn't agree more about the ball field. The city has decided to leave it up to the parents committee to clean up and maintain the ball field. This coming month that is EXACTLY what we are focusing on. However, if we had the cooperation of the Village we could get a lot more done. But until then it will take volunteer hours to help get that field in great shape. As of now it is probably one of the worst in the ball league. We will let the town know when we plan to have a clean up day at the field!! You can also help by letting the Village board know you disapprove of the building for the bathrooms, the bleachers are an accidnet waiting to happen and the road really should be permanatly be blocked off. It would also be nice to have some tree's around the field for shade during tourny's!!
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AnonymousMarch 31, 2008 at 1:58 PM
For the first time ever I wish I lived in town limits ..................... this will be interesting .......... I cant remember the last time there was this much talk about those running for town board ................
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AnonymousMarch 31, 2008 at 7:54 PM
Please tell me why then we have towns people then to sit on the butts and do nothing.. Oh wait they already do that.. They are getting paid for what to be exact.. The town should take care of the field thats the least they could do after the way they take care of this town..
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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."