MARTELL -- It's not as if Eric Wendelin didn't have enough to do on his cattle farm near Martell.
But last year, his grandmother suggested he buy the former Martell auditorium that burned to the ground in May 2010, leaving a fire-scorched shell of concrete walls and a mess of charred rubble.
"The church fellowship hall is right across the street," Wendelin said. "She spends a lot of time down there with her lady friends, and they got tired of looking at it."
And then one day, Carol Wendelin, a member of the Martell United Methodist Church, saw a "for sale" sign on the property and told her grandson he ought to get to work.
Eric Wendelin and his friend Josh Woltemath of Sterling bought the property for about $12,000 from the estate of Al White and have been cleaning up and hauling away concrete blocks and other debris for the past month. Family members have pitched in, too.
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They have no immediate plans for the property, but Carol Wendelin does.
"She thinks there needs to be more housing in Martell," Eric Wendelin said.
Eric Wendelin said his grandmother may be on to something, because Lincoln is growing to the south. The unincorporated village of Martell has about 118 residents and is about 17 miles southwest of Lincoln.
Before it burned down, the old auditorium had a caved-in roof and bulging walls. The building sat dilapidated for years until the fire destroyed it and an attached home.
Eric Wendelin said several trailers on the property held "tons of wooden chairs."
"We burned them. They were just junk," he said.