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About The independent. (Vernonia, Or.) 1986-current | View Entire Issue (June 20, 2001)
The INDEPENDENT, June 20, 2001 Salem Report Between the Bookends By Nancy Burch, Librarian Vernonia Public Library The Vernonia library’s Summer Reading Pro gram is all set to “kick-off” with a “rootin’ tootin’ non-shootin’ western” with puppeteer Celeste Rose pulling the strings of a dozen charming marionettes. This presentation will take place Thursday, June 21st at 1:00 p.m. and will be made possible by the Oregon Library Associa tion and the Children’s Services Division, who have teamed with Metropolitan Group to secure funding for another year of statewide Summer Reading materials and program grants. Spon sors this year include the Craig Berkman Fami ly, Ford Family Foundation, Meyer Memorial Trust, Oregon Public Broadcasting, and Wells Fargo Foundation. Other presentations will be as follows: June 28 1 p.m. Crafts and stories July 5 1 p.m. Leather stamping & stories July 12 1 p.m. Native American games and stories July 19 1 p.m. Pioneer Crafts and stories 7 p.m. Cook-out and songs at Anderson Park July 26 1 p.m. Bicycle rodeo and stories 7 p.m. Native American presenta tion by Bill White Eagle Wilson Aug. 2 1 p.m. Crafts and stories preparing for “float” Jamboree parade Aug. 4 TBA Adults as well as youngsters are invited to participate and are especially encouraged to at tend the special presentations. Several community volunteers will be helping with crafts, stories, etc. and prizes for reading have been obtained from MacDonald’s, Dairy Queen, and Lee’s U-Catch. The remainder of the funding will be provided by the City of Ver nonia and by a donation from the local Lions’ Club. Join the fun, encourage your youngsters to read this summer, and be sure to thank the sponsors and volunteers. Hooray! Hooray! The eagerly anticipated goal of having 10,000 library items entered and com puter searchable was reached this past month. Although the process will be ongoing, we have met this important library goal that was set for this year. This was all accomplished in less than a year, mostly by volunteers, and at a savings of nearly $5,000 if these items had been sent to a company to be electronically converted, as most- libraries have done. Joann Glass, ably represented the library and the Friends of the Library at the recent Vernonia Community Business and Organization Expo. She distributed Summer Reading flyers as well as information concerning membership in the Friends organization and their upcoming book ■I I »■■■ .... - .I.. I I ■ ■ sale. This book sale will be held in the old city hall building on Saturday, August 4th (Jam boree) from 10-5. Donations are being accepted at the library. In conjunction with the sale, a raf fle will be held for new books and gift certificates for books. The next meeting of the Friends of the Library will be Tuesday, July 10th in the library. Anyone wishing to promote and support the li brary is encouraged to attend. New acquisitions include The Last Time They Met by Anita Shreve, The Skies of Pern by Anne McCaffrey, Death in Holy Orders by P.D. James, P is for Peril by Sue Grafton, and Chosen Prey by John Sandford. Also new, and my recom mendation for this month is Alice’s Tulips by Sandra Dallas. Dallas’s other novels are The Persian Pickle Club, The Diary of Mattie Spenser, and Buster Midnight's Cafe. Each is set in a different location and era and each is ab solutely delightful. Those of us who knew her well, met her briefly, or just knew of her background and gen erosity to the library were saddened this past month to hear of the death of Margaret Mac Donald Thiele Petti. It was through her generous donation that the library was able to add some money to the new library building project and, most especially, to have such wonderful furnish ings in the library. The server for the automated library system, the Athena program, two com puters, a printer, library tables, chairs, book shelves, and window coverings were all made possible by Mrs. Petti and her foundation, which is administered by James McFarland. I still can not get over my surprise, when, after writing a letter to the foundation stating our needs, I re ceived a phone call from Mr. McFarland saying that $50,000 would be given to the library. That has to be right up there with the most exciting phone call that an ordinary person would ever receive. It certainly was for me. Although Mr. Mc Farland and his family came on her behalf, Mrs. Petti was never able to visit the new library. Since newspaper articles and letters expressing our gratitude and pictures of various stages of the building process and the completed project were sent to her, we know she was aware of the importance of her gift and of its impact on the community. The entryway in the library displays a picture of Mrs. Petti, tells a little about her life, and contains a plaque designating the meeting room as the “Margaret MacDonald Thiele Petti Meeting Room.” Vernonia Library 701 Weed Avenue Hours: Mon., Wed., Fri. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tues., Thur. 2 p.m.-7 p.m, bat. iu a.m.-2 p.m. Preschool Story Time, Mondays, 10:30 a.m. Phone: (503)429-1818 ......................... — Letters to tbe Editor Fair concerts would be brief disruption To the Editor: I would like to go on record in support of the use of the Fairgrounds for concerts to support our Columbia County Fair activities. I have a per spective I haven’t yet heard in the debate over the concerts. As a St. Helens downtown resident and businessman, I am regularly surrounded by ac tivity during the Fourth of July Fireworks, the three-day River- test and the annual visit from the Christmas Ships. In all in stances, there is brief gridlock, sometimes live music, a beer garden, dancing, parades, out- of-towners and loud noise. The local police and Sheriff’s De partment have the experience to handle the traffic and crowds. When we have had problems, thèÿ have been mi nor and have been resolved ef Page 3 ficiently. It is a brief inconve nience, but inconsequential compared to the benefits from keeping some cash at home and