4 letters to the editor/community bulletin board may7 2015 Readers Lend Their Voices... To the Editor, As some of you may know, the Vernonia Rural Fire Protection District has placed two measures on the ballot this month. Measure 5-245, is a General Obligation Bond to replace our out of date pumper tender. Measure 5-246, is a Local Option Levy to hire on a full time training officer. Vernonia RFPD, has been publishing information in Vernonia’s Voice, on the Facebook page and at the Annual Pancake Feed. Up until May 1st, I had not been approached about either Measure. I was very pleased when a couple community members contacted me after receiving their ballots in the mail. I was able to explain why exactly the District is in dire need of a water tender and a Training Officer. I enjoyed our conversations and the opportunity to educate them on what the department has been up to. I wanted to write this letter to remind the community that I am always available to hear your concerns, answer your questions about the measures and/or how things are going within our District. Please feel free, as you get your ballots, to call or email me with your questions. The District Board of Director’s meeting is May 12th this month and is a public meeting. This is a great way to get up to date information from our department volunteers and employees. An informed voter is a smart voter! Thank you for your time and continued support of the Vernonia RFPD! Chief Dean Smith Vernonia Rural Fire Protection District firechief@vernoniarfpd.us 503-429-8252 Station 503-709-8821 Cell To the Editor, This was an email that I received this morning regarding one of our riders who rides on the St. Helens to Portland bus. Many people say that our buses are running empty and that we don’t carry people to jobs and that public transit is not needed in Columbia County. This was not the first email that I received about this issue today either. While we are working very hard to make everyone’s trip as comfortable as possible it is very difficult due to the funding issues we face. We have two 43 passenger buses and four 28 passenger buses. Any changes in the schedule will require additional funding that we don’t have. We appreciate your patience and concerns. Riders can stand if there is no seat available or they can wait for the next bus. Good morning, This morning on the 6:55 AM bus from 1st and Prairie in Scappoose to Portland was so full I was unable to secure a seat and sat on a tool box in the back with another rider on the floor. I have no other choice but to take this bus because I have no other transportation and need to be at work at 7:30 AM downtown. Something needs to be done to provide a safe comfortable mode of transportation from Columbia Need Help? Call for meeting times and locations Columbia Community Mental Health Call 503-397-5211 -or- 1-800-294-5211 For after hours Crisis call: 1-866-866-1426 http://ccmh1.com/crisis.html Narcotics Anonymous NW Region 503-345-9839 http://portlandna.com/ Alcohol Anonymous NW Region 503-366-0667 http://www.pdxaa.com/ HOW TO SEND LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Vernonia’s Voice welcomes and requests your thoughts, opinions and ideas. Please include your name, address and phone number, limit your letters to 300 words or less. Vernonia’s Voice reserves the right to edit, omit, respond or ask for a response to letters submitted. We will print letters space permitting. Deadline is the 1st and 3rd Monday of each month. Email: scott@vernoniasvoice.com or mail to: Letters, PO Box 55, Vernonia, OR 97064. Columbia Humane Society Featured Pet Mabel came to the shelter as part of our California transport program. She is right around 2 years old, and about 95 lbs. She gets along great with other dogs and will be a great addition to any family. Her adoption fee is $165.00. Web: www.columbiahumane.org 2084 Oregon Street St. Helens, OR 97051 Phone: 503-397-4353 Email: animalwelfare@columbiahumane.org County to Multnomah County. John The Staff at CCRider St. Helens, OR To the Editor, I support Katie Cook for Vernonia School District School Board! Katie’s knowledge of the most important issues, volunteer experience, and passion for putting our children first