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About The independent. (Vernonia, Or.) 1986-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 6, 2000)
The INDEPENDENT, September 6, 2000 Between the Bookends Letters to the Editor: Due to some unanticipated events, neither Cecelia Sadtler nor Sheila Davis was able to put together the Banks Library column for this issue. It will resume in October. Preschool Story Time started today at the Banks Public Library, and will continue through out the school year with the popular Miss Kathy. If you have preschool age children, this is a great way to get them interested in books and reading. Mark your calendar for Preschool Story Time, every Wednesday at 10:15 a.m. The final count on participation in the Banks Library Summer Reading Program is quite grat ifying: 145 children were involved in the summer activities. Remember Recycle Saturday, the ongoing fund-raiser sponsored by the Friends of the Banks Library and staffed by volunteers, raises much-needed funds for the library. On the sec ond Saturday of each month, take your recy- clables to the SWATCO service yard on Sellers Road, between 9:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. You can get it out of your way and help the library at the same time! Benches not meant to be moved To the Editor: The City of Vernonia and Vernonia Pride have placed benches downtown for every one’s use. Some of the bench es placed in front of business Banks Public Library: 111 Market Street. es were purchased by the busi Hours: Tues., Wed., Thurs., 11 a.m. - 7 p.m.; ness. They are not meant to be Fri. and S a t 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. moved to another location. Preschool Story Time, Weds., 10:15 a.m. We had allowed a couple of Phone; (503 ) 324-1382 the benches to be moved to another location, under the big trees by the bridge, a lovely, In lieu of the library column, which usually fills this space and emphasizes reading, here is a little informa cool place to sit. Unfortunately, tion on writing. Just don’t take it too seriously. it has become necessary to ask that the benches not be moved after one of the bench rite ood es was destroyed while in that ( and avoid using adjectives as adverbs ) location. In the near future, we have Here are several very important but often forgotten rules of English: plans to place a larger, stronger bench in that location. 1. Always avoid alliteration. Please give us some time and 2. Prepositions are not words to end sentences with. there should be a bench in your 3. Avoid clichés like the plague. (They’re old hat.) favorite spot. In the meantime, 4. Utilize the vernacular. please leave the benches in the locations where they have 5. Eschew ampersands & abbreviations, etc. been placed. 6. Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are unnecessary. Enid Parrow 7. It is wrong to ever split an infinitive. Vernonia Pride How To W G 8. Contractions aren’t necessary. 9. Foreign words and phrases are not apropos, though they do add a certain je ne sais quoi. 10. One should never generalize. 11. Eliminate quotations. As Ralph Waldo Emerson once said: “I hate quotations. Tell me what you know.” 12. Comparisons are as bad as clichés. 13. Don’t be redundant; don’t use more words than necessary; it’s highly superfluous. 14. Be more or less specific. 15. Understatement might help. 16. Exaggeration is a billion times worse than understatement. 17. One-word sentences! Eliminate. 18. Analogies in writing are like feathers on a snake. 19. The passive voice is to be avoided. 20. Go around the bam at high noon to avoid colloquialisms. 21. Even if a mixed metaphor sings, it should be derailed. 22. Who needs rhetorical questions? 23. While a transcendent vocabulary is laudable, one must nevertheless keep incessant surveillance against such loquacious, effusive, voluble verbosity that the calculated objective of communication becomes ensconced in obscurity. 24. In a sentence, the nouns has to agree with the verbs. 25. Don’t use no double negatives. 26. In writing, few things are, so to speak, more infuriating, than, say, commas, at least when there are too many of them, or when they should be, say, semicolons. 27. Proofread your work, so you don’t leave some out or forget to finish 28. Run-on sentences are really bad because the reader saturates and what you really should be doing is using commas and semicolons and even peri ods to break the sentence up into more digestible chunks. 29. To have been using excessively complex verb constructions, is to have been bopping the literary baloney. 30. A friend I spoken with recently told me he been forgetting his helping verbs. .... n I I I I 11.111111111 « y I » 111 1 111 >1 II 1111II11,1111111..........111111.11 .......m « w w w ............. I ll II 11111111 H PSL. » ...... .............