Help keep local news alive—donate to support our community reporting!Donate Doug Marrin Dexter community pride, Dexter High School, Don Wilber Dexter, Dreadnaught mascot history, Michigan school mascots By Doug Marrin with Nancy Van Blaricum from the Dexter Area Museum Photo: Dexter High School Yearbook first displayed the Dreadnaught Mascot in 1968 Dexter High School’s unique Dreadnaught mascot was born out of wartime patriotism and the leadership of one influential educator The name “Dreadnaught” carries a deep historical significance for Dexter High School While the term originally referred to the British battleship HMS Dreadnought its adoption as Dexter High School’s mascot reflects a legacy of strength and resilience Dexter historian Nancy Van Blaricum explains “The earliest recorded use of ‘Dreadnaught’ as the school’s nickname appeared in a Dexter Leader article from January 15 Its first appearance was in a sports article after a basketball game against Pinckney.” Van Blaricum thinks the decision likely reflected the patriotic spirit following the December 7 the Dreadnought-class battleships dominated the world’s navies Van Blaricum suspects that the name was championed by then-coach Don Wilber a figure who left a lasting mark on Dexter’s educational and athletic systems arrived in Dexter in 1941 as a social science teacher and coach for football Wilber had risen to the position of principal that didn’t last too long as on October 15 Don Wilber became the Superintendent of Schools Although he was in this important position he continued to coach the various teams through the years.” Van Blaricum describes Wilber as more than just a coach He was a transformative leader for Dexter’s schools His leadership extended beyond athletics as he championed school reorganization to replace outdated one-room schoolhouses with modern community schools His efforts culminated in the passage of a school reorganization vote in 1950 laying the groundwork for the modern Dexter Community Schools system and Superintendent Don Wilber retired on July 26 where he went to work at Rockwell International for the next 27 years He continued to work on improving School Reorganization by speaking to various school boards and even various colleges.  He died in 1997 The legacy of Dexter’s Dreadnaughts continues to thrive through alumni events A highlight came during the 45th reunion of the Dexter High School Class of 1945 where classmates reminisced about adopting the Dreadnaught name and selecting maroon and gold as the school’s official colors Superintendent Don Wilbur attended and spoke to the class of 1945 He said he “was amazed at the changes that had taken place in the School Routine When he was Superintendent of Schools here coached all the athletics in the school system and drove the school bus.” Dexter shares its unique nickname with Lakeland High School in Florida While both schools drew inspiration from the battleship Lakeland’s principal famously described their football team as “moving like the majestic Dreadnought battleship.” Both schools now embrace shortened versions of the nickname with Dexter favoring “Dread” and Lakeland opting for “Naught.” his legacy lives on through the traditions and educational advancements he championed His influence has helped shape the identity of Dexter’s athletic and academic institutions like the indomitable warships that once ruled the seas the Dreadnaught name remains a powerful reminder of the community’s resilience Mike Williamson The Sun Times News is the hub of the most useful information in Chelsea Subscribe to our free daily newsletter to stay on top of all the local news We are so sorry for your loss but very thankful for the short time we got to spend with Bob We will miss those dinners and visits we shared May he rest in peace in his eternal home forever he always had time to listen to what you had to say And as for his wife Zeta she was Bob's angel 😇 💖 may the Lord God comfort the family during this time of loss as only He can We haven't known you very long but thought the world of that man Take care and let us know if there is anything we can do and we have to echo the comment that he was an honest Remember the past and cherish your memories Our family was heartbroken when we received the sad news from Zeta My husband found a notice on the bulletin board at Dahl's and hired Robert to do our gardening and yardwork Little did we know what a "gem" we found Robert always arrived early and took such pride in everything he did We suspected his health was failing but he continued to take care of us Even our cat who always hides from visitors loved Robert and Zeta This morning I read Galatians 5:22 and it reminded me of Robert God bless our dear Robert and prayers to Zeta and family I am sure Doug was first in line to greet Bob in Heaven Robert was such a wonderful presence around the Yocom house He will be greatly missed and your family is in my thoughts and prayers © 2025 Hamilton's Funeral and After Life Services This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page The average equity of a home in the Netherlands has increased further due to the continued rise in home prices The average value of a home is now almost 500,000 