april7 2016
VERNONIA’S
volume10 issue7
reflecting the spirit of our community
www.vernoniasvoice.com
Nicole DeWitt Ready to
Run in Boston Marathon
Vernonia resident Nicole De-
Witt is getting ready to head east to run
in the Boston Marathon on Monday,
April 18, 2016.
DeWitt, who will run with
30,000 other runners in the 26 mile
event, qualified to run in Boston with
a time of 3 hours 27 minutes when she
ran the Portland Marathon last year.
She needed to run a 3:35:00 to qualify
for Boston.
Portland was the very first
marathon she had ever competed
in. “I set a pretty high standard for
myself to qualify for Boston in my first
free
marathon,” says DeWitt. “I knew it
was possible because I had run several
half marathons over the last couple of
years; that’s been my race of choice
because they’re easy to train for. It
takes a lot to train for a marathon,
especially with a family.”
DeWitt is married with two
boys, aged 3 and 5. She works full
time as a massage therapist - part time
at Nike and part time in a private prac-
tice.
Formerly Nicole Franz, De-
Witt is a 2007 graduate of Vernonia
High School where she ran both cross
country and track. “I’ve been running
competitively for a long time,” she
says.
For those who don’t want to
do the math, DeWitt’s time of 3:27:00
in the Portland Marathon equates to an
average pace of 7 minutes 55 seconds
per mile. DeWitt is hoping to lower
her time to 3:15:00 at Boston and says
so far her training times are encourag-
ing and are pointing towards hitting
continued on page 8
Where Are the Vernonia Police?
Recently Vernonia area citizens
have been expressing concerns on social
media about the lack of a law enforce-
ment presence in and around the Verno-
nia community.
The Vernonia Police Department
(VPD) currently consists of four mem-
bers: Chief Michael Conner, and Officers
Shawn Carnahan, Matt Brady and Cody
Pesio.
Pesio is currently at Police Acad-
emy, which lasts for several months, and
is not available for duty. Chief Conner
has continually updated the City Council
on Pesio’s progress at the Academy.
According to City Administrator
Josette Mitchell, Chief Conner has been
dealing with some family and health is-
sues, and has needed to periodically take
some extra personal time.
Officer Carnahan has regularly
been seen on duty and patrol.
When asked about the status of
Officer Brady, and rumors that he is on
Administrative Leave, Mitchell declined
to comment, stating that she could not
openly discuss employee matters at this
time.
Mitchell confirmed that, since
the VPD does not have coverage 24 hours
a day, seven days a week, it has been the
policy of the VPD to not advertise or dis-
cuss officer duty schedules.
“We do have an intergovernmen-
tal agreement with the Sheriff, so when
we have officers who need personal time,
or when we don’t have officers on duty, or
when our numbers are down, we do have
coverage from the county,” said Mitchell
in a recent interview. “They won’t come
for a barking dog. They will come when
there is a threat to life or property.”
“People also need to understand
the difference between the City and the
County,” continued Mitchell. “If you
live in the county, our Vernonia Police
are not your law enforcement. There is
an issue with this. People think they have
a Vernonia address so the Vernonia police
should come when they call. Our insur-
ance will not cover our officers if they go
and respond to something, without back-
up, in the county on a call that is not ours.
Our guys participate and assist in major
crimes and major incidents in the county,
but if you live in the county, the Sheriff’s
Department is your law enforcement that
covers you.”
Grace Fine Arts to Hold Auction
Grace Fine Arts Academy will
hold an art show and silent auction
featuring the work of students on April
29, 2016.
Each student’s work from the
spring semester of classes will be on
display and available for bidding at
the Grace Family Fellowship church in
the gymnasium. The auction will run
from 7:00-7:30 pm; public voting for
the show will also take place during this
time. An awards ceremony will follow
the auction.
Kerri Boutwell, the instructor
for Grace Fine Arts, says the auction
will benefit two separate causes: CASA
for Children of Multnomah, Washing-
ton, & Columbia Counties and World
Vision.
CASA (Court Appointed Spe-
inside
3
vrfpd needs
our support
11
time to
kick the butt
14
oregon
legislative wrap up
17
what do our
senior citizens need?
to my students, that
cial Advocates) are
beauty and art is not
adults who volunteer
trivial and has great
to assist children go-
power to create posi-
ing through the trau-
tive change and do
ma of the foster care
good in the world, and
system.
this is a really practi-
World Vision
cal way for them to
is an international
see that. They’re go-
partnership that helps
poor and oppressed
ing to make some-
thing, give it up as a
children around the
donation, people will
world. Boutwell says
bid on it, and then that
funds raised from the
auction will specifi-
money will go to help
children.”
cally go to help refuge
Boutwell says
children from Syria.
“This is a perfect opportunity her idea was to focus on the humanitarian
for my students to learn that art can be aspects of helping children. “What
used for good,” says Boutwell. “It’s I like about World Vision is that the
one of the main things I want to impart
continued on page 10 Kerri Boutwell instructs some of her art students.
Citizens Hear Update on Oregon LNG Project
Despite several setbacks Oregon water. It could also rely
LNG continues to be a concern on eminent domain to
A group of mostly local citizens
gathered in Vernonia on Thursday,
March 31 to hear an update on the
proposed Oregon LNG project.
Approximately 20 people
joined staff members from Columbia
Riverkeeper to discuss the project that
would transport fracked natural gas in
a 36 inch pipeline from Canada to a
terminal in Warrenton, on the Oregon
coast, where it would be liquefied
and shipped to foreign markets. The
85 miles of pipeline through Oregon
would traverse Columbia County,
crossing wetlands, forests, timberlands,
and numerous salmon-bearing streams,
including Rock Creek, four miles above
the City of Vernonia’s intake for public
areas around the terminal
and along the pipeline, in
force land owners to
the event of an accident,
have also played a role
provide easements for the
in the opposition to the
pipeline.
project.
The
proposed
Local activists around
mega
terminal
in
Warrenton could export
Warrenton and along the
over 1 billion cubic feet
pipeline route have been
of gas per day, an amount
vocal in their opposition
to the project, which has
greater than the entire
already been rejected
state of Oregon’s daily
usage, and would require
several times during its
Dan
Serres
permitting process.
over 1.2 million cubic
of Columbia Riverkeeper
Despite several
yards of dredging in
critical salmon habitat in the Columbia rejections on numerous levels, Oregon
River Estuary. LNG tankers coming and LNG continues to appeal decisions and
going from the terminal would disrupt appears to be intent on continuing to
recreational and commercial fishing, an attempt to construct the pipeline and
terminal in their proposed locations.
important part of the local economy.
Concerns about safety for the
continued on page 7
