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About The independent. (Vernonia, Or.) 1986-current | View Entire Issue (March 21, 2001)
The INDEPENDENT, March 21, 2001 Page 3 ■ 1 Lattars ta the Editor Jamboree Committee seeks participation To the Editor: This year’s Vernonia Friend ship Jamboree will be August 3, 4 and 5. The next meeting of the Vernonia Friendship Jam boree will be on March 22 at 7:00 p.m. in the Lew’s Place meeting room. The agenda will include election of President and Vice President, theme contest for 2001 Jamboree, Grand Mar shall and Citizen of the Year Nominations, committee as signments and new business from the floor. The Jamboree Committee is inviting all businesses that di rectly benefit from the Jam boree to have an active role in planning and execution of this year’s festivities. We are also inviting civic groups and other interested parties to take on an active role. Last year, some of the pro ceeds of the Jamboree were distributed to Vernonia Cares and Vernonia Toy & Joy. We are confident we will be able to distribute more back into the community, with your help, and are looking forward to seeing you at the next meeting. If you are unable to attend, please call and let us know you are in terested in participating this year. If you would like to enter the Jamboree Theme Contest, mail your suggestion to The Vernonia Friendship Jam boree, P O Box 244, Vernonia, OR 97064. The winning entry will receive a $50.00 savings bond from U.S. Bank. The win ning theme will be announced in the May 2 issue of The Inde pendent. Randy Parrow Vernonia Airing differences politely is good policy To the Editor: I must confess that in the re cent ballyhooed case of the “ A nonym ous S chool Board Election Pitch” I have absolute ly no first-hand knowledge. No copy of the infamous document ever darkened my door. On this score at least, its efficacy is suspect. Some heresay evidence had come to me, that it’s current le gality is the result of an Oregon Supreme Court decision in fa vor of free, though anonymous, speech. I doubted this, as it seemed relevant information, yet had not been published. It’s always possible that I need better glasses. If that informa tion is so, however, some con cerns lately voiced would cer tainly seem a bit less unfound ed, perhaps even a trifle ger mane. Of greater concern than this maneuver’s legality, I suspect, should be its wisdom. On some occasions, acting on anony mous tips is conceivably ap propriate. The selection of overseers for our community’s largest and most expensive government agency does not, to me, seem such an occasion. In this case I should expect that consideration of the source would be paramount, practical ly a requirement to avoid in stant dismissal. As ever, I am heartened to find myself in a community where such a difference is aired politely and with consid eration. Kierkegaard reminds us that our spirit is as Pegasus paired with the frail plow nag of human perception, to our con Batwaon the Bookends By Nancy Burch, Librarian Vernonia Public Library Most of us hear, speak, and write words every day of our lives, but how many of us really focus on the words themselves? If we hear a word that is unfamiliar to us, do we question its meaning or its spelling? Do we keep a dictionary close at hand to find the meaning of unknown words or to check for correct spelling? Spell check on computers is a wonderful aid, but do most of us really commit the correct spelling to memory? The Spelling Bee for Seniors held March 16, gave some of us the opportunity to spend a pleasant afternoon finding just how much or how little word-power we actually had committed to memory and to disprove the fallacy that Seniors have lost their acumen. Noni Andersen’s knowl edge of words proved to be excellent, earning her a much deserved first place trophy. Barbara Sturdevant, an avid reader of many types of lit erature, is to be commended for her second place. The gentleman earning third place, George Gans, misspelled only one more word than did Barbara, and is also to be highly com mended. Audeen Wagner did a terrific job of or ganizing the event and choosing the 100 words that comprised the list. All in all, it was a great af ternoon and at least some of us will find our selves trying to be more aware of the words we read, write and speak on a daily basis. Authors, of course, make their living with words. A good author brings his characters, their surroundings and their circumstances to life with words. This is just what John Grisham has done in his latest novel, The Painted House. Set in rural Arkansas in 1952, it’s harvest time on the Chandler farm and the family has hired a family of “hill people” and a crew of migrant Mexicans to pick their 80 acres of cotton. The narrator of the story is 7-year-old, Luke, who says, “I would pick cotton, tearing the fluffy bolls from the stalks at a steady pace, stuffing them into the heavy sack, afraid to look down the row and be re minded of how endless it was, afraid to slow down because someone would notice.” As ten sions simmer between the Mexicans and the hill people, Luke becomes privy to more secrets than anyone should be expected to keep. As this novel builds to its conclusion, the reader can vi sualize the farm, the town, and the plights of Luke, his family, and the workers. I enjoyed this non-legal novel by Grisham very much. Kristen Hannah writes for a different audi ence, but also is an author that I would highly recommend. Her latest novel, Summer Island, takes place in the serene San Juan Islands. Since Hannah is a native of that area of Wash ington, her descriptions are especially effective. This is a love story, but first and foremost, it is the story of a mother-daughter relationship, one that must be resolved before the happily ever-af- ter love story can take place. The other author I recommend this month is Kent Krueger. Krueger has previously published two novels with Cork O’Connor as the protago nist. Highlighting the luminance of Aurora, Min nesota, Krueger’s latest novel of suspense is ti tled Purgatory Ridge. Other new acquisitions to nourish the mind are The Bonesetter’s Daughter by Amy Tan, From the Corner of His Eye by Dean Koontz, 1st to Die by James Patterson, and Over