V ernonia
lOt
Vol. 1 N a 19
F reedom
Serving the
Upper Nehalem Valley
BULK RATE
U.S. POSTAGE
PAID
PERMIT NO. 22
VERNONIA. OR.
Wednesday March 21,1979
Seniors receive awards
Weather
Oats
Hi
Low
Prec.
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
53
59
70
62
50
50
52
38
28
30
39
32
34
37
0
0
0
.29
.07
.21
.11
City Council meeting of
March 19
The Vernonia City Council met Monday
March 19 with all members present
except Councilman Batty.
Under committee reports Councilman
A dam s reported the C ham ber had
inquired about the use of the street
cleaning machine among other things.
M ayor F isher confirm ed w ith Roy
Sanders that the ‘Green Thumb’ crews
had been cleaning the streets.
Councilman Adams also reported on the
Community Center saying that the CSAC
(Community School A ctivity Center)
council asked if the City wanted to have
any questions entered in a community
survey the CSAC hopes to take. Norman
Jensen CSAC council chairman and also
chairman of th e Sewer Investigation
Committee was present and spoke for
both groups.
Concerning the sewer investigations he
said he hoped the group would have
something to put in the paper for the
March 28 issue before elections as to some
possibilities for Vernonia.
Mayor Fisher said he had sent a letter
to S tate Senator Hanlon as to the
possibility of a grant for a sewer project
but as yet there is no answer to the letter.
Under communications the County Tax
Assessor sent a notice of properties being
forclosed in the County.
Continued on page 3
Candidates for School
Board interviewed
Following are interviews with some of the
candidates for the School Hoard in the
coming April 3 election. You should read
them thouroghly and consider what other
sources of information you might have
and make a decision and vote. B ut by all
means vote. Freedom has made this effort
th at you might become a better informed
voter.
Another two possible interviews are to
be in next weeks paper w ith Fred
Skidmore and Leonard Schmidlin who
will also be interested in your write in
votefor position 3.
In the interviews the italic sections
rep resen t the questions by the
interview er and th e o ther is the
candidates response. AH interviews were
conducted by Ned Mawhirter.
In reference to the zoning of the district
or the “gentelmans agreement” this
refers to the fact th at there has been a oral
but not legaly binding agreement since
th e incorporation of M ist into the
Vernonia School District, that two Board
p o sitions would be filled by M ist
residents. I t is likely that the issue will be
brought forward in the near future to zone
the district into precincts or whatever, so
th at each neighborhood elects its own
representative.
Friday, March 16, was a special day
at the Vernonia Senior Citizen Center. In
addition to live music, potluck and cake
and ice cream, 25 seniors received
Certificates of Recognition for services
which they have donated to th is
community for the year 1978-1979.
Linda Rood, Retired Senior Volunteer
Program (RSVP) Director, distributed the
certificates and personally thanked each
senior.
Retired Senior V olunteer Program
(RSVP) is a federal program th at was set
up in 1971 as an experiment to see if
seniors could be encouraged to leave their
homes and volunteer their services to
their communities. The programs success
is demonstrated by 400 active RSVP
members in Columbia County, 25 of
which reside in Vernonia.
RSVP is loosely co n stru cted and
participating seniors can virtually do
anything they like and are able to do to
log hours. After all, a senior has learned a
lot in 60 years and this program offers the
unique opportunity of sharing those skills
with fellow citizens of the community.
RSVP activities are as numerous and
diverse as the senior volunteers.
In Vernonia, some RSVP members are
tutors at the school, helping students
strengthen their reading skills, while
others make regular trips to the St.
Helens Nursing Center to visit and run
errands for ~ residents. Another senior
donates her time every Monday at the
Center helping other seniors learn more
about oil painting.
To qualify for RSVP you m ust be a
senior and willing to donate 25 hours or
more per year to your community.
Seniors receive awards and cut
cake for potluck on R.S.V.P. DAY
at Senior Center.
Linda Rood happily announced th at tne
total hours donated by the Vernonia
Center for the year 1978-1979 came to a
grand total of 5a,812x/2 hours. According
to Linda, for its size, Vernonia over
represented every other community in the
county. She stated th at if the city had
paid a wage for those 5,812^2 hours it
would have cost a booming $16,856.25.
