INSIDE:
Upward Bound
excites
students....pg. 7
Missing man
found........ pg. 7
Racing news..pg. 8
Lots of enter
tainment at
the Fair..... pg. 9
Stress disappears in the calm waters of Vernonia Lake as a lone angler enjoys a pleasant day.
BULK RATE
U S. Postage Paid
Permit No. 37
Vernonia, OR 97064
Vol. 14, No. 14
Voice of the Upper Nehalem River Valley’
July 21, 1999
New jail and justice
center gets underway
Can you dig it...
It was a long time coming, but official groundbreaking ceremonies July 9th finally sig
naled the beginning of construction for a new Columbia County jail. Sheriff Phil Derby
leads law enforcement officials and attorneys as they all dig in.
Chronicle photo
WOEC/PGE sale goes to PUC
The proposed sale of PGE’s
service territory in C olum bia
County to W est O regon Elec
tric Cooperative has taken the
next step.
PGE has filed an application
with the O regon Public Utilities
Comm ission, asking to transfer
its service territory to W OEC.
Such an application would nor
mally require about six months
for determ ination, but this re
quest may take longer because
of potential iniatives on the bal
lot in Septem ber or November.
Petitions being passed in
the four Colum bia County cities
that would be affected by the
proposal-S cappoose, St. He
lens,
C olum bia
C ity
and
R ainier-are seeking to be an
nexed into a Public Utility Dis
trict. Four of the petitions ask
tpr annexation to the Columbia
River PUD and a fifth petition
being circula ted in R ainier
seeks
annexa tion
to the
Clatskanie PUD.
FREE
A public hearing on the an
nexation petitions must be held
by the Colum bia County Board
of Comm issioners. The hear
ing is scheduled for September
8 at 7:00 p.m. in room 308 of
the county courthouse.
The purpose of the hearing
is to set boundaries for the pro-
posed annexations. The bound
aries used in the agreement be
tween PGE and WOEC are the
city limits of each of the four
cities as of 1940. It is unclear
w hether the com m issioners
could change those bound
aries, but it is highly unlikely
that they would want to do so.
Strand, Blum will lead 47J board
Carla Strand will head the
board of directors for Vernonia
School District 47J during the
1999-2000 term, with Jeff Blum
as vice-ch airm an. The two
were unanim ously elected by
their fellow board members at
the board’s annual organiza
tional meeting in July.
The board accepted the res
ignations of junior high school
science teacher Kathy Kuskie
and Vernonia Youth Corps
teacher Kristi Hickox. Hickox
has accepted a position with
the Northwest Regional ESD.
In other personnel action,
Judi Gwin was approved for
the position of secondary spe
cial education teacher, a posi
tion she filled in the spring se
mester on a tem porary con
tract.
The board also approved
the bargaining agreement for
classified employees, with pre
viously agreed upon modifica
tions.
Regular school board meet
ings are held on the second
Thursday of each month at
8:00 p.m. in the district office.
The public is welcome to at
tend.
After almost a year of study,
volunteers who formed an ad
visory com mittee and worked
arduously, both on their own
and with a consultant, to deter
mine what Colum bia County
needed to replace its old,
cramped and inadequate jail,
agreed that the county Board
of Commissioners should ask
voters to approve a bond issue
for a new justice center.
In an era when most fiscal
ballot measures have resem
bled com ets heading beyond
the horizon, Columbia County’s
voters agreed that a new jail
was necessary and approved a
$13.9 million bond measure.
Everything looked good until
num erous snags interfered
with siting the jail where county
officials had determ ined was
the best site. The site, on Port
Road and Old Portland Road in
St. Helens, was too large for
the jail and the bank that had
foreclosed on the property
many years ago wanted to sell
the entire 49-acre parcel, not
just a part of it. So the county
found a partner interested in lo
cating on the site, but that fell
through.
The next arrangem ent didn’t
work, either; nor the third offer.
Finally, nearly 18 months af
ter the advisory com m ittee was
formed, the county was able to
buy 11 of the 49 acres for
$500,000.
At the groundbreaking on
July 9, about 100 people
braved the 90+ degree heat to
talk about the effort involved in
putting the project together.
Sheriff Phil Derby recounted
those efforts and introduced
many others involved, includ
ing a happy jail manager, Lt.
Jim Gibson.
Construction is now under
way, with a Decem ber 1 target
date for com pleting site prepa-
ration and pouring the concrete
footings, floor and walls. The
weather will be a factor in this
initial phase, but once it is
done, the roof can go on and
construction
can
continue
throughout the winter on the
46,000 square feet facility that
is designed to hold up to 195
inmates.
The current county jail has a
capacity of 33 male and six fe
m ale inm ates. It is usually
overcrow ded, requiring the
county to rent beds in other fa
cilities and/or release prisoners
before they com plete their sen
tences.
Because of the delay, what
was initially a $13.9 million pro
ject is now a $14.7 million pro
ject, so the county will have to
find ways to finance the addi
tional sum.
The county asked the City of
St. Helens for a variance to de
lay sidewalk construction at the
new facility so the estimated
$257,000 for sidewalks could
be used on jail construction.
The variance was not granted
because others must construct
sidewalks.
Bill Greene, former
county planner, dies
Bill G reene, long-tim e
head of Colum bia County
Land Development Services,
collapsed at his home Sun
day evening, July 18. He
was taken by Scappoose
Fire District am bulance to
Legacy Em anuel H ospital
but did not recover.
Greene, a retired Scap
poose resident, had recently
accepted a part-time posi
tion as planner for the City of
Vernonia.
Few details were avail
able at press time. A full obit
uary will be in the next issue
of The INDEPENDENT.