Tumbled Graves by Jess Walters. A new format available for circulation is being supplemented in the library. Thanks to Judy Thiringer, music CDs are being added on a reg ular basis. Tom Brokaw’s, The Greatest Generation and The Greatest Generation Speaks are available in cassette form. The Vernonia Study Club re cently donated these to the library’s collection of audiocassettes. Automation is progressing with a vengeance. To date, 8,045 titles and 8,354 copies have been catalogued and are ready to be searched and checked out electronically. Orissa’s craft/story sessions continue to be well-attended and enjoyed by youngsters as well as adults. These are held on Monday afternoons at 3:30 on days when school is in session. Mark your calendar for the next meeting of The Friends of the Library to be held April 10, at 1:00 p.m. in the library. Their campaign to recruit members is just beginning. Ideas for fund raising projects and members to accomplish the goals associated with these projects will be needed to make this organization a success. (For the Seniors who participated in the spelling bee, seven of the words on the spelling list have been included in this article. See if you can find them.) Vernonia Library 701 Weed Avenue Hours: Mon., Wed., Fri. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tues., Thur. 2 p.m.-7 p.m. Sat. 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Preschool Story Time, Mondays, 10:30 a.m. Phone: (503)429-1818 stant and universal bedevil ment. Wayne Acton Vernonia Appropriate displays are appreciated To the Editor: This may be a short letter to the Editor, but what it reads is truly from our hearts! We appreciate the business es in Vernonia that do not show or sell items that degrade peo ple, ie., pornographic material, whether it be in videos or prod ucts and inappropriate lan guage displayed on products. Mr. & Mrs. Robert Huntington Birkenfeld Identifying spouses as teachers not fair To the Editor: Thomas Jones has every right to be upset with The Inde pendent as he and Randy Hansen were the only two can didates who had their wives mentioned as teachers while the other candidates spouses were not identified. In my opin ion The Independent made it seem like these two young men had an axe to grind. In regards to Independent Opinion February 21 suggest ing too bad someone from the Mist-Birkenfeld area didn’t show interest in running for the board last fall. (There are three candidates from the Mist- Birkenfeld area that chose to run at this time.) That seems to imply that they didn’t stand a chance at this election. It is their prerogative to run for a position when they feel ready. About the candidate flyer that was circulated, I was con cerned enough to find out who had paid for the flyer, as I first thought it came from the school district. I wondered at the time what other tax paying citizens were thinking. It was explained in the letters to the editor March 7 edition, but that was after some voters had sent in their ballots. George Bellingham Vernonia (Reminder: Spouses were not identified; only that they were teachers. None of the other spous es was connected to education.) Candidate thanks supporters, family To the Editor: I first want to express my gratitude to my husband and daughters for their unfailing support of my efforts on the Vernonia school board and as a candidate. My extended fam ily of Gwins and Keaseys also actively supported and encour aged my bid for election to the Vernonia School Board. There are many others who helped whose efforts are greatly ap preciated. I would also like to thank the board of directors for the honor and opportunity to serve these eight months on the board, particularly for the chance to begin to understand the state legislature. I have been w arm ed and de ep ly touched by the expression of support from people whom I re spect and admire. My work, however, has nev er been about the power and influence of the board of direc tors. I have worked harder and longer that anyone else in the district to develop and maintain the Site Council, the one place where the community can have direct influence on the imple mentation of state mandated changes in education, in an at tempt to preserve our way of doing things. I will certainly continue to do so. Like my fa ther, who sometimes knew his PCC students better than his children, and my aunt and un cle, who have devoted count less hours to School District 47J, I am compelled to contin ue to pursue excellence in edu cation. There is much work to be done. I sincerely hope that Mr. Hobart can work effectively to accomplish the business of the district and that he will find that work as satisfying and fulfilling as I have found it. For the children, Schanri Nelson Vernonia Speaker will discuss health topics To the Editor: Hormones, menopause and breast cancer are topics that are on all of our minds from time to time. From young women wondering about birth control to older women reach ing pre-menopause, or those of us who have had surgery. Hor mones control our very lives and when hormones are bal anced, we are healthy and feel good. Hormones that are out of balance can contribute to many conditions from PMS to en dometriosis, ovarian cysts, fi brocystic breast and, yes, breast cancer and prostate cancer, just to mention a few. Poor diet, stress and environ ment have been known to ef fect one’s ability to produce hormones. Every one of us in our life time will know somebody who will get breast cancer, either mom, grandmother, sister, aunt, daughter or a good friend. Studies say that one in eight women will get some form of breast cancer. A large percentage of breast and prostate cancer is caused by hormone imbalances. Dr. David Zava, internation ally known speaker, will be pre senting his lecture on hormone imbalances and breast cancer. Dr. Zava is an expert on the subject of hormones and breast cancer, and is tireless in his effort to educate people in the dangers of hormone imbal ances. He has agreed to come to Vernonia and present his in formation (not to mention he’s my boss and I’ve asked him to come). Watch in the next is sues of this paper for the exact time and location. Dr. David Zava, internation ally known speaker, will be pre- Please see page 16
