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