NEVC annexation fails

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

A loud cheer went up from the crowd gathered on the second floor of the Vernon County courthouse when it was announced that nearly twice as many voters in Walker Township had voted against the Northeast Vernon County R-1 School District annexation proposition on Tuesday, as voted in favor of it. That vote signaled to the anxious crowd that the proposition would probably not pass.

More than 40 people, supporters of the NEVC district, were at the courthouse Tuesday evening to see the results come in and learn that the annexation proposition did, in fact, fail. The proposition failed by a more than 2 to 1 margin; the final vote was 306 "yes" votes and 666 "no" votes. The NEVC district will continue to educate the children in that part of the county.

District supporters were happy with the outcome of the election. Many of them were relieved that it was finally over. Northeast Vernon County fourth grade teacher Amanda Shelton said, "I was confident, but I'm glad it's over."

Math teacher Robin Coleman said, "I'm very glad it's over," and she added that the school is going "to finish this year with flying colors."

District administtrators were also glad that the months-long ordeal had finally come to an end and they could apply their efforts to other things. Superintendent Charles Naas said, "Obviously we're thrilled, ready to return to business." Naas also said that he is, "ready to get the community focused on renovation instead of politicking. Northeast Vernon County Elementary Principal Kendall Ogburn was also in the crowd and said, "I think it shows a strong support of community members and how they feel about their school."

There were no members of the Patrons for Quality Education present on the second floor of the courthouse and when the Nevada Daily Mail contacted the group's treasurer Ron Hughes, he declined comment.

The election results were all in for the county by 9 p.m. and Vernon County Clerk Tammi Beach said the election "went pretty smooth." She said there were 11 provisional ballots to be checked, but all in all the election went well. With a county wide turnout of 56.8 percent, Beach said, "we had a better turnout than I thought we would have." There were no voter turnout percentages available for the precincts impacted by the NEVC issue, except in Schell City, where 71.8 percent of the registered voters cast their ballots.

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