Exeter-Milligan-Friend Trap Season Successful

Front row from the left:  Kierra Papik, Devin Harrison, Draven Payne, Tyler Due, Andrew Vavra, and Mikey Bartu.  Middle row from the left:  Coach Lisa Soukup,  Kynli Combs, Cade Kresak, Marcus Krupicka, Ben Bartu, Daysan Staskal, Trenton Naber, Cori Combs, Coach Justin Harre.  Third row from the left:  Jaiden Papik, Kate Jansky, Trever Zelenka, Joey Bartu, Derek Axline, William Yokel, Blaze Miller, Kaden Bristol, Noah Lambrecht, Isaac Melton.  Back row from the left:  Ryan Sharp, Peytan Brandt, Spencer Pribyl, Tara Mueller, and Chandler Knoke. Not pictured are Caleb Horne, Mel Ann McCoy and Zane McCoy.

The Exeter-Milligan-Friend Trap team had another successful year.  This year, 31 students comprised the team which is divided into Juniors (age 12 through 8^th grade) and Seniors (9 – 12^th grade).  They competed with around 200 other shooters every Saturday morning at Crooked Creek club near Aurora.

This year the team included 13 juniors and 18 seniors.  Each Saturday the seniors would shoot 50 clays to start the day at the 16 yard line followed by the juniors who shot 50. 

In the afternoon, each senior would shoot handicaps, shooting at the line which was half the distance of their score in the first round (i.e. if they shot a 46 out of 50 in the first round they would be at the 23 yard line for handicap).

The participants pay no registration fees on the Exeter-Milligan-Friend team because each team member raised funds selling raffle tickets for a gun. The raffle, which replaced their annual soup supper and labor auction, was a successful venture that Coach Justin Harre plans to repeat next year.  

“The kids did a great job selling tickets and the support from the community was once again amazing. The funds from that are used to pay for the kids entry fees, practice rounds, shirts & coats. We will be doing the raffle again next year instead of the labor auction.”

Harre, along with Coach Lisa Soukup keep busy observing the team and monitoring their shooting during practices and at the meets.  They spend the entire day outside no matter what the weather and with the season starting in mid-March there always seems to be snow and rain for those Saturday mornings.  This year for the first time ever a Saturday morning session was cancelled due to blizzard conditions.  The teams made up the rounds of shooting over the next two Saturday’s.

The team also participates in a statewide gun raffle.  Since the gun raffle has gone so well they were able to lower the entry fees for the conference.  Most of the raffle proceeds go toward scholarships for the club members. Exeter-Milligan-Friend team member Tara Mueller received a $500 scholarship from the Central Nebraska Trapshooting Conference this year.

At the Conference level Blaze Miller made the second team in the first position in the senior division and Cori Combs was first team first place in the women’s junior division. Also a junior, Kynli Combs was first team third place.

The season culminated with the team participating in the 49^th Annual Cornhusker National Jr/Sr High School Shoot sponsored by the Nebraska Game and Parks and held in Doniphan each year in May.  Over 2500 students participated this year. Junior Cori Combs tied for fourth place overall in the junior women’s division at the State Tournament this year.

Coach Soukup emphasized that the team members gain so much from participating in trap, “Gun safety is the number one thing they learn.  You know it or you don’t go on the line.  For some who would not normally pick up a gun this is a huge opportunity to experience shooting a gun and competition.”

Harre added, “We had another fun year with a great group of kids and parents, there were a few weeks where the weather was pretty bad for the kids to shoot in but they all sucked it up and went out there and did their best.  Trap shooting is an individual sport as well as a team sport so the participants learn that their team is dependent on them to be there.”

Three Hearts Dance Company to Film in Exeter

Nebraska native Lexie Bristol will bring her dance troupe, Three Hearts Dance, back to her home in Nebraska July 23^rd thru 27^th for a dual purpose.

The first part of the group’s trip will be spent in Omaha teaching dance classes at Girls, Inc. and The Hope Center for Kids where they will “talk about letting it go and moving their body.”

“We want them to find their passion.  We try to encourage them that they can do and be whatever they want to be.  It’s about giving them the space to be themselves and giving them the opportunity to do something freeing.” 

