Tonight's Scary Movie -- 'Don't Go To Sleep'

Every Halloween week for the last several years, the Dorchester Times has aired scary classic TV shows.  It has become a tradition, you could say.

This year, we've selected two of the scariest made-for-TV shows we could think of.  (See yesterday's post for the first movie.)

Keep in mind that while these shows are family-friendly, we do not recommend that children under age 13 watch these alone -- or at all, for that matter.

Tonight's program is called "Don't Go To Sleep" -- one of the most frightening TV shows ever produced.  

View the movie here.

In this movie, little Mary is haunted by the guilty memory of her sister Jennifer, who died in an auto accident not long ago. Jennifer had always been more adored by their parents, and Mary can't help thinking that her jealousy was behind Jennifer's death. 

Soon, Mary begins to imagine that there's something, or someone, hiding under her bed, and it becomes apparent that the nocturnal visitor is her dead sister. The apparition, who is only seen by Mary, is not satisfied being the only member of her family to have crossed over; she wants the rest of her family dead. 

To Mary's horror, her dead sister is orchestrating the deaths of the other members of the family, one by one.

Enjoy tonight's Halloween movie.  But be sure to leave on an extra light.  

And Happy Halloween.

Exeter-Milligan Ends DHS Volleyball Season

Photo by: York News-Times

The Dorchester Lady Longhorns saw their 2018 volleyball season come to an end on  Monday night.

At the Class D2-2 subdistricts in Utica, the state's No. 3 team, Exeter-Milligan, swept DHS in three straight sets, 25-19, 25-13, 25-7 at Centennial Public School.

Read about the game at the York News-Times' website.

This Exeter-Milligan’s second win over Dorchester this season. The Timberwolves beat the Longhorns 2-0 back on Oct. 4 in a triangular in Stromsburg.

Despite the season-ending loss, Dorchester finished the season near .500, accumulating a 12-14 record this fall.  The Longhorns will return a very strong team in 2019 and should be among Class D2's most respected units.

Exeter-Milligan will face No. 2 Bruning-Davenport/Shickley in the subdistrict final tonight at 7 p.m.

Tonight's Scary Movie -- 'Dark Night Of The Scarecrow'

Every Halloween week for the last several years, the Dorchester Times has aired scary classic TV shows.  It has become a tradition, you could say.

This year, we've selected two of the scariest made-for-TV shows we could think of.  

While these shows are family-friendly, we do not recommend that children under age 13 watch these alone -- or at all, for that matter.

Tonight's program is called "Dark Night of the Scarecrow" -- one of the most frightening TV shows ever produced.  View the movie here.

"Dark Night of the Scarecrow" is a 1981 film.  In a small town in the Deep South, Charles Eliot "Bubba" Ritter, a large but gentle mentally challenged man, befriends young Marylee Williams. Some of the townspeople are upset by the closeness between Marylee and Bubba, and the brooding, mean-spirited postman Otis Hazelrigg is the worst. When Marylee is mauled by a vicious dog and lies unconscious at a doctor's office, Otis promptly assumes that Bubba has murdered her even though Bubba saved her life. Otis and three friends – gas station attendant Skeeter Norris and farmer-cousins Philby and Harliss Hocker – form a lynch mob. Bubba's mother disguises him as a scarecrow and posts him in a nearby field to wait for the drama to cool down. The bloodhounds sniff Bubba out, and all four vigilantes empty multiple rounds from their guns, killing him. Afterwards, they discover that Marylee is in fact alive, thanks to Bubba, whom they have just murdered. Acting fast, Otis places a pitchfork in Bubba's lifeless hands to make it appear as if he were attacking them with a weapon. The vigilantes are subsequently released because of lack of evidence against them (and blatant perjury by Otis) when the murder is brought to court.

And that's when the real horror begins.

Enjoy tonight's Halloween movie.  

But be sure to leave on an extra light.  

Village Taking Next Step Towards New Housing Development, Other Improvements

On Monday evening, Nov. 5, Dorchester will take its next major step to attract new development and improve the conditions of current homes and commercial buildings. 