euros and the average equity per home is currently 220,000 euros That is a significant increase compared to two years ago when the equity - the difference between your home’s value and what you still owe on your mortgage - was still 175,000 euros the higher equity ensures that a large part of the housing market is even more resistant to potential price decreases in the future The Netherlands currently has more than 8 million homes with a total home value of almost 4 trillion (4,000 billion) euros Calcasa looked at existing homes that have changed owners since 1 January 1993 That is a total of over 3 million homes with a total value of more than 1.5 trillion euros Compared to the last historical purchase prices this amounts to an average of 220,000 euros in equity per home the actual equity is probably even higher since the calculation assumes a mortgage of 100 percent of the purchase price without taking repayments into account homes that were sold before 1993 were not included in the study This makes the estimate of the equity conservative Homes sold before 2000 have the most equity on average due to the long period in which their value could increase Homes that were sold around 2008 have less equity due to the price drops during the credit crisis and Ameland are among the municipalities with the highest relative equity Not many transactions have taken place on the islands since 1993 but the average equity as a percentage of the historical purchase price is high at an average of 90 percent Bloemendaal tops the list with an average equity of 495,000 euros the equity is both relatively (85 percent) and absolutely (306,000 euros) high The average equity in Amsterdam is 281,000 euros Ohio — A stretch of Van Blaricum Road in Green Township is open for the first time in two years Heavy rain that caused flooding in several parts of Hamilton County in April of 2017 created a large sinkhole that took out part of Van Blaricum. The road was closed between South Road and Cleves Warsaw Road as engineers developed a repair plan and crews worked to carry it out. © Christian RichtersVisual Integration In The Suburban Context The project experiments with the variety of dimensions of the voids of the façade to minimize the visual impact of the buildings and to help them to be integrated into the domestic scale of their surroundings. Extra-large windows created by the integration of four different windows within a single frame are combined with small, medium and large windows. © Christian RichtersLarge voids located on the corners of the buildings combine two balconies placed on top of each other to create a single visual element. Minimizing the amount of openings in the façade and dematerializing the corners of the building with double-height voids, allows perceiving the building as a smaller object, comparable to the low-rise buildings of the context. © Christian RichtersDifference And Repetition The playful rhythm formed by the apparently random positioning of the voids in the façade has been created by alternating different floor plans within the building. Every floor plan is unique and, although the apartments share common principles, they present differences in terms of size and organization of the living spaces to promote the typological diversity. The different size of windows and the variety of their relative positions inside the rooms produce a large diversity of interior spaces, making it impossible to find two identical apartments within the building. Difference and repetition are interlinked within a single entity, creating an environment related to the human scale which, at the same time, is based on geometrical principles and on an abstract image. The twin blocks share the same volume, same structural principles and same materialization, but they differ in the façade composition responding to different number of apartments: 14 selling apartments in one of them and 15 renting apartments in the other. The apparently random disposition of windows and voids in the façade generates as well a wide diversity of spatial situations inside the dwellings The different size of windows and their different positioning within the rooms characterize each interior space with its own identity The special design of the voids strengthens the relation between each interior and the surroundings by framing the views and filtering the natural light in a particular way which works as an extension of the living room The balconies are located in between the outer skin of the building and its inner space becoming an “in between space” that relates the interior of the apartments to the green areas You'll now receive updates based on what you follow Personalize your stream and start following your favorite authors If you have done all of this and still can't find the email Dexter history book, Dexter Then & Now, local history gift, Michigan historical books, tunnel discovery Dexter The recent discovery of a tunnel beneath the Dexter fire station has reignited curiosity about the town’s rich history prompting many to delve into its fascinating past For those eager to uncover the stories that shaped Dexter DEXTER THEN & NOW: Celebrating 200 Years is the perfect resource picture-packed book