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About Vernonia's voice. (Vernonia, OR) 2007-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 7, 2013)
february7 2013 VERNONIA’S reflecting the spirit of our community Holocaust Survivor Speaks at Banks Christian Academy Alter Wiener, one of the very entire time with nothing to eat or drink few Holocaust survivors still living in for a day and a half. He spent the next the Portland area, spoke to students and four years working in Blechammere; an audience of other Brande, Gross Mas- visitors at the Banks selwitz, and Klet- Christian Academy tendorf work camps on Monday January and attempting to 28, 2013. survive. He spent Wiener, the final months of who is eighty-six his captivity at the years old, shared Waldenburg Con- his life story with centration Camp. approximately 200 Wiener says he avid listeners, as was reunited with he recounted the his older brother at horrors of the Nazi the first camp, Ble- occupation in his chammere; he did homeland of Poland not recognize him and his survival in initially because five different forced the harsh conditions labor camps over had changed him so three years. Wie- much. Wiener says ner was liberated by in the morning the Russian soldiers in prisoners were fed Alter Wiener speaking at 1945. two slices of bread Banks Christian Academy. Mr. Wiener’s made mostly from saw autobiography “From a Name to a dust and in the evening they received an Number” was published in April 2007. extremely weak broth. He has spoken and told his story in Wiener tells a very moving Oregon and Washington to almost 800 story about how, at one camp he was audiences at universities, colleges, working in a factory where there were schools, churches, synagogues, prisons, also German citizens working. The companies and book clubs. He has been Germans were told not to have any con- interviewed by radio, TV stations and tact with the prisoners, but one woman newspapers. would hide a sandwich in a secret hid- Wiener told the Banks Chris- ing place each day for Wiener. Wiener tian Academy audience that when he says she did this each day for a month was thirteen years old his father was straight until he was moved to another murdered by Nazi soldiers in 1939. He camp. “She risked her life for me and I said that after his father was killed, as a don’t know why she did it,” says Wie- Jew he was no longer allowed to attend ner. Wiener says he returned to that school. He was sent to a work camp town many years later hoping to find in June of 1942 at the age of fifteen, the woman and thank her, but was un- traveling in a cattle car and standing the continued on page 11 inside 5 city administrator report the trip: 9 worth good things 10 “coming to ground” 12 vhs winter sports report 19 the scuttlebutt Rose Avenue Project Gains Momentum The Vernonia City Council held a workshop on Friday February 1, 2013 to discuss the proposed Rose Avenue Project, which would help relocate three social service facilities within the Vernonia community. The Council met with representatives from the Vernonia Health Board, the Vernonia Senior Center, and the Vernonia Cares Food Bank. All three organizations suffered damage in the 2007 flood and are interested in moving their facilities out of the flood zone. The City of Vernonia controls a piece of property between Rose and Weed Avenues at Cougar Street, next to the new West Oregon continued on page 4 free volume7 issue3 Lady Loggers Win League Title The Vernonia Lady Loggers defeated Riverdale 49-40 on Saturday February 2, 2013 to clinch first place and the championship of the Northwest League in front of a raucous crowd at the Vernonia gym. The win guarantees the Lady Loggers a spot in the first round of the State Playoffs. It was the sixteenth win in a row for head coach Steve Whiteman and the Vernonia girls. Vernonia trailed by nine points with just five minutes left in the game but came storming back to overtake the Mustangs behind the senior leadership of Samantha Wallace, Samantha Lindauer, and Cierra Hensen. The Lady Loggers also received tough inside play and several key baskets from Stephanie Castro, and received lots of help from Julia Fletcher and Meagan Sullivan. The Lady Loggers play their final regular season game at home against Nestucca on Friday February 8, which will also be Senior Night. The Vernonia Health Board is pleased to announce that they plan to open the doors of the new Vernonia Health Center on February 19, 2013. The Vernonia Health Center will operate under the management of The Public Health Foundation of Columbia County. Medical oversight will be pro- vided by Oregon Health & Sciences Uni- versity (OHSU). The Health Center will be open on Mondays and Wednesdays from 1:00 to 5:00 PM and Tuesdays from 3:00 to 7:00 PM. Appointments are currently being scheduled, but according to Health Board members the response has exceed- ed expectations and they are currently already booked through the beginning of March. Appointments can be made by calling 800-244-4870. “The community is showing that there is a need and that there is a desire to access services made available here in their own community,” says Vernonia Health Board President, Marie Krahn. The Health Center will be staffed by a Nurse Practitioner, Tera Roberts, and a Medical Assistant, Laura Onder- donk. The Health Board is also actively working to regain rural health clinic sta- tus which will allow for a broader base of clients that can be seen. They are also going through the credentialing process in order to be able to accept most major insurances. Potential clients are encour- aged to contact the Public Health Foun- dation of Columbia County at 503-397- 4651 to ask if they accept their insurance. Anyone who is part of Care Oregon or have children in the Oregon Healthy Kids program are already accepted and can be seen immediately. “One of my favorite things about having the clinic re-open here in Vernonia is the fact that we are going to be able to see so many people,” says Krahn. “Virtu- ally everybody can be seen, which is how it should be. I am so thrilled about that.” The Health Board is asking that if community members would like to support the efforts of the Health Board to provide health care in Vernonia, they can schedule appointments at the clinic and also tell others in the community about the re-opening of the Health Center. In other news, the Vernonia Health Board is continuing to move for- ward with plans to build a new facility to house the Health Center. Currently the Health Board is working with Scott Ed- wards Architects as their project manager and who will also create pre-design plans for the building. The Health Board is getting ready to kick off their Capital Campaign to raise the remaining funds needed for the new construction. Current plans call for the new building to be part of the Rose Avenue Project, a group of social service buildings that would be devel- oped between Rose and Weed Avenues at Cougar Street. “The Health Board’s goal is to do the project debt free,” says Krahn. “We feel that the people in this commu- nity have already taken on enough with the passing of the school bond and the expected future costs of the wastewater treatment plant. With those two obliga- tions that the community already has, the Health Board is really dedicated to this being a debt free project for the commu- nity.” The Vernonia Health Board does have some buyout money they will re- ceive from FEMA for their current build- Vernonia Health Center Ready to Open February 19 continued on page 10