The
INDEPENDENT
Serving the upper Nehalem River valley. Published twice
monthly, on the first and third Thursdays of each month,
by Public Opinion Laboratory Ltd., 725 Bridge Street, Ver
nonia, OR 97064, as a free newspaper. Editors and Pub
lishers, Dirk & Noni Andersen. Phone/Fax: 503-429-
9410, e-mail: noni@vernonia.com
ANO ALV
Deceptive measure could
cause unnecessary harm
MW W
Measure 5-103 on the Columbia County ballot in
March sounds so simple and straight-forward. All it
would do is prohibit all non-emergency county services
for minors without parental consent. But what does that
mean?
Here are a few potential results of this deceptively
“simple” measure:
The drug and alcohol counselor at Vernonia High
School works for Columbia Community Mental Health
with state funds that “pass through” the county. It is
technically a county program. So, if Measure 5-103 is
approved, the high school’s drug and alcohol coun
selor will no longer be able to help teens when the help
is needed. Instead, if approached by a teenager seek
Letters to the Editor
ing any information or advice about drugs or alcohol,
the counselor would have to say something like “Take More information on and show their support for the
council’s decision to draft and
this permission slip home and have a parent sign it, Selders Creek trade
send a letter of concern to
then we can talk.”
O.D.F. regarding the potential
To
the
Editor:
The after school recreation and study programs in
effects to our water supply due
First I must say that the fol
to additional logging activity in
Vernonia are funded through the Columbia County
lowing is my opinion and in no
Commission on Children and Families; they are tech way is meant to reflect the Vernonia’s watershed. It is al
nically county programs so, if Measure 5-103 is ap opinions of my fellow coun ways refreshing to know people
are paying attention.
proved, what happens when a student at the after cilors, the Mayor, or the City of
In August 2002, I was made
Vernonia.
school study program asks which web site to look up
aware of this potential sale/trade
I would like to take this op by a concerned citizen. No one
for answers to history, chemistry or (horrors!) biology
portunity to thank the editor
questions? Will the tutor have to say “Take this per and staff of The INDEPEN on the city’s staff was aware of
mission slip home and have a parent sign it, then we DENT publicly for their accu it and, when inquiries were
made to local O.D.F. districts re
can discuss it.”?
rate reporting of the logistics for
garding the proposed sale/trade,
Far-fetched, sure, but this measure would allow only the proposed land sale be we were informed there was
emergency services without parental consent and it tween the Oregon Dept. of nothing going on. This erro
Forestry and Longview Fibre
defines emergency services as “services provided im which includes timberland in neous answer was due to
mediately to a minor child when the minor child is in the Selders Creek portion of O.D.F.’s flawed procedures for
public notice and lack of inter
our watershed. And for listing of
danger of loss of life or serious physical injury.”
nal com m unication between
Both supporters and opponents of the measure are O.D.F. contacts included in the their own districts.
If not for an impromptu cour
concerned with sexuality. One side says only parents article regarding prospective
timber sales by O.D.F. in the
should counsel minors about sex and the other says upcoming year that was in the tesy call from Tom Savage,
shortly before the deadline for
that would be best, but it isn’t always possible.
recent issue of this paper.
public input for this proposed
I was present at the hastily
A few years ago, a 14 year-old Idaho girl was in the
sale/trade, our city would not
news. She was pregnant by her father, who had been called meeting with O.D.F.’s have been aware of it until AF
sexually abusing her for years. She couldn’t get help, representative and the article TER it had been consummated
that was printed on the front
even from the courts, without parental consent and her page of the paper accurately and trees started to fall.
There has been a lot of mis
father wouldn’t give it. When adult friends tried to take reflected what we were told by
information about the intent
Tom Savage of the O.D.F. Asto
her to Oregon for help, her father shot and killed her.
and content of the letter the city
ria District.
An emergency clause wouldn’t have helped.
sent to O.D.F. and I would like
I also would like to thank the
to try and clarify a few points.
Please vote NO on Measure 5-103.
flOhELAND SfCURlTTl
folks who took the time to write
First and foremost, the letter
was in no way meant to hurt
anyone involved with logging
activities. Though recent popu
lation and economic studies
have shown that our communi
ty is no longer timber based, as
70 - 80% of our citizens com
mute out of town for their em
ployment, there is still a gener
al feeling that we are a logging
community. Therefore the city's
letter to O.D.F. was very am
bivalent in regard to the effects
of logging on water supply and
quality.
The main point of the city’s
letter is a request that O.D.F.
assist us in doing a full-scale
watershed assessm ent for
Rock Creek. As Rock Creek
Watershed is our city’s sole
source of drinking water, the
letter is very proactive in stating
that we want to work with
O.D.F. regarding the Selders
Creek trade/sale AND any fu
ture activities that are proposed
in the Rock Creek watershed.
The only recent studies we
have are from the DEQ in
which a general summary, at
best, is provided regarding log
ging activity and its effects on
water quality.
I have been informed that a
full scale study is in the works,
Please see page 3