~.. Page 3 Candidate thanks petition SiqnerS K y To the Editor: I want to thank the many registered voters who took time to sign a petition to place my name on the ballot for Colum bia County Commissioner Po sition 1, as an Independent, and the many friends who helped solicit those signatures. As we begin the 60-day countdown to the November general election, I’d like to challenge my opponents for Columbia County Commission- er to debate the issues that the commissioners can impact, such as jobs, fiscal manage ment, land use, economic de velopment, health care and others. I hope that each com munity in the county will pro vide a venue for a debate on the issues so that citizens can judge for themselves who is the most qualified candidate. I welcome opportunities throughout the county to speak, debate or answer ques tions in person or on my web site at the Columbia Technolo gy Center <columbia-center. org/pulliam>. Paul Pulliam, Independent for Columbia County Commissioner St. Helens ................. ............. r i i h i m m ii 1111,11...... 1 II II I I .............. W in n 111 i n 111I W 11.111 i n 1,11 II I w„ w m 11 « ....... « .......... ......................................... United Way says -..... ................... --.------- — - ----- . ..... ... ... „J ., n_i__ i__ “Thanks to You” From page 2 hunter, will continue to buy tags and hunt when my intention. I do not blame the sportsmen; they there are a lot fewer animals in the field to har To the Editor: are only doing what ODF&W says is okay. But it vest. It’s time we all wake up and stop being United Way of Columbia is time for you to realize that you are being used short-changed by the employees that we have County would like to thank Pre- as a pawn in the destruction of a very success hired to manage our game populations. We are cision Engraving, Inc. of Scap- ful hunting unit. People also must know that the boss. We just have to start acting like it! poose for the donation of four every time they call ODF&W to complain about Oh, by the way, the bull elk that Tom Cieloha magnetic signs. These signs deer and elk damage, they are inadvertently took last elk season was eight years. And they say, “Support your local United signing more death warrants for female deer say there are no older bulls in the herd! Way" and will be used by staff and elk, even it you live in the city limits of Ver and volunteers on their cars nonia and these animals cannot be addressed through hunting. It has become readily apparent to me that ODF&W has conceded to private landowners who want to exterminate this long-term animal population. ODF&W also knows that you, the ness of the general public to United Way and remind them that it is their dollars that help support services in Columbia County. We really appreciate the support of local businesses in our efforts to raise money for the United Way. Kathye Beck, Executive Director United Way of Columbia County Rainier Efforts of others is a key to providing food To the Editor: Vernonia Cares would like to give a sincere thank you to the number of groups and commu nity members that put forth so much effort to help us during the Jamboree weekend. We were so very blessed with all the time and energy that Mike and Ellen Hayes and their chil- dren put into the synchronized swim held at Cedar Ridge. If you did not have a chance to see this event, you missed out. It is definitely a show worth seeing. They put a lot of effort into a float this year and even sold items at the swim. All pro- ceeds were donated to Vernon- ia Cares Food Bank and we were able to purchase food for needy families because of all they have done. Rose City Motorcycle Club also participated in the parade with a nice float and numerous bikers. They have taken time for the past years to help us with a food drive of their own. Again, they put forth a large amount of effort and we thank them. Larry Steele and Cedar Ridge deserve a big thank you for setting up Johnny Limbo and the Lugnuts and accepting food donations. Their efforts are greatly appreciated. My devoted volunteers - I have to say a special thanks to all of you, even though you do not expect it. I witness so much hard work and time put in on a daily basis. I often wonder how the few seem to always have such energy and devotion with out a paycheck. I couldn’t do it without you. Thank you. Lastly, there was a big sur prise [donation] for us all. On Monday morning after Jam boree, an envelope of money was handed to me from Dan and Heidi Brown [Grey Dawn Gallery] and Chris and Ruth Burkett [Westwind Arts], who donated all proceeds from raf fling one of Chris’ posters. Not only were we surprised, but very thankful. All efforts, even the small est, are greatly appreciated at the food bank. We are helping many Vernonia community members get by with groceries that they would have had to go without. Thank you all so much for continuous efforts for such a good cause.
