Dorchester Times: Is Crete Trying To Nab Dorchester Ball Players?

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Is Crete Trying To Nab Dorchester Ball Players?

We were alerted by a reader of the following Facebook post by the Dorchester Baseball & Softball programs:

"We were informed today that Crete is trying to recruit our kids to play baseball there. Please, we have something good going on in this town. Let's not end it by sending our kids over there to play when we have quality baseball and softball right in our own backyard. If anything, they should come and play for us!"

We at the Times could not confirm if this alert is true, although one source involved with Crete recreation programs e-mailed us back and said he wouldn't be surprised if the accusation has some merit.

Our source told us: "(Crete) has had such a large influx of Hispanics who aren't getting involved with traditional athletics and, at the same time, we've seen an outmigration of Caucasian kids who typically go out for baseball and softball."

Developing...

10 comments:

AnonymousFebruary 20, 2013 at 4:03 PM
It's TRUE! I was approached by a Crete 10 & under baseball coach. His incentive to me was that my son would be able to play 1 more year of 10 & under. NO thanks Crete! I like Dorchester and plan on STAYING!!!!!
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AnonymousFebruary 20, 2013 at 5:50 PM
Why doesn't Crete pony up and join the SFS league – one of the best Youth baseball leagues in all of Nebraska.
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AnonymousFebruary 20, 2013 at 10:09 PM
Can't have it both ways

Times are changing

Crete isn't doing anything Dorchester wouldn't do
We try to recruit their kids to our school

Suck it up

Crete cardinal
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AnonymousFebruary 21, 2013 at 7:44 AM
It's sad commentary that a town of 7,000 has to recruit from a village of 600. That's pathetic.
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AnonymousFebruary 21, 2013 at 2:08 PM
We have better coaches and they must have seen what happened last season with the teams.
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Coach HicksFebruary 21, 2013 at 2:12 PM
I would love to schedule a scrimmage between Crete and Dorchester 10 and Under or 12 and Under. We scrimmaged a select team from seward last season and faired well against them. If anyone can find me a contact for a Crete coach I would like to set something up. No bad blood just want to test the kids against local teams.
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creteFebruary 21, 2013 at 7:31 PM
I AM SO OFFENDED BY THAT PICTURE YOU HAVE PUT WITH THIS STORY> YOU SHOULD BE VERY ASHAMED>
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AnonymousFebruary 21, 2013 at 11:00 PM
I'm told Crete is having a hard time getting coaches
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AnonymousFebruary 22, 2013 at 6:02 PM
I wonder if Crete and Dorchester can partner here.

As long as Crete doesn't have ball games on our game nights, why not encourage some of Dorchesters better ball players to also play in Crete? It's close by and the increased completion would be good. Then as a quid pro quo, Crete could encourage some of its better ball players to play for Dorchester, especially in the older teams where we struggle for numbers. We could have solid teams with crete's help and it would be good for kids in both towns.

Just a suggestion.

Town Crier
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AnonymousFebruary 27, 2013 at 8:45 PM
What is the latest on this story?
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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."