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The INDEPENDENT, Feb. 21,1996
INDEPENDENT
The
&
it
A
‘ erving the upper Nehalem River valley. Published
twice monthly on the first and third Wednesdays of each
nonth, by Public Opinion Laboratory Ltd., 725 Bridge
Street, Vernonia, OR 97064, as a free newspaper.
Editors and Publishers, Dirk & Noni Andersen, (503)
429-9410.
Mutual tragedy has
created friendships
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ó
mams
W
PULL TORO
tce.uwù et Hi
It’s easy to forget how special our families, friends,
neighbors and acquaintances are. It’s also easy to re
ome
member small slights and disagreements.
These last two weeks, with their tragedy, stress,
worry and fatigue, have reminded so many of us just
how important and how valuable those others are in
our lives. How many of us would choose to watch the
rising water alone or say “no” to the thoughtful offers
of help? A few, yes, but only a few.
The communities in the upper Nehalem Valley had
little choice about whether to handle the emergencies
alone. There was on one available to help and the
few that wanted to help couldn’t get here.
Nevertheless, we have much to be grateful for, es
pecially the locally developed emergency command From page 1
center and the myriad volunteers who helped anyone has done so many times in
who needed help.
the dark of night. I rolled over
and dozed off. Soon, I could
A few special people should be mentioned:
John and Mary Ann Shaw and their family not only hear the scanner crackling
with com m unications and I
rescued most of a neighborhood, including one wom
c o u ld n ’t stay in bed any
an who had just had open heart surgery, but took longer. Mom was up, and told
more than 50 of the evacuees into their own home, me the river was rising again.
In fact, she thought she heard
fed them and kept them safe overnight.
the
pa ge r re p o rt a rise of
Randy Aultman suddenly had to run an emergency
about a foot an hour. I decid
shelter and he did so, accepting responsibility for
ed it was time to head to the
some 200 people while having to leave his family to station to give a hand. I ar
be watched over by others.
rived at the Incident Com
The women at St. Mary’s who fed our bodies with m and C enter, w hich had
been established the day be
hot food and our souls with warm concern.
fore as the heart of communi
Kim and Jim Tierney, Sue Cavinee, Genny Fisher
cations for local agencies. It
and all the others who started the relief effort before wasn't long before the volun
FEMA and the Red Cross could find Vernonia on the te e r fire fig h te rs , men and
w om en, w ere being d is
map— or even find the map.
Debbie Sturdefant for opening up her banquet patched to check out roads
and residences.
room at the Sidetrack as a child care center, feeding
I was teamed up with Jim
the children and charging nothing.
Hayes, you know, th a t big
Linda Hartman for keeping another 50-60 older barrel-chested guy with the
children busy and safe; also for helping others by do hickory shirt opened all the
way to the bottom and that
ing their flood-contaminated laundry, free.
red chest hair hanging out.
No, we’re not ignoring other very important figures; We were sent to Riverside
we’ve just started. In the next issue of The INDE Drive to check on water con
PENDENT, we will do considerably more detailed ditions in the m obile home *
park. As we got to the cul-de-
coverage of the flood and its aftermath.
We hope that some valid estimates of recovery sac we noticed the rising wa
ter was only a foot away from
costs will be available by that time and that plans will the pavement. A local police
have been started to accomplish the recovery.
officer was also checking out
C
tip
cm watcr J*
i
o' the R a t ,
w ho
to a l l
helaeo • h •
*50
ioat needed to help people evacuate
Thanks Mayor Hyde and
President Clinton
Mayor Tony Hyde was one of a handful of mayors
who spoke with President Bill Clinton and, instead of
breathing platitudes, he spoke emotionally and from
the heart about the lack of help from federal, state
and county governments. The President listened
ca re fu lly and, the next day, FEMA, the N ational
Guard and Red Cross arrived in Vernonia.
It was not a coincident. President Clinton said he
would get on the problem right away— and he did
what he said he would do.
the s itu a tio n and we c o n
curred with his decision to
evacuate the area. The officer
conferred with Police Chief
Walters, then began sounding
his siren as he drove through
the street of mobile homes.
Jim and I returned to the
station just as daylight broke
and were inside when the call
went out for a boat. Since Jim
had hijacked his b ro th e r’s
boat the day before, we were
ready to go. Our assignment
was to evacuate the Barela
fam ily from their residence
alongside Rock Creek. We
launched our boat at the Wa-
te rs ’ (what an appropriate
name) residence. The river
was right up to the pavement
and launching the boat was
easy.
We eased our way into the
river and took a careful look
at what we were getting into.
The current was mainly in the
channel, but just before the
Barela’s, some current kicked
up next to their garage. Jim
forced the boat through the
c u rre n t, ju s t m issing the
garage and the top of a fence
post th a t ba rely show ed
above the swirling currents.
We made our way to the up
stream side of the house and
hung out in an eddy caused
by three vehicles that were
barely above the turbid water.
Mrs. Barela was quite ex
cited to see us and waved
from her upstairs window. Af
ter sizing up the exits to the
house, we eased into the
door of the residence, with
the stem of the boat actually
in sid e the house. We d is
patched life jackets to the
three occupants, then loaded
Mrs. Barela and some of their
belongings into the boat for
our first trip to shore. Rock
C reek raged a m ere fo rty
yards away, and we knew we
mustn’t get caught up in its
currents with the bridge so
close below us.
We eased our way below
the house using its eddy as
s h e lte r from the currents,
then powered across the cur
rent toward safety. My heart
skipped a beat when we tem
porarily hung up on a sub
m erged fence, fo r ge tting
caught up against something
in a boat can spell disaster.
Freed from the underwater
obstacle, we delivered Mrs.
B a re la to som ew hat dry
ground and started back for
the remaining two occupants.
Back at the house, we dis
covered Mr. Barela and his
son in a canoe that had been
tied up outside the home. We
watched in disbelief as they
headed toward the main cur
rent and a fir tree. They bare
ly missed getting tangled up
in the tree before they pad-
died back toward us. Jim and
I breathed a big sigh of relief
as they made their way past
us and into calm er waters.
We quickly loaded our boat
and started back for the sta
tion.
The riv e r was po uring
across the street by the Medi
cal Center, but was not on
B ridge S tree t in fro n t of
W ashington Grade School.
We were back at the station
just long enough to grab a
sandw ich, when we w ere
sent to evacuate a woman
and two children on Hwy 47
North. Jim said the address
sounded familiar, then real
ized it was w here he had
once lived. We didn’t need
our boat this time, the house
was still out of the water, but
the highway in the Riverview
area was under water. We
delivered our refugees to the
grade school, where the wa
ter was now in the street but
the sidewalk was still dry.
We returned to the station,
grabbed a bite to eat and,
once more, we were ordered
to the Riverview area. Jim
and I crossed the bridge and
stopped to check out the wa
ter that now poured over the
highway. Easing o u r way
through the water, we could
see it wasn’t above the tire
hubs. Before reaching our
destination, we were forced
to park on the only dry spot
we could see, and launch our
boat because of high water
ahead of us. The current was
a lot swifter there and, as we
floated down Hwy 47, the wa-
Please see page 14