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About Vernonia's voice. (Vernonia, OR) 2007-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 11, 2011)
4 community bulletin board/letters to the editor january11 2011 UNWC Annual Meeting The Upper Nehalem Watershed Council’s (UNWC) Annual Meeting has been changed from January 28th to Saturday March 12th. The meeting is open to the public. UNWC will show the community what they have accomplished and what is planned for the future, explaining their goals, asking for community input, electing new Board Members and amending their Bylaws. OSU Master Gardener™ Class in Clatskanie After twenty-one years of having the Oregon State University Master Gardener™ classes in St. Helens, and last year in Vernonia, this year’s classes will be held in Clatskanie, which starts on Tuesday, March 8th and meeting every Tuesday through May 31st and will meet from 9:30 am until 3:00 pm with a thirty minute break for lunch. Topics to be covered will include vegetable gardening, insect identification, botany for gardeners, plant problem diagnosis, growing fruits and berries, lawn management, weed identification and management, pesticides safety, and plant propagation. Weekly instructors include Oregon State University teaching and Extension faculty, experienced Master Gardeners and other professionals. Cost of the series will be $75.00. Students completing the class will be expected to pay back about 50 hours on community horticultural projects. Applications will be accepted through February 15th. For more information or to get the application packet you can contact the OSU Extension Office by calling 503 397-3462, emailing either Chip Bubl at chip.bubl@oregonstate.edu or Vicki Krenz at vicki.krenz@ oregonstate.edu or by stopping by the office at 505 N. Columbia River Hwy in St. Helens. Columbia County Commission on Children and Families The Columbia County Commission on Children and Families holds public meetings on the 3rd Thursday of each month at 5:30 PM. The meetings are held at the OSU Extension Office, 505 N. Columbia River Hwy., St. Helens, Oregon. The next meeting is January 20, 2011. Skein Slayers Knitting/ Crocheting Group Sponsored by the Vernonia Prevention Coalition, the Kiwanis and community volunteers, Skein Slayers is a knitting/crocheting group whose goals are to invite people of all ages who can knit or crochet or just want to hang out and talk on the second and fourth Mondays at 6:00 PM. The hope is that this will become a multi-generational group that talks about whatever the hot topics are, particularly teens, and knit or crochet hats and scarves for our students in need and for the Community Closet. We’ll have topics that we’ll talk about each night and a table of supporting materials for the topic; i.e. suicide prevention, bullying, etc. Flyers will be posted around town. Join us Monday, January 24, 6:00 PM. Don’t know how to knit? You’re in luck because Vernonia Florist is offering a knitting class on Monday nights at 7:00 PM starting January 31st. After taking their class, come down and join us. We’re also looking for yarn and needle donations. Contact: Catherine Helmer, 503- 914-9525, catherine.helmer@ yahoo.com. Readers Lend Their Voices... To the Editor Thank you to all our friends and family for their love and support in the loss of our brother, Gary. We especially want to thank those of you who joined with us at the Memorial Service to share in our remembrances of Gary. And a special thank you to Dana Hyde who graciously did all the organizing and serving of the luncheon along with Cheryl McWhirter, Lynn Shaw and Courtney Paden. Thank you all for the cards, food and prayers. Gary Dinger’s family To the Editor This is just an observation. I had a conversation with a local Real Estate agent. The subject of buying a small house to rehab turned to the agent noting that many small houses are being purchased for cash by people who have that amount of cash. Undoubtedly many of these will be gussied up and flipped for a profit, others may be rentals. It stayed on my mind and I realized that what we are seeing is an example of wealth consolidation. In America, the rich are getting richer and the poor getting much poorer. In this case the prospect of buying a house for 40-50K would seem to be a low income dream. The mortgage payments (er if there was financing) would be around $200 a month. People would be less likely to default, require Public Housing assistance, and would have more income for food and utilities. That is not going to happen. Instead the houses are investments. If a low income purchases the house, it will be for the original price plus a profit transferring income to the investor. Whatever the markup, the buyer will pay that 3 times over in interest to the mortgage lender