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About Vernonia's voice. (Vernonia, OR) 2007-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 1, 2009)
6 area news november 2009 Columbia County Breaks Ground on New Transit Center By April Bamburg to turn around.” Commissioner Rita Bernhard noted in her com- ments that the county’s transportation system started with It was rainy and gray, but less than dry weather did not stop supporters of the Columbia County Rider a woman named Dorothy Churchill, working out of the transit program from attending a groundbreaking cer- back of her station wagon. “The connections emony that will allow the made [for Columbia program to operate from a County, through Connect centralized location. Oregon] are going to be That centralized transformative,” said Sen- location, at the former ator Betsy Johnson. “This Stimson Logging site at is a great opportunity for 1155 Deer Island Road in Columbia County to get St. Helens, will include out and get moving.” administration and dis- For local resident patch offices, an area for Sarah Brewington, the vehicle maintenance and Columbia County Rider the first park and ride fa- transit service has provid- cility for Columbia Coun- ed a bit of independence, ty Rider that is their own. according to her father, On October 23, John. Sarah is wheel- county and state elected Col. Co. Commissioner Tony Hyde, State Senator Betsy John- chair-bound. “Without officials, representatives son, Senior Center Manager Cheryl Young, St. Helens resident it, people with problems like Sarah has would be of senior services and Dan Garrison, ODOT Representative David Kim, Col. Co. community members Commissioners Earl Fisher and Rita Bernhard take shovels to cloistered in the com- munity,” John Brewing- gathered at the site to me- the new Columbia County Rider Transit Facility location. ton said. morialize a groundbreak- In June, the county purchased property with ing ceremony, and tour the new office space. “The irony is not lost on me,” said County Com- funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment missioner Tony Hyde, one of the event’s featured speak- Act and the Oregon Connect II Program. Both funding ers. “We’re taking a spot that used to employ 50 to 60 sources were obtained through the Oregon Department of people and turning it into a spot where we can transport Transportation. Transit staff projects that the project will be com- people to another county to work. This is a trend we need pleted by the end of 2010. Just one step in a larger project PCC Schedules Classes In St. Helens Portland Community College has scheduled two classes at St. Hel- ens High School for winter term, Jan- uary-March 2010. The two classes for this term are Math65 and Writing121. “We are hoping to get the word out in a big way and see how enrollment goes, then use that as a jumping off point to start scheduling a slate of core classes,” said PCC Community Relations Manager, Meryl Lipman. Parents, students, teachers, and administrators are encouraged to spread the word about this new op- portunity for college bound students. Registration begins November 20. West County FlexRoute Our West County FlexRoute operates between Vernonia and St. Helens with stops in Scappoose. Routes have fi xed stops and run on a circulatory type schedule. Extra time is built into the schedule to allow short deviations to assist anyone who may have diffi culty getting to a FlexRoute bus stop. This Route only runs Tuesdays and Thursdays Leaving From Vernonia City Hall & Senior Center Chinook Plaza, Scappoose OHSU/Fred Meyer Walmart, CCMH, Creek Side Columbia County Courthouse Old Town Parking 17th & Columbia Blvd/ SHCFCU Columbia Commons/ DHS Ace Hardware/ Walgreens Rite Aid/Safeway Depart AM Depart PM 8:30AM & 11:00AM 2:00PM 9:15AM & 11:45AM 9:25AM & 11:55AM 2:45PM 2:55PM 9:45AM & 12:15PM 3:15PM 9:50AM & 12:20PM 9:55AM & 12:25PM 3:20PM 3:25PM 10:00AM & 12:30PM 3:30PM 10:05AM & 12:35PM 3:35PM 10:07AM & 12:37PM 10:10AM & 12:40PM 3:37PM 3:40PM $1.50 per boarding: General Public/Seniors/Students/Children Also Available: Nehalem Valley Fixed Route Service Mon-Fri Vernonia to Washington County See website for schedule and fares. Columbia County Rider “ Public Transportation for All” 503-429-4304 www.ColumbiaCountyRider.com For several months in 2008, the county conduct- ed an analysis of the program, the routes and improve- ments that could be made to the transit system. As part of that analysis, officials held stakeholder meetings to gain input from community members, distributed surveys and considered the data. The size, location, access to the highway and proximity were the factors that brought the site to the top of the list of potential sites for the county’s new public transit hub. Ultimately, the county would like to see a transit district formed, as this is the way to ensure that the pro- gram receives a consistent funding stream. New routes added in past few months Vernonia residents may have noticed two new routes in the past few months— a flex route from St. Helens to Vernonia and a fixed route from Vernonia into Washington County. These routes began in July, and both have shown limited success, according to Henry Heimull- er, Transit Director. “It always takes time to get the word out,” he said. There’s also a need for a third trip to Washington County, one that would occur mid-day, Heimuller said. The service currently offers two trips, on commuter hours. “There is more need there for school kids, medi- cal appointments,” he said. “It’s likely we’ll see an in- crease in [need for that] service.” For information on trip schedules and transit ser- vices call (503) 366-0159 or go to www.columbiacounty- rider.com. “This article has been published at April’s web site, http://www.examiner.com/x-19696-Columbia-County- Buzz-Examiner.” Twilight Fans Gather in St. Helens for New Movie On Thursday November 19th Saint Helens, Oregon will be home to the Twilight saga again. A four-day movie re- lease party, Experience New Moon kicks off with a VIP party at the Columbia The- ater at 212 S. 1st Street in St. Helens. Fans can spend the weekend with other Twilight fans in the original movie locations. Some of the more no- table scenes from the movie--the Swan house, Bella and Edward’s first date, the bookstore and dress shop in Port Ange- les--were filmed in Saint Helens. A scene of Edward playing piano for Bella and a Forks High School office scene were also filmed in Saint Helens. The main street of Vernonia was downtown Forks, WA and also home to the Forks Police Station. The four-day event benefits the Oregon Food Bank and includes screen- ing parties, a walking tour of movie lo- cations, a Volturi Ball, scavenger hunt, Twilight character look- a-like contest and more. Nationally known Quiluete sto- ryteller, Anita Wheeler will share tradi- tional Quiluete stories during a special session at the VIP Party Thursday night. Most activities are free and fam- ily oriented. For a full list of events and more information, visit www.experience- newmoon.com. Twilight fans are thrilled about the event and are coming from as far away as Arizona and Texas. Reena Edame of Phoenix, Arizona says “I had planned to attend a big New Moon release event in another city but when I heard about the event in St. Helens, I couldn’t make plans fast enough! I’m so excited to have a chance to be in St. Helens for New Moon and also get to do some location sight seeing.” A portion of the proceeds from the event will go to help The Oregon Food Bank and The Columbia Pacific Food Bank. Food donations will also be collected. Experience Twilight is a family owned and operated business. Katherine and Steve Kidd and their daughter Jessica all play an active role in operations. They publish the Experience Twilight Tour Guide and ExperienceTwilight.com. Re- cently, they moved from Washington to Saint Helens, OR where they plan to open a Twilight merchandise store. “Jessica and I are huge fans of Twilight. The movie made me fall in love with the Northwest all over again,” says Katherine. “We planned a mother daugh- ter trip for Jessica’s birthday and went to see all the sites where Twilight was filmed.” When researching the trip became time consuming and information was scat- tered, mother and daughter started blog- ging to share what they had found. Then the blog turned into a pa- per print booklet that people could take with them. Now they sell a printed and bound book on amazon.com. This Twilight fan duo has taken nine trips to various Twilight movie and book locations in the past year.