Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The independent. (Vernonia, Or.) 1986-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 17, 2002)
The INDEPENDENT, October 17, 2002 Deputy explains why levy is needed To the Editor: I support the Columbia Coun ty Sheriff’s Levy, Measure 5-109. Let me tell you why. The Sheriff’s Office does not have enough deputies to cover the 657 square miles in the coun ty and to provide needed servic es. It is unsafe for both the citi zens and the deputies to not have adequate coverage. How would you like to be the only deputy on duty responding alone to a “shots fired” call in a remote area of the county? As you respond, you know that no one is available to back you up. How would you feel if you called 9-1-1 for help, and the dis patcher told you no one was available? Well, this happens a lot. And it is dangerous for the public and for the deputies. How would you like to end up working a 19-hour shift because there is no relief scheduled and the calls keep coming in? These can be unsafe conditions for any profession, especially one where you may have to make life or death decisions in a split second. How would like to respond to an emergency or chase a law breaker in a car with over 150,000 miles on it? The “life” of a patrol car is hard. These old cars constantly break down. Can you imagine chasing a criminal at 90 mph in a car with 150,000 miles? I consider myself one of the lucky deputies because my patrol car is only 8 years old with 122,000 miles on the odometer. Deputies must come back to the St. Helens office to do re ports. Every time the citizens lose 40-60 minutes of help. It is a waste of time and money. This measure will allow the deputies to complete their reports out in the field, where they belong. This levy will fund adequate coverage 24 hours a day, elimi nating the large gaps in coverage that currently exist. It will also provide a resident deputy for both the Vernonia/Mist-Birken- feld and Clatskanie/ Rainier ar eas. The Sheriff’s Office does the best it can on a limited budget, but it is just not enough. This is a very small tax in crease, only $7.75 a month for the average homeowner. Please join me and vote yes on Measure 5-109. Sincerely, Patrick A. Dean Deputy Sheriff Vernonia More firefighters are needed for daytime To the Editor: The board and the personnel of the Vernonia Rural Fire Pro tection District (VRFPD) wish to thank all those who helped out for the fire October 1 at the home of Jake Wolfe; especially the businesses that allowed their employees to leave work to help fight this fire: Mike Pihl Logging, Wolfe Trucking, Buds & Blooms, Adhesive Packaging, City of Hillsboro. A volunteer department with a paid Chief relies heavily on com Opinion-Maasuras, eontinuad Measure 24 would expand the profes sional scope of licensed denturists by al lowing them to install partial dentures, in addition to their current services. It would also allow dentists and denturists to work together in joint business arrangements, much as optometrists and ophthalmolo gists are allowed to do. This may, or may not, help to slow down the increasing costs of dental care. It is promoted as being fi nancially beneficial to patients, but there is nothing in the measure that can justify the claim. Overall, the benefits are likely to be greater than the liabilities. We recommend a Yes vote on Measure 24. Measure 25 would increase the state minimum hourly wage to $6.90 in January, 2003, and would institute annual adjust ments for inflation. In spite of the claims of doom and gloom by the Oregon Farm Bu reau, Associated Oregon Industries, Ore gon Restaurant Association and Oregon Food Processors FOODPAC, all of whom rely on minimum wage workers, our econ omy will not crumble. Even when two peo ple in a family work at minimum wage, for a combined $13.80 per hour, by the time they pay for food, rent, utilities, child care and transportation, they are barely getting by. An increase of 40 cents per hour is not exorbitant. We urge a Yes vote on Mea sure 25. Measure 26 would prohibit workers who obtain signatures on initiative petitions from compensation based on the number of signatures they obtain. It would not pro hibit paying for signature gatherers and is intended to reduce the incentive for forged or otherwise illegal signatures. This may or may not do what is intended, but it should get a Yes vote. Measure 27 would require labeling of genetically engineered foods. The food in dustry insists that genetically engineered (GE) foods are perfectly safe while making remarkably wild claims about the cost of labeling. Not all scientists agree that the process is safe. The FDA has not conduct ed tests on GE foods in spite of