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About Vernonia's voice. (Vernonia, OR) 2007-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 18, 2016)
august18 2016 www.vernoniasvoice.com Where Are They Now? Dillon Dethlefs Dillon Dethlefs used his “Chance to Become” Schol- arship to learn a trade and start a promising career. By Scott Laird During a re- cent heat wave this summer, when tem- peratures rose well above 90 degrees in Vernonia, Dillon Dethlefs was outside working in even hot- ter conditions. “I was working out in Gol- dendale, Washington and it was 104 de- grees,” said Dethlefs, in a phone interview at the end of his work Dillon Dethlefs working on a wind turbine at the day. “I was out there Windy Flats Wind Farm in Goldendale, WA. working on a wind experience was awesome. I partici- turbine.” Dethlefs is a graduate of pated in sports. And our class sizes Vernonia High School (VHS), class were not too big, so if you ever had of 2012, who suffered through the a problem you could just go ask the after effects of the flood in 2007 teacher and they would sit down when he was in middle school. He and spend some time with you. If it attended classes in modular class- wasn’t for the teachers there at VHS rooms, with no lockers for students, I wouldn’t have made it through. and was in the last class to graduate I’m sure I wouldn’t have graduated before the school district moved to from a bigger school somewhere else.” their new campus. Dethlefs was a four year let- While he says he struggled in high school quite a bit, the small terman in wrestling and a three year size of VHS really worked in his letterman in varsity football. He favor. “I wasn’t sure I was going to also played club rugby in St. Helens graduate,” he says. “But my school during his senior year. continued on page 12 reflecting the spirit of our community School District to Integrate Standard Response Protocol By Scott Laird The Vernonia School District (VSD) has officially adopted a new Standard Response Proto- col (SRP) which will be implemented beginning this school year. The SRP will provide administra- tion, staff, students, first re- sponders and families with a uniformed response to any emergency incident. Infor- mation about the SRP was sent out to all students and parents this summer as part of the school registration packet. The SRP is based, not on individual scenarios, but instead provides estab- lished actions for all emer- gency events including weather events, fires, acci- dents, intruders, and other threats to student safety. “The safety of our students and staff is critical for us as a school district and this is another measure we can continue to build on to ensure our kids are safe while they are here at school,” says Superinten- dent Aaron Miller. This SRP was de- veloped by the “I Love You Guys” foundation and is being used by school dis- tricts nationwide to advance student and school facility safety. “This refines the language we use into uni- formed and consistent vo- cabulary,” says Miller. “And this way we can share information with parents so they understand our commu- nications.” The “I Love You Guys” foundation was started by Ellen and John- Micheal Keyes following the death of their daughter Emily. Emily died when a gunman entered Platte Can- yon High School in Colora- do on September 26, 2006, held seven girls hostage, and eventually shot and killed Emily. While Emily was being held hostage she sent her parents a text message stating, “I love you guys.” “This was a positive response to a family’s loss,” said VSD’s Marie Knight, who has received training Community Action Team: The First 50 Years Part 6 – Houselessness Comes to Columbia County As large-scale homelessness appeared in America in the mid-80s, CAT added services for homeless families and in- dividuals through a variety of state and By Leanne Murray federal programs. As those programs and funding streams have changed, the When Community Action Team team at CAT has also watched the nature (CAT) opened its doors in 1966, they pri- of homelessness change. marily served older adults and children. In fact, it has changed so much that there is a growing trend to use the term houseless instead of homeless. When most Americans hear the word homeless, they conjure an image of someone shaggy and dirty, lazy and dis- honest, maybe addicted. No one would deny that there are individuals for whom burning that description is fairly representative. down the mill But more and more, that stereotype is less accurate for the majority of people who technically qualify as homeless ac- 2016 Jamboree cording to measures set by the Depart- & Logging Show ment of Housing and Urban Develop- ment (HUD). HUD does not consider a tent or a public place to be adequate echoing and most people would agree. evergreen day camp housing, However, there are others who, at least temporarily, would consider their tent their home. This is one reason why the term houseless has been introduced. my fair lady Another, possibly more signifi- cant, reason for the new term lies behind an effort to dispel the prevalent stereo- type of the homeless population. For the inside 3 10 11 19 free VERNONIA’S volume10 issue16 vast majority of those who experience houselessness, they do everything they can to avoid it or to get out of it. Some- times it becomes unavoidable when life takes a detour: a job lost, an expensive health crisis, a dissolved relationship. To use a metaphor borrowed from medicine, people experiencing homelessness/houselessness can be found on a broad spectrum. There is a saying among families who have a child with autism, “If you’ve met one person with autism, you’ve met one person with autism.” The next one you meet is likely to exhibit very different traits. People representing one end of the spectrum might not be able to speak aloud or ad- equately control their muscles; they may need some degree of supervision and care for their entire life. At the other end of the spectrum you’ll find individuals who are able to maintain good jobs and relationships with relatively few barri- ers. You may not even know they have autism. So is the spectrum that rep- resents homelessness. Yes, there are people who do not have the skills or re- sources to effectively function in society on their own. And there is another end to the spectrum. Elizabeth Muthersbaugh* is the perfect example. She is originally from in implementing the SRP. “They decided to move forward and try to improve things for school districts and take their tragedy and turn it into a positive.” S u p e r i n t e n d e n t Miller, who has also at- tended a training, as did VSD staff member Rachel Wilcoxen, has been in the audience twice to hear John- Michael Keyes speak. “He speaks at many events for school administrators all across the country,” says Miller. “This really is a na- tionwide movement and a response to school shootings and an attempt to develop standard responses that are going to help decrease the damage.” The SRP premise is simple – there are four spe- cific Actions that can be per- formed during an incident. Training materials provide an icon for each Action, fol- lowed by a Directive. Ac- tions are carried out by all active participants including continued on page 16 Columbia County and has been back since 1988. Since then she has worked at the same local employer, moving up in the ranks for almost 30 years. She raised her family here, she plans to retire here. There is just one significant prob- lem. When she stops working, she will only have her Social Security benefit to support herself, a net total of $1,008 per month. She will not be able to afford to stay in the rental home she has lived in since 1989. Last year, at age 68, Muthers- baugh was hospitalized three different times with pneumonia and could only work part-time when she was able to return. She had already worked through two bouts of breast cancer treatments in 2004 and 2011. She is a hard worker, a loving mother and grandmother, a re- sponsible neighbor, and thrifty by na- ture. Her Toyota is a 2001 model and her adult granddaughter lives with her to share expenses. She is full of gratitude for her life and her health. You would enjoy meeting her. And yet, Muthersbaugh is genu- inely afraid that she will become home- less after she retires at the end of the year. Her fear is not unfounded. And cir- cumstances just like hers are becoming commonplace; it’s a big concern. continued on page 9
