Vermillion, Clay County open doors to new jail, law enforcement center
After voters rejected first proposal, community rallied to replace old courthouse jail
VERMILLION – Clay County Commission Chairman Travis Mockler recounted how he told longtime Sheriff Andy Howe several years ago that Howe would never hear the door slam on a new jail.
“I didn’t know he would never retire,” Mockler said to a crowd of a couple hundred people Tuesday evening outside what was, in fact, a new jail.
It was one moment of levity among several as Clay County and Vermillion officials dedicated a new law enforcement facility. At the start of Tuesday’s ribbon-cutting ceremony, two law officers attempted to raise the Stars and Stripes on a new flagpole. The flag jammed halfway up the pole, leaving Howe to joke that the flagpole was still under warranty.
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