Lists of candidates develop as filing deadline nears
INSIDE:
There will be at least one
contested race for commis
sioner in Columbia County. As
of Tuesday morning, Feb. 29,
three candidates had filed for
Commissioner Position One,
currently held by Jack Peterson.
Democrats Mike Avent, of
Rainier, and Susan Easley, of
St. Helens, will face each other
in the May primary election.
On the Republican ballot,
Colleen
DeShazer, Scap
poose, Is currently unopposed
Illegal dumping
is costly.... pg. 4
in the primary election. She, or
another Republican will meet
the winner of the Democrat pri
mary in the November general
election.
Peterson told The INDE
PENDENT yesterday that he
has made no decision, but is
leaning toward not seeking re-
election.
There are no filings, as yet,
for Commissioner Position 3,
currently held by Tony Hyde.
Hyde has said he will file for a
second term.
Other positions on the May
ballot include Columbia County
Sheriff, Treasurer and Survey
or. Sheriff Phil Derby has filed
for re-election, as has Treasur
er Paulette Kuiper-Hall.
There is no candidate, at
this time, for county surveyor.
Betsy Johnson, a Scap
poose Democrat, has an
nounced her candidacy for the
Oregon House in District 1, to
replace Jackie Taylor, D-Asto-
ria, who has run up against
term limits. District 1 includes
most of Columbia County and
the area along Hwy. 30 in Clat
sop County.
Elaine Hopson, D-Tillamook,
has filed for re-election in Dis
trict 2, which includes Vernonia
and most of the Nehalem Val
ley, part of Washington County,
and most of Clatsop and
Tillamook Counties.
March 7, 2000, is the final
date to file nomination papers.
Vernonia Head
Start......... pg. 5
The Cookin’ o’
the Green., pg. 7
Consumer
Complaint
list........... pg. 11
BULK RATE
U.S. Postage Paid
Permit No. 37
Vernonia, OR 97064
Voi. 15, No 5
Voice of the Upper Nehalem River Valley
March 1, 2000
Citizens complain of
police harassment
Dig it...
With lots of willing hands (not to mention legs and backs), and two days of nice weath
er, a large selection of native flora was planted on the banks of Bear Creek between Ver
nonia City Hall and the Public Library. The sides of the creek that was once contained
in a culvert that was removed in 1998, were planted with ferns, Oregon grape, salal, vine
maple, elderberry, red osier dogwood, huckleberry and rush. The Upper Nehalem Wa
tershed Council coordinated the cooperative effort by Vernonia Youth Corps, Hire the
Fishers program, and the Izaak Walton League. West Oregon Electric Co-op is donat
ing wood chips for mulch, and the City of Vernonia has agreed to water the plants
throughout the summer. The plants were all dug from Longview Fibre or BLM lands.
A nearly full house attended
the Feb. 22 meeting of the Ver
nonia City Council, with many
of those in attendance express
ing dissatisfaction with meth
ods used by the Vernonia Po
lice Department.
Most of those who spoke to
the council were particularly in
censed by officers who use a
“burned out license plate light”
as a reason to stop a vehicle,
then detain the occupants, of
ten for 45 minutes or more,
while conducting a computer
check on the driver and pas
sengers. If no other problems
were found, some said, they
were cited for the license plate
light violation instead of being
given a warning to get it fixed.
At least one person said his li
cense plate light wasn’t even
burned out, but he didn’t real
ize it until he started to fix it.
Kerry Lyon, owner of The
Lyon’s Den, was the first to ad
dress the council, following up
on a letter he had sent them
which detailed an incident that
occurred when he was a pas
senger in a vehicle driven by
A full agenda lengthens council meeting
The Vernonia City Council
heard three presentations, sev
eral citizen complaints (see re
lated story at right), and sever
al staff reports in a four-hour
meeting on Feb. 22.
Will Glessner of the Oregon
Trails Volkssport Association,
told the council that the Cedar
Milers club is sponsoring two
10 kilometer walks in Vernonia
on April first and anticipates
that 300-400 people will partic
ipate.
Vernonia Rural Fire District
Chief Paul Epler gave the
council draft copies of the Ver
nonia Emergency Operations
Plan, and briefly described how
it would function in an emer
FREE
gency. The plan provides a
framework to guide the City in
efforts to respond to emergen
cies, prepare for them or recov
er from them. Copies of the 80
page plan are available at the
Fire Station.
The council reviewed a pro
posed ordinance governing ve
hicle weight limits on residen
tial streets and, after discus
sion, referred it back to staff for
some clarification. A public
hearing on the ordinance will
be held March 20 at 6:30 p.m.
in City Hall.
A contract was approved
with Century West Engineering
to conduct an evaluation of the
city air field and develop a plan
for appropriate development of
the field. The project will in
clude data collection and re
view, drawings, planning evalu
ation, a five-year capital im
provement plan and a technical
report.
Administrator Mike Sykes
updated the council on talks
with the county regarding costs
for the Justice Court. The
council concurred with Sykes’
recommendation that the City
terminate its present agree
ment and negotiate a new
agreement that will not require
the city to pay any costs for the
county court.
City planner Julie Coontz re
ported that Jim Holycross, of
Toni Candiello. According to
both Lyon and Candiello, who
spoke later, the officer was
grossly out of line (He was lat
er terminated by Police Chief
Jim Walters.)
“...business in this town
[has] dwindled to the point
where there’s hardly a car on
the street after 9:00 p.m.” Lyon
said, “I attribute this directly to
overly aggressive police on
duty at night.”
Another resident said his
parked car was hit by an out-of-
state, uninsured pickup, but the
driver wasn’t arrested and the
officer who responded didn’t fill
out a police report.
One man said he’d been
stopped several times and his
vehicle was stopped, although
no laws had been broken, even
when someone else was dri
ving.
The most serious charges
were made by Jay Mahn, who
has filed a Tort Claim with the
City stemming from an incident
last summer. Mahn, who is un
der indictment for assault two,
unlawful use of a gun and men
acing, said that he is not guilty
of the charges and claimed that
the two Vernonia officers who
arrested him lied in the police
report and to the Grand Jury.
Several speakers empha
sized the need for an ongoing
training program for officers.
Also suggested was a citizens
advisory/review board.
Chief Walters, was not at the
meeting, but he later told The
INDEPENDENT "We have
made some changes and we
will continue working to correct
the situation.”
the county Land Development
Services, had received an ap
plication for a zone amend
ment within Vernonia’s Urban
Growth Boundary, from R-10 to
Mobile Home Residential.
In accordance with the
City/County UGB management
agreement, Holycross inquired
whether the city would extend
water and sewer for the re
quested change. Because the
city had no communication
from Chris Liu, the proposed
developer, and could not deter
Coontz’ evaluation.
mine whether he planned to
Councilor Gayle Shriver re
“meet or exceed” Vernonia’s
ported that a committee formed
design standards, Coontz rec
to develop a bicycle ordinance
ommended denial of the re
Please see page 14
quest. The council agreed with