not only chronicles the evolution of Dexter but also brings to life its people Whether as a treasured addition to your home library or a thoughtful Christmas gift this book offers a unique glimpse into the town’s history that will captivate readers for generations to come About DEXTER THEN & NOW: Celebrating 200 Years “‘I have much to say about this country—’tis a strange place different from any new land that I have seen four writer-historians celebrated the completion of DEXTER THEN & NOW: Celebrating 200 Years a picture-packed chronicle tracing Dexter’s evolution “I’d estimate that we used more than 90 percent of our photograph collection for the book along with our print archives,” said Nancy Van Blaricum a life-long resident whose family roots date back to 1826 and Van Blaricum—crafted the book independently “We learned that we would have very little control over the content so we decided to go off on our own,” Hill explained “I knew nothing about the book process.” Jan Weaver added to prove or disprove some of the myths—which meant we went down a lot of rabbit holes.” The book divides Dexter’s story into thirteen sections from “In the Beginning” to “Biographies.” “We worried about including some people and leaving out others who also had great stories,” Jones noted they focused on Dexter’s development and its founding figures “Some legends about [Samuel Dexter] are true,” Jones added including oral traditions about Gordon Hall’s role on the Underground Railroad “We corrected and updated our record and our presentations,” Weaver stated such as Van Blaricum’s ancestors who “traded rights to three houses in Hollywood Carol Jones shared Gottlieb Mast’s tragic story: “He fell down a chute and died.” His descendants faced further controversy when a pastor refused his burial prompting the family to “transfer their membership to St most of them came into town and things would be lively…until the wee hours of the morning,” wrote H with perhaps three or four going on at the same time.” The marshal “was wise enough to stay home at that time.” especially during Prohibition,” Van Blaricum quipped showcasing the judge’s “visionary town-building efforts” and the community’s hopes and disappointments The book committee hopes these images and stories “will help people understand how we got to this place and time and how we became known as Dexter people,” Van Blaricum reflected Copies of DEXTER THEN & NOW are available in Dexter at Three Bird and holiday events at Gordon Hall on December 14 “These are the stories that make Dexter different from any other town in the Midwest,” Weaver concluded 2022 By: MC Admin The McPherson College Citation of Merit award recipients exemplify the college’s mission of Service and Participation through their lifelong commitment to the values they developed as students at McPherson College The college honored this year’s recipients at a dinner on April 22 at the Cedars Conference Center in McPherson Citation of Merit awards went to Annette Van Blaricum ’68 The McPherson College Citation of Merit is the college’s highest award recognizing the most distinguished alumni for lifetime accomplishments in service to profession The recipients are recommended by the Alumni Awards Committee and are approved by the College Board of Trustees and participation outlined in the McPherson College mission are a common theme throughout the life and career of Annette Van Blaricum of Wichita she knew where she wanted to attend college and through her participation as a student in activities like theatre and choir she laid a foundation that allowed her to sing with her church choir for many years and meet her husband She taught kindergarten and Title 1 for more than 30 years in Tonganoxie She has been an active volunteer in her church and the communities where she has lived with her family she taught pre-school Sunday School for more than 10 years She served as president of the Pratt United Methodist Women and served as vice president for the Wichita West District UMW She organized a young women’s Rebekah Guild and tutored international students from Africa and India She also volunteered within her profession as president of Delta Kappa Gamma teachers group publishing its newsletter for several years and was president of the Retired Teachers organization Other volunteer activities include filling many offices within PEO chapters serving as president of the Prairie Pilot Club and serving as state president of the American Association of University Women Annette stays connected with McPherson College by serving as class agent for the Class of 1968 and helping coordinate their successful 50th reunion in 2018 She also shares her talents with her communities she organized a sewing club that donated several baby quilts to the Pratt Regional Medical Center over the years She enjoys reading and hiking along the Arkansas River and is an avid cook and baker and baked goods at the Pratt Farmers Market and currently at the Wichita Flea Market Roger Trimmell served as head coach for the McPherson College men’s basketball team for 27 seasons from 1982 to 2008 and was an assistant professor in the health and physical education program His impact on the lives of hundreds