Exeter-Milligan Holds Honors Night

Dalton Zelenka lights a candle during the National Honor Society Induction.

Students who earned a medal in NeSA testing are pictured.  Front row from the left are Nick Hayek, Kayla Geiger, Caitlin Murphy, Katie Moody.  Back row from the left are Mitchell Manning, Spencer Pribyl, Jordyn Brandt, Madison Horne, Brody Kresak, Amber Pribyl, Maitlyn Thomsen, Dalton Zelenka, Patrick Murphy and Hannah Horne.

Above -Mr. Schlueter presents Amber Pribyl with the Neil Hassler Outstanding Senior Award.

Below -Mr. Schlueter presents Dalton Zelenka with the American Legion Citizenship award.

Members of the Exeter-Milligan National Honor Society are pictured front row from the left Ella Wilkins, Samantha Horne, Haylee Sheffield, Ashley Benorden, Madison Horne.  Back row from the left are Trystan Brandt, Jordyn Brandt, Brody Kresak, Dalton Zelenka, Amber Pribyl and Sydney Hall.

 

Exeter-Milligan held its Honors Night on Tuesday, May 5^th in the Exeter site gymnasium.

The evening began with the induction of sophomores into the National Honor Society.  Current members Dalton Zelenka, Brody Kresak, Amber Pribyl and Jordyn Brandt gave information about the program  before welcoming the new members.  Inducted were Trystan Brandt, Ashley Benorden, Sydney Hall, Samantha Horne, Haylee Sheffield, Bailey Steuben, and Ella Wilkins.

Next in the list to be honored with the junior high math students, the school annual staff and the students who participated in Actions Day.  Miss Severson introduced the students and recognized their achievements.

Mrs. Pribyl introduced the students who participated in the senior high math contests and noted that one junior high student, Caitlin Murphy, scored very highly on the tenth grade math test.

Mrs. Wahl and Mr. Marr spoke about the junior and senior high quiz bowl teams with Mr. Marr presenting Brody Kresak and Maitlyn Thomsen special bags in honor or participating in Quiz Bowl for all four years of high school.

Mrs. Murphy presented the music letters and awards.  She announced that Josie Kresak had earned the most points at the junior high music level.  Mrs. Murphy presented the Sempre Fi music award to Amber Pribyl and the John Phillip Sousa award to Jordyn Brandt.  Brandt also received the artist of the year award from Art teacher Lisa Kanode.

One-Act Play achievements were read by Mrs. Haider as well as the Exeter-Milligan accomplishments in Speech.

In Mrs. Vossler’s absence, Superintendent Paul Sheffield recognized the FCCLA members and their accomplishments along with identifying the STAR projects that the students competed with this year.  Caitlin Murphy’s project, “From Rags to Rugs” and Kayla Bonds, Hannah Horne and Katie Mounce’s project “Electronics Down” all received gold medals at the state FCCLA competition and will advance to the national competition in Washington D.C. this summer.

Mr. Wilbeck introduced the student council and Principal Mr. Schlueter gave out the high GPA medals.  Caitlin Murphy received the highest GPA medal for seventh graders, for eighth grade Mitchell Manning received the honor.  In ninth grade Patrick Murphy earned the highest GPA with Ashley Benorden recognized for tenth grade.  Janey Due had the highest GPA in eleventh grade and Amber Pribyl held the honor in twelfth grade.

Mr. Schlueter also gave out the citizenship awards with Trever Zelenka receiving the All-School 7 -12 Citizenship award.  Haylee Sheffield was recognized as the 9-12 American Legion Auxiliary Citizen and Dalton Zelenka was awarded the American Legion Citizen award.

The Neil Hassler Outstanding Senior Award was presented to Amber Pribyl.

Mr. Sheffield and Miss Severson presented medals to the students who placed on the NeSA tests before 

Mr. Wilbeck presented the many scholarships and awards to the senior class.

Brody Kresak closed out the evening.

New Boy Scout Troop in Exeter

Exeter recently became home to a brand new Boy Scout Troop.  Troop 218 went on its first campout just a few days after they were officially formed.  They attended the Big Idea II in Lincoln which was sponsored by the Cornhusker Council.  They joined over 500 scouts and leaders in Mahoney Park in Lincoln on Saturday, April 25 mulching around trees, planting flowers and several hundred trees.  During the lunch provided they were able to here storm chaser Reed Timmer and see his Dominator vehicle.  Pictured from the left are Ben Bartu, Tyler Sysel, Braden Capek and Blake Meyer (unable to attend was Clint Oldehoeft).  The scouts cooked their supper and then enjoyed some live entertainment along with a movie.  After a cool evening of camping they had breakfast and participated in a morning worship service before heading home.  Dean Bartu is serving as scoutmaster for the troop.

