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About The independent. (Vernonia, Or.) 1986-current | View Entire Issue (June 17, 1998)
r The INDEPENDENT, June 17, 1998 Botwesn the Bookends By Nancy Burch, Librarian Vernonia City Library Summer Reading is the hottest item of news from the library. A RAD schedule (Reading, Adventure, and Discoveries) of events is planned. These events may be enjoyed by all ages. Most will be held in the evening to encour age adult participation with the youngsters. The schedule is follows: June 25) Bicycle/tricycle event, Anderson Park, 7:00 p.m. This will include some bicycle safety tips, provide an opportunity to register bikes, challenge riders with an obstacle course, and offer the opportunity to ride on the Linear Park. July 2) Old fashioned Independence Day Cel ebration. This will begin at 5:00 p.m. at Hawkin’s Park with baseball and other games for all ages, to be followed by hot dogs and watermelon. Then, at 7:00 p.m., the scene will switch to Ver nonia Lake where local musicians will entertain. (Bring your lawn chairs) July 9) Nature Hike/Clean up, Vernonia Lake, 7:00 p.m. This will provide an opportunity for doing a good deed, while getting some exercise, and finding objects for a craft project. July 16) Native American stories, Head Start Building, 7:00 p.m. Bill White Eagle Wilson, from the Native American Culture Center of Salem, will tell a variety of stories with the gentle humor of the Native American. July 23) Reptiles, Reptiles, Reptiles, Ander son Park gazebo, 7:00 p.m. Mary Ester Hart from Hart’s Reptile World will present an inter esting program, after which there will be an opportunity to pet some of the reptiles. July 30) Water Fun, Anderson Park. 4:00 p.m. Water games will be played. Be prepared to get wet. August 6) Anderson Park, 7:00 p.m. Floats and T-shirts for the Jamboree parade will be the focus. Bring your own white or solid colored T- shirt, if possible. the Nehalem and Crooked Creek were the offenders this time. It is very curious that Rock Creek and the Nehalem River above Vernonia were very fishable, but once you dropped below these streams the river looked more like a mud dy farmer’s field. Something has changed dramatically in our local streams and it looks like its going to be with Pioneer Cem etery cared for by one man To the Editor: We returned to our home in Portland from our winter home in Arizona the last of April. We were told by our children, by phone, of the wonderful warm weather during this last week of April. We arrived on April 30th to a very hot afternoon, but that evening we had thun der, lightening and rain. The whole month of May was cold and rainy except for perhaps four days. On Memorial weekend, we drove to Vernonia to decorate graves in the Pioneer Ceme tery on Keasey Road. The weather had been so bad all month long, that we expected to see the grass knee-high at the cemetery. We were so sur prised and pleased to see the grass cut and newly painted white crosses on some of the graves. The cemetery looked beautiful and I, for one, would like to thank Mr. Ray Pelster for the time and effort he put in working on the cemetery. What a beautiful job. I know Vernonia is proud of r i 4 . One more activity, featuring science exhibits, will be held in July. Time and date will be announced as soon as it is finalized. Stories will be held during most of these ses sions with the importance of reading and using the library being the focus. There are some won derful children’s books, some of my favorites being those by Bill Feet, Martin Waddell. Leo Lionni, and Jan Brett. Awards for those who read at least 10 books during the summer will be presented and five pairs of tickets for youngsters to gain admittance to the State Fair will be drawn on August 6. To be eligible, youngsters must check out at least 10 books from the library, show documentation supporting this, and attend at least five of the presentations. Reading with and to your children is a won derful experience. We hope you enjoy this sum mer’s fun with your children. Lately, a problem has developed with materi als not being returned to the library. Those of you who use the library must realize the limited resources with which we work and realize that we cannot afford to lose materials. Local tax dol lars support the library. Please do not take inap propriate advantage of this wonderful resource provided to you; return your books and other materials so they may be enjoyed by your friends and neighbors. A new rule has been established by the library board by which a patron may check out only one “new" book at a time and for a period of not more than two weeks. Look for the designa tion on books to determine if they are still con sidered new and take only one if you plan to read it within the two weeks maximum time peri od. us for a very long time. I just hope the fish have that much time. it’s newer cemetery but just look at the history that lies in the Pioneer Cemetery. Walk around and read the names on the headstones. It is the history of old time Vernonia and the Upper Nehalem Valley. Thank you again Mr. Ray Pelster. Being a decorated Korean War Veteran, I would like to see the American flag fly at the Pioneer Cemetery during the three-day Memorial weekend as there are veterans buried there from World War I and World War II, and perhaps ear lier. Sincerely, Donald E. Emmons Portland Volunteers grow food for Vernonia Cares To the Editor: In April it was just an idea, an idea to grow a garden and use the crops to benefit the Vernonia Cares Food Bank; in May we had the grant money thanks to Project Linkage. Now June is here, as I write this, and we are moments away from planting not one, but two community gardens