Community Holiday festivities are getting underway
Tree Lighting
Friday night
ia Realty and City Hall.
Santa Claus arrives
Saturday afternoon
Come one, come all to the
annual Vernonia Christmas
Tree lighting on Friday, Decem
ber 8, at City Hall. The high
school choir will be performing,
starting at 6:45 p.m., and they
are an awesome group.
The library will be open and
serving refreshments from 6:00
to 8:00 p.m. The Community
Christmas Tree is located on
Bridge Street between Vernon
Santa Claus will make his
annual visit to Vernonia on Sat
urday, December 9, at the
Bridge Street Mall. Santa will
arrive at 2:30 p.m. and he will
be accompanied by Mrs.
Claus. They will also have
bags of goodies for all the kid
dies under twelve.
Downtown Open
House Saturday
Following Santa’s visit,
downtown Vernonia merchants
will host their annual Open
House from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m.
In addition to many Open
House Specials, there will be
refreshments at many loca
tions.
Something Special
The long awaited Grey
Dawn Gallery will open Friday
from 10 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., and
Saturday, 10:00 a.m. to 4:00
p.m. There will be a very spe
cial fund raiser on Saturday for
Vernonia Cares-check it out!
The annual sale of ceramics
by Jeff Patterson will also be
on Saturday, only at the Scout
Cabin instead of downtown.
This is also something very
special!
See pages 12-13 for more
on the Downtown Open House.
Join in the fun!
•» “ Voice of the Upper Nehalem River Valley” '
A ribbon cutting ceremony
and dedication will be held
December 14 to celebrate
completion of the Banks-Ver
nonia State Linear Trail exten
sion from Anderson Park to
Lake Vernonia. The City of
Vernonia has extended invita
tions to everyone involved in
the project, for the 1:00 p.m.
ceremony. The public is also
invited. The ribbon cutting will
be at the east end of the trail
extension, where it meets the
lake.
The City Council, at their
Nov. 20 meeting, also decided
to hold only one meeting in
December. Instead of meeting
on the fourth and the 18th,
they will meet Dec. 11 at 6:30.
At 7:00 p.m. they will recess
the council meeting and re
convene for a Public Hearing
to consider a request for an
nexation by developer Chris
Liu.
Liu wants to annex 30-plus
acres of property within the
Urban Growth Boundary adja
cent to Mellinger Road. The
Vernonia Planning Commis
sion has held one hearing, as
has the City Council. The Dec.
11 hearing is simply an exten
sion of the earlier hearing.
The council is seeking ap
plications to fill a council va
cancy in January, when Coun
cilor Mario Leonetti assumes
This adult bald eagle has been a visitor at Vernonia Lake for a few days recently...one
more satisfied tourist. Do you suppose our national symbol is hiding out here until the
election is over?
Special Council meeting for Measure 7
landowners if action, such as
zoning, by the government low
ers the property’s value.
The City adopted an emer
gency ordinance that defines
and implements procedures for
applications for compensation
under Measure 7.
PCC plans, testing
& classes.... pg. 10
Food Stamp regs.
changed..... pg. 11
Remembering..Pg 16
FREE
December 6, 2000
Dedication set for
linear trail extension
A winter visitor
Vernonia City Council held a
special meeting December 4 to
deal with the requirements of
Ballot Measure, the so-called
Takings Law. Measure 7
amended the Oregon Constitu
tion to require state and local
governments to compensate
VHS Renaissance
Assembly..... pg. 9
BULK RATE
U.S. Postage Paid
Permit No. 37
Vernonia, OR 97064
Attn: Leslie Larson
-O M P
Voi. 15, No 23
Christmas cooking
with Gladys., pg. 7
The language of Measure 7
is not well defined, making it
difficult for any local govern
ment to know exactly how it ap
plies. The League of Oregon
Cities recommended quick
preparations partly because of
the ambiguous language.
the position of mayor. Anyone
interested in serving in the
volunteer position is invited to
pick up an application at City
Hall. The council has indicat
ed they will follow the same
procedure as with previous
vacancies, and hold public in
terviews of all applicants. The
interviews will probably be
held on January 2, 2001,
though that date wasn’t firmly
set.
The Council received a
very positive audit report for
the last year’s operations. The
independent auditor noted no
instances of non-compliance,
no reportable conditions and
no material weaknesses. Be
cause of its responsible fiscal
management, the City qualifys
as low-risk.
Oregon
Department of
Transportation informed the
City that a project to improve
Madison Avenue, between
Bridge and Cougar Streets,
has been approved for a
$25,000 Special Cities Allot
ment. The work will be done
during the summer of 2001.
In order to find out how well
the City is meeting the needs
of its residents, The council
previously approved a Citizen
Survey. The survey will be
mailed to all residences in the
near future, possibly next
week.
Vernonia Cares deadline to
apply for Christmas Basket
December 14 is the cut-off
date for area families to apply
for a Christmas Basket from
Vernonia Cares. To find out
whether you qualify, call Ver
nonia Cares at 429-1414 on
Tuesday or Thusday between
the hours of 10:00 a.m. and
1:00 p.m.
Anyone who wants to nomi-
nate a family for a basket
should call to find out what pro
cedure is needed.
The reqson for the early cut
off, Lisa Edgar explained, is
the need to know how much
must be purchased in order to
make the baskets complete.
Edgar is the director of Vernon
ia Cares.