Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The independent. (Vernonia, Or.) 1986-current | View Entire Issue (May 1, 1996)
W By Charlene Bechen Banks Library Volunteer Polish your thimble and join the other vol unteers at work on the Friends of the Library quilt project. This quilt will be a “Come-atong“ pattern utilizing the strip method of quilting, in shades of blues and greens. Quilting bees are taking place Thursday evenings throughout the spring and early summer. The completed quilt will be raffled off at the Banks Barbecue in August. Raffle tickets are available at the li brary for $1.00 each. Please call Denise at 324-1382 for more information. Volunteers are also needed to help staff the Friends’ Saturday Recycling at the SWATCO service yard. Occurring the second Saturday of each month, this project helps keep our community beautiful and provides extra funds for the Banks Library. Many faithful patrons work there every month, but with summer ap proaching, more help is needed. If you can spare an hour or two once a month for this worthy endeavor, please call Donna at 324- 3404. Your help would be greatly appreciated. A hearty thank you is extended to all those who donated and purchased items at the Spring Plant and Book Sale. As with all the Country Kitchen is back in business To the Editor: The Vaughn Family cannot begin to thank everyone for all the help, support, donations, loss of sleep, sore muscles during the floods. We got an o th e r 3" A p ril 22nd., but it could have been worse with Friends’ activities, the money raised at this event will help defray the costs of running the Banks Library. Mark your calendar for Thursday, May 16. At 7 p.m. that day at the Banks Library, JoAnn Pari-Mueller, a member of the Portland Art Museum speaker’s bureau, will host a slide presentation of the Imperial Tombs of China. This exhibit opens May 1 at the Portland Art Museum and is the most significant display of Chinese artifacts ever seen outside the Orient. The exhibit contains more than 250 objects, including life-sized terra cotta warriors. Port land is the only city on the West Coast to host this exhibit. The slide presentation at the li brary is open to the public and free of charge. Beverly Cleary, an author with local roots, has published the second part of her memoirs, My Own Two Feet. This book, as well as her first book of memoirs, A Girl From Yamhill, are available at the library. Library Hours: Wednesday and Saturday, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m., Thursday 1 - 7 p.m., Friday, 1 - 5 p.m. Banks Library is located in Oak Village Shopping Center, 669 S. Main Street. Phone: 324-1382. out the help of friends, and neighbors, who stayed up all night long. Your names, organizations, Red Cross, St. Marys CATV, churches, friends and numer ous New friends are endless. A ll we can say is “you all know who you are.” We have everything on our menu including B.B.Q. Ribs - a favo rite - and are slowly STATE REPRESENTATIVE JACKIE TAYLOR DISTRICT 1 DEMOCRAT g e ttin g the sp e cia ls back. D onuts are in, hom em ade pies are coming, Mom says. W e’re open at 7:00 a.m. and ready to serve you again. Dave, Betty, Marshall, Jim, Jason & Cody Vernonia Good folks work on county road crews To the Editor: During the many years I serve d as the C olum bia County Roadmaster, I came to know the road department crews very well. It would be fair to say that we had our dif ferences like any other man agem ent-labor relationship does, and sometimes those differences were significant. I can honestly say, however, that all of us at the Road De partment were committed to doing the best job we could do for the the citizens of the County. I had a lot of support from a lot of fo lks even though their requests for road im provements couldn’t always be filled. It seems we were al ways trying to stretch a dollar for materials. But that’s not why I felt I had to write this letter. The reason I’m peeking my head out of retirement is that I think people should know that they have a great road department crew. These men and wom en do m ore w ith nothing than just about any other public organization I know of. The February floods showed just how dedicated these people really are. While the mudslides on US 30 got a lot of m edia a tte n tio n , it should be noted that there were hundreds of slides and w ashouts th ro u g h o u t the county road system . Your road department personnel worked their hearts out to get traffic moving. Some individu als, I’m told, worked upwards of two hundred hours over time in February alone. As form er Roadmaster, I just want everyone to know th a t th e re are som e darn good fo lks w orking on the county road system and they deserve to be recognized and appreciated. Sincerely, Jim McBride, Retired County Roadmaster St. Helens Bushnell ignoring wishes of the voters To the Editor: One of the most important things we can do to regain control of our government is to reform the method we use to fin a n c e o u r e le c tio n s . Campaign spending in Ore gon legislative races has in creased 10-fold in the last two decades. Oregon is one of only seven states that had no limits on campaign contri b u tio n s . M easure No. 9, which passed by a wide mar gin during the 1994 General Election, changed that. The new campaign reform law allows candidates to sign a statement with the Secre tary of State declaring that they will limit their campaign expenditures to $20,000 for the primary election. As re ported by the Voters' Pam phlet recently mailed to me, Scott Bushnell [Republican candidate, State Rep. Dist. 2] is the only candidate who did not sign this voluntary decla ration. This means if you con tributed to his campaign you cannot ob tain a tax cred it from the State. It also means that Mr. Bushnell is not listen ing to the wishes of the vot ers. Diane Waldron agreed to the cam paign exp en ditu re limit. As a Republican, who intends to vote in the Primary ele ctio n , I w ill choose her over Bushnell. Harold Leatherman Bay City Enhanced 9-1-1 is benefit to everyone To the Editor: W hen an e m e rge ncy s trik e s you o r y o u r loved ones, most people reach for their phone and dial 9-1-1. In Columbia County your 9-1-1 c a ll re a ch e s a d e d ic a te d group of in d iv id u a ls in a crowded office the size of a large closet. These trained folks then have to detemine where you are calling from and dispatch the appropriate agency. In most cases the caller is able to tell the dis patcher where the emergency is. However, this is not a l ways the case, especially at district boundaries or when the caller is unable to give an address. Additionally, since our system is entirely depen dent on the phone lines, if there is problem with those lines there can be problems with completing a 9-1-1 call. I would urge you to vote in favor of the 9-1-1 request for a bond issue and tax base. This money is needed to up grade our system to what is called Enhanced 9-1-1. Un d e r th is system , a ll ca lls would automatically display the associated address and could be immediately and ap propriately dispatched. In addition to very badly needed fa c ility and equip ment upgrades, part of the complete program is the pro duction of accurate maps for all areas of the county. The trem endous grow th in our area has outdated our maps and leads to delays in emer gency response (and tremen dous frustration in responders searching desperately for an address that is not on the maps). In addition, the new system would reduce our de pendence on the phone lines. Resolutions in support of this bond measure have been passed by many local groups including Lions, Vernonia City Council and Vernonia Volun teer Fire and EMS Associa tion. I urge you to support this badly needed improvement. Schann W. Nelson EMT-lntermediate VRFPD Please see page 16 Retain...Elect JU D G E I t has been an honor fo r me to serve as your representative completing Tony Federici's term. I ask fo r your vote in the M ay 21st primary so th a t I may continue to represent D istrict 1. JACKIE TAYLOR... a leader who listens Authorized and paid for by FRIENDS OF JACKIE TAYLOR, Norma J. Olson, Treasurer 1324 Miller Lane, Astoria, OR 97103 PAULA BROWNHILL Circuit Court Judge Our community needs Circuit Court Judge Paula Brownhill. She is fair, firm and works hard to serve the citizewns of District 19. • Experience • Fairness • Commitment Paid for by Committee to Retain Judge Brownhill, No. 002280, Blair J. Henningsgaard, Treasurer ?
