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About Vernonia's voice. (Vernonia, OR) 2007-current | View Entire Issue (March 7, 2019)
march7 2019 VERNONIA’S volume13 issue5 free reflecting the spirit of our community The Life of a Rodeo Roper After a lifetime of rodeo competitions Dale Pedersen gets a chance at a national event in Las Vegas es for a few years. In the late 1980s he moved with a friend to Oregon, met his wife Susan, and got married in 1990. “I would travel back to the ranch every year and realized I really missed the horses,” St. Patrick’s Day Parade! Sunday, March 17 at 2:00 pm Everyone is welcome By Scott Laird Dale Pedersen has spent his entire life around horses. He’s dabbled in rodeo events, both amateur and profes- sionally. This past De- cember he was able to compete against some of the best rodeo cowboys and cowgirls in the coun- try. Dale Pedersen competing at the World Series of Pedersen grew Team Roping in Las Vegas in December. up on an 800 acre horse ranch in Glendive, Mon- says Pedersen. He and Susan bought a tana, a small town on the Yellowstone horse and trailer from his dad, brought it River on the eastern border near North back to Oregon, and he started competing Dakota. “My dad used to run some cattle again in rodeo. In 1992 Dale and Susan, there, but eventually we sold all the cattle homeowners in Cornelius, were looking and just raised quarter horses,” explains for a place with space for a horse. “We Pedersen. “I’ve always been around hors- saw an ad for a place in Vernonia with es and we would always help other area a couple acres up on Noakes Road,” ex- ranchers moving cattle or during brand- plains Pedersen. “We didn’t even really ings.” know where Vernonia was, but we took a Pedersen explains that quarter drive up and saw this cute little place, and horses are an American breed of horse by golly, that was the place that was for known for their athleticism; they excel at sale! So we bought it, and after that we quick starts and sprinting short distanc- just started accumulating horses and I got es, and are often used as rodeo horses. really passionate about team roping.” “They’re not as tall as thoroughbreds, Pedersen explains that team rop- and have a shorter stride and are quicker. ing, a timed event, requires two partners, They can stop and get going in a hurry.” one rider to rope the front of the steer by Pedersen’s father was a profes- either the horns, neck or the nose, known sional rodeo rider who traveled the ro- as the “header,” and then the second rider, deo circuit as a saddle bronc rider, steer known as the “heeler” attempts to rope wrestler, calf roper, and team roper. As both hind legs. Penalties are assessed if a young man, Pedersen competed in ro- the heeler does not rope both legs, and deos in team roping and other events, of- teams gets no score if either roper misses ten with his younger brother, and earned a completely. The fastest teams can com- rodeo scholarship to Dawson Community plete the event in under 10 seconds. Team College in Glendive where he continued roping is the only rodeo sport where men to compete. and women compete equally in profes- Pedersen says after college he sional events, and mixed gender teams are started working and got away from hors- continued on page 7 inside 8 dr. seuss’ birthday 9 school-to-career 10 vhs state wrestling Starts at Pat & Darlene Knight’s house Bridge Street & State Avenue Student’s Exchange Year Abroad Teaches the Value of Other Cultures VHS senior Savannah Norman spent her junior year in Germany By Scott Laird When Vernonia High School student Savannah Norman figured out she wanted to see more of the world than just Oregon, she de- cided to do something about it. She researched exchange student programs and spent her junior year in Germany as part of the Congress Bund- estag Youth Exchange (CBYX) program. Nor- man, now a senior getting ready to graduate from VHS, recently sat down to talk about her year abroad, with the hope of encouraging other local students to consider it for themselves. “The summer before my sophomore year, I had the idea of foreign exchange planted in my head, so I started thinking about it and research- ing it,” explains Norman. “I really did want to go out and see the world and get to know a new place and gain some new perspectives. We’re a melting pot in the United States, but we’re really comfortable in our own culture and not very ac- cepting of many aspects of other cultures.” Norman says there wasn’t one big thing that got her started thinking about a year abroad, but she says exposure to foreign exchange stu- dents spending a year in Vernonia certainly played a role in her deciding to explore the pos- sibilities. “Andrea Castaño was an exchange student here from Spain my fresh- man year, and she talked to me about what it was like,” says Norman. “She really encouraged me.” VHS has an expan- sive and successful foreign exchange student program, coordinated by Cathy Ward through ASSE, bringing exchange students from around the world every year to live with host families and attend school here. Ver- nonia has hosted as many as 18 foreign students in continued on page 11 Lady Loggers Finish 6 th at State Tournament The Vernonia Lady Loggers basketball team entered the State Playoffs as the #15 seed out of 16 teams, but ended up as one of the pleasant surprises, de- feating the #2 and #3 seeds and finishing in 6 th place. The Lady Loggers beat #2 Monroe in their opening playoff game 48-46 to earn a trip to the final 8 in Pendleton. Vernonia won one game over #3 Oakland and lost two at Pendleton. Freshman Brooklynn Walters led the Lady Loggers and was named to the Second Team All Tournament. Wal- ters led the three game tournament in Pendleton in field goal percentage, hit- ting 19 of 35 (54%), and in 3-point shot percentage, hitting 7 of 15 shots (47%), and finished 4 th in scoring, averaging 17 points per game. As a team the Lady Loggers led the tournament in both field goal per- centage (37.5%) and 3-point percentage (38.7%), assists (29), blocked shots (9), and finished 3 rd in rebounding per game (30.3). Senior captain Joyce Everett led the tournament in minutes played, play- ing all 32 minutes for the Lady Log- gers. In the opening playoff game the Lady Loggers trav- eled to Monroe on February 23, where they fell behind at the start the game 11-0, but battled back to only trail by 4 at the half. They once again fell behind in the third quarter and trailed by as many as 10, but fought back and took the lead late in the 4 th quarter. Monroe tied the game, but the Lady Log- gers’ sophomore Jayden Hartman took a great cross court pass from Brook- lynn Walters and calmly sunk a 12 foot jumper with just 0.4 seconds left to give Vernonia the upset win. Brooklyn Walters led the Lady Loggers in scoring with 23 points, in- cluding four 3-point baskets, while Hartman added 10 points and point continued on page 12