Gillette histories

From the Nov. 6, 1969 News Record:
An $8 million school improvement bond issue will be proposed to patrons of the Campbell County School District in an election to be Tuesday, Dec. 9. The school board voted 4 to 2 to present a system of new school buildings, which are needed in the county to house and properly educate the 3,000 children attending grades 1 through 12 in Campbell County. Generally, four of the board members felt that the total school facilities needed in Campbell County should be represented to for the voters to approve or disapprove. They were Lloyd Halladay, Don Marquiss, W.T. Fulkerson and Jes Jessen, chairman of the board. Two of the board members, Leroy Wright and Bob Sorenson, generally felt that the most important part of the total proposed program should be chosen for the initial bond issue, and other parts being proposed at another time. They voted against the $8 million bond issue in one total package. Estimated figures on the various parts of the building program included Northside Elementary addition, $445,200; Westside Elementary addition, $67,840; New Westside Elementary, $805,600; and new Southeast Elementary, $1,327,824. The junior high school would be housed at the present high school, where the 45-year-old portion of the budlding would be razed and reconstructed for $1,022,900. Among the plans are a new auditorium, kitchen facilities, and a total of bout 30 classrooms for grades, seven, eight and nine. The senior high school proposed for grades 10, 11, and `12 would be $3,137,600. It is planned to handle up to 1,000 students.
From the Nov. 3, 1981 News Record:
The man who allegedly took a bulldozer on a destructive spin through part of Gillette last spring is back in jail after a court hearing Monday. But those close to the case say they still don’t know for sure what prompted John D. Thompson to go joyriding on the Caterpillar tractor he pleaded guilty to taking. “He doesn’t remember driving it,” said the defendant’s sister, Marion Thompson of Lenoir City, Tenn., as she waited for other brother’s change of plea hearing to begin. Deputy County Attorney Jack Sundquist said he believed Thompson had been drinking before the May 1 incident and was depressed about “financial problems.” But as far as “what made him do it, I don’t know,” Sundquist said. “I don’t think the psychiatrists did, either.” Calling Thompson “one of the most exemplary defendants that I have ever represented before this court,” defense attorney Williams Edwards of Gillette asked the judge not to revoke the bond. “I am personally convinced that there is no danger of Mr. Thompson not showing up” for sentencing, Edwards told the court. But the arguments failed to sway District Court Judge Paul to Liamos Jr., who ordered the man taken to jail pending sentencing.