THE OLD AND THE NEW • The windows at the Old Gym are old and Nephi City is making efforts to replace them to insure that they are safe, efficient and can be protected by wayward balls during sporting events. Wire mesh is placed over the new windows to protect them. The city is replacing the windows a few at a time due to monetary constraints.

By Myrna Trauntvein
Times-News Correspondent

Two windows on the upper level of the Old Gym Recreation Center have been replaced in an attempt to discover whether that type of window will be satisfactory.
On aspect of the old building, once the gym for the former Juab High School campus when it was located downtown, is that there is an array of older windows.
Most of the windows are still in their original frames though much of the glass has been replaced over the years.
"An ongoing concern about safety, energy efficiency, and playing conditions in the Old Gym has been the windows around the gym area," said McKnight.
Some of the windows will not open and some have been covered over.
He said that previous efforts to use grant funds to replace the windows on the upper story of the building were unsuccessful.
"An alternative has been to replace a few of the windows at a time and to do it in such a way that safety and efficiency concerns were addressed," McKnight said.
Two of the windows have now been replaced and those windows are protected by a wire mesh covering the windows.
"The windows can be opened and closed on fall and spring days and the windows are protected against accidental contact from balls," he said.
He said that the window replacement trail was just one in a series of recent improvements to the building.
Others which have been made are new floor coverings and updated restrooms.
The goal of the city is to enhance the appearance of the building as well as address safety issues.
"We would appreciate your (council members) visiting the gym as a group tonight and then giving us your opinion on what you think about the two windows that have been replaced," said McKnight.
After the meeting adjourned, and before the executive session began, council members went to the gym to view the windows in spite of a youth basketball game that was in session.
Glass reinforced with wire mesh is used especially for glass doors and windows to prevent objects from smashing through the glass and also to hold pieces of broken glass together.
It also protects against flying glass shards when the glass is broken by a ball.
By holding the glass together, it can also protect against the spreading of fire.