Wednesday February 21, I»/»
Page 2 — Vernonia Freedom
Public forum
Vernonia Freedom
Published weekly in Vernonia Or. on Wednesdays at 715 Bridge St. Serving
The Upper Nehalem Valley.
Phone 429-8111
Ned Mawhirter............ ......................... .......... publisher-editor
Jene lie Wiggins........ . ..........
reporter
Gayle Martin.... . . . . . . ..........................
advertising
Kenny Kahn...................
special writer
It’s time I said something but it is also time I get this paper to the printers
so I will pick a small subject and peck at it.
There is going to be some screaming about the City Budget and there are
already murmurs about the Police budget in particular. The police dept, is
being hit with the same problems that all depts, are loss of federal funds. But
there is alesson to be learned here. We abdicated our responsiblity and let the
“man” take care of us. It was an interim measure and the interm bill is coming
due.
If we say that we have social or civil problems, primarily vandalism, then we
hire more police and say here you take care of it. Aren’t we doing the same
thing—abdicating our responsibility?
If a segment of the youth in our community are a Social problem then it is
due to the Culture they live in. If the culture our community presents itself as,
gives youngsters the inspiration to be vandals then we should do something to
improve our cultural identity rather than try to have one watchdog per
individual to make sure all of us are civil at all times. As our budget reflects
that becomes unpractical.
x
Planning and politics
now Columbia County has struggled to reach a political consensus on land
use pfenning. Many proposals have come and gone, many changes in direction have
"^Pfenning efforts here have proceeded like a drunk on the way home from the tavern
incoherent, disjointed, staggering, stumbling. It must be getting embarassmg for the :.
county commissioners. The planning effort has not exactly been a pohtical or managerial
sucX. Land use planning is the hottest pohtical potatoe m town; the commissioners,
juggle it back and forth; trying not to get burned.
1
Commissioner Hunt has doggedly, if reluctantly, directed the planning department
for the last couple of years. He has been hesitant to identify himself too singly with
planning or with any particular plan for fearof pohtical damage to himself. He knows
that countywide planning and zoning are inevitable. I suspect he sees them as
/lAQiyp I |
Commissioner Ahlborn has not involved himself in the county planning
controversies. He appears more than happy to concentrate his efforts on supervising ..
the road department.
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s
Commissioner Sahagian, newly installed on the Board last monttv seems to see
herself as a representative of the more reactionary and obstructionist end of planning s
pohtical spectrum. Her actions and statements appeal to the more hard-line anti-
planners and free marketeers. She is playing (or overplaying) champion of the people .
Pinched between a state law which requires land use planning and a county
population extremely suspicious of state programs in general and land use planning in , f
particular, the commissioners have had a difficult task indeed. Rapid turnover of |
personnel in the county planning department has made their job even tougher. The |
board has been confronted with almost unresolvable pohtical problems. But resolve
them it must.
, ,
j
In the past years the commissioners have heard hours and hours of public testimony, a
They have heard dozens of private gripes. They have received the input of the CPAC s |
on a variety of issues. They have the benefit of county counsel’s advice. They also know :
or should know how firmly established the LCDC is in this state.
Presumably the Commissioners are pohtical experts. They should have the ability to |
take the factual situation, the public sentiments and the political realities at hand and
from them synthesize a county comprehensive plan that makes political sense. z >
It is timé for the commissioners, individually or in concert, to step out in front of the
planning issue and exercise constructive leadership. With the planning department,
they should develop a proposed plan that they, the commissioners, can support and
promote as a reasonable compromise'among the various pohtical approaches to
planning. We need proposals that the commissioners will endorse, not apologize for.
The commissioners. Mrs. Sahagian in particular, do their constituents a disservice
by stalling the planning process in hopes that through LCDC compliance date
extentiohs and various legal and bureaucratic appeals we can put off the day of
reckoning indefinitely. The board know that none of the appeal routes currently
contemplated have much chance of success. Encouraging people to believe otherwise
needlessly polarizes the issue further. This makes it even more difficult to obtain the
pohtical consensus which will ultimately be necessary.
The commissioners must exercise leadership in these planning matters and deliyer us
from the deepening morass of pohtical stalemate.
Ned
a o
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(This information not necessary but will help us)
Citizens of Vernohia;
We must not give in to the apathy that
'has plagued other communities
throughout the world. It is necessary to
stand firm in our beliefs together as a
community Citizens for a better Vernonia
must speak out now, or another year will
go by and things will be worse.
It is vital that we vote on and pass a
city budget this year that reflects the best
interests of this town. Without a budget,
stagnation yill be felt by many. The sewer
must be fixed—it is a black mark for this
town. Those who think that you can step
growth by ignoring the sewer are foolish
to think so. Growth will come, the
question is whether or not Vernonia will
be a nice place for people to live in five,
ten or twenty years from now. Will our
children want or be able to live here?
It is truly our responsibility. To not
participaate in the process is to allow
others to make the choices for you.
Let’s get together and make Vernonia
great! Come to the budget meeting on
February 26th. See you there.
Yours Truly,
Norman Jensen
For more information, call me at 429-
9811.
Dear People of Vernonia,
Do you want the federal government to
come into Vernonia and put a sewer
system in that will be very expensive and
a great burden financially to every
I property owner in Vernonia? They do,
they, can, and they will if we don’t take
care of it ourselves.
Do you want Vernonia to hire another
।
policeman to arrest the growing number
of bored teenagers (and adults) for
causing trouble because there is nothing
else to do? Or would you like the same
money to go toward a healthy communitv
center or perhaps an indoor swimming
pool?
Do you want better services for old and
disabled citizens?
Do you want a larger library?
Do you want the town to stay the same?
What do you„ want? Speak out for
heavens sake! Your ideas and opinions are
wanted and needed. Don’t let someone
else make'these decisions for you. This
country and this town were established
with the belief that people wanted a say in
thé way their taxes are spent.
Well people, here is your chance, don’t
waste your time complaining, please come
and tell people how you want your money
spent. Freedom isn’t, free, it takes your
time. Attend the Budget meeting on
February 26. Please care, get together
with your neighbors, and make decisions
for your town.
So let’s get together just like the old
days and talk and plan.
Patti Jensen