And while they are in the state, Three Hearts Dance will be in the Cordova area for the second part of their purpose, filming two dance videos.

The group, based in the Jacksonville, Florida area, has traveled before filming videos.  Their goal is “To create unique stories with scenic backgrounds.”

Traveling with Bristol are three other dancers and a videographer.  For the filming portion of their trip they will be joined by five dancers from Midland Lutheran.  They have been holding SKYPE rehearsals with the group from Midland.

In the two films titled, “Sowing” and “Reaping,” Bristol hopes to express the idea that we are “constantly sowing seeds and reaping the harvest of those in our lives.” 

The group uses Christian music to dance to and sees both of their purposes in Nebraska as part of their outreach effort.

Bristol doesn’t claim to know everything about actual farming but feels filming in her birthplace will enhance their production, “What better way to tell the story than on my grandfather’s farm.  I spent a lot of summers at my grandparent’s house and always wanted to create with the beauty and as well as be inspired by the landscape of Nebraska.”

They plan to film the two videos on July 25^th and 26^th in Exeter, Cordova and Friend. 

The two films will be featured at the dance troupe’s annual launch party followed by the online launch on their You Tube channel.  The release date has not yet been set.

Bristol, a graduate of Florida State College at Jacksonville in Dance is currently a director of dance at Jacksonville Day School.  The granddaughter of Kenny and Kack Due of Cordova, Norm and Monica Bristol of Exeter and Phil Gallup of Friend has made a living out of her passion, “Three Hearts Dance is my passion and my side job.”

Village to Hold Emergency Meeting

Village of Exeter

OFFICE OF THE CLERK

Exeter, Nebraska  68351

NOTICE OF EMERGENCY MEETING                 NOTICE OF EMERGENCY MEETING

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the Chairman and Board of Trustees of the Village of Exeter will be holding an emergency meeting at 7: 00 pm on Tuesday July 24, 2018 at the Village Office to discuss the Library Director position.   Said meeting will be open to the public.

Becky S. Erdkamp

Village Clerk

Village Board Discusses Change Orders and Water Mains Downtown

The Exeter Village Board met on Tuesday July 10^th and quickly reviewed the minutes and the invoices without making any additions or corrections.

The board started their agenda with two change orders related to the current construction projects.  One, for Werner Construction, included the materials for the access road the added on the east side of town while East Boundary Avenue is closed. The total was $7900.

The change order also included the Union Avenue project, explained Chairman Alan Michl, “the subbase was not good at one intersection and they had to put a stabilizing mesh underneath on several spots.”

The second change order was for Van Kirk construction in order to extend their completion date to September 10^th.  Clerk Becky Erdkamp explained that it was a date change with no cost and the board approved both of the change orders.

Clerk Erdkamp informed the board that she had included in their packets a summary of the funds used so far on the construction projects.

Fillmore County Emergency Manager Jim Dunker was next on the agenda and presented the county FEMA emergency plan and the five year update of the Local Emergency Operations Plan (LEOP). He noted that the Hazardous Material information was taken out of the notebook, “Other than that it was same as we had before.”

He added, “If we have a major disaster and we separate all of our debris FEMA will give us an extra two percent.” 

The board accepted both the LEOP and the FEMA plan under Resolution 1805.

The board then approved Resolution 1802 and 1803, water liens with one customer $650 in arrears.

Next on the agenda was the upcoming Exeter Days.  The board discussed the Parade route and car show street closing with the construction going on in town.  Board member Mitch Schlegelmilch explained “it will start at the school and turn at Tecumseh and the go to Main Street.”

The Board approved shutting down parts of Seneca Street for the car show.

Michl gave a brief update on the progress of the construction projects, “So far so good with change orders.”

One downtown business owner approached Board Member Schlegelmilch about separating their water connection from the neighboring business which is located in their basement. The business owner wanted to see if the service could be separated and routed into each business.  

Village Maintenance Supervisor John Mueller noted that it could not be done because of the uncertainty of what they will encounter when drilling underneath.  The board held a lengthy discussion on liability issues and risks associated with this situation.

