Merry Christmas, Dorchester!

Here's our Christmas music for you and your family on this special day.

Christmas In Our Village

Our gift to you: 12 hours of Christmas music as you prepare for Santa's arrival.

Village Board Member Finds Century-Old Letters In Dr. Panter's Former House

The Friend Sentinel has published a great story about Dorchester resident and village board member Sarah Wenz and her home on main street. 

As the Sentinel explains, Wenz inherited the house from her father, the late Bill Wenz Jr., after he passed away in October 2017. The Wenz family is only the second family ever to own the home, after Bill purchased it from the Panter family. 

The home, which is thought to have been built in 1890s, was the former residence of Dorchester's well-known Dr. Robert C. Panter, the town's physician for much of the first half of the 1900s. Dr. Panter is buried in the Dorchester Cemetery.

Ironically, like Wenz, Robert Panter's father, Samuel G. Panter, was also on the Dorchester Village Board of Trustees -- and is one of the founders of our community.

The Sentinel reports that Bill Wenz spent years refurbishing the house in the 1980s and '90s. When Sarah Wenz was doing her own improvements and updates just last year, she found over 200 letters and some postcards from the Panter family.

According to the letters, which were often written on American Red Cross stationary, Panter was a doctor in the first World War, stamp marked from many European cities. Most of the documents are in good condition and are all addressed to a “Mrs. R.G. Panter” from 1914-1918. 

Wenz will donate the letters to the Saline County Historical Museum by January.

Read the Friend Sentinel's story.

SPORTS ROUND-UP: Girls Get Second Win; Football Districts Announced

DHS Girls Grab Season's Second Win; Boys Fall: Dorchester's girls basketball team now stands at 2-3 on the season after crushing Osceola on Thursday night 50-20 in a road contest. The boys team, however, stumbled later in the evening, losing to Osceola by a 52-33 tally. Both teams now prepare for the holiday tournament in Weeping Water.

Holiday Tournament Brackets Released: Both DHS basketball teams will do battle in Weeping Water next weekend. The Longhorn boys will play the first game against the hosting team on Friday, Dec. 27, at 4 p.m. in Weeping Water's west gym. (See the boys tourney bracket.) Meanwhile, the DHS girls will tip off their first contest Friday against Conestoga at 1 p.m. in the east gym. (See the girls bracket.)

Dorchester Wrestlers Continue to Collect Medals: Dorchester High School wrestlers Jose Real and Angel Del Toro continue to perform at a high level. Last week, at the Bob Oliver invite, Real took first place and Angel Del Toro brought home fourth.

2020 Football Districts Announced: The 2020 and 2021 district assignments for high school football teams was released by the Nebraska School Activities Association this week. In six-man's District D6-2, the teams will be Dorchester, Hampton, Heartland Lutheran, McCool Junction, and Lincoln Parkview Christian. Heartland Lutheran and McCool will continue to press DHS to master the six-man game.

DHS Hoops Teams Sweep Harvard

The Dorchester Lady Longhorns captured their first basketball victory of the young 2019-20 season last night (Tuesday), beating the visiting Harvard team 35-26.

Here is the girls' box score:

12/17	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Final
Harvard	8	1	11	6	26
Dorchester	9	8	3	15	35

Later in the evening, the DHS boys basketball team advanced to 2-1 on the year, knocking off Harvard by a 45-36 tally, despite getting outscored in the second half. 

Here's the boys' box score:

12/17	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Final
Harvard	4	9	13	10	36
Dorchester	12	12	7	14	45

Both the DHS girls and boys will travel to play at Osceola (0-4 girls, 2-2 boys) on Thursday night.

Splashpad Donors Are Our 'Citizens Of The Year'

The Dorchester Times proudly names the donors to the new Dorchester splash pad as the "Dorchester Citizens of 2019."

It takes a community working together to achieve great feats. Dorchester has done exactly that over the past few years to build the first major kids' recreation project added to Dorchester in more than two generations (outside of the school).

The Dorchester Community Foundation Fund -- which was responsible for raising the money necessary to make the project a reality -- announced its plans to build a  splash pad back in late 2016. 

Over two and a half years, funding was raised through generous contributions. Donations came from area businesses, organizations, families, and individuals. By spring of 2019, enough had been raised to beging construction on what was called "phase one" of the project.

By July, the splash pad was up and running in Dorchester's city park. It was quite a sight to behold.

Also in 2019, the foundation was promised a matching grant to help complete "phase two" of the splash pad project at the Dorchester City Park.  According to insiders, phase two is "comprised entirely of water features" -- about $80,000 worth of larger splash pad features that will "wow" visitors in future years. 

If you would like to contribute to this effort to ensure the Foundation gets the $50,000 match grant, checks made payable to the Dorchester Foundation Community Fund can be mailed to: Dorchester Community Foundation Fund, c/o Peg Bergmeyer, 101 Washington Ave., Dorchester, NE 68343.

