08
vernonia’s
voice schools
may
2009
Spring Sports Update
Girls Softball
First-year head coach Joe Walters has a somewhat young
group of girls this year on the Girls softball team. After a shaky
preseason, in which Walters shuffled players through a lot of
position changes, the team is settling into a regular lineup and is
playing well together. With only three seniors on the team, Wal-
ters is depending on a talented class of juniors to lead the way.
“We have a very good team this year, and hope the community
will come out to watch and support the girls,” said Walters.
Amy Rethwell, Souvanny Miller, Karly Dewitt, Bonnie
Birkmeir and Bre Maldanado cover the infield. Underclassmen
Melissa Sandstrom, Chelsea Patton and Megan Rock patrol the
outfield and Adrienne East is the top pitcher. Senior catcher
Brittney Paden directs the defense from behind the plate.
Leading the team on offense are Birkmeir, Dewitt, Miller and
Rethwell. The team has a key away double-header scheduled
against league powerhouse Rainier on May 5. A great chance
to see the Lady Loggers in action is during the scheduled home
double-headers against Neah-Kah-Nie on May 12 and Clats-
kanie on May 15. League Playoffs were scheduled to begin on
May 21.
den. According to coach Brookins, Whiteman is expected to do
well at the districts on May 11-12, and could possibly qualify
for the State Tournament.
Boys Baseball
The Loggers Baseball program is going through a rebuilding
year, with only three seniors, three juniors, one sophomore and a
slew of freshman making up the squad this year. Head Coach
Aaron Miller is receiving the benefit of a strong junior baseball
program that is feeding his high school squad, but still has a very
inexperienced and young team. “This group of freshmen finished
fifth in the state last year in Junior ball,” said Miller. Seniors Ca-
leb Rice, Kyle Brixey and Taylor Smith are the team leaders. Ju-
nior pitcher Alex Lende is throwing well and, according to Miller,
may be one of the strongest pitchers in the league. Junior Oliver
Kocura, an exchange
student from The Czech
Republic where he plays
on the national team,
brings experience be-
hind the plate. “He hits
well and really knows
the game,” says coach
Miller. Freshman start-
er Jackson Miller has
been almost errorless
at shortstop, and fresh-
man Joe Benes plays
outfield, fills in in the
infield, and can pitch as
well. “My goal for the
team is for them to go Tim Brown gets a hit for the Loggers
out and compete,” says
Miller. “If they think about what they are doing, they can execute
what needs to be done, and do well.”
Adrienne East pitches for the Lady Loggers
Equestrian Team
The Vernonia Equestrian Team is sending their Drill Team
to state this year. Second year coach Diane Benes is proud of
the way her team has pulled together this year. “We’ve had
a lack of practice due to weather,” said Benes. “But I’ve re-
ally enjoyed my riders’ great attitudes and sportsmanship. And
they’ve even increased their skills.”
Benes’s team is made up of seniors Allee Chadek and
Team Captain Ashley Paleck, Drill Team Captain Jamie Benes,
Brianna Carr, Mackenzie Tarkelson, Chantel Szlavich, and
freshmen Kayleigh Johnson and Brett Benes. Coach Benes
mentioned Brianna Carr on barrels who has increased her times
this year, and Jamie Benes who has really helped bring the team
together. “All the team members have shown great attitudes,
and we’ve all received a lot of support from family and team-
mates this year,” said coach Benes.
The Drill Team will compete at the State meet on May
14-16. The team is also first alternate for IHOR and second
alternate for Team Flags at states.
Golf
The Golf Team, under the direction of coach James
Brookins, is being led by sophomore Paul Whiteman. White-
man appears to be one of the top golfers in the league this year,
finishing first in most of the meets where he’s competed, includ-
ing a win in the Vernonia Invitational where he shot a round of
79, and recently taking fourth at a combined inter-district tour-
nament. The rest of the varsity squad is made up of Tim Prpich,
Calvin Barnes, Dakota Burch, Jacob Alf and Josh Vanderzan-
Alex Lende is having a good year on the mound for the Loggers
Varsity Baseball squad
Track and Field
Head Coach Byron Brown and assistant coach Teresa
Williams have a good team, with almost forty members, that
includes a couple of real surprises. British exchange student
Timothy Pillow, who had never run competitively before join-
ing the cross country team this past fall, has created a stir in the
1,500 Meter and 3,000 Meter races, having never finished less
than second in a race this season. “He has so much pride and
such a strong work ethic,” said Brown. “I think he has a chance
to be state champion.” Brown also mentioned the performance
of two strong sprinters, Blake Moeller and Justin Caputo. Wil-
liams, who mostly coaches the field athletes, mentioned the per-
formances of Caputo, who just recently stepped in to throw the
javelin and the shot put and is already excelling; Kim Allen in
the 100 Meter and Long Jump and Sam Lee in the High Jump.
