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
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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
