Dorchester Times: Times Recinds Its Restriction On Reader Comments

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Times Recinds Its Restriction On Reader Comments

Following a 5 p.m. Thursday conference call between Times' staff members, this online publication will reverse the policy it implemented earlier this week, which limited reader comments. Beginning today, the Times will again permit comments following each story. This reversal is based on overwhelming reader response, including e-mails, in opposition to our earlier decision.

As noted this week, one of the goals of this Web site is to foster and renew community spirit and cohesiveness, while ensuring that area residents and natives are well-informed on community events, issues and fellow citizens. As a result, the Times' staff will be more selective when deciding which reader comments are published. Unnecessarily divisive and offensive comments will be rejected.

The Times' longstanding comment policy -- located at the bottom of the left hand column -- still applies. We thank our readers for their patience as the Times continues to evolve to meet community needs and expectations.

9 comments:

AnonymousMay 14, 2009 at 7:24 PM
Thank You
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Brown Chicken Brown CowMay 14, 2009 at 8:27 PM
good i love reading what people have to say
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Taxed Too MuchMay 14, 2009 at 8:40 PM
a couple of questions regarding school board minutes???

1. South side accessibility. Shouldnt this have been part of the new building?

2. New carpet?? In what areas??

Looks like this should have been done when the new building was built
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AnonymousMay 15, 2009 at 1:24 PM
I hate to assume, but logically thinking - the accessibility wasn't part of the building, because the parking and parallel side walk along the south weren't torn out or replaced, only walks to doors were changed because of door locations.

Also assuming the carpet is to help guard against wet floors and lawsuits from broken bones when slipping occurs. Ask a board member if you want the real answers. Just another reason to get involved or go to a meeting.
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BobMay 15, 2009 at 1:44 PM
Hey taxed too much ... get your posterior to meeting and ask in person!
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Taxed Too MuchMay 15, 2009 at 4:49 PM
see, this is why this blog gets trashed.

A person asks a couple simple questions and people blast you.

sounds like a defensive mechanism to me.

I just felt that with the money we spent for the experts in the planning process that we shouldnt be having more expenses in less than a year.

maybe we didnt have the experts we thought we did.
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BobMay 15, 2009 at 5:33 PM
I repeat, get up off the sofa and go to a board meeting. What is so difficult to understand about that? Why do YOU get defensive? We can all see through your thinly veiled attacks on the school. Just take your gripes directly to the board.

I guess that takes guts, though.
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AnonymousMay 15, 2009 at 7:41 PM
I'm not for sure, but I think they're talking about carpeting the older classrooms. Your best bet is asking someone who knows.
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AnonymousMay 20, 2009 at 4:19 PM
Ben's Iron Grill will be opened Memorial weekend with a VERY limited food menu, if any, but plenty of liquid refreshments. Stop by and see what's new in town. A complete menu will be available at a later date due to the ongoing construction.
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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."