anks Bar-B-Q
Q all ready for 55th year of festivities
The tractors are tuned up,
the pulling sleds are weighted
down, the horseshoe pits are
ready for competition and plen
ty of charcoal has been stock
piled. Obviously, it’s time for
the Banks Bar-B-Q and tractor
pull.
The activities will start on
Saturday, Aug. 12, with regis
tration for horseshoes at 9:00
a.m. Singles will start tossing at
10 a.m. and a drawing at iOO
p.m. w:" ^ Qcide doubles play.
Tre
........ start
practice for the big pull at 11:00
a.m., and stock tractors will
compete for an hour at 12:30.
Pickups register at 3:00 p.m.
for their 5:00 p.m. pull.
Food and beverages haven’t
been forgotten, either. The
hamburger stand opens at
noon and the beer garden will
be open from 6:00 p.m. until
midnight, with dancing from 8-
11:00 p.m.
Sunday morning starts with
parade registration (there’s a
cash prize for the ugliest car) at
the Brown Derby, 9-10 a.m., a
community church service at
9:30 at Kelly Field and the
Grand Parade at 11:00 a.m.
followed by flag raising in Sun
set Park.
At noon the “World Famous
Bar-B-Q Sandwiches" go on
sale, the Kids’ Zone and beer
garden will open, and there will
be gospel music. The ham
burger stand will be open all
day.
The truck and tractor pull will
start at 1:00 p.m., and finish
when everyone is done. There
will also be Bingo from 1:30 to
3:30 p.m.
Kids’ Games will start at
1:30 with the under-18 crowd
involved in a greased pole
climb, frog jump and Pedal
Pull.
Completing events for the
day will be the second annual
Combine Demolition Derby...
you’ve never seen anything
like it, folks! This unique demo
lition derby will start at 5:00
p.m. Sunday, Aug. 13.
uon:~Le^
6
“ Voice of the Upper Nehalem River Valley”
4-H Fair
awards.... pg. 11
Fire hits
cafe........ pg. 13
Logging Show
results.... pg. 16
Dale Webb leans into preparations for a floating pier at Lake Vernonia. Concrete will be
poured into two forms to use as “anchors” to attach handicapped-accessible fishing
piers. One pier will be built on the east side and one on the west side of the lake.
WOEC holds annual meeting
People were not in a rush to
leave after the meeting, prefer
ring to relax in conversation or
to stroll in the park. The meet
ing was, all in all, a pleasant
experience.
During the business meet
ing, Chairman of the Board
Robert VanNatta discussed the
issue of restructuring. He told
the group that electric coopera
tives are exempt from restruc
turing under Oregon law, effec
tively preventing the sudden
doubling and tripling of rates,
as happened recently in San
Diego, from happening to
WOEC members. In his opin
ion, electricity prices would be
expected to rise until additional
generating facilities are built. In
the meantime, the cooperative
lobby would continue to keep
legislators informed about the
harm certain actions could im
pose on rural customers.
Financial Officer Royce
Hagelstein
reported
that
FREE
August 16, 2000
One vote overrules
47J board majority
That clay is hard!
For the first time in recent
memory, West Oregon Electric
Cooperative held its annual
meeting during the summer
rather than during a fall hunting
season. A warm, sunny day
greeted those who attended
the meeting at the recently re
furbished Scout Cabin in Ver
nonia. More than 60 people
were in attendance. The early
arrivals could watch an elec
tricity demonstration on the
grounds or join in conversaion
on the porch, leisurely sipping
refreshment. Inside, attendees
sat at tables on padded chairs.
In addition to the regular busi
ness, there were the usual
drawings for door prizes, which
this year included a stereo
system and a Chris Burkett
print. After the one hour busi
ness meeting, attendees were
treated to a delicious buffet
prepared by Patty Ogden and
her Simply Delicious crew.
Alien life
in Lake?... pg. 2
BULK RATE
U.S. Postage Paid
Permit No. 37
Vernonia, OR 97064
Vol. 15 No 16
By Jim Buxton
INSIDE:
WOEC did well last year. There
were no storms and the coop
operated within its budget.
Substantial amounts of money
have been spent on plant im
provement, resulting in an in
crease of equity of eleven per
cent over the last several
years.
General Manager Russell
Green compared the health of
WOEC today with seven or
eight years ago. He said that
today we have more equity in
the system, it is in better shape
and there is money in the bank.
He cautioned that we have not
yet arrived, however, we have
improved. He stated that
WOEC would still benefit from
the sale of the PGE territory
near the Columbia River even
though it was sold to two
PUDs. PGE will pay WOEC
two million dollars in a trust ac
count over a three-year period.
WOEC expects to receive the
Please see page 4
An unusual set of circum
stances combined to allow a
single member of the Vernonia
school board to overrule the
will of the majority — and not
just once, but twice — at the
board's regular meeting on Au
gust 10.
Board rules, which are de
cided by the directors each
year, require a minimum of four
votes in order to either approve
or disapprove an action. There
were only four board members
at the Aug. 10 meeting, Four
composes a quorum of the
seven-member board and is
the minimum number required
to hold a legal meeting.
There are presently two va
cancies on the board: Susann
Ragsdale resigned last month
because she moved out of the
district. April Whitworth re
signed effective Aug. 1 be
cause she will be moving out of
the district. One of the five re
maining board members, Tim
Titus, was not at the meeting.
The votes referred to above
involved two separate requests
for exceptions to district policy.
The first was from the Coun
cil on International Educational
Exchange (CIEE) to place a
student from the Canary Is
lands at Vernonia High School,
with Earl and Lani Vandehey
as host parents.
CIEE representatives Paul
ette Reid and Sue Bailey, both
formerly at Banks High School,
explained they had met with
VHS councilor Jill Griffin on
Feb. 15, and asked about
school policies regarding ex
change students. They said
they were told they had missed
the deadline of Feb. 2 to apply
for approval and were given a
student handbook and other
material, but were not told
there is a written policy. After
meeting with Principal Mike
Durbin in late June, they at
tended the July board meeting,
when they were offered a copy
of the policy. On reading it,
they realized there is no Feb. 2
deadline; but there were other
timelines they didn’t meet, part
ly because they weren’t told in
February about the policy.
Lani Vandehey also request
ed an exception for the student.
Three members voted to ap
prove the exception - Jeff
Blum, Debbie Johnston and
Kim Tierney - Director Carla
Strand voted against it. The mo
tion failed.
The second request for an
exception was to allow early en
trance to kindergarten for Caitlin
Paleck, who will be five on Sept.
7. District policy uses a cut-off
date of Sept. 1.
Ben and Suzanne Paleck,
Caitlin’s parents, said they un
derstood the district’s reasons
for outside evaluation before
such a request is considered,
but that they didn’t find out
about the requirement soon
enough to obtain the test before
school started. They first spoke
with the elementary special ed
ucation teacher in the spring
and were not told of the require
ment at that time. They found
out about it in June and were
given the names of two testing
places, both of which had long
waiting lists with a cost of as
much as $1,000.
Superintendent Larry Mc
Clellan said he felt the district
was remiss in not researching
the subject and finding more
testing resources.
Principal Kirk Sherrill said he
was uncomfortable with early
entrance without test results.
Again, three members voted
to approve the exception - Jeff
Blum, Debbie Johnston and
Kim Tierney - Director Carla
Strand voted against it. The mo
tion failed.