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About The independent. (Vernonia, Or.) 1986-current | View Entire Issue (March 15, 2000)
The INDEPENDENT, March 15, 2000 .... ' 111,11............. m .i ■...... . .. ........... The most exciting news from the library this month is that the decisions have finally been made concerning the software for automating the library’s materials and the hardware to sup port this program...and that these items are presently being ordered. The chosen software is called Athena and is a product of a company called Sagebrush, which is based in Texas. This is a program that has been used in libraries long enough to have established a good reputation, is affordable and is very user friendly. Those of us who have used the sample of this software are very excited about its implementation in our library. Of course, it’s going to take quite some time to get all the materials input into the system and both the present method of searching and checking out, as well as the computerized method, will be used until the process is com pleted. If you’ve driven past the library this last week, you will have seen that some of the landscaping has been done. As with nearly everything in connection with the new buildings, volunteers have played a key role, and this is no exception. Dale Webb spent an afternoon laying down some ground cover material which helped keep mud from the building and which will be used in some areas to prevent the growth of weeds, the Thiringers selected and delivered the plants, Jeff and Heidi Burch did the planting and a very nice man working through community service spread the bark dust. Two donations were also made to help defray the costs. These came from Edna Hailey and from Don and Rose Dunaway (One of the golden rain trees is a memorial to Mark Busch, their son-in-law and will be so designat ed). The ferns and other plants along the sides of the creek have been planted by the Youth Corps and they are also responsible for scatter ing the chips to deter weed growth along the creek. Sometimes it is hard to keep focused on reading with all of these other items that need at tention, but I would like to recommend two au thors this month. The first, Diane Mott Davidson, writes tales of culinary suspense involving her protagonist, chef turned sleuth Goldy Schulz. Tough Cookie is Davidson’s newest mystery. Councilor takes a different approach To the Editor: The letter stating the opinion of Vernonia’s mayor and two city councilors regarding com plaints about the police depart ment, does not express my view. I respect all the citizens of Vernonia and appreciate their input. Although I was unable to attend the March 6th council meeting, I will continue working to see that all citizens are rep resented. Shirlee Daughtry Vernonia City Councilor Thanks for trip to Washington, D.C. To the community and busi nesses of Vernonia: We, the students and chap erones attending the trip to Washington, D.C., on March 20, would like to thank you for all your support. Your commit ment to helping us was the main contributor to our achiev ing our goal. You opened your doors to our seemingly never- ending knocks with smiles on your faces, donated at our car washes, even on rainy days, and brought your children to ' .............................. ................................... ' ................ ' — Letters to the Editor Between the Bookends By Nancy Burch Ill'll" Page 3 The titles of some of her previous books are Dy Again, thank you for your ing for Chocolate, The Cereal Murders, Killer “good ideas" and your support Pancake, The Grilling Season, and Prime Cut. for our program goals and the Goldy is the owner of Goldilock's Catering, true desire to help the young Where Everything Is Just Right! As you can well sters of our community grow to imagine from these titles, Goldy leads a very in be productive citizens. teresting life as she solves mysteries, while op Sincerely, erating her catering business. Davidson in Mike Durbin, Principal cludes recipes for each of “Goldy’s" special Vernonia High School menus and has been called “a cross between Mary Higgins Clark and Betty Crocker” by the We can clean up, Baltimore Sun. Look for these on your next li brary visit. The tempting recipes and elaborate now let’s beautify! plots add up to a literary feast! The other author with whom I have recently To the Editor: become acquainted is Jo Dereske. She writes Clean up day is rewarding: mysteries involving a librarian, Helma Zukas, one becomes a part of the which include such titles as Miss Zukas and the community. Vernonia rose like Library Murders, Final Notice, Out of Circulation the Phoenix, but out of a terri and Miss Zukas In Death’s Shadow. Dereske ble flood instead of ashes. We lives in the northwest corner of Washington really worked together to get state, which she uses for the setting of these our homes and town cleaned novels. Helma Zukas, a librarian in fictional up. We do know how! Last year Bellehaven, Washington, leads a life that is any we had “Vernonians Only” at thing but boring. Helma checks out books, an the dump. (Remember the peo swers reference questions, reminds library pa ple needing to check drivers li trons of Internet rules, finds dead bodies, solves censes?) This year we want to beauti crimes, and finds time for a little romance. Of course, she researches everything thoroughly fy... we need people to help before embarking on any new undertaking (as plant and renew. Specifically, does any good librarian). If you have enjoyed we need project leaders, work the Mrs. Polifax mysteries, I think you will like crews and donations. Vernonia now has it’s new these. And...finally in honor of St. Patrick’s Day, an sidewalks and street lights. Let’s keep going— beautify! Irish blessing by Robin C. Burns: Mark your calendars