Previous winners of the Dorchster Times' Citizen of the Year award have been Brent Zoubek, Greg Tyser, Peg Bergmeyer, Penny Keller, Carol Olson, Dale Hayek, and Bill Velder. 

Honorable mentions submitted to the Times by staff members either this year or in previous years include (in no particular order): The members of the Dorchester Volunteer Fire Dept. and Rescue, Bob and Marva Kasl, Daryl Schrunk, Julie and Joe Holly, Deanna Bird, Amanda Cerny, Sarah Wenz, Tom Cerny, Larry Kaspar, Phil and Bernice Weber, Lyle Weber, Donna Parks, Shelly and Rose Bruha, Todd Axline, Jason and Kathy Duhrkop, Mike Pracheil, George Kasl, Ben Haufle, Marv Kohout, Matt Smith, Novak Auction Service, Don Eret, Steve Ottmann, Scott Pohl, Eric Stehlik, Joyce Karl, Adam Briggs, Rob Parks, John Bruha, Mark Bors, Joel Weber, LJ Barley, Allan Papik, Dan Nerud, Mike Nohavec, Brandon Zoubek, Lisa and Kevin Veprovsky, and Marv Kasl.

Congratulations to our Times' Citizens of 2019. You know who you are.

NEWS ROUND-UP: DHS Basketball Teams Fall To BDS

BDS Blanks DHS in Hoops: Both Dorchester's boys and girls varsity squads were defeated Friday night in a home contest against Bruning-Davenport-Shickley. The consolidated teams, which has become known locally as an athletic force, were pretty hard on the Longhorns. The Lady Longhorns, now 0-3 on the season, lost 51-33 with scoring from the following players: Creamer 6, A. Zoubek 3, Weber 2, J. Zoubek 14, Novak 8. The boys, now 1-1 on the season, lost 60-26 with scoring from the following players: Brummett 10, Tyser 5, Hansen 7, Hoffman 4. Both DHS boys and girls are back in action this Tuesday at home. The Harvard girls are 0-4, while the boys are 2-2.

Dorchester Wresters Bring Home Hardware: Congratulations to the DHS wrestlers Jose Real and Angel Del Toro for their performance at the Bob Oliver invite this week. Jose took first place and Angel took fourth. Also, congratulations to the Dorchester Junior High Wrestlers on a successful meet at Centennial. Marcos Borrego took first place, while getting fourth place metals were Jacob Hatfield, Ashton Jirsa, and Victor Lopez.

LaDona Ann Powers Passes: LaDona Ann Schaulis Powers, 87, of Lincoln, passed away on Dec. 10. Ann was married to Ronald Powers, a long time principal for Dorchester Public Schools. Funeral Service will be held on Monday, December 16, at 11 A.M. at Roper and Sons Chapel, 4300 O Street, Lincoln. Visitation will be one hour prior to services. Condolences may be left online at roperandsons.com.

FLASHBACK: 12 Years Ago, DHS Students Earned $$$ By Picking Up Corn

A dozen years ago, when corn prices were a bit higher than today, the Times reported on Dorchester High School students who took to the local fields to pick up downed ears of corn. 

Their work paid off, as you'll read in this post from Dec. 10, 2007:

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We at the Times continue to be impressed by the generosity of those in the Dorchester area community. Last month, Tony and Judy Schweitzer allowed Dorchester High School students to pick up corn that had been toppled by wind and adverse weather. DHS alumni and parents Donna Parks and John Bruha initiated the project as a way to earn money for the DHS juniors and senior classes.

On Nov. 3, the group gathered corn for more than four hours. When all was said and picked, three grain wagons had been filled by the nine seniors and seven juniors who participated.

Following the Nov. 3 corn picking event, DHS senior Andrea Hansen convinced her father, Matt, to donate downed corn in a field west of town. So the group put their corn picking skills to work again on Nov. 9, filling two trailors that day -- and yet one more on the Nov. 10.

Parents and other supporters that helped the juniors and seniors in the effort include: John and Rochelle Bruha, Donna Parks, Judy Bors (along with Clarrisa Bors), Brenda Inderlied, Marvin Kasl, Lisa Wells, Janet Alphabeck, Pam and Larry Burrows. Brad Kasl provided use of his combine so the group could husk the corn.

Nearly $550 was raised by the corn pickers. The profits will be split by the junior and senior classes, based on the number of class members who participated. Photos are courtesy of Donna Parks.

Co-Ed Volleyball League Starts Play Jan. 5

For those interested in participating in Dorchester's co-ed 6-on-6 volleyball league, the deadline to register your team is quickly approaching.
Sign-up is open until Friday, Dec. 27, according to a public notice on the Village of Dorchester website.

You can get your sign-up form by clicking here and scrolling to the bottom right corner.

Again, the registration forms must be into Village Hall no later than Dec. 27. 

League play begins Sunday, Jan. 5 at the Dorchester gym. Participants cannot be currently enrolled in high school. 

Fee is $30 per team.

For more information, contact Andrea Pracheil at abpracheil@hotmail.com.

