Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The independent. (Vernonia, Or.) 1986-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 3, 2001)
The INDEPENDENT, January 3, 2001 Page 3 2000 was great for Vernonia and 2001 will bring more success By Robyn Bassett, Director Vernonia Public Works The year 2000 was over in the blink of an eye. The com munity was very busy with the completion of several improve ment projects throughout the city, plus the planning of pro jects for 2001. Projects completed in 2000 and projects proposed for 2001 have developed with the efforts of volunteers serving on com mittees such as Parks, Trans portation, City Council Plan ning Commission, Vernonia Pride and Chamber of Com merce. State, County, local government and the communi ty working together toward the betterment of Vernonia has been our greatest success. Thank you all for the grandest year ever and for the future 2001 projects. Outlined here, are the pro jects completed in 2000 and the projects coming up for the year 2001 : Water System Corey Hill Reservoir, located at the top of Bridge Street adja cent to Vernonia Memorial Cemetery, has leaked approxi mately 3,000,000 gallons of treated water per year for many years. In 1999, during the Wa ter Distribution Rehab project, we found that repairs needed at the reservoir were far more extensive than had been planned, approx. $30,000. The 150,000 gallon reservoir re quired a complete relining of the in-ground interior concrete walls. Funds were appropriat- Banks Library column unavailable Due to unforeseen circum stances, there will be no report from the Banks Public Library this month. Everything should be back on schedule next month, with the Banks Library column scheduled for February 7. For information about the li brary and/or its activities, call the number below. Banks Public Library: 111 Market Street. Hours: Tues., Wed., Thurs., 11 a.m. - 7 p.m.; Fri. and Sat. 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Preschool Story Time, Weds., 10:15 a.m. Phone: (503) 324-1382 Internet: www.WILInet.wc- cls.lib.or.us. ed in the 2000-01 fiscal year budget and the lining project wassuccessfully vcompleted in August 2000. Stoney Point Reservoir re ceived a thorough cleaning in side, where debris had accu mulated during past years of operation from the old water lines and the old treatment fa cility. To prevent having to take the reservoir off line and creat ing a desperate shortage in the water supply, divers were called in to clean and inspect the 1.2 million-gallon reservoir. Wastewater Discharge limitations placed on the Nehalem River through the Endangered Fish Species Act created funding opportuni ties for the city. As with any op portunity for grant funds through the state, the more you are in non-compliance, the bet ter your chance of getting funds. Through the funding process within Columbia Coun ty, the city received first priori ty in the Infrastructure category for engineering design of the Wastewater Treatment Facili ties. The engineered design will provide several phases of improvements for the commu nity in the next 20 years and Special District Election is March 13th From page 1 Position 4, held by Ulrich Schockelt. Position 1 is a two-year term; the other two are four- year terms. Following are the openings and filings, through January 2, for area fire districts Vernonia Rural Fire Protection District Position 1 is currently held by Don Webb, who has filed for re-election. Position 5, held at this time by Lyle Barker, who has not yet filed nomination papers. For mer district fire chief Steve Weller has filed for Position 5. Both are four-year terms. Mist-Birkenfeld Rural Fire Protection District Position 3, currently held by Paul Ramsey. No filing. Position 4, held by Randy Hansen. No filing. Position 5, incumbent Ray Kyser has filed for re-election. All are four-year terms. Tri-City Rural Fire District Position 1, held by Joe Evers . Edward Evey has filed for Position 1. Position 3, incumbent Du ane Spiering. No filing. Position 4, presently held by the age structure will slowly increase as the herd grows. This increase comes as fawns, which offset the number of deer surviving to ages above the mean age of the herd. During the moratorium, our deer herd grew by only one percent per year. If a herd suddenly develops a rapid increase in age structure, this is an indicator that some thing has gone wrong. This is what happened in our area. The average age structure increased by nine percent in 1999 harvest data. In order for such a change to take place, a decline in younger animals of about 70 percent would be required. In fact, a 35 percent decrease in both the fawn and yearling age-classes of the early nineties herd-harvest-data brings us to our pre sent age structure. The percentage of harvest data for 1999 suggests that the fawn harvest was down 50 percent and the yearling harvest was off 20 percent from previous data sets. While hunters this year harvested some very nice bucks, there was one component missing. Izaak Walton League Nehalem Valley Chapter meetings are on the third Thursday of each month at 7:00 p.m. The public is welcome. For meeting location, call (503) 429-7193. Mark Schmidlin. No filing. Positions 1 and 3 are four- year terms; Position 4 is a two- year term. Elsie-Vinemaple Rural Fire District Three positions will be de cided in the March election. Position 2 is presently held by Bill Stevens. Position 3, held by Walter James. Position 5 is held by Jim Morris. All are for four-year terms. The last day to register to vote in the Special District Election will be February 20, 2001. Forked horn bucks were far fewer. The implica tion is that the older bucks are a legacy from the moratorium herd build-up