The INDEPENDENT, March 20, 2002
Page 3
Lsttars to the Editor
By Nancy Burch, Librarian
Vernonia Public Library
Early April promises to be an exciting time for
library patrons, young and old(er). Saturday,
April 6, at 3:00 p.m., will be a first in Vernonia’s
library. An author from the Pacific Northwest,
Spike Walker, will be relating some of his
Alaskan adventures as well as discussing re
search and writing techniques. Walker is the au
thor of Working on the Edge, which relates ad
ventures while fishing for king crab on Alaska’s
high seas, Nights of Ice, which tells about sur
vival following shipwrecks in Alaskan waters,
and Coming Back Alive, which tells the true sto
ry of the most harrowing search and rescue mis
sion ever attempted on Alaska’s high seas.
Copies of these books will be available for any
one wishing to purchase an autographed copy
and refreshments will be available. The week of
April 14-20 has been designated National Li
brary Week. To help celebrate locally, the
Friends of the Library will be sponsoring a pre
sentation by Steve Taylor, a magician and ven
triloquist, on Monday, April 15 at 4:00 p.m. Both
of these events are free to the public. Atten
dance at these presentations will help determine
whether similar events will be scheduled, so
mark those calendars now and plan to attend.
Another project to keep in mind is the book
and plant sale to be held during Jamboree. This
will again be a fundraiser of the Friends of the Li
brary and they are requesting donations of
books, as well as plants. Books may be left at
the library and there is still time to stick those
starts of plants in pots to have them ready by
early August.
For anyone who missed getting a video of
Vernonia’s 1996 flood, Ivan Oliver has placed a
few in the library for purchase at $10.00 each.
He also donated a circulating copy to the library.
Recent acquisitions include The Cottage by
Danielle Steel, The Secret Life of Bees by Sue
Monk Kidd, My Happy Life by Lydia Millet, Eure
ka by William Diehl, Mercy Among the Children
by David Adams Richards, Miracle at St. Anna
by James McBride, and The Summons by John
Grisham. An unabridged copy of The Summons
has also been added to the library’s collection of
audiocassettes. George Martin and Lawrence
Fick, the authors of A Road in the Wilderness
(The Salem to Astoria Military Road) have gen
erously donated a copy of their recently pub
lished book to the library. For young adults, Mil
dred Taylor’s The Land and Polly Horvath’s New
berry Honor book, Everything on a Waffle, have
recently been acquired. New picture books, with
a seasonal theme, include Come Along, Daisy
and Lettice, the Dancing Rabbit.
Remember, also, to mark your calendars for
the monthly meeting of the Friends of the Li
brary. Meetings are held on the first Tuesday of
each month at 7:00 p.m. in the library, with the
next meeting scheduled for April 2.
V ern onia L ib ra ry 701 W eed Avenue
Hours: Mon., Wed., Fri. 10 a.m.-5 p.m.
Tues., Thur. 2 p.m.-7 p.m.
S a t 10a.m .-2 p.m.
Preschool Story Time, Mondays, 10:30 a.m.
P hone: (503)429-1818
Elk ranching is not a
“no-risk” operation
To the Editor:
As much as I respect the
opinion of Dale Webb’s articles
and his views on wildlife popu
lations, I must take exception to
his (March 6, 2002, “Ike
Says...”) opinion that the elk
ranchers are getting away
Scot-free. I have no vested in
terest in commercial elk ranch
ing, and I fail to see how Mr.
Webb can accuse any busi
ness on conducting a “no-risk
operation”. Anyone who has
been around any kind of ranch
knows that a lot of sweat equity
goes into its startup, and like
any business startup, it doesn’t
stop until the operation is sold,
or fails. Any way you look at it,
the rancher (cattle, sheep, lla
mas, exotic birds or small ani
mals such as mink or chin
chillas, or the attempt to do
mesticate wildlife such as elk or
deer) takes one heck of a
chance. Free enterprise does
not come cheap. The possible
rewards not only benefit the
startup owner, but also other
businesses and the tax-base in
the community. In Mr. Webb’s
School board members enjoy student presentations
From page 1
with an architect gives the
board and the district some
protection from liability. Addi
tionally, McClellan told the
board that he has been encour
aged by the state to apply for
special grant funds for school
improvement and that an appli
cation would be facilitated by
having an architect on retainer.
