Pag© 2 Th© INDEPENDENT, October 31, 1990
Th,
INDEPENDENT
Serving the upper Nehalem River valley Published
monthly on the last Wednesday ot each month, by
Public Opinion Laboratory Ltd . 1206 State Avenue,
Vernonia, OR 97064, as a tree newspaper All material
protected under U S Copyright laws Editors and
Publishers, Dirk & Noni Andersen, (503) 429 9410
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O p in io n
Leonetti and Sword
Two gooa candidates are running for the unpaid
position of mayor of Vernonia, Mario Leonetti and
Scott Sword Both are involved in the work of the
city, both are energetic and both of them really care
about this town, its future and its people
They're both seeking the responsibility because
of concern, they're sure not doing it for the pay
The only real difference we can ascertain is a dif
ference in approach Leonetti’s heart sometimes
clouds his judgement while Sword sometimes lets
analysis overnde his feelings They usually end up
in agreement
Which would be the better mayor is a question we
can't answer. Either way, Vernonia is a winner
By Nancy Burch
Vernonia City Librarian
In anticipation of Vernonia's Centennial this
coming year, I plan to include a tew highlights
each month from Vernonia's past The fol
lowing quotes were taken from 1933 issues
ot the Vernonia Eagle
"Mr and Mrs Joe Magott were charivaried
Monday evening ’ "Bridgers' store robber is
caught * "Three dollars has been set as the
limit whch any girl may spend for her grad
uation dress The boys' suits are to be simil
arly inexpensive " Other articles in the 1933
Eagle told about the beginning and spread of
the Tillamook Burn and the destruction ot
Camp MacGregor There was also an ad list
mg a 3 bedroom furnished house for rent at
$6 00 a month with water included
Getting back to the present. November.
1990, we now have several new books that
patrons have requested These include The
Snare of Serpents by Victoria Holt, The Plains
of Passage by Jean Auel, Four Past Midnight
by Stephen King, Buffalo Girls by Larry
McMurtry, Harvest by Belva Plain, and The
Burden of Proof by Scotl Turow These have
all been in such demand since we acquired
them that the last two are the only ones that I
have had a chance to read
In Harvest Belva Plain continues the saga ot
the Werner family as Iris and her husband
Theo a successful surgeon find their mar
riage disintegrating When their son becomes
involved with a dynamic and dangerous
campus radical and Theo loses the use of his
hand Paul Werner, who holds the secret of
Iris's dubious parentage, offers his assis
tance I would encourage anyone who has
read and enjoyed Belva Plain's previous
novels to also read Harvest
The mam character in Scotl Turow's. Burden
of Proof, is one who had been introduced in
an earlier novel (Presumed Innocent) When
celebrated defense lawyer "Sandy" Stern
returns from a business trip to find that Clara,
his wife of thirty years, has committed suicide
he is forced to confront all he doesn't know
about his life As he works to untangle the
web of his brother-in-law's financial dealings,
his entire world— marriage, family, career—is
brought under intense scrutiny I enjoyed
this book, but found the financial matters
somewhat difficult to understand
One more addition that I want to mention has
come to us from Vernonia Recycles This is a
30-mmute v,deocassette called The Rotten
Truth, which contains some amazing facts
about garbage and recycling The music,
animation and live-action footage in this tape
will increase your awareness of the need to
recycle
Library H our*: Monday and Triday 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 am
Heimuller and White
In the race for Columbia County Commissioner,
Mike White is a fresh face on the political scene, but
Dale Heimuller has stronger credentials
White has worked effectively on various projects
in the Scappoose area, but has only recently be
come involved with other parts of the county We
hope he continues to expand his expenence
Heimuller has broader public experience, includ
ing serving as a director for the Port of St Helens,
which includes all of the county except this area.
