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community bulletin board/letters to the editor
september25
2012
Upcoming Events
Prescription Drug Collection, September 29, 10:00 AM-2:00 PM at Vernonia
City Hall. Turn in your unused or expired medications for safe disposal.
Salmon Festival, October 6, 10 AM - 6 PM at Hawkins Park. Come on out
and help welcome home our salmon friends and take part in an old time harvest
festival. Pumpkin carving, scarecrow building, trout pond, salmon viewing, food,
music, vendors and more.
IMBA Take a Kid Mountain Biking and Youth TRI October 6th at Stub Stewart
State Park. Northwest Trail Alliance, Westside Trail Federation, Hillsborobiking.
org, and Bike Gallery activities all day (free bike rentals, riding clinic and
competitions). Contact Interpretive Ranger Steve Kruger at 503-324-0606 ext 223.
“Community Conversations,” October 8, 7-9 PM; October 13, 2-4 PM at
the Vernonia Schools Library. Community members are invited to participate in
structured discussions about topics of current interest and concern. The topic for
the first two sessions is Community Livability and will include conversations about
Utility Rates, Emergency Preparedness, Community Pride, Drug and Alcohol
Abuse, and Safety and Security. These are the first of four sessions. Childcare will
be provided. “Community Conversations” is organized by Vernonia Connects.
School Fall Carnival, October 20, 5:00-9:00 PM at the new Vernonia Schools.
Food, games, prizes and fun for the whole family.
Correction
In the September 11, 2012
issue of Vernonia’s Voice, in our
article about the Mist-Birkenfeld
Fire
Suppression
Reservoir,
we misprinted information from
Roslyn Gray, Engineer with
NRCS. In our article we stated that
the reservoir was 7 feet deep and
would fill in thirty days. According
to Gray the article would have been
more accurate if it had stated the
following: “Seasonal rain will fill
the reservoir to an effective depth
of 7.5 feet. During most of the
year, excess flow will discharge to
the natural channel downstream
of the dam, and ultimately run
into the Nehalem River. During
critical periods, a bypass system
will route stream flow around the
pond to discharge directly to the
Nehalem River for water quality
and quantity purposes.”
Vernonia’s Voice sincerely
regrets this error.
Vernonia Connects
Invites You to Join Your Neighbors in
“Community Conversations”
“Community Conversations” is a series of gatherings where all
community members are invited to participate in structured
discussions about topics of current interest and concern.
The intent of these events is to create change within the
community and engage citizens through frank and open dialog.
There are two opportunities to participate in each topic.
All events will be held in the Vernonia Smhools Library.
Community Livability
Omt 8 at 7 PM & Omt 13 at 2 PM
Childcare will be provided
Youth and Edumation
Omt 22 at 7 PM & Omt 27 at 2 PM
Community Development
Nov 10 at 2 PM & Nov 12 at 7 PM
Business and Emonomim Development
Dem 11 at 7 PM & Dem 15 at 2 PM
Community Livability will feature conversations about:
• Utility Rates • Emergency Preparedness • Community Pride
• Drug and Alcohol Abuse • Safety and Security
Columbia County
Warns of Phone Scam
The Columbia County Sheriff’s
Office is reporting a number of fraudu-
lent telephone scams being attempted
on county residents in recent weeks. One
common scam in recent weeks has been
the “grandparent” telephone scam.
In these types of scams, a perpe-
trator calls a grandparent or other relative
pretending to be their grandchild/niece/
nephew, etc. The caller sounds upset and
says that he or she doesn’t have much
time to talk. The caller might also say
that they have a cold if you don’t quite
recognize their voice, or they will at-
tempt to solicit feedback from you to
sound even more convincing (scam vic-
tims often report being asked, “do you
know which grandchild this is?”). Their
story generally follows a familiar line:
they were traveling in another country or
another state with a friend, and after a car
accident or legal infraction, they are in
jail and need bail money wired to a West-
ern Union account as soon as possible for
their quick release.
Sums can vary from several hun-
dred to several thousand dollars, some-
times over the course of two or three
calls. In some instances a second scam-
mer calls back later pretending to be a
law enforcement official or attorney, to
confirm the story or ask for additional
money. They may even claim to be an
employee of a U.S. embassy or consulate
overseas!
Should you be targeted in this
type of scam, there are actions you can
take to protect yourself. Although the
supposed grandchild may plead with you
not to tell their family, you should im-
mediately reach out to parents or other
relatives to verify the information you
receive. In the vast majority of cases, the
real relative is safely where they should
be - at work, school or home.
“This scam has been going
around the United States in recent years,
and we’ve had a number of calls in recent
weeks right here in Columbia County,”
said Sheriff Jeff Dickerson. “I want to re-
mind everyone to be very cautious about
giving any personal information out by
phone, and to be very wary of anyone
asking you to send them money for any
reason whatever.
“It is not typical for a law en-
forcement agency to accept money in
this fashion in order to bail people out of
jail,” the sheriff added.
CC Rider Makes Changes to Schedule
In response to rider comments
and requests, Columbia County Rider has
revised the North and South Flex route
transit schedules to address better con-
nections and coordination with the fixed
route service and allow new stops along
the route. The new schedules will take
effect October 1, 2012.
Highlights of the changes in-
clude new stops at the Scappoose and
Saint Helens Senior Centers, Goodwill
store, in addition to the regular stops that
were on the old route schedule. The new
schedule also looked at better coordina-
tion and linkage with the St. Helens to
Portland and PCC/Rock Creek/ Willow
Creek Transit stops. Other changes in-
clude flag stops through-out the system
to allow riders to catch the bus at addi-
tional sites that were not previously part
of the route. Riders using flag stops can
be picked up at the designated flag stop
site by calling our dispatch so that the
driver can be alerted that there is a rider
at a particular flag stop that wants to be
picked up.
“Revising the schedule is the re-
sult of a lot of hours of work from our
Metro West drivers and the computer
skills of Sharon Evinger, a dedicated vol-
unteer who also has a lot of rider experi-
ence in our system.” said Janet Wright,
CCRider’s Transit Director.
“We
couldn’t have done it without their input
and work.”
Riders are encouraged to give
comments on the new schedule so that
improvements in service can continue.
Riders will also see a new schedule for-
mat that will be easier to read and under-
stand, along with additional information
about the public transit system.
For information on the CCRider
Transportation System, riders can go to
www.columbiacountyrider.com for in-
formation or call our dispatch at 503-
366-0159.
To the Editor,
Thank you to Coach Dee and the
VHS Cheerleaders for painting the sta-
dium - it looks great! Paint was provided
by a grant from the True Value Hardware
Foundation, supplies were donated by
Vernonia Florist, painting provided by
our new VHS cheerleaders!
ticipated in the recent United Way Stuff
the Bus campaign. Thanks to your dona-
tions, over $1,700 worth of school sup-
plies will be distributed to Vernonia stu-
dents.
Sponsors included Vernonia True
Value Hardware, Wauna Federal Credit
Union, Vernonia Sentry Market, Ver-
nonia Community Lunch Program, and
Costco. Thank you for allowing our stu-
dents to start out with what they need for
this school year!
Readers Lend Their Voices...
Betsy Miller
Vernonia Schools volunteer
To the Editor,
The Vernonia Schools would like
to thank everyone who donated and par-
Betsy Miller
Vernonia Schools volunteer
HOW TO SEND LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Vernonia Connects aims to strengthen community vitality by building communication,
connectivity and collaboration among local leaders, organizations and community members.
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.
