june26 2012
V E R N O N I A’ S
reflecting the spirit of our community
Meet Your Police: The Veteran,
Shawn Carnahan

The Vernonia Police Department
has gone through several changes over the
last few years. With two new officers and
a new Chief, Vernonia’s Voice decided
to sit down with each of the officers at the
VPD and bring our readers and the public
they serve a profile of each of these “men
in blue.” We started our series back in our
March 27 issue with a profile of Chief Mike
Conner. This month we give you a chance to
meet Officer Shawn Carnahan.
Vernonia Police Officer Shawn
Carnahan has been working for the Vernonia
Police Department for over three years. With
two brand new officers--Brent Thompson and
Matt Brady--that makes Officer Carnahan,
after Chief Conner, the veteran of the force.

Shawn Carnahan comes from a
family that values public service. His
grandmother was a registered nurse. His
grandfather was an Oregon State Trooper,
then the Chief of Police in Junction City and
then a Resident Deputy in Monroe for the
Benton County Sheriff’s Office. Carnahan’s
father is a Paramedic in Florence, where
he is a supervisor with Western Lane
Ambulance and also a battalion chief with
the fire department. “Public service runs in
the family,” says Carnahan.

Carnahan himself started as a
Reserve Officer with the Scappoose Police
Department after attending the Multnomah
County Sheriff’s Office Reserve Academy-
where he graduated and received the top
overall reserve award. He worked with
the Scappoose PD for five years until the
reserve program was disbanded in 2005.
Carnahan was hired by the Scappoose Police
Department in May of 2008 as a full time
Police Officer and later joined the Vernonia
Police Department as a Reserve Officer in
late 2008 and was hired in January 2009.
inside
12
living
on a lake
13
goodbye!
19
summer
meals
free
He completed Police Academy in the spring/
summer of 2009, where he graduated as the
Top Shooter.

Carnahan says he enjoys working
in a small town. “I love the small town
atmosphere. Everybody knows each other
and the job is more community oriented, as
opposed to a bigger agency where you can be
just a number. Here in Vernonia everybody
knows you, everybody waves at you.”

With the addition of two officers who
are just finishing Police academy, the work
load is finally starting to lighten for Carnahan
and Chief Conner. As the only two officers
on the force for almost fourteen months,
both Carnahan and Conner have constantly
been either on duty or on call for over a
year. Carnahan was recently recognized
with a Certificate of Appreciation by the
Vernonia City Council for his outstanding
performance, dedication and commitment
and for going beyond the call of duty during
the long stretch when the department was
shorthanded.
continued on page 5
“Great
American
Bash” July 4 th

Vernonia will once again
celebrate the 4 th of July with a parade,
concert and fireworks.

The annual 4 th of July Parade
begins at 5:00 PM and starts at City
Hall, heading north on Bridge Street.

“The Great American Bash
Concert” featuring Jesse Cain begins at
7:30 PM at the Vernonia Sports Fields.
Gates open at 4:30 PM. The Vernonia
Boosters will open the Snack Shack and
sell hot dogs and hamburgers. Tickets
are $2 per person or $5 per family.

A fireworks show, provided by
the Vernonia Rural Fire Department
will follow the concert at dusk.

The 2012 Great American
Bash Concert is sponsored by the
Vernonia Prevention Coalition and the
Vernonia Rural Fire Department and
is a Alcohol, Tobacco and Drug Free
event. All proceeds go to Vernonia
Youth Programs.
volume6  issue12
Look Who’s 5!

This
month
Vernonia’s Voice is
pleased to be celebrating
our fifth anniversary.
That’s right, we have
now been around for
five whole years!

In celebration,
we took a look back
and have published,
on pages 10 and 11,
some of our favorite
photos, from some of
our favorite and most
important stories from
the last five years.

We hope you
enjoy this look back at
our town and the people
who live here.

We
look
forward to continuing
to bring you stories and
photos that reflect the
spirit of our community.
Mario Leonetti: Serving
Vernonia for Over 40 Years

If you have
been to Mariolino’s
restaurant in Verno-
nia recently, you may
have noticed some
changes. New menu
items, more freshly
prepared food, and a
change in the atmo-
sphere are just a few
of the adjustments
that Mario and new
General
Manager
Letha Tunstall are
implementing. And
more changes are on
Mario Leonetti and restaurant manager
the way.
Letha Tunstall at Mariolino’s.

Tunstall brings
rant business is like taking a trip
a family restaurant background to
through recent Vernonia history. He
Mariolino’s and is looking to add a
has been serving meals here since
more home cooked style to the es-
1970, in a variety of forms and lo-
tablishment. “I know how to cook
cations, never staying still for too
and I come from a family of chefs
long.
and family members who owned

Leonetti was the owner
restaurants, so I learned a lot,” says
of the Timber Tavern before mov-
Tunstall. “Now we’re doing a lot
ing to Vernonia in 1969. He says
more ourselves—we make our own
he originally bought the buildings
salad dressings, BBQ sauce, and
that now makes up the Cedarside
salsa. We’re making our own bake
Tavern on Bridge Street. “It was
goods like corn bread, biscuits and
the Card Room, The Squeeze In
muffins and sometimes cakes or
Cafe and something else,” Leonetti
pies.”
remembers. Leonetti originally

Tunstall is really looking
opened it as a take-out pizza res-
to upgrade the menu and make
taurant, “It was just Mario’s Pizza,
Mariolino’s more of a family res-
nothing else,” he explains. He
taurant. She features New England
then expanded to a few tables for
Clam Chowder as the house soup
sit down in what had been the The
everyday along with a second soup
Squeeze In and eventually opened
weekly and makes her own potato,
the whole building in July of 1970
macaroni and pasta salads. She
as a full restaurant. “There was
has also added breakfast or dinner
plenty of dining area and half the
specials like Strawberry Waffles or
room was for kids with pool tables
BBQ Ribs or Lasagna.
and game machines. We were open

Sitting down to talk with
more or less twenty-four hours a
Mario Leonetti about his restau-
continued on page 7