October 21, 2021
Volume 15 Issue 20
V E R N O N I A’ S
free
reflecting the spirit of our community
Witt Will Not Run
for House Re-Election
Senator Johnson Announces
Independent Run for Governor
Redistricting plan changes District 31
boundaries; Stout announces candidacy
State Senator Betsy Johnson, a
moderate Democrat who represents Or-
egon’s North Coast District 16 which
includes Vernonia, has announced she
will run for Governor as an unaffiliated
candidate.
Johnson announced her candi-
dacy in an email to supporters on Oc-
tober 14. She is currently serving her
fourth term in the Senate after being
appointed to the seat while serving her
third term in the Oregon House.
In announcing her independent
run, Johnson said her loyalty was not to
any political party, but instead, “only to
the people of Oregon.”
“...having to choose between
another left-wing liberal promising
more of the same or a right-wing Trump
apologist – is no choice at all,” Johnson wrote in
her announcement. “Oregonians deserve better than
the excesses and nonsense of the extreme left and
radical right. Oregonians are ready to move to the
middle where sensible solutions are found.”
Johnson has been a champion of rural
causes, and has not been afraid to vote against the
policies of the majority Democrats in the legislature.
She currently serves as one of three Tri-
Oregon House District 31, which includes
Vernonia, will look very different in the 2022 election
cycle.
In late September the Oregon Legislature
passed their congressional and legislative redistricting
plans and chose to significantly change the boundaries
of District 31, which has been represented by Demo-
crat Brad Witt since he was appointed to the seat in
2005. The new legislative boundaries removed Clats-
kanie, Witt’s hometown, from District 31 and added it
to District 32, which includes Clatsop and Tillammok
counties and is currently represented by freshman Re-
publican Suzanne Weber. The redistricting plan also
removed urban areas in Bethany and Hillsboro, which
favored Witt in past elections, while adding more rural
areas of Washington County to District 31. Witt was
one of only two Democrats to vote against the redis-
tricting plan that the legislature approved.
Following the approval of the new district
boundaries, Witt, age 69, announced he would not seek
re-election after holding the seat through eight elec-
tions.
Earlier this year Witt was at the center of a
controversy in Salem when he was accused of sexual
harassment by Republican colleague Vicki Breese Iver-
son. The House Conduct Committee found that Witt
had violated workplace rules against sexual harassment
and creating a hostile work environment and he was
removed from his three committee assignments.
On October 12 Columbia County resident
Brian Stout announced he would once again seek the
Republican nomination for District 31. Stout has twice
run against Witt and failed to unseat him in 2018 and
2020, falling just 500 votes short in the last race. Stout
said, “We did a ton of groundwork last time which I
believe sets the stage for a decisive win in the 2022
election. I hear daily from local citizens and business
leaders, and they are frustrated. Many feel that our rural
communities have been marginalized by a dispropor-
tionate emphasis on urban policy. It’s time to restore
balance to our economy and take a stand for our rural
communities.”
inside
4
Letters: Remembering
the Timbernook
8
Our Friend
the Douglas-fir
10
VHS Fall
Sports Report
Chairs of the Joint Committee on Ways and Means,
responsible for putting together the State of Ore-
gon’s budget for 2021-2023. She also serves as the
Senate chair of the Joint Committee On Legislative
Audits, and is a member of the Joint Committee On
Information Management and Technology, the Leg-
islature’s Emergency Board, the Joint Committee
On Legislative Policy and Research, and the Joint
Committee On Ways and Means Subcommittee On
continued on page 6
Local Districts Navigate Mandate Impacts
The Vernonia School District (VSD) and the
Vernonia Rural Fire Protection District (VRFPD)
have avoided a major loss of personnel due to CO-
VID-19 state imposed vaccine mandates which took
effect October 18, 2021, for education and health
care workers.
Vernonia School District Superintendent
Aaron Miller told the School Board at their regular
October 14 meeting, that all but one staff member
have either received the vaccination or have quali-
fied for a valid medical or religious exception to the
mandate; Miller said the District is working with the
final staff member to resolve their status.
On Tuesday, October 19 the VRFPD Board
of Directors met for their monthly meeting, which
was rescheduled from one week earlier in order to
address any personnel and volunteer losses due to the
vaccination mandates. The Board learned from Fire
Chief Dean Smith that one volunteer has resigned,
and three have taken a 90-day leave of absence, and
the District now has 12 active volunteers. “We are
100 percent compliant,” reported Smith, indicating
all personnel have either received the vaccination or
qualified for a medical or religious exception.
New CZ Trail Signage in Place
A project to install signage along the CZ (Crown
Zellerbach) Trail has now been completed with two new
trailheads in Vernonia added to the system.
The installation of signage at the new Holce Trail-
head at the end of Knott Street was the final piece in the
project that saw interpretive and street signs installed at all
trailhead facilities, along with signage to the new Anderson
Park Trailhead parking area at the corner of Adams Avenue
and Maple Street.
The Anderson Park Trailhead now officially links
the CZ Trail with the Banks-Vernonia Trail, creating a 45
mile mixed use trail (paved, packed dirt, and gravel) for use
by bicyclists, hikers, and equestrian riders.
continued on page 9