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community bulletin board/letters to the editor
march8
2011
UNWC Annual Meeting
The Upper Nehalem Watershed
Council’s (UNWC) Annual Meeting
has been changed from March 12th to
Saturday May 21, 10 AM- 2 PM 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.
VHS CRLE Presentations
Senior Career Related Learning
Experience (CRLE) presentations are on
Wednesday, March 30, 2011. Times to be
announced but working schedule is:
Senior arena style presentations in
the ‘Logger Dome’ are from 9:00-11:00.
Public invited.
Speeches are at 7:00 PM with
students arriving at 6:30 and judges at
6:00 (Student displays will be available
for judges to view starting at 5:30).
Anyone interested in being a judge
contact Rachel Wilcoxen or Dana Hyde at
503.429.3521 or email dhyde@vernonia.
k12.or.us, or rwilcoxen@vernonia.k12.
or.us
Craft Class Scheduled at
Vernonia Florist
Crochet 101
Susan Mullikin will teach beginners the
basics of crochet. You will leave the first
class with enough knowledge to crochet
a simple project. The three remaining
sessions will be adding to your skill with
a completed project in the end.
Thurs 7-8:30 PM
$10 For Intro Session
$5 for each additional Session
Knitting 101
Kaitlyn Taylor is teaching the basic
knitting with the end result being the
knowledge you always wanted to knit
many different items.
Tuesday Nights 7-9 PM
$10 For Intro Session
$5 for each additional session
Sip-N-Knit
With Katie Organ, learn to knit while
enjoying your favorite beverage and
treat, from Katie’s own kitchen. Great
selection of yarn and needles available at
Vernonia Florist.
1 st & 3rd Thurs 10-Noon.
$10 For Intro Session
$5 for each additional Session
Quilting 101
Mary Pense will be teaching the basics
of quilting, a kit will be available, some
sewing machines, bring yours if you have
one.
Monday Nights 7-8:30
$10 For Intro Class
$5 For each additional session
Please feel free to request any type or
color of yarn.
Kits for each class and patterns will also
be available.
At the Vernonia Grange
The Grange has a change of date
on the April one day rummage sale - it
will now be held on Saturday, April 16
from 10:00-4:00
There will also be Bingo at the
Grange on Saturday, March 12, at 6:30
PM.
Calling All Vernonia Logger
Alumni
The second annual Alumni
Basketball game is scheduled for Saturday,
March 12th at 6:00 PM We are looking
for men and women to come and show
their school spirit. If you are interested in
playing please contact Julie at 503-869-
0211.
Readers Lend Their Voices...
Dear Mayor,
I understand from reading the
newspaper that you and the City Coun-
cil are considering three options for
filling the City manager on a permanent
basis. I would like to address the op-
tions and my recommendation.
As the General Manager of
West Oregon Electric Cooperative, I
have had the opportunity to work with
the current Interim City Manager, as
well as his lst six predecessors over the
past six years. I firmly believe that the
City of Vernonia would be well served
to continue its relationship with Bill
Haack and offer him the full time posi-
tion as City Manager. I have found Bill
to be easy to talk and work with, honest
and forthright, and very knowledgeable.
He is well connected, well respected
and is willing to do the heavy lifting
that others were not willing or able to
do. If Bill does not have the informa-
tion I need, he doesn’t pretend he does,
but admits it and researches to find the
answer. He has always been responsive
in a timely fashion, professional in his
approach, and a man of integrity. I
sincerely think it would be a significant
loss to the City and the people it serves
to not retain Bill Haack as City Man-
ager. Thank you for considering my in-
put and for your time and energy spent
to make this very important decision for
the future of our city.
Sincerely,
W. Marc Farmer
General Manager
West Oregon Electric Cooperative
Dear Editor,
I feel a need to inform the citizens of
Vernonia of a potential problem. It is
that the majority (3) of the new City
Council decided not to offer a contract
to our Interim City Administrator, Bill
Haack, and instead elected to spend
$6,000 to hire the League of Oregon
Cities to seek out candidates for the
position.
If there is anyone who can
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.
This is an OSEA Classified
Employee of the Vernonia School
District fundraiser. Monies go to support
conferences and training workshops,
Scholarship funds, Boys and Girls Athletic
funds and Teacher Appreciation Day.
Admission: $5.00 ~ Adults,
$4.00 ~ 12 years old through HS, $3.00 ~
K through 5th Grade.
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 March 17,
2011.
Skein Slayers Knitting/
Crocheting Group
Upcoming
Events
Columbia County Small
Woodlands Association Tree
Sale, March 12, 9:00 AM to
2:00 PM, at Lawrence Oil, 845 N.
Columbia River Hwy, St. Helens.
Arrive early for best selections.
St. Patty’s Day Parade,
March 17, 5:15 PM -Gather in
front of Pat Knight’s house across
from the school.
Donkey Basketball, March
18, 7:00 PM --in the High School
Gym
Make Vernonia Shine Day,
April 16 - Vernonia’s annual
Sponsored by the Vernonia clean-up day, sponsored by
Prevention Coalition, the Kiwanis and Vernonia Pride.
community volunteers, Skein Slayers is a
knitting/crocheting group whose goals are Vernonia Sportsman’s
to invite people of all ages who can knit or Banquet, April 23-- Guest
crochet or just want to hang out and talk Speaker, Larry D. Jones. BBQ
on the second and fourth Mondays at 6:00 Dinner. Tickets $10, available
PM. The hope is that this will become a March 21st at Sentry Market video
multi-generational group that talks about department.
whatever the hot topics are, particularly
teens, and knit or crochet hats and scarves Vernonia Fire Pancake
for our students in need and for the Feed, May 15, 8:00 AM--
Community Closet. We’ll have topics that Benefits the VRFPD
we’ll talk about each night
and a table of supporting
materials for the topic;
Vernonia’s Voice is
i.e. suicide prevention,
published twice each
bullying, etc. Flyers will be
posted around town. Join
month on the
us Monday, March 8th and
2nd and 4th Tuesday.
22nd, 6:00 PM. Contact:
Catherine Helmer, 503-
Look for our next
914-9525.
attest to the dire need for stability and
continuance in the position of City
Administrator, it is me. First off, every
time there is a new administrator it takes
a minimum of six months for them to
get up to speed on the running of the
city and substantially longer to get
acquainted with the number of projects
the city is engaged in now. Secondly,
there is no guarantee we will find a
candidate with the right credentials,
capable of dealing with the multitude
of concerns and projects Vernonia
is facing. The odds are slim to none,
especially with the limited salary the
City is capable of offering.
Now let’s take a good look at
who we already have, Bill Haack. He
is well versed with management and
projects. I found him exceedingly easy
to work with and very knowledgeable.
His approach to problem solving is calm
and forthright. Bill has shown a love of
this town uncommon for an “outsider”
and has taken the concerns of Vernonia
to heart.
I say, why switch horses in
mid-stream? Why buy a pig in a poke?
What’s the damned hurry to set our
efforts of cooperation and growth back
a year?
I’m institution a petition
campaign. Be it for or against, with
your signature, you’ll be able to express
your feelings on the retention of Bill
Haack as our City Administrator.
I encourage you to let your
issue March 22.
voice be heard by signing. Questions?
Call me at 503-429-8425 or contact a
Councilperson.
Sally Harrison
Vernonia
To the Editor,
We are writing this letter to ex-
press our concern over decisions being
made by the newly elected City Coun-
cil.
We have attended most of the
City Council meetings for the last six
years. The most important city business
at this time is the hiring of a permanent
City Administrator.
It appears that our new City
Council is set to hire someone new. We
think they should reexamine their posi-
tion on this very important decision.
The council has spent a considerable
amount of time on this when we already
have a very qualified and very dedicated
City Administrator.
We have worked extensively
with current CA Bill Haack and think
he would the very best CA for our city.
Bill has a good working knowledge of
the city and has many programs work-
ing right now. If we look elsewhere and
spend more money to find someone new
we will have to begin all over again.
Our city has had seven City
Administrators in the last seven years.
And is fixing to do it again to make it
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