Senior Center hosts Volunteer Tea

The Exeter Senior Center honored volunteers to the Exeter Community on Wednesday with a Volunteer Tea.

Kelsey Moore

Amanda Dinneen

Exeter American Legion Auxiliary Unit 218 has selected Amanda Dinneen and Kelsey Moore, members of the junior class of Exeter-Milligan Public School, as their delegates to the 2010 session of Cornhusker Girls State to be held at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln from June 6 - 12, 2010.

Girls State is a nationwide program sponsored by the American Legion Auxiliary. Each year more than 400 young women from across Nebraska are offered an opportunity to be active participants in structured role-playing that emphasizes our democratic form of government.

Amanda Dinneen, daughter of Joe and Sharla Dinneen of Exeter, is active in volleyball, track, softball, cheerleading, FCCLA, speech, one-act and all school plays, quiz bowl and band. She is a member of the National Honor Society and was selected as a National Youth Delegate. Amanda is also a member of CYO at her church.

Kelsey Moore, daughter of Brent and Lori Moore of Exeter, is active in volleyball, basketball, track, softball, cheerleading, quiz bowl, speech, band, jazz band, one-act and all school plays. She is a member of National Honor Society and president of FCCLA. Kelsey is also involved in 4-H as secretary of the Fillmore Co 4-H council and in her church as a Sunday School teacher, a member of the Pastoral Call Committee and as president of LYON (Lutheran Youth Organization of Nebraska).

Fourth Graders Create Posters for National Library Week

Students of Ms. Susan Wait at Exeter-Milligan school made posters as a 4th grade art project to recognize National Library Week. The posters are on display at the Exeter Library (shown here) and at the Milligan Library. The students visited the Milligan Library on Wednesday, April 14th where they planted seeds and read several books, including The Curious Garden and Diary of a Worm.

Barn Quilt Project

Group Wants Barn Quilts in Fillmore County

A group of volunteers called the Fillmore County Barn Quilt Committee and the Fillmore County Visitors Committee are trying to develop a new tourism attraction in Fillmore County—Barn Quilts.

Barn quilts are usually 8 x 8 pieces of wood painted with a quilt block design. The quilt block is then attached to barns or other large structures. The Barn Quilt project goals are to promote agri-tourism and help preserve rural architecture and local culture by showcasing the legacy of quilts and their artistic patterns on barns and other farm buildings. The plan is to have 16 quilts on barns throughout Fillmore County in the next 18-24 months. As more barn quilts are added a Quilt Trail will be developed.

People who may have a barn or building that could be considered to hold a barn quilt are encouraged to let the committee know. Ideally the barn quilt could be seen from both directions of travel and from a hard surfaced road.

It is estimated that each Barn Quilt will cost between $250-$300. Volunteers will be needed to enlarge and draw the pattern on the wood, paint the block, and mount the quilt block on the barn. Anyone wishing to help with the Barn Quilt project either by donating money or time or who has a barn may contact the Fillmore County Visitors Committee at 1032 G ST, Geneva, Nebraska 68361, phone 759-4910 or email fcdcassist@genevamail.com.

The first Barn Quilt was painted by Donna Sue Groves in honor of her mother Maxine in Adams County Ohio. Now there are more than 1800 quilts in 24 states.

Choking 101 at the Exeter Senior Center

Hope Androyna demonstrates the Heimlich maneuver on Alan Michl.

Hope Androyna demonstrates how to give yourself the Heimlich maneuver when you are home alone.

Hope Androyna giving a presentation on choking at the Exeter Senior Center.

Choking 101 was the topic at the Exeter Senior Center after their lunch bunch on Tuesday.

After the plates were cleared away, Exeter Rescue Squad member Hope Androyna took the floor and shared some of the basics about choking with the guests.

She made several important points for those who live alone, showing them how to give themselves the Heimlich maneuver using a chair.

She also gave hints on how to give the Heimlich maneuver properly and want to do if an infant or small child is choking.

Androyna, who is certified to teach EMT's, also talked about CPR with the group of seniors and their guests. She emphasized that "it doesn't matter if you do it correctly (with the number of compressions to breaths changing all the time), anything you are doing helps. Whatever you do outside the hospital helps keep blood flowing."

She reminded those in attendance that the should not do any breaths unless they have a CPR mask, "chest compressions will keep the oxygenated blood moving."

After Androyna spoke, Exeter Village Chairman of the Board, Alan Michl gave a summary of some of the highlights of the last year and a half in the village.

To start, he gave a report on the pool which opened last July 1st. He informed the group that the Village plans to put more sidewalks in the park and will install the slide on April 23rd.

