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The INDEPENDENT, October 1, 1987
n. INDEPENDENT
Serving the Upper Nehalem River valley
Published
m o n th ly on the last Thursday of each m onth by Public
O p in io n la b o ra to ry Ltd 1206 State Avenue, Vernonia.
OR 97(R>4, as a free newspaper td ito rs and Publishers
(Jirk and Nom Andersen, (SOI) 429 9410
Op in io n
Progress impossible
without direction
To say (h a t the C ity o f V e rn o n ia is s p in n in g its
w h eels is an u n d e rs ta te m e n t
T w o c ity c o u n c il m em b ers w h o to o k o ffic e in
January are try in g to m a ke progress, b u t la ck
g u id a n c e and d ire c tio n , and have lit t le c o o p e ra tio n
fro m c ity e m p lo ye e s
C o u n c ilo r Tom B u ffin g to n has trie d to b u ild a c
c o u n ta b ility in to p u rc h a s in g and b id p ro ce d u re s, but
th e changes are ro u tin e ly c irc u m v e n te d because we
neve r had to d o th is b e fo re "
C o u n t ilo r M a rio I e o n e tti has trie d to get progress
re p o rts o n p ro b le m s th e c o u n c il has d e a lt w ith b u t
th e re 's n o fo llo w u p by c ity e m p lo y e e s The p ro b le m s
re tu rn w h e n c itiz e n s c o m p la in again
A fte r m o n th s o f w ra n g lin g th e re 's no re s o lu tio n on
C A T V c o m p la in ts Serious, lo n g s ta n d in g d ra in a g e p r o
b le m s o n B and C Streets w ere lo o k e d at, n o t solved
I he n u isa n ce a b a te m e n t p ro g ra m has g ro u n d to a
h a lt, w ith the* w o rs t b u ild in g s s till s ta n d in g R a n d o m
e n fo rc e m e n t is th e sta ndard in w e ed and grass tire
h a z a rd c o n tro l I he c ity is sa d d le d w ith law suits th a t
ha ve re s u lte d fro m la ck o f in fo rm e d d ire c tio n
Perhaps it's tim e to r the c itiz e n s o f V e rn o n ia to in
sist on h a v in g a c ity a d m in is tra to r It can n o lo n g e r be
a rg u e d th a t th e e xistin g system w orks, it d o e s n 't
W ith o u t go o d a d m in is tra tio n , w ith o u t le a d e rs h ip and
d ire c tio n , th is c ity 's g o in g n o w here
United Way works
P eople H e lp in g P eople H e lp T hem selves ' is the
w e ll k n o w n th e m e o f U n ite d W ay, and it w o rks
I he b e n e tits o f several th o u s a n d d o lla rs o t U n ite d
W a y c o n trib u tio n s c o m e to th e V e rn o n ia area th ro u g h
V e rn o n ia Cares, S enior C itiz e n s C o u n c il, Energy
A ssistance, Boy and G irl Scouts, fa m ily C o u n se lin g ,
S a lv a tio n A rm y . Red Cross and W o m e n ’s R esource
C e nte r, to n a m e o n ly a few
W h a t th e area re tu rn s is th e p ro b le m In 19H5 $ 320
fro m lo c a l d o n a tio n s w e n t to U n ite d W ay, in 19H6 it
w as SbHI O n e reason to r low d o n a tio n s was a la ck of
v o lu n te e rs to d o th e s o lic itin g A n o th e r reason is th a t
p e o p le w h o liv e here, b u t m a ke d o n a tio n s at w o rk in
o th e r c o u n tie s , need to s p e c ify th a t th e ir d o n a tio n s
are fo r U n ite d W a y o f C o lu m b ia C o u n ty
W h a te v e r th e reason, w e need to d o m o re th a n b e l
ly u p to th e tro u g h , w e have to sta rt p u ttin g s o m e th in g
in to it
W h e n U n ite d W a y v o lu n te e rs c o m e y o u r w a y, d o n 't
tu rn y o u r b ack p le d g e a m o n th ly a m o u n t o r m a k e a
generous lu m p sum d o n a tio n
B e co m e p a rt o f the
''P e o p le H e lp in g P eople
¡etween the Bookends
By Dan Sevig.
