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About The independent. (Vernonia, Or.) 1986-current | View Entire Issue (July 18, 2002)
The INDEPENDENT, July 18, 2002 Page 3 Letters to the Editor Founder’s family not able to see museum To the Editor: I am not sure to whom I should address this letter, but the local paper is always a good resource. During the weekend of June 22-23, 2002, many [members of the] Weeds [family] traveled back to Ver nonia after more than 30 years of absence (my wife and I trav eled from Atlanta) for a family reunion. One of the members was Mildred, daughter of Oscar Weed and granddaughter of one of the city’s founders, Jud son Weed (she is also the old est surviving Weed who was raised in Vernonia), who came from South Pasadena, Calif. A major planned event was a visit to the museum. Although prior arrangements had been made, on arrival, the museum was closed. As the clan stood outside, Kathy Weed Johnson attempted to find someone who could accommodate our visit. To our surprise, one person contacted stated that a key was available, but a political fight had developed and the muse um is no longer accessible to the public! How disappointing! While we were there, sever al people also were interested in visiting. In light of the slogan “discover Vernonia,” it seems the museum would be poised to play an important role for tourism. In our case, we intend ed to “rediscover Vernonia,” but a key asset has been removed. Although we are not educated about the nature of the dispute, we hope that it is quickly re solved so other visitors will not experience the disappointment. Sincerely, Roger Weed Great-grandson of Judson Weed Duluth, Georgia Unruly kids, drunks spoil 4th experience To the Editor: Between the Bookends By Nancy Burch, Librarian Kids learn it’s fun to read — from a Dummy? He may be made of wood, but ventriloquist fig ure Rudy O ’Riley is no dummy! Rudy is the star of the “ Buggy About Books" show that is coming to*the Vernonia Public Li brary, on Monday, July 29 at 7:00 p.m. This free presentation will be the last of the scheduled programs associated with this year’s summer reading at the library. Youngsters may still work toward meeting their reading goals until August 15, when all registration forms must be turned in as well as verification of the number of books read during the summer. A date will be an nounced for presentation of awards, prizes and the winner of the “buggy” container. A small group of avid readers has formed a new book discussion group. These readers re cently met in the library to discuss their first se lection, The Pact, by author Jodi Picoult. Opin ions regarding the book were expressed and dis cussed, then the group decided to choose two books to read. The choices are Winterdance by Gary Paulsen and Breakheart H ill by Thomas Cook. An extra copy of each book has been or dered and anyone interested in reading and dis cussing these books is encouraged to contact the library. Personalized comments about authors and their books are beginning to appear in the library. Watch for these comments made by local readers. Sometimes when people come into the library and see either Susan or me doing something such as returning books to shelves, covering books, applying barcodes, laminating, using one of the computers, etc., they are apologetic about asking questions of us. Be assured that our first and foremost duty is to library patrons— answer ing questions, helping with computers, copying, helping with the microfilm reader or trying to help patrons however we can. There is not enough funding for more than one staff person to be here at any one time, so we try to do as much as pos sible in between helping library patrons. Bear with us and don’t hesitate to ask for help. A question has arisen regarding the use of Large Print books. To date, not many patrons have requested these materials, so the collec tion is limited. Please contact the library if you feel this is a need that should be addressed. Notification was received this week that the li brary has been awarded a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to improve Internet service to the public. With this grant, the library will have two more computers (one being Span ish language convertible), another printer, a Spanish keyboard, and some educational soft ware. With the implementation of all of the equip ment, these computers, as well as one already in operation, will all be Internet accessible to the public at the same time— no more sharing one phone line. These computers should be opera tional before December 2002. New books this month include The Mulberry Tree by Jude Deveraux, Sunset in St. Tropez by Danielle Steel, Turbulence by John J. Nance, Cold Company by Sue Henry, Chopping Spree by Diane Mott Davidson, Fire Ice by Clive Cussler, Wings of Fire by Dale Brown, The Beach House by James Patterson and Peter De Jonge, The Moment She Was Gone by Evan Hunter, and The Dive From Clausen’s Pier by Ann