Columbia County Fair open for family entertainment
The 86th Annual Columbia
County Fair and Rodeo in now
underway at the Columbia
County Fairgrounds in St. He
lens. “The Best Little Fair in the
West" will feature activities and
entertainment including the
perennial
favorite
NPRA
Rodeo on Friday and Saturday
nights, the 4-H livestock auc
tion Saturday afternoon, log
ging show on Sunday morning,
and tractor pull (even a farm
tractor pull) on Sunday after
noon.
the fairground’s 1924 Case
Threshing Machine in opera
tion.
Yes, the carnival is going full
bore and there are vendors
with more types of foods than
even a hungry teenager can
handle in a single day, as well
as concessions of all kinds.
The fair opened July 18 and
will run through Sunday, July
22. If you’re cost conscious,
you can save $1.00 off the
price of admission on Sunday,
by donating a can of food to the
A petting zoo that is certain
to capture the fancy of all chil
dren is open daily, and a Stilt
Walker entertains throughout
the fair grounds. There are tal
ent shows, jugglers, bands,
singers, square dancers and
much more, including a Pee
Wee Rodeo on Thursday.
Both 4-H and Open Compe
titions will be underway in
cooking, art, photography, hor
ticulture, sewing and more. You
can wander through the open
livestock barns and even watch
county-wide Columbia Pacific
Food Bank. Then you could
spend that $1.00 on a ticket for
the Hog Raffle; that way, you
may win half a hog and the
money will also go to the food
bank.
For a complete list of
events, pick up Fair Events and
Fair Premiums brochures, at
The INDEPENDENT, Vernonia
City Hall and other locations.
Be sure to add this great family
event to your list of things to do
for this summer.
INSIDE:
Letters, lots of
Letters..........
p g .3 &13
Landscape to
help prevent
fires......... pg. 8
Quail Valley seeks
annexation to
Banks...... pg. 9
PRESORTED STANDARD
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V e rn o n ia , O R 9 7 0 6 4
P e rm it N o. 37
Attn I £>c*lip t ^rertn
UO Ubictry-OMP
FREE
i
Vol. 16, No 14
“ Voice o f the Upper Nehalem River Valley”
Lights out to save
energy and money
The Mist Store destroyed by fire.
Only rubble remained of The Mist Store after it was destroyed by fire July 6. Built in
1888, the store continued in operation from horse and buggy days to the era of space
exploration. For more information and old photos of the store, please see page 7.
Madison Avenue paving getting started
Rose Avenue was repaved;
Adams Avenue was repaved,
Weed Avenue was repaved
and Jefferson Avenue was
repaved.
Next up...Madison Avenue.
Special street improvement
grants that help small cities
have been used successfully in
Vernonia for many years. They
aren’t enough to do much at
any one time, but they help.
Madison was approved as
the next project and work will
soon start, then be suspended
for Jamboree, and finish up in
Hobart resigns before he’s even
sworn in as school board member
Instead of swearing in re
cently elected board member
Rick Hobart, the Vernonia
School District Board of Direc
tors accepted his resignation at
their July 12 meeting. A job
change made attendance diffi
cult, according to Hobart’s let
ter of resignation. Prior to
changing jobs, he attended
only one meeting.
Anyone interested in apply
ing for the vacant board posi
tion may obtain an application
from the school district office.
Applications will be accepted
until 12:00 noon on August
third. The board will conduct in
terviews and appoint a new
member at their August 9
meeting.
Please see page 5
July 18, 2001
August.
Also on the schedule is seal
coating for several streets and
paths, including the linear trail
extension and the path around
Vernonia Lake. Exact dates are
not yet set, but they will disrupt
the regular use of the trails for
a few days in August.
Dedication date for
Anderson Park work
Dedication of the newly im
proved facilities at Anderson
Park is set for Friday, Aug. 3 at
1:30 p.m.
The ribbon cutting ceremony
will celebrate the completion of
both new and improved facili
ties for visitors and residents
who use this popular park. See
photos of some of the improve
ments on page 4.
After a presentation by Ver
nonia Director of Public Works
Robyn Bassett, and lengthy
discussion by councilors, staff
and audience, the Vernonia
City Council approved a pre
liminary energy conservation
plan at their regular meeting
July 16.
The plan is not written in
stone, the council and Bassett
assured people at the meeting,
when some reservations were
expressed about turning off
street lights, and there will be
no hesitation about making
changes as needed.
Chief of Police Jim Walters
said his department will also
keep Bassett informed if it ap
pears that some areas need
more light.
The city currently has 183
street lights and 104 of them
are on the schedule to be shut
off, leaving 79 lights on. Ap
proximately every other light
will be turned off in the down
town area, in addition to a re
duction in lighting around the
city hall and library.
A complete list of lights
scheduled to be turned off is
published on page 2 of The IN
DEPENDENT. In residential
areas, most of those included
on the list are there at the re
quest of residents, Bassett told
the council.
The council approved two
limited exemptions to city ordi
nances, allowing temporary
residence in travel trailers.
Desmond Hines, who is living
in a travel trailer in the yard of
a private residence on A Street,
petitioned for permission to
stay there while he pays off
debts, including court fees, and
gets his driver’s license back.
Hines request was support
ed by many A Street residents
who signed an endorsement of
his request, and by one, Betty
Holsey, who spoke to the coun
cil on his behalf. Chief Walters
also approved the request,
provided the police department
retains oversight.
The second request, from
James Nichols of Sandy, Utah,
was for permission to occa
sionally use his self-contained
recreational vehicle on proper
ty he wants to buy. The proper
ty is along the Nehalem River
and lacks sufficient riparian
setback to construct a perma
nent building.
The council was reluctant to
set such a precedent, but
agreed to try it for six months,
with a 10 day limit for each 30
day period.
In other business, the coun
cil:
• Appointed Michael Dickey
to the city planning commis
sion.
• Set Aug. 6 for a public
hearing on the Five-Year Street
Rehabilitation Plan.
• Set an Aug. 20 workshop
on Spencer Park improve
ments.
• Accepted a bid of $2,800
for surplus property from Ro
bert Kaufman. The only other
bid for the property adjoining
893 E. Bridge St. was for
$511.11.
• Approved a resolution
amending the Parks Master
Capital Plan in order to apply
for grant funds that could be
used to improve Airport Park. If
the grant application is suc
cessful, improvements may in
clude fire pits, parking spots
and picnic tables at designated
sites; ADA accessible camp
sites; installing an ADA acces
sible vault-type restroom; de
veloping a hand-pump operat
ed potable well; clearing brush
and thinning trees to develop
additional camp sites and es
tablishing a formal caretaker
arrangement to allow collection
of user fees.