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About The independent. (Vernonia, Or.) 1986-current | View Entire Issue (May 16, 2001)
The INDEPENDENT, May 16, 2001 Page 3 Batmen the Bookends B y Rep. Elaine M. Hopson Second District It appears the Major League Baseball issue is dead, even though HB2941 authorizing $150 million in lottery bonds to provide a grant to an Oregon city for construction of a stadi um, passed out of the House last week. The latest word is that it won’t be going any place and that is fine with me. We have too many other unmet needs for those funds. The purpose of the lottery bonding is to help rural areas build infrastructure and pursue a strong and meaningful family wage jobs to support our com munities. I could not be con vinced that this was a way to do that, even though having a baseball team in Oregon would be nice. The lobbying on this issue was the strongest I have ever experienced, both in terms of personal contact by professional lobbyists and by written comments, via mail or email. Almost all were support ive of the project. The big issue continues to be energy deregulation. Sever al bills dealing with the subject are awaiting a thorough de bate. This extremely complex issue engenders strong opin ions and a great deal of confu sion. Although the current in creases in energy costs are not attributable to deregulation, there continue to be fears and second thoughts as to the po tential advantages and disad vantages of deregulation. It is a big issue on both the 'substantive side and the politi cal side. The choices on the merits of deregulation are whether to implement it now, postpone it, or repeal it alto gether. It is an extremely com plicated issue on the merits and it is also a critical chess player on the political side. It appears there will at least be some postponement of the Oregon plan, which does differ substantially from that being used in California. In House Education we con tinue to try to find ways to re fine the education process and become accountable. A strong push to add Health to the Cer tificate of Mastery require ments was defeated in commit tee. Although I agree that health is a very important sub ject for our youth, it isn’t time to add more recordkeeping re quirements to the CIM as we work toward implementation. We, in Education Ways and Means, continue to await the May 14 revenue forecast be fore we move forward with funding for K-12, community colleges and higher education as well as the many other ar eas in the budgeting process. Inherent in the forecast will be a determination as to whether or not the “kicker” kicks. In oth er words, are the revenues high enough to trigger the re turn of monies in excess of what was projected to be re ceived? As always, the balance is between money needed and services provided. In all of this budgeting process, we play a guessing game as to what the economy will be like two years in the future. We budget ac cording to our “best guess” and then wait to see what happens at the end of that two-year pe riod. There never seems to be enough money to do every thing we want; therefore, what do we cut? Education, health, transportation, community im provements, social services? I’d welcome your thoughts on this. The second bill regarding the right of local entities to al low restrictions on smoking passed the House this week. HB 3874 prohibits the use of tobacco tax money for advo cating smoking bans. Even though research very clearly states that local bans have proven to be the most effective way to curb smoking, there are efforts to prevent local jurisdic tions from using the money to push for such limits. In other words, the money goes to pub lic entities to prevent smoking but we can’t use the money to promote the most effective tool available? We will see what happens in the Senate and when it hits the Governor’s desk. HB 3451, which insists that DLCD work closely with coun ties and cities in a concerted effort to identify ways we can look at flood mitigation, passed the House this week. Hopeful ly, this will allow us to use in formation we currently have and what we will soon be gain ing from computer simulation to identify ways to prevent fu ture damage such as we have seen on the North Coast. This bill does not allow dredging. It was close, but the desig nation of swans as predators was derailed by having it sent back to committee where, it is assumed, it will die. The bill al lowing the killing of wolf-hy brids as predators did pass out of the House and moved to the Senate. HJR 16 allowing 18 year olds to serve in the legislature passed out and over to the Senate. Although I voted against it because I believe life experience of a few more years would provide a better background for a legislator, I was not dismayed that it passed. This is one of those is sues about which I could com fortably argue either side. I did vote against the Em ployees Retirement System Budget because it cut five counselor positions. It seems to me that all of us need as much help as possible to make decisions regarding retirement and the money earned through various manners. It passed out anyway and I just hope people can still access appropriate as sistance when facing some of these decisions. Please keep in touch. Rep. Elaine Hopson 900 Court Street NE H376 Salem, OR 97301 Phone; 503)-986-1402 email: ehopson.rep@state.or.us B y Nancy Burch, Librarian Vernonia Public Library Plans are being finalized for an exciting sum mer of reading at the Vernonia Public Library, re volving around the theme of “Read a Wild Tale.” Activities including stories, crafts, games and presentations will take place on Thursdays, be ginning in late June and ending with an entry in the Jamboree parade in early August. Reading will be stressed with prizes awarded for hourly reading. Pre-registration is encouraged and adult volunteers are always welcomed. Join us this summer for fun with the “wild west.” The goal of having 10,000 items electronical ly accessible to library patrons is fast approach ing. Since June, 9752 copies have been entered by the use of over 350 volunteer hours. If these volunteers had been paid minimum