Ames Construction and Tahoe-Reno Industrial Center (TRI) teamed up last week to repair a private road in the Virginia City Highlands and get a retired Marine back in his home.
1SG John Crouch, USMC (ret.) is a 32 year veteran who moved to the Highlands after retiring from a stellar Marine Corps career. The recent floods in the last few months destroyed the private road going to his home in the Virginia City Highlands.
“Top” Crouch came to a Storey County Planning Commission meeting chaired by Larry Prater, and asked for help. Storey County was unable to help as the road was put in by a private developer who was long gone from the area. Planning Commission member Kris Thompson, met with Top Crouch after the meeting about the problem. Thompson, who is also the Project Manager for TRI, reported the situation to Lance Gilman who directed Thompson to round up some help at TRI for the First Sergeant. The following day, Thompson put out an email to the key contractors working at TRI asking for assistance.
Seth Alexander, the Project Manager for Ames Construction immediately answered the call. Ames is the NDOT prime contractor for the USA Parkway/SR439 extension project in Storey and Lyon Counties. Also, Rick Joy, President of Joy Engineering immediately offered up free material for the repair work.
The weather and soft ground delayed the work for a couple weeks. But last week the weather cleared and Ames Construction immediately got to work. Ames received help from Capurro Trucking, who hauled 20 truck loads of gravel up the Geiger Grade to the repair site in the Highlands. Ames then moved a dozer with a heavy transport up the grade and started the repair work. The project took two full days of moving dirt and material to get the road back in service. Ames’ heavy equipment operator Tim Bloss did great work on this emergency project, and Ames’ foreman Jose Acosta supervised the effort on site.
While they were in the Highlands, another resident Nick Huett also had a similar road washout preventing he and his family from getting to their house, and Alexander and Ames Construction repaired his private road as well.
“We can’t thank Ames Construction and Seth Alexander enough for their quick response and hard work on this project,” said Kris Thompson, TRI Project Manager. “Ames showed their heart and their dedication to helping the community where they are working – great people and skilled construction professionals.”
Ames Construction, founded in 1962, has their corporate headquarters in Minnesota but has regional offices and contracts all over the United States, including the USA Parkway project for NDOT.
“We were happy to help ‘Top’ Crouch,” said Alexander, “our company has been a major supporter of veterans throughout our history. After 32 years of service in the Marine Corps, we felt Top Crouch deserved all the help we could give him,” Alexander said.
“We are so pleased to help a veteran,” said Thompson, himself a 22 year veteran of the US Army and National Guard. “Top still has some work to do to get his house back in working order…but I know how much having a real home means to him after he was sent all over the world for three decades in the Marines,” said Thompson.
