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.