Saturday, January 1, 2011

Touring Exeter: Gilbert's Park Brick Sign



This sign was erected during the Exeter Q125. On both sides of the sign bricks were available for purchase and engraving. It is a beautiful edition to the park.  Next to the sign are two camper parking spots with electrical hook up.

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Journal Found in the Walls



There is a television show called “If Walls Could Talk” which explores unusual findings in older homes. They trace the history of the items to try and tell the story of past occupants of the home.

Exeter recently had it’s own version of this story.  Exeter residents Wayne and Rachel Vossler had some remodeling done to their kitchen and when one wall was removed a journal and some papers were found. 

Rachel began exploring the journals and found some names.  She started to ask about the names and one connected with her. She knew that one of her neighbors just one block away had family members with the same name so she decided to contact her.

In the meantime Rachel also spoke with another person in town and mentioned the name on the journals, Delores Rasmussen.  To her delight, Rachel found out that the original owner of the journals, which were dated from the early 1950’s, was alive and active in the area.

Rachel had contacted Delores’ daughter, Lori Walford. With this other friend in town, Rachel decided to surprise both Lori and Delores with the journal along with the other papers found. Lori, a history buff, was recently diagnosed with cancer. 

Both Lori and Delores were thrilled with the discovery.  The journal had been Delores’ in high school.  Much of her school papers from her freshman year were in the journal that contained several notebooks.  As Lori flipped through the pages of the journal she found all kinds of musical notes doodled here and there, “you could tell what Mom’s mind was on. . .music.”

Also with the journal was a copy of Delores’ freshman “Exeter Eagle.” She explained that each class made a “booklet” as she called it, every month.  There were also some copies of some of her old Exeter cheers. She had shared them with her children prior “and they died laughing.”

Her parents moved to the house where the Vossler’s now live in 1955 although she graduated in 1954.  She recalled spending some time in the house after she graduated from high school.  She figured that the papers and journal had been stored up in her parent’s attic and were along the edge of the wall and fell down into the open studs.

After spending some time sharing the journal together and talking about sharing it with the rest of the family when they gathered for the holidays Delores and Lori started to compare notes with Rachel on how the house looked when they purchased it and how it looked when Rasmussen’s owned it.

While the journal didn’t contain any money, the memories were precious for these women.

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Odego Leadership Class Learns About Education

 Exeter-Milligan Students Haylee Sheffield, Joan Strate, Superintendent Paul Sheffield and Senior Kelsey Moore assist in the Odegeo Tour at Exeter-Milligan.

FILLMORE COUNTY - The Fillmore County Odegeo Leadership for Fillmore County class visited the Fillmore Central Schools, the Exeter-Milligan Schools, Shickley School and the Southeast Community classroom in Geneva for their December session focusing on education in the county.
Becky Adkisson, SCC Coordinator told the group about the SCC Adult Education program in Fillmore County and the area. She encouraged people to teach a class, let her know of people who might want to teach a class or take a class themselves.
Mr. Rose the FCS principal had Mrs. Talley, the business teacher talk about how she used the Smart Board technology in her classes. Then Mr. Mark Novell, Superintendent of the Fillmore Central Schools gave an overview of the district. Mark Wragge, Principal at Geneva Elementary gave a tour of the elementary school and Michele Rayburn, Success Coordinator gave and overview and tour of the Success and Tyke classrooms. The group enjoyed rolls and juice at the high school.
Class members also visited the Head Start center in Geneva. Audrey Rickers, Director, gave a tour of the facility and gave information about the program.
The Odegeo Leadership class also visited the Exeter-Milligan school district where Paul Sheffield, the Superintendent, talked about the district. Kelsey Moore, a Senior High student, explained the lap top computer program where students are given a laptop computer to use in and out of the classroom. Two sixth grade students assisted Mr. Sheffield with a tour of the Milligan facility. The class was treated to a school lunch in Milligan cafeteria.
Mr. Evan Wieseman, Superintendent of the Shickley Public School, gave an overview of the Shickley district and then the group toured the building. The class members enjoyed cookies and coffee after the tour in the Shickley cafeteria.
The ODEGEO class will meet again in January when the topic will be “Health and Human Services.”
The day ended with a presentation by Crystal Higgins, Beatrice Chair, who is an instructor in the SCC (Southeast Community College) Nursing Program and serves the students at the Geneva site.
Persons interested in learning more about the Fillmore County Odegeo leadership program should contact the Fillmore County Development Corporation at 759-4910 or go to www.fillmorecountydevelopment.org

Sunday, December 26, 2010

Milligan to allow 2 a.m. Bar Closings - is Exeter next?

In October, the Village of Milligan became the second community in Fillmore County to pass the 2 a.m. bar closing allowed by LB 861.
 
The bill, introduced by District 32 Representative Russ Karpisek, requires that two-thirds of the governing board of a community approve the additional one hour extension. The Village Board of Milligan passed the bill unanimously.
Milligan Village Chairman Eric Milton saw the measure as business decision. “We had a business approach us and my opinion was to allow the businesses to make that decision for themselves. There were certain circumstances or certain things they wanted to stay open that late for. I don’t see that this will be relevant a lot of the time,” said Milton.

Elaine Korbelik, owner of Ron’s Tavern in downtown Milligan doesn’t have plans to invoke the new 2 a.m. closing. “I don’t know of anything right now. Maybe for some special occasion or something. At least we have the option, but so far we have no plans of doing it yet,” said Korbelik.

The other regular establishment in Milligan is Evening With Friends which is owned by Jon and Stephanie Nichols. Jon was interested in the time extension, “Times are going to go that way eventually. It most likely will only come into play on Friday’s and Saturday’s. I think it’s an opportunity for us to expand our business.”

As Nichols sees it, “In a rural location you are more of a destination rather than a rolling by point. Customers need the chance to have a place to stay.”

Milligan Village Board member Steve Briske felt, “It should be allowable for the people that wanted to use it.”
So far, the Exeter Village Board has not been approached with any requests for time extensions. 

John Graham, owner of John E’s is looking into bringing the issues before the Exeter Village Board. “We are looking at going before the Village Board after the New Year to ask about the 2 a.m. opening but we would only use it for special occasions and have no intention of staying open until 2 a.m. regularly.