16
obituaries/classified ads
february20
2020
In Memory of...
Patricia L. Wheeler
Patricia L. Wheeler, 82, a
resident of Vernonia and Portland passed
Tuesday morning, February 4, 2020 at
Willamette View Manor Retirement
Center in Milwaukie, Oregon.
Patricia was born November
3, 1937 in Portland to parents Cyprian
and Frieda Inman. She graduated from
Beaverton High School in 1955 and
received a Masters Degree in Special
Education from Portland State University.
Pat was united in marriage to John
Forrest Wheeler on August 16, 1958.
The two soon after purchased property in
Vernonia.
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CORRECTIONS DEPUTY - ENTRY
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Deadline: 2/21/20 Apply at Columbia-
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Pat taught in the Portland Public
School system and in 1970, moved to
Singapore, Indonesia where she taught
International children from around the
world. She retired from teaching after 35
years from the Medford School district
in 1996 and made her home in Vernonia.
Pat was involved with a number of
organizations including: The Eastern
Star, Nile, PEO, Sons and Daughters
of Oregon Pioneers, Red Hats, Natal
Grange, and further served as Regent
for the Daughters of the American
Revolution. She also enjoyed being a
member of the Golden Oldies Band in
Vernonia.
Pat is survived by her husband
Forrest Wheeler; son and daughter-in-
law John and Kelly Wheeler of Sher-
wood, Oregon, and her daughter and
son-in-law Myrrhina and Charles Kibben
of Vernonia. She is further survived by
her grandson Wesley Kibben and Robyn
Painter of Olympia, Washington; and two
great grandchildren Julian and William
Kibben, also of Olympia.
A family burial ceremony was
held at Astoria’s Greenwood Cemetery
on February 17, 2020 at 1:00 pm with a
presiding minister from Astoria Presby-
terian Church.
The family suggests that
remembrances may be contributions to
Vernonia Cares, PO Box 126, Vernonia,
Oregon 97064, (503) 429-1414, an
organization near and dear to her, in her
memory.
In Loving Memory
Ronald D. Smith
August 19, 1935 – January 15, 2020
Celebration of Life Service
Saturday, March 21, 2020,
2:00-4:00 pm
Vernonia Christian Church
410 North St.
Vernonia, OR 97064
JAIL COMMANDER – Columbia Coun-
ty, Oregon. EOE. Deadline: 2/26/2020
Apply at ColumbiaCountyOR.gov
TRANSPORT DEPUTY – Columbia
County, Oregon. Deadline: Open
Until Filled. EOE To Apply Visit:
ColumbiaCountyOR.gov
WORK CREW SUPERVISOR –
Columbia County, Oregon. Deadline:
Open Until Filled. EOE To Apply Visit:
ColumbiaCountyOR.gov
Western States Support Refugee
Resettlement continued from page 13
The law eventually opened the door to
hundreds of thousands of Europeans
and others fleeing persecution in places
like China, Korea, and Cuba. After the
Vietnam War, Congress was tasked
with helping resettle refugees, leading
to a monumental piece of legislation:
The Refugee Act of 1980. Since then,
the U.S. President has had the ability to
set caps on refugee numbers.
Today, with a new historically
low cap, several governors are using
their letters to express a desire to bring
back earlier resettlement numbers.
Utah Governor Gary Herbert, R, cited
his state’s “unique history,” noting that
Utah was founded by Mormons flee-
ing religious persecution. “As a result,
we empathize deeply with individuals
and groups who have been forced from
their homes,” he wrote. According to
the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute, a
demographic research center, the state
had approximately 60,000 refugee resi-
dents as of 2017.
Washington Governor Jay
Inslee, D, made a similar request. “I
ask that our state be willing to accept
at least as many refugees as previous
years, and should other states be unable
or unwilling to accept refugee families
into their jurisdictions, they will be
welcomed here,” he wrote. Since 1975,
the state has resettled over 150,000 ref-
ugees from Iraq and Somalia, among
other countries, and has the second-
most arrivals after Texas, according to
The Refugee Processing Center. Two
other Western states, Arizona and Cali-
fornia, are also among the top states for
refugee resettlement.
Alejandro Sanchez, a staff
member from Inslee’s office, said that
the low resettlement numbers for fis-
cal year 2020 would prove a problem
for agencies in the state. “Resettlement
agencies will be strained because they
have an infrastructure that has been
built up to support all of these individu-
als,” he said.
With lower demand comes less
federal funding for agencies, which
can result in office closures at the local
level and fewer services for the exist-
ing refugee population. According to
a report by the advocacy group Refu-
gee Council USA, between the end of
2016 and the spring of 2019, 92 offices
across the country have had to either
close their refugee programs or sus-
pend some of their services due to lack
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Jessica Kutz is an assistant editor
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originally published in High Country
News on February 13, 2020
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of funding. This impacts refugees who
have already been resettled, leaving
them without the important resourc-
es — from assistance in finding hous-
ing to enrolling in school — they need
to navigate their new lives.
Many state officials cited the
economy as one reason why refugees
were welcome. Arizona, which in 2019
accepted 1,200 refugees, down from
over 4,000 in 2016, works with a re-
settlement agency that trains refugees
for jobs in manufacturing, an industry
that generated $19 billion in exports in
2018. In rural Idaho, refugees fill em-
ployment needs in the dairy sector. In
Colorado, they work in meatpacking
plants. Many others go on to work in
professional fields, or start their own
businesses.
They also bring their own
dollars to the economy. According to
a report by the New American Econ-
omy, refugees held a spending power
of $17.2 billion in California in 2015
alone. Colorado Governor Jared Polis,
D, harped on this point in his letter of
consent, writing, “For every dollar Col-
orado invests in refugees, we receive a
$1.23 return on investment in tax rev-
enue.” Last year, Colorado passed a bill
codifying the state’s Refugee Services
Program into law, an important move
that prevents a future governor from
using executive action to pull out of the
federal program.
For Krish O’Mara Vignara-
jah, CEO and president of Lutheran
Immigration and Refugee Services, a
national resettlement agency, the vocal
acceptance of refugees across the West
was not surprising. “I expected most
communities to continue to welcome
refugees,” she said. Yet, she added, “I
always fear that these issues can be-
come politicized because it is so easy
to weaponize fear of the unknown.”
While the future of the execu-
tive order is still up in the air, the im-
mediate response has been positive for
advocates: over the course of a month,
it prompted 42 states and 107 local
leaders to offer public support for the
resettlement program, a program that
has been historically bipartisan.
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