and the lack of forked horns in the harvest is a result of fewer offspring from having fewer does and poor survival due to weather and disease. This older buck harvest will last only a couple more years, at best, and then things will look very bleak. The one bright note so far this year is that there have not been any reports of the dreaded hair-loss syndrome. It is a bit early in the year, and the weather has been dry, but we have a lot of winter ahead of us. At this point, we find the deer herd down and ODF&W once again pound ing the does for a Buck ($)! The most discouraging aspect to me, though, is the people who are partaking in these hunts. I have half a notion to list your names so that your peers know who you are. It is bad enough hav ing to battle the professionals, without having to battle the people for whom we are trying to cre ate bettqrjiunting. We need to learn from histo ry...and not wait for a crisis...before we sudden ly realize a resource may be gone. On a brighter note, Coho salmon were seen spawning in Pebble creek in good numbers in late December. Maybe we are turning a corner on this particular crisis. beyond. The city has been moving forward with a Wastewater Fa cility Plan that was completed December 29. Parties involved in developing the plan were Dale Webb, president of the Izaak Walton League Nehalem Valley Chapter, Maggie Pey ton, coordinator of the Upper and Lower Nehalem River Wa tershed Councils, and Alan Bogner of the Depart of Envi ronmental Quality Partnerships Team. The plan addresses the needs and issues of the waste- water facilities. The issues are storage for the months of May through October and odor con trol. Projected improvements for 2001 are aeration systems withing the lagoon system for odor control, and planting and irrigation of poplar trees within the city property surrounding the lagoon area. A Public Hear ing is scheduled for review and comment January 16 at 6:30 in City Hall. Streets A $25,000 Special Cities Al lotment grant obtained through ODOT enabled the city to com plete, in July 2000, much need ed pavement and pedestrian improvents to Weed Ave. The City has also received notifica tion of another $25,000 grant for the paving of Madison Ave. from Bridge to Cougar. Com pletion is projected for June 2001. Also in July 2000, the city obtained $450,000 in funding for much-needed improve ments to the residential street system throughout the commu nity. The Transportation Com mittee has completed prelimi nary design of the 2001 Resur facing Project throughout the community’s residential streets. The limited funding available created a 5-year re habilitation process. Final de sign will be available for public review and comment in Febru ary 2000. Resurfacing will be gin in June 2001. Parks For several years, limited funding prohibited completion of the Linear Trail extension project from Anderson Park to Vernonia. The determination and perseverance of the Parks Committee, ODOT, Oregon Parks and Recreation Depart ment, Columbia County and community members brought the project to successful com pletion in October 2000. Through these partnerships, the city obtained $25,000 from ODOT, $70,000 from OPRD and $35,000 from Columbia County. In March 2000, the city re ceived $3500 in State tourism dollars and matched that amount to fund the entrance sign on the south end of town, plus informational kiosks to be located at Vernonia Lake and Shay Memorial Park. Comple tion of the entrance sign would not have been accomplished without the determination of Donna Gehrke of Vernonia Pride, who got volunteer labor to excavate and grade the site from Bill Sword, sign design from Michael Snow, and elec trical installation by Todd Sulli van. The kiosks will hold infor mation on history and busi- nesses/services in the Ne halem Valley. They are being constructed by Hardwood Orig inals in Vernonia and are scheduled for completion in February. Improvements to Shay Memorial Park have been put on hold due to funding limita tions. Planned improvements include placement of a new fence and shelter around the locomotive, landscaping and seating areas. The city is pur suing funding to complete the project in FY2001-02. In May 2000, the city was awarded $38,000 for two ADA accessible, floating fishing docks. The project cannot be completed until adequate rain fall fills the lake. Completion is Please see page 14 Letters to the Editor Columnist’s numbers really don’t add up To the Editor: Voters, don’t be confused by the figures publicized by columnist David Reinhard in the Sunday Oregonian (Dec. 31, 2000). Citing a forthcom ing study from Oregon Tax Re search (OTR) Mr. Reinhard says that Oregon schools spent $7933 per student in the 1999-2000 school year. The 47J School Board and Budget Committee would be thrilled to have that much mon ey to spend on our students. In fact, however, we will re ceive approximately $4865 per student this year (2000-2001), a slight increase from last year which is offset by a drop in en rollment. Since the study cited by Mr. Reinhard is unavailable, it is impossible to examine how the extravagant numbers he uses were determined. The more than three-thou sand dollars difference per stu dent - between what OTR re portedly says we receive and what we actually receive - would go a LONG way to re lieve our overcrowded class rooms, provide needed pro grams and improve education in our district. Schann W. Nelson Board Member 47J Vernonia POUCT ON LETTERS The INDEPENDENT welcomes readers' letters and will publish as many as possible. All letters must be signed, including those sent by fax, and include a verifiable address and telephone number, which will not be printed except at the writer’s request. Unsigned letters will not be published.
