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About Vernonia's voice. (Vernonia, OR) 2007-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 1, 2007)
free september2007 V E R N O N I A’ S reflecting the spirit of our community volume1issue3 vernonia visitors guide Pages 12 & 13 Local Logger Critically Injured Benefit Dinner Planned for Schaumburg Dean Schaumburg, a long-time Vernonia resident, was critically injured in a logging accident Thursday, August 16, 2007. The circumstances of the accident are currently under investigation. Since the accident, Dean has had back surgery, brain surgery and they’ve reconstructed his ankle. He is still in intensive care at press-time at OHSU. Visitors are limited at this time to immediate family members. Dean has a wife, Kendra, and a one-year-old son, Sylas. Grandparents Valerie and Jerry DeWitt are helping with the baby. Kendra and her family thank you for all the love, prayer and support you’ve given them during this very difficult time. In addition to tremendous help from family and friends, the community is coming together with fundraisers to help the family with medical ex- penses. There has also been an account set up in Dean’s name at Wauna Federal Credit Union. A spaghetti dinner is scheduled for Sunday, September 9, from 1p.m. to 6 p.m. at the Buckhorn Restaurant in Vernonia. Cost is $8 for adults and $5 for children. There will be live music and a beer garden. All proceeds go to help off-set Dean’s medical expenses. The Lions Club will also be holding a BBQ benefit for Dean’s family on Saturday September 15, in the Sentry parking lot from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. “Eyes Wide Open” and the Costs of War: A Conversation with Exhibit Coordinator Jeff Hunter By Scott Laird Six billion dollars. The amount is staggering. It is unimaginable. And it is frightening. It is the approxi- mate cost Oregon taxpayers have paid for the war in Iraq. That dollar amount is not the only cost incurred. There is also the pain and suffering of those who have been injured and the loss to the families of those who have been killed. There are other costs as well. On July 27 Vernonia was the honored host of a trav- eling exhibit, presented by the American Friends Ser- vice Committee (AFSC), that attempts to show Ameri- can citizens the stark realities of war and the costs of war in terms of human life. The exhibit was sponsored by Veterans for Peace, Chapter 72, from Portland; the inside i love a parade! 2 8 vernonia baseball our boys of summer garden 14 featuring farmwoman’s nursery Rural Organization Project from Scappoose, Military Families Speak Out, and the Columbia County Citizens for Human Dignity. The exhibit was set up on the front lawn of Vernonia High School and featured posters with photographs and facts, leaflets and other information, and, most powerfully, tributes to those killed during the conflict. Rows of military boots represented the ninety soldiers from Oregon who’ve been killed. One hundred scattered pairs of shoes, each pair equaling 6,500 Iraqis, represented the estimated 650,000 Iraqi citizens who have died as the result of the American invasion of their country. Hard hats arranged on the lawn repre- sented civilian contractors from Oregon who’ve been killed. As a backdrop, small multi colored memory flags hung from racks, each with a name and age for the more than 3,000 American sol- diers killed since March of 2003. CWO Erik C. Kesterson was a member of Vernonia High School’s Class of 1992 (continued on page 18) Changes in the Air at Cedar Ridge Retreat Center By Scott Laird Many of Vernonia’s residents know the Cedar Ridge Re- treat Center as the summer home of the Larry Steele Basketball Camps and the Spring and Fall Outdoor School for students. But Larry Steele and his wife Britt Bensen Steele, owners of the property, are making some exciting changes in the business they run in the hills above Vernonia. They are creating a business they hope will be a model for sustainability and “green” business practices. “Our intention is to be a more mindful business, more intentional about how we do business,” said Britt during a recent phone con- versation. “We want to be a business that is able to give back more than we use up.” Larry echoed Britt’s sentiments about Ce- dar Ridge’s changing business practices. “We started looking at this several years ago and are just getting started making changes,” said Larry during my visit to Cedar Ridge. “We want to be ahead of the mainstream in embracing green building practices and con- sidering climate change in everything we do here. It’s all about education, knowledge and understanding.” Larry, as most Vernonians know, was a professional bas- ketball star with the Portland Trailblazers for nine years in the 1970’s, helping the Blazers win their only championship in 1977. In 1981 the Trailblazers honored Larry by retiring his #15 jersey. Larry has owned the property since 1991 and has been married to Britt for three years. Britt works as the Director of Fitness and Weight Management at Wellspring Medi- cal Center in Woodburn. The couple cur- rently lives in Portland but recently pur- chased six acres on Keasey Road. T h e y have plans next summer to build an envi- ronmentally friendly home there. The Retreat Center, located on twen- ty-eight acres of forested hills, is just one mile outside of Vernonia. The facility of- fers a variety of overnight accommodations including lodge rooms, cabins, bunkhouses and tent platforms; indoor and outdoor meeting spaces; (continued on page 18)