Dorchester Times: NEWS ROUND-UP: Hoffman Pleads Not Guilty

Wednesday, March 7, 2018

NEWS ROUND-UP: Hoffman Pleads Not Guilty

DHS Gets New Boards To Mark Athletic Records: Through social media, we've learned that Bruce and Brent Zoubek recently hung new athletic record boards at Dorchester High School. The boards were funded with donations from the DHS Booster Club, D-Club, Youth Wrestling Club, and Novak Auction. In other sports news, we're told that DHS' Makenna Bird and Ridge Hoffman were recently selected to the CRC Basketball honorable mention teams. Makenna will play in the CRC vs. Goldenrod All-Star Game on May 25 in Central City.

Hoffman Pleads Not Guilty: 10/11 News reports that Dorchester Village Board Chairman and former Crete High School teacher Matthew T. Hoffman pleaded not guilty in Saline County Court on Wednesday morning. Hoffman, 41, is facing two charges of second-degree sexual assault of a protected individual and one charge of first-degree sexual assault. A pretrial conference for Hoffman has been scheduled for May 2 at 9:30 a.m. Hoffman was arrested by the Saline County Sheriff's Office on Jan. 17 and was released on bail later in the month. Details surrounding the reported incidents are outlined in an affidavit for a search warrant issued on Feb. 2, that resulted in the possession of Hoffman’s work computer. The superintendent of Crete Public Schools confirmed that Hoffman voluntarily resigned his position at Crete High School on Feb. 19.

Friend School Board Eliminates Principal Position: The Friend newspaper reports that next-door in Friend, the FPS school board has voted to eliminate a principal position. The move appears to be for budgetary reasons. Friend Superintendent David Kraus said Alyson Dickinson, who is currently both the elementary school principal and the K-12 guidance counselor, will become the school’s full time K-12 counselor and curriculum and assessment director. Kraus said the school will advertise for a K-12 principal.

Health Care Event In Friend, March 24: The Friend Community Healthcare System will hosts its annual health fair from 7 to 11 a.m. Saturday, March 24, at the Friend Community Building. The event will include health screening profiles, lab draws and free blood pressure checks. The Waffleman will be serving waffles, and proceeds will go toward the Friend hospital. Registration for the health fair may be done by calling (402) 947-2541 or online at www.friendmed.org. Registration is encouraged but not required. Anyone who does labwork needs to fast 10 to 14 hours before the event. No food and drink other than water is allowed.

5 comments:

AnonymousMarch 7, 2018 at 2:49 PM
Can we talk about how inaccurate the football records appear to be?
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AnonymousMarch 7, 2018 at 5:37 PM
is the dorchester blog trying to get dorchester and friend to merge? whats with all the friend news??
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AnonymousMarch 7, 2018 at 6:05 PM
Sounds like a cover up in Friend. The wealthy farmers on the board and superintendent are in cahoots, they have been publicly critical of our school in the past. Maybe we should go after some of their students and teachers.
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AnonymousMarch 8, 2018 at 8:02 AM
Brandon Zoubek, Brandon Bruha, and Adam Briggs had helping hand in installing the record boards too
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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."