are exactly what Vernonia needs right now. Shawn Lindsay, former State Representative, Hillsboro, OR To the Editor, We so need CCRider for our community. People depend on our transit system to go to work and to school. Patients use it to go for life saving dialysis treatments. CCRider is part of our County infrastructure and infrastructure is one of the things that large businesses look for before becoming part of a community. Please help keep the economy of Columbia County strong. Please help us keep our transit system and help with needed repairs on our county roads. Please support Measure 5-243. Bill Eagle St. Helens To the Editor, There is a real effect on jobs, but it isn’t the jobs the miners would like anyone to think or talk about. CCRider takes people to their jobs in addition to employing real people in our community too. The miners concerns over a small increase in the depletion fee, (which has not been increased or adjusted for inflation in 18 years) is a pretty pathetic argument for not voting yes on Measure 5-243 on May 19th. Many people don’t know that without the passage of Measure 5-243 CCRider and Roads employment will be affected. CCRider has 27 employees. The road department has 21 employees. The issue of jobs that will be affected is always used by the miners as an overblown tactic to scare people into thinking that they will walk away from these valuable resources that they are mining. Even as they expand their hours of operation. Another issue is how many Upcoming Events Friends of the Banks Public Li- brary Plant, Book, and Art Sale - Friday, May 8, 2:00 - 7:00 PM and Saturday, May 9, 9:00 AM - 3:00 PM at Schlegel Hall in Sun- set Park, Banks. Vernonia Community Garden Fair & Plant Sale - Saturday, May 9, 9:00 AM - 3:00 PM at the School Commons. 503-429- 0196 LEED/Green Globes Celebration - Saturday, May 9 at 10:30 AM inside the Vernonia Schools building. Jewell Memorial Scholarship Fundraiser - Saturday, May 16, doors open at 4:00 PM at the Jewell School. 503-717-2234 Election Day - Tuesday, May 19. Guns in America: Exploring the Second Amendment - Wednesday, May 20 at 6:30 PM at the Vernonia Public Library, an Oregon Humanities Conversation Project program. Jr. Salmon Auction - Thursday, May 21, 7:00 PM at the Vernonia Schools Commons. jobs will be affected by riders who rely on CCRider to earn their living. Last year CCRider transported 126,000 riders on their fixed-route services. On the demand-response service they transported over 23,000 riders to doctors, grocery stores, banks, and many other local businesses. Oh yes, Mr. Kemp’s letter stated that CCRider just uses the nicely paved US Hwy 30 when they pick up an elderly, disabled person or a sick person needing to go to dialysis, if that were true then the buses wouldn’t get so beaten up using County roads. CCRider uses County roads just like everyone else does. I have heard that the miners conducted an opinion survey and are tailoring their campaign to focus on jobs. This is even in a climate of economic recovery where they have increased the hours of their mining operations and continued on page 16 Public Certification Test and Drop Sites for the Election to be held Tuesday, May 19, 2015 The Public Certification Test of the counting equipment for the Special Election to be held on May 19, 2015 will be held on Tuesday, May 12, 2015. The testing will begin at 10:00 AM in the County Elections Department. The public is welcome to attend. Drop sites for the election will be as follows: VERNONIA LIBRARY 701 Weed Avenue April 30 - May 18, During Library Hours May 19, 12:00 PM - 8:00 PM RAINIER CITY HALL 106 B Street West April 30 - May 18, During Office Hours May 19, 8:00 AM - 8:00 PM CLATSKANIE LIBRARY 11 Lillich Street April 30 - May 18, During Library Hours May 19, 10:00 AM - 8:00 PM SCAPPOOSE CITY HALL 33568 E. Columbia Avenue April 30 - May 18, During Office Hours May 19, 8:00 AM - 8:00 PM MIST BIRKENFELD RFPD 12525 Highway 292 April 30 - May 18, During Office Hours May 19, 9:00 AM - 8:00 PM COUNTY COURTHOUSE ELECTIONS DEPT. 230 Strand Street St. Helens, OR 97051 8:30 AM - 5:00 PM Mon. – Thu. Election Day - May 19, 7:00 AM - 8:00 PM A drive-by drop box is located in the lower parking lot.