Page 2
The
The INDEPENDENT, June 3,1998
INDEPENDENT
OGXßJMTÄ tBŒ
Serving the upper Nehalem River valley. Published twice
monthly, on the first and third Wednesdays of each
month, by Public Opinion Laboratory Ltd., 725 Bridge
Street, Vernonia, OR 97064, as a free newspaper. Edi
tors and Publishers, Dirk & Noni Andersen. Sports Edi
tor, Caren McGaugh. Phone/Fax: (503) 429-9410.
—
' 'z'z''
<,z''i
' , < y ,
" " 't ' -
School budget has
awareness of arts
The Vernonia School District budget for 1998-99 is a
mixed bag-which is an improvement on prior years.
For the first time in many years, a couple thousand dol
lars have been earmarked for expansion of music and
art, possibly even in extracurricular activities. It may
not be much, but it’s a move in the right direction.
To put this in perspective, the budget for high school
extracurricular athletics is $159,000.
It is policy in the Vernonia district that students in
volved in extracurricular athletics should not have to
make any financial contribution. True, they buy their
own baseball and softball caps, their own required un
dergarments and their own shoes. Sometimes they
also raise a little money for special activities or sup
plies involved with their sport, but it isn’t required.
The district pays for uniforms, travel, officiating,
coaches (sometimes one, usually two and occasional
ly three for each sport), even lodging and some meals
on overnight trips.
In return for this, the only academic requirement stu
dent athletes must maintain is that they may not be
failing any class. If they maintain this minimum stan
dard, they receive awards, certificates, letters and lots
of adulation.
Keep that in mind, and contrast it with another ex
tracurricular activity.
National Honor Society students have a paid advi
sor. That’s all. For anything beyond that, they must
raise the money and pay for all associated activities.
The minimum academic standard for the honor society
is difficult to maintain but, if they do it—they get a
plaque.
Whoopee.
Another activity, the International Club, has a paid
advisor. They must raise the money and pay for all ac
tivities involved with the club, with or without travel.
Recognition? Naah.
It’s easy to say that students turn out for sports and
not other activities, but that’s ignoring the fact that it is
the only fully sponsored activity and the only one that
has had support from the district and the community.
We should not lose sight of the purpose of public
schools, which is to provide an education. There’s
nothing wrong with fun in the process, but we should
n’t let the tail wag the dog.
If you have budget questions, attend the Budget
Hearing on Thursday, June 11 at 8:00 p.m.
Cowards steal at night
Four of the beautiful flower baskets, provided for the
community at no public cost by Vernonia Pride, have
been stolen from the Rock Creek bridge. They were
taken at night, of course, because that’s the only time
cowards come out.
There is a $100 reward for information leading to the
arrest of the person(s) responsible. First it was “just”
Easter eggs, now it is flower baskets. That sort of atti
tude contributes to bigger and better theft and vandal
ism. The sooner someone comes forward, the quicker
this sort of thing will stop.
,. A
A/eet
T H A a J
By Julius Dalzell and Cindy Ball
Vernonia City Councilors
The following article has been prepared by,
Cindy Ball, the newest member of the Vernonia
City Council. Outlined are Ball’s plans to update
information about Vernonia on the web by coor
dinating, planning and implementing a Vernonia
Web Site. A search on the Network will reveal
that individual pages, which provide various in
sights into what we are all about, have been pre
pared by members of our community. By inter
acting with those individuals and incorporating
additional information, Ball is planning a more
formal Home Page that will truly tell our story.
Equally important to building the web site is, of
course, the need to maintain the site to ensure
that information is current.
Building Visibility on the Web
With help from members of our community, a
Vernonia Web Site is being planned and built.
We hope to build interest outside the immediate
Vernonia area, encouraging an influx of tourist
dollars. Information is being collected about the
events, organizations and merchants in the Ver
nonia area.
If you are interested in exploring “cyber
space” but don’t have access to a computer, our
city library maintains a computer for public ac
cess. It is suggested that you call to reserve time
for your use of the library computer. There are
useful hints available, along with a list of rules
for use. This is primarily a research tool, so E-
mail is not available through the library. The
phone number for the library is 429-1818.
For those unfamiliar with the Internet, a very
short glossary of pertinent terms is provided.
Web site: Akin to a scrapbook, it provides a
variety of information, depending on the cre
ator’s intention.
ISP: Internet Service Provider, the telephone
connection through which you connect to the In
ternet. In Vernonia, the ISP is Cyberian Links,
429-4045.
Search Engine: A program designed to look
for key words, people, companies or other sub
jects you wish to research.
URL: Universal Reference Locator (or your
web site address in cyber-space).
WWW: World Wide Web (or cyberspace).
< i
•
«400:17
•
In web sites you may find:
• In-depth information about the company/or-
ganization.
• Phone numbers, addresses and other infor
mation to help you make contact.
• Product information.
• Photographs of staff members and local
scenes.
• Job listings.
• Educational sites.
• Games
As you may have gathered, the possibilities
for information on the Internet are limited only by
our own imaginations. For Vernonia, we plan to
develop a web site which has a polished, pro
fessional look to it. A web site which provides a
broad overview of our town and it’s beauty, and
invites guests to come discover Vernonia for
themselves.
Currently, we are in the information gathering
stage. Information is being actively solicited. We
will include local merchants, service organiza
tions, schools and government. For this, we
need the following:
• Your name
• Your organization name
• Address
• Phone number
• E-mail address and URL (if available)
• Calendar of events
• Mission statement
If your group is actively seeking new mem
bers or has upcoming activities, please give as
much information as available. Photos of mem-
bers/staff, group activities/past events may also
be submitted, but will be used as space allows.
Photos will be returned.
A calendar of events is planned to help coor
dinate the various activities held in Vernonia,
and assist out of town guests in planning visits
to our home. Please help the committee by pro
viding as much information as possible such as
dates of events, deadlines for participation and if
additional participants are being sought.
We hope that you, our Community, will see
the promise in this endeavor. The web site will
be an ongoing, exciting project. To be included
in this web site, or if you have any questions,
write to:
Councilor Cindy Ball
c/o Vernonia City Hall
919 Bridge Street
Vernonia Friendship Jamboree
August 7, 8 & 9,1998
V
■ •» »V*« ’ L r. • f t
Ï* .**'^ *.••*"*'* *>
•*
,'I/Z
1 K
7.
A6A( a /ST Z_£ a VIN6 SlöA/S o F
1