According to public notices, Dorchester's planning commission and village board will both meet to take public comment in consideration of a resolution to declare all lots and lands within Dorchester's village limits as blighted and "in need of redevelopment" as pertaining to Nebraska's Community Development Law.

While no one wants to hear that their town is "blighted," the move is a critical step in the process to allow tax increment financing, also known as TIF, which help make new development and property upgrades financially viable in a small town such as Dorchester.

Here is how the Department of Revenue's website explains TIF:


The TIF process begins with the city declaring an area as substandard, blighted, and in need of redevelopment. The city must hold a public hearing and ... prepare a redevelopment plan, which must show, for example, the boundaries of the redevelopment project area, proposed land uses, population, land and building intensities, changes in zoning, and traffic flow.

After approval of the redevelopment plan and the project, TIF bonds may be issued for the acquisition of property, site preparation, and public improvements. The property is transferred to the developer at its fair market value for development and construction in accordance with the redevelopment plan. The properties in the project will have a base valuation, which is the last certified value prior to the division of tax effective date. The base property valuation remains assessable to all taxing entities. Any increase in value and resulting taxes must be accounted for separately and be used to pay off the debt incurred for the redevelopment project. The project must not exceed a 15-year period. 


According to an expert we spoke with, allowing TIF is vital for Dorchester's efforts to create a new housing development to the north. (See the graphic above.)

This past summer, village board members held three consecutive meetings to consider annexing a large piece of farm ground immediately north of town.  The land that has been annexed is owned by William J. Plouzek.  The area's boundaries are 12th Street to the south; the Hwy 6 spur (or County Road 1400) to the west; County Road D to the north; and County Road 1450 to the east.

Many residents believe that if Dorchester is to expand and attract new housing, it must be away from the grain elevator and railroad tracks and no closer to the feedyard to the west.  So growing to the north and northeast of Dorchester, near Hwy 6, are the most feasible options.

According to our research, this housing development effort comes at a good time.  A new Nebraska law, LB496, allows TIF to support the construction of workforce housing, and this will lower the cost of building a home in a small community, making new construction more feasible.  LB496 authorizes rural communities -- in counties with fewer than 100,000 inhabitants -- to include the construction of single-family or multi-family housing as part of a redevelopment project eligible for TIF.  Workforce housing under the new law is defined as "owner-occupied housing units costing no more than $275,000 to build, or rental housing units that cost no more than $200,000 to build," according to an e-mail we received.

The future appears to be arriving quickly when it comes to Dorchester's aspirations for growth.

NEWS ROUND-UP: Dorchester's Beer Yoga Gets Good Press

Dorchester's Downtown Beer Yoga Gets Positive Press: The Friend Sentinel has published a story on Julie Holly's "beer yoga" sessions at Dorchester's City Slickers.  "Holly, a certified yoga instructor and massage therapist at The Well in Dorchester, started teaching beer yoga classes at City Slickers last September," the story says.  And "people from Crete, Lincoln, Exeter and Milford have showed up the first Monday of the month to drink beer and practice yoga." The newspaper notes that it costs $5 at the door to take part, and there is no registration needed beforehand. "All the proceeds go toward a charity cause of Holly’s choice."  Meanwhile, The Well hosts yoga classes three times a week, tai chi two times a week and both aroma and massage therapy each week day.  It is located at 1002 Lincoln Ave. in Dorchester.

Kids' Halloween Party at Dorchester School this Sunday: We are told that Dorchester's EPAC and FBLA will host a Halloween party this Sunday, Oct. 28 from 1-3 p.m. at the Dorchester School.  There will be a "haunted hallway," kids' games, "trunk or treat," and a hayrack ride.

Dorchester Sewer Cleaning Notice: The Village government has contracted with Johnson Service Co. to check and clean Dorchester's sewer lines.  Residents in town will be seeing a yellow tag on their door before the company begins its work.  In case of poor venting air pressure -- which will produce "unpleasant odors" -- residents will be told to cover floor drains with plastic, as well as toilets.  If unpleasant odors are smelled, run water into each train to re-fill the fixture traps.

