Miller beats Harmon for 1500 meter championship INSIDE:
There are people who
dream and there are people
who work hard to achieve their
dreams. Maryanne Miller does
n’t just dream. With the aid and
encouragement of her coach,
Mel Nice, she has gone far be
yond dreaming.
Three years ago, Maryanne
asked Coach Nice if she could
be a good runner. His response
was, “If your desire is there,
and you stay committed to it,
you can be as good as anyone
else.”
A year later, she was the
state cross country champion.
Last year she was the 2A state
1500 meter champion.
In December of this year,
Coach Nice asked if she would
like to try to be the best at
every level of competition: 4A-
3A-2A-1A. Her response was
“If you think I can do it, I’ll try.”
In early April of this year,
Maryanne entered a 1500 me
ter race in The Dalles. The
Dalles is where Mandy Fitz-
Gustafson, the 3A state cham
pion lives. Maryanne beat
Mandy on her home track—
the first time in two years that
Mandy had been beaten.
The highest hurdle still re
mained: Laura Harmon of Je
suit High School, the reigning
4A 1500 meter runner and the
best in the state. Jesuit has six
of the top ten runners in the
state of Oregon. Nike boss Phil
Knight has poured millions into
the school to make it the athlet
ic “Mecca" of Oregon. Vernonia
High School can’t host a track
meet because their track does
n’t meet even minimum stan
dards. The only opportunity
Maryanne would have to run
against Laura was at the Cen
tennial High School meet of
April 29. So Coach Nice got
Maryanne signed up. Would
Cinderella’s carriage go home,
or turn into a pumpkin?
The plan was to stay on
Laura’s back until the final 200
meters, then pass her. Mary
anne did just that, even though
Please see page 9
Voice o f the Upper Nehalem River Valley’
Jeff Burch, left, set the example for his son, Dylan, and Luke Johnston (with back to
camera) as they spent most of the Vernonia cleanup day landscaping around the pool
area at Hawkins Park. More photos on page 12.
Clean up day very successful
Approximately 200 people
turned out April 29 to spend a
sunny Saturday sprucing up
the town. The annual citywide
clean up day sponsored by
Vernonia Pride and SOLV was
a great success by any mea
sure.
Major projects included
landscaping around City Hall,
cleaning up Hawkins Park, An
derson Park and Vernonia
Lake, and landscaping the
swimming pool area.
While most of the volunteers
came alone, in pairs or with
families, there were also larger,
organized groups that planned
to work together.
The youth group from St.
Mary’s Church worked on pro
jects for senior citizens who are
unable to take care of every
thing. A group from the Four
Square Church had planned to
clean Madison Avenue and
Shady Lane, but had to change
their plans because those
streets weren’t dirty, so they
worked elsewhere.
Members of the Assembly of
God Church spent the day
painting their church and pour
ing a new sidewalk. The
Foursquare Church will also be
putting in a new sidewalk,
soon.
The members of Boy Scout
Troop 201 did a thorough job of
cleaning Hawkins Park with, of
course, a generous amount of
help from families and friends.
Music in
May......... pg. 11
Is backyard
burning
toxic?, pg. 17
FREE
May 3, 2000
Candidates working
to overcome apathy
Beautification project
By Noni Andersen
The Nutrition
Magician..pg. 10
BULK RATE
U.S. Postage Paid
Permit No. 37
Vernonia, OR 97064
Attn. Leslie Larson
UO Library-OMP
1299 University Of Oregon
Eugene, OR 97403-1299
Vol. 15, No 9
Counting
ourselves., pg. 6
Larry Steele brought a crew
from Cedar Ridge, and at least
two candidates for Columbia
County Commissioner - Re
publican Colleen DeShazer
and Democrat Mike Avent -
joined in the day’s efforts.
Most of the employees from
the Vernonia Public Works De
partment and the city’s admin
istrative offices spent the day
working as volunteers. City
Council members, who are vol
unteers even though they are
elected, joined in the digging,
shoveling and raking, too.
While the digging, raking,
trash hauling, weeding, planti
ng and other activities were in
progress, still another group of
volunteers was busy preparing
Please see page 12
The lackluster campaign for
the presidency may have neg
ative affects on voters’ interest
in local and state government
campaigns. Since George W.
Bush and Al Gore have each
eliminated competition for their
party’s presidential nomina
tion, voter interest seems to
have dropped more rapidly
than a one-day stock market
“adjustment.” This creates
problems for other candidates.
Columbia County voters
have four candidates on the
Democratic ballot for Commis
sioner Position 1, and two on
the Republican ballot.
The candidates share some
common concerns: Maintain
ing the livability of the county
as growth continues; appropri
ate fiscal management; the
need for more family wage
jobs.
On the Democratic ballot,
Mike Avent is concerned about
people’s feelings of being “shut
out" and stresses the need to
develop better access to coun
ty government in order to in
clude residents in decision
making, not exclude them.
Avent is on the Rainier City
Council, the Rainier Senior Cit
izen Advisory Council, is a di
rector of Columbia Pacific Eco
nomic Development (ColPac)
and the Rainier Economic De
velopment Corporation (RED-
CO).
He owns property manage
ment companies and is a prop
erty owner in Vernonia.
Susan Easley, a St. Helens
resident and book store owner,
thinks county government
should do more to increase ac
cess to higher education and
job training, and to attract
more medical professionals.
She is on the St. Helens
School District Board of Direc
tors, the county Commission
on Children and Families.
Joe Corsiglia also feels that
the county should do more to
address the shortage of health
care professionals. He wants
to find more creative ways to
deliver government services
and is concerned that existing
industries and businesses not
lose their position.
Corsiglia is on the St. He
lens City Council and previous
ly served on both the St. He
lens and Columbia County
Planning Commissions. He is
an employee of PGE.
Carole M. Smith, a resident
of Warren, is a former project
manager and administrator
with an emphasis in health
care and social services; she
is retired. She was appointed
to the Board of Commissioners
to fill a partial term, then lost
the seat in the subsequent
election.
The availability of quality
health care and access to
higher education are both ma
jor concerns to Smith. She has
served on many advisory com
mittee in the county and the re
gion.
Republican candidate Scott
Burge, a Scappoose City
Councilor says county govern
ment should do a few things
well and not try to do every
thing. He has not been specific
about which services the coun
ty should continue, but says
that some things such as road
and park maintenance could
be put out to contract.
He is employed as an au
tomation specialist.
Colleen DeShazer, a War
ren resident, emphasizes the
need for improved land use
planning in order to plan for
development instead of react
ing to it.
She wants to develop a
county-wide consensus on
planning for the growth and
development of the county.