Dorchester Times: NEWS ROUND-UP: Longhorns Shine At FBLA Competition, Jr. High Quiz Bowl

Tuesday, April 10, 2018

NEWS ROUND-UP: Longhorns Shine At FBLA Competition, Jr. High Quiz Bowl

Dorchester Middle Schoolers Shine At ESU Quiz Bowl: Congratulations are in order for Dorchester's junior high quiz bowl team, which captured second place out of 13 teams at the ESU No. 6 Middle School Quiz Bowl held last week in Seward. Dorchester's team members were Blake Hansen (captain), Ashton Rasplicka, Karter Tyser, and Rony Lopez. The team was coached by Mrs. Sandy Severance.

DHS' Creamer and Thompson Going to National FBLA Conference: It can now be safely said that Dorchester has one of the state's leading Future Business Leaders of America chapters in the state, regardless of class size. Several Dorchester FBLA members attended the State Leadership Conference in Omaha over the past weekend. Their hard work paid off with the many chapter awards, top-eight finishes, and honorable mentions. You can see the list off DHS' top finishers here. Longhorns Kyra Creamer and Josh Thompson did so well that they are headed to the national FBLA competition in Baltimore this summer.

Dorchester Special Ed Students Open Coffee Shop: Dorchester's Special Education department has started the Longhorn Bistro -- an in-school coffee shop. To date they have sold 99 cups in just over three weeks. The goal is provide a work environment for the students. Teachers are able to purchase coffee/hot drinks each day. Parents may purchase a cup before school if they are in the building.

Potheads Lead a Loser's Life: We read that the 24-year-old son of Hollywood actor and notorious marijuana user Sean Penn was arrested in Nebraska for drug possession. It's just another case in point as to why today's parents must lead the crackdown against illegal and prescription drugs in this country, including the fight against pot -- a true "gateway" drug (and in many cases, more accessible than legal alcohol and cigarettes). The State Patrol trooper who stopped Penn's son on Interstate 80 found 14 grams of marijuana -- along with four amphetamine pills and three grams of psilocybin, a psychedelic drug commonly known as mushrooms. It's a sure bet that pot was the first illegal drug that Penn's son tried. So while pot may not kill you, it will surely make you a loser for life. Do whatever it takes -- don't let your kids use drugs (unless you really want them living at home forever).

1 comment:

AnonymousApril 10, 2018 at 11:55 AM
It is Creamer not Kreamer.
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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."