Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

The Board To You

The dictionary defines community as ...groups of persons bound together by common beliefs or interests. I define it as PRESCOTT and NEVADA COUNTY!

You ask what is my proof?

The Prescott School District recently experienced a slight inconvenience - a fire that destroyed a major part of the high school building and rendering the remainder of it unusable for the balance of the school year. Please note I did NOT say the high school had been destroyed, for it has not. Only the building is gone. You see, the people of Prescott and Nevada County have proved that Prescott High School is much more than a building -- Prescott High School is the students, faculty, administration and most especially, it is the community, as evidenced by the huge crowd that stood stunned as they watched.

The community has spoken loud and clear. Prescott High School is ALIVE now more than ever.

Yes, as all can see, the building is a mess, a big mess! The school has had so many calls and wishes of good luck no one can keep track.

It all started the night of April Fool's, a day we will not soon forget. The Prescott Fire Department showed up, then the men of the Nevada County Rescue Unit, and then the rural fire departments of Bluff City, Emmet, Redland, Laneburg and Rosston. (There is even a rumor that an out-of-county rural fire department was told they were not called because there was no room to park their fire truck.)

While the brave firemen were still trying to control the fire, next came the offers of space for classrooms from area churches, organizations and the local governments.

Teachers and parents braved the cool weather and late hours to not only console each other, but to start thinking of every possible way to handle where to put the kids. It should be noted that just after 9:00 a.m. the next morning a printed schedule was available telling exactly where each high school class would be held. We're talking less than 12 hours after the fire started!

With no telephone service even in the administration building, Mr. Murel Lewis, the architect who designed the building and oversaw its construction in the mid 70 s, was tracked down early Tuesday morning. Even though he was in Springdale, Arkansas on business, he adjusted his schedule and was on site at 9:30 a.m. (Lucky for us Mr. Lewis is a private pilot with his own plane.) He is already working hard to help put our school back together.

Our local insurance agent, Adam Guthrie, was one of those giving moral support the night of the fire. Bright and early the next morning, he and Carrie Nivens went to work by making many calls to secure the necessary personnel to begin the cleanup task.

As mentioned earlier there was no telephone service available at the administration building since all of the telephone system went through the high school. William Duke and Ron Murphy of GTE responded immediately to get service restored before noon. During that time, Bobby Smith, the local Century Cellunet representative, secured for the school a cellular phone, at no cost!

I could go on and on with example after example of concern, kindness, offers to help and more. In mentioning above some specific acts and persons I run the risk of leaving out many others who were just as important in their efforts to help. I sincerely apologize to those persons.

There is, however, one additional person I would like to specifically acknowledge. I more than anyone realize Don Johnston was being paid to do his job Monday night and that first day after. Having spent most of Monday night and a great deal of Tuesday at the high school I personally observed not a paid employee doing his job, but someone doing everything he could to benefit our students and our community. So maybe Webster s is correct when it says community is defined as ...groups of persons bound together... Such is Prescott and Nevada County -- always has been, always will be!

God bless each and everyone of you who has helped our school and kept us in your prayers.

We will always be grateful.