Vernonia School* Librarian
The m a in reasons fo r
reading a book are for self-
discovery, enioym ent, or in
fo rm a tio n
Yet sometimes
the excitem ent of participa
tio n in a school-wide program
w hich offers incentives vs ill
reach students who w ill not
read on their own
Early in O ctober we w ill
begin a reading m o tivation
p ro g ra m
at
M is t
and
W ashington Grade Schools
The them e o t the program is
A round the W o rld w ith
Books
As students read
books and turn in vouchers
indicating pages read, their
markers w ill move across a
large o u tlin e map o f the
w orld Students w ill receive
a series o f awards as they
lourney on this w orld tour
The top award w ill be a gold
medal and p a rticip a tio n in a
spring fie ld trip
All participating students
w ill also be eligible for prizes
in a ra ffle
W ashington
Grade School and Western
A u to are sponsoring the
prize w hich is a bicycle A
sam ple bike w ill be on
display at either WGS or M ist
during the five months of the
contest
The Reading is Fundamen
\
ta i" program , w h ich provides
students in grades K-6 w ith 3
paperback books each year
w ill be co n tin u e d Funds for
our fa ll and spring Book Fair
pro vid e lo ca l m atching funds
fo r this program O f course,
p ro vid in g 3 paperback books
fo r a personal lib ra ry is only a
beginning
Books are an ex
ce lle n t b irth d a y or holiday
gift, or just a w ay to te ll your
c h ild th a t you th in k reading is
im p o rta n t
Letters to the Editor
To the Editor:
I w alked to my m ail box to
day and to my surprise there
was The INDFPFNDFNT
Some w onderful person from
Vernonia sent it to me I real
ly enjoyed reading it and am
looking forw ard to the next
issue Thank you
I have some good friends in
Vernonia that I miss a lot No
m atter what the distance is
between us, I w ill never
forget them
We recently
were in Vernonia and there
vsere a lot ot you I didn t get
to see hec ause o t poor plann
ing on my part fo r this I am
tru ly sorry
Pat Larson
Kingman, Arizona
To the Editor:
In response to the* question
of the m onth
I didn t realize a person
had to run tor o ffice to have
input to C ity affairs
I know of nobods who has
the answer to all the C ity s
problem s
It takes co m
m u n ica tio n and a lot of foot
w ork to perform any job w ell
O perating on hearsay instead
o t tacts is creating City pro
blems
W hen the elected o ffic ia ls
egotistical problem s are solv
ed m aybe they can settle
dow n and do the |ob they
were elected to do
Leonard Simmons
Vernonia
To the Editor:
I m w ritin g to explain why I
sent my 12 year old to Seattle
to attend school for awhile
M y husband and I have 4
boys and have lived here for
2 ’ > years We moved to Ver
nonia to r tw o reasons First
fo r a business opportunity,
and second so we could live
a life style where we could be
home fo r our children
Bevond this, we ve found it's
the people of Vernonia who
make the difference, who
make Vernonia a desirable
place to live
As I liv e through my
c h ild re n s a d o le s c e n c e I
remember how hard it is to
grow up
I remember the
desire to be accepted, not o n
ly by peers but also as an
adult
I recall how d iffic u lt
decision making was as my
p a re n ts gave me m o re
freedoms and long term con
sequences were not always a
part of this process
In Vernonia the problems
for ms son N ic k as w ell as so
many ot our children were
to o m uch free tim e and too
few positive activities to par-
tic ipate in What do we o ffe r
our children except to stand
around on street corners, ride
in older teen's cars, and a t
tend beer parties/ We o ffe r
no sex education to elem en
tary children through 9th
grade and very little in co m
m u n ic a t io n s k ills w it h
parents or dating re la tio n
ships
One example o f positive
reinforcem ent through ac
tivities was the baseball pro
gram offered last spring
It
was a very good exam ple of
how a few interested adults
made use o f our children s
tim e
I believe each player,
coach and fan came away
f e e lin g
good
about
themselves Thank you
I do have an o p tim istic
view for the future lust as I
know it is the people o f V er
nonia who make the d if
ference. I know we can W'e
need to w ork w ith our school
system We need to organize
and support activities and
sports fo r our children
Teach them to have fun
through p a rticip a tio n and ac
com plishm ents
H elp teach
them and oursefvps co m
m u n ic a tio n skills, to share
ideas and dream W e need to
prepare them fo r the world,
fo r colle g e and life beyond
V ernonia
le t's b u ild together a com
m u n ity a tm o s p h e re w ith
p ositive alternatives for our
teenagers, so my toddler and
1st grader and yo u r children
can fin d th e ir grow ing needs
m et in V ernonia
Barb Fulmer
President, Vernonia
Booster Club
Vice-Pres Parent-Teacher
Club
To the Editor:
I'm w ritin g in response to a
le tte r in the August Indepen
dent in w hich an opponent ot
the proposed linear state
park com pared its siting to
the siting o f m e tropolitan
P ortland s m ega-dum p just
outside o f V ernonia
In m y op in io n , there is no
com parison at a ll unless you
w ant to com pare fresh fru it
w ith rotten, dead meat
In
m y o p in io n , state parks are
w o n d e rfu l places where mv
fa m ily has spent lots of hap
py tim es together, I cannot
say the same o f a mega
d um p
State parks do not
p o llu te the air and water but
as a rule, try to preserve the
n a tu ra l
e n v ir o n m e n t
w henever possible
I support the m ovem ent to
site a state park in and
around V ernonia I believe it
w ill be n e fit V ernonia in manv
ways, not the least o f w hich
w ill be to preserve the beauty
o f our land, and not trash it
Patricia Jensen
Vernonia