School fence: Security or eyesore?

Douglas High School's $1.5 million "world-class" track and football field presents too much temptation for vandalism and needs to be protected by a 12-foot chain-link fence, school officials said Wednesday.

But neighbors of the high school told the Minden Town Board that the proposed fence would be an eyesore.

"Our concern is vandalism," said Jeremy Hutchings, the Douglas County School District's engineer.

"There is significant rivalry with other school districts - Carson High for one - and our intent is to protect the improvements," he said.

Hutchings said the fence would be installed on the north, south and east sides of the new all-weather track and artificial turf football field.

He brought the proposal to the town board for a variance to increase the permissible height from 8 feet to 12 feet.

"This isn't a guarantee the vandalism won't occur, but we believe it is a prudent measure," Hutchings said. "This is not a 'nice' or 'pretty good' facility. This is world class."

Former Google software engineer Raymond Sidney donated $1.6 million not only to complete the installation of the all-weather track but also to lay down artificial turf on the football field.

Hutchings estimated that by the time