Dorchester Students Take Art Honors at State Fair: It was recently reported in the school newsletter that Dorchester's Hailey Schweitzer earned first place and Madison Sherwood earned second place in wall art at the Nebraska State Fair.  Other Dorchester students whose works received honors at the state fair include: Baylor Behrens, Atley Zoubek, Owen Vyhnalek, Karina Maldonado, Andrea Pavlish, Cole Johnson, Jacee Zoubek, Lexi Shaw, Jeremy Pliva, and Breanna Muff.

Random Thoughts: Town Website, DeWitt's Good News, Legislative Race

This feature is called "Random Thoughts."

What you are about to read are the collective random thoughts and observations of the Dorchester Times staff, posted by our own Village Dweller.  Some of the musings will be provoking or enlightening; others will have less intellectual depth than the kiddie pool.

In any case, if you read something you agree with, let us know in the comments box. Disagree? Do the same. Have a random thought you want published, send it to dorchester.times@gmail.com.

Enjoy.

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More Needed from Village Website: First, let us say that we appreciate the Village of Dorchester's official website.  We check it frequently.  But the site needs to be used more often and in a more helpful manner.  Why aren't the minutes from village board meetings available online? Why can't users of the website look up the village ordinances like they can state law? Several residents we know would like to be able to pay utilities online from the town's website.  We would like to see which properties are currently running afoul of village standards for cleanliness and appearance. (Posting photos of those who have ignored clean-up notices would create more public pressure on negligent property owners.)  Bottom line, the village's website needs to be utilized in a smarter, more comprehensive way.  This will help all residents to be more informed and more engaged.  The Times hopes the new village board, which will be seated in January, makes this a priority. 

Good News from DeWitt: The Lincoln newspaper has reported on  positive news from DeWitt. Malco Products, a Minnesota-based company that makes specialty tools, just celebrated its grand opening in the former Vise-Grip factory that it purchased in 2016.  According to reports, "it appears DeWitt will once again be a manufacturing site for a locking-tool product."  For about 10 years, DeWitt's Vise-Grip factory sat empty.  U.S. manufacturing is making a comeback thanks to the policies of the current Trump administration, and DeWitt is a beneficiary, it appears.

Puffery from Legislative Race: We've watched the race for Legislature with some amusement.  On the ballot this November are incumbent State Senator Laura Ebke and Plymouth-area landowner and farmer Tom Brandt.  We aren't endorsing either candidate.  Senator Ebke of Crete has disappointed us at times with her votes to repeal the death penalty and water down sentences for criminals.  That said, she is a hard-working, approachable and thoughtful public servant.  Meanwhile, Tom Brandt has shown he knows one thing: he doesn't like paying property taxes on his farm ground and he wants your help paying them.  In debates with Ebke, Brandt has refused to take a stand on controversial issues, such as legalizing illicit drugs.  His campaign literature says, "He's one of us."  Yet he has received nearly $700,000 in federal farm subsidies over two decades, which of course are just icing on his income cake.  None of the Times staff is receiving subsidy checks, certainly not to the tune of $700,000 -- but we'd sure like to. Maybe Brandt can tell us how we can be "one of him." 

DHS Sports Wrap-Up: Football Season Ends After Loss To Sterling

DHS Football Concludes 2018 Campaign: The Dorchester High School football season has come to an end following a lopsided loss to Sterling, one of Nebraska six-man's best teams.  On Friday evening, DHS traveled to No. 10 Sterling, where the final score ended in a 67-29 loss for the Longhorns.  Dorchester ends its first season of six-man football since the 1950s with a 3-5 record.  While the season ended on a downer, it was pure delight to see football back at Nerud Field this fall, with standout plays from some real up-and-comers, as well as some great seniors.  Moreover, it was inspiring to see the community rally around a group of dedicated young men who played for their own school and who were tough enough to learn the game -- and take a few bumps and bruises -- without consolidating with another school or two. We congratulate the Orange and Black for representing their school and community very well.

