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About The independent. (Vernonia, Or.) 1986-current | View Entire Issue (May 17, 2000)
Vernonia web page could use cooperative efforts By Noni Andersen Several people are working on development of a Vernonia home page on the World Wide Web. They all have the same intent — they want to provide an interesting and informative resource for others — but they have different approaches and view available data, both cur rent and historical, in different ways. The odd element is that each one seems to feel that he or she is the only person work ing on this project. Would it be possible to bring together everyone interested and attempt a collaborative ef fort in order to pull together the best parts of each approach? This would require not only people with technical skills, but those who see something unique or beautiful or commu nity-oriented about Vernonia (and the Nehalem Valley?) and want to have that component included on the web page. The staff of The INDEPEN DENT can serve as a “clearing house” or information center, if enough people are interested in the idea. Think about it — nearly everything good that happens in any small town, happens as the result of people working to gether for the good of the com munity. There’s no reason this concept shouldn’t apply in the development of a Venonia web page. “Voice of the Upper Nehalem River Valley” Remembering those who served... The memorial to Vernonia Police Chief Raymond Garcia, who was killed in the line of duty in 1971, is now installed outside police headquarters at the new City Hall. It was previously at Shay Park. Randall Linke, left, and Vincent Baker, who are both indepen dent building contractors, donated their time and skills for the installation; repainting of the flag pole was donated by Meyer’s Auto Body. — NOTICE — The INDEPENDENT is published on the first and third Wednesdays of each month. Four months of each, there are five Wed nesdays, but the publishing schedule is not changed. There are five Wednes days in this month, so there will three weeks between this May 17 issue and the is sue of June 7, 2000, which will also contain the special graduation section. Deadlines for the June 7, 2000, issue will be June 2 for both news items and dis play advertising, and June 5 for classified ads. Students go to the dogs... pg. 4 Paper or Plastic?.... pg. 5 WGS track team........ pg. 8 Fulbright in Banks..... pg. 11 BULK RATE U.S. Postage Paid Permit No. 37 Vemonia. OR 97064 Attn. Leslie Larson UO Library-OMP Voi. 15, No 10 INSIDE: FREE May 17, 2000 Corsiglia, Burge win if vote is unchanged The ballots are counted and the unofficial returns are in but, at this time, it is still possible that absentee voters will deter mine which Republican and which Democrat will be vying for Columbia County Commis sioner, Position 1, in the No vember general election. Shortly after 6:00 a.m., with all of the ballots counted, but some cleanup remaining, Re publican Scott Burge led Col leen DeShazer by 34 votes, 1,644 to 1,610. Democratic ballots were split almost as closely. After trading the lead with Mike Avent throughout the night, Joe Corsiglia pulled ahead this morning with 1,664 ballots to Avent’s 1,607. Carole Smith received 1,555 votes and Susan Easley 971. Other contested races had Charles Starr easily leading Al ice Schlenker in Columbia County for U.S. Representa tive, Dist. 1, on the Republican ballot. The winner of this race will try to unseat first term Con gressman David Wu, a Port land Democrat. In another hotly contested race on the Republican ticket, Lynn Snodgrass received the nod from 1,837 voters in Co lumbia County for Secretary of State and Lynn Lundquist gar nered 1,402. Another 383 votes went to Paul Damien Wells. Voters in the county didn’t decline politely, they yelled a resounding “NO” to two ballot measures. Ballot Measure 81, which would have allowed the state legislature to set limits on dam ages in civil law suits, was de feated by approximately four- to-one, with 8,633 No votes and 2,361 Yes votes. The margin was even bigger for Ballot Measure 82, which would have increased the gas tax and changed the weight/ mile formula method used to determine how much trucks pay. State legislators who ap proved sending this referen dum to the voters may be look ing over their shoulders now; voters in Columbia County said “no” by a margin of ten-to-one. City will face tight budget for 2000-2001 After completing a $2.7 mil lion water distribution upgrade, replacing many of the down town sidewalks and street- scaping the business area dur ing the 1999-2000 fiscal year, plus completing a new, $1-mil lion City Hall and Library, Ver nonia looks quite different — and so does its budget. Because many of last year’s projects were very expensive, both resources and reserves were pretty well depleted in or der to complete them. In the coming year, the city’s budget is aimed primarily at maintaining and protecting the work already done. Nevertheless, that doesn’t mean the city will sit on its lau rels. In spite of the financial drain of the past year, addition al goals have been identified. The following projects are targeted for completion in 2000-01 : - Construction of two fishing docks at Vernonia Lake. - Completion of the linear trail extension from Anderson Park to Vernonia Lake. - Construction of new RV hookups and new restroom fa cilities at Anderson Park. - Installation of two informa tional kiosks. - Installation of a “Welcome to Vernonia" sign at the south entrance to town. - Continued repair and resurfacing of City streets. Initial budget requests by department heads and staff ex ceeded available funds by $115,000, resulting in elimina tion of expenditures for a new police car, the sixth police offi cer, and the Bear Creek Bridge project. Also cut were new blinds for city hall, landscaping and completion of the holding cells. The General Fund will be particularly tight, approximately $200,000 less than last year, but annexations during the past year will help, as will the proposed sale of the city’s 20- acre parcel on Corey Hill. Funds needed for the im provements at Anderson Park, street paving and extension of the linear trail will not come from the General Fund, but from grants and revenues such as water fees or System Devel opment Charges. The city has budgeted potential resources for community development at slightly more than $550,000. If the money doesn’t materialize, the projects won’t be undertak en. Copies of the City budget are available at City Hall.
