community Kiwanis Club of Vernonia Receives Charter december 2009 11 members of area clubs. Over 100 people sets its path here in this community, and, Kids all the way through several youth were in attendance. as each Kiwanian in this room tonight and adult programs. Each of the new Vernonia Club “As the Vernonia Kiwanis Club can be proud of what its club has accom- plished, we certainly cannot rest on our Officers, Board of Directors and its laurels,” said Palazzolo during the pre- twenty-six Charter Members were intro- sentation of the Vernonia Charter. “Be- duced during the celebration. “As I present this Charter to cause there is always more work to be Marilyn, each of us in this room needs done.” Vernonia City Administrator to know how we can make a difference Bob Young is the new club’s Vice Presi- right now,” said Palazzolo. “Because dent. “It was an incredible honor to there is work to be done, there are chil- have Paul Palazzolo here in Vernonia to dren out there that need us, there are young people out there who need to present our Charter,” said Young. know they can be part of the Kiwanis Kiwanis Pacific Northwest Governor, Pat- family. And we can do that right now.” Kiwanis International was or- rick Ewing, and Vernonia Club President, “This is a very exciting time for ganized in 1925 and is a service organi- Marilyn Nicks, listen as International Pres- ident, Paul Palazzolo, addresses the crowd zation dedicated to serving the children Vernonia,” said President Marilyn Nicks, at a dinner to celebrate the presentation of of the world. Kiwanis and its Service upon receiving the Charter. “We have the club charter to Vernonia. Leadership Programs has a membership great hopes for this club. Every one of of more than 600,000 men, women, and us is here because we want to make a dif- youth in nearly 16,000 ference in our communities and make it clubs in more than better for our children and for those that 70 countries and geo- follow us. Kiwanis International has graphic areas. It is the accomplished great things world-wide. only service organiza- Our desire is to be part of that greatness tion that builds leaders here in Vernonia, one event, one project Each of the five Wauna Federal Credit They are also hosting a fundraiser for the Co- at every level—from and especially, one child at a time.” Union (WFCU) branches will be hosting holi- lumbia Humane Society and are a Toy and Joy the youngest Kiwanis day fundraising activities for their local com- collection site for Columbia River Fire and Res- cue in November and December. munities. WFCU encourages employees, volun- The Astoria and Warrenton branches are teaming together to host fundraising activi- teers, members and non-members to participate ties for Clatsop Community Action and a Wish- in the fundraising activities to help local chari- table organizations during the holiday season. ing Tree in December. The Vernonia branch sent Boxes of Love to members in the US Armed Forces in November. They will continue to sell t-shirts for the Vernonia Education Foundation and are a collection site for the Vernonia Volunteer Firefighters Toy and Joy program in November and De- Kiwanis International President, Paul Palazzolo, presents Vernonia cember. President Marilyn Nicks with a gavel and bell. The Clatskanie branch has “Ad- opted a Family” with Turning Point and will host a Giving Tree for the holiday season in December. The St Helens branch is hosting a blood drive on November 25th for the American Red Cross and the Help Truck Angie Rhodes, Allison McLeod and Heidi on December 10th as a collection site Burch show the Boxes of Love they sent to US for various Columbia County charities. Armed Forces members. On Friday evening, November 20 th , it became official: The Kiwanis Club of Vernonia received its Charter and became part of Kiwanis Internation- al. Vernonia President Marilyn Nicks accepted the Charter from Ki- wanis International President Paul Palazzolo, during a dinner and celebra- tion held at the Vernonia Community Church. It was a special honor for the Vernonia Club to have Palazzolo, from Springfield, Illinois, in town to make the presentation. Also on hand for the celebration was Kiwanis International Trustee Randy DeLay from Houston, Texas; Area Director Jim Courtright of Phoenix, Arizona; and Pacific Northwest Governor Patrick Ewing, from Victoria, British Columbia; along with numerous Wauna Supports Local Communities this Holiday Season Weedman Has Plans for Columbia County continued from page 7 consulting firms in Wilsonville and at Intel, where he worked in the class 1 fab, a humidity- and temperature-controlled station where circuit boards and wafers used in Intel prod- ucts were manufactured. In this position, Weedman was responsible for a lot of confi- dential material, he said, in- cluding Intel trade secrets. He was also responsible for de- stroying outdated equipment and protecting Intel’s trade se- crets in that process; inspect- ing tools prior to their ship- ment from San Jose to Intel in Hillsboro, and took a lot of day trips to San Jose to ensure that chemicals were completely re- moved from tools sent to the company. Most recently, Weed- man spent four years with the Port of Portland, working at Portland International, Trout- dale and Hillsboro airports, where he was responsible for ensuring compliance for un- der- and above-ground storage tanks, recycling and other tasks related to waste, recycling and remediation, overseeing eight programs in total. In April, Weedman became a victim of downsizing. “Mine was one of 50 positions [to go],” he said. “It was easier to take a piece of each program and add it to someone else’s workload than to add my full workload onto someone else’s,” he continued. So, the Jennings Lodge-area resident welcomed a daily 41-mile commute to and from Columbia County, and recently adopted a dog from the local shelter. An avid sports fan, Weedman admits to rooting for the Oregon Ducks, watch- ing both NFL and college foot- ball and frequent trips to bowl games. He said he travels to the Orange Bowl, the Fiesta Bowl or the Sugar Bowl every year, depending on his sched- ule. “I have gone from Miami to Phoenix a number of times to go to more than one game at a time,” Weedman said with a laugh. He also enjoys golf, softball and bowling, although he said he plays softball less often these days. Before an injury to his right hand, Weed- man said his average was 210, but until a surgery to repair the damage, he will bowl left- handed, even though his av- erage score fell to 125 when he switched. He bowls with a group of friends on a team called “A Drinking Team with a Bowling Problem.” “I’m used to having a lot of different projects to move forward,” he said. This, however, he says is “a little more focused.” Weedman lives in the Jennings Lodge area with his girlfriend, Cynthia Bennett and her children, 17-year-old Marissa, 12-year-old Lauren and 10 year-old Hayden. He said there has been consider- ation of a move to Columbia County, but he’s starting to get used to the commute, so, only time will tell. For more informa- tion on recycling in Columbia County, see http.columbia- center.org/recycling. This article has been published at April’s web site, http://www.examiner.com/x- 19696-Columbia-County-Buzz- Examiner.”