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About Vernonia's voice. (Vernonia, OR) 2007-current | View Entire Issue (June 2, 2016)
june2 2016 VERNONIA’S volume10 issue11 reflecting the spirit of our community www.vernoniasvoice.com Roll On Columbia New music project is reviving Woody Guthrie’s BPA songs month exploring and documenting the BPA region, Seamons is collaborating with musician, folklorist and former BPA employee Bill Murlin, along with By Scott Laird a host of other regional musicians, to In 1941 American folk singer record all of Guthrie’s Columbia River Woody Guthrie spent a month in the songs and release them on one double employ of the U.S. Federal government. album. Guthrie was hired to write songs for a film to be produced by the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) in an ef- fort to help promote the advantages of public electric power. What followed was one of the most creative time periods of Guthrie’s prolific song writing career and result- ed in some of his most famous songs, including “Roll On Columbia,” “The Grand Coulee Dam,” and “Pastures of Plenty.” Now local musician Joe Seamons is giving those songs a chance at a new life. Guthrie wrote 26 songs during his brief but fruitful 30 day visit to the “It’s a very ex- Pacific Northwest. citing project with a He recorded about a lot of engagement,” dozen of the songs in says Seamons about the basement of the the project. BPA office in Port- Many of the land. Although the songs Guthrie wrote originally planned have entered the pop- film never materi- ular consciousness, alized, three songs says Seamons. “But were eventually used too many of them re- in the documentary main quite obscure,” film, Columbia, pro- which is why he and duced by the BPA in Murlin are spear- 1948. Guthrie later heading this new recorded and released project. several of the songs Many Vernoni- himself and pub- Joe Seamons ans are familiar with lished several more Seamon’s past work. in songbooks, but much of his origi- He grew up in Rainier on the Colum- nal material disappeared and was lost. The lost music was rediscovered in the bia River and took a special interest in 1980s, but no one has ever recorded all local northwest folk music early in his life. He spent time with family friend 26 songs. 75 years after Guthrie spent his Hobe Kytr, who wrote and performed continued on page 8 inside free Sullivan, 4 x 100 Relay, Win Track State Championships Relay team breaks state meet record while bringing home the gold Vernonia High School sopho- more Clay Sullivan brought home two state championships from Eugene’s Hayward Field at the 2A State Track and Field Championships on May 19- 20. Sullivan won the 110 meter high hurdles and was part of the state record breaking 4x100 meter relay team that also won gold and included seniors Jared Medearis, Steven Burns and Rob- ert Connor. For Sullivan, Medearis and Conner it was their second state cham- pionship this year as all three were part of the state winning boys basketball team this winter. The 4x100 relay team ran away from the competition, with Connor run- ning the anchor leg and winning by well over 30 meters, in a time of 43.57, a new state meet record. “Medearis got us off to a good start, as he has all year, and we were close to the lead on the first hand-off to Steve Burns,” said Vernonia head coach Byron Brown. “Burns did what he has done all season, separating from the rest of the pack almost immediately. It’s been a beautiful and inspiring thing to see. He just seems to rocket into the lead after getting the hand-off and no- body has been able to stay with him all season. Clay expanded the lead after he and Steve executed a perfect handoff. And then another near-perfect handoff to Connor, who sprinted all alone to the finish.” Sullivan won the 110 meter hurdles in a personal best time of 15.82 to grab his second gold medal of the meet. He later took fourth place in the 300 meter hurdles with a time of 42.03. Sullivan completed his weekend with an eighth place finish in the long jump with a jump of 19’ 10.25”. “Clay led from start to finish in the 110 meter hurdles, dominating the race,” said Brown. “He is an incred- Robert Connor, Jared Medearis, Clay Sullivan and Steven Burns broke the state record on their way to winning the 4x100 state championship. ibly gifted athlete, with a great future. He barely even practices this event—he just goes out and destroys the competi- tion once or twice a week. I’ve never seen or even heard of anything like it. He took up the 300 low hurdles about 3 weeks ago, and finished 4th place at state in a close race. Next year he’ll win that one, too. I just hope the Ver- nonia community understands what a special and unique home-grown young man we have raised here that we can all be proud of.” Conner also had an impres- sive meet, despite battling a hamstring injury all season, taking second in the 100 meter dash with a time of 11.39 and finishing fifth in the 200 meters with a time of 23.59. “It says a lot that Rob- ert accomplished so much despite his season-long injuries,” said Brown. “I feel like we were very fortunate to have continued on page 11 Community Action Team: The First 50 Years Serving Columbia County Part 1: Veterans Services By Leanne Murray 3 salem update 7 where do you read the voice? 9 vhs softball 10 jr. salmon auction 2016 is a big year for Commu- nity Action Team (CAT); this organi- zation, originally formed in Columbia County, is celebrating 50 years of serv- ing our community. Theirs is a history filled with adaptation, expansion and impact. Columbia County joined the state and national Community Action Partnerships trade associations by first providing federally-funded services for young children through Head Start and for older Americans in 1966. Governed by a community-based Board of Direc- tors, it is a stand-alone non-profit orga- nization that receives its primary fund- ing from state and federal programs, CAT’s Veterans Services Officer Russ Clark meeting with community members. along with the occasional foundation grant. Local municipalities and private donors provide the balance. In the early 1980s the federal government reduced funding and began distributing dollars through Commu- nity Service Block Grants through the states. A few years later CAT responded to Oregon’s call for Community Ac- tion Partnership representation in ev- ery county by creating advisory boards in Tillamook and Clatsop counties. In time those boards developed the local agencies we now know as Community Action Resource Enterprises (CARE) in Tillamook and Clatsop Community continued on page 6
