4
community bulletin board/letters to the editor
april18
2013
Joy Creek
Nursery
18th Annual
Columbia County Offers Classes
Spring Garden Fair Joy Creek believes their classes
are a good way for gardeners of all
Tomato Sale
levels to improve their knowledge
of plants and their gardening skills.
The classes also offer an opportu-
nity for gardeners to meet others
who share a similar passion. Joy
Creek hopes they give confidence
to the beginner and inspiration to
the long-time gardener.
Saturday
April 27, 2013
9:00 AM - 3:00 PM
Certified Master Gardeners offer 5,000 to-
matoes in more than 30 varieties for only
$1.50 per plant, tomato and general gar-
dening information, raffle tickets, hourly
prizes and displays. Dozens of local ven-
dors offering garden related products.
Please carpool.
Location: St. Helens High School
2375 Gable Rd, St Helens, OR 97051
Contact: Wes Bevans
Phone: 503-543-3725
1:00 Sunday, April 21 - free
Vegetables in Containers - with
Rose Marie Nichols-McGee
1:00 Sunday, April 28 - free
Potted: Planting Containers for
Sun & Shade - with Robert Hyland
Visit their website for a full listing
of classes offered.
http://joycreek.com/education.htm
20300 NW Watson Road, Scap-
poose, OR 97056
(503) 543-7474
Readers Lend Their Voices...
To the Oregon State Senate Judiciary
Committee,
Concerning the Anti-Gun
Bills Aimed at Law-Abiding Citizens
currently being considered, these bills
attempt to create a “solution” to a non-
existent problem and instead create a new
class of criminals amongst otherwise
law-abiding citizens. Please do not place
any additional requirements on a group
of people who have already gone out of
their way to abide by the law to exercise
a constitutional right. Concealed
Handgun licensed (CHL) holders are not
a threat to any Oregonian. Crime rates
are reduced in states with CHL holders.
Existing law is enough, prosecute those
who break the law not those who have
already taken overt steps not to break the
law.
Secondly, though I am for
commercial sales and gun shows
requiring background checks, I am
opposed to any additional changes to
regulations of private sales. If you where
to look at existing state and federal law
there is already necessary statutes to
address and regulate potentially adverse
behavior. Again, do not waist taxpayer
time trying to find people who may break
the law in a group who classically is not,
make those who break the law do the
time for the laws they break. Enforce,
don’t punish.
I am a gun owner and I vote!
Joel R. Glass
Father, Hunter, Shooter
Vernonia, OR
To the Editor,
I read with interest your story
on the American Legion Building in
Vernonia.
From an early age I hung around
that building. It was only a couple of
blocks from my home. I would go there
to watch boxing and wrestling which
were regular events at the American
Legion Building. And dances were held
there almost every Saturday night.
During World War II, the Army
had several people (five to seven is my
guess and that is just a guess) stationed
at the building as they manned a station
(radar? radio?) in the hills near Vernonia.
They slept upstairs in the second floor
area over the kitchen and front door area.
They had a Jeep vehicle at their disposal
and I hung around for a chance to ride
in that Jeep. I would further guess that
they ate at a local Vernonia Restaurant
but they might very well have done their
own cooking upstairs in their “Legion
Barracks.”
I worked at the Pal Shop ice
cream parlor just up the street from the
American Legion Building and when off
duty those Army fellows spent a lot of
time there.
Between the two World Wars
I and II the American Legion Building
in Vernonia was a busy place when
open for some event. On Armistice
Day (back then, always November 11)
was a big day at the Legion. Nov. 11,
1918, the eleventh hour of the eleventh
day of the eleventh month was when
the official ending of World War I took
2013 Vernonia Lake Trout Stocking
by Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife
April 8
April 29
3,000 Rainbow
2,500 Rainbow
Stocking dates subject to change without notice
Library Conversation
Explores Unheeded Warnings
On April 20, 2013, at 4:00 PM
the Vernonia Public Library presents
“Slow Learners: Two Hundred
Years of Unheeded Warnings,” a
free conversation with Oregon State
University professor emeritus Richard
Clinton. This program is hosted by
Friends of the Vernonia Public Library
and Vernonia Library Board and
sponsored by Oregon Humanities.
Cogent, compelling warnings
about exponential population growth,
misplaced faith in technology to
solve our problems, that greed and
envy are treacherous underpinnings
for an economic system – have been
ignored for more than two centuries.
