Dorchester Times: Six School Board Candidates Advance To Nov. Election

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Six School Board Candidates Advance To Nov. Election

Yesterday's primary election eliminated one candidate for Dorchester School Board, while giving district patrons some insight on what other voters are thinking. After the dust had settled, three candidates are clearly favored by the voters.

Seven candidates, including two incumbents, appeared on the primary ballot for three open school board seats. The top six candidates advance to the general election on Nov. 4.

Here are the results from yesterday's election:

Kahle (incumbent) -- 170 votes
Hoffman -- 32 votes
Boller (incumbent) -- 120 votes
Burkey -- 79 votes
Wells -- 92 votes
Jacobson -- 66 votes
Zoubek -- 131 votes

In the race for Village board, five individuals are running for the two open seats. However, no action on that contest takes place until November's general election.

7 comments:

AnonymousMay 14, 2008 at 8:00 PM
Just goes to show you, small town politics is name recognition.

This school needs some changing and we aint going to do it if we elect the same people again
ReplyDelete
Replies
AnonymousMay 14, 2008 at 11:06 PM
Actually I disagree with the comment above. Big time. The reason the "same people" were elected is because they had the guts to stand up and do what was right. That is go forth with the new school. If they hadn't, you boys would've been calling yourselves Bulldawgs in about five years. Now if the school board holds the line on spending for teacher saleries and benefits (which takes a lot of guts) we'll be fine.
ReplyDelete
Replies
AnonymousMay 14, 2008 at 11:46 PM
Change is a coming ... but I am guessin it isnt the school board thats gonna see an overhaul!!!
ReplyDelete
Replies
AnonymousMay 15, 2008 at 4:55 PM
to cj

you dont have clue...

evidently you dont have kids that go to school there. If you did you would be amazed at what is going on there.

start with a little discipline and get the hell raisers out........

and you aint going to draw better teachers in with a new school...it takes money and benefits.
ReplyDelete
Replies
AnonymousMay 15, 2008 at 5:17 PM
THAT'S HILLARY-ARIOUS. WHO WOULD OPPOSE A TOWN HALL MEETING TO LISTEN TO THE TAXPAYERS. I HAVE AN IDEA OF ONE PERSON WHO'S BEEN WITH THE CITY FOR A LONG TIME WHO MIGHT OPPOSE SUCH AN EVENT.
ReplyDelete
Replies
AnonymousMay 29, 2008 at 1:16 PM
I was pleased to see several people run for election of the school board. There was a time when no one person did. Just a thought before the November election. One of the now current incumbents a few years back formed a large nuculas of people to attend a school board meeting in regards to a school reorganization "study" that was going on. The board had not been notified of the purpose of this great number of people ahead of time. "Point & Case". The school board at that time was put on trial that evening. Which seemed to be for the reason of reorganization. What this group of concerned people did not know was "the fact" our school board was truly conducting a "study only". Not a move to reorganize! It was our efforts at the time to have some type of plan in place if state-aid was discontinued. The "study" was just one posibilty if a mill levy over ride was not excepted. Now then. This same current incumbent at one time questioned why the the board at that time was spending $53-thousand on a new school bus. Looks like we came along ways from 53-K to just under 4-million. If this board member would have attended "all" the meetings to promote the new school project rather than opt to play Wednesday night basketball we could have asked him what his feelings were on past and future spending. Seems his duty as an elected school board member was not as important as it was when he was not on the school board. The New School meeting was an advertised preplanned meeting. I might add when the meeting took place on the reorganization study "all" board members were present and answered all patrons questions in a very professional manner. Seems when the roles were reversed he was a no show. This same person was voted in the last election uncontested. Just A Thought, before the November election.

Steve C. Parks
Dorchester, NE
ReplyDelete
Replies
AnonymousJune 2, 2008 at 10:05 PM
Blog Owner:
You need to post Steve's comments further up in the blog -- it's buried down here. There's a lot of people that need to read what Steve has said.

Maybe that's intential -- the event Steve speaks of was a very low period in Dorchester history. Sad thing is that those involved in the lynch mob never apologized for their atrocious behavior. Sadder still is that they are probably still proud of themselves
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."