He also mentioned the ATV ordinance the village has established requiring drivers to be 16 with a valid driver's license, insurance and a flag on the ATV. He also reminded the group that ATV's are not allowed on main street from 7:00 a.m. -5:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

There was group discussion on how Exeter, despite a few abandoned vehicles and rundown homes looks very nice for a town of its size. Michl reminded the group that the Spring Clean Up dumpster will be available April 24th and May 1st.

Michl talked some about the part-time police agreement the Village has with the City of Friend Police Department. The Village had researched contracting with the Sheriff's Department for police protection but they would not enforce village ordinances and their contract price was considerably more than the budget would allow.

Michl also mentioned two positive new additions to the village, the Village of Exeter website and the recycling trailer. He also mentioned the update of the neon sign courtesy of the Exeter Community Foundation.

The new breathalyzer has arrived, but Michl noted that it was paid for through a grant to replace the old one the Village had. Michl also informed the group that Richard Erdkamp had been hired as the summer help and that the village will be looking at replacing the loader soon.

Those in the crowd asked if the potholes in town will be taken care of soon and Michl assured them they would but some sections of streets would have to be replaced.

He also mentioned that the Village will be looking into establishing a truck route to handle the traffic from the coop.




Carol Williams (left) receives a gift certificate to Greg's Market from Brenda Motis for guessing the correct date as to when all the snow in Exeter would be melted. She chose Easter Sunday and got it right!

Exeter Legion Post 218 Holds Birthday Party

The Exeter American Legion Post 218 recently honored several of their members at their annual birthday party. Honorees are pictured above and are from the left Alva Smith, 65 year member, Myron Schiefelbien, 50 year member and Roy Stubbendick 60 year member. Family members were present with Birthday cake served for the Legion honorees and the 90th Birthday of the Legion Auxiliary.

Exeter Legion Auxiliary Minutes

The American Legion Auxiliary Unit 218 of Exeter met Monday, April 12 at 7:00 p.m., with seven members present. Patrick Murphy, Caitlin Murphy, Macy Due and Tara Mueller piano students of Mrs. Angie Murphy entertained us with piano selections, duets and a solo by Caitlin.

Received a card of thanks from the Ron Davis family for assisting with funeral dinner and the monetary gift.

Community Service sponsored Bingo at the Exeter Care Center in March.

Linda purchased two coat racks and 100-cup commercial coffee maker.

Our Girls State representatives are Amanda Dinneen and Kelsey Moore.

The unit will serve lunch for the Baker Estate Auction, Friday evening, April 16^th.

The Legion Birthday Dinner was held Sunday, March 14^th. Alva Smith was honored for 65 years of membership, Roy Stubbendick for 60 and Myron Schiefelbein for 50 years. Family members were present with Birthday cake served for the Legion honorees and the 90^th Birthday of the Legion Auxiliary.

Gold Star Tea Committee for the May meeting is Carol Better, Rhonda Maxson and Annette Gloystein.

Songsters and Franzens put up the flags at the cemetery for the Davis funeral.

Chairman Amy Emshoff will present the slate of officers for 2010-2011 at the May meeting.

Discussion was held on compiling a scrapbook of pictures & personal interviews of the Veterans in the community and spouses or family of those deceased.

The downtown flags will be put-up for Flag Day weekend by the Boy Scouts.

Chairman Marsha Jorgensen has delivered “Poppy Poster” rules, paper and poppies to the Exeter/Milligan Public School. Junior members will distribute poppies downtown, May 1st, and donation displays will be left at several businesses until Memorial Day.

“Earth Day Trash Pick-up” is set for Sat. April 24 at 10:00. The Girl Scouts will assist and “all” volunteers would be appreciated. We will head north on Exeter Avenue and east and west on Road D.

Next meeting is Monday, May 10^th at 7:00 p.m. Gold Star Tea will honor our sisters, Jane Kaiser and Sharon Dyer. Bring items for Girl State “ditty bags”.

Exeter-Milligan School Update: Mrs. Betka's Reading Mastery Class

Mrs. Betka's Reading Mastery class has been reading The
Wizard of Oz. They have moved up to a higher reading level
and will be reading several interesting short stories. In
Spelling, they are learning to spell compound words and
doing morphographic analysis of words. Mrs. Betka's
Language group is studying directions and how to read a map.
They are writing sentences using correct spelling,
capitalization, and punctuation. Classification of objects
and making deductions are other concepts being studied.

