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About The independent. (Vernonia, Or.) 1986-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 21, 1998)
Watershed Council will hear supporters of Measure 64 Guest speakers for tomor row night’s meeting of the Up- Hallow een Activities Fall Festival: Christian Church, 410 North St., 7:30 - 9:00 p.m. Haunted House: Corner of Grant Avenue and A Street. Reflective Goodie Bags: Mylar bags for trick or treat will be given to preschools and prima ry grades. Also available free from Chamber of Commerce members. per Nehalem Watershed Coun cil will be James Musameci and John Talberth, chief co-sponsors of Measure 64, who will present the propo nents’ view of the anti-clearcut- ting measure. The meeting will be Oct. 22 , at 7:00 p.m. in the Washington Grade School library. Voris Probst, retired manag er of the Boise-Cascade Ve neer Mill in St. Helens, present ed the position of those op posed to Measure 64 at last month’s meeting. The Council will also ad dress regular business at the meeting. The agenda includes a work session with an update on the Portland State Universi- ty/Nehalem Watershed As sessment. There will be opportunity for local people and natural re source agency representatives to share their knowledge of the watershed, including such in formation as channel modifica tions, locations of fish passage blockages, large areas of streambank erosion, water quality data, landslides adja cent to streams, fencing pro jects, etc. During the day tomorrow, council volunteers will attend a water quality/equipment train ing session conducted by the Oregon Department of Envi ronmental Quality. Two three- hour training sessions will be held, at 9:30 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. in Anderson Park. Meetings of the Upper Ne halem Watershed Council are open to the public, and com ments are invited. INSIDE: Lots and lots of letters--------pg. 2 MTC summer work............pg. 4 Racing finals.....pg. 5 ,1 3 High School Sports., pg. 10-13 It’s spawning time...........pg. 15 BULK RATE U.S. Postage Paid Permit No. 37 Vernonia, OR 97064 “Voice of the Upper Nehalem River Valley” Voi. 13, No. 20 FREE O ctober 21, 1998 — Opinion — Election 1998 Business destroyed This is the second part of The INDEPENDENT election en dorsements and will cover, mostly, ballot measures. Columbia County Measure 5-49: County Jail Bond A fire Friday night destroyed Neil’s Specialties, a cabinet shop located in the main building at Storage, Too, on Highway 47 south of Vernonia. Smoke and water also dam aged merchandise in Gypsy’s Thrift Shop, which is adjacent to the cabinet shop. There was no damage to the self-storage rental units. Storage, Too is owned by Ken and Pen ny Smejkal. The cause of the fire has not been determined. WOEC looks at borrowing funds since Linda Santucci left her post last year. By Jim Buxton The West Oregon Electric Cooperative Board of Directors met Rural Utilities Service Field Representative Dan Bowers during their regular October meeting on Tuesday night. Bowers, who was born in Indi ana, has twenty years of expe rience in the electric utility busi ness, most recently coming from Idaho Power. WOEC has not had contact with RUS through a Field Representative The board wasted no time in passing a resolution asking RUS to release approximately two million dollars held back from the five-percent interest rate, hardship loan granted the Coop several years ago. The withheld funds were earmarked for the possible study and im plementation of a computer ized control and metering sys tem. The Coop wants to use ap proximately $1,000,000 to set up a substation and metering point monitoring system, and another $450,000 to replace the aging transformer at the Timber substation. They would use the balance for miscella neous projects. Coop General Manager Russell Green stated that they would try to spend as little money as possible, but said he felt that the Coop should not pass up the oppor tunity to complete the loan. W h e th e r a b s e n te e o r p o llin g p la c e , re m e m b e r to c a s t a v o te Election Day is Nov. 3 for registered voters who plan to go to the polling place. To find out where your polling place is, look in Volume 2 of your Voters’ Pamphlet. Voters who have absentee ballots or perma » . • 'X.': V.r t-J ’* nent absentee ballots, must return them to the elections department in the courthouse no later than 8:00 p.m. on Nov. 3. If you are concerned about your ballot arriving late, you may leave it at your polling place. ‘ • S ' w • ./ Jii., ~ *•« After more than a year of study by ordinary citizens, law en forcement professionals and government officials, the board of commissioners placed a 20-year, $13.9-million general obligation bond measure on the ballot. A new jail has been needed for many years, but county government hasn’t wanted to ask residents to fund it. The jail is too small, it’s unsafe for officers and inmates, and is in desperate need of modernization and repairs. The situation be came much worse after voters passed a statewide mandatory minimum sentencing measure and the legislature responded by requiring counties to house prisoners who were sentenced to less than a year in prison. Now inmates are being released ear ly, being booked and released, or whatever is needed to prevent a law suit over jail conditions. The county also rents jail beds in Yamhill County. But none of that is adequate. The only way there will be enough jail space in Columbia County is to build a new jail. The cost in additional property tax es will be approximately $38 per year per $100,000 of assessed value. The choice is to pay a few cents a day for 20 years, or con tinue to release more and more prisoners. We recommend a Yes vote on Measure 5-49. Measure 5-51: 9-1 -1 Levy Most Vernonia voters already know what this ballot measure is about. The five-year levy for $4,375,000 ($875,000 per year) will be used to improve the emergency communications system. Vot ers approved it in September, but not enough people voted, so the effort was in vain. Nothing has changed: Enhanced 9-1-1 is still needed; a safe efficient building is needed, instead of the walk-in closet where dispatchers now work. New equipment is needed. There is no need to repeat the explanation in the Sept. 2 issue of The INDE PENDENT, if anyone wants to read it, we’ll give them a copy. This measure also adds to property taxes-approximately 33- cents per thousand ($33 per year for five years on $100,000 of assessed value). It’s still a better bargain than dialing 9-1-1 and getting a busy signal. Vote Yes on Measure 5-51 ...the life you save may be your own. Statewide Measures Measures 54, 55 and 56 are generally beneficial and have little or no opposition. Though 56 has some negative financial impact, 54 and 55 have some beneficial financial impact. These should be safe Yes votes. For more on statewide measures, please see page 2 '.1 "■ -z‘. f. • \ V fcA’I V* • » •