McClellan also told the board
that the initial report from the
recently conducted community
survey indicates that the board
has more work to do before
pursuing another bond elec
tion. The board tabled action
until the next meeting.
With one position remaining
vacant on the school board,
chair Carla Strand suggested
waiting to fill the vacant posi
tion until after the survey re
sults are reviewed and some of
the difficult tasks facing the
board are accomplished. There
has been only one applicant for
the position. Directors Jim
Krahn and Tim Titus felt that a
new member should be ap
pointed as soon as possible,
though both acknowledged that
a new member will have an ex
tremely difficult time under
standing the complexity of
some situations awaiting deci
sions. A high turnover rate, with
four new directors coming in
and two directors leaving since
June of 2000, has made it diffi
cult for the board to function in
some areas.
Presentations heard
Every year, Lincoln Grade
School has a project on the
concept of “100” by counting
school days until they reach
100 Days of School. As the big
day approaches, students be
gin to assemble their contribu
tion to the 100s Museum, with
each student making a collec
tion or creation of 100 objects.
Students Bridger Stewart, Hai
ley Dennis, Alex Chapman,
Charlotte and Kaytee Burghard
and Taylor Chapman brought
their collections to the board-
room and displayed them.
Director Cari Levenseller in
troduced Patti Dickens-Turk,
teacher-coordinator for the
youth
Transition
Program
(YTP), a cooperative effort of
the Vocational Rehabilitation
Division of the Oregon Employ
ment Department and the Uni
versity of Oregon. The pro
gram’s goal is to involve the
community in a job-training pro
gram that meets the needs of
students and employers. Stu
dents must apply for the pro
gram and accept enrollment on
a voluntary basis.
An unanticipated benefit has
been the “fill-the-bus” concept.
If a YTP student is interested in
a particular career, such as law
enforcement, YTP will fund a
trip to the Oregon Police Acad
emy in Monmouth. Even it only
one YTP student is going, the
district can “fill-the-bus” with
other interested students. Stu
dents and parents told of trips
to places and events that re
sulted in positive changes in
post-high school plans.
YTP also operates the Print
Shop, a business in the high
school. Since the Print Shop
started operations in Decem
ber, 2000, it has printed
411,724 copies for the district.
YTP students learn job-related
skills while working in the Print
Shop.
Services to YTP students in
clude a coordinated set of ac
tivities that are designed to
promote moving from school to
post-school activities, including
post-secondary education, vo
cational training, integrated
employment, continuing and
adult education, independent
living and community participa
tion. Students continue to be
part of the program until they
reach the age of 23.
Additional business
The appointment of a new
director and a search for an in
terim superintendent will be
discussed at the board work
shop on March 21. Board
members were also reminded
to bring their calendars in order
to set up meeting dates for dis
cussion of the communications
audit, community survey and
building improvements.
In other action, the board:
• Accepted the Council Ex
change program for inclusion
on the list of approved ex
change student programs. The
policy will also be discussed at
the next board meeting.
• Approved contract exten
sion for certified staff, with Di
rector Randy Hansen abstain
ing.
• Approved using the OSBA
Executive Search Service to
find an interim superintendent.
• Approved budget adjust
ment resolutions.
piece, why doesn’t he mention
the possibility that the TB could
have been introduced by a
“wild” elk? Bacteria can travel
in both directions.
Typically, Mr. Webb's obser
vations are positive in outlook,
especially in the hunting sports
and the hazards of over-or-inef-
ficient regulations. If we want to
increase our hunting opportuni
ties, then a more sensible alter
native might be to restrict or
eliminate the elk cow season to
increase future elk hunting op
portunities. After all, when an
elk cow is taken, the hunter
also takes its unborn calf. If
more calves were born, then a
larger number of elk calves will
reach maturity. More elk means
more hunting. More hunting
means more tags. More tags
mean more cash flow, and
more cash flow means less
burden to those taxpayers that
don’t hunt. To blame a rancher
trying to make elk available to
either private hunters willing to
pay for taking a elk, or to rou
tinely harvest the elk as we now
do cattle, just seems unreason
able.
Sincerely,
Roger Grimsrud
Vernonia
Thanks to Hunter
Safety teachers
To the Editor:
I would like to say thank you
to Jim King and Leonard Sim
mons for the time and effort
they have expended to teach
the Hunter Safety Course. This
course has been taught for
many, many years by local vol
unteers and they are appreciat
ed.
Melissa Hunt
Vernonia
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INDEPENDENT
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