Dorchester Times: Election Special: Who's Running For School Board, Village Board

Tuesday, November 8, 2016

Election Special: Who's Running For School Board, Village Board

The 2016 general election is finally here -- and not too soon for most.

Here's a look at which seats are up locally:

Dorchester Village Board

Dorchester's village board will have two of its five seats up for election.

One seat will be that of board member Lyle Weber. Weber, who was elected in 2008, is not running for re-election.

The other seat up for election is that of Matthew Hoffman, who was appointed to the board last year following the resignation of Brandon Koll.

Hoffman, Andrea Pracheil, and Gerald Sehnert (write-in candidate) have filed for village board, according to sources who contacted the Wilber courthouse. Hoffman and Pracheil will appear on the ballot, while Sehnert filed as a write-in candidate, we're told.

Dorchester School Board

The school board has three seats open -- those of current board members Lindsey Zoubek, Mark Bors and Brad Havlat. None of these incumbents are seeking re-election, we were told in an e-mail to the Times.

It appears the school board race will have some drama, as one seat will be filled by a write-in candidate.

Two candidates who have filed and will appear on the ballot: Neil Pavlish and Mike Hatfield. Two others, Donald B. Hoffman and Kelli Schweitzer, are write-in candidates.

9 comments:

AnonymousFebruary 22, 2016 at 12:09 PM
I'll support anyone with a vision and the willingness to put forth a plan, not just keep a seat warm.
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AnonymousMarch 17, 2016 at 7:10 PM
I think Mike Hatfield would be a great addition! dont know the other person, but do know Mike. He will do his best
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AnonymousNovember 7, 2016 at 3:25 PM
lets get someone who is connected to the community and asks what the people want, not just fulfilling their own personal agenda
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AnonymousNovember 7, 2016 at 10:58 PM
I thinks we should hire more liberal teachers who support Bernie Sanders, drug legalization and social justice!! Yay! Kids don't get enough exposure to progressive causes around these parts and its about time they do! Yay!!
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AnonymousNovember 8, 2016 at 1:10 PM
Hi. My name is ________________

I do understand that I have the advantage of decades of life experience inside and outside the classroom. However, I'd like to point out there is an intelligence test for teachers and others in positions of influence. It's called social media.

If you're a teacher or school official and you are posting your political affiliations, political arguments and philosophical leanings on digital platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and blogs, then you fail. In other words, you're not very bright. Don't you realize that your students' parents and your bosses (school board and property taxpayers) also see these things?

Trust and respect are built over time. Teachers and others in influential positions who have the discipline to keep private their political positions and preferences tend to wield more respect from both students and adults.

That is all.

Signed,

__________________________________

P.S. Signing your real name on a blog is also a test of intelligence.
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AnonymousNovember 12, 2016 at 8:04 PM
Why wasn't there a picture of the homecoming crowning. It also has to do with the school.
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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."