Packer. Remember to drop off books for the Friends of the Library Book Sale at Glen Purvee’s building next to miniature golf on Saturday, July 27, be ginning at 10:00 a.m. Plants, to be sold at this sale, may also be donated at this time. The big sale will take place Saturday, August 3, begin ning at 9:00 a.m. Some very nice items have been donated and will be awarded to the win ners of the raffle drawing to be held in the late af ternoon on the third. Don’t forget that the next meeting of the Friends of the Library will be Tuesday, August 6, in the library at 7:00 p.m. On Monday, August 5, the library will be open from 7-9 p.m. This will be a trial to see if resi dents would like to use the “cool" (air-condi tioned) building on a regular basis on Monday evenings until the weather cools off. Vernonia Library 701 Weed Avenue Hours: Mon., Wed., Fri. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tues., Thur. 2 p.m.-7 p.m. Sat. 10a.m.-2 p.m. Phone: (503)429-1818 Vernonia did not feel like a family oriented town this 4th of July weekend. Our adventures began with our first overnight camping trip to Anderson Park, a first time experience that will likely be our last. The constant noise from groups of kids screaming and shouting foul language, skidding skate boards and “drum playing" on the picnic tables, did not end until 10:00 p.m. when they left the park to go home. I was amazed at the young age of these children, the way they acted around others, and the fact that there was no adult su pervision at such a late hour. Enforceable rules regarding parental supervision of kids at the park after a certain hour could turn this situation around. Our second adventure was at the 4th of July fireworks dis play. Again my family, friends and I were subject to the screams of foul and obscene language, this time by middle aged adolescents who were in toxicated. I have no plans to re turn next year if visible intoxica tion and rude behavior around children is permitted. Perhaps the local tavern owners could sponsor a parallel event a few miles away from the rest of us, where alcohol can be served. Sincerely, Steven Loders Vernonia Parade and fireworks were a lot of fun To the Editor: What a great 4th of July, a lit tle cool, as usual. It’s always fun to see all our participants, decked out in red, white and blue, eager to get the parade going. It was great to have Un cle Sam in the parade and the Scouts as our color guard car rying Old Glory. Thank you to Vernonia Cares and the Cheer leaders for collecting donations during the parade and Isabelle McDaniel and Ray Pelster for their money collections. I would like to thank Jenny and Casey for their help handing out rib bons and pins before the pa rade. They were my “gopher” helpers. A thank you to every one who took part in the pa rade. Thanks to Metro Ambulance, Fire Chief Paul Epler, Volunteer Fire Department guys and gals, City Workers and the Police Department for their help be fore, during and after the pa rade. Thank you to the School District for the use of the school grounds. It’s a great place to sit and visit while waiting for the fireworks. Didn’t you think our volunteer firemen did a great job with the fireworks display? Thanks to Ed Lokken from St. Helens and our own group - Tim Bamburg, Greg Schaum burg, Luke Heckathorn, Wayne Vaughn, Tom Ramsey, Darrel Wolfe, Jessie Borders, Norm Brown, Darryl Norton, Kody Watts, Emily Sohler and Matt Poetter. Thank you to the peo ple who store the fireworks for us. Elsewhere in the paper is a list of donors to the fireworks and a big thank you from us. On a sad note, we fell about $800 short for the fireworks this year, leaving us to wonder what we should do for next year. We depend on donations to pay for the fireworks. The other dis turbing thing is, when we ask you to please leave all your own fireworks at home, we wish you would do so. We don’t want anyone in the crowd get ting hurt. That means each and everyone of you. If you were up and out the morning of the fifth, you would have seen the group downtown and all the way to the school grounds cleaning up after us. A big thank you to all of you. The clean up crew was Cub Scout Pack 201, their parents, young er brothers and sisters. They asked that I thank you for using the SOLV bags they hand out during the parade. It makes their job much easier. Thanks to everyone. Enid Parrow Vernonia Pride Belief in God is part of American heritage To the Editor: W hat is our heritage? I be lieve that the writings of our founding fathers can shed some light on the answer. Let’s start with the Declaration of In dependence. “We hold these truths to be self-evident: That all men are created equal: and they are en dowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” Our forefathers, as “ ...Repre sentatives of the United States of America," appealed “to the Supreme Judge of the World for the rectitude of their inten tions...And... with a firm re liance on the protection of Di- Please see page 16