Exeter-Milligan School Update: Band Trip

2010 Dallas Band Trip
by
Shane Whitford,
Exeter-Milligan High School Music Instructor

It is amazing how much you can get done in a few short hours. By the time you subtract travel and sleep time we were in Dallas for approximately 30 hours. Surprisingly we covered a lot of ground in that short time and I am proud to say that the Exeter-Milligan students were excellent travelers.

Our itinerary was jam packed with activities including: Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial, JFK Memorial, Sonny Bryans BBQ, Dallas World Aquarium, Dallas Cowboys Stadium Tour, Medieval Times, Six Flags Amusement Park, and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. Our itinerary also included a clinic with Frank Troyka at Berkner HS in Richardson TX. Mr. Troyka has an outstanding music program and he gave us a lot of help on our contest music. I think both the students and I agree that we could have spent more time with him because it was a lot of fun and our sound improved. We had a lot of fun on the trip but I felt there were two highlights that should be mentioned.

First, I just have to say that money can’t buy everything, but 1.4 billion dollars buys a pretty awesome stadium. I was fully prepared for the Dallas Cowboys Stadium Tour to be a little boring since it’s, “just another stadium,” however, I was wrong. This facility holds several world records and aside from its sheer size the quality of the facility was impressive. If you every get a chance to go to an event in the stadium or take a tour I would highly recommend it!

Second, The Meyerson Symphony Center and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra make a great combination. Not only is the Meyerson a beautiful facility designed by one of the worlds top architects, I.M. Pei, but it is also one of the worlds most acoustically sound buildings and houses a world class orchestra. Aside from the impressive building, orchestra, and performance of Carl Orff’s “Carmina Burana” I was very pleased with the behavior of the students before, during, and after the show. I have never seen students on the edge of their seats at a classical performance and I can only say thank you for being open minded and enjoying yourselves.

As I said before the students were excellent travelers and I would gladly do it again. Thank you parents for all you have done to make this trip a success and thank you students for making this trip a success. On a side note, the 7-12 music program has a website now and pictures from the trip, calendar info, and class information can be found there. The address is http://steve-steam.com/whitford/Welcome.html or go to the E-M homepage (www.emwolves.org) and click on my name.

New Books/Movies at Exeter Public Library

For Adults:

The Exeter Public Library has added the following new books:

The Telling by Bevery Lewis
Shattered by Karen Robards
Deep Shadows by Randy Wayne White
Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane
Deception by Jonathan Kellerman
Think Twice by Lisa Scttoline
Caught by Harlan Coben
Sixteen Brides by Stephanie Grace Whitson
A Claim of Her Own by Stephanie Grace Whitson
Both Whitson books were donated by the Exeter Woman's Club in memory of Jean Rouch.

Movies For Kids:
Where the Wild Things Are DVD
Planet 51 DVD

Exeter-Milligan School Update: Kindergarten, First and Second Graders

The Kindergarten, 1^st and 2^nd graders from Exeter-Milligan Elementary in Exeter participated in the Jump Rope for Heart event sponsored by the American Heart Association on Friday, March 26.

Jump Rope for Heart is important for many reasons. Participation in JRFH and Hoops for Heart is vital to the AHA’s efforts to raise dollars that fund lifesaving research. Heart disease and stroke are America’s No. 1 and No. 3 killers and touch all of our lives. More than 9.2 million children and adolescents (ages 6-19) are considered overweight or obese, based on the 95^th percentile or higher of body mass index (BMI). Overweight adolescents have a 70% chance of becoming overweight adults. Obesity increases a person’s risk for heart disease, diabetes, stroke and many other chronic illnesses, and it leads to higher healthcare costs. JRFH raises funds for research and programs to reduce heart disease, stroke and their risk factors and improve health in people of all ages. Since 1978, JRFH has raised more than $703 million in the fight against heart disease and stroke.

It has been found that regular periods of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (3-5 times per week) enhance children’s health, academic performance, attitudes and classroom behavior. A number of studies have demonstrated that increased physical activity is linked to better school performance, and JRFH is a great way to promote fitness. Jumping rope is a skill that students can learn now and enjoy for the rest of their lives.

The event held in Exeter was a huge success! 23 K-2 students from Exeter-Milligan raised nearly $1,800! The students had a lot of fun jumping rope with the high school student helpers and their teachers. Special thanks to everyone who helped with the event in any way, especially my high school helpers; Lana Kennedy, Vinnie Castro, Coleen Colson, Andrew Colson, Chloe Breitbach, MiKayla Ruhl, Austin Stride, and Taylor Slezak. A special thanks to the parents who let their children participate in the fund-raising part of the event and to everyone for their generous support of both the students and the American Heart Association!

Mrs. Darcy White

Event Coordinator

Physical Education Teacher