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use cell phones or submit ex
pense reimbursements as
much as they currently are (ex
ample: Commissioner Hyde’s
one monthly cell phone bill was
$270, between October 22 and
November 16, 2001, he trav
eled 1,596 miles and submitted
an expense reimbursement
claim
for
an
additional
$566.73!). During this modern
age of technology (with com
puters, fax machines and inter
net), why do commissioners
feel they need to travel in the
first place?
2) Fiscal responsibility starts
at home. The Board should al
ways start making cuts in their
own budget first! Why are tax
payers paying for commission
ers coffee and bottled water
and other departments and/or
employees have to pay for their
own? Where are the “standards
and ethics” in this? Another
very important question...Why
do we have a Budget Officer
(Commissioner Tony Hyde, an
nual salary of $58,500 plus
benefits almost equal to his
salary), and a Finance and Tax
ation Director (Ruth Baker, an
nual salary of $62,000 plus
benefits, again almost equal to
By Nancy Burch, Librarian
Vernonia Public Library
Last year’s decision to feature special sea-
sonal/topic/author materials on a very visible dis
play table has been a big success. Because
these eye-catching displays attract the attention
of library patrons as they enter the door, the fea
tured materials have a high turnover rate and
that is exactly the result that was anticipated.
The Valentine’s Day display has just been re
placed with one featuring “Spring Green.” Mate
rials on this table will change, as some are
checked out and others are added, but the dis
play presently includes the following: To Marry
an Irish Hogue, The Spring Cleaning Murders,
Night Gardening, The Garden in Bloom, and
Mulch Ado About Nothing. If it sounds as if the
staff has fun with this display, it is so true.
Other displays include those entitled Patron
Picks and Staff Selections. In the near future, an
attempt is going to be made to personalize some
of the library’s materials with comments from lo
cal readers. This is a project that has been ac
complished in some bookstores where it has
caused much positive feedback.
The Friends of the Library and The Vernonia
Study Club have each selected some materials
to add to the library’s collection in memory of
Mercedes Proehl. Each of these was selected
with Mercedes' personality and interests taken
into consideration. They include Dakota Incar
nate, The Homesteader, Pinochle is the Name of
the Game, What’s Wrong with Timmy?, Home
stead, A Cup of Comfort, and 100 Flowers and
How They Got Their Names.
One of the library board members, Judy
Thiringer, has begun a tradition of purchasing
several of her favorite books of each year to do
nate to the library in memory of her family.
These special books may be found in The Con
nolly Collection.
Marianne Lane has presented a subscription
to The Reader's Digest to the library and the
Sturdevants have recently subscribed to Ameri
can Heritage magazine for the library. Gina
Faber also recently gave the library a very gen
erous donation of audiocassettes and the Pastor
family just presented a nice selection of video
tapes.
New acquisitions include Fall on Your Knees
(Oprah’s latest recommendation), Elizabeth...
The Life of Elizabeth Taylor, John Grisham’s The
her salary), and then hire an
outside consultant (again), to
prepare the budget for approxi
mately $70,000!!!! What, exact
ly, does Ms. Baker do?
3) When multiple persons
are attending the same meet
ing, they should car pool or rent
a bus to take everyone. At the
recent AOC conference in east
ern Oregon, each employee at
tending submitted a separate
bill to the county for mileage
and other expenses, costing us
several thousand dollars. By
the way, Commissioner Cor-
siglia stayed home, citing he
didn’t want to waste the taxpay-
Summons, Tim Green’s The Fourth Perimeter,
Tom Clancy’s Shadow Warriors, Barbara Taylor
Bradford’s Three Weeks in Paris, Susan Vree-
land’s The Passion of Artemisia, and Nancy Tay
lor Rosenberg’s Conflict of Interest. The pictorial
account by Life, entitled One Nation...America
Remembers September 11, 2001, is also new,
but is a non-circulating item.
My personal recommendations for this month
are An Affair of Honor by Richard Marius and
Kris Nelscott’s two Smokey Dalton mysteries en
titled A Dangerous Road and Smoke Filled
Rooms. Marius’s novel is about World War II,
Tennessee mountain life, adultery and murder. I
loved this book—every 591 pages of it. Kris
Nelscott is an author who lives on the Oregon
Coast, but her protagonist is a private investiga
tor whose home is Memphis, Tennessee. I have
not been able to find any other information on
Nelscott, but am very interested in knowing her
background and whar has enabled her to depict
characters and circumstances so far removed
from the vicinity in which she resides. These
mysteries are filled with suspense and fictional
suspicions about the circumstances of the as
sassination of Martin Luther King.
The library has much to offer. Be sure to look
around on your next visit for special displays, au
diocassettes, videos, magazines, new books
and, of course—tax forms.