warnings by their own scientists. The genetic engi neering process has introduced Brazil nut genes in some soy beans; without labels there have been some severe allergic re actions. Some vegetables have been engi neered to produce more protein with the addition of animal genes; people who choose not to eat meat have a right to know what is in their food. Other plants have been combined with toxins to kill in sects, but there is no way to control the ex posure of those toxins to beneficial in sects. If GE is not harmful, why are food processors and corporate agriculture op posed to adding a few words to labels? We need to protect our health and the health of our children. Vote Yes on Measure 27. munity support for fire protection and also relies on mutual aid from neighboring districts. We would like to thank Mist-Birken- feld, Banks, State Forestry and Scappoose for their assistance. The fire on October 1 could have caused less damage, had the VRFPD had more experi enced, daytime volunteers and had the Chief not been out of town on vacation. This could happen with more volunteers that work swing or midnight shift, or more businesses that will al low people to leave work to fight daytime fires. The VRFPD board has given authorization for ade quate coverage in the absence of the fire chief. The district has set up a com mittee to address this problem and encourages all community members to attend the next VRF PD board meeting on November 12 at 7:00 p.m., to help with this ongoing effort. Paul Epler Fire Chief, VRFPD Horse owners need to clean up pathway To the Editor: People - Dogs - Horses I am not the horse whisperer, but I am a voice, on paper, for the folks, babies, kids, baby boomers and us old folks, who walk, run, bike, trike, skate, stroll, rollerblade, skateboard, use wheelchairs, walkers, crutch es or canes around the lake. I have been walking my dog(s) around the lake path since 1986, when it was a rough, rock, clay clod or mud path, and now, the finished path it is today. Point - In all this time, I have never seen a sign that said Bridle Path. Walkers with dogs are ad vised to carry a bag or scooper to clean up after their pets, so, horse riders, use a diaper or pick up one of the two brooms avail able at the caretaker’s yard, tie it to your saddle and sweep up or off the path your pets flowers. I am not against you nor your horse. Just the fact you don’t consider yourself as having to re spect other people’s use of an unfouled recreational area. I swept up approximately 50 feet of your horse flowers on Tuesday, October 1. I and other walkers don’t appreciate having to drag them by your mess (ad mitted dogs are scavengers at heart) nor having to step off the path when cross traffic meets at those places. Page 3 So, clean up after yourself or stay off the path - PLEASE. I can’t say it any more subtly. Jacqueline Ramsay Vernonia Supports Bernhard, opposes Cason To the Editor: Three candidates are running for County Commissioner. Rita Bernhard, the Democratic incum bent, Cathy Taylor (unaffiliated) and Joe Cason of the Constitu tion Party. Rita has a long record of service in this county. She was a popular mayor of Scappoose. She learned the law of county operations through her years working in the county counsel’s office. She has been a good commissioner for the last four years. She is serious, friendly, works hard and spends a lot of time in meetings with citizens groups. Cathy Taylor is also a nice person and a hard worker. With a little more experience in county finance, law and policy, she would make a good commission er. The problem in this race, how ever, is the Constitution Party candidate, Joe Cason. The Con stitution Party, according to its “2000 Platform” is open only to professing Christians, it favors rejecting federal tax support of our local schools, it favors the re peal of the Voting Rights Act (which makes it a crime to use force or coercion to stop people from voting) and virtually all other federal civil rights legislation. It supports only the original U.S. constitution and apparently not the amendments, with the excep tion of the right to bear arms. And it wants to abolish the federal in come tax, which wouldwipe out more than half of the federal budget and utterly wreck the economy. They also, I kid you not, want to eliminate paper money and have us go back to coins only. Currently, the county supports programs to control teenage venereal disease and teen preg nancies in our county. Mr. Cason is a leading, angry and emotional advocate of abolishing those pro grams. Continued on page 14 LIBRARY COLUMN TEMPORARILY MOVED Because of the number of letters in this issue, the library column, Between the Book- ends, may be found on pg. 10.