Perhaps, with his extensive expenence in the sand
and gravel industry, he may even have some of the
answers to county road problems
We recommend Dale Heimuller for county com
missioner
Dukes and Mitchell
State Sen Joan Dukes (D Astoria) has done a
good job in some parts of her distnct, but. with the
exception of her help on the Bacona landfill, this is
n't one of them
She worked, unsuccessfully, to defeat the state
linear park, the only bright light in Vernonia's eco
nomic scene in years Worse yet, her personal ani
mosity toward the state parks department o u t
weighed any benefits her constituents might gain
Dukes is obviously out of touch with Vernonia
when she tells us the way to get natural gas service
here lies with local people working with the city and
the county, after all, she talked with people at North
west Natural Gas and finds them easy to get along
with.
Her statement belittles the hard work of local peo
ple. the city and the county, to obtain use of the nat
ural gas taken from under our feet It ignores both
NNG's admission that their refusal to serve Vernon
ia was based on an inadequate survey and their lat
er offer to provide service if the school distnct con
verted to natural gas—only to renege at a special
47J board meeting called at NNG's request
Sykes Mitchell. Dukes' opponent, is a political
novice who doesn't how to help us, but he knows of
our efforts, understands our needs and won't sell us
short.
We urge support for Mitchell on Nov 6
Treasures (?) of measures
the INDEPENDENT recommends the tol
lowing on County Measures
a nn ual p ro p e rty tax
though, out
5-14 Would establish a tax base tor 9-
1-1 emergency services dispatching
Yes
7—Work in lieu ot welfare is wha, this is
called, bu, i, should be labeled the Slave La
bor Ac, ot 1990 I, would, indeed take people
ott welfare in the six county pilot program,
putting them to work a, 90% ot the minimum
wage a, no cos, to the employer Salaries
would be paid trom funds earmarked tor un
em plo ym e nt b e n e fits, food stam ps and
AFDC which would no longer be available in
the pilot program counties, and there are no
health or child care benefits It makes no
d is tin c tio n between able-bodied people
and senior citize n s w ho scrape by w ith
the help of food stamps nor does it protect
the |obs of workers who could be replaced by
their employers at no cos,
No
The next two measures are both designed
to raise money tor construction, repair, main
tenance or other improvement ot county and
city roads It's unfortunate that fuel prices
have increased because ot national and in
ternational events bu, that doesn't till the
hole in local road budgets
5-17 County m otor vehicle fuel tax ot
2c per gallon, would raise approximately
$400.000 and would be divided with the cities
in the county
yes
5-18 Imposing a tee of 10c per ton on
sand gravel, rock and other unrenewable
natural resources mined in the county, this
would raise $100.000 $150.000 annually
Yes
There are several state measures on the
ballot tha, are very important bu, three really
stand ou,
5 Constitutional lim it on property tax
es to r s c h o o ls and lo c a l g o v e rn m e n t
would replace lost school income with state
general fund money through 1995 96 school
year with no provision tor school funding af
ter tha, Sets a limit ot $10 per thousand tor
all local governments combined (county, city,
tire district, etc ) Would also eliminate tax
breaks tor agricultural land and greenbelts
and replace the timber severance tax with an
Very, very poorly
No
11—-S c h o o l c h o ic e s y s te m a nd tax
c re d it would allow students to attend any
public school by requiring open enrollment
throughout the state I, would also allow a
tax credit o, up to $2500 per child tor attend
mg a private school or home school The
people ot this state are committed to a tree
public education tor all students, we even de
,ermine with our votes how much we want to
spend tor local education This doesn't pre
vent private religious or secular schools, nor
does i, ban home schooling Those are op
tions open to everyone, bu, ,ha, doesn't re
lease us trom our responsibility to public
schools Private school operators should
also look closely at this proposed constitu
tional change because it puts government
right in your bankbook and you may no, be
able to keep it there
NO
L e t t e r s t o t h e E k lit o r
Parenting is tough
To the Editor:
Being a parent today is one
ot the most difficult roles one
may have The challenge of
keeping pace with our chil
dren and their many activities
and directions seems near ,o
impossible
As a mother of
six ages 4 to 21, there are
many days I want to throw up
my hands and say "I can't do
it anymore, slow down, give
me a break ’ But then there
is a new c ris is , a new
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