The independent., December 20, 2000, Image 1

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Vol. 15, No 24
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‘Vo/'ce o f fhe Upper Nehalem River Valley”
December 20, 2000
Dedication of trail extension draws crowd of happy participants
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A Christmas present for the community!
By Noni Andersen
It was a long time coming,
but a feeling of real accom­
plishment was obvious in the
faces and attitudes of the many
people who were involved in
completion of the Banks-Ver­
nonia State Linear Park exten­
sion from Anderson Park to
Lake Vernonia.
Among those needed to
complete the job were two
state agencies - the Oregon
Department of Transportation,
which provided rock for the
trail, handled the bid process
for the paving and provided
most of the funding for the
bridge across Rock Creek, and
the Oregon Department of
Parks and Recreation, with
many responsibilities and great
cooperation.
Closer to home, Columbia
County provided assistance
with funding for both the bridge
and the trail, and supported
Vernonia’s bid for grants from
the state agencies.
Nehalem Valley Develop­
ment Corporation, the private
partner in the public/private
venture, owned most of the
property needed for the trail ex­
tension and worked with the
City of Vernonia to reach an
arrangement acceptable to all
parties.
The City’s Public Works De­
partment and administration
spent uncounted hours putting
together all of the elements
needed to accomplish the pro­
ject, working - successfully -
with each of the other groups in
whatever way was needed.
In addition to an all-weather
recreation trail that joins the
lake to Anderson Park and the
downtown core, a trail has
been added adjacent to the
road behind Vernonia High
School. This addition com­
pletes a route that can be safe­
ly used by bicyclists and others
to go from the lake to the
schools without using Hwy/ 47
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The weather was gloomy, but the mood was just the opposite, as smiles brightened the day at the ribbon cutting ceremo­
ny for the Banks-Vernonia State Linear Park extension in Vernonia last week. Completion of this public/private project
brought together many of the people involved, including from left, Casey Mitchell of Nehalem Valley Development Corp
(with unidentified youngster), B-V Park resident Ranger Mike Shannon, Vernonia Public Works Director Robyn Bassett,
state parks Recreation Trail Coordinator Sean Loughran, Sykes Mitchell of NVDC, state Parks Grants Project Officer Mari­
lyn Lippincott, Ann Mitchell of NVDC, Columbia County Commissioner Tony Hyde, Vernonia Planning Director Julie Koontz,
Vernonia Mayor-elect Mario Leonetti, Dale Webb of the Izaak Walton League, Sam Hunaidi of Oregon Dep’t of Transporta­
tion, Vernonia Parks Committee member Donna Gehrke, Brenda DeLorenzo of ODOT, Vernonia City Administrator Mike
Sykes, ODOT District 2A Manager Ronald Kroop, Vernonia Parks Committee member Darlene McLeod and several others
who can’t be seen.
at O-A Hill. It provides the
same safety when used from
Weed Avenue, through Ander­
son Park and on to the school.
Considering all of these im­
provements, one more group
must be added to this list: This
group is composed of the many
Vernonia residents who sup­
ported the trail extension re­
gardless of the obstacles,
which were numerous. Without
that kind of community support
the project would never have
gotten off the ground, much
less have-been completed.
INSIDE:
Local woman honored by state.... pg. 8
Green will lead co-op group......... pg. 8
For the love of music................... pg. 9
. Audit report cautions Banks.......pg. 13