First printing of Jan. 3 The Independent was stolen
A standard objective of
newspapers is to report the
news and, at the same time,
keep from being part of the
news. The INDEPENDENT
was highly unsuccessful in at
taining that objective this week.
Early on Thursday morning,
Jan. 4, while delivering papers
in Banks, the car containing
approximately 2800 copies of
the Jan. 3, 2001, issue was
stolen.
Following the usual route,
the paper was being delivered
first to Banks, then it would go
to Manning and on into Ver
nonia. That plan was disrupted,
however, at The Brown Derby
Sorry we’re late,
but theft of car
delivering
The INDEPENDENT
disrupted normal
delivery schedule.
restaurant in Banks, when the
car was stolen during the 30-60
seconds that were required in
the restaurant.
Dirk Andersen, who was
handling circulation, heard the
car start as he left the restau
rant, ran to it, opened the door
and told the man who was be
hind the wheel to get out. In
stead, the thief backed up
quickly and drove away head
ing north on Hwy. 47.
Law enforcement agencies
have a suspect.
Attn: Leslie Larson
UO Library-OMP
1299 University Of Oregon
Eugene, OR 97400-1299
INSIDE:
In the meantime, if any of
you readers sees a red, 1995
Ford Escort station wagon with
a luggage rack and a personal
ized license plate that reads
POETIK, call 9-1-1. Do not try
to apprehend the driver.
Anyway, that is why this is
sue is late and why this is a
second printing. We’ll work
very hard to return to the stan
dard objective of newspapers
as mentioned in the first para
graph. We really don’t want to
be part of the news.
&
> Æ
The public is invited to an Open House and tours of the new Columbia County Sheriff’s
Office, Jail and Work Release Center, and Community Corrections offices on Friday and
Saturday, January 5-6. More photos may be found on page 8.
School, fire district election set
Vernonia School
District 47J
Five of the seven positions
on the Vernonia School board
will be on the March 13 ballot.
Position 1 is currently held
by Schann Nelson.
Position 4 is held Leslie
O’Leary.
Position 5, held by board
chairman Jeff Blum.
Position 6 is held by Kim
Banks School District
Three Banks School board
positions will be up for election.
Position 1, held by Spencer
Vandehey.
Position 2, held by Willis
Meeuwsen.
Position 4, held by Joe
Evers.
All positions are four-year
terms. There have been no fil
ings through Jan. 2.
FREE
i
By Noni Andersen
Tierney.
Position 7 is held by Cari
Lee Levenseller.
Positions 1, 4, 5 and 6 are
four-year terms; Position 7 is a
two-year term. There have
been no filings to date, but all
incumbents have indicated
they will file for re-election ex
cept Tierney, who has not indi
cated her intent.
Banks’ Log Cabin
rehab nearly
complete... pg. 9
January 3, 2001________
New jail open to the
public this weekend
Invitation to go to Jail
March 13 is the date of the
Oregon Special District Elec
tion which, in this area, applies
only to Fire Districts and
School Districts. Balloting will
be held by mail, as are all elec
tions now in Oregon.
The last day to file nomina
tion papers for special district
directors is January 11.
Soup’s on... pg. 7
BULK RATE
U.S. Postage Paid
Permit No. 37
Vernonia, OR 97064
“ Voice of the Upper Nehalem River Valley”
Vol. 16, No 1
Vernonia has long
list of accom
plishments in
2000......... pg. 3
Jewell School District
Three positions will be de
cided on the Jewell School
board.
Position 1, presently held by
Joseph Budai.
Position 2, held by Carolyn
Eady.
Please see page 3
Columbia County Sheriff
Phil Derby and the county
Board of Commissioners have
invited the community to vist
the new county jail during
grand opening ceremonies on
Friday and Saturday, January
5-6.
“Help mark the opening of
this impressive facility that
benefits all Columbia County
residents,” said Sheriff Derby
and Commissioner Tony Hyde.
“We hope the public will come
see what its tax dollars
bought.”
And what the taxpayers
have bought is, indeed, im
pressive, for it isn’t often that a
fairly large public project is
completed on time, under bud
get and with everything that
had been hoped for.
None of this happened acci
dentally. Initially a committee of
citizen volunteers studied what
Columbia County might need
in a jail and, the more they
studied, the more they realized
that a jail was only one ele
ment. Also needed was a “work
release” center for people who
had violated the law but had
good jobs and were not a dan
ger to the community. A work
release sentence allows them
to keep their jobs while report
ing back to jail each day. They
also pay for their jail time
Sen. Wyden schedules Town Hall
meeting in Vernonia on Sunday
U.S. Senator Ron Wyden
will hold his annual Columbia
County Town Hall meeting in
Vernonia this year. The infor
mal meeting will be held at the
Scout Cabin in Hawkins Park,
on Sunday, January 7, from
1:00 to 2:30 p.m.
Sen. Wyden does not make
speeches at the town hall
meetings he holds annually in
every county of Oregon. In
stead, he will answer questions
and discuss topics presented
by people who attend the
meeting.
For more information, call
Sen. Wyden’s Portland office
at 503 326-7525.
based on a sliding scale.
The committee felt it would
make good sense to have the
Sheriff’s office in the same
building as the jail, if possible.
The more they studied, the
more they thought it would also
be smart to include Community
Corrections in the same facility,
allowing probation officers and
inmates to become acquainted
before they were required to
work together.
Once the committee put to
gether the “wish list,” they went
to work selling the project to
county taxpayers. A major per
suader was the old jail—an
overcrowded, worn-out facility
in the basement of the court
house. It had a kitchen that
would be considered substan
dard by most families; it need
ed rewiring and replumbing;
there were no proper visiting
rooms; the lighting was terrible;
there was no place to store in
mates belongings; there was
no medical room. Additionally,
there was no proper booking
area. All prisoners had to be
brought through public spaces
for booking and all inmates had
to go through the same spaces
on their way to and from court.
The committee did a good
job of explaining the need and
voters approved a bond mea
sure for construction of a jail.
Including the work release
center, the new jail will house
195 inmates (The county’s av
erage jail population is about
55.) in eight “pods,” six for men
and two for women. Doors
throughout the building are op
erated from a central control,
where one operator can see
who is at each door.
Because work release in
mates wear their own clothes,
they have a washer and dryer.
They also have a refrigerator
and microwave to use if their
Please see page 8