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The INDEPENDENT, May 30, 1990
ne
INDEPENDENT
Serving the upper Nehalem River valley Published
monthly on the last Wednesday ol each month, by
Public Opinion Laboratory Ltd 1206 State Avenue.
Vernonia. OR 97064, as a free newspaper All material
protected under U S Copyright laws Editors and
Publishers. Dirk & Norn Andersen, (503) 429 9410
O p in io n
Failure to vote risks
new district's status
Last month, a tax base for the new Emergency
Communications District lost by 115 votes of the
9,031 ballots cast.
Most people agree that prompt dispatching of 911
calls is critical, yet only 743 of nearly 1500 registered
voters in the Nehalem Valley went to the polls Of
those, 210 voted against the measure, 400 voted for
it and 133 skipped it.
To all of you who say "Why bother, my vote doesn't
count" try out those numbers It would have taken
only a few of you to assure stable funding for emer
gency dispatching
While you're trying to calculate the numbers, here’s
something else to think about: State law does not
require emergency dispatching, it requires only that
911 phone calls be answered What's done after that
is up to local districts because Uncle Government
isn't going take care of it.
When the City of Vernonia can no longer scrape up
the $50,000, or more, needed for emergency dis
patching under the present system, communications
will be slow and uncertain, not just in town but also in
rural areas, because our rural fire distncts can't afford
the service by themselves
There will be another election, June 26, and anoth
er opportunity to provide county wide funding for
emergency dispatching, this time through a one-year
levy instead of a tax base
Let's put this on a more personal level
Recently, we had an unwanted "opportunity" to try
our emergency dispatching system Within five min
utes of our 4 a m phone call, four emergency medi
cal technicians and an ambulance were at the door;
they were followed shortly by two or three more
EMTs.
They quickly and efficiently started emergency
treatment and provided transportation to the hospital
Their presence was reassuring, their concern obvi
ous, and their skills exemplary
Fortunately, the emergency wasn't life-threatening,
but if it had been, we hate to think of what could
result from slow or uncertain dispatching
If you need firefighters, EMTs or police, do you
want to rely on a haphazard dispatching system'? Or
do you want prompt, professional dispatching of
emergency personnel?
Do you still think your vote doesn't count?
By Nancy B urch
V e rn o n ia C ity L ib ra ria n
Once again the Department of Education is
sponsoring a summer reading program in
which students reading at least ten books
receive a certificate from the Governor
and the State Superintendent of Public
Instruction.
The books must be read
between May 15 and September 15 and
certificates will be issued for each student
who brings the list of books w ith
signature of parent or guardian to the
library. We will also have a special prize
for the individual reading and listing the
most books.
A special thank you goes to the Walters'
family for recently donating a nice se
lection of children's books to the library.
If you have books that your children no
longer use, we would be glad to add them to
our collection to make them available to
the young readers in Vernonia.
Another welcome addition to our lib
rary is an updated book on etiquette given
by the Study Club in memory of Amy
Kamholz
This informative book explores
such topics as funerals, public displays of
affection, profanity, sexual harrassment.
telephone manners, foreign menu terms,
food stuck in teeth, and ear piercing. The
correct method of dealing with almost any
situation is included and I would like to
publicly thank the Study Club for remem
bering Amy Kamholz in this manner
To give readers an opportunity to look
into the place where N orthw esterners
live, the Oregon State University Press is
making available books that are out of
print. We have recently purchased the
first two of these publications, "Nehalem
Tillamook Tales" and "Oregon Detour" for
our library. "Nehalem Tillamook Tales”
is a collection of Indian legends while
"Oregon Detour" is a work of fiction which
has been the object of fifty years of
censorship in Weston, Oregon, where Nard
Jones, its author, lived from 1919 to
1927. Although Jones claimed that the
book was "only fiction",
he actually
changed events and characters of the
wheat-growing town of Weston (Creston)
very little.
The novel was considered in
1930, and is still considered today, as
being "about Weston" by the majority of
its residents. Whether you read this with
the assumption that it is based on fact or
is purely fictitious, you'll get an enjoy
able insight into life in a small northwest
town during the 1920's. I enjoyed reading
the book, but have to admit that without
all the publicity of its having been banned,
it probably wouldn't have been so highly
publicized and thus republished
Watch
for others in this series of Northwest
Reprints as they become available
LIbrary Hours: Monday and Friday 1 5 p m ,
Wednesday, 9 a m -5 p m . and Saturday, 10
a m -2 p m
Preschool Story Time is every Wednesday
from 10 30 11 a m
L e t t e r s t o t h e E k lit o r
Thanks for the help
To the Editor:
As Co chairpersons of the
Vernonia Community Health
Fair, we would like to thank
all those resposnsible for
making the 1990 Community
Health and Fitness Fair such
a huge success1
To the scores of partici
pants whose displays and
health checks were made
available to our community,
thank you Your time volun
teered for the most pari free
of charge showed us all how
to be well and fit in the 1990s
To the community volun
teers. the Fair Committee it
self, the high school and
grade school students and
the local Lions Club, who
helped set up. maintain and
disassemble the equipment in
the high school gym, thank
you You all remind us of
what being good neighbors
and living in a small commu
nity is all about, we can al-
ways find those who will help
and follow through
To the many sponsors,
whose contributions added to
our health care and safety of
ferings during our Play-4-
Health Month and the Fair,
Thank You West Oregon
Electric Cooperative. Vernon
ia School District, Sword Log
ging Astoria Red Lion, Sun
nyside Service, General Tele
phone, Lions Club, NAPA
Auto Pads, Cornelius Fred
Meyer, Western Auto, Kayla
Cota and Carmen Finley
A special thank you to the
Class of 2000 and their direc
tors, Dana Hyde and Eliza
beth Marxer. for showing us
through their pfay that we can
make the world a healthy
place to live
And to the Vernonia Com
munity who not only came to
the fair, but who participated
m the many health and fit
ness activities before and
during the fair, Thank You
You are on the right track to
health and fitn e ss in the
1990s
W ithout all of You, we
couldn't have done it'
Barb Fulmer
Lynn Dougherty
Vernonia
Group makes plans
To the Editor:
The C olum bia C ounty
Small Woodland Association
is an organization dedicated
to the protection, manage
ment. use and enhancement
of Oregon's forest resources
The association is composed
of owners of less than 5,000
acres of Oregon forestland, it
was founded in 1967
The objectives of the asso
ciation are to help preserve
the rights of private woodland
ownership, educate the public
and policy m akers on the
value of the state's forest re
sources and the need to
More letters on page 17