New jail on schedule

March was the start of many new beginnings in Vernon County. On March 3, Daryl Wright, past Nevada Habitat for Humanity president, presented the keys to the 10th home built by the local Habitat for Humanity organization, to Christy and Amanda Hepburn. Habitat requires each participating family to put between 300 and 400 hours of "sweat equity" into a house. Wright was quoted saying, "She (Christy) has been a wonderful partner."

Students at Truman Elementary dressed up as their favorite book character for "Character Craze." The event was held "to get kids excited for books and reading." During a city council meeting reported on March 4, it was voted 3-2 against (Mike Hutchens, Joyce Wilson and Bill Gillette voted no and Tim Wells and Jayne Novak voted yes) allowing Woods Supermarket to hold wine and cheese tasting events year round. An opinion voiced by councilman Tim Wells stated, "This is a matter of commerce. Not a legality or illegality. They won't let children taste or they will lose their license. They want to do this within the framework of the law."

In the March 5 edition of the Nevada Daily Mail it was reported that the new jail project was "on-time and under budget" according to site supervisor, Les Paine. Two places in Nevada got a face-lift during the month of March -- the Super 8 Motel received a new logo, and the playground equipment at Truman Elementary was added thanks to funds raised by the school's PTO.

March marks the beginning of spring and also the beginning of daylight saving time. A reminder was published suggesting people "spring forward" for the changing of the season and set the hour hand of their clocks and check batteries in smoke alarms.

Wayfinding signs were erected around Nevada to help tourists find their way around. Nevada was the smallest city in the state of Missouri to adopt these signs. Twenty-five signs were put up, as well as signs on U.S. Highways 71 and 54 to help direct traffic to the city.

During the Ides of March it was proposed that a traffic study be done on Hunter Street in Nevada. The research would help decide if part of the street would be closed off to build the community center. Much debate went on about this subject. It was later decided to add onto the community center and the east part of the intersection of Ash and Hunter was closed. With the bad, comes the good -- a local woman, Kathy Leedy, won $100,000 on a scratcher ticket she purchased at a gas station in Lamar.

On March 24 it was announced that Nevada's Med Flight would be moving to a new location and held an open house on March 26. The new location is at Nevada Municipal Airport and the new aircraft is a Eurocopter A-Star 350 B2 model. The new location is 22 minutes closer to Nevada than the previous location.