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.