Dorchester Times: Village: You Plug It, You Pay!

Thursday, February 18, 2016

Village: You Plug It, You Pay!

"You can't fix stupid," goes the old saying. Perhaps that's true.

But the Village of Dorchester is at least trying to fix some very stupid activities taking place in Dorchester bathrooms.

Village Hall has posted on its website a reminder that if you plug a village sewer line due to flushing items or material that weren't meant to be flushed, it could cost you a lot of money -- hundreds or thousands of dollars. You will be held financially accountable, even if your children did it. Even if your dog did it. Even if you thought the item was flushable.

The village office has posted a warning to not flush the following down your toilet:

Baby wipes and/or diapers;
Towels;
Rags;
Cotton swabs;
Syringes;
Candy wrappers or other type of wrappers or packaging;
Toys;
Cleaning sponges;
Clothing labels;
Hair (yes, ladies -- this means you);
Cigarette butts;
Rubber items;
Aquarium gravel;
Sand;
Disposable toilet cleaners;
Sanitary napkins;
Underwear.

It's hard to believe that such a list needs to be published.

But maybe the threat of a massive, four-figure bill coming to your mailbox -- if your sewer lines get clogged -- is a good reminder for all of us to be a bit wiser before we consider flushing something other than what toilets were made for.

Remember, you plug it, you pay for it.

Happy flushing!

9 comments:

AnonymousFebruary 18, 2016 at 12:09 PM
Is THIS what the Times has come to? Wow, you guys have really gone down the crapper!
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Fulton St. GalFebruary 18, 2016 at 5:57 PM
That toilet is definitely "pugged"
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AnonymousFebruary 18, 2016 at 10:13 PM
What about Flush-able baby wipes? and my pet/(family member) Buddy the Goldfish is about to die (SWIMMING UPSIDE DOWN) and we are preparing his funeral service and we want to have him flushed. For him to have that final ride down the ceremonial Dorchester sewer lines would be a great way to celebrate his life, is this still plausible? This is causing a lot of stress on our family. Hope to hear back soon, if not we will freeze him til this matter is resolved.
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AnonymousFebruary 18, 2016 at 10:27 PM
THIS STORY PROVES THE BLOG IS FULL OF IT
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AnonymousFebruary 19, 2016 at 11:12 AM
Use some of the money to fill in hole in the streets
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AnonymousFebruary 19, 2016 at 6:18 PM
I'm suprised the sewer system can handle all the **** from the village board members as they give reasons of why they can't fix some of the issues around town. Might have to start wearing waist high
Boots
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AnonymousFebruary 19, 2016 at 7:22 PM
Great. Now I've done it. Sitting on the john, reading my smartphone when i see the picture of the dog in the toilet. Laughed so hard i dropped the phone in the toilet and flushed it. Opps. Sorry. Please bill my neighbor john.
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AnonymousFebruary 19, 2016 at 7:22 PM
Great. Now I've done it. Sitting on the john, reading my smartphone when i see the picture of the dog in the toilet. Laughed so hard i dropped the phone in the toilet and flushed it. Opps. Sorry. Please bill my neighbor john.
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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."