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About The independent. (Vernonia, Or.) 1986-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 19, 2000)
t t ___________________________________________________________ _______ The INDEPENDENT, January 19, 2000 Batwaen the Bookends By Nancy Burch, Librarian Vernonia City Library The last week in December brought with it the arrival of the Ready to Read Grant from the Ore gon State Library. Formerly called the State Per Capita Grant, because it is based on the number of youngsters in a community under the age of 14, the Ready to Read Grant may be used to purchase Children’s library materials, to hire staff to provide library programs, to bring library services and materials to at-risk children or to provide computer equipment in libraries for chil dren. To be eligible for the grant, libraries must show that their funding from local property taxes has not decreased in the past two years and must state a purpose for the grant and an asso ciated measurable activity. This year’s purpose is the establishment of a listening center of au dio tapes and accompanying books within the li brary. A cassette player with headphones is now in place and some audio tapes with books are nearby. We now have a “listening center.” These audio/books may also be checked out. The book drive that was held during the end of the year realized some wonderful new materi als for the library and I would like to thank all of you who participated by purchasing materials that allowed the library to add to its collection in this manner. These materials, published by Dor- ling Kindersley, include titles such as Great Events That Changed the World, Myths & Leg ends, The Earth and How It Works, Sharks and Other Monsters of the Deep, World Reference Atlas, and Spanish in Three Months. Be sure and look for these great new books, CDs, videos and audio tapes. If, after seeing these materials in the library, you wish to purchase some for your family, Lisa Spencer and Audrey Gabhart sell these great DK materials on an ongoing ba sis. From the last library board meeting came the suggestion to mention an approximate total of the donations that were given to the library in December, in both money and materials. A con servative estimate would be about $2,000. Do nations in addition to money included books, video tapes, a microwave, an electric pencil sharpener, a bicycle rack, video covers, and a rhododendron plant. During the latter part of the ------- ------------------------------,------------ Letters to the Editor From Page 2 ficials; this time is different. We want to thank our supervi sors for understanding the im portance of keeping our elderly in their homes for as long as possible, for their emotional health and dignity and also for helping us to make the best use of taxpayers’ dollars. We are very grateful for having commissioners who so strong ly value our elderly. Sincerely, Sandy Cooper, Director Area Agency on Aging (AAA) Josephine Claflin, President Columbia County Council of Seniors Eldon Jones, President AAA Advisory Council Many thanks for the big boom 2000 To the Editor: We hope most people stayed up to watch our fire works on New Year’s Eve. A special thank-you to the people who came down to the grounds to watch in person, regardless of the weather. As usual, Kathy Brekken and her group of vol unteers did a great job, putting on a wonderful display. The group included Tim Bamburg, Kevin Roberts, Jason Roberts, Page 3 | | Letters to the Editor year a donation was made in honor of Velma Hodgson and Norman Hansen. The 20th Centu ry Year by Year has been added in memory of Mrs. Hodgson and a book on logging is being sought to honor Mr. Hansen. The library’s new copier has also arrived. Cost per copy will be 10-cents to help defray cost of supplies and maintenance. James McFarland, who administers The Mar garet Thiele Petti Foundation, visited the library in early January with his wife and daughter. They brought a great picture of Mrs. Petti and her father, David MacDonald, and Henry Thiele. The picture was taken circa1931 with the Mac Donald Hotel in the background. Be sure to take a look at this picture to glimpse a little of Ver nonia’s past and to see and read about the peo ple and Foundation that are responsible for the furnishings in the new library (the copier includ ed). New acquisitions for adults include Hunting Badger by Tony Hillerman, Soft Focus by Jayne Ann Krentz, Kiss of the Bees by J.A. Jance, The Lamorna Wink by Martha Grimes, and False Memory by Dean Koontz. Another new book is Gale Ontko’s And the Juniper Trees Bore Fruit, the latest and last in the Thunder Over the Ochoco series. Those who have read this tell me that it is the best. This was another donation. As you can tell, the library has been the re cipient of numerous new materials lately. Giving to the library benefits the community as a whole. Thank you very much to all of you for your gen erosity. A reminder is in order for those of you resid ing outside the city limits of Vernonia— please check to see if it is time to pay your yearly fee. It’s only $15.00 per household for a year and takes the place of the support that those living within the City limits pay through their property taxes for the library. Vernonia Library 701 Weed Avenue Hours: Mon., Wed., F it 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tues., Thur. 2 p.m.-7 p.m. Sat 10 a.m.