Voi. 17, No. 21
“ Voice of the Upper Nehalem River Valley”
November 7, 2002
Grant will fund 47J
student programs
A St. Helens man was killed in the accident above that closed Highway 47 for several
hours. For a complete story, please see page 15.
City “Learning Center” nearing reality
With a $150,000 grant to de
velop a Learning Center in Ver
nonia, and a tentatively ap
proved block grant for an addi
tional $150,000, the City of Ver
nonia is now nearing a formal
decision on where the center
will be located and what pro
grams will be incorporated.
The Learning Center Com
mittee, which has been meet
ing for about a year, has looked
at several buildings and dis
cussed them with state offi
cials. After completion of that
process, it seems likely that the
old city hall will be remodeled
for the center. Three architec
tural firm s have presented
ideas and, though no contract
has been signed, one firm has
been initially approved.
At this time, the Upper Ne
halem W atershed Council,
uses part of the building; other
parts are used for activities
from time to time.
The city and Colum bia
C ounty have reached an
agreem ent that will remove
sections of Rose Ave. and
Alder Street that are in the
county’s jurisdiction and make
them part of the city. Before the
ownership changes, the county
will ditch, widen and pave the
850 feet of gravel road at the
north end of Rose (This shows
on official maps as Cleveland
Ave.), and work with city em
ployees to locate and clean all
drainage facilities along Alder.
It will be the city’s responsibility
to make any necessary water
and sewer adjustments along
Rose Avenue.
At the Vernonia City Council
meeting on November 4, resi
dent Jacqueline Ramsay asked
if a handrail could be installed
along the path from Vernonia
Lake to the primitive camping
area. The path is sloped down
to the camping area and can be
quite slippery, Ramsay noted.
The city will look at the problem
and see what can be done.
There will also be a public
hearing, December 2, on pro
cedures and requirements for
Vernonia’s many parks.
Need for firefighters
is topic of meeting
The Vernonia Fire Distict is
in great need of more volunteer
firefighters and has scheduled
a recruitm ent meeting for
Tuesday, November 12 at 7:00
p.m., in the fire hall.
Find out more about require
ments and benefits, or how you
can help, by attending the
meeting.
Vernonia School District has
received a 21st Century Learn
ing Grant of $150,000 to begin
a program for Recreational and
Educational Activities
with
Com m unity Help (REACH).
Modeled after a very success
ful program operating for the
last three years in St. Helens,
REACH provides after school
and summer activities for all
school age children. The grant
will be adm inistered by the
Northwest Region ESD which
will also help develop the local
program.
The district’s board of direc
tors also learned, at an October
24 workshop, that it has the op
portunity to increase the lever
age of the grant by working in
cooperation with the City of
Vernonia, which has received a
$150,000 grant to develop a
com m unity learning center.
Tracy Dannen, of NWRESD,
said she is excited by the coop
eration revealed in initial dis
cussions with city administrator
Michael Sykes and district su
perintendent Mike Funderburg.
The remainder of the work
shop included discussion in
several areas of interest.
• Board members Darryl
Hamblet and Cari Levenseller
told the board about their inves
tigation of the process for form
ing a charitable foundation for
the Vernonia School District.
Hamblet told the board that
they are ready to present their
information to the public.
• Board member Tim Titus
told the board that several par
ents, unhappy about the Senior
Project, had approached him.
The project is part of senior
English and successful com
pletion is required to receive a
passing grade. VHS requires
four years of English to gradu
ate. Board chair Carla Strand
noted that the “board” that ap
proves senior projects is the
senior project board, not the
school board. Funderburg told
the board that resistance to,
and confusion about senior
project requirements is a com
mon occurrence, even though
the project has been in place
for about 10 years. Funderburg
will form a committee to gather
information and make recom
mendations that will allow the
board to formalize district poli
cy. Any changes in require
ments would not take effect un
til next school year. Parents
and students with concerns
about this year’s project should
contact the student’s English
teacher, Funderburg said.
• The process of mold miti
gation at Washington Grade
School has been completed,
Funderburg told the board, ex
cept for one area behind a
freezer. Another test of air qual
ity has been scheduled.
• All of the fire alarms at
WGS have been replaced; one
at the high school needs work.
The district may be able to re
cover 50 percent of the cost of
renovating with strobe light
smoke detectors, but no d e c i
sions have been made.
• The district received a
quote of $3500 minimum for
asbestos mitigation at WGS.
The district may also simply
close the one storeroom where
the asbestos was found, elimi
nating the cost entirely.
More school district news
may be found on pages 10-11.
An engineer’s report
on the structural
safety of Washing
ton Grade School
will be presented at
the Vernonia School
Board meeting on
Thursday, November
21 at 7:00 p.m.
Call 503-429-5891
for meeting site.