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About The independent. (Vernonia, Or.) 1986-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 13, 1995)
Panel will investigate Sykes charges The Oregon Government S tandards and P ra ctice s Commission (GSPC) has au thorized a formal investiga tion of the role played by for mer Columbia County Com missioner Michael Sykes in ea rm arking $4 0 0 ,0 0 0 of cou nty road d e p a rtm e n t funds for im provem ents to Dike Road in Rainier. A complaint filed by Naomi Bond alleges that Sykes mis used his position by support ing the road improvements for a proposed steel mill on Port of St. Helens property a few days before accepting a position as assistant manager at the port. Sykes and Commissioner Joel Yarbor voted at a special meeting in Rainier to support the expenditure if the mill de cides to locate on Dike Road. C a llin g the c o m p la in t “ ridiculous" Sykes said he would have been derelict in his duties if he had not set priorities designed to bring economic development and good jobs to Columbia Coun ty. He also noted th a t the state Department of Econom ic Development offered to pay more than half of the road im- provments if the county would pay the rest. BHP Steel is considering the Rainier location beneath the Lewis & Clark Bridge, as w ell as a s ite acro ss the Columbia River in Washing ton. If the new mill is built, it Please see page 16 INSIDE: Vernonia City Council news.............. See page 5 Great lunch box recipes In Cookin* with Gladys........................ VHS Volleyball a smash hit............... See page 8 Banks School Board news................See page 9 County 4-H members earn awards at State Fair.......................See page 10 Vernonia Police Report.....................See page 12 BULK RATI U 4 . Portane P RarmkNo. S7 Vernonia. OR B70C4 V o i. 10, N o . 17 See page 7 "V o ic e o f t h e U p p e r N e h a le m R iver V a lle y " FREE S e p t. 13 , 1995 County mourns death of Tony Federici The Aug. 30 death of Tony Federici, 1st Dist. Represen tative, has left a hole in both the government and the heart of Columbia County. Federici, 58, was hospital ized Aug. 27 after collapsing because of tachycardia, an ir regular heart beat. He died of cardiac arrest. In 1965, he and his wife, Nancy, returned to his home tow n, w here they opened Tony's Shoes and immersed themselves in community ac tivities while raising a son and daughter, Nick and Catherine. At the tim e of his death, Federici was serving his sec ond term in the state legisla tu re , but had p re vio u sly served in many capacities where his wide range of inter ests, his willingness to pursue solutions and his good humor were of great benefit to St. Helens and Columbia County. Family’s belongings destroyed Three children playing with a cigarette lighter August 23 almost totally destroyed the belongings of a fam ily who recently purchased a home in Vernonia. Ken and Juana Howley, and their four children, moved from Michigan to Hillsboro in early May, hauling most of th e ir belongings and a ll of Ken's carpentry tools in an 18* rental truck. W hile Ken drove the truck, Juana drove their mobile home. He took a job with Zerbrugg Construc tio n in H ills b o ro a n d th e y liv e d in th e m o b ile hom e while looking for a place to settle. They had just purchased and moved into a home on Jefferson Avenue, where they stored most of their belong ings in a large shed behind the house while starting to fix up the new home. On August 23, the family had gone to Hillsboro to take care of some errands. In their absence, the children started a fire in the Howley’s shed that quickly got out of control. Among the items lost in the fire were thousands of dollars w orth o f c a rp e n try to o ls, building supplies and most of the fam ily’s clothing, in ad dition to irreplaceable items such as photo albums and a collection of Spanish dolls that had belonged to Juana’s mother. T h e ir m otor hom e was severely damaged, but was saved from de structio n by neighbors who kept spraying water on it while firefighters were battling the fire. A nyone who w ishe s to help the family replace nec essary items, may call them at 429-7024. A St. Helens native, Fed erici was born in 1937. He graduated from the University of Oregon in 1962 and taught junior high school in Salem. Grant will finance continuation of mediation for South Banks Project The grant paying for medi a tio n on the S outh B anks Project has been extended, city attorney Jim Lucas told the Banks City Council last nigh t, and m e d ia tio n is scheduled to resume Sept. 19. Demo conventions will fill vacancies Democratic Central Com mittee members will hold two nominating conventions in ten days to fill legislative vacan cies in state Representative Districts 1 and 2. Each con vention may nominate up to five people for appointment. The a p p o in tm e n ts w ill be made by the Boards of Com m issioners in the affected counties. One of the nominees se lected for appointment to the state Rep. Dist. 2 position va cated by Tim J o s i. ..is Tim Josi, who was unable to re scind his resignation after re versing a decision to accept a job offer in Hawaii. The District 2 convention was held Sept. 9 in Tillamook, with delegates from Tillam ook, Clatsop and Columbia Counties. Although Washing ton County has four precincts in District 2, they had no dele gates at the convention be- Tony Federici cause there are no central committee members in those precincts. The three nominees, Ka rolyn Adam son, M ike E llis and Josi, w ere chosen on only two ballots. A dam son is a C annon Beach council member and was legislative aide to former Reps. Tom Hanlon and Jack ie Taylor. Ellis, of Tillamook, is d ire c to r o f th e T illa m o o k Please see page 5 Lucas also expressed con cern about the many different entities involved in the project and whether they all have the necessary legal authority to bargain. Depending on that factor, “Mediation may or may not take place, ” Lucas said. John Medeiros, chairman of the Banks School District Board of Directors, presented the council with a request for school district representation at the mediation table when it resumes. Plans developed by a pro bono a rch ite ct fo r the new city library specify construc tio n a b u ttin g th e a d ja c e n t b u ild in g . The n e c e s s a ry easements and variances are being worked on. The city engineer reported that plans have been com- Please see page 9
