Dorchester Times: 52% Of Saline County H.S. Seniors Use Alcohol With Parents' Permission: Report

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

52% Of Saline County H.S. Seniors Use Alcohol With Parents' Permission: Report

More than half (52%) of high school seniors surveyed in Saline county reported using alcohol in someone else’s home with parent permission. This information comes directly from the 2012 Nebraska Risk and Protective Factor Student Survey.

The study notes other risk factors faced by Saline County teens, including, cigarettes, marijuana, crack, cocaine, meth, speed and other street drugs that are becoming more readily available due to looser laws and law enforcement, as well as federal surveillance.

Saline County is working to create a coalition to specifically address issues such as these and improve prevention efforts to help communities take an active role in creating a positive change in Saline County.

On Sept. 10 at 7 p.m. there will be an organizational meeting of the Saline County Coalition. The meeting will be held in the Wilber-Clatonia Elementary commons area.

The meeting is an opportunity for everyone living in Crete, DeWitt, Dorchester, Friend and Wilber to be informed about what is happening in our country and to determine the most important priorities in the communities.

Dorchester parents and other concerned citizens are encouraged to get involved.

6 comments:

AnonymousSeptember 5, 2013 at 12:33 AM
It's not lax law enforcement or surveillance. It's all about lax attitudes by the "cool" parents who let their kids drink, smoke dope, have access to prescription drugs, and say it's all "part of growing up." Yeah, kid, just go get another tattoo and get out of my hair.
ReplyDelete
Replies
AnonymousSeptember 5, 2013 at 10:28 AM
How about kids who are old enough to have a job,but would rather steal what they want from people who do work
ReplyDelete
Replies
AnonymousSeptember 5, 2013 at 10:30 AM
I agree with the post above. The lack of jobs for youth and the lack of work ethic is destroying a generation (15-30 years old). Thank Obama.
ReplyDelete
Replies
AnonymousSeptember 5, 2013 at 11:22 AM
This is nothing new. There was always the "cool" parents that let their kids and other kids drink at their homes.

Many senior parties were held with minors.

And the best of all is having post prom to keep students from drinking, then two weeks later having blowout graduation parties with tons of alcohol.

Not a new problem
ReplyDelete
Replies
AnonymousSeptember 5, 2013 at 5:57 PM
I don't recall seeing much meth, crack or even hippy weed at our senior parties. I must have been in the dorky crowd.
ReplyDelete
Replies
Village DwellerSeptember 7, 2013 at 11:30 PM
Dear readers:

We have chosen to not publish several comments left after this story because they glorified the use of marijuana and other illegal substances.

We believe the Times is an inappropriate forum for such views. You won't read them here.

-Dorchester Times Staff
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."