Volleyball Team Prepares For Final Regular-Season Game: DHS' volleyball team is preparing for its final game of the regular season.  The Lady Longhorns will take on Class C2 Tri-County this Tuesday, Oct. 23, at home.  The 7 p.m. contest (6 p.m. JV) will also be Parents/Seniors Night at the DHS gym.  Dorchester is 11-13 on the season.  DHS went 1-1 in the Crossroads Conference Tournament in York, falling to McCool Junction for the second time this year, but beating Osceola for the second time, as well.

Friend Newspaper Features Story on DHS Football Reunion:  The Friend Sentinel this week published a story on Dorchester's Aug. 24 kickoff game and its halftime ceremony honoring DHS six-man players from the 1950s.  The story notes that "it wasn’t just players who managed to come together during the event. Their former coach, Bill Story, was also in attendance. Story, who is 86 years old, walked onto the field and took his place beside the men he’d once coached and mentored."  The article notes that "for Story, coaching the Dorchester team back in the 50s was his first job out of college." Story told the newspaper:  “Football at Dorchester was just kind of like the university [University of Nebraska]. It just never stopped, and everybody was behind it.”  The story also quotes former DHS player Vern Johnson, who organized the reunion.  His great-nephews, Cole Johnson and Ben Nohavec, are current players for the team.  Current DHS head Coach Brent Zoubek told the newspaper that the season has been a success, especially considering 18 of the Dorchester boys had never played high school football. "I define success as bringing our boys closer," Zoubek said. "Better academics, better leader qualities, less discipline problems, and it’s all because of bringing football back."

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

The 2018 general election is approaching quickly. Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 6.

Here is the Dorchester Times' look at our community's local elections, as confirmed by the Saline County Election Clerk's office. 

Dorchester Village Board

One thing is for certain: Change is coming to Dorchester's Village Board.

The village board will see three of its five seats up for election, as two current board members, LJ Barley and Todd Jensen, are not running for re-election. Incumbent Dean Pracheil, a longtime board member, is running again.

In addition to Pracheil, three others are vying for a seat on the town board.  They are:

• Thomas Cerny
• Roger Miller
• Sarah Wenz

Cerny has served on the village board before.  Miller and Wenz, if elected, would be newcomers.

Meanwhile, there is no word yet on what will happen to the seat of village board chairman Matthew Hoffman, who last month plead guilty to two misdemeanor charges of sexual assault.  Some observers have speculated that Hoffman will resign once he is sentenced next month.  Hoffman is due in court for sentencing on Nov. 20, 2018.  (Hoffman would not be up for re-election until 2020.  He received nearly 200 votes in 2016, a large amount of votes for a Dorchester official.)  Hoffman was arrested by the Saline County Sheriff's Office in early 2018. Information surrounding the assaults is unknown, but because Hoffman has pleaded guilty to two separate charges, this blog assumes he will step down or be removed by a vote of the full board (or a citizen petition under state law).

Dorchester School Board

There will be no changes coming to the local school board.

The Dorchester Public School Board has three open seats.  All three current board members whose seats are up -- Steve Vyhnalek, Carol Schnell and Matt Hansen -- are seeking re-election.  No challengers filed to run for the school board this year.

Readers will be able to view this year's election results online, once they're made available, by clicking here.

Forecast: First Hard Frost Not Until Nov. 4

UPDATE: Those extended forecasts may have underestimated the current cool spell.  The National Weather Service in Omaha/Valley has issued a Freeze Watch, which is in effect from late tonight (Wednesday) through Thursday morning.  Temps will be possibly dropping into the upper 20s and lower 30s, falling to near freezing after 3 a.m. and possibly lingering until 9 a.m. Thursday. Freezing temperatures could kill sensitive vegetation.

For those of you who are excited for the season's first frost, you will have to wait another month, according to computer models.  

According to several forecasting services analyzed by the Dorchester Times, the first killing frost is not expected to hit Saline County until early November 4.  

As a point of reference, the average first frost date for our area is October 12.

The forecasts we examined show that the Dorchester area will get near freezing on October 12 and down to the 32-degree mark on October 28.