of students and colleagues is immeasurable During his time as head coach for the Bulldogs 61 players were named to All-Conference teams including three who were named KCAC Player of the Year and three who received NAIA All-American honors the graduation rate for all his senior players was 100 percent He is affectionately known to McPherson College as the Father of Dogball His teams qualified for the NAIA District 10 playoffs six times and his overall conference record gives him the most victories in KCAC men’s basketball history and was inducted into the Kansas Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame twice – once as a coach and once as a member of the 1968 Wamego undefeated state basketball championship team he organized annual team collections for the local food bank and reading programs with elementary schools He also coordinated student groups to support Operation Christmas Child He devoted summers to the college basketball camps as well as youth leagues and was director of the McPherson College Boys and Girls All-Star Basketball Games Along with his successful teaching and coaching career he also devoted much of his time and talent to McPherson community organizations and his church He was the director of Heartland Basketball Camps for nine years as well as for Focus on Family Basketball Camps He served as a board member for the McPherson YMCA and volunteers with Brush Up Mac He is a member of Countryside Covenant Church where is a Christian Formation teacher for junior high youth as well as a leader for the Adult Life group and past member and chair of the Diaconate Board The foundation for Jeff Bach’s life-long love of learning was set at McPherson College and led him to a career of scholarship and service within the Church of the Brethren He graduated from McPherson College with a double major in elementary education and German language and taught German at area high schools after graduating for a brief time He was called to the ministry earning a master’s of divinity degree at Bethany Theological Seminary and later completing a doctoral program in the department of religion at Duke University publishing a dissertation about the religious views of the Ephrata Community in Ephrata He served as pastor to churches in Iowa and later taught history and Brethren studies and served as director of Peace Studies at Bethany Theological Seminary he was named director of the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies at Elizabethtown College and served as associate professor of religious studies he oversaw three major fund-raising efforts that resulted in the addition of an archive and special collection to the library He supervised acquisitions of several rare materials and books and developed content for the Bowers Interpretive Gallery at the Young Center a museum-quality multi-media exhibit of artifacts and text to interpret the Anabaptist and Pietist movements He retired in 2020 and was recently named director emeritus He served on the Church of the Brethren 300th Anniversary committee and was chair of the committee from 2005-2008 he serves as convener for the planning committee for the Church of the Brethren World Assembly in 2023 He is also the liaison between the Brethren Encyclopedia Board and the Alexander Mack Museum in Schwarzenau Germany and participates in research for two projects transcribing and analyzing German text also serve as part-time ministers at Stevens Hill Church of the Brethren in Elizabethtown 1600 E. Euclid McPherson, KS 67460 800.365.7402 © 2025 McPherson College. All Rights Reserved. © 2023 McPherson College. All Rights Reserved. Blaricum residents pay an average of €1,198 a year in council taxes – that is property, waste collection, drainage, tourist and other charges. Wassenaar, Bloemendaal, Laren and Bergen complete the line up of top five most expensive places. The cheapest place to live is Aalten, in Gelderland, where property and other taxes average €520 per household. The Hague is the fourth cheapest place to live, with average local taxes of €547. In two-thirds of the 393 local authority areas in the Netherlands, local taxes average between €600 and €800 a year. The research shows sharp differences between different towns. Councils are allowed to set their waste collection and drainage charges but they are not allowed to exceed actual costs. They can decide their own dog tax, tourist tax and property tax levels. In Eemsmond, in Groningen, it costs €82 a year to put out household rubbish. In Wassenaar the bill is €433 per household. Tourist tax is lowest – just 46 cents a night – in Strijen, a small town west of Dordrecht. It is highest – €5 a night – in Haarlemermeer. We could not provide the Dutch News service, and keep it free of charge, without the generous support of our readers. Your donations allow us to report on issues you tell us matter, and provide you with a summary of the most important Dutch news each day. Many thanks to everyone who has donated to DutchNews.nl in recent days! We could not provide this service without you. If you have not yet made a contribution, you can do so here. Please help us making DutchNews.nl a better read by taking part in a short survey. The 25-year-old from