Michl wrapped up the discussion, “It’s an unknown.  If you knew how thick the wall was (to drill through) but the more I listen to the discussion, the more I think we should just leave it alone.”

 

Several zoning issues were next on the agenda.  One issue was a barn at 511 Empire  barn  that was over height and a permit was denied by the planning commission.  The other, at 203 N E Boundary was a construction trailer that was moved into an empty lot.

Zoning Supervisor Jennifer Slezak has been in contact with both parties with the barn owners confirming they will cut the height of the barn down to comply with regulations but asked for leniency until the end of the year.  Board member Justin Harre commented, “What’s another six months?  I think we should let them have until the end of the year.”

Clerk Erdkamp added that the village attorney would have to pursue any action on the issue other than sending out letters.

The county had sent notification on the construction trailer requiring it to be removed from the village in 30 days which would be a deadline of August 3.

Village Maintenance Supervisor John Mueller gave his report by showing one of the water mains that was replaced downtown.  The pipe was filled with corrosion and had very restricted flow.

Board member Tim Wilbeck noted that downtown, “the water pressure should be better.”

Michl noted the added benefit that “The shut off’s should be in a universal location now.”

Mueller explained that there was an issue with the storm sewer on East Boundary.  The storm sewers south of the school are full of water and are plugged around the highway area.  He contacted the State of Nebraska and they will be cleaning out the ditch in the next day or two.

The board discussed mosquito spraying along with the power and phone lines coming into the library.  The power line has been relocated underground and they are waiting on the phone lines to be moved.  Mueller expects the new light posts to arrive in the next few weeks.

Michl reported that the Verizon reception issues in town should be resolved since the Exeter tower is a repeater tower from Friend and the Friend tower issues have been repaired.

Clerk Erdkamp reported that sales tax in April was $10784.00 and May Keno was $803.33 .  She is currently working on the insurance audit and will be starting the budget shortly.  She has mowing letters ready to be sent and asked the board if anymore needed to be sent.

The next meeting was set for Aug 7  at 7 p.m.

Generations Bank Announces Promotions

Generations Bank New Leadership Positions

Staff Promotions Announced

Exeter, Nebraska— 06/25/2018 — The Board of Directors of Generations Bank, Exeter, Nebraska have announced the advancement of staff members Matt Rathjen as Chief  Lending Officer, Sharla Dinneen as Vice President of Operations and Amy Emshoff as Chief Financial Officer.

Rathjen, a native of York, Nebraska, joined Generation Bank in 2016.  Matt has more than 15 years of banking experience.  Matt earned a bachelors degree in Animal Science from the University of Nebraska in Lincoln and is a graduate of the Nebraska Bankers Association Advanced School of Banking. Matt holds leadership roles with the York-Hamilton County Cattlemen and the York County Agricultural Society.  As part of his responsibilities, Rathjen is responsible for overseeing the bank’s loan portfolio.  Matt and his wife Wendy have four grown children.

Dinneen has been with Generations Bank for over 30 years and has served as the bank’s Cashier since 2015.  A long-time resident of Exeter, Dinneen is member of the St. Stephens Alter Society in Exeter and is also on the Fillmore County ODEGA Leadership Program Committee. 

Sharla will be responsible for the bank operations, cash management and deposit compliance function of the bank.  Dinneen is a graduate of the University of Nebraska, Lincoln and has completed the NBA Operations School.  Sharla and her husband Joe have three grown children.

Amy Emshoff, a Certified Public Accountant with more than 30 years experience joined Generations Bank in 2012.   Emshoff is responsible for the bank’s audit and accounting function, including loan review, interest rate risk analysis and human resources.  Amy is active with the American Legion Auxiliary, Trinity ELCA Lutheran Church Council and Exeter Woman’s Club.  Amy is a native of Unadilla, Nebraska and a University of Nebraska, Lincoln graduate.  Amy and her husband Alan have three grown daughters.

Generations Bank, established in 1934, is a full service community bank in Exeter, NE that strives to help their valued customers reach their financial goals by providing a complete line of financial products and services for every stage of life.  For more information, please visit www.connectfnb.com.