No matter where the thermometer ends up, enjoy the green while it lasts.

DHS Class Of 1981 Alumnae Tour Italy

Dorchester school ties never die.  Even on the other side of the Atlantic.

The Times has learned that eight graduates of Dorchester High School's Class of 1981 recently traveled to Italy for what may be considered the ultimate girl’s trip.  Participating in the adventure were classmates Holly Johnson Baber, Judy Kasl Bors, Rochelle Sehnert Carroll, Pam Bruha Fuller, Chris Pribyl Haake, Jeanne Slepicka Hoggins, Kathy Skalak Oelschlager, and Bonnie Stehlik Wagner.  

The group spent three days touring Rome, visiting the popular sites of the Vatican museums and Sistine Chapel, as well as the Colosseum, the Spanish Steps and the Trevi Fountain.  They also found some other interesting sites not quite as well known, including the Capuchian Crypt, which features artwork created by a monk using the bones of over 4000 skeletons.  They enjoyed walking miles of cobblestone streets and feasting in many wonderful Roman restaurants.

The group then enjoyed a fast train ride (traveling over 150 mph) to Padova in northern Italy.  They almost missed getting off the train to make their connecting train in time, due to some luggage issues, but their Italian host and ’81 classmate Neileen Filipi Nelson was at the station to meet them and blocked the train from leaving without her classmates getting off.  The group then enjoyed nine days as guests of Neileen and her husband, who is serving as a retired army officer at the army base in Vicenza, Italy.  

Neileen provided the group with a wide variety of tours and activities.  They attended an Italian cooking school (which brought back memories of 4-H meetings in the Legion Hall in Dorchester for many of the girls).  They made a trip to Venice and experienced a ride in a gondola along the “streets” or canals of the city and a presentation about Burano lace making at the local lace school.  

They also toured Verona, the city attributed to be the home of Romeo and Juliet, and visited Lake Garda, the largest lake in Italy.  Here they dined along the beautiful lakeshore and took a cable car to the top of a mountain, giving them a great view of the Lake Garda Valley, along with the nearby Alps. They also toured several vineyards and tasted many local wines, along with another tour and tasting at an olive oil processor.  Other sites visited were castles and many beautiful churches.  The group also participated in a local 6K community walk through the city and hills of a nearby town.

The group described the trip as a success and “life changing experience” -- and is hoping to repeat similar trips in the future.  Although future destinations may not be quite so exotic, these Longhorns for life thoroughly enjoyed the time together and hope that in the future the group will be able to include more of their classmates.

DHS Sports Wrap-Up: Volleyball & Football Teams Now Both At .500

DHS Football Team Falls to Heartland Lutheran: The Dorchester High School football team lost Friday's home game against Heartland Lutheran (Grand Island) by a score of 44-27.  The Longhorns found themselves in a deficit early in this contest, in a 32-13 hole at the half, and the Orange and Black couldn't come back to make it close.  DHS is now 3-3 on the season and will travel to McCool Junction on Friday, Oct. 12, to battle the Mustangs (5-1).  The McCool team is considered one of the Longhorns' toughest opponents on the schedule this season.

Volleyball Team Now 10-10 Going Into Final Stretch:  Heading into the final weeks of the regular volleyball season, Dorchester High School's Lady Longhorns went 1-2 this past week.  DHS swept Parkview Christian on Tuesday, but fell to Cross County and Exeter-Milligan at a triangular in Stromsburg. This Tuesday, Oct. 9, DHS will take on two strong teams in McCool Junction (10-10) and BDS (15-4) in a triangular at McCool Junction.  Then the following week, from Oct. 13-16, DHS will head to York for the Crossroads Conference.

Renew Dorchester Announces Student Essay Contest

This week, the Times was notified via e-mail of an essay contest being sponsored by Renew Dorchester, the new non-profit group.  We are impressed and fully support this idea to get young people engaged in Dorchester by gathering their ideas and input.

