january25 2011
V E R N O N I A’ S
reflecting the spirit of our community
free
volume5 issue2
Chief Ralph Painter Honored at Memorial Service
On Friday, January 14, 2011, fallen Rainier
Police Chief Ralph Painter was memorialized in
a Ceremony of Honor at the Chiles Center on the
campus of the University of Portland.
It was a day of tearful farewells, of pomp
and ceremony, of kind words of remembrance, and of
ritual.
First responders and police officers from
around the region, the country, and Canada attended
the ceremony, including officers from as far away as
Chicago and several Canadian Mounted Police. A
procession of first responder vehicles, which began in
Longview and traveled through Rainier
to Portland and the site of the memorial
service, was reported to include about
500 vehicles. Citizens lined the highway
to pay their respects to the fallen
Chief.
St. Helens Police Lieutenant Terry
Moss served as Master of Ceremonies
and Officer Kevin Tinter served as
Ceremonial Commander of the Multi-
Agency Honor Guard. The Portland
Police Bureau Highland Guard provided
bagpipes and drums.
Approximately 4,000 people attended
the ceremony, almost half of them men and
women in various blue, grey, tan, brown,
green and even red agency uniforms.
continued on page 8
Vernonia Schools to Receive $11.2 Million in FEMA Grants
Funding Will Help Build New Schools Outside Floodplain
Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron
Wyden and Congressman David Wu
announced that the Vernonia School
District will receive $11.2 million from
the Federal Emergency Management
Agency (FEMA). The new grant comes
in addition to the $150,000 in funding
that the school district received through
Congressional appropriations request by
Merkley and Wyden in fiscal year 2010.
According to FEMA, the agency
will acquire the existing Vernonia K-12
school buildings through its Flood
Mitigation Assistance program. The
inside
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$11.2 million in proceeds from
the acquisition will go towards the
construction of a new school campus
outside the floodplain. Groundbreaking
for the project took place last month.
According to School District
Superintendent Ken Cox, $10.4
million will go towards the new
construction; $800,000 will be held
in reserve for the demolition of the
current school site, which was not
included in the original $38 million
budget for the school project.
“I want to thank FEMA staff
from Region 10 and Oregon Emergency
Management, especially Dennis Sigrist,
as well as, locally, Dan Brown,” said
Cox. “I appreciate all their work and
effort to get this done for our kids and
our community.”
School Town Hall
February 10th, 6:30PM
Vernonia School Cafeteria
See page 3 for more details
“This grant will do more than
just construct a school, it’ll help rebuild
a community and create jobs,” Merkley
said. “I’m thrilled these unspent disaster
funds have found the right home.”
“This announcement means
that the federal government and FEMA
are doing the right thing for the families
of Vernonia who have worked tirelessly
to put their lives and their community
back together,” Wyden said.
“Money can’t build the spirit of
community that the citizens of Vernonia
have shown since the flooding,” said Wu,
“but $11.2 million can certainly build a
top-notch school, create some jobs, and
foster new hope for a better future. This
is a proud day for a much-deserving
community.”
Vernonia’s KLS Surveying Awarded
Grant for Renewable Energy Study
Agriculture Secretary Vilsack Announces Investments to
Study Feasibility in Rural Communities
KLS Surveying, a firm in
Vernonia, OR has been awarded a
$50,000 Grant to provide surveying
for a Biomass and carbon baseline
verification study.
U. S. Agriculture Secretary
Tom Vilsack announced on January
20, that USDA Rural Development,
through its Rural Energy for America
Program (REAP), has selected 68
study grants for funding nationwide to
determine the feasibility of renewable
energy projects.
Of the 68 projects awarded
for funding across the US, the
Vernonia--KLS project was one of
only twelve to receive the maximum
allowable grant of $50,000 and was
the only grant in the US awarded for a
carbon sequestration study project.
According to Kim Wallace of
KLS Surveying, KLS was approached
by Catherine Mater of the Pinchot
Institute, who has been working to
develop carbon banking and biomass
fuel generation for Vernonia. “They
needed a local business that would
work in partnership and sponsor the
study,” says Wallace.
Through the USDA grant,
KLS is evaluating the feasibility of
development of the Vernonia Thermal
Energy Center (VTEC), adapting the
latest woody biomass survey scanning
technology currently employed by
land survey professionals to a single-
pass biomass/carbon monitoring
scanning system, dramatically
reducing annual carbon monitoring
costs.
“This new scanning process
is a technology that can be used in
our business,” says Wallace. “This
could develop into a good business
venture for us.”
“The Obama Administration
is committed to helping our nation
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