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About The independent. (Vernonia, Or.) 1986-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 6, 2000)
Mist, Birkenfeld prepare for second annual parade The Year 2000 sets the theme for “The Millenium Pa rade” at Mist. Following up on their first, very successful, pa rade last year, the 2000 parade will start at 10:30 a.m. on Sat urday, September 9. There are parade divisions for Adults, Children, Commer cial Floats, Courts, Civic Groups, Heavy Equipment, Horse entries (these must in clude clean-up crews), Animal Entries, Marching Units, Cars- Stock-Pre ‘50s, Cars-Stock- Post ‘50s, Non-commercial Floats, Motorized, Humorous Child, and Humorous Adult. Parade participants will as semble at the ODOT sand yard on Hwy. 47, mile post 11.2, starting at 9:00 a.m. The pa rade will head southwest on Hwy 47 and disband near the junction of Hwy 47 and Hwy 202. Following the parade, the community will gather for a potluck picnic at the Mist- Birkenfeld Main Fire Station. Fire board members will pro vide the hot dogs, hamburgers, lemonade, coffee and table service. Others are asked to bring salads or desserts. Volunteer firefighters with the M-B Rural Fire Protection District will be selling “I Sup port” tee shirts and member ships in Fire Med/Life Flight. Ambulance volunteers will be taking blood pressures. The “Fire Pup” will be there, too, to help promote fire safety. The parade is sponsored by M-BRFPD. For more informa tion, call the main fire station at 503-755-2710. BULK RATE U S. Postage Paid Permit No. 37 Vernonia, OR 97064 6 Voi. 15, No 17 “ Voice of the Upper Nehalem River Valley ” FREE September 6, 2000 Area voters to have choice of candidates Hearing on new Senior Center The City of Vernonia is preparing an application for a Technical Assistance Grant to determine the feasibilty of con structing a new Vernonia Se nior Citizens Center. As part of the process, the city has scheduled a public hearing for questions and comments on the subject. Construction of a new senior center has been under consid eration for a number of years, partly because the present building is inadequate, and partly because it is in the flood plain. There has been more ur gency about a potential re placement, however, since the building and its contents in curred major damage during the unusually heavy flooding of 1996. A related topic is also under consideration - though it’s not a part of the scheduled hearing - that is whether the communi ty is large enough to support an assisted living center for senior citizens. An assisted living center provides all necessary ser vices, including such things as cleaning, meals in the dining room and a 24-hour alarm sys tem, while allowing senior citi zens the privacy of their own apartments and the freedom to come and go as they please. Typically, the apartments lack full kitchens, having only a small refrigerator and mi crowave oven. Assisted living centers do not provide medical care and should not be confused with adult foster care homes or con valescent hospitals. They are intended for seniors who are healthy enough to be mostly self-sufficient, but who no longer want to care for a home and yard. While there are many varia tions in assisted living centers, Vernonia’s small population would mandate frugality in both construction and operations. This is the primary reason it is being considered in conjunc tion with a new senior citizens center. The public hearing will be held on Monday, September 18, at 6:30 p.m. in the Council Chambers at City Hall. In addi tion to comments at the hear ing, written comments will be accepted by the City. Written comments must be received at City Hall no later than 5:00 p.m. September 15. Eligible voters within the cities of Vernonia and Banks will have choices for most of the open positions on their mu nicipal ballots. The names of two Vernonia City Council members will be on the November 7 ballot for the position of Mayor. Vying for the seat being vacated by May or Art Parrow are Councilors Cyndy Ball and Mario Leonetti. There will be three candi dates on the ballot for two open council positions. Local business owner Glen Purvee, Vernonia Sentry manager Ran dy Parrow and Charles “Chris” Collins have all qualified for the November General Election. Councilors Ball and Gayle Shriver are not seeking reelec tion to the council, though Ball is a candidate for mayor. Leonetti, who has two years re maining on his council term, will remain as a councilor if he is unsuccessful in his run for mayor. The only exception for a choice on the municipal ballot is the mayor’s position in Banks. Council member Ro bert Orlowski is unopposed in his bid for the position of may or. The current mayor, Ray Deeth, is not seeking reelec tion. Five candidates are vying for three open positions on the Banks City Council. Brendan Warren, Terry Branstitre, Ryan Burr, Jeannette Garnsey and Kathleen Murdoch have all re turned nomination papers but, as of last Friday, City Recorder Bob Prickett had not yet had the candidates certified. The deadline for certifying munici pal candidates is Sept. 7. The race tor two positions on the Columbia County Board of Commissioners became ei ther more interesting or more confusing, depending upon your point of view, when an In dependent candidate and a Constitution Party candidate joined the Democrats and Re publicans. Position 1, the open seat being relinquished by Commis sioner Jack Peterson, will be the object of three -way battle. Democrat Joe Corsiglia of St. Helens, and Republican Scott Burge of Scappoose will also have to contend with Paul Pul liam, an independent candi date from St. Helens. Republican Commissioner Tony Hyde of Vernonia, is seeking a second term against opposition from Democrat Shawna Sykes of Scappoose and the newest entry into the race, Constitution Party candi date Wayne Mayo of Scap poose. Columbia County Sheriff Phil Derby and Treasurer Paulette Kuiper-Hall will be on the ballot, but they have no op position. Also running unop posed is Clatskanie-Vernonia Justice Court Judge Rod McLean. There will be two Columbia County money measures on the ballot, also. Measure 5-67 seeks a four- year local option tax to fund op erations of the County Parks Department. The cost of this measure is estimated at 15.9 cents per $1,000, or $15.90 per year for property valued at $100,000. For several years, county parks have been fund ed primarily from timber har vests; no timber harvests are scheduled in the next four years. Measure 5-66 asks for a pproval of a five-year local op tion tax for operations, repairs, maintenance and improve ments to the county Fair Grounds. The cost is estimated at $10 per year for five years on a $100,000 property.
