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About Vernonia's voice. (Vernonia, OR) 2007-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 21, 2021)
4 Letters to the Editor/Community Bulletin Board October 21 2021 Readers Lend Their Voices... To the Editor, The Good Ol’ Days, Toby Finzel’s monthly column in the Voice, always gets my attention. Imagining the town, the timber, and the people one hundred years ago is a bad habit, but fun. The September 15, 2021 issue with the reprint about fires in Verno- nia recalled another more recent burn across the Green Bridge in 1977. Up in my attic I found a photograph that uniquely documented that fire. The pic- ture is of Alice Randall in her Alice’s Timbernook jacket standing in the still smoldering ruins of her bar and restau- rant with a camera dangling from her wrist. The back side of the photo is Vernonia Weather September 2021 DATE 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 Ave/Tot HIGH 73 81 80 82 79 78 89 83 82 67 76 70 70 80 67 72 69 65 66 68 83 65 70 85 79 70 61 60 60 59 LOW 35 36 36 40 49 40 42 46 47 44 54 37 37 37 31 31 48 49 45 41 41 48 42 42 43 49 45 40 40 43 PRECIP 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 T T T 0 0 0 0 0 .95 1.25 .07 T T .10 T 0 0 .15 .32 .38 .16 .15 73.0 41.9 3.53 Weather data is collected at the U.S. Weather station at the Vernonia Water Plant Purr-fect Pals postmarked Park City, Montana, April 26, 1977. The photographer was Nancy Melvin, now of Chicago, but who lived here briefly with her husband, the muralist Tom Melvin. It arrived imprecisely ad- dressed to John and Cory, “corner of Rose Ave and Ralph’s gas”, Vernonia, OR 97064. It’s a home- made postcard telling about work- ing on the railroad after they went there looking for jobs and money. There are still some peo- ple around who knew that water- ing hole in the photo better than I. Perhaps Tony Hyde or Rick Hobart could tell you more about the jukebox, the fireplace, or the restaurant. Gary Everett told me he was playing pool in ankle deep wa- ter at Alice’s the morning of the first flood. “Wait a minute. It burned in ‘77. The first flood was in ‘96, wasn’t it?” “No, I mean the first flood.” Was he thinking of Noah and the animals? Gary goes back a lot further than I do. Undoubtedly there were floods before ‘96 I guess. Vernonia I never did go back to that bar. And maybe I was a bit gleeful using the new name, “Alice’s Cindernook.” I might have gone to the restau- rant though, because Harry Emmons’ wife Arlie cooked there. By then I knew Harry from the cedar mill behind my house where he made shakes and shin- gles with Ed Miller and Jimmy Whita- ker. They would go to Alice’s between shifts at the cedar mill for a waffle and an egg. Alice rebuilt it, but it burned again. This time it was a kitchen fire, I think. Maybe Arlie left the deep fryer on. The building survived that fire but Alice’s ownership ended. I’ve heard she collected another insurance payout. It’s hard to escape a ring of fire. Today, that Upper Nehalem building is called the Chinese Watershed Council Place. The good ol’ days also Monthly Board Meeting/ have changed. I used to like Committee Transition referring to the “good ol’ Business Meeting days” as the times before the Thursday, Oct 28 wife and kids came along, 5:30-7:30 pm but the wheels of time have Vernonia Grange been turning and now I think Masks and social distance required of marriage and kids as being Zoom optional “The Good Ol’ Days.” For more details visit Cory Colburn www.unwc.nehalem.org Keasey, OR or call (503) 396-2046 history didn’t start when I got here. I think previously it housed a bowling al- ley. I still remember the one time I was in there: Alice herself was tend- ing bar and I stepped up and made my request. She looked me over and said, “I’m gonna have to see some ID.” Since I was 22 or 23 this wasn’t unusual, and even though I didn’t have my driver’s license with me, I had a United States Passport, which I offered. “I don’t know what this is and I’m not serving you,” was Al- ice’s response. Now don’t get the idea I torched the place off, but HOW TO SEND LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Vernonia’s Voice welcomes and requests your thoughts, opinions and ideas. Please include your name, address and phone number, limit your letters to 300 words or less. Vernonia’s Voice reserves the right to edit, omit, respond or ask for a response to letters submitted. We will print letters space permitting. Deadline is the 1 st and 3 rd Monday of each month. Email: scott@vernonias- voice.com or mail to: Letters, PO Box 55, Vernonia, OR 97064. FREE Household Hazardous Waste Collection – Saturday, October 23, 8:00 am - 2:00 pm, at the Columbia County Transfer Station, 1601 Rail- road Ave., St. Helens. Call Kathy at (503) 397-7259 for information Columbia Humane Society Featured Dog James is a fun-loving 6 month old guy that is looking for his new forever home. We feel he would be best suited to be placed with his brother Jim, as he is a little shy when you first meet him. Given a chance to settle in he will be a wonderful companion. If you are interested in meeting him please email adoption@columbiahumane.org in order to obtain an application. Taco is a very sweet and very loving girl that will make a great addition to the right family. She is currently living in a foster home as she has found shelter life to be too stressful. She is probably 2-3 years old and weighs about 60 lbs. She really loves to be with her people so having people who work from home, or who won’t leave her for long periods of time will be best. In a low key home she is very low key, loves to just hang out and sleep or watch life pass her by on the deck. The occasional walk is ok but not always mandatory. She is working on being potty trained, and will indicate to you she needs to go by getting really excited. She is not a huge fan of the rain. She loves to chew on her bones and play with her toys. She would like a male dog friend her size that likes to play. She has a tendency to get overly excited and doesn’t know her size so a home with kids over 12 and no kitties would be best. She does find food on the counter to be pretty interesting and can’t resist the urge to try to get it. If you are interested in meeting Taco please send an email to adoption@columbiahumane.org in order to obtain an applica- tion. Once we have an approved application on file we will then schedule a time for you to come and meet her. Please note that we prefer all communications concerning adoptions to be made via email, as we spend the majority of our days with the dogs and cats that are in our care. This allows us to be able to answer emails in the evenings. 2084 Oregon Street, St. Helens, OR 97051 E-mail: info@columbiahumane.org Web: www.columbiahumane.org