These warnings have come from some
of the best minds of their times and
have often been endorsed by other
respected scientists and thinkers,
yet their influence on public policy
and individual behavior has been
negligible.
Clinton is professor emeritus
of political science at Oregon State
University, where he currently teaches
place. And every November 11, at 11:00
AM, the Legion members, seemingly
led by Cass Bergerson, would put up
eleven sticks of dynamite on sticks of
lath, separated in the field north side of
the Legion Building. Cass would begin
with a blow torch and light the fuses to
the dynamite, one at a time. Thus there
would be 11 sticks of dynamite going off
within a very short time of each other,
commemorating the day and time. I’m
sure they had other festivities going on
in the building for the members. Then,
in the afternoon the Legion members
would assemble with rifles and march
through Vernonia. All had military rifles,
webbing belts, Legion caps. And there
seemed to be a lot of them. I can still see
them in my mind.
And the dances at the Legion
Building on Saturday nights? A wood
stove on the south side middle. Made
out of oil drums, one above the other.
Silver in color. Bench seat along south
and north sides of building. Men on
the south side, women on the north
side. Musical groups were usually Red
O’Brien’s group from Vernonia (Red,
his stepsons Dick and Don Renfro,
Harold Fowler, Mrs. Borton and Larry
Brady singing) and sometimes “Arky
and His Jolly Cowboys” (they were out
of Portland were on the radio). Music
would begin and men would rush across
floor to ask their lady of choice for a
dance. At intermission, the ladies of the
Legion would provide a meal (for a fee)
from the kitchen. At Intermission there
was a lot of rushing out to the parked
cars to imbibe in stronger drink than
the coffee provided inside the building.
Occasionally there would be a fight.
The mood was usually quite lively after
intermission.
Bob New
Brush Prairie, WA
To the Editor,
As one who has been regularly
involved as an educator and volunteer in
efforts to improve the quality of life in
the Rainier area since 1970, I applaud the
Rainier City Council’s recent decision to
in the Honors College. Clinton was
twice a Senior Fulbright Scholar-
facilitator in Peru and has been the
Hanna Distinguished Chair in Latin
American Politics at Rollins College
in Florida. He is the author of three
books and dozens of journal articles,
book chapters, and essays; the editor
or co-editor of three volumes; and,
most recently, the co-author of
Environmental Politics and Policy: A
Comparative Approach (McGraw Hill,
2002).
Through the Conversation
Project, Oregon Humanities offers
free programs that engage community
members in thoughtful, challenging
conversations about ideas critical to
our daily lives and our state’s future.
For more information about this free
community discussion, please contact
the Vernonia Public Library at 503-
429-1818 or library@vernonia-or.gov.
O. Hm.
Oregon Humanities
oppose the expansion (rezoning) of the
Port Westward industrial land for a coal
terminal that would entail massive rail
shipments through Rainier.
The Council correctly foresees
that the quality of life and the economic
conditions in Rainier will be adversely
affected by the Port’s extreme expansion
plans. Rainier’s situation is such that a
moderate use of the existing railroad
infrastructure for a limited number of
short train passages per day, is the only
appropriate choice for city and county
(and port) planners. Unit trains of coal
and/or petroleum, each comprised of
125 or more cars and measuring one-
and-a-third miles long, will not allow
the city to function effectively and
safely without millions of dollars being
spent for redesigning and rebuilding
city and rail infrastructure, resulting in
the uprooting and removal of dozens of
businesses, families and city services.
Since the Port of St. Helens
board and some of our County officials
seem determined to roll over our town
without even conducting a decent
economic impact study in their frantic
efforts to join the coal-and-oil export
craze, it is heartening that our city
leaders have the courage to insist that
Rainier must not be “collateral damage”
from this wholly misguided and foolish
enterprise.
Darrel Whipple
Rainier, OR
HOW TO SEND LETTERS
TO THE EDITOR
Vernonia’s Voice welcomes and re-
quests your thoughts, opinions and
ideas. Please include your name, ad-
dress and phone number, limit your
letters to 300 words or less. Verno-
nia’s Voice reserves the right to edit,
omit, respond or ask for a response
to letters submitted. We will print let-
ters space permitting. Deadline is the
1st and 3rd Monday of each month.
Email: scott@vernoniasvoice.com or
mail to: Letters, PO Box 55, Verno-
nia, OR 97064.