It seems appropriate to close with some quo
tations from another of the books, Irish Folk Wis
dom, from the special display table,
‘‘Wisdom is what makes a poor man a king, a
weak person powerful, a good generation of a
bad one, and a foolish man reasonable”.
“Three things that are not to be trusted—a
fine day in winter, the life of an aged person, and
the word of a man of importance unless it is in
writing."
“Humor is like a feather pillow—it is filled with
what is easy to get, but gives great comfort."
Don’t forget the Friends of the Library will be
meeting Tuesday, March 5 at 7 p.m. in the li
brary, and that membership dues for the year
2002 are now being accepted.
V ern onia L ib ra ry 701 Weed Avenue
H o u rs: Mon., Wed., Fri. 10 a.m.-5 p.m.
Tues., Thur. 2 p.m.-7 p.m.
Sat. 10a.m.-2p4n
Preschool Story Time, Mondays, 10:30 a.m.
P hone: (503)429-1818
ers’ money.
4) Why would the county
hire a facilitator for department
head meetings while we are ex
periencing “shortfalls”?
5) Research potential new
businesses before bringing
them into the county, offering
them exorbitant incentives (50
percent discount off of their
building permits, the millions of
dollars put into the road sys
tem, and a significant cost sav-
ipgs on the purchase of the
property - given to them for
what we bought it for), and al
lowing the business to pay
cheap wages and no benefits.
(Example: the US Gypsum
plant in Rainier that has filed
Chapter 11 in 2001). We will
never recoup our losses.
6) Last, but not least, pay at
tention to the deadlines placed
on bonds the county receives.
A blatant oversight on the part
of our elected commissioners
[and] our Finance and Taxation
Director cost us $133,410 in
June, 2001, paid to the IRS.
Here’s a hint, folks, it’s related
to our new jail. Due to pure ne
glect, the deadline was missed
by four days, which would have
been longer than that and cost
more if the bond attorney had
n’t told them about the readable
arbitrage liability. This is just
one instance where the county
wasn’t paying attention to con
tract requirements, missed a
deadline and we had to pay for
their mistake.
In closing, I keep hearing
complaints from the commis
sioners about their long days,
weeks and the hours they put
in, and yet I also hear citizen
complaints that they can’t at
tend day meetings and would
like evening meetings avail
able.
The
commissioners
should have known what the
job required before running for
election and certainly shouldn’t
run again if they don’t like the
hours.
Please don’t take my word
for all of this. Get out there and
check it out for yourself! It’s all
available for anyone interested.
Take up the cause and become
informed citizens and taxpay
ers.
Sincerely,
Thelma Bonar
Warren
Editor's Note: The county had to
pay $133,410 to the IRS as an “Ar
bitrage Rebate" because they
failed by four days to pay out 50-
percent of the County Jail bond
money within twelve months of re
ceipt, not because of a late bond
payment. Bond holders receive
tax-free interest on this type of
bond and, when bond require
ments are not met in a timely fash
ion, the IRS applies a penalty. This
penalty was developed in re
sponse to the abuse of bond funds
by some agencies, such as River
side County, Calif., which autho
rized construction bonds then in
vested the proceeds to earn inter
est and hide deficits in other funds.
Columbia County’s payment to the
IRS came from legally earned in
terest of approx. $670,000; it didn’t
create a deficit in either budgeted
funds or the bond principal, but did
reduce the amount of interest
available for jail construction by
$133,410.
False economy to cut
Project Independence
To the Editor:
The governor and the Leg
islative Emergency Board have
reduced funding for Oregon
Project Independence in order
to try and solve state budget
problems. How is it that they
cannot see the value of a
proven, economical program
that helps seniors remain in
their own homes? Oregon
spends a meager $6 million
each year helping its frail, low-
income senior citizens stay out
of nursing homes, living out
their later years with as much
dignity and independence as
possible.
Oregon Project Indepen
dence (OPI) serves Columbia
County seniors who often have
no family or are so frail they
need help to remain at home.
Most OPI clients are dependent
for bathing, mobility and/or eat
ing. OPI provides house clean
ing, laundry, bathing, medica
tion management, shopping
and meal preparation assis
tance. If they don’t receive this
help they cannot stay at home.
In our community, most se
niors who receive OPI assis
tance have very low incomes.
Those who have any means
pay part or all of the cost for
their care. Proposals that elimi
nate in-homecare services are
penny-wise and pound-foolish.
If there were other resources
for assistance in our communi
ty, these seniors would use it.
OPI is their last resort.
None of us can guarantee
that we’ll never need any help
as we age. Not all of us will be
fortunate enough to have
enough family and friends to
help with our basic needs. If we
Please see page 13