8
community
september7
2017
Old Grads Picnic “A Good Time”
The Vernonia “Old Grads, Old Timers,
Oregon-American” picnic was held on Sunday,
August 20, 2017 at Anderson Park. Numbers
were down this year and we attributed this to
the occurrence of the eclipse.
Those that were there had a good time,
was the oldest. So she asked what month was
the birthday of each. Both were born in April.
Hmm. So then she asked what day they were
born on. It turned out Ed Culbertson was born
SIX DAYS before Ben Soejima so Ed got the
money in the envelope. They both had a good
laugh over that. Oldest female grad was Phyl-
lis New Larson of VHS 1944. Person traveling
I’m sure. I know I did.
The usual happy groups could be seen
catching up and conversing. There was a terrific
deal on hot dogs, chips and a soda for only $3.
DeDe Thompson Webb did a great job
of announcing winners of oldest female grad,
oldest male grad and person who came the lon-
gest distance to be at the picnic. For the men? Ed
Culbertson and Ben Soejima are both members
of VHS 1942. So, to solve the dilemma, DeDe
came up with a plan: Which of these gentlemen
greatest distance to be at the picnic? Could be
wrong but I think it was Jan Pearson Coxey of
Washington, DC.
Sadly, Ralph Keasey of VHS 1946 died
the night before the picnic.
The park was filled with motor homes
and campers in tents. I saw several bicyclists
that were not Vernonians so obviously the old
SP&S track into Vernonia, now used as Banks-
Vernonia Linear Trail, is getting a fair amount of
use.
By Bob New
WOEC Holds
Annual Meeting
West Oregon Electric
Cooperative (WOEC) held its
Annual Meeting on August 19,
2017 at the Vernonia Schools
Commons.
During the meeting
members elected Jim Buxton as
District 3 representative from
Vernonia and Keasey to the
Board of Directors and Larry
Heesacker was elected as Dis-
trict 7 representative for Man-
ning, Hagg Lake and Yamhill
County.
Board President Robert
Van Natta addressed the mem-
bers and mentioned an upcom-
ing increase in cost to purchase
power from Bonneville Power
Administration (BPA) that will
be passed on to members in the
form of a rate increase.
Finance Manager Dan
Huggett told the members the
co-op received approximately
$800,000 from FEMA in this fis-
cal year for reimbursements for
expenses from damages in 2015.
Huggett reviewed the Balance
Sheet as of December 31, 2016.
He said storms in 2017 cost the
co-op about $800,000 in repairs.
Huggett discussed the Oregon
Power Up program and remind-
ed members that they need to
Correction
In our August 17 issue in an article
about the Jamboree Auto Show we incorrectly
identified the person on the right in this photo
as Louis Lardy. It is actually Tommy Saenz,
of Tommy’s Window Tinting which is one of
the show’s sponsors. Vernonia’s Voice regrets
this error.
sign up for the program to round
up and help other members who
are having difficulty paying their
bill. Huggett said the co-op has
installed a new phone system
that will provide 23 voice lines
instead of 6 lines to take calls
after hours. He also reminded
members of the Budget Billing
option and about the Smart Hub
system that offers other payment
options.
Members asked about
the recent maintenance outage
in the Chapman area that lasted
for 10 hours for four days, and
asked why members were not
better informed about the pend-
ing planned outage. Members
were told that phone calls were
made to all affected members
but no mailing was done.
Operations
Manager
Don Rose told the members
about recent projects to increase
reliability including replacing
a bad section of underground
wire on Hayward Road, replac-
ing overhead line going over the
the tunnel on Highway 26 with
underground line, upgrading the
Necanicum Substation and the
maintenance at the Chapman and
Mist substations.
General
Manager
Bob Perry spoke briefly and
introduced guest speaker State
Representative Brad Witt.
Witt addressed his
concerns about what he called
the rural vs. urban divide in
Oregon, and around the country,
and said, in his opinion, this is a
main problem for Oregon. He
said he and others at the state
legislature are attempting to
define the middle ground and
find ways to agree.
Following the conclu-
sion of the meeting, members
enjoyed a BBQ lunch provided
by Terrel’s BBQ and entertain-
ment by the musical band Tim-
berbound, who performed songs
by Woody Guthrie written when
he was employed by the BPA,
along with other songs about the
Vernonia region.
NEW LOCATION
Marie Krahn
Massage Therapy
Auto injury recovery/medical billing
• Accepting: Medical Benefits Cards
• Medical Massage Cupping
• Swedish Massage
• Reiki • Deep Tissue
• Reflexology
• doTerra Aroma Touch
• Trigger Point Therapy
• Myofacial Release
503-429-5180
Owned and Operated by
Don & Kim Wallace
Fresh Roasted Coffee
espresso
baked goods
lic#5495
mariekrahn@frontier.com
825 Bridge Street • 503-429-0214
DON WALLACE, PLS
Professional Land Surveying
1224 E. Alder St.
Vernonia, OR 97064
Phone: 503-429-6115
FAX: 1-866-297-1402
Email: DWallace_KLS@msn.com
CORPORATE
MEMBER