Exeter Pool Demolition to Start on Monday

The Exeter Pool demolition is scheduled to start on Monday. See the slideshow to the right for pictures of the current demolition on the inside of the bathhouse. Check the Village of Exeter website daily for videos and pictures of the demolition and construction progress.

G.F.W.C. Presents Program on Bullying

Tuesday evening the G.F.W.C. Exeter Woman's Club welcomed Linda Allen, MS, PLMHT, NCC, and a counselor from Louisville, Neb. for a presentation on the topic of bullying at school.

Allen spoke to the large gathering of women representing the Exeter G.F.W.C. Woman’s Club and the Fairmont G.F.W.C. as well as members of the community. She started the discussion with encouraging attendees to define a bully and then asked them to share a few of their thoughts with those sitting around them.

After giving an official definition of bullying Allen described some of the traits of the behavior. She also explored the reasons why kids bully and why adults should care.

Some of the more startling statistics include the future of those who bully. According to Allen, “Studies have found that 60 percent of boys who were bullies in middle school had at least one conviction by age 24 and 40 percent had three or more convictions.”

After describing the health consequences that those bullied often face, Allen explored the topic of cyber bullying. This bullying usually occurs through email, instant messaging, text messages, blogging or chat rooms and is become more and more common. Allen explained that this behavior is very disturbing for two reasons. “Cyber bullying messages and images can be distributed quickly to a very wide audience and children and youth can be anonymous when cyber bullying.”

Allen encouraged parents to keep a close eye on children when using the Internet and continue to monitor Internet usage, as they become teenagers. She encouraged parents not to erase any communication that is threatening but make copies in case they are needed for future action. “This is a whole other ballpark for parents to understand,” said Allen.

Unfortunately Allen has found that bullying “starts early in our classes, I sometimes am using the word bully with Kindergarten parents.”

She emphasized that the reduction of bullying in schools requires a “change in the school climate” and “in norms for behavior.” Respect, trust, optimism and internationality (know why we do the things we do) were what Allen described for the school climate.

As far as norms for behavior she described two solutions, mentoring and consistency in discipline. She encouraged those in attendance to look online at several websites for more information on stopping bullying in our schools and homes.

Exeter-Milligan Players on the All Conference Volleyball Teams

Steph Briske and Claire White - First Team All Conference
Heather Pribyl and Kelsey Moore - Honorable Mention All Conference
Tina Kassik - Alternate for the All-Star Game

Fillmore Center/Exeter-Milligan Softball Honors

Maddy Emshoff

Lincoln Journal Star 1st team Super State

Lincoln Journal Star First Team Class C All-State and Co-Captain

Omaha World Herald First Team Class C All-State

SNC 1st Team All-Conference

Hastings Tribune Player of the year

Hastings Tribune All Area 1st Team

Mackenzie Thomsen

Hastings Tribune All Area Honorable Mention

Lindsay Eichelberger

Omaha World Herald Honorable Mention All-State

Lincoln Journal Star Honorable Mention All-State

SNC First Team All Conference

Hastings Tribune All Area 1st Team

Jenni Kleinschmidt

Omaha World Herald 2nd Team All-State

Lincoln Journal Star Honorable Mention All-State

SNC Second Team All Conference

Megan Bauman

SNC Honorable Mention All Conference

Exeter Housing Listening Session

Following up on a recent housing survey by the Fillmore County Development Corporation, Exeter community members had an additional opportunity to voice their opinion about the current housing situation in town.

The event was sponsored by the Exeter Chamber of Commerce and presented by the Fillmore County Development Corporation and Hanna:Keelan Associates.

Tim Keelan opened the meeting by presenting the results of the recent countywide housing surveys and also some demographic profiles that Hanna:Keelan Associates had compiled.

The full results of the housing survey and the Demographic Profiles are available in the slideshow on the right side of the page.

For the full story see The Friend Sentinel

Exeter-Milligan D1-2 All-District Football Team Members

First Team Offense

Dalton Brandt
Josh Sluka

Second Team Offense

Dillan White
Ryan Harre

Honorable Mention Offense

Shane Manning

First Team Defense

Dalton Brandt
Dillon Rischling

Second Team Defense

Ethan Kattes
Mitchell Horne

Honorable Mention Defense

Shane Manning

Second Team Special Teams

Travis Yound
Ryan Harre

Exeter Village Board Approves Bids for Pool

The Exeter Village Board has chosen nearly all of the contractors for the pool construction and finished approving them in a special meeting Friday evening.

Special guest at the meeting was Dave Henke, supervisor of the aquatics division of JEO Consulting, the engineers for the project. Henke tabulated all of the proposed bids for a grand total of $1,275,000. He reminded the board that this did not include "shelters, slides, painting or any engineering fees during construction."

Part of the reason that the slide was not included in construction is because of a problem with current slide design and some recent legislation that will require the re-engineering of every slide made. Once the manufacturing changes have been made Mayor Alan Michl expects the "biggest push to be for the slide."

The board had already approved both the electrical contractor and the pool builder. During the meeting they approved the carpenter's bid, plumbing contractor and the footings and wall construction. Houlden Remodeling out of Friend will be doing the carpentry, Kelch Plumbing and Heating of Exeter will be the plumbing contractor and Roth and Troyer Construction out of Milford will do the cement work for the footings and walls of the bathhouse.

According to Village Maintenance Supervisor John Mueller demolition is scheduled to start the week of Thanksgiving. Look for daily updates on the website.

The Village Board will have their next regular meeting on Tuesday, December 2nd at 7:30 p.m.

Everyone Enjoyed Family Math

See the slideshow of the event on the sidebar!

You know it has to be a good time when you get responses like “Family math rocks!” from some of the twenty-eight participants in the Exeter-Milligan Elementary school evening Family Math event.

Haven't heard of Family Math before? According to Exeter-Milligan elementary teachers Marla Weber and Anita Mueller it’s “A chance for parents to get involved with their children’s math education.“

The event held in the Exeter cafeteria was open to all families with children in kindergarten through sixth grade. Family Math was developed through the University of California, Berkeley. Weber and Mueller attended a two-day training program in 1991 to learn how to set up a successful family math event.

Since their training the pair have offered ten sessions and hope to continue offering more opportunities for learning in the future.

As the parent/child teams entered they had some Venn diagrams to sign and three different items to estimate. There were also math centers to explore which included Toothpick Farmer, Bug Block, Nimble Calculator, Cut a Card, Ten Card Arrangement, Tanagram Kits and Math Maps.

At the beginning of each session Weber and Mueller demonstrated several of the math activities and then participants were allowed to choose activities. Each activity could be tailored for the age and skill of the child. “This is a springboard for parents to show math is easy to do whenever and wherever you are to make it a positive experience,” said Weber.

More than just teaching math skills Weber felt it is “challenging for parents and children, it involves more strategy than basic math skills so it is fun for everyone. Some of the parents are still asking for answers to some of the tanagram puzzles.”

The parents wrote in their evaluations that they enjoyed having the bonding time with their children and thanked the teachers for volunteering their time to help the kids have some fun with learning.

**********Here is some advice from the Family Math book by Jean Kerr Stenmark, Virginia Thomsen and Ruth Cossey (Regents, University of California, 1986)******

1) Let your child know that you believe he/she can succeed.

2) Be ready to talk to your child about mathematics, and listen to what he/she says. Ask your child to explain the meaning of each part of a problem.

3) Be more concerned with the processes of doing mathematics than getting a correct answer. The answer to a particular problem has little importance, but knowing how to find answers is a lifetime skill.

4) Try not to tell your child how to solve the problem. It’s better to ask questions and help your child find his/her own methods of working it through.

5) Practice estimating with your child whenever possible. Estimation helps them think about a problem that precedes the doing, and it helps kids understand whether their answers make sense.

6) Provide a special place for study. Allow your child to help gear the place to his/her learning style.

7) Encourage group study, especially as your children grow older.

8) Expect that homework will be done, and look at completed homework regularly, but keep your comments positive. Praise your child for asking questions.

9) Try not to drill your child on math content or create hostilities by insisting that math work be done at one specific time or in a specific way.

10) Don’t expect that all homework will be easy for your child or be disappointed that it seems difficult,

11) Let your child see you enjoying mathematics. Include recreational mathematics in your family routine. Try to introduce math ideas (with a light touch!) at the dinner table, while traveling, or while at the grocery store.

Exeter Chamber of Commerce Door Decorating

The Exeter Chamber of Commerce is offering the opportunity for you to get a little holiday decorating done. For $10 the Chamber will decorate the door of your choice with a Christmas ribbon and bow. There is a choice of red or gold ribbon. The proceeds go to the Exeter Foundation. Forms are available at the Exeter Library and City office, First National Bank in Exeter, Greg's and at the Exeter Post Office. Please place your order by November 19th.

Terry Salyer honored to fly with the Veterans as an Escort

Terry Salyer, of Exeter, had several strong motives for volunteering as an escort for the fourth Heartland Honor Flight and this was his most important one, honoring the World War II veterans.

He emphasized that “The story is not about me. It is about the World War II veterans. I was just there to help them along.” Both Terry and his wife Elaine are veterans of the Vietnam War. The served at the same hospital in Qui Nhon where Terry was a medic and Elaine was an R.N. She served a one year tour and Terry was there from 1966 to 1969.

When a spot to ride with the veterans on the October 22^nd flight to Washington, D.C. came up he jumped at the chance, “I know my Dad will never get to see it so I wanted to go for him and see it for him. I sent my Dad a letter about my trip and all of the pictures and he got very emotional about it. That made the whole experience worth it for me. It meant so much to him," Salyer reported.

SEE THE SLIDESHOW OF TERRY'S PICTURES ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE PAGE

If you would like an opportunity to donate to the next Heartland Honor Flight, which is scheduled for this month, you can send a check to Heartland Honor Flight VFW, P O Box 4552, Lincoln, NE 68502. Depending on donations the program will restart in the spring. For more information on the program visit http://www.vfwne.com .



For the rest of the story on Terry's trip see The Friend Sentinel