to help the needy in Vernonia. Thanks to many with big hearts and a notion to help, we are planning a big success. The first garden, located at 1220 Birch in a homeowner’s yard, is to be planted and tend ed by the Youth in Action! group thanks to Michelle Blum and her willingness to get involved with teens. The same garden will also be tended by a group of youth from the Ver nonia Hands on Art Center, directed by Michele Kunkel, who has also given her time and energy to make this possi ble for Vernonia. The second garden is a major project, the plot being a huge area at Anderson Park, being watched over courtesy of Bill, who was happy to take on the project and have an unused space go to something so beneficial. When the project first got under way, there was a chain of phone calls and of course, being Vernonia, the answers were fast and wonder ful. We had Robyn [Bassett] and her crew from Public Works not only helping us with finding a place, but minutes after we acquired the plot, she was there cleaning up the area ¿¿k* Z:-£< V ‘4 with equipment to make it pos sible. I have never known any one to jump on a project as fast as the crew at Public Works, our special thanks to them. Others who have made this possible are Dr. Thüringer, who not only donated the compost but took a day and loaded, hauled, and unloaded the trail er. Wow, what a project, and though he was set back by a blow-out on the tractor, we did not hear a word of complaint, just a willingness to help where he could. Don Foster and Wes Constance were there when we needed them also. Don not only lent us his tractor but spent time and energy plowing and rototilling the garden which was quite a job. Wes was help ful in loaning us his cultivator. Del and Kathy Allen were very helpful in making phone calls to make this happen, and lending us equipment also. A big thank you to Rick Taylor with R & M Taylor Trucking in Vernonia, who picked up and delivered all of the sand for both gardens on his own time and gas. Being a new business in Vernonia, he is a busy man to have donated his truck and time (and he made a three-year-old very happy, going along for the ride). The Anderson Park garden will be planted and tended by the Vernonia Foursquare Church Youth Group, thanks to Shawn and Linda Naeve and Pastor Paul Pastor. We would also like to thank all others who took the time to say yes, they would definitely help, but the jobs had been completed. This is a wonderful project to keep the youth of Vernonia busy during the sum mer months and also to show them the true meaning of “giv ing”. We cannot thank these people enough for all they have done; they have all put forth the effort that makes this small town a great place to live. Most Sincerely, Becky Elder and Lisa Edgar Vernonia Cares Page 3 uphold, and are perfectly win ing to persecute an honest wit ness if money and/or recogni tion is before them. Still, we personally are to blame for much criminal activi ty because we permit it. From our national govern ment to the lowest city council we are gradually losing small portions of our rights through planned lying and deceit. Usu ally we are told something bet ter will replace our loss in the future, but it never happens and will not. Eventually even the greatest constitution in the world will be nibbled away like cheese by the malicious rats in govern ment whom we allow to survive in office. And what does that make us? It makes us as bad as they are! The crime is committed because we take part in per mitting it to happen. And we and ours will pay— dearly! Todd Bowerman Portland Dinner sponsorship clarified To the Editor: I would like to make a cor rection in our ad in the last issue of The INDEPENDENT about the Spaghetti Dinner. Pat and Darlene Knight of Lew’s are the ones that spon sor the Spaghetti Feed. All pro ceeds are then donated to Ver nonia Pride for the fireworks. We make all the arrangements for the fireworks by asking for donations from our local peo ple. I hope this clears up any thought on who sponsors the Spaghetti Feed. Thank you. Enid Parrow Vernonia Pride Member Vernonia PTA’s year was very successful To the Editor: The Vernonia Community We support crime by PTA took on many more tasks this year than you could ever allowing it to pay imagine. An organization for only two years, we have not To the Editor: “Crime is an act or omission only grown with membership but with hearts. We have been of an act punishable by law.” able to help many different The above description has groups succeed in raising been used since laws came into existence. So, how many money. We were able to donate the of us are not criminals? money to purchase food for the If we leave the scene of an Boy Scouts’ fundraiser at the auto accident or fail to report a EXPO, so they had no out-of- crime in progress we may be charged with partial responsi pocket expenses and made a profit to go toward their troop bility if it is known we did so. Seems fair to me—we needs. We hired a group of high should be responsible for the school students to help set up rights of others, legally and and take down the Expo and morally. Laws start with were able to give them morals. But something seems to be $300.00 for their Drug and happening to our recognition of Alcohol Free Graduation Party. Many thanks to Terri Baska laws as necessities to live by for putting her life on hold and properly. In some cases it’s not hard to understand fear of taking the time to not only sell raffle tickets for us but contact involvement. Some of our clever attor the students who helped us. We wouldn’t have succeeded neys no longer argue right or with the Expo without her and wrong within the confines of Please see page 16 the laws they have vowed to