“You have a lot to be proud of!” she told
the group.
Lester Leer set a record with his 1,374
volunteer hours, the most in the county.
Minnie Meier was second runner-up with
1,282 hours of volunteer time. $
Other seniors who participated in
RSVP and were presented w ith a
certificate, were;. Nel Davis, Norman
Davis, Dessie Eckland, Harry Eckland,
Sylvia Falconer, Duane Garvin, Pearl
Garvin, Ora George, Bessie Grindstaff,
Rose H addix, N ora H arders, Lois
Johnson, Iva Lolly, Emma Magoff,
Maudaleen Murray, Gertrude Schalock,
Nellie Schmidlin, Virgil Snook, Leah Stiff,
Leta Whiteman, Lewis Morgan, Celeste
Poetter and Leonard Skokan. New RSVP
members who received pins and ribbons
were; Alice Foster, John Kundra and Lois
Johnson.
. A pre-potluck concert was provided by
Kimberly Fergus on piano and Dave
Berge on hammer dulcimer, and Debbie
Jorg serenaded the seniors after lunch.
A beautiful caxe, decorated with roses
and the letters RSVP was served and
Cathy Vieloha was presented a going
away gift by the Center. She will soon be
replacing Linda Rood as Retired Senior
Volunteer Director.
Ned Mawhirter
Lea Ann Berg
Lea Ann Berg is a 32 year-old housewife
living in the Mist area and came to the
Nehalem Valley when she was 16, from
Montana where she was raised.
She graduated from Vernonia High
School and Cascade College formerly in
Portland, now the Cascade Campus of
Portland Community College.
She ta u g h t rem edial reading at
Clatskanie High School 2Vt years before
her marriage and returning to live in the
Nehalem Valley. She is completing her
first term on the Board and is officialy on
the ballot for reelection to position 7 with
no one a t this time opposing her officialy
or by write-in.
Lea Ann has a son, 4, and a daughter 8.
What do you hope to see in the future
development o f our schools?
I hope to see an orderly expansion and
not to be caught in the crunch and find
ourselves mashing thousands of students
in not enough room.
In your own experience you found
crowding a problem in the schools?
Yes, I wasn’t under any particular
problem but the building was crowded
and if you wanted to implement any
Continued on page 6
Judy Bates
Judy Bates was to r n in Modesto, Ca.
and came to Oregon with her parents
when she was three. She is a 1958
graduate of Vernonia High School having
moved to Vernonia when she was 12. She
married Bob Bates in 1959 and they have
lived in Vernonia ever since except for
one sh o rt period. Ju d y w orks as
accountant and office manager for a
development firm in Cedar Hills where
she has been for six years. She has been
secretary of the Jamboree Committee and
is currently a member of the city’s Sewer
Investigation Committee.
She has two sons, Doug who will be
finishing his first year of college and
Dwayne a Senior a t Vernonia High
School.
Judy is a write in candidate for position
three.
Why are you running for the school
Board?
I ’d like to see education get back in our
schools. I think our schools are very
lacking. The children are coming out of
our schools nowdays with little or no
education and the few th at are going on to
Continued on page 6
L.E. (Bud) Atkins
L.E. (Bud) A tkins was raised in
Vernonia and graduated from Vernonia
High School in the late 30’s, Bud has had
four kids go through the Vernonia
schools. Bud works for Crown Zellerbach
out of the Portland office in timber sales
and is well known for the 14 years he put
in on the Vernonia City Council.
Bud is a write in candidate for position
three.
Why are you running for the School
Board?
Like I say ju st because there were not
enough candidates filed, I think someone
should take enough interest to give their
time oh the school board.
Do you have any goals yourself for the
school board?
You mean programs?
Yes, or any aspect o f personal interest?
I ’ve always been interested in the old
three Rs type of education I think we
should go back to those basics.
Do you think there is a lot o f need in the
primarys, are we below parr?
Compared with other schools?
Yes.
Continued on page 7