september4 2014
VERNONIA’S
volume8    issue17
www.vernoniasvoice.com
reflecting the spirit of our community
Candidates for City
Council Announced
VHS
Fall
Sports
Preview
Four candidates have filed paperwork to
run in the November election for Vernonia City
Council.
Current Mayor Josette Mitchell will run
again. She will face a challenge from former
Mayor Sally Harrison. Mitchell defeated Harrison
in 2010.
Jill Hult and Mike Seager were the only
candidates to file for two open City Council seats.
Current Councilors Donna Webb and Bruce
McNair declined to run again.
Turn to page 11
Meyer Memorial
Trust to Host
Community Meetings
Meyer Memorial Trust invites the public
to three community meetings along Oregon’s
North Coast from Tuesday, September 23 through
Thursday, September 25, 2014.
Program officer Sally Yee will host
the ‘Two Way Street Tour’ (TWST) meetings
in Tillamook, Clatsop and Columbia counties,
offering advice about seeking grants from Meyer
Memorial Trust and collecting information about
the needs of nonprofits and communities in the
area.
Louis King, a program officer with Spirit
Mountain Community Fund, will join Yee in
Tillamook. MMT Trustee John Emrick will join
Yee in Cannon Beach, while the Foundation’s
new chief investment officer, Rukaiyah Adams,
will be on hand for the TWST in Vernonia.
The Two Way Street Tour program was
created to increase MMT’s outreach efforts, help
nonprofit organizations better understand the
Foundation and its programs, and give MMT an
opportunity to learn more about the communities
and organizations it serves.
MMT staff has held more than 90 TWST
meetings throughout Oregon and Southwest
Washington since 2007. You’ll find more
continued on page 7
inside
3
when the circus
came to town
10
the value
of volunteers
13
vhs fall
sports schedules
free
Kimberley Strassel Wins Bradley Prize
By Scott Laird
There’s an old saying, “You
can take the girl out of the country,
but you can’t take the country out of
the girl.” Kimberley Strassel is liv-
ing proof that that old saying is defi-
nitely true.
Kimberley Strassel, a native
of Buxton and graduate of Banks
High School, was recently named
one of four recipients of the Bradley
Prize for 2014. Strassel was honored
at the John F. Kennedy Center for the
Performing Arts on June 18, 2014
where she received her award at a
gala celebration.
Strassel, who has worked for
the Wall Street Journal for her entire
professional career, writes the week-
ly ‘Potomac Watch’ column, explain-
ing American politics from an edito-
rial perspective.
The Bradley Prize is a
grant that recognizes individuals
for contributions of excellence and
is awarded by the politically con-
servative ‘Lynde and Harry Bradley
Foundation.’ Up to four prizes of
$250,000 each are awarded annually
to individuals who are considered
“innovative thinkers.”
I recently caught up with
Strassel while she was relaxing in
the river at Vernonia’s Airport Park
during her annual two week Oregon/
west coast vacation. Strassel, her
husband, and children traveled from
the east coast to visit with family and
attend the Banks BBQ in August.
Strassel and nine year old son Oliver
were heading to Alaska the next day
to go salmon fishing.
Strassel, the oldest of four
sisters in her family, graduated from
Banks High School in 1990 where
she was co-valedictorian of her class.
She grew up hunting, fishing, shoot-
ing, riding motor bikes and even
driving in demolition derbies.
“I was really fortunate,”
says Strassel. “I had parents who
really exposed me to a lot of things.
When I gave my speech at the Brad-
ley Foundation awards cer-
emony I talked about how
lucky I was to have people
my whole life who told me
‘There is no conventional
story line for what you have
to be.’ We had four girls in
our family and we didn’t
follow any gender stereo-
types. We all grew up driv-
ing motorcycles and learned
how to use chainsaws. My
dad told me when I was fif-
teen that I couldn’t have a
car until I had taken it apart
and put it back together. So
when I thought about going
off to the east coast to go to
college, everyone said, ‘Of
course, you can do that.’
No one ever said ‘You can’t
do that,’ or “That’s not what
we do.’ I’ve always been fortu-
nate to have people who just said I
should do what I want and told me
if I worked hard enough I could do
whatever I wanted.”
Strassel attended Princeton
University, graduating in 1994 from
the Woodrow Wilson School of Pub-
lic Policy.
“I think there are kids in our
schools here who just don’t even
know that it’s possible to do some-
thing else,” said Strassel while dis-
cussing the career and life choices
for local students in rural Oregon.
“It’s important for kids to know that
they can do good things; for every-
one to know they have choices.”
Instead of heading on to
law school following her graduation
from Princeton like she was plan-
ning, Strassel took an entry level po-
sition with the Wall Street Journal,
working as a news assistant in Brus-
sels. She was promoted to reporter
after eighteen months, taking a post
in London. After five years, Strassel
returned to the States, continuing to
work in the news department for the
Journal in New York. Strassel says
after about a year there was an open-
ing on the Editorial page and she
made an unusual career move and
applied for the position.
“I think they were so sur-
prised to have someone from the
news side come and ask for the po-
sition, that they just gave me the
job,” explains Strassel. “The people
on the news side view the editorial
pages as ‘The Dark Side.’ I’ve been
there ever since.”
Strassel says she and her
family visit the Banks/Buxton/Ver-
nonia area, “...at least twice a year.”
continued on page 10