The regular Lyon County Commissioners meeting typically begins at 9:00 a.m. and goes all day, a grueling exercise on every 1st and 3rd Thursday of the month. On today’s agenda was buried an item (18c) to consider a proclamation proposed by Commission Chair Vida Keller to rename the Justice Complex in Yerington, Nevada the Donald J. Trump Justice Complex, an action the Commissioners approved on a 3 to 2 vote after discussion and public comment.
On July 1, the Commission voted by a 4 to 1 margin to rename a section of the Old Dayton Valley Road in Dayton, Nevada President Trump Way. In response to opposition, on July 15, Commissioners reversed the decision on 3-2 vote.
Hear the Justice Center debate in a concise 10:45 –
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Chair Keller said she would pay for the signage.
“If this is approved, as far as the plaque to dedicate this name, I will personally pay for that plaque. If anybody wants to join in that expense, that is welcomed, but I will take responsibility. It will not cost a taxpayer dollar. I will donate that money to the county,” Keller said.
Commissioner Robert Jacobson made a comment that implied the proclamation was a waste of time.
“This to me feels like partisan politics, and I voted for Trump, don’t get me wrong, whatever, but I just hope we can get back to the reason we were elected. And that’s to handle county business. Thank you.”
Commissioner Wes Henderson asked his colleagues to wait.
“I understand the process of bringing this forward. However, I think it’s a little bit premature. In our last meeting, we had some discussion about creating a policy on naming county facilities and we haven’t had an opportunity to discuss that yet. And I’m a little bit disappointed that we haven’t had that discussion, first.”
Commissioners took public comment
“I’m Mandy Bennett. I live in Silver Springs and have been a registered Republican my entire life. However, I don’t agree with this. You’ve read all of these. I think there are a lot of silent Republicans out there that are a little worried about this. My suggestion would be wait to see if he’s indicted.”
Lyon County resident and regular Ally columnist Erich Obermeyer asked the commissioners to think about naming a justice complex after a man who has been quoted saying he can get away with sexual assault because he’s a celebrity.
“With any woman who comes to this courtroom, which is named after Donald Trump, how could she ever expect to get fair treatment in a building in which the court officers have somehow reconciled themselves to ethically serving in a building named after a man with such a problematic past.”
A man who was only identified by his last name, Ortega, spoke in support of the resolution.
“Splendid idea! Go forth. I want you guys to go ahead and be lockstep in this support with this, this resolution proclamation. He’s a great guy. Don’t be swayed by all these liberal pundits. And good luck.”
In her final remarks on the proclamation, Chair Keller addressed some of the criticism.
“If you’ve been here since nine o’clock this morning, I don’t think we ignored any county business that needed to be taken care of. County business always comes first.”
“I just want to note that when it comes to being political or not political in these decisions, and having a little bit of respect for our president, whether you voted for him or not, I think we should have respect for every president,” Keller said. “There’s presidents out there that I didn’t vote for, but I still had respect for the office. And I would just love to see our country get back to having that respect. Again, you don’t have to like somebody. You didn’t have to vote for them, but you have respect for the office. That has been completely taken away from people, and it’s a shame.”
