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About Vernonia's voice. (Vernonia, OR) 2007-current | View Entire Issue (May 8, 2012)
4 community bulletin board/letters to the editor may8 2012 Upcoming Events Broccoli. May 23-What’s Bothering Your Garden? VCLC, 939 Bridge St. A presentation by Paul Rippey Free to the public. For more info call Chip Bubl 503- based on An Inconvenient Truth. Time will be provided for discussion and questions. 397-3462. Camp 18 Loggers Memorial Dedication and Logging Exhibition, May 12, 10:00 AM 20 new plaques will be dedicated and local loggers, including An Evening of Art and Community, May 18, the VHS Forestry Team will compete in the 3rd annual 6:00 PM at the VCLC and Blue House Café hosted by Hands-On Art. Junior Salmon Auction and art Logger Exhibition. exhibition featuring the work of local artist Nathan Vernonia Grange Spring Rummage Sale, May Bower and VHS students. The Wizard of Oz by the Vernonia Ballet, June 1, 7:00 PM at WGS. No admission, donations are welcome. Last Chance Dance, June 23. Say goodbye to Vernonia’s old school buildings with a dinner, 12, 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM at the Grange Hall, 375 fundraising auction and dance. No admission for the District Clean-up Day, May 19, 9:00 AM at the North Street. All proceeds will go to the Grange for its District House, 1201 Texas Avenue. Volunteers needed dance. programs and continuing building improvements. to trim trees, clear underbrush and remove debris Growing and Cooking with Herbs, May 12, 1:00 around the new District office building. PM at the Vernonia Library. An informal gathering for Youth Tractor Safety Program, May 22, May 29, anyone interested in sharing info or learning more. June 5, 6:00-9:00 PM at the Scappoose Fire Station. Workshop and work parties OSU Extension Summer Gardening Programs, May Additional lab to be held June 9. For more info or to every Saturday until fair 16 and 23, 6:30-8:30 PM at OSU Extension Service pre-register call Chip Bubl 503-397-3462. Help Get Ready for the Columbia County Fair office St. Helens. May 16-Beds, Beets, and Beyond Global Climate Change, May 25, 7:00 PM at the Readers Lend Their Voices... To the Editor We are sorry to announce the Vernonia Speed and Beauty Car Club will not host our 20th annual Jamboree Days Cruise’ this year. The event is normally held on the school grounds in downtown Vernonia. Due to extensive damages from flooding, the schools in Vernonia are in the demolition stage and will be moving up to a new location and new building. During this demolition process, we do not have parking space available to put on a top quality car show. We are asking for your support to help make next year’s event (2013) even more successful than the previous years. The purpose of this event has always been to help grow and diversify the Vernonia Friendship Jamboree. Please mark your calendar for the 1st full week-end of Aug. 2013. Help us provide a drugs and alcohol free event that will be enjoyed by our families, your family and the people of the community. Watch for your car show registration flyer in the spring of 2013. We trust you will join us next year and help in our efforts making this a successful event. Thank you so much for your support and hope to see you next year. Glenda DeLemos NVSB Car Club To the Editor Every once in a while everyone comes up against a seemingly insurmountable problem. No matter how we try the solution is just out of reach. The Mist-Birkenfeld Rural Fire Protection District is pursuing construction of a four million gallon reservoir which will hold water dedicated to fire protection. The project is designed to answer the need for water to protect the critical Mist Gas Fields and its Natural Gas Storage infrastructure. The project will also enhance the district’s level of fire protection service to the residents of our district and to the businesses located here. Our insurmountable problem came in the form of obtaining the required permits. Two of the permitting state agencies had diametrically opposed requirements, each driven by federal law. When asked how to resolve the issue each agency simply stated “get the other agency to change their requirement”. We were stalemated. A colleague suggested calling the Columbia County Commissioners and seeing what they could do. When I did, Commissioner Hyde was in and took my call. He listened, then asked for a synopsis of the problem in writing. The next day I received a call from Bill Fujii, a member of a trouble-shooting group created by the Governor. It took some time and a lot of work, but the problems were resolved, Our critical permits are now within reach. The fire district would like to express our gratitude to the Commissioners, and especially to Commissioner Hyde, for the extraordinarily fast and effective assistance they provided, As the project goes forward the fire suppression needs of the Mist Gas Fields