wage the cost would have been $2,275.00 and if these items had been sent to a company for retro spective conversion, the cost would have been $4,485.92. These volunteers certainly deserve credit and we are going to celebrate when the 10,000th item has been entered. New acquisitions include Jane Kirkpatrick’s, All Together in One Place and No Eye Can See. Based on an incident recorded by Ezra Meeker, of having met eleven wagons, returning on the Oregon Trail, with not a man left in the entire train, Kirkpatrick explores the possible fates of the twelve surviving women. By interweaving stories of love tried, challenges met and faith tested, with historical facts, Kirpatrick’s charac ters are brought to light with clarity, and a feeling of reality exists in the events which challenge them. The third and final installment in this se ries is due to be released in the Fall of 2001. The Courage Tree, by Diane Chamberlain, combines many ingredients for a fantastic read—a lost sick child, distraught family, ex-hus band and his new girlfriend, a hidden shack in the woods with another mother and daughter who are hiding out for their own reasons, and a mother who is determined against all odds to find her missing child. Chamberlain has the abil- ity to create tense drama and then to reveal se crets a little at a time—just enough to keep the reader satisfied while turning the pages at a frantic pace. I recommend this novel for anyone looking for a fast-paced, enjoyable read this summer. My other current recommendation is The Per sian Pickle Club by Sandra Dallas. This is not a new release, as it was published in 1996, but it was brought to my attention by a library patron. The Persian Pickle Club is made up of a group of women who meet weekly to “improve their minds” while quilting and gossiping. The setting is Harveyville, Kansas, in the 1930s, when a drought has stretched on for years and farmers are losing their farms and unemployed families drift in and out of town. The “Pickles” have be come true friends during their quilting sessions and have formed an informal support group to help each other during both good and bad times. Other than depression related problems, life seems pretty good until the newest member starts to unearth a dark secret. Thank you to the patron who made this recommendation. I loved the book and others are saying the same thing after reading it. Other new acquisitions include On the Street Where You Live by Mary Higgins Clark, Silent Joe by T. Jefferson Parker, and Dream of Wolves by Michael White. A demonstration of pen and ink wash will be presented by Tony Hyde at the Society of Arts and Crafts on Thursday, May 17, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. in the library’s Thiele-Petti meeting room. The next meeting of the Friends of the Library will be June 12, at 1:00 p.m. in the library. Mem bers and potential members are invited to at tend. Cartoon appeared to Blessed to know a special friend be blatant racism To the Editor: I was sadly disheartened by your last issue after seeing the cartoon in that issue. I searched all over page 2 and 3 for anything this cartoon could apply to other than blatant racism. I was at a loss. I would hope that this cartoonist does not feel that we all feel this way. I do not. If this cartoon was meant differently than that, I would think you would look closer at the implications. Chad Sulloway Vernonia Ed. note: Please see Robb Wil so n ’s column on page two. Thank you for expressing concern; it is appreciated. Citizens’ generosity will feed the needy To the Editor: I would like to express my appreciation to the many Postal patrons on the city route who contributed food to this year’s Letter Carrier Food Dri ve. Thanks to your generosity, nearly 1000 pounds of food was collected. It was taken to Vernonia Cares and, from there, it will be distributed to members of our community who are in need. Peter O’Leary Postal Carrier Vernonia To the Editor: New friends, even for a short time, know right from the start, that both of them have a special person to rely on, to tell their problems to, to laugh with and even a shoulder to lean and cry on. Even though Mrs. Florence Hines was much older than I, we knew from the start that a true friendship had begun. The first time I met Mrs. Hines, several months ago, we hit it right off. [We] knew that we had someone to talk to for a little bit, to share our lives with. One of the things she liked was that her son was named Den nis, and mine was too. We both had a few things in common. Even though I had never met him, I was just as close to him as his own mother was, and very proud of him. It seemed like she adopted me into the family and I was very proud to be called the other Dennis. I could only see her on Mon days, Wednesdays and Fri days, and when I came over, I couldn’t hardly wait to get there for our short, but special, talks. Oh, I forgot to say I deliver the meals on wheels from the Ver nonia Senior Center. And, let me tell you, if there were things that were too hard for her frail body and stomach, I would put everyone on hold to see if I could fix her something to eat that would be easier on her stomach. This frail, but strong-willed woman was the best thing to happen to me ever since I lost my father, grandpa, grandma and two aunts back in Ken tucky in the mid 90s. I cherished every moment I got to spend with her, if only for a few months, she changed my life forever. I just pray that I will be able to see her when my time comes to move on into that promised land. And to Dennis and his daughter, and Donna, who I have met, meeting their mother was the happiest time of my life. God bless you all and I know she is very proud of every one of you all. I hope I can be half the person she was the rest of my life. Mr. & Mrs. Dennis Carter Vernonia — NOTICE — The INDEPENDENT is published on the first and third Wednesdays of each month. There are five Wednesdays in May, so there will be three weeks between this issue and the first issue in June. Deadlines for the issue of June 6, 2001, will be June 1 for both news items and dis play advertising, and June 4 for classified ads.
