welcome
november22
2011
from the editor
This is the time of year when we
start to reflect and look back on the past
year. This last year has certainly been
difficult here in Vernonia. At the City
level we have suffered through the re-
call and replacement of three City Coun-
cilors, the firing and then rehiring of a
City Administrator, and the termination
of a police officer. On a personal level
several long-time families have suffered
tragedy or received extremely bad news,
notably and recently the Baska and Titus
families.
It has been a trying and often
difficult year—and yet, as we start to
heal from the political upheaval we went
through and continue to support fami-
lies in need, I am also reminded that,
as we have suffered through these hard-
ships and sadness’s, we continue to be
a community that cares. Time and time
again we have seen that Vernonia is a
community that will rally around itself
and try to make a bad situation better.
Whether its choosing sides in a political
or city personnel matter or showing sup-
port for a family or friend in need, the
citizens of this community care, and they
show it with their energy, their actions
and their spirit. They show up when
they are needed and step up, sometimes
even when they are not asked.
The people in this community
really and truly care, and that caring
makes a difference. And for me, that
caring is worth celebrating. As I look
over the last year I see much that is wor-
thy of our praise, I see much worth being
thankful for and much that we should
celebrate.
This is a community that cares
about its children. Whether we do as
much as is needed or as much as we can,
we have made our children a priority.
We voted to tax ourselves to fund new
schools. We have groups and organiza-
tions that focus on children—like the
coaches, volunteers and other supporters
of the Vernonia Boosters who make sure
our youth have structured activities to
engage in. The Vernonia Kiwanis have
children as their focus and the Vernonia
Volunteer Firefighters provide gifts for
children in need. The Vernonia Preven-
tion Coalition has also focused on chil-
dren and helps provide the tools to so
they have the opportunity to grow up
and be healthy and productive citizens
and adults.
Vernonia Cares Food Bank
Director Sandy Welch, along with her
Board of Directors and volunteers con-
tinue to provide support for families
in our community with food and other
necessities. Their holiday food boxes
bring joy at the time of year when every-
one should be able to celebrate.
The Vernonia Lions Club just
donated $2,000 to help Vernonia Cares
fill those holiday boxes; that is just one
example of the huge amount of support
the Lions Club provides throughout our
community.
The friends of Kari Titus orga-
nized and held a fundraising dinner a few
weeks ago to help the Titus family with
medical expenses as Kari battles cancer.
Employees at the Vernonia Schools are
supporting their co-worker Roxanna
Heath-Sherman as she also battles can-
cer. Friends of the Baska family have
worked to raise funds to honor Scott
Baska after his tragic death and help
support his family. Dean Schaumburg,
injured in a logging accident four years
ago just moved into a home specially de-
signed and built for his wheelchair--built
in a large part with donations of funds,
labor and materials.
Members of the Pioneer Bap-
tist Church and the Vernonia Commu-
nity Church are hosting a Community
Thanksgiving Dinner on November
24th—what a great collaboration! and
certainly worth celebrating. The lo-
cal Downtown Association, along with
other business owners, organizations
and citizens have also come together to
organize the second “Spirit of Christmas
in Vernonia” on December 3 rd . Last year
the event was a great success—this year
looks like it will again be a great way
to celebrate the holidays and small town
life.
Apparently we are setting a
good example for our youth--at Vernonia
High School, students in the Leadership
Class produced a video that they took to
a leadership conference and showed to
other student leaders from around the
state of Oregon. The video was for a
fundraising campaign to raise money for
the new Vernonia School. In the video
students encourage other students to
“donate a dollar, build a school, save a
town.” The seniors who worked on this
project won’t even get to spend a day of
class in the new school, yet they cared
enough to put time and energy into im-
proving this community.
I could continue to talk about
the people and organizations worth cel-
ebrating in Vernonia, but hopefully you
understand my point. As Vernonians we
care about our community and about
what happens here. We care about each
Publisher and Managing Editor
Scott Laird
503-367-0098
scott@vernoniasvoice.com
Contributors
Chip Bubl
Sonia Spackman
Photography
Scott Laird
Susan Pederson
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other and we take it seriously when we
see a need. And that is worth celebrat-
ing.
Scott Laird
Editor and Publisher
Building Buyers Beware
The City of Vernonia provides
this WARNING to people making
a decision to purchase a home or
commercial building within the city
limits:
PLEASE!
Physically
inspect the building yourself or hire
a professional to assess whether the
building was flooded AND meet
with City staff to make sure that the
building is not subject to floodplain
management rules.
These rules may restrict
a purchaser’s ability to modify
the building if it is located in the
floodway. In some cases where the
building was flooded, the building
may be required to be elevated at the
owner’s expense within a certain time
period. If you purchase a building that
has this requirement associated with
it you will be required to fill out a
flood plain development permit prior
to having the city utilities turned on at
the subject building. And if you fail to
elevate the house in that time period,
local Ordinance No. 851 allows for
a daily fine of up to $500 per day to
be levied. If you have any questions,
please contact the City staff at (503)
429-5291.
3
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