Blaricum, who rides for Team dsm-firmenich PostNL, took the leader’s yellow jersey with the bonus seconds she earned with her win, giving her a four-second lead over Finland’s Anniina Ahtosalo. Another Dutch favourite for the stage win, Lorena Wiebes, fell out of contention when her chain came off in the closing metres. Demi Vollering, the overall winner of last year’s race, finished safely in the leading pack in 35th place. Olympic road race silver medallist Marianne Vos finished fifth, while Mylène de Zoete, who rode through her home town of Naaldwijk during the stage, was seventh. “This is the day I’d always hoped for,” said Kool, who struggled with health problems earlier in the season. “Never give up. It was a long way out, but my coach said I could do a long sprint easily. I kept fighting and it was enough.” The curtain-raiser for the seven-stage race took the riders from Rotterdam through Westland before a 21-kilometre circuit of The Hague, finishing with a short climb in the dunes of Kijkduin. Italian Cristina Tonetti built up a 45-second lead with an early breakaway and led through the Maas-Delta tunnel to claim the polka dot jersey for the best climber, before the field came back together for the expected bunch sprint. With two more flat stages on Tuesday in Deventer and Rotterdam, Tonetti is guaranteed to keep the Queen of the Mountains jersey at least until Wednesday. On Wednesday the riders will set out from Valkenburg before crossing the border to Liège in Belgium, while the last two stages take the race into the Alps, finishing on Alpe d’Huez where Vollering is expected to make her bid for victory. The only locally contested race on Pratt County ballots on Tuesday is the race for sheriff between the incumbent Republican Vernon Chinn and Democrat Wayne Cline. All other local races including Kansas Senate and Kansas House are uncontested races although candidate elect state Sen. Ruth Teichman did face a challenge in the primary election from Republican Andrew Evans. Rep. Mitch Holmes had no challengers in either the primary or general election. The only other contested races on the ballot are for president/vice president, U.S. senate and U.S. representative from Kansas. The following candidates are running for re-election in Pratt County. Sheriff candidates were profiled at the beginning of October.  Republican County Commissioner Joe Reynolds from District 3 wants to find a way to cut the county budget and not raise taxes each year especially for people on a fixed income. ”I don’t think I’ve done what I need to get done about taxes,” Reynolds said. Reynolds also wants to work on getting affordable health care, that’s one of his main goals, Reynolds said. Reynolds is seeking a third term at commissioner. He currently owns and operates J & R Underground, a lawn sprinkler company. He also operates a low mowing service. He worked for Panhandle Eastern for 36 years as an operator maintaining engines. He graduated from Pratt High School in 1969, graduated from Pratt Community College in 1971 and attended Emporia State University. He has been married to Shirley for 35 years; they have two sons Brian and Craig. Craig has three children Kedrick, Alanta and Alexa. Republican County Commissioner from the District 2 is incumbent Dwight Adams who is seeking his second term. Adams main goal is to improve the county road system. He thinks he has helped make good progress in the county and enjoys helping fill the needs of the people the best he can. Adams graduated from Cullison High School in 1954, graduated from Pratt Junior College in 1956, and earned a bachelors degree in agriculture economic banking and rural finance. He was in the banking business for 25 years in Marion, Augusta and Sterling. He sold real estate in Wichita and then moved to Pratt to farm. He currently operates Pheasant Farms. Seeking her first full term as Pratt County Treasurer is Republican Amy Jones. Jones was a clerk in the county treasurers office for three years before running against former incumbent treasurer Socorro Acosta in the primary. Jones wanted to see a change in the clerk’s office and likes doing the work. Acosta dropped out of the race for health reasons. The new term for the Treasurer doesn’t take effect until October 2009 so Jones was appointed to the position until the term starts. She graduated from Pratt High School in 1993 and Barclay College in 2004 with a degree in business administration and management. She worked at First State Bank before working in the clerk’s office. She has been married to Jeff for 15 years and they have two sons Avery and Mason. Incumbent Republican Sherry Kruse has been Pratt County Clerk since May 2003. She is running again to continue serving the citizens of Pratt County and she likes the challenging job. She began working in the clerk’s office in 1981 as a deputy county clerk. She graduated from Pratt High School, Pratt Community College and earned a business degree from Fort Hays State University in 1976. She and Darrell have been married 29 years and their daughter Sara is married to Zach Myers. Seeking her first full term as register of deeds is incumbent Democrat Sherry Wenrich. She was appointed to the position in 2002 when