Dorchester Times: NEWS BRIEFS: DHS' Lawver Brings Home Two Gold Medals From State

Sunday, May 24, 2009

NEWS BRIEFS: DHS' Lawver Brings Home Two Gold Medals From State

Lawver Makes DHS History, Earns Two Golds At State: Longhorn junior Karmen Lawver earned two gold medals at this weekend's Nebraska Track & Field Meet in Omaha. According to e-mails received by the Times, this marks the first time that any DHS athlete has won a gold medal at the state track and field meet. Karmen took first place in the discus with a toss of 124' 6". Her nearest competitor came in second at 117' 0". In the shot put, Karmen earned the gold with a throw of 41' 7", beating the second place participant by nearly two feet. To see all the Class D results from the state meet, click here. The community of Dorchester salutes Karmen for this amazing feat and her efforts throughout the season!

Gauging Interest In A Dorchester Adult Baseball Team: The Times has been contacted by Tommy Hicks, a Dorchester resident who coaches amateur baseball in the Lincoln Adult Baseball League. Hicks is interested in establishing an adult town baseball team for the Dorchester area, including the communities of Crete, Wilber and Friend, for 2010. According to Hicks, the team would participate in the Southeast Nebraska League, which is part of the Nebraska Baseball Association. According to Hicks, the league fee uses wood bats; games are held on Sundays and some Thursdays, with a 16 game schedule. Those interested or with questions should contact Hicks at tohicks81@yahoo.com.

5 comments:

AnonymousMay 24, 2009 at 3:40 PM
Impressive to say the least. Way to go, Karmen!!
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AnonymousMay 25, 2009 at 6:48 AM
WOW! This is a tremendous accomplishment. Two golds! And Karmen still has her senior year! Congratulations!
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AnonymousMay 25, 2009 at 11:14 AM
Karmen, congratulations and way to go! We are extremely proud of you! It looks like hard work and determination does pay off. Nice Job!
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AnonymousMay 26, 2009 at 8:38 AM
Congratulations to Karmen. I saw her on a Sunday afternoon about a week after Basketball had ended, and she was working with Chuck Bolton at the field on her throwing. She took the initiative and dedication to find help and spend her weekend to improve herself. That's what makes an athlete a Champion!
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Joe CoolMay 26, 2009 at 11:56 AM
KUDOS TO KARMEN.

BEST FIELD ATHLETE AT DHS SINCE JANET UHER, WHO WENT DIVISION I.
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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."