Relay rain-out doesn't quench survivors' spirit

The annual Relay For Life is always anticipated for months as teams prepare for the all-night event. However, this year mother nature came a-calling and shut the Square down early, according to Public Safety Director Gary Herstein, at approximately10:30 p.m.

"I called the National Weather Service and it looked bad," Herstein said. "There was one patch of bad weather and it looked like it was headed straight for Nevada so we thought it best to ask them to close down."

Organizer Leonette Hammontree said she was really disappointed by the decision, which was made by several people, but the safety of the participants had to be considered.

"We left way, way early. We're trying to make money to save lives and it didn't make sense to lose lives to do that," Hammontree said. "How were we to know that it would do that? (dissipate before reaching Nevada) I feel bad that we had to leave and it didn't do anything."

Hammontree wasn't sure how much money had been raised by the shortened event but said the information was still being gathered.

"I haven't heard the full story on how much we've raised so far, but we'll get that together," Hammontree said.

One of the groups that raised money for Relay for Life was the Nevada Regional Medical Center with their team; Wranglers for a Cure. Several participants worked hard to raise money, including doctors Dan Barnes and William Turner. Turner raised the most, beating out competition from Barnes, David Harms, director of Barone Alzheimer Care Center, Harlo McCall, chief nursing officer; and Dustin Griffith, plant operations to become "Nurse Goodbody" for the event. Turner was able to raise more than $700 with his good-natured antics.

One group in particular came in for extra praise from Hammontree, the Boy Scouts.

"Every one was great but the Boy Scouts really impressed me," Hammontree said. "Those Boy Scouts stuck around and helped every one that needed it. I'm so proud of those boys, they were doing the Boy Scout thing, helping others. They were awesome."