on Wall Street. Or if the house is rented, the renters will never have equity or security. In a perfect world the local investors would underwrite mortgages at the selling price to buyers who will live in the house. The local investor would garner 3 times the home value over the term of the loan. Nothing would go to Wall Street. The local lender would be right there if the buyer missed payments or failed to maintain the house. In the end, the concentration of wealth and property will continue. It would take a great deal of effort and leadership to influence the course. That is where America is bankrupt, innovation is not so wild a dream as those who profit by its postponement HOW TO SEND LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Vernonia’s Voice welcomes and requests your thoughts, opinions and ideas. Please include your name, address and phone number, limit your letters to 300 words or less. Vernonia’s Voice reserves the right to edit, omit, respond or ask for a response to letters submitted. We will print letters, space permitting. Deadline is the 1st and 3rd Monday of each month. Email to: scott@vernoni- asvoice.com or mail to: Letters, PO Box 55, Vernonia, OR 97064. Upcoming Events City of Vernonia Transportation Plan Workshop, January 13, 5:30 - 8:30 PM --Open House at the Vernonia Community Learning Center, 939 Bridge Street. Bring your ideas and hear about pedestrian, bicycle and roadway improvement options. Zack Rumbolz Scholarship Benefit Concert, January 29, 7:00 PM at Vernonia Community Church, 957 State Ave. Music by the Hill Road Band. Financial Peace University, Starts February 6 at the Vernonia Christian Church, 410 North Street. Free Class Preview sessions on January 23rd, and 30th at 4:00 PM. Learn to manage your personal finances and become debt free the Dave Ramsey way! Call 503-369-3245 for more information. School Site Construction The Vernonia School Construction is under way and the site appearance is changing almost daily. You can follow the progress via the Construction Webcam at this link: http://oxblue.com/pro/open/builtbypandc/vernonia would make seem. Roger Lindsley Beaverton Letter to the Editor, The Vernonia Lions club would like to say “Thank You” to the people of Vernonia. By putting your spare change in our Gales Creek Camp collection cans around town we were able to give an extra $250.00 to Gales Creek Camp. (The camp provides experiences for children, youth and families affected by Type 1 diabetes, this helps them gain confidence to manage their diabetes and achieve the goal to grow toward living independent lives.) This shows us that if everyone gives a little we can accomplish a lot. Good Job Vernonia! The Lions would also like to Thank the stores and restaurants that have participated this last year. We hope to get new cans out this year and in a few more places. Also, the Lions are especially proud we were able to help our community and a little bit of the world this last year with our fundraising efforts (BBQ sandwich booth during Jamboree, Texas Hold ‘em and selling Raffle tickets and plant sale). We have been able to donate over $15,000.00 this year. Some of our donations were, Maintaining trailers for families who where lifting their homes, having the Mobil Screening Unit come to the grade school, being able to provide 17 pairs of eye glasses, nine scholarships to graduating Seniors, Camp Wilkerson, Oregon Sight and Hearing, Vernonia Cares Food Bank, the list goes on. But, we could not have accomplished this without the support of our community. Thank You! We hope you all have a Happy and Healthy New Year. Sincerely, Vernonia Lions Club Our motto “We Serve” To the Editor It is with great pride we write this letter. In the calendar year of 2010, Vernonia Sentry has donated over $3000 in cash and product to the following groups (and we’re sure we’ve missed some). Vernonia Schools – Senior/ Junior/Sophomore/Freshmen/ Volleyball/Basketball/ Grade Party, Vernonia Middle School, Washington Grade School, Mist Birkenfield Rural Fire Protection District, Vernonia Rural Fire Protection District, Vernonia Prevention Coalition Fireworks, Vernonia Cares, Vernonia Head Start, Vernonia Boy Scouts, Vernonia Girl Scouts, Vernonia Library, Vernonia Police Department/Vernonia Night Out, Vernonia Pride, Haiti Fundraiser, Vernonia Vacation Bible School, Vernonia Ridge Riders, Vernonia’s Biggest Class Reunion, Vernonia Senior Center, and countless Free Video Coupons. In addition to the $10,000 we have already given, we still have a challenge to local businesses of a match of up to $5000 cash donations to the Vernonia Schools Building Project. Call us for details! We thank you and appreciate the support of the Vernonia Community and look serving you in 2011. Randy, Sharon and the Crew at Vernonia Sentry
