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About Vernonia's voice. (Vernonia, OR) 2007-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 21, 2013)
november21 2013 VERNONIA’S volume7 issue22 www.vernoniasvoice.com free reflecting the spirit of our community Decreasing Cat Overpopulation in Vernonia In July, Kim Tierney responded to an appeal trying to help find homes. from Angela Bettencourt to help a family with a large Many people react when they learn that cats number of feral cats. Tierney agreed to help trap and are released after being trapped, but trap and release is transport these feral and stray kitties to the Feral Cat considered a very effective way to reduce the cat over- Coalition Clinic in Portland. At the Feral Cat Co- population. Feral and stray cats have a rough life and alition clinic, cats and kittens are spay and neutered, don’t tend to live very long. However, a pregnant feral vaccinated, treated for fleas, given antibiotics and pain cat can have 18 kittens during a season, and it is easy to medicine. They are transported see why it is so critical to get them back that same day and after they spayed. Intact males are more spend that night in the trap, are likely to spray and fight. They are released back where they were more likely to spread disease like trapped. FIV through fighting and mating. After Tierney learned Intact males will go out and find about how Vernonia had a reputa- girlfriends and bring them to the tion for having large populations food. of feral and stray cats, she arranged Kittens can be spayed as early with the Feral Cat Coalition to co- as 2 months of age if they weigh at ordinate clinics for Vernonia cats. least 2 pounds. Kittens less than 3 There is no charge for this service, months can be tamed and homed. but the suggested donation per There is now a list of community cat is $30 but any donation level volunteers who have stepped up is welcome. Since July, Tierney to either socialize feral kittens or with the help of many caregivers nurse young ones that have been has taken in 132 cats and kittens. found. Creatures Pet Store has An additional 60 are scheduled for helped place many abandoned and the next month. Since this effort feral kittens. Michal Smith, owner began, many others in the com- of Creatures, has also contributed Kim Tierney with an easy to make munity have stepped up to help by money for veterinary care and outdoor cat shelter. Plans are available nursing and socializing kittens and has spent significant time nursing at the local hardware stores. many kittens back to health. If you find kittens less than 3 months old, catch them or ask Tierney for help trapping them so they can be tamed and placed into homes. In the last several months entire neighborhoods have worked together to trap and care for the stray and feral cats in their neighborhoods. Several neighbor- Kittens that have been caught and tamed have been available for adoption at Creatures Pet Store. hoods have tackled their feral cat problems, fixing the adults and trapping kittens so they can be tamed and rehomed. Winter is a critical time to keep up trapping because cats don’t normally reproduce until spring. What doesn’t work is to ignore the situation. Abandoning or dumping cats is illegal, cruel and makes FEMA Compliance in the City of Vernonia Vernonia City staff recently met with Christine Shirley, National Flood Insurance Program Coordinator with the Oregon Department of Land Conserva- tion and Development. She reviewed a sample of open file issues from the 1996-1998 flood recovery effort as well as discussed in general terms the plan to conduct a Community Assistance Visit soon to review all of the more recent flood recovery projects since 2007. Shirley also reviewed a small sample of properties that are held by fi- nancial institutions and/or were acquired inside 7 out of foreclosure. The State will pro- vide the City with guidance on modifica- tions to the appeal process for substan- tial damaged buildings when acquired out of foreclosure, guidance on the use of substantial damage and substantial improvement rules where the assessed value for improvements is a fraction of the pre-flood value when acquired through foreclosure, and will assist the City in securing information that would support the creation of a floodplain man- agement program. The City will review their files and work with Columbia County flood recovery staff over the next two months to ensure that are files are com- plete. Any deficiencies that the good ol’ days 11 meet the exchange students 12 vhs fall sports 15 vrfpd are found will generate a phone call and/ or letter to property owners asking them to provided information for City files. Working with the State, the City will secure a data set to identify, by ad- dress, those buildings that have received any federal assistance (e.g. Increased Cost of Compliance, Hazard Mitigation Grant Program, and Flood Mitigation Assistance). If a property was ever dam- aged by floodwaters and the property owner at that time received a NFIP ben- efit for any portion of that damage, then that property must retain NFIP insurance in perpetuity for that future property owner to have access to any FEMA ben- efit during a future storm event. The City intends to develop a procedure to record a Notice of Desig- A Christmas Carol A one hour, family friendly and 100% FREE performance for Vernonia! December 7 at 7:30 at the Grange Hall Bag&Baggage Productions, Hillsboro’s only professional theatre, is proud to present a free rehearsed reading of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol!, as part of the “Spirit of Christmas in Vernonia” celebration on December 7th. Six professional actors in Victorian costume will perform a 1 hour version of this classic holiday tale followed by a short post-show discussion about the role that professional theatre can play in YOUR community! The performance is FREE for all and is 100% family friendly! Come and experience Bag&Baggage’s unique, tongue-in-cheek style and celebrate the holidays with laughter! For more information about Bag&Baggage, please visit our website at www.bagnbaggage.org. continued on page 10 nation of Substantial Damage against flood enforcement properties that are not in compliance. This will be reviewed by the City Attorney and City Council prior to enactment. This will assist with bank owned properties in particular, as there are no disclosure requirements for prop- erties acquired through bank and HUD owned foreclosure sales processes. The City’s ability to maintain complete files is contingent on the com- munity working proactively with them. This includes pulling building permits for all work performed on your property – as a physical check of City files is a component of a Community Assistance Visit. Having all flood foundation vents open and clear is a second major element of the review. continued on page 16
