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About Vernonia's voice. (Vernonia, OR) 2007-current | View Entire Issue (March 16, 2017)
March16 2017 www.vernoniasvoice.com reflecting the spirit of our community Pesio Receives Life Saving Award Offi cer Carnahan pro- moted to Patrol Sergeant The Vernonia Police Department had two presenta- tions at the March 6, 2017 Ver- nonia City Council meeting. Vernonia Police Chief Michael Conner presented Pa- trol Offi cer Cody Pesio with the Life Saving Award from the American Police Hall of Fame Above: Offi cer Cody Pesio with Chief Mike for his rescue of a female from a Conner. Below: Offi cer Shawn Carnahan house fi re on January 10. receives his Sergeant’s badge from Conner read a description his daughter Madison. of the events that led to the res- cue, telling the audience, that included several of Pesio’s family members, that Offi cer Pesio responded to a fi re call on Lone Pine Road and was the initial fi rst responder to arrive. According to Conner, Pesio heard shouts for help and located the female standing just outside the door to the residence. When Pesio tried to get her away from the structure she refused, arguing that her dogs were still inside. When the female tried to re- enter the home, Offi cer Pesio restrained her and moved her away from the home. to duty that he is being presented this Moments later the fi re fl ashed and blew award. Please express our congratula- out the windows of the home. “It’s hard tions to Offi cer Pesio; he has brought to say what would have happened when credit to himself and to your depart- the fi re fl ashed, but I can assume that ment.” there would have been serious physical Prior to Offi cer Pesio receiv- injuries, if not death,” said Conner. ing his award, Conner announced the “As a Police Administrator, I promotion of Offi cer Shawn Carnahan recognize that one of our biggest faults to Patrol Sergeant. Carnahan is a vet- is that we sometimes fail to recognize eran of the Vernonia Police Department the good work done by our staff, how- since 2008. ever we are often times too eager to “This promotion has been a point out the faults,” continued Conner. long time coming,” said Chief Conner. “This was undoubtedly worth recogni- “He stuck with us through some seri- tion.” ously hard times and stood by me. He Conner also read a letter from is a dedicated employee and I think this the American Police Hall of Fame, is a well-deserved promotion.” which stated in part, “The staff at the Carnahan received the oath of American Police Hall of Fame is hon- offi ce from City Recorder Stephanie ored to present this award for his ser- Borst. His daughter Madison then had vice. It is because of his dedication the honor of pinning on his new badge. inside 3 salem report 9 inside movies: hell or high water 12 loggers 6th at state 19 where do you read the voice free VERNONIA’S volume11 issue6 Construction on Senior Center and Food Bank Building to Begin in Summer The Vernonia community took Black Iron Grill, Mariolino’s and Sub- a giant step toward the construction of way on a rotating basis. The congregate a new joint use facility when the Board meal requirement is met with a certifi - of Directors of Vernonia Cares and the cate program at these same restaurants. Vernonia Senior Center agreed on the The Vernonia Cares Food Bank design presented by their architect in has rented space in the American Legion early March. Hall for the past 32 years. The 2007 Groundbreaking for the Rose fl ood was over four feet deep inside Avenue Center, the last major piece of that building, damaging all equipment Vernonia’s 2007 fl ood recovery pro- and food supplies. Thanks to the hard gram, should occur late this summer if the planning and construc- tion schedule remains on target. “It’s really great to have both groups in agreement and moving forward together,” says Sandy Welch, who is the Ex- ecutive Director of Vernonia Cares and also serves as the Sec- The Vernonia American Legion Hall, home of Vernonia retary for the Senior Cares, was surrounded by water in November 2015. Center Board. “With the Seniors we have a Board of 12 work of many volunteers and generous people and at Cares we have a Board food donations from many sources, it of nine. So to have 21 people agree is a was able to reopen a week later. Cares really good thing.” remained open six days a week to serve The long awaited new build- those affected by the fl ood for the next ing is being made possible through a two months. Subsequent lower fl oods Community Development Block Grant have required the food bank to evacu- (CDBG) awarded last year to the City ate twice since 2007, and it had to close of Vernonia for the construction. Both one day due to surrounding fl ood waters of these crucial social service agencies this past February that fortunately did were severely affected by the fl ood. not enter the building. The Senior Center, formerly Moving out of the fl ood zone next to the Bridge Street Mini Mart, will be a huge relief for Welch and Ver- was cleaned up and refurbished after nonia Cares. “In 2007 we lost every- the fl ood as an interim measure. The thing,” says Welch. “All our records, all buyout agreement with FEMA depend- our freezers, we lost all the food. Since ed on it being demolished by March that time we have developed an evacu- 2015. Since that time, the seniors have ation procedure so that in two hours’ held social activities in the American time we can move everything to high Legion Hall on Adams Avenue and ground. So we are prepared but we have an offi ce and thrift store operation hope we never have to use it again.” in the former Vernonia Learning Center Since 2007, both organizations on Bridge Street. Home delivered meals have sought alternative locations for are currently being purchased from the their operations; in fact the Senior continued on page 10 Where Are They Now? Tricia Levenseller With her fi rst Young Adult novel already published, this VHS grad is building a career as an author Project. By Scott Laird For Tricia Levenseller, an in- terest in writing all started with her Se- nior Project at Vernonia High School (VHS) back in 2009. Now she has seen her fi rst Young Adult novel published and is on her way to what looks to be a successful career as an author. After taking a job compatibil- ity test back in her junior year of high school, and fi nding out that “Editor” would be a good career fi t for her, Lev- enseller sought some advice from her high school English teacher Juliet Safi - er on how to fi t that job into a Senior All VHS seniors are required to complete a Senior Project, in which they explore a career with the help of a mentor and then make an oral presenta- tion of their project to a panel of com- munity members. “For my Senior Project we de- cided I would write the fi rst three chap- ters of a book because the Senior Proj- ect was supposed to be 20 hours and I fi gured that would be about three chap- ters - I had no idea at the time because I had never written anything before - with the intent of creating an editing project for myself,” said Levenseller during a recent phone interview. “But continued on page 14
