14
vernonia’s
voice community
october
2008
Are You Ready For Winter?
Not Your Mother’s Jazzercise
By William Haack
By Scott Laird
As we head into the winter months here in Vernonia and in Oregon, one question we need to ask
ourselves is, “Are we personally prepared for another flood?” In this multi-part series, Vernonia’s
Voice helps you look at how to be better prepared.
Sit down and talk with Vernonia Jazzercise Instructor Penny Costley, and you will see pure
and unrestrained enthusiasm. It just bubbles out of her as she talks about helping Vernonians get fit
and stay healthy. And she needs to be enthusiastic, especially when she’s trying to encourage you to
dance at five o’clock in the morning.
“My job is to motivate and to educate,” said Costley recently. “We are trying to make Ver-
nonians get up and move!”
Costley has been the Vernonia Jazzercise instructor for the past four years. Jazzercise is de-
scribed as a “...workout program which offers a fusion of Jazz dance, resistance training, Pilates,
yoga, and kickboxing movements.” Costley began taking Jazzercise classes when she moved to
Vernonia with her family ten years ago. “I started because I was new in town and wanted to meet
people. It was socially motivated. Believe it or not, I used to be very shy.” Those of us who have
seen Costley lead her classes in their routines as part of Vernonia parades for the last few years, or
who have taken her class, will find this hard to believe.
Costley has grown the Jazzercise program in Vernonia from the original nine classes she taught each
week to thirty-one total classes now. She has added five additional instructors: Orissa Burghard who is
currently on medical leave but is returning shortly, Susan Pedersen, Jeana Gump, Deb Bergerson, and the
newest instructor, Betsy Miller. Besides twenty-four regular classes, there are three personal training ses-
sions available and two Junior Jazzercise and Team Dance classes for pre-teen and teens.
“ Childhood obesity is on the rise. Kids need sixty minutes of exercise every day. We’re trying
to help them find out exercise can be fun and help them get in the habit,” said Costley. “We now have
enough instructors that we can start to focus on more specialty classes.”
Costley recently began holding classes at the Vernonia Grange which has a large wood floor, a stage
and a very flexible schedule to accommodate the many classes scheduled. The one hundred year-old
building, which hadn’t been seeing much use in recent years, has become a thriving workout center.
“We want working out to be fun, but we also offer effective exercise,” said Costley. “We try
to make it less intimidating by having open houses so people can come see what we do. We offer
childcare so mothers can come. We have people of all shapes, sizes and ages.”
“My students are awesome,” said Costley. “They show up some days excited to be here, and
that keeps me going and gives me that extra push I need sometimes.”
With lots of options now available in Vernonia- from Terry’s Gym, to Yoga at Cedar Mist Stu-
dio, to Qi Gong in Hawkins Park, and Circuit and Personal Training with Teresa Williams-Costley
recognizes that a dance fitness class may not be for everyone. She just hopes people find some way
to exercise. “Everyone deserves
an hour each day to take care of
themselves.”
For more information on Ver-
nonia Jazzercise contact Penny
Costley at 503-429-0196.
Part I- Before Winter Arrives
As we in the Upper Nehalem River Valley learned in both 2007 and 1996, preparedness is next
to godliness as it relates to planning for flood and storm events.
Floods generated by winter storms are one of the most common hazards in the United States. The
western United States coastal counties are highly susceptible to the impact of winter storms and their
resulting wind and flood damage. Federal and state emergency management officials routinely warn
that flood effects can be local--impacting a neighborhood or community, or very large--affecting entire
river basins and multiple states. In our community we have come to embrace the fact that we are sus-
ceptible to flash flood events due to the unique shape of the upstream watershed and our proximity to
the coast and the coastal range system to the west and south of the watershed basin in which we live.
All floods are not alike. Some floods develop slowly, sometimes over a period of days. But
flash floods can develop quickly, sometimes in just a few hours and without any visible signs of rain.
Flash floods often have a dangerous wall of roaring water that carries rocks, mud and other debris
and can sweep away most things in its path.
Be aware of flood hazards no matter where you live. Even very small streams, gullies, creeks,
culverts, dry streambeds, or low-lying grounds that appear harmless in dry weather can flood. Every
state is at risk from this hazard.