for April May your feet never sweat, 29th - Vernonia Pride Clean Your neighbor give you ne’er a threat Up Day! May your car be full of gas Isabelle McDaniel And you owe nothing to the IRS Member When flowers bloom, I hope you’ll not sneeze Vernonia Pride And may you always have someone to squeeze. our carnival, buying just one more round of tickets. Without you, there wouldn’t have been money in the cash box, and the result of that would have been no trip to Washington, D.C. So...when you bought that candy bar, or that ticket to par ticipate in our log float, you may not have thought you were making a very big differ ence... but really, if you think about it, we couldn’t have done it without you. A special thank you to Vernonia 76 and Sentry for the pop can support and the many businesses who helped us with our sales by providing counter space. Thank you Vernonia! When we see the president, we’ll be sure and tell him how lucky we are to have you to call home. D.C. 2000 students, Chaperones and Parents Miss Teen contestant appreciates the help To the Editor: I would like to acknowledge members of the Vernonia Com munity who have helped my ef forts in the Miss Teen Portland Pageant with their sponsor ship. Thank you to Cindy Sme- jkal, NAPA Auto Parts, Creative Impulse, and The Hair Parlour. Marilyn Schmidlin Vernonia Opposes new bridge as unnecessary Open letter to Chief of Police Jim Walters Dear Jim: For a long time now, I have wanted to express my gratitude for all the work you and your staff do as partners of Vernon ia High School. Your excellent work does not go unnoticed. When we ask you or your staff for assistance, advice or exper tise on various behavioral is sues or legal matters, you are always cordial, helpful, prompt and pleasant in your response. We very much appreciate that attitude because of the myriad of issues of student manage ment we deal with throughout the day. The school and home/ family and police must work to gether as partners to success fully prevent and resolve be havioral management prob lems. In addition, I appreciate your enthusiasm to work with us to develop a Critical Incident Re sponse plan for the Vernonia School District. Your knowl edge and training of how to deal with incidents, coupled with our management and or ganizing of a plan in the build ing will provide the key to de veloping an emergency re sponse plan with the capability of addressing any emergency issue that may arise. To The Editor: At the public town hall meet ing on March 2 at the Rainier Intermediate School, we were told by Rosemary Brinson- Sipola of the Cowlitz-Wahki akum Council of Governments, that the current Lewis and Clark Bridge could be made completely safe through updat ing procedures to last at least another 50 to 100 years. The reason that the local governments want to replace the current bridge is strictly a capacity issue. Since the states won’t pay for new bridges for “over capacity” issues, the local governments are trying to get what they “want” and make the general public, namely North Columbia County citizens, pay for it!! Ms. Brinson-Sipola went on to explain that every bridge that crosses the Columbia River be tween Oregon and Washington is over capacity!! Our bridge is less over capacity than the Portland area interstate bridges, but yet the local gov ernments want to convince us that we “need" a new bridge, but a toll is the only way to pay for it. This tells me that the new bridge is a “want” and not a “need.” The current bridge is and will be made to remain per fectly safe according to the state’s Department of Trans portation agencies!! The “want” for the new bridge is coming from the local economic development agen cies and the governmental transportation agencies to fur ther their transportation agen das. The local citizens did not and have not asked for this bridge. There were 2,400 local signatures on a grass-roots “no toll” petition turned in to officials at the meeting. There is no bridge safety “need”!! If tolls are the only way that the Lewis and Clark Bridge can be replaced, then I say “NO NEW BRIDGE” and it would appear that 2,400 local citizens agree. What part of “no" don’t they understand?? Carole Kelley Rainier Enjoys seeing police exposure in town To The Editor: We support our police de partment. I personally enjoy driving through our community and seeing the amount of police ex posure we have for the size of our community. In today’s society, the police departments and other law en forcement agencies are losing more and more of their author ity and tools which they need to perform their duties to help pro vide a safe and livable commu nity for the law abiding citizens. In response to businesses in our town being slow after 9:00 pm, maybe people in our com munity are finding better things to do than support these types of business. It is also nice to think people are becoming more responsi ble with their drinking and dri ving, which is also being strict ly enforced by our local police department. Vernonia is a safe place to raise and enjoy our families — let’s keep it that way. Thanks for doing your job. Brian Bassett Vernonia FOLIC? ON LETTERS The INDEPENDENT welcomes readers’ letters and will publish as many as p o s s ib le . All fetters must be signed and include a verifiable address and telephone number, although the a d d re s s and phone number will not be print ed except at the writer’s request The INDEPENDENT re serves the right to edit submissions for brevity or clarity. — NOTICE — The INDEPENDENT is published on the first and third Wednesdays of each month. There are five Wednesdays in March, so there will three weeks between this issue and the first issue in April. Deadlines for the April 5, 2000, issue will be March 31 for both news items and display advertising, and March 3 for clas sified ads.