providing local entertain ment. When the people opposing the concerts at the Fairgrounds say, “How’d you like to have something like this in your backyard?” I hope they remem ber whose backyard they are in when they enjoy the fireworks or Riverfest. If the downtown residents and business owners throughout Columbia County adopted the same narrow and pessimistic attitude as the new ly formed “Friends of Good Planning,” we would have none of our community events...no Scappoose Sauerkraut Festi val, Clatskanie Heritage Days, Vernonia Friendship Jamboree or Rainier Day in the Park. I feel strongly that when you live in a community, you need to contribute to that community and that contribution can in clude tolerance in favor of the greater benefit. I also want to add that I sup port Evelyn Hudson’s judge ment and her ability to manage a large festival. An example is the work she did on the Sauer kraut Festival that has been such a positive event for the Scappoose community. Adding more activities to the Fair grounds events is good busi ness and supports a great county-wide activity, the Fair. Paul Pulliam St. Helens Let kids play noisily, it’s their own home To the Editor: This letter is not in response to the last issue of the paper that covered the council meet ing. I had intended for it to be in that issue, but they did not have enough space. While this letter was delayed because of From page 2 -cessitate long, expensive, le gal battles over an issue about which the courts have already decided. There is a bill being brought forward to extend the voting deadline to include ballots that are postmarked by midnight on Election Day. I have worked against this concept in that it discriminates against rural ar eas that don’t have post offices with staff on those nights to even post mark mail. This seems to be a solution to a problem that isn’t a problem. Hopefully, it will be sent back to committee for a deserving burial. It appears we will be work ing straight through until we are finished. This means that issues will be run through the system or dropped from sight. If there are issues you are par ticularly concerned about, now is the time to be heard as the end is in sight. Rep. Elaine Hopson 900 Court Street NE H376 Salem, OR 97301 Phone: 503)-986-1402 email: ehopson.rep @ state.or.us Letters to tbe Editor Visitors impressed rade. The parade will begin with neat, ’ clean town Hall f°ri?in g ,at7-»°p»m' and will get underway at To the Editor: My husband and I visited our son and daughter in law in Vernonia last month and were so impressed with the cleanli ness and neatness of your town and around the lake, that we felt compelled to write to your newspaper, which we also enjoyed. And, of course, we were proud to see the Black- smithing work of our son on the flower holders on the bridge. While there, we attended the Community Church and were made so welcome by Pastor Williams and the con gregation. Also, the stores of Vernonia were so friendly and nice. You should be proud of your town. We will be back! Patty and Rhea Sizemore Mohawk, Tennessee Plans continue for annual July 4 parade To the Editor: We are hoping that Uncle Sam will lead our 4th of July parade down Bridge Street to Washington grade school. Come out and join us in the pa- lack of space, the family has since received a citizen citation from the owner of the Inn for the daughter starting a 4-stroke bike on a Sunday morning at 10:00 a.m. When reading the following article, I now feel it is of utmost importance that you take this into consideration and think of how you would feel if it were you in the same situation as this family. Two years ago, I decided to come from working in Scap poose, to working in Vernonia, since it was such a nice town and so close to home. After coming to work here, I found that this was a very warm and giving town, people work to gether here to help each other out. There was one particular individual that was very helpful to me, found me a car, intro duced me to a lot of people, generally made me feel at home. From what I have seen in this town, the same individ ual is employed by one of the most well known businesses in town, is one of the most knowl- edgable, well known, well liked 7:30 p.m. We will disband at the school and wait for the fire works at dusk. The Booster Club and the Cub Scouts will be selling hot dogs, hamburg ers, pop, snow cones, popcorn and cotton candy. Glow sticks will also be for sale at the Booster Club stand. Please join us for an evening of fun. Lew’s Place will be holding a Spaghetti Dinner, including salad, bread and dessert Tues day, June 26, with all proceeds going to the fireworks fund. Look for the ad about the din ner elsewhere in this newspa per. Hope to see you there. Donations are being accept ed to help pay for the fireworks. Look for the jars in downtown businesses or send to Vernon ia Pride c/o Enid Parrow, 842 2nd Avenue, Vernonia. We will also be collecting donations at the fireworks on the 4th of July. One last note: Please leave your own fireworks at home. They are not allowed at the school grounds that night. With all the people gathered there, someone could get hurt. Let’s make this a safe 4th of July. Thanks. Enid Parrow Vernonia Pride Member people there are. Everyone calls on him for help from mow ers, cars, bikes, tractors, etc., and he would give the shirt off his back to anyone, if it was needed. In that time, I have also become very close^o his children. They are very good kids; stay out of trouble, don’t hang out in town, etc. Over a year and a half ago, he bought a little place on Madison Av enue. When you buy a home, you assume, as I would, that your children are allowed to use your property after a decent hour in the morning and till it is dark at night. This does not seem to be true, in this case, though. There is an Inn that is next door to their home that seems to have a problem with his children using their land to ride bikes, play, etc. I cannot understand, for the life of me, why a business such as an Inn would be in city limits, with no land purchased around them to ensure privacy and silence; expecting neighbors to have no Please see page 12