-2 p.m. P reschool Story lim e, Weds, 10:30 a.m. Phone: (503)429-1818 cently contributed a generous financial gift to the corporation. The Mist-Birkenfeld Helping Circle and many local residents are contributing time, money, and their expertise to assure good community relations and success. “Community will” is surely alive and well in the Mist- Birkenfeld area. Thank you for acknowledging our efforts. Sincerely, Louise Green Mist Update on activity at Vernonia Cares Letter to the Editor: The holidays are here and gone sometimes so fast we hardly have time to enjoy the season. Vernonia Cares has been so very busy in the last months trying to prepare for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Y2k or other emergency plans, groping for funds to provide food for the needy in Vernonia, dealing with the building issues and all done with a volunteer board with huge hearts and myself. We have come to the conclusion that we all need a rest and hopefully this new year will bring some peace to all that we have accomplished. I can’t say thank you enough to those volunteers who have worked so hard during these months to make our fund rais ers and food drive all a huge success. Not only are we grateful for those volunteers but also the volunteers who spend their Tuesdays, Thurs days and board meeting days at Vernonia Cares, to the board whom I am very grateful for all the extra effort and time they put into making sure Cares runs smoothly. Our president this year is Joel Stith, vice- president Bill Yeo, secretary Kelley Murphy-Shaw, treasurer Linda Naeve, bookkeeper Sandy DeWeber, pantry super visor Nellie Gregg and Jacque line Ramsey, donation clerk. If not for the help of these and the many other volunteers Ver nonia Cares would not exist. Also to the donors who came through during a very dire time of need, we all thank you. Un fortunately with the added re sponsibilities of our building sit uation, the many families we are trying to help, and the other financial responsibilities we have, we were faced with not having enough to provide the Thanksgiving and Christmas baskets, thanks to the many fi nancial donors who came through for us and the needy. We were able to fill all the needed baskets and catch up on our past bills. Thank you to all who took the time to care and think about those many Wayne Vaughn, Luke Hecka- torical Society was formed over thorn, Mindy Cavinee, Nichole a year ago, and we now have a Luke, Josephine Hoteling and monthly newsletter, The Mist- Lane Brekken. A very special Birkenfeld Update. The Historical Society mem thank-you to all of you for a job well done. We appreciate it. I bers, other caring residents would also like to thank Fire and businesses are restoring Chief Paul Epler for all the help the Mist Church. Eventual he gave me in securing a place goals are that the church will to store our fireworks. It’s great be used for small community having a group of people like events, church services and we have at the Fire Station, weddings. willing to give a helping hand in Coon Lane Park was made our community. Art and I en possible by the generous gifts joyed the potluck at the fire sta of land, community labor, as tion; giving us a chance to visit sistance from the Vernonia with some of the volunteers. Youth Corps, and others. There Thank you and keep up the are plans for a play area, picnic areas, and educational oppor good work. Enid Parrow tunities relating to ecology and Vernonia Pride environment. Progress toward the building Mist and Birkenfeld of a multi-use community cen ter is on track. The Nehalem have will to succeed Valley Community Corp, was formed several months ago. To the Editor: Development of goals and Your editorial in the Jan. 5 plans are underway, along with issue of The INDEPENDENT fund-raising activities and site was a joy to read. Many times considerations. NW Natural re we become so involved in oth er matters or in the doing that we forget “We will succeed!" We are succeeding. Your mention of the new The INDEPENDENT welcomes readers’ letters and will pub Mist-Birkenfeld Fire Station is lish as many as possible. All letters must be signed and in most appreciated. It may be of clude a verifiable address and telephone number, although interest to know the community the address and phone number will not be printed except at has a new park in progress the writer’s request. The INDEPENDENT reserves the right across the road from the Mist to edit submissions for brevity or clarity. Store, The Mist-Birkenfeld His POLICY ON LETTERS families in Vernonia who would not have a Holiday dinner with out your help. I will speak for them in saying thank you. Many of these families need to be thanked also, they at times get a bad rap for “needing”, not all of their circumstances can be avoided. I personally would iike to thank those families who utilize Vernonia Cares and try to pay back all they can. We have some who run errands, are willing to pick up and drop off items, help with the fund raisers, cook for other needy families, whatever it is, I know if I pick up the phone and ask for help they are always willing to put the effort forth. They might not have money but they still have hearts. Vernonia Cares does not in any way condone gossip and we feel it is necessary to clear up anything being said to harm our reputation. We have been told that there are rumors re garding individuals who have not wanted to help due to the Y2K hoarding and the $15,000 dollar trailer we purchased. Well, part of this is true, we have been saving some food for emergencies whether it be flood, earthquake, Y2K or any other type we would like to be more prepared than we were in 1996. We took a Certificate of Deposit that had been saved for some time and used the money for extra food purchas es. We are in no way hoarding as we have had to use the food for everyday giving and will continue to use the food as we have to. We are prepared for an emergency to the best of our ability. We have tried to ed ucate the community as to be ing personally prepared as we just cannot be responsible for all Vernonians. We also were forced to purchase the trailer for our food storage after we were told by the Preschool board last spring that they would be opening the Vernonia Co-op Preschool and we would have to remove all of our stored items from the large por tion of the building. After end less days of phone calling and searching for a storage area, we asked United Way for an emergency grant and three other community members came forward to help us specif ically purchase the trailer for $2,500. None of the money came from our normal funds. We thank these people again for their considerate donations. Without them who knows what we would have done. As it turns out the preschool is not opening after all, but we feel that the trailer purchase is a positive in case there ever was another flood we would be able to hitch up our food and move it out of the flood plain. We are hoping to work out a lease in the future with the American Legion and take over the re sponsibility of the entire build ing. We are very excited to have the space for fund-raisers and maybe sublease the large portion to help with our finan cial responsibilities, we are not sure what this new year will Please see page 6