Vera Compton retired from the position. She is running to meet the challenges of changing technology, meeting and working with the people of Pratt County. She is a teacher for new register of deeds across the state. She graduated from Wichita Heights High School and earned a degree in accounting from Kansas State University. She worked at Kennedy and Coe before working 16 years in the register of deeds office. She has been married to tom for 25 years, they have a daughter Lori, a CPA in Wichita and son Brian is a senior in pre-law at Kansas State University. Republican Ken Van Blaricum is finishing out the last two years of former county attorney Ernie Richardson’s unexpired term. He was previously county attorney from 1976 to 1980. He is also the current Pratt City Attorney. He has the experience to do the job efficiently and enjoys serving the public, he said. Van Blaricum graduated from Meade High School in 1963, McPherson College in 1967 and University of Kansas Law School in 1970. He worked in a Wichita law firm, then three years for the U.S. Treasury in Wichita before moving to Pratt and practicing law from 1975 to 2007 at Hansen Van Blaricum and Jorns law firm. He has been the county attorney for four years and city attorney for two years. He and Annette have been married for 40 years and have two sons, both attorneys. Mark is married to Jackie. They live in Kansas City, Mo. and they have a daughter Julie. Jay is married to Katie and they live in Lawrence. District 30, Division 1, District Court Judge Bob Schmisseur is up for retention for the sixth time. Schmisseur was appointed a District Court Judge in 1986. Although he is eligible to retire Schmisseur wants to continue working because he enjoys the work and is doing a good job, he said. Schmisseur has won many awards from the Southwest Kansas Bar Association, is part of the judge school in Topeka, and has tried jury trials all over the state including the Floyd murder trail in January. “That was a tough case. I am proud of that,” Schmisseur said. He graduated from O’fallon Township High School in Illinois, the University of Illinois in 1970 with a degree in agriculture, and earned his jurist doctorate from the University of Kansas Law School in 1977. He has been married to Donna for 32 years and they have three children; Elizabeth, Jennifer and Joseph plus a granddaughter Brylee. AMSTERDAM - Over one in 25 homes in the Netherlands is worth 1 million euros or more. Last year, the Netherlands counted 195,000 million-euro homes, 14 percent more than a year earlier, the Telegraaf reported based on data agency Calcasa’s annual publication on million-euro homes.  Ten years ago, the Netherlands counted only 14,000 homes worth over 1 million euros. But due to the rising house prices, many more passed the million mark, especially in the past few years. In popular locations in the Randstad, even terraced houses often cost 1 million euros or more. The average value of a million-euro home is now 1.35 million euros.  Amsterdam has the most homes worth 1 million euros or more at 20,100, followed by The Hague (10,900) and Rotterdam (5,250). The homes that cost the most are in Blaricum and Bloemendaal. There, the million-euro homes are over 2,000 euros per square meter more expensive.  The streets with the largest number of €1 million homes are in Amsterdam - Keizersgracht has 579 homes worth a million euros or more, Prinzengracht (495) and Valeriusstraat (360). There are also streets where all the homes are worth over a million euros. Calcassa listed ten, including three in Wassenaar, two in Bilthoven, and one in Blaricum, Aerdenhout, Zeist, and Bussum.  Like in 2021, the most expensive street in the Netherlands was in Wassenaar last year. On Konijnenlaan, homes cost an average of 3.3 million euros. Second place went to Torenlaan in Blaricum (2.6 million euros) and Oranje Nassaulaan in Amsterdam (2.5 million euros.)  Photo: M.Minderhoud via Wikimedia CommonsLaren is the Netherlands’ wealthiest village Photo: M.Minderhoud via Wikimedia CommonsYou are most likely to run into a Dutch millionaire in the village of Laren near Hilversum where 10.8% of households have assets of over €1m the national statistics agency CBS said on Tuesday Next on the list is Bloemendaal with 10.4% and Blaricum where 9.8% of households are worth more than €1m the Netherlands had some 115,000 households with assets of over €1m in January 2017 The figures do not include the millionaires’ own home or mortgage debts Dutch millionaire households had disposable income averaging at €117,000 last year compared with €40,000 for the average household Amsterdam has more millionaires than any other city Almost half the country’s millionaires make their money via their own companies We could not provide the Dutch News service without the generous support of our readers Your donations allow us to report on issues you tell us matter and provide you with a summary of the most important Dutch news each day Many thanks to everyone who has donated to DutchNews.nl in recent days We could not provide this service without you Please help us making DutchNews.nl a better read by taking part in a short survey Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker