Aaron Davis Speaks to Exeter-Milligan Students

Aaron Davis, left, tells Exeter-Milligan Senior Greg Pribyl, right, about friendships and choices.

Aaron Davis, right, member of the 1994 Nebraska National Championship football team, shows Exeter-Milligan seventh grader Sierra Santos, left, how girls text all the time.

Aaron Davis, center, spoke to the Exeter-Milligan junior and senior high students on Tuesday morning. Community members Kenny (left) and LaVonne Guthrie (right) spoke with Davis for a few moments after his inspiring and entertaining speech.

“I’m not going to preach to you, that’s not my style. I’m going to talk to you about options and choices,” was the explanation that Aaron Davis gave to Exeter-Milligan junior and senior high students Tuesday morning.

Davis, a member of the 1994 Nebraska Husker National Champion football team, gave examples from both his experiences on the football team and how the choices he made affected his life even today.

He grasped the attention of the audience immediately with his humorous wit, sharing the difference between girls and boys especially when texting. According to Davis girls text and text and go on and on and boys often answer with one letter, “k.”

Interspersed with the humorous bits Davis shared about goals and reminded all, “It’s not so much where you’re at, it’s where you go with your life.”

To bring that point close to home he asked the students how many thought there was nothing to do in town. When just about every student raised their hand, he told the students that a group of 3500 students in Oakland, Calif thought the same thing about their town just across the bay from San Francisco. He talked about the great support that small communities have for their schools and quipped, “There is nothing wrong with seeing and going other places but don’t forget about people here, there is nothing like Nebraska. Don’t be so quick to leave something so good.”

But at the same time Davis encouraged the students to “Chase your dream. I hope and pray you never stop dreaming. Find what you love and be careful who you associate with,” said Davis.

Davis changed his tone and got serious on the crowd the last fifteen minutes of his talk. He spoke about how as “we age we start caring about what people think about us but don’t realize that other people are too busy thinking about themselves to look at us.”

In his consulting business, Davis advises corporations on hiring and he turned his focus to the subject of technology and its impact. He emphasized several times to the students the permanence of what is put on the internet. He spoke to the students about their use of Facebook and how it can follow them for the rest of their lives, even affecting their job opportunities.

During the difficult teenage years, he reminded students that there is a difference between “friendships and faceships. A real friend will look you in the face and tell you when you’re doing something wrong. Show me your friends and I will show you your future.”

Davis talked about his own experiences in high school and how he didn’t fit in because he didn’t drink. His senior year he began to compromise and he talked about the consequences of those choices, “If you have to give in to fit in then it is time to get out of those relationships.”

To close Davis asked the students to make good choices and to remember that “they shouldn’t have to compromise." Davis was brought to speak to the students by the Exeter-Milligan Academic Booster Committee.

　

Exeter-Milligan Homecoming Week

Exeter-Milligan School kicks off homecoming week with a series of dress-up days:

Monday - Cowboy/Farmer Day
Tuesday - Camouflage Day
Wednesday - Cross Dress Day
Thursday - Hawaiian Day
Friday - Timberwolf Spirit Day

There will be a pep rally downtown on Friday on Main Street in Exeter at 3:00 p.m. and the public is invited to attend.

This year's attendants include:

Freshmen: Jennifer Pribyl & Robbie Androyna
Sophomore: Rebecca Vossler & Jalen Maxson
Junior: MiKayla Ruhl & Landon Rhodes
Seniors: Char Andreasen, Ana Androyna, Steph Briske, Ethan Kattes, Shane Manning, Travis Yound

The Crowning of the King and Queen will take place on the football field immediately following the game. Exeter-Milligan will be playing Meridian Friday night at 7 p.m. in Milligan.

Exeter American Legion Auxuilary Girls State Representative Speaks at Meeting

Members of the Exeter American Legion Auxiliary met Monday evening with Exeter-Milligan senior Ana Androyna reporting on her experiences at Nebraska Girls State.

One of 420 girls at the summer program sponsored by the American Legion Auxiliary, Ana started her report by thanking the members of the Exeter Auxiliary, "It was one of the best weeks of my life."

