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About The independent. (Vernonia, Or.) 1986-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 6, 2002)
Vol. 17, No. Voice of the Upper Nehalem River Valley” Hearings scheduled on streets, design Winter decor... January snows graced Vernonia’s Shay locomotive and the surrounding area with the brilliance of wintery decorations. Columbia County Teen Court starts up Columbia County Teen Court, a program that provides youth with an opportunity to learn about the judicial system and how courts operate by be ing involved in the process, is now operating in Vernonia, Clatskanie, Rainier and Scap poose. Teen Court is a diversion program that works in partner ship with the Columbia County Juvenile Department. Youth of fenders, ages 12 to 17, who have received first time misde meanor offenses can be divert ed to Teen Court, plead guilty and go before a jury of their peers to receive sentencing. Youth volunteers may serve as attornies, jurors, clerks and bailiffs under the supervision of a judge. All offenders entering Teen February 6, 2002 Court have given up several of their rights as U.S. citizens. These include the right to trial, and the right to refrain from self-incrimination (They must plead guilty to qualify for Teen Court.). Teen Court will prosecute only certain misdemeanors, in cluding Minor in Possession of Tobacco or Alcohol or Less than One Ounce of Marijuana, Offensive Littering, Criminal Trespass II, Theft, Criminal Mischief, Harassment and Recklessly Endangering Anoth er Person. The sentence decided by a Teen Court jury will maintain the same level of significance as that of any state juvenile court. Failure to complete the Teen Court sentence, or anoth er infraction during completion of the sentence, will result in an automatic referral to the Juve nile Department. In Vernonia, about twenty youth volunteers have con tributed their time to help make the Vernonia Teen Court suc cessful. Courts will begin on a monthly basis as referrals are received. Vernonia Justice Court Judge Rod McLean is volun teering his time to serve as Teen Court judge. Vernonia City Attorney Julie Coontz and Vernonia High School Vice principal Jane McClellan as sisted in getting the program started. For more information, call the Teen Court Coordinator, Amanda Nees, at 503-369- 2173. Plans by the City of Vernon ia to extend Maple Street from Weed Avenue to Rose Avenue, were shot down by the Oregon Department of Transportation. ODOT would not allow the en trance onto that portion of Hwy 47 (Rose Avenue) because Maple Street would have to jog, it couldn’t go in a straight line across Rose Avenue. Now, it’s back to the drawing board, with a hearing set for March 18 before the city coun cil to take testimony on alterna tive approaches. The city will look at extending either Cougar or Umatilla from Weed Avenue to Rose Avenue although both of these approaches have drawbacks. The right-of-way that the city had obtained for the Maple Street extension will be vacat ed so Wilcox and Flegel can maintain access to their card- lock and bulk plant. In return, Wilcox and Flegel will grant a public access easement to the City. Design guidelines will be the subject of two public hearings. The first will be on February 21 before the Planning Commis sion and and the second on March 4 before the council. De sign, in this context, refers to what appearance will be ac ceptable in the downtown com mercial core. The guidelines Projects wanted for annual clean-up day The annual Vernonia Clean up day will be April 20. Anyone with suggestions about specific projects for that day is urged to take their ideas to City Hall as soon as possible. Vernonia Pride works with the City of Vernonia and SOLV to select clean-up or beautifica tion projects, so time is re quired to coordinate all the de tails. could eventually affect exterior appearance, signage, colors and more, in order to maintain a pleasing, cohesive appear ance. No decisions have been made, but a committee will be appointed to make recommen dations. In other business during January, the Council reappoint ed the following: Rick Gwin and Matt Chesley to the Airport Committee; Matt Chesley, Jerry Keenon, Darlene McLeod and DeLoris Webb to the Parks Committee; Steve Weller, Ed Buckner and Councilor Randy Parrow to the Transportation Committee; Don Wallace to the Planning Commission. Change of meeting date The next meeting of the Ver nonia City Council will be Tues day, February 19. The regularly scheduled meeting will not be held on Feb. 18 because it is President’s Day, a legal holi day. Marketing study will be topic at Chamber meet A representative of the Oregon Downtown Develop ment Association will discuss the recently completed Ver nonia Marketing & Business Analysis, at the next meeting of the Vernonia Area Cham ber of Commerce. The no host lunch meeting will be held in the banquet room at Lew’s Place, at noon on Wednesday, February 13. The meeting is open to anyone interested in the fu ture of Vernonia’s commer cial district. It is particularly important to downtown busi nesses and property owners, who are urged to at tend.