and of the community as a whole will be significantly improved. The firefighter safety is also improved by eliminating the need for drawing water from fast flowing streams with muddy banks. Because of the importance of stored energy to our economy the improvement has a positive regional impact as well. The assistance we received cleared the road and made the Fleming Pond Project possible. Thank you! Chief Dave Crawford Mist Birkenfeld RFPD To the Editor In order to ensure that our county continues to move forward, it is imperative that we have a commissioner who is prepared to push for the needs 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: scott@vernoniasvoice.com or mail to: Letters, PO Box 55, Vernonia, OR 97064. Meet at 8:30 AM at the fair office of our county when decisions are being made and money is being distributed. Tony Hyde is a seasoned advocate, a voice for the county who has earned tremendous respect from colleagues at the county, state and federal levels. The recognition he has earned and the work he has done have given our county a foot in the door, access to economic development opportunities that we would otherwise not have had. Handing this position over to an inexperienced candidate could put our county back at square one at a time when square one is a precarious position to be in. Tony Hyde is not a Commissioner who is often at his desk; he is a Commissioner with a proven track record of getting out into the community and state, and promoting Columbia County as a home to those looking for both a friendly business environment and outstanding quality of life. Please show your support for his tireless efforts and provide him the opportunity to continue to lead our county. Vote for Tony Hyde Position 3 Commissioner. Leslie O’Leary Temporarily relocated County Property Owner Columbia wage jobs to our county, using his role on the board of the state economic development department along with critical relationships he has worked hard to develop in the Governor’s Office, the Legislature and Congress. Tony’s work has paid off for our county. He has been instrumental in bringing well more than $1 Billion (with a “B”) in private investment into Columbia County. This doesn’t count the $.5 Billion Tony helped secure for the Wauna mill just into Clatsop County, where 80% of the workforce lives in Columbia county. All of this investment has brought hundreds of permanent family wage jobs to the County. This investment has also created thousands of weeks of top- paying construction work for local workers. All of this investment has helped support our economy, secured additional tax revenue and helped stabilize struggling city budgets. In recent years, Tony has deployed his communication skills to help protect the so-called timber payments to rural Oregon counties. These payments were developed to compensate counties for revenues lost to changing federal timber policy. Heavily forested counties, like Columbia, have depended on this revenue source to keep schools open and police officers on the street. This year was to be the last year, but a strong coalition of local, state and federal leaders, including Tony, appear to have secured an additional year, bringing more that $100 million to Oregon’s struggling counties and schools. Although my history working with Tony has been more extensive, I also want to take this opportunity to acknowledge Earl Fisher, who I worked with on the Columbia County Commission on Children and Family. Earl is a hard worker, very thoughtful and is a creative problem solver. I want to commend Earl Fisher in his role as commissioner. Earl and Henry, together with Tony have provided solid and committed leadership who work well together for the good of all of Columbia County. In these challenging times we need the experience and leadership Tony and Earl bring to our County. Please vote for Tony Hyde and Earl Fisher. To the Editor In Challenging Times We Need the Experience and Leadership that Tony Hyde and Earl Fisher Bring Our next crop of county commissioners is going to be tested like no other in recent memory. We are going to need every drop of experience and every personal relationship to get our county through the next four years. It is for this reason I write to ask for your vote for Commissioners Tony Hyde and Earl Fisher. Facing a perfect storm of falling real estate taxes and the loss of federal timber payments, Columbia County stands at a crossroads. We need practical, proven leadership to guide us through this difficult time. I have known Tony Hyde as Mayor of Vernonia and as a Columbia County Commissioner. Recruited by Tony as a volunteer after the 1996 flood, I watched his bold leadership bring the Upper Nehalem Valley community back from disaster, twice. After becoming a County Commissioner, Tony focused immediately on economic development. Kim Tierney He has worked tirelessly to bring family Vernonia City Councilor
