47J Budget gets Committee approval; hearing set
The Vernonia School District
Budget Committee last Thurs
day approved a proposed bud
get for 2001 -02 that adds a half
time teacher at the first grade
level, a half-time teacher at the
sixth grade level, and a certi
fied half-time media specialist
at the high school.
The position of curriculum
specialist will be increased
from half to full time, with addi
tional responsibilty for grant
writing.
Classified staff will also in
crease slightly with full time
Special Ed classroom aide and
a half-time person in the cafe
teria. People are already em
ployed for these last positions
even though they were not in
the 2000-2001 budget.
Also included in next year’s
budget is an increase of ap
proximately $20,000 in the high
school athletic budget. It is not
anticipated that the whole
amount will be used but, be
cause of changes in how extra
duty compensation will be han
dled, it was deemed wise to in
clude every extra duty position
that has ever existed in the dis
trict.
The next fiscal year will also
bring relief to teachers who bought
supplies - again and again - for
their classrooms. There will be
about $20,000 more for supplies in
the coming year.
The total budget for the dis
trict, including general fund
‘‘Voice of the Upper Nehalem River Valley”
Voi. 16, No 12
The pioneer Burn Road Cemetery is a two-acre island in a sea of a replanted commer
cial clear c
u
t . _______________
Dity adopts budget with little flexibility
The total budget - general
fund and all special funds - is
$2,676,691. Of this amount,
the general fund, which is basi
cally the only fund available for
discretionary expenditures, is
$729,916.
The General Fund is allocat
ed as follows:
General Operations $75,285
Buildings & Grounds 30,280
Police Dep’t.
348,218
Library
57,117
Administration
143,634
Non-Departmental
75,382
Sewer rate increase
Vernonia City Council, Mon
day night, adopted an in
crease of $6.00 on all City of
Vernonia sewer bills, effective
July 1, 2001.
Goal is healthy
watershed
........... pg- 5
Leather-clad
angels.......pg. 7
School news
pgs. 8,10,11,16
Banks water user
fee approved
....... pg. 10
June 20, 2001
Burn Road Cemetery
logging controversy
Lonely guardians...
A very tight budget adopted
y the Vernonia City Council
saves all employee positions
ntouched except one. The po-
ition of clerk in the Vernonia
olice Department will be re-
uced to half time for the 2001 -
2 fiscal year, but, in an effort
> make the loss of time less
ainful, there will be no loss of
enefits.
The budget includes in-
reased costs of health insur-
nce for all employees, but a
ost of living increase of 3.4
ercent is included only for
on-union employees. Con-
act negotiations are still un-
erway with two unions and,
ntil they are poncluded, union
mployees’ compensation will
smain unchanged.
monies and special funds is
about $5,870,000.
The budget hearing will be
June 28 at 7:00 p.m. in the dis
trict office. That is the time for
anyone interested to present
questions. A copy of the budget
may be obtained at the district
office between 8:00 a.m. and
4:00 p.m.
Following the budget hear
ing, the Board of Directors will
convene a special board meet
ing to adopt the budget.
INSIDE:
Special (non-discretionary)
funds in the budget include
Streets, Parks, Water, Public
Works, Stormwater, Sewer,
Cemetery, Airport, Community
Development, Housing Reha-
bilation (This is actually a re
volving loan fund that is admin
istered through Community Ac
tion Team, Inc. When a job is
done and a loan is repaid, it be
comes available for use again.)
and equipment reserve funds.
Vernonia Town Hall
Energy and Water
Conservation
Monday, June 25
7:00 pm, City Hall
“Deep in the woods lies a
tiny cemetery with remains
of 58 souls.”
This quotation is the first
sentence of “A Day to Remem
ber” written by Faith Reynolds
for Memorial Day, 1998.
Mrs. Reynolds’ essay gives
a brief history of a small group
of pioneers who settled near
the community now known as
Mist, and reminds the 65 de
scendents who gathered to vis
it the cemetery that day of the
values held by their ancestors.
The United Brethren in
Christ Cemetery, the original
name, has long been known as
the Burn Road Cemetery. It
was established in 1889. In
1984, the cemetery was trans
ferred to the Vernonia Evangel
ical Church, now called Ver
nonia Community Church.
Over the years, commercial
timber companies bought the
land surrounding the cemetery
and it has been clear cut in the
last two or three years.
An application for a permit
to clear cut the two acre ceme
tery was filed May 15 by Steve
Weller, on behalf of the Ver
nonia Community Church, but
the descendents of those 58
souls, led locally by Lee En-
neberg, are strenuously object
ing to the proposal.
Weller said he had been
hunting in the area and noticed
the treed area in the middle of
the clear cut. When he inquired
about it, he said, he was sur
prised to find out that it be
longed to the church where he
is an active member.
Of the four members who
signed the papers at the time
of transfer, two (Carl Holsey
and Ben Westbrook) are still
active in the church, but Weller
thinks the transaction was sim
ply forgotten over the years.
A meeting May 30 brought
representatives of the descen
dents and the church together
with Mirra Meyer of the state
Pioneer Cemetery Commis
sion, Jay Worley of Oregon
Department of Forestry, Dou
glas Trotter of Oregon State
Parks and Verne Ferguson of
the Mist-Birkenfeld Historical
Society. Pastor Grant Williams
and Gordon Bronleewe repre
sented the church. There were
seven descendents, including
Reynolds and Enneberg.
“They built a church and
a school in the midst of this
untamed land. They dedi
cated this tiny 2-1/2 acre
plot for their cemetery... ”
No consensus was reached
at the meeting; ODF has no ju
risdiction over cemeteries; the
Cemetery Commission has no
jurisdiction; state parks has no
jurisdiction; descendents do
not own the property; the
church says it wants to log and
restore the cemetery.
The church has not devel
oped a plan, Weller empha
sized, and wants to work to
gether with the descendents to
restore and fence the ceme
tery. He feels that there will be
heavy loss of trees from blow
down because Longview Fibre
has clear cut its timber all
around the cemetery.
Reynolds and Enneberg
fear that heavy equipment will
further obliterate graves that
have lost their markers. In
many cases, an oblong de
pression in the ground is the
only sign of a grave. They do
not want the tree canopy re
moved because that would de
stroy the deeply peaceful at
mosphere in the cemetery.
The church isn’t likely to log,
according to Weller, if an
agreement can’t be reached.
The descendent group has
suggested the cemetery be
transferred to the Mist-Birken-
Please see page 14