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About The independent. (Vernonia, Or.) 1986-current | View Entire Issue (April 19, 2000)
^ O jd o rït miss th e hunt b ig c It takes hours and hours of work to hard boil, dye and hide Easter Eggs. It takes the kids about 15 minutes to fin ish the hunt, so... The annual Vernonia East er Egg Hunt in Anderson Park will be on Saturday, April 22. Children will be divided by age groups and directed to the appropriate area of the park. The hunt will start promptly at 10:00 a.m., with the youngest group starting first so parents can assist toddlers. Older children will be started soon thereafter. In addition to Easter Eggs, youngsters will be hunting for plastic eggs with prizes in side. Leonetti’s Pizza and Grill has in creased the num ber of gift certifi cates that will be tucked inside the plastic eggs this year. Following the hunt, the Easter Bunny will have can dy and goodies for the par ticipants. The Easter Egg Hunt is sponsored by the Vernonia Area Chamber of Com merce. All of the helpers are volunteers. Community Auction!!.... . Page 11 BULK RATE U.S. Postage Paid Permit No. 37 Vernonia, OR 97064 1299 University Of Oregon Eugene, OR 97400-1299 “ Voice of the Upper Nehalem River Valley” Voi. 15, No 8 PHOTO BY JUDY HILL Happy members of the Rose City Motorcycle Club are ready to return home after deliv ering their annual donation to Vernonia Cares. For more information, see page 17. School board eases penalty to student who had gun at school IEP team - teacher, counselor, administrator and parents - met to consider the situation. The team, with the exception of the parents, Don and Juanita Dennis, concluded that his learning disability was not a factor in the situation. Superintendent Larry Mc Clellan expelled the student for the remainder of the school year, with a home tutor ten hours per week, and imposed probation until February, 2001, the remainder of the one year period. During the hearing, the par ents insisted that ADD was a contributing factor, and that their son’s self-esteem would be seriously damaged, exacer bating emotional problems, if he had to remain on probation when he returned to school. The board agreed with the par ents and deleted the period of FREE April 19, 2000 Make Vernonia Shine with annual clean-up Nice day for a ride... State law allows an auto matic one-year expulsion of any student who brings a weapon to a school. Policies adopted by the Vernonia School Board allow that penal ty, but also allow the superin tendent to consider mitigating circumstances and impose a lesser penalty. In a public hearing request ed by his parents, all parties agreed that Vernonia High School junior Brandan Dennis took a gun onto the school grounds in February; they also agreed that he had done so in advertently, leaving the wea pon in his unlocked pickup fol lowing a target shooting ses sion the prior day. Dennis, diagnosed as hav ing Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), is a special education student with an Individual Edu cation Program (IEP), so his Vernonia’s secret attraction... pg. 14 ’o o probation entirely. In other business, the board: • heard a presentation by Schann Nelson on the status of the District Improvement Plan. • adopted the budget calen dar. • approved a two year leave of absence, without pay, for Mary Miller. Miller and her hus band have accepted jobs in Niger, Africa. • approved the following coaching positions for Winter 2000-01 - James Brookins, head wrestling coach; Jeff Parker, assistant wrestling coach; Vince Baker, head girls basketball coach; Jeff Cheney, assistant girls basketball coach; Bob Bruce, assistant boys basketball coach. Long time head boys basketball coach has informed the school that he does not intend to coach next year. “Make Vernonia Shine” is the theme of the annual clean up day in Vernonia— and that is exactly what community volun teers plan to do. Saturday, April 29th from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., volun teers of all ages and abilities are needed, in groups or as in dividuals. Youth under 10 must be accompanied by an adult, and all youth must have a par ent or guardians’ written per mission to participate. Some areas targeted for im provement this year are Ver nonia Lake, Hawkins Park, the new City Hall, swimming area and various sidewalks about town. Plans include brush cutting and weed-eating unsightly ar eas, trash and litter pick-up, helping senior citizens and the physically challenged with yard clean up and minor projects, and planting flowers, trees and shrubs. Volunteers should wear proper shoes and clothing, and bring gloves, rakes, shovels, brooms, clippers, or whatever they prefer to work with. Espe cially needed this year are weed-eaters, brush-cutters, and some pickups. Volunteers may choose a preferred site, or get an assignment on Clean Up Day at the Health Center Building. More adult volunteers are likely be needed this year. Most years, youth do a lot of the work. This year, clean-up day is the same date as the prom so fewer students will be able to volunteer. If you would like to help but are unable to do so on the 29th, donations for food and flowers are still needed. A fun-filled, wrap-up Barbe cue and awards celebration for workers will begin at 1:00 p.m. in the Scout Cabin Building in Hawkins Park. Recognition for best idea, largest group, etc., will be given. Sore muscles may result from the day’s activities, but all participants are guaranteed a feeling of satisfaction at day’s end! For information or early sign-up, please call 429-1204 or 429-5201. The annual clean up day is sponsored by Vernonia Pride, SOLV, the City of Vernonia and the Vernonia Area Chamber of Commerce. Note: there will be NO Free Dump Day this year, but the City will accept burn able yard debris, such as limbs and brush, at Public Works. School district needs volunteers for budget committee vacancies With budget meetings start ing in early May, the Vernonia School District is still seeking volunteers to fill three vacan cies on the budget committee. Starting May 4, the commit tee will meet on Thursday evenings, usually three or four times. Applicants must be resi dents of the school district. Anyone interested is asked to call the district office at 429- 5891 and ask for an applica tion. Preliminary calculations of resources and expenditures for the coming fiscal year indicate a very tight budget. The work of budget committee members is important in order to bring dif ferent points of view to the bud get process.