D.A.R.E. Graduation Held In Milligan

Congratulations to Exeter-Milligan Sixth graders who graduated from the D.A.R.E. program on Thursday, May 7th.  Front row from the left:  Sean Gibson, Cammie Harrison, Jaiden Papik and Daisy Kanode.  Back row from the left Clint Oldehoeft, Jackson Beethe, Casey Jindra, Georgia Meyer, Dylan Bonds, Brock Steuben and their instructor Trooper Wayne Trantham.  Chosen to read their essays at the ceremony were Clint, Brock, Jaiden and Georgia. 

Exeter Village Board Reviews Ordinance Book

After the village board opened their regular meeting on Monday, April 5 they reviewed minutes and bills before jumping into a lengthy agenda.

First to speak was resident Craig True who was requesting several streets closed around some property he owns.  True owns property on both sides of a street that is no longer used and wants the village to close them.  Some of the roads are just platted and were never actually opened and some of the roads were abandoned.

“The only problem is that if we are dealing with closing it we are going to have to have easement rights,” explained  Michl. “We still have to maintain water to have house on the corner.”

The Nebraska statue on easements  was read by visitor Paul Sheffield.  

It was noted that all property owners will have to be notified by letter at their last known address.

True noted that his building permit is on the agenda of the zoning committee and asked if he would have to wait to start construction until the village board approved.  Michl told him, “You have to wait but if the Zoning commission approves it we usually do.”

Next on the agenda was guest  Jolene Frick from the Fillmore County Coalition who was introducing herself and the program.  It is a group targeting high school students to form a coalition for the prevention of drug, alcohol and tobacco use.  They have had several programs for 9^th – 12^th graders in the area and are also working with Public Health Solutions to get information out to kids and community members on rural heart health.  They plan to be present at June Jubliee and also have a “Swim, don’t give in” swimming party in Exeter this summer.  They are also providing a speaker at the local high schools in August.

The board moved on to discuss wages for pool personnel.  They set wages for the pool manager, assistant manager and lifeguards in light of the increase in minimum wage.  The board decided to leave the swimming pool passes at the same price along with everything else.

Clerk Becky Erdkamp reported that she had a concerned citizen request some changes in the parking congestion around the school.  They were worried that some of the vehicles were parking to close to a stop sign at an intersection making visibility difficult. The board tabled the discussion. Superintendent Paul Sheffield said he would ask students to park farther away from the stop sign.

The board reviewed Resolution 15-04 to declare the tag factory nuisance property.  Clerk Erdkamp noted that they will have 5 days to request a hearing and to challenge the order.  The motion passed.

Chairman Michl brought up the audit and decided to table the issue, “The audit was good but let’s table it until the next meeting because it takes a while to review it.”

Village Maintenance Supervisor John Mueller gave his report starting with noting that the turtle slide for the pool has been repaired and returned.  There were also some sewer mains cleaned.  “They thought they might be able to line some of the lines that were in bad shape.  They cleaned and ran a camera down the lines and did some root work on the west side of town.”

He also reported that he had sprayed the weeds in the sand at the Gilbert’s Park playground area.  Board member Kathy Erdkamp asked that the dead branches be trimmed out of the trees above the swing area.

Mueller noted that he recently got bids for the air conditioning units to be replaced that were damaged along with quotes on roofs that have not been repaired.  He will have them to review at the next board meeting. 

Board member Justin Harre reported that there were some funds leftover from the recycling project from years ago and that the Sherri Harre and Joyce Votipka wanted to use the funds to buy a new picnic table at the park. The board thanked them and noted that two new tables have been ordered for the park.

Clerk Erdkamp gave the marshals report mentioning that department had notified two property owners with numerous cars in their yard that they have 30 days to see some progress. Michl noted that he has a list of houses to work on getting rid of in town.

She also noted that the sales tax for February was $14136.00 and keno funds for March were $536.40. The board briefly discussed the closing of the care center and the issue of mowing at the property.

Attorney  Jim McNally reviewed the ordinance book section by section with the board and made updates on the book, “We have underlined everything we have changed or added just because they are close to the state statute.  We recommended to the cities that specific charges and rates not be in the book but instead put in a statement that the current fees and charges are available in the city office.”

Sheffield gave an update on the building project. He reported that they have a meeting scheduled soon with Clark Enerson to finalize the project plans. The bonds have been issued. He also noted that there was a walk through at the Exeter site with the fire marshal on Friday and there were just some minor issues.

The next move for the new construction project will be to have a working set of plans and put it out for bids on May 12. The sewer main inspections that were needed have been performed.

Sheffield shared some of the design options including carpet, paint and tile and explained, “We have been working with colorization this week.” 

As far is interior spaces Sheffield explained,   “In the new south entry there will be display cases and a place for us to display artwork if we want. There will be rubber flooring in the fitness center.  We hope to have a nice set of plans during the alumni weekend so those coming can see what we are looking at.  We are still planning on a 12 month building time period and to be able to move into the facility in the 2016-17 school year.”

The board set their next meeting for Tuesday, June 9 at 7 p.m. before dismissing.