opinions/letters to the editor
An Opinion: Passing the School Bond is About Our Kids
By Scott Laird
In mid-October, local voters
will be receiving election ballots in the
mail and will be asked to decide to vote
on the Vernonia School Bond Measure
5-197. Hopefully, the members of our
community are taking time to educate
themselves fully about the issue before
marking their ballots either in favor or
against new schools in Vernonia. Hope-
fully, people in our community are talk-
ing with their neighbors and friends,
asking questions, and attending meet-
ings to get as much information as pos-
sible about why they should or shouldn’t
support this bond measure to raise $13
million dollars towards new school con-
struction.
How this community and this
school district raises the rest of the mon-
ey needed to build a new school campus
is a complicated issue. There are many
factors involved when it comes to trying
to build a major unplanned project like
this. There are many questions about
how this project will ultimately come
together. But the first major step, and
the one that the entire rest of the project
is waiting on, is passage of School Bond
Measure 5-197.
Passing this bond will be a bit
of a leap of faith. We have to believe
that the people who have been working
on the plan to replace our schools for the
last two years will come through. If we
don’t believe in them and we don’t pass
this bond, I don’t think our alternatives
are very appealing. What alternatives,
you might ask? My point, exactly. I
don’t believe we really have too many.
Much of the discussion I’ve
heard about the school bond has been
centered on finances. Whether or not
you can afford $1.90 per one thousand
dollars of assessed value in increased
taxes. Hard economic times, Verno-
nia’s expensive utility rates, increased
gasoline prices, and unemployment rates
have all been major parts of the discus-
sion. I made personal finances the fo-
cus of my opinion piece last month. But
it was recently pointed out to me that
what has really been missing from the
discussion, at least among some of our
citizens, is that this school bond is really
not about finances. It’s about our kids.
And our kids should be the focus of our
discussion when talking about whether
or not to support this school bond.
When we consider whether to
vote Yes or No, we need to ask ourselves,
“What will be best for our children?”
I believe we are obligated to
provide a quality and decent facility for
our students. A place where they can be
excited to go to school each day. A place
where they can be encouraged to learn.
A place where they are given the tools
and the resources to reach their full po-
tential. A place they can be proud to call
“their school.”
Right now, our students are at-
Readers Lend Their Voices...
To The Community,
Hello my name is Jake Bringman. I
am a sophomore at Vernonia High School. I
am a member of the Northwest Youth Rodeo
Association and the Oregon Junior Bull Rid-
ers Association. I am the 2008 Junior Bull-
ring Champion for the Northwest Youth Rodeo
Association. As well as my bull riding, I let-
tered in wrestling last year and played on the
varsity baseball team. With all of my after
school activities I still maintained a 3.75 GPA
and received a high honors certificate at year’s
end. My ultimate goal is to continue bull riding
through high school and upon graduation attend
the University of Las Vegas and pursue my ro-
deo career further.
I am currently seeking sponsors for the
2009 rodeo season. I have participated in a to-
tal of 14 rodeos this summer, and qualified for
the National Finals in Shawnee, Oklahoma. I
will be representing Oregon as well as our great
little town of Vernonia. If you wish to sponsor
me I will gladly wear your company logo on
my vest. If you wish to sponsor my whole trip
to the National Finals I will wear your company
logo on my chaps. Any amount of sponsorship
will help me to obtain my goal of attending the
finals in Shawnee, Oklahoma.
I greatly thank you for considering
sponsoring me and I look forward to hearing
from you soon.
Sincerely,
Jake Bringman
PO Box 369, Vernonia, OR 97064
jakebull19@aol.com
tending classes in a makeshift envi-
ronment. Modular classrooms, hast-
ily repaired facilities, shared spaces, no
lockers. “Temporary” and “make-do”
are the conditions under which many of
our students regularly attend class. If we
choose to continue to send our students
to these facilities under these conditions,
what message are we sending to our
youth? I believe we tell them that they
don’t matter. That they are not impor-
tant. That we don’t care.
I serve on the City Parks Com-
mittee, and we have a vandalism prob-
lem in Vernonia. I’m not sure that it’s
any worse than other towns, or any
worse than it was twenty or thirty years
ago. All I know is that it’s disturbing to
see such a lack of respect for our com-
munity-- destroyed picnic tables, grafit-
ti, garbage left laying around. Why do
people do these kinds of things? Is it be-
cause they don’t care? Is it because they
think no one else cares? Is it because
they themselves feel disrespected?
Spend some time on the cam-
pus of Vernonia schools and you might
see why our students might not feel
respected. Dark hallways, smelly rest-
rooms, poor lighting, unsafe conditions,
long outside walks between classrooms.
Administration and staff have done the
best they can to create a positive learn-
ing environment, given what they have
to work with. But is that good enough?
Do we need new schools or is it OK for
Boise Paper and the support the company and
their employees are giving to this community
as they themselves are going through some
very difficult times.
Over this last year, Boise has
experienced a significant reduction in the
number of people employed there. Funds
that were readily available from the company
to support community events are no longer
available. What could possibly be good about
that?
The answer:
Boise employees past and present are
still actively involved in volunteering in our
community. Those still employed are helping
support many not for profit programs via
payroll deduction and the company is reaching
out to community not-for-profits with donations
of computers, office machines, furniture and
office supplies.
United Way of Columbia County has
received and helped distribute over $6200
in furniture, computers, office machines and
assorted school and office supplies. These
items have helped numerous community
organizations, including United Way, by
providing them with needed items without
having to dip into their already stretched
budgets. The volunteers who serve on boards,
help deliver meals, etc. are crucial to the
continued availability of service to those in
need in our community.
Thank you to Boise and the employees
both current and past who continue to support
the community where they live and do business.
We are very fortunate to have such
dedicated people in our community.
Sincerely
Thank you for your continued support.
During these tough times, we frequently Kathye Beck
hear only the negative. Jobs are lost, no raises, Executive Director
United Way of Columbia County
cost of food and shelter going up.
I would like to focus on something very
positive going on in our community. That is
october
2009
5
our students to continue on where they
are? What would be best for our chil-
dren?
This country was built on the
idea that parents worked hard so their
children could have something better.
Have more opportunity, live in a better
neighborhood, have better clothes, get
a good education, go to college. Many
parents and grandparents sacrificed so
that their children could get a head start
in life. In the eighties and nineties,
some of that got lost-- it became the ME
generation. Whoever has the most toys
wins.
Maybe it’s time we got back to
the idea that it’s important to be willing
to make sacrifices so that our children
can have something better than we had.
Maybe it’s time that we put our children
first and showed them that we respect
them. That we care about them. That
they are important.
Because in the end, it’s really about our
kids.
I believe every generation has
a burden they need to shoulder, a re-
sponsibility to leave things better than
we found them. Some times the burden
is bigger than others, and that may not
seem fair. But the reality is, if we want
to do what is best for our children and
we want to live here in Vernonia, new
schools are our burden.
To the Editor-
Here's the hard working crew that restored my front yard.
Burt and Allison worked so hard for hours to edge and
weed my garden. Penny came in at the end and did her part
too. I really appreciate their effort. They were wonderful
to have as "slaves for a morning".
Katie Organ
Mist, Oregon
Members of the Ford Family Foundation Cohort 3 Class from
Vernonia held a yard work raffle to raise money for their class
project—to design and build a Community Garden in Vernonia.
Pictured are Burt Tschache, raffle winner Katie Organ, Allison
McLeod and Penny Costley.
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