The group is split into two parties with Ana becoming a member of the Nationalist party. She chose to do a service learning project during the week, working at the Lincoln Children's Museum.

With speakers and programs every evening Ana reported about some of the opportunities she learned about. The girls had speakers from the Nebraska National Guard and learned about the struggles of women in the service.

The Cornhusker Girls State program also joined with the boys counterpart and heard from Govenor Dave Heineman.

Each girl can run for office and Ana made a run for city school board but after her loss there became a district court bailiff. She had the opportunity to meet a lot of the judges and learn from them about how the court system works.

There were lots of fun activities for the participants including a Saltdogs game, a tour of the National Guard Armory and several joint sessions including a barbecue with the boys state group. "There's a lot of walking, too," according to Annette Gloystein, Exeter American Legion Auxiliary president and a counselor at the week-long event.

When asked by Auxiliary members if she would recommend the experience to others Ana was emphatic, "I definitely would encourage anyone to go. I walked away with a lot of friends and I learned so much about government."

Death Notice - Jane (Dyer) Chapman

Word was received that Jane (Dyer) Chapman of Lander, Wyom. passed away at age 71 in Lander. She was a 1955 graduate of Exeter High School and the daughter of the late Frances Michl. Her husband, Garve Chapman was also an Exeter High School graduate. Memorial services will be held on Monday at the Methodist Church in Lander.

Erdkamp Motors Celebrates 75 years in Business

Ron Koch, Chrysler LLC sales manager for Omaha and Kansas City area pictured on the far left, presents George (middle) and Adam (right) Erdkamp an award recognizing their 75 consecutive years as a Dodge brand dealership.

Erdkamp Motors in Exeter has survived thirteen presidents, multiple wars, several recessions and a major closing of Dodge dealers nationwide. The dealership recently celebrated its 75th anniversary as a Dodge dealer.

As part of the celebration, the Chrysler LLC sales manager for Omaha and Kansas City area, Ron Koch, presented George and Adam Erdkamp an award recognizing their 75 consecutive years as a Dodge brand dealership.

It all began when R. D. Erdkamp started with a franchise for Dodge and Plymouth vehicles in June of 1934 in downtown Exeter. In 1946 after World War II, R.D. moved the business to the current location into buildings he built on East Seneca Street in the 1930’s.

The business has always been in the family with R.D.’s sons, Don, Robert and Leonard joining the dealership in 1946. During that year they also added their current shop on the west end of the building.
In 1964 two of R.D.’s sons, Robert and Leonard, left the business to pursue other ventures and R.D. and Don ran the business alone until Don’s son George joined the dealership. “At that time there were five new car dealerships in Fillmore County,” recalls George, “In 1960 the Dodge corporation split everything up and we were just Dodge.”

The three generations working together was short lived as R.D. passed away at the age of 86 in 1971. In 1982 Don retired and sold the dealership to George and his with Kathy who own and operate the business today.

In 1977 the Chrysler franchise was added with Plymouth back on in 1991 and Jeep and Eagle in 1992. George’s son Adam noted they were at one time “a six line dealership. We had Dodge trucks, Dodge, Jeep, Eagle, Plymouth and Chrysler.” Eagle and Plymouth were phased out in 1998 and 2001 and currently the dealership sells and services Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep.

In early 2004 the dealership again became multigenerational as George and Kathy’s son, Adam and his wife Becky, returned to Exeter and Adam joined the family business. He is the fourth generation to be involved in the dealership.

The closing of nearly 800 Chrysler dealerships nationwide this summer definitely made for some tense moments in the dealership, “It was interesting with all the closing. We had some doubts and were hoping it wouldn’t happen. No one knew the formula,” said George.

It may have to do with their motto; “Our goal continues to be to make each customer’s experience as pleasurable and simple as possible. We also strive to provide excellent service after a sale.”

As the lone new car dealership in Fillmore County and one of the few remaining Dodge dealers in the area Erdkamp Motors plans to be around for at least 75 more years. They will host an open house to celebrate their 75 years in dealership on Friday December 4th from 3 - 8 p.m.

