Dayton float needs a home

All they want for Christmas is a flatbed trailer.

The Dayton Float Committee, which created the terrific "Dayton Schoolhouse Museum" float that won a second-place prize in the Nevada Day Parade, is hoping to get a permanent trailer for its creation.

The committee is looking for a 12-foot flatbed on which to place the Dayton Schoolhouse. If there are any Santas out there who have an extra flatbed, the donation is tax-deductible.

Museum docent Ruby McFarland said the display weighs about 800 pounds.

In addition to the Nevada Day honors, the float won first place in the Dayton Valley Days Parade. Committee members believe the best way to preserve it and take it to other parades, promotions and fundraisers is for it to have its own wheels.

This Virginia City resident hopes Ruby gets her wish, since we on the hill would love to have that float appear in some of our parades next year.

To donate, call McFarland at 246-5543.

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Five Dayton residents have signed up to become the new Dayton Regional Advisory Council.

Mitch Burns of Westwinds Drive, Ralph Ewing of Shady Grove Lane, Tom Jakubowski of Dornoch Court, Glenn Logue of Creekside Drive and Amy Wachtel of Ring Road all tossed their hats into the fire. Yes, I'm mixing my metaphors, but they'll understand once they're seated and start getting heat from above, below and all around, like the current DRAC has.

I don't know whether the changes to DRAC are right or wrong, good or bad - I think both sides of the dispute went a little beyond ridiculous this past year. But when one imagines a thankless job, a seat on DRAC definitely comes to mind.

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The Aspen Creek development's tentative map will likely go before the Lyon County Commission at Thursday's meeting, after getting the thumbs-up from the planning commission.

This subdivision will be at the site of the old O'Callaghan ranch and include 576 lots, with 27 five-acre lots, 28 10-acre lots and 521 12,000-square-foot lots.

I'm going to miss the solitude of driving on Fort Churchill Road from Chaves and not seeing another human being until I get to Highway 95a. Despite the wear and tear on my car.

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Another tentative map the commissioners will consider is the Silverhorn subdivision, a 134-lot, single-family residence development just east of Dayton, south of Highway 50. It was approved before, but expired due to unresolved water and drainage disputes.

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There are toy drives going on in Dayton and Silver Springs/Stagecoach.

To sign up in Dayton, call Tanya Edmondson at Dayton Elementary School at 246-6262 or Bridget Thompson of Central Lyon Youth Connections at 246-7550.

To help out in Silver Springs, call Mary Boettcher at 843-0331 or Tammie Hitt at 577-5009.

• Karen Woodmansee is the Dayton-area reporter. Contact her at kwoodmansee@nevadaappeal.com or 882-2111, ext. 351.