What Would You Do?
Consider this example: You and your family moved from a neighborhood in Portland, Oregon,
this past spring after the 2007 flood, buying a retirement retreat located on the Nehalem River south
of the city of Vernonia. Since there were few natural disaster threats in your area in Portland, you
relied heavily on the municipal jurisdiction to manage the inconvenience of occasional wind and
water related storm damage in prior years. In your new setting, the bucolic pastoral scene belies the
natural realities of a life along a river.
In completing the real property transaction for your new home, your realtor understates the
danger of living along the Nehalem River as his primary market was the west slope neighborhood
in Portland where you lived for the past thirty years. Your longtime insurance carrier, unfamiliar
with your new home’s actual setting, forgets to reinforce the need for flood insurance. Your new
neighbors live far enough away as you move in that they are unaware of your settling in and thus
lose the opportunity to share with you their life experience living with the river.
But as summer turns to fall, and you sit on your deck watching leaves change color, your mind
begins to turn over a few nagging questions about this rustic setting that you now call home as you ask
the following questions: Am I at risk for flooding, or is this more of a risk to people who live elsewhere?
Should I have a disaster plan and a purchase disaster supplies? Should I purchase flood insurance?
Surprisingly, the answer to these questions is, “YES”.
For many of you who live in the greater City of Vernonia community, the above is a true assess-
ment, and it relates not just to new members of our community. Take the above message to heart as
we introduce some information to you in this article. The Columbia County Flood Recovery Com-
mittee intends to provide the local newspapers with information monthly that will increase residents’
general preparedness for a storm related emergency over the next six months. This article is adapted
from a FEMA information item.
Take Protective Measures Before a Flood
To prepare for a flood, you should:
• Avoid building in a floodplain. If you build in a FIRM map “A” Zone and even a “X” zone,
build to the design flood elevation enforced in your local ordinance and reinforce your home’s
foundation and exterior stair system to withstand the potential velocity of a flood event.
• If you purchase a home in a FIRM map “A” Zone and even a “X” zone, assess whether you can
afford to increase your financing to include the cost to elevate the living area to meet the local
ordinance requirement above the design flood elevation and reinforce your home’s foundation
and stair system to withstand the potential of a flood event.
• In your house, at a minimum try to elevate the furnace, water heater, and electric panel if sus-
ceptible to flooding to meet the local ordinance requirement above the design flood elevation.
• Install “check valves” in sewer traps to prevent flood water from backing up into the drains
of your home.
• Contact the local jurisdiction to assess the prudence of building additional flood-proofing
measures to protect your property to stop floodwater from entering the outbuilding and com-
mercial structures.
• Seal walls in basements with waterproofing compounds to avoid seepage.
• In late fall and winter months reduce the amount of nonessential materials being stored in your
yard to reduce the potential for water-borne flotsam during a flood event.
Next Month: Part II - It Looks Like Rain!
Green Living–Sew Your Own Shopping Bag
Oct. 9, Thurs. 6:00-9:00PM
Katie Organ, instructor
$15.00 includes choices of material
Must have your own sewing machine, be familiar
with it and arrive with it in good working order.
Beginning Basketry
Oct. 19, Sun. 2:00-5:00
Beth D'Aubigne instructor
$40 includes materials
Sew Your Own Table Runner
3 Thursdays, 6:30-8:30PM
Oct. 23rd, 30th, Nov. 6
Katie Organ, instructor
$35.00 includes choices of material
Must have your own sewing machine, be familiar
with it and arrive with it in good working order.
Look for Recycling Class coming soon.
Classes held in the Nehalem Room at
Vernonia Community Learning Center
939 Bridge Street, Vernonia, OR 97064
Questions? Call 503-429-1030
Register at City Hall
1001 Bridge Street
Currently looking for community memebers to teach classes at the VCLC.
Interested? Call 503-429-1030
(This ad paid for by State Senator Betsy Johnson)
Fall CRAFT CLASSES at the
Vernonia Community Learning Center
Vernonia Jazzercise instructors
Betsy Miller, Deb Bergerson,
Susan Pedersen, Penny Costley,
Jeana Gump, and Orissa
Burghard