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