The District Meet will be held on May 8 and 9 and the State
Meet is the following weekend.
Washington
Grade School
Library
Two Saturdays,
May 30th & June 13th, 2009
1:00 - 5:30 p.m.
“Becoming a Love and Logic Parent”
Sponsored by Vernonia School District
Sonia A. Spackman MA, MFT
Call (503) 429-6540 to register
Child care, refreshments
suggested donation for workbooks
& door prizes!
and materials, $10.00 per person
You will discover how to set limits without nagging,
begging and/or losing your temper.
Climate Change
Invades Our Town
and Our Planet
By Brandi Fosdick
Well, everyone wanted spring and now they’ve got it. You
can really tell that global climate change is taking its toll on the
planet these past few weeks. The first week of the month, we
were looking at the possibility of yet more snow. After that, we
saw some of the only normal weather we’ve had in this town in
like a year, which was a week of spring rain. Now, it’s just been
hot and windy. And that’s just a weekly report-- the day-to-day
has been getting even more interesting. One day it’s pouring,
the next it’s almost eighty degrees, and then back to pouring
again. Other times, like the day I’m writing this, it’s raining in
the morning, hot an hour later, hailing the hour after that, and
then it starts all over again and repeats all day long.
We need to start putting more effort into this problem. It’s
just gotten too serious to ignore any more. Any person who
says global climate change is a myth, and please excuse me if
this is you, doesn’t know what they’re talking about. It’s real
and it’s been there for years. Just look at the past decade or
so in our town alone. We had the first flood in 1996, then the
year when everyone was snowed in, the second flood in 2007,
then the Christmas snowstorm this last December that made the
previously mentioned storm look like a small flurry, and then
it almost flooded again several times after that. So, as you can
see, climate change is very real.
And it’s happened before. Yes, it may have been millions
of years ago, but it did happen and it’s happening again. Sci-
entists have computer banks and museums full of evidence to
prove it, and to show us what’s going to happen if we don’t
do something. The last time this happened, it got too warm
for there to be any ocean currents, and the oceans went stag-
nant. How long do you think it took for most of the life there to
die? Not very long, and in that short amount of time everything
in that 2/3 of the earth covered in water died. What do you
think happened to the land organisms that relied on the ocean
and its inhabitants for survival? And the organisms that relied
on them? In less time than you can imagine, our planet went
through a mass extinction that killed 99% of all life on earth.
You might think that this isn’t relevant, or that it would
take forever to get that bad. But our average global tempera-
ture only needs to raise two or three degrees to cause severe
and irreversible damage. Already, our polluting the planet has
caused many species of plants and animals to become extinct,
and many more are threatened. Our planet needs help and it
needs it now. And the majority of the help it needs is so simple
that it’s sad that it ever got this far. Doing simple things like
conserving fuel, energy, and water alone can both save the plan-
et and money. Other things you can do are recycling, plant-
ing trees and threatened plants, and just trying to encourage as
many people as you can to make an effort. This is probably the
most important way you can help. One person doing the abso-
lute most they can to help won’t have near the same effect as if
just ten percent of the people in our town picked just one thing
to do to help out.
So please do something to help, even if it’s just turning off
the light when you leave a room. And remember to try and get
other people to help too. If you want a reason why, just answer
a couple of questions. Do you want another flood? Do you
want it to be more than a hundred degrees all summer long? Do
you want your house buried in snow again next winter? And
the big one, do you want your grandchildren to be able to sit
in the shade of a tree, or be able to see a live polar bear? Or to
even be alive long enough to have grandchildren of their own?
That should give you plenty of reasons.
