community
october6
An Opinion: Reasons to Vote YES on the School Bond
many people who had little or no direct connection to
our town yet worked very hard to help the Vernonia
community move our schools: private business people,
funders at foundations, government agency workers, lo-
cal, state and federal legislators and their staffs, alumni
who no longer live here, and many others. State Senator
Betsy Johnson made it her personal mission to get that
campus built and took numerous risky political stands
to ensure we got the funding we needed, as did Oregon
Governor Ted Kulongoski, who issued an Executive Or-
der in August of 2010, authorizing all Oregon Depart-
ments to do whatever they could to help the Vernonia
effort. Alissa Keny-Guyer, now a State Representative
from Portland, was the project manager for Oregon
Solutions, and Portland businessman Tom Kelly con-
vened the Oregon Solutions project alongside Colum-
bia County Commissioner Tony Hyde. Jim Eckland, an
alumni who lives in Salem, worked diligently to contact
other alumni and get their support. The list of heroes
just goes on and on. Yes, we passed a $13 million bond,
but now we have a chance to pass this additional bond
to finish this project and offer a very big thank you to all
those who worked so hard to help us achieve our dream.
What if the bond fails? - Let me tell ya, it ain’t gonna
be pretty. (Notice how I used poor grammar to help
make a point about the need for good education?) That
$400,000 debt payment will come out of the District’s
General Fund every year, and will mean serious cuts to
teaching positions, teaching aide positions, days in the
classroom, or a combination of all three. It will be up
to the Board and the Administration to figure out how to
make that budget work, but it will be difficult and will
absolutely impact the level of education our children re-
ceive. It could eventually lead to the loss of accredita-
tion and the closing of the school, and that scenario of
lost jobs and businesses, and the impact to families, is
not something I want to try to explore here. Not passing
the bond would be a huge mistake.
Help them across the finish line - Some of you may
have recently seen a video on the internet of a brother
helping his brother finish a triathlon race. British triath-
lete Jonny Brownlee was leading in the 6.2 final leg of
a triathlon race in Cozumel, Mexico on Sep-
tember 19, when he became overheated, de-
hydrated, and appeared disoriented and began
to stagger, nearing collapse. Brownlee was
passed by the second place runner and then his
brother Alistair, who was running in third place
came upon him. Alistair immediately grabbed
his brother, draped Jonny’s arm over his own
shoulder and supported him as the two ran on
to the finish line, where Alistair, in a selfless
gesture, shoved Johnny across the line to finish
ahead of himself. Alistair is a two time gold
medalist in the last two Olympic Games and
Jonny won silver at Rio and bronze at London.
Why am I telling you this story? Because I
see Johnny as our Vernonia School District,
2016
9
continued from page 3
staggering towards the finish line in this school campus
construction race, and the voters as Alistair, passing this
bond and putting the District before themselves. This
vote is our chance to be Alistair, to be a hero.
In the end, we get a great deal! - If voters approve
this bond we will have a $45 million school campus that
we can all be extremely proud of, and the total cost to
Vernonia residents will only be $20 million. To me that
sounds like a pretty great deal.
Please join me in voting to support our kids, our
community, and our schools, and VOTE YES for the
Vernonia School Bond.
City News continued from page 5
the owners to begin selling lots in the development
again.
Mitchell reported that the WOEC Board of
Directors has rejected the City‘s offer of $80,000
for the purchase of the lot across Cougar Avenue.
WOEC was required to put in street improvements
when they built their new headquarters and had
an agreement that the City would reimburse them
for property they had to purchase “if funding was
available.” WOEC is asking for the full price of
$116,627, plus $1,250 for an appraisal, plus 6%
interest. Council told Mitchell to again offer the
$80,000 as their final offer and inform WOEC that
they need to maintain the street and lot while it
remains their property.
Mitchell informed the Council that Photo
Solutions owner Brad Curtis has decided to relo-
cate his business outside of Vernonia, bringing
an end to the City’s plans to develop an industrial
complex on California Avenue.
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