Village budget hearing - lower levy approved

September 8

After taking care of legal procedures, the Exeter Village Board dove into their annual budget hearing on Tuesday, September 8^th. One member of the public attended the meeting, which was open to the public as all meetings are.

Rachel Jacobsen, from the accounting firm Mireau and Co., presented the 2009-2010 budget to the village board and fielded questions from board members and the public.

“The bottom line,” according to Jacobsen, “is that the levy will go down from 65.6 to 63.4 cents. The sales tax saved you there with $20,000 more in sales tax receipts than the bond payment. If it ever comes to a point where the sales tax doesn’t cover it (the bond payment) then the levy will have to go up. We estimate that you will have $100,000 in sales tax receipts every year.”

Chairman Alan Michl noted that the bond payments for the pool will only be interest the first two years and then in 2012 will be $110,000.

When a question was raised about the possibilities of property tax going down, Michl pointed out the county assessors office has recently reevaluated property in town resulting in a $800,000 increase in values in the village, “While there has been a slight decrease in the levy, property valuation has gone up,” said Michl.

Several board members had questions on the additional amount in the reserve of the budget, which Jacobsen explained, “given economics right now it was a good idea to bump up the reserve. If you have some sort of catastrophe in town you have the budget padded for it. We underestimate the revenue and overestimate expenditures.”

When there were no further questions from the audience or board members, the hearing was adjourned and the board started the special meeting in which they passed the resolution to adopt the budget and request $136,000 from the county in taxes.

Village grass and tree pile not a dump

While the Exeter grass and tree dump has at times been a little messy, recently several board members paid a visit to the area because of a rash of illegal dumping.

The grass pile is provided free of charge to residents of Exeter and is for grass and tree branches only. A recent dumping left all kinds of beer cans, children’s toys, mower parts and other trash at the pile. Another pile of grass contains wire mesh wrapped throughout the grass.

Another cause for concern to the Village Board is the frequency of fires at the grass pile. One of the piles of grass was recently set fire by someone and twice this year the fire department was there putting out the fires before they got out of hand.

Chairman of the Village Board Alan Michl, explained that the “once the grass has composted the village puts it into their manure spreader and places it around the sewer lagoon. When people bring their junk out to the pile along with their grass and trees it starts jamming up and breaking the manure spreader.”

The village is not required to provide this spot for community members and so they ask dumpers to be courteous in their use of the grass and tree dump. Please remember to back up all the way to the grass pile and dump your load and not leave it next to the road. Also, this area is for grass and tree branches only, most of the trash services in Exeter will pick up large items with prior notification and the village always hosts the spring cleanup dumpster for other large items.

Death Notice Irma J. Volkmer

Irma J Volkmer, age 80, widow of Dallas, formerly of Waco was born on October 8,1928 in Milligan, Nebraska toMike & Olga ( Sabotka ) Halam.

died Tuesday September 8, 2009 in Fairmont, Nebraska

Son & daughter-in-law
Jerry & Sue --- McCool Junction, NE
Daughters & sons-in-law
Linda & Alan Galaway --- McCool Junction, NE
Kaye & Jim Weakland --- Grand Island, NE
Eight Grandchildren & four great Grandchildren

Services 10:00 a.m. Friday
United Church of Christ with Pastors Tim and Ginny Adams officiating
Exeter, Nebraska
Visitation beginning Thursday 1:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. at the
Farmer Funeral Home in Exeter, Nebraska
burial at Exeter Cemetery

Exeter-Milligan Girls combine with Fillmore Central for Softball

Front row, left, Freshman Megan Waldron, right, Junior Mariah Bigelow. Second row left, Freshman Alicia Bigelow, right, Freshman Elly Korbelik. Back row left, Sophomore Coleen Colson, right, Sophomore Shauna Meyer.

Exeter-Milligan Cheerleaders Ready to Go!!!

They are pictured front row from left Linsey Klemm, Mariah Ruhl. Middle row from left Charlotte Andreason, Ana Androyna and Captain Kelsey Moore. Top row from the left Becca Vossler, Megan Waldron and Amanda Dinneen.

The Exeter-Milligan Cheerleaders are ready to get their teams and fans motivated this year.