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.
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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
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United
Way
says
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“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.