The announcement from Renew Dorchester follows in its entirety: 

***

Renew Dorchester – a new, non-profit charity – invites Dorchester Public School students (grades 3-12) to take part in the first-ever “Dorchester: Vision 2030” essay contest.  The organization wants to hear from Dorchester students regarding how they hope to see Dorchester improve and grow during the next dozen years – by the year 2030.

The contest has three divisions, each with its own minimum-length requirement and cash awards:

Grades 3, 4 and 5

At least 350 words (at least 1 full page).  First-place receives $75 cash; 2nd place $50; 3rd place $25.

Grades 6, 7 and 8

At least 550 words (at least 1.5 pages).  First-place receives $100 cash; 2nd place $50; 3rd place $25.

Grades 9, 10, 11 and 12

At least 750 words (at least 2 full pages).  First-place receives $200 cash; 2nd place $50; 3rd place $25.

SPECIFIC TOPICS – At the top of their essay, students should write their name and grade level.  Essays should answer the following:

1. What do you hope Dorchester looks like in the year 2030 – or 12 years from now?
2. How can technology help Dorchester overcome current challenges?
3. What can you and other students do right now to help improve Dorchester?

DEADLINE – Essays are due no later than December 1, 2018.  Essays may be submitted to any Renew Dorchester board member, or sent to: Renew Dorchester, P.O. Box 64, Dorchester, NE 68343. (Mailed essays must be postmarked by December 1.) 

Renew Dorchester’s board is comprised of: Deanna Bird, Brett Boller, Shelly Bruha, Tiernan Creamer, Julie Holly, Jamie Karl, Chris Kirkpatrick, Marvin Kohout, Kyle Lehr, Amanda Nohavec, Cory Schlueter, Daryl Schrunk, and Diane Velder.

Renew Dorchester is a member-driven, 501(c)(3) organization with a mission to enhance the community’s quality of life, while expanding Dorchester’s opportunities for the future. Membership is open to all; applications are available in the Dorchester Post Office lobby or emailing RenewDorchester@gmail.com.  Donations, including membership dues, are fully tax deductible.

Jobs, Jobs, Jobs In The Dorchester Area

The unemployment rate in Nebraska is now 2.8%.  That means anyone who actually wants a job probably has one.

But that doesn't mean you can't get a better job! 

The fact is, there are great jobs in our area that are open right now, and the Dorchester Times is on a mission to help you find a fulfilling position.  We want to help current and future residents find a career that allows them to help Dorchester prosper.

The Times has scoured all our sources to ensure that Dorchester area residents who want to work can work. Here is what we've found in the current job market:

• Dorchester Public School:  Dorchester Public School is looking for dynamic, energetic, hard-working individuals who want to be a food service worker (cook). Job duties include preparing and serving meals with general kitchen duties, with approximately 35 hours per week during the school year. Those interested should contact DPS Superintendent Daryl Schrunk at 402-946-2781.

• Indeed.com:  Check out this site for nearly 1,000 current, full-time openings within just 25 miles from Dorchester, paying anywhere from $20,000 to well over $50,000.  Among the great jobs we spotted were:

• Medical scribe at Crete Medical Clinic.
• Patient financial services manager at the Friend Community Healthcare System.
• Med Aide (MA) in Crete for Tabitha Health Care Services.
• Branch manager at Great Western Bank in Crete.
• Controls technical specialist, as well as a maintenance position at Nestle Purina PetCare Company in Crete.
• Newspaper carrier with a $500.00 sign-on for the Lincoln Journal Star.
• Relationship officer with Farm Credit Services in the town of Western.

• NE Works:  This website, run by the Nebraska Labor Department, shows more than 270 job opportunities within Saline County -- from electricians to office assistants to livestock workers to medical aides.  Go to https://neworks.nebraska.gov for more information. 

• Farmers Cooperative:  Farmers Cooperative, headquartered in Dorchester, currently has multiple job openings, including the position of Agronomy Operations Specialist (and an upcoming summer internship) in Dorchester.  Other openings are in nearby locations.  Click here to see the openings.

• State of Nebraska - Dept. of Transportation: A Google search for Dorchester jobs found this open position -- senior highway maintenance worker.  Click here for more information.