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About The independent. (Vernonia, Or.) 1986-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 7, 2003)
PRESORTED STANOARD U .S . P o s ta g e P a id V e rn o n ia , O R 9 7 0 6 4 Voi. 18, No. 15/ “Voice of the Upper Nehalem River Valley” FREE August 7, 2003 Residents say “no more” to police intim idation VHS principal enthusiastic about district Curt Scholl, new principal for Vernonia High School, is excit ed about coming to Vernonia, a district that he feels has a “fair ly progressive” outlook about education. After a one-year stint at St. Helens High as vice principal and athletic director, and teaching social studies at West Linn High School, Scholl is enthusiastic about coming to a school that is a central part of community life. Scholl lives in Warren with his wife, Kelly (a University of Portland volleyball coach), and their two small children. Since they have finished remodeling their home, Scholl said that they would not be moving to Vernonia, but that he likes the community involvement in school activities. Both smaller and larger schools often do not have nearly as much communi ty spirit, according to Scholl. Scholl also worked in the Siuslaw/Florence district to set up an alternative school, a col laboration between the district, Adult and Family Services, and the GED program, to provide alternatives for kids who don’t succeed in the typical school environment. He said that he was excited about the develop ment of an alter- n a tiv e school for the Ver- n o n i a area and working in c o o p e ra tion with the City of Curtiss Scholl Vernonia. In addition to a new principal and a new athletic director (Tony Pupo), there will be three new teachers greeting students in music, business and science classes. After nearly three hours of a council memeting with verbal brickbats directed at Vernonia Police Chief Mike Cahill, two members of the Columbia County Sheriff’s' Posse and many Oregon State Police troopers, an occasionally noisy, but otherwise polite crowd of citizens was too tired to contin ue. Two specific elements trig gered the protest: One was the decision by Ray and Rose Fos ter to close the Cedar Side Inn over Jamboree weekend be cause they felt the chief was threatening to close their busi ness if there was any violation of OLCC rules, no matter how slight, during Jamboree. The second was the aggres sive and sometimes intimidat ing behavior of too many police officers, including the chief. Although several people supported Chief Cahill’s deci sion to bring in the OSP, more faulted his judgement in con sulting only with law enforce ment officials before deciding how much police presence there should be during Jam boree. “ If I was bringing my family to Vernonia from out of town," said Mike Pihl, “saw the banner that said ‘W elcome to the Friendship Jam boree,' and then saw 22 police cars, bikes and more, I’d say ‘W e’re not staying here!’ " Other speakers addressed the harm to businesses that need the income brought in by Jamboree, with several refer ences to the “facist" behavior of the officers. Ruth Grimsrud said that sev eral friends who had planned to display their vintage motorcy cles on Sunday, were so un comfortable that they decided to leave. Although she doesn’t drink, Grimsrud said, she has often visited with friends in bars here and has never felt threat ened. “ I would rather people drank in a crowded bar than take a case out on a county road and drink it," she said. The chief had several sup porters, as well, but the speak ers who received the most ap plause were those who empha sized the need for the commu nity to work together toward so lutions. “I don’t think a single person is happy about what hap pened,” said Tony Hyde (speci fying that he was speaking as a resident, not as a county com m issioner). He stressed the need to come together and suggested a town hall meeting on law enforcement expecta tions. No decisions were made, but council members indicated that they would support a com munity meeting. Revised Code of Conduct for VHS Vernonia High School stu dents wishing to participate in extracurricular activities next year may be surprised to