Where Are They Now?: Brandon Vyhnalek

Years ago -- when the Dorchester Times was just getting its legs -- the Times staff tried to start a regular series to update readers on the whereabouts of DHS alumni who left our area to pursue their dreams.

We weren't very persistent. The "Where Are They Now?" series was comprised of just one story -- that of Matt Burkey in 2007.

So we're trying it again today, more than 12 years later.

Today we feature 2007 DHS graduate Brandon Vyhnalek, who was hired at New Orleans' Tulane University in November of 2015. Since joining the Tulane staff in Louisiana, he has been elevated to football video coordinator and, most recently, into his associate director role in September 2019.

His job responsibilities include collaborating with the football team's video efforts, as well as assisting with streaming at Green Wave athletics events.

Prior to his time at Tulane, Vyhnalek worked with the National Football League as a still-shot technician in 2014, while he was also a video assistant for the Arizona Cardinals in 2013 and 2014. From 2011-12, he was an assistant video director with the Omaha Nighthawks.

After graduating from DHS, Vyhnalek earned a bachelor's degree in sport management from Nebraska Wesleyan University in 2011. He is a member of the Collegiate Sports Video Association and has been an extra in two motion pictures: "Beverly Hills Ninja" and "Transformers 3."

If you know of other deserving DHS graduates who should be recognized in our "Where Are They Now?" series, send updates to Dorchester.Times@gmail.com.

DHS Boys Get 51-29 Win In Season's First Basketball Contest

Dorchester's boys basketball team is off to a solid start as the 2019-20 basketball season tipped off Friday night.

The Longhorns notched a convincing first-game win at Meridian, beating the Mustangs 51-29. 

The DHS boys will be tested again by the consolidated team of Bruning-Davenport-Shickley next Friday in a game at Dorchester.

Coached by Miles Ray, Nick Ginapp and Cory Bird, and led by 6'4" junior Kohl Tyser -- along with veterans Ridge Hoffman, Josh Thompson, Collyn Brummett and Blake Hansen -- the Longhorns are looking to make a statement this year in Class D-2.

Here's this year's full DHS boys basketball schedule:

12/06/19 @ Meridian  
12/13/19 BDS
12/17/19 Harvard 
12/19/19 @ Osceola
12/27-12/28  (To Be Determined)  Weeping Water Holiday Tournament
01/04/20 Cedar Bluffs
01/07/20 @ College View Academy
01/09/20 @ Sterling
01/14/20 Friend
01/16/20 East Butler
01/17/20 High Plains Community
01/21/20 @ Cross County  
01/23/20 Shelby-Rising City
01/25-01/31  (To Be Determined)  Crossroads Conference in York 
02/04/20 @ Parkview Christian  
02/06/20 Nebraska Lutheran  
02/07/20 @ Giltner  
02/11/20 Hampton
02/14/20 McCool Junction 
02/21/20 @ Exeter-Milligan

Community Christmas Movie Set For Friday, Dec. 13

The Dorchester Public Library is going to host a Christmas movie on Friday the 13th.

The movie? Why "Nightmare Before Christmas" -- of course.

The movie will show in the Community Building. Doors will open at 5:30 p.m., and the movie will start at 6 p.m. Make sure the kids are there early to get in their seats.

Admission is $5, which includes hot dogs and other goodies. Parents should come, too, if they'd like.

The movie is billed for all ages, but the animated movie might be a little scary for those under 7.

According to our online research, "Nightmare Before Christmas" is a Tim Burton film. Despite having recently presided over a very successful Halloween, Jack Skellington, aka the Pumpkin King, is bored with his job and feels that life in Halloweenland lacks meaning. Then he stumbles upon Christmastown and promptly decides to make the Yuletide his own.

Get the kids together for this fun community activity!

Dorchester Christmas Items Will Be A Big Hit With Loved Ones

This year, consider giving family and friends Dorchester-themed Christmas gifts. Or personalize your tree with your own Dorchester ornament. 

Thanks to online shopping, it's possible to have these items shipped right to your door.

Amazon.com currently offers three Dorchester red-truck Christmas items. They are (click the item names to go to their Amazon page):

 

       Dorchester Mug       Dorchester Ornament 1     Dorchester Ornament 2

All three are under $20.

This is just a small sample of the online Dorchester-themed items that your loved ones and best friends will appreciate. 

Hurry! Christmas is just three weeks away.

Dorchester Legion Christmas Dinner, Santa Visit Tonight At 5:30

It's the first of December.

The passing of Thanksgiving and the change of the calendar bring the onslaught of Christmas gatherings and events.

The first Christmas gathering is a good one in Dorchester. Tonight (Sunday, Dec. 1) at 5:30 p.m., the Dorchester American Legion family will hold its Christmas party at the Legion Hall on main street.

A covered dish supper will start promptly at 5:30.  A program and Santa's visit will follow.

All Legion, Sons of American Legion, Auxiliary and Jr. Auxiliary members should plan to attend. Also, guests are welcome.

This gathering will also celebrate the 100th birthday of the Dorchester American Legion.