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About Vernonia's voice. (Vernonia, OR) 2007-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 9, 2010)
community 2010 Midway Vet Opens New Office in Vernonia Banks-Vernonia Trail Celebrates Opening of New Trailhead continued from front page to Forest Park in Portland, and a connection from Banks to Portland as well. “Imagine for a minute having ninety miles of continuous loop with parks along the way,” said Hyde. “That’s my dream.” Jay Graves of the Oregon State Park and Recreation Commission, a lifelong bicycle advocate and Vice Chair of the Commission, also spoke at the celebration. “This trail serves the community, but it also serves the region,” said Graves. “We have equestrians and pedestrians and bicyclists who will come share this trail.” Graves went on to use a bicycle wheel as a metaphor for the creation of a park. “A park is never created by a single spoke, no matter how strong,” said Graves. “It takes all of us pulling together-- city, county, friends’ groups, the State, the Federal government and the residents-- all of us pulling together towards a single point-- to make this Midway Vet has moved from their Bridge Street location to their newly renovated office at 700 Weed Avenue. They will be hosting an open house on Sunday, November 21st from 12 to 3 PM. Everyone is invited to stop by for a tour of the new facility, coffee and snacks and lots of free pet gifts. The Fight After Election Day By Rich Harwood Nov 2, 2010 Much is being said about what will happen after today’s election. What will President Obama and the Republicans do? Where did all the passion for “change” go? What should be the next policy agenda? Over the coming weeks, I will return to these themes. But, today, I want to focus on the underlying fight I believe we must be prepared to take on after Election Day. I remember writing after Obama’s historic election that we shouldn’t misread his victory as a sign that Americans were ready for fast and deep change. While people said they wanted change, there was no widespread agreement on what they change should be. Rather, what people sought first and foremost was “hope”– a reason to believe that we Americans could find ways to come together and shift the tone and direction of politics and public life. This had more to do with people’s underlying frustration over the conditions of the nation than any specific policy issue. I worried that the president and others would overreach on the policy side – and they did. What people want is to be able to hope again. To believe that it is possible for Americans from different walks of life to take action on issues that matter to them. To demonstrate that beyond the acrimony and divisiveness of Red and Blue, rich and poor, religious and secular, people can and will work together. Even during this period of stalemate and ugliness in our politics, as I travel the country I find people yearning to re-engage and reconnect with each other; to be part of something larger than themselves. In local communities, I find a readiness among people to step forward and solve problems. So what’s the fight we must be prepared to engage in? I tell you, it’s a fight over what kind of politics and public life we will have in this nation. Will we actively look for openings to bring people together to work on common challenges? Will we be intentional in crossing dividing lines to join with individuals who are different from ourselves or who we’ve labeled as “our enemies”? Will we peel off actions that we can use as “proof points” to demonstrate that progress is still possible? The fight is a fight for “hope.” By this, I do not mean some kind of silliness in which we gather up in a circle, hold hands, and sing Kumbyah. Such notions are a fantasy and would merely engage us in a collective march of folly. Nor do I believe that those individuals and groups who insist on their way or the highway – those who often hold our politics and public life hostage – will easily give way and welcome those of us who want to shift our politics and public life. As I see it, one of our chief objectives must be to confront those individuals and groups who insist on their agenda without regard to others, and without any authentic engagement or discussion. We must not back down when they seek to strike fear in people and attempt to cow them into submission. But, the converse is true as well: we must not demonize those who do genuinely have different points of view from ourselves. Such reflexes only add more toxicity to the public square. This fight is also a fight between false hope and authentic hope. False hope is when we set expectations for change that fail to reflect reality. When we make pledges and promises we know we cannot meet, but make anyway because it seems the easiest way to get where we want to go. False hope is created when we exaggerate our own successes in brochures, web sites, speeches, and elsewhere, believing that is what everyone does, and so we should, too. WELLER & SON’S STEVE HM: 503-429-3400 CELL: 503-313-9006 SELF LOADER LONG LOGGER CUSTOM LOGGING We saddle shoe. Do you? Muffy’s 950 Bridge Street Vernonia, O8 97064 503.429.5050 or 866.524.5050 www.muffys.com World Headquarters Vernonia, Oregon november9 DENNIS HM: 503-429-2810 CELL: 503-313-9044 1264 G ST. VERNONIA, OR 97064 O.P.L. CERTIFIED O.P.L.H. CERTIFIED ROAD BUILDNIG LAND CLEARING EXCAVATION Grey Dawn Gallery 879 Bridge St. (503) 429-2787 Photography - Bronze Jewelry - Glasswork Pottery - Custom Framing www.greydawngallery.com Featuring the finest in northwest art 11 park that you are seeing here today. Thanks to decades of support from these two communities, the Banks-Vernonia State Trail is now complete.” Columbia County Commissioner Tony Hyde helped open the new trailhead of the Banks-Vernonia State Trail. Why do I say this is a fight for hope? Because the key to breaking through the nation’s current impasse is not about ramming through any political party or particular group’s prescribed policy agenda. Nor is it to find ways simply to play politics as usual better – to beat one’s opponents at their own game. Rather, our challenge is fundamentally about the restoration of people’s faith in themselves and one another (and in our institutions and leaders). The lack of such “civic faith” is at the heart of what ails America. The good news is that civic faith can be generated by people – in fact, it’s the only way it comes about. Our task, then, is to be willing to step forward and alter how we engage and work together; our goal must be to producer proof points that demonstrate it is possible to believe again. None of us can do this alone. But each of us must act. Let’s declare tomorrow day one in our new fight. Richard Harwood is the Founder of The Harwood Institute for Public Innovation, a non-profit, non-partisan organization that seeks nothing less than to spark fundamental change and authentic hope in American public life. Happy Birthday, Suzy!