January 21, 2021
V E R N O N I A’ S
Volume 15 Issue 2
free
reflecting the spirit of our community
¡Hola El Amigo
Mexican Food and Bakery!
Logger Stadium
Fundraising Moves Ahead
Food truck and new
bakery are a family thing
Community campaign
has raised over $57,000
By Scott Laird
By Scott Laird
This summer the addi-
tion of El Amigo food truck in the
back of Black Iron Grill courtyard
was a welcome addition to the Ver-
nonia restaurant scene. The loca-
tion quickly became a favorite for
locals and visitors, offering to go
food, a necessity as COVID restric-
tions stretched on and on. Custom-
ers were able to use the Black Iron
Grill picnic tables for outdoor seat-
ing if they wished, and the partner-
ship seemed to work well. Plus,
Vernonians were again able to en-
joy authentic Mexican food as La
Cabaña continued to struggle to
reopen following a fire almost two
years ago.
Now El Amigo has ex-
panded, opening a Mexican bakery
in the space previously occupied by
Jack’s Hobo Bakery at 805 Bridge
Street. Family members Teodoro
Carreno, Olivia, Nancy, Deysey,
Deysy and Nancy at the El Amigo Bakery
Yare, and Emiliano are now oper-
ating the two businesses under the
The food truck was an instant success fill-
name El Amigo Mexican Food and Bakery. ing a void and offering tasty and authentic
Teodoro runs the food truck while burritos, tamales, enchiladas, and more.
his wife Olivia, who also owns a hair sa- Teodoro preps most of the food fresh each
lon in Hillsboro, is the main baker. Olivia’s day. They offer house-made sauces, veg-
daughter Nancy takes care of the accounting etarian options, and a variety of meats in-
and business end of things, while her girl- cluding steak, chicken, carnitas, asada, and
friend Deysy helps out in both the bakery chorizo. Taco Tuesdays have been popular
and the food truck. Olivia’s other daughter and they also have offered special family
Yare and teenage son Emiliano also pitch in platters that include a variety of items, or a
when needed. The business has also been taco feast to go.
hiring a few locals to help out.
When the bakery space came avail-
After closing a restaurant in Hill- able at the end of November, the family
sboro about four years ago, Teodoro and talked with Black Iron Grill owner Dana
Olivia saw an opportunity in Vernonia and Roach who owns the building, and then
negotiated for the space in the courtyard.
continued on page 9
A group of community
volunteers is continuing their ef-
fort to raise funds to construct a
new covered seating area at the
Vernonia Schools sports complex,
which would serve the Logger
Field football and track and field
facility.
The Vernonia Logger
Stadium Steering Committee has
met with representatives from a
company that develops and builds
grandstand facilities and has re-
viewed possible stadium designs.
The committee plans to construct
the 900 seat grandstand and cover
from steel and aluminum to reduce
costs and ensure longevity. The
Steering Committee is also work-
ing with the Vernonia Boosters
to build a centrally located snack
shack and restroom that could
serve the Logger Stadium, soft-
ball, and baseball fields.
A letter writing campaign
to potential donors, headed up by
Vernonia High School alumni Jim
and Kathy Eckland, along with a
digital Go Fund Me campaign, has
received a positive response. The
Ecklands were instrumental in the
School District’s fundraising cam-
paigns following the 2007 flood,
and helped secure the funds for
both the Alumni Field softball and
Holce Field baseball fields.
The Ecklands report that
the campaign has received a total
of $32,415 in donations from over
120 separate donors – $29,100
inside
3
7
11
Bridges, Ladders,
Imagination
Ora Bolmeir
Trees Removed
Youth Reengagement
Project
through the letter campaign;
$2,280 through Go Fund Me; and
$1,035 in In-Kind donations. Cash
donations have ranged from $25 to
$5,000. Several local businesses
have contributed to the campaign.
$14,385 of the donations came
from donors who currently live
within the Vernonia School Dis-
trict. “We are very grateful for all
the donations,” said Jim Eckland.
In addition, the Vernonia
Education Foundation recently
voted to contribute $25,000 to
the project, bringing the total fun-
draising effort to $57,415. The
Steering Committee had hoped to
receive any excess funds that were
left over from the School District’s
most recent bond project, which
paid for the new art room addi-
tion, major repairs and upgrades
at the Mist School building, new
playground equipment, and sev-
eral other projects; the Committee
recently learned there will not be
any left over money from those
bond funds.
The Steering Committee
will continue to fundraise while
also planning to use the money
raised so far as seed money to ap-
proach potential large donors to
complete the project. That strat-
egy is now being developed.
The Steering Commit-
tee is planning to create a regular
newsletter to send out to donors to
keep them informed on the prog-
ress of the project.
If you would like to contribute
to the Vernonia Logger Stadium
project please see the ad on page
15.
The Washington, D.C. Seige
Has Western Roots and Consequences
History and the growing
power of right-wing
extremism point to a volatile
future for the West during the
Biden presidency
By Carl Segerstrom
High Country News
Five years and four days after
armed militiamen took over the Mal-
heur Wildlife Refuge, a remote federal
wildlife preserve in eastern Oregon, for
41 days, supporters of President Don-
ald Trump stormed and briefly occu-
pied the United States Capitol in Wash-
ington, D.C., on January 6.
It’s not hard to trace the links
between Malheur and Washington; fa-
miliar insignia, instigators and ideolo-
gies fueled both anti-government ac-
tions. Extremist leaders and movement
regulars from the Western U.S.,
including former Washington
State Rep. Matt Shea, who sup-
ported the efforts from afar in
Spokane, and recent U.S. Sen-
ate candidate Jo Rae Perkins, R-
Ore., who joined the crowd that
laid siege to the Capitol, helped
fuel the melee. Backing their
message, if not their tactics, was
a bevy of Western legislators,
who lent the movement legiti-
macy by supporting Trump’s baseless
election-fraud claims.
Meanwhile, one of the most
visible figures in the anti-federal gov-
ernment movement in the Western
U.S., Cliven Bundy, expressed dismay
that President Trump didn’t stick to his
guns after he issued a half-hearted mes-
sage calling for a peaceful end to the
occupation.
The anti-government occupa-
tions bookending the rise and fall of
Trump’s presidency show the main-
streaming of right-wing extremism in
the United States. They also portend
the potential for future conflicts here
in the West. When President-elect Jo-
seph Biden takes charge of the federal
government and its vast Western land-
holdings, he will enter an already-del-
icate situation, where armed extremist
groups stand ready to rise up against
continued on page 8