free
april10 2012
V E R N O N I A’ S
reflecting the spirit of our community
volume6 issue7
Vernonia Community Theater Profiles:
Part 4 - The Directors
By Scott Laird
The Vernonia Community Theater
(VCT) will hold two performances of
“Vaudeville’s My Home,” on April
13, and 14 at 7:00 PM at Washington
Grade School. Formed in 2010, the
VCT involves both youth and adults in
their productions and provides a cre-
ative outlet for members of Vernonia
and the surrounding area to express
their artistic talents. In this series
of articles over several months Ver-
nonia’s Voice has been profiling key
members of the VCT. In this final pro-
file before curtain time, we meet the
directors.
For their upcoming produc-
tion, Vaudeville’s My Home, the Ver-
nonia Community Theater (VCT) will
have two directors to run the show.
Mary Post and Roger Longh-
enry are co-directing the newest VCT
production. The story is set in the
1920’s in a small rural town that has
lost their school and will hold a vaude-
ville show to raise money to rebuild
the school. The script has been altered
slightly to make the story more famil-
iar and create a very local feel. It is
filled with clever lines, several songs,
lots of laughs, and many memorable
characters.
Co-directors Post and Long-
henry are working with the VCT for
the first time and between them bring
a wealth of theater experience to the
Washington Grade School stage.
Mary Post lives at Fishhawk
inside
3
scholarship
winner
11
making
a donation
15
easter
egg hunt
Post says the directors for
Vaudeville’s My Home are treating the
production like a melodrama. “We’re
incorporating things about Verno-
nia into the story and trying to make
it funny,” says Post. “It doesn’t take
place where it originally did in the
script, we’ve changed it to Vernonia,
and we think that will make it even
more fun for the audience.”
Roger Longhenry brings
vast theater experience to the VCT.
Longhenry has lived in Vernonia for
eight years and is originally for the
mid-west. He came west in 1979 and
worked in Alaska as a commercial
fisherman and fighting forest fires.
Longhenry says he started in
theater in junior high school and high
school in the late sixties, and was the
The City of Vernonia intends to
modify the sewer loan charge on City utility
bills, increasing it by as much as $19.00,
beginning July 1, 2012.
The charge currently appears on the
City Utility Bill as “sewer loan” and is for
$12.00.
At the April 2, 2012 City Council
meeting, Council was presented with a
recommendation from the Vernonia Public
Works Committee, asking Council to increase
the portion of the sewer rate dedicated to
servicing the outstanding loan from Phase I
of the Wastewater Improvement Project.
The Public Works Committee did not
recommend a specific amount for the increase,
but stated in their written recommendation
that it be commensurate with fully servicing
the payment of principle and interest
scheduled in the current loan payment.
The loan, DEQ Loan No. 93642, is
for $4.3 million. The first payment on the
loan was due in 2008, but was not made, and
as a result the City has been accumulating
about $10,000 per month in interest. On
March 3, 2011 the City made an interest
payment of $525,517. In August of 2011
the City began making the regular payments
(not just interest) according to the required
payment schedule. According to Vernonia
Mayor Josette Mitchell, the budget last fiscal
year held enough money to make those
payments. However the budget this fiscal year
will require the sewer rate increase in order to
make the principal and interest payments that
are expected.
At the April 2 meeting City
continued on page 7
continued on page 5
John Wacker and Mackenzie Brown practice their lines with director Mary Post for the
Vernonia Community Theater’s upcoming production of “Vaudville’s My Home,”
on April 13 and 14 at Washington Grade School.
Lake near Birkenfeld. She moved
there from Newberg six years ago.
In Newberg, Post and her husband
started and ran the Newberg Commu-
nity Theater for fifteen years. “When
we moved we closed the theater and
donated all the costumes,” says Post.
“But we still have the sound system!”
Post says she had never
worked in theater before her New-
berg experiences. As a child, she says
she was much too shy to ever want to
perform on stage. In Newberg, she
started as a volunteer working with
international students at George Fox
University. “They performed small
dramas in order to learn and practice
their English language skills,” ex-
plains Post. “That got me interested
and then we formed the community
theater.”
City Expects to
Increase Sewer
Rate
Sportsman's The Show Will Go On at the
Banquet
Columbia County Fair
Changes
Date
The date for the Vernonia
Sportsman’s Banquet has been
changed to May 12, 2012.
Originally scheduled for
April 14 at the Vernonia Christian
Church, the event date needed to
be changed due to a scheduling
conflict for guest speaker Jase
Robertson.
“Everything else is the
same, except the date,” said
event organizer Chad Hewitt.
“We still have the same speaker,
the same food, and it will be at
the Vernonia Christian Church.”
If anyone has any
questions about the date change
or any other questions about the
event you can call Chad Hewitt at
503-429-0511.
There will be
a Columbia County
Fair this year.
According to
Fair Board Chair De-
lores Bellingham the
Fair Board is actively
planning for the Fair
for July 18 through
the 22 nd . Bellingham says not much
will change at the Fair this year, with
all the usual activities and events in-
cluding the Rodeo, Rodeo Court and
Dancin’ in the Dirt Concert, 4-H ac-
tivities, Senior Citizen Day, Kids
Day, carnival, vendors, live entertain-
ment and more.
“Everything is just coming
together really well,” says Belling-
ham.
Because of budget cuts the
Fair Board no longer has a Fair Man-
ager on staff. According to Belling-
ham the Fair Board volunteers have
divided the duties and are organizing
the Fair themselves
this year.
But Bellingham says
not much will change
this year and visitors
can expect the same
Fair experience.
Bellingham was also
happy to announce
that Means Nursery will be providing
the Plant Sale Fundraiser for the Fair
again this year.
Volunteers have been meet-
ing on Saturday mornings this spring
to help prepare the fair grounds.
Work includes painting, grounds
keeping and other work. “I’m con-
fident that we’re moving forward,”
says Bellingham.
There is a new website this
year specifically designated to the
Columbia County Fair and Rodeo:
www.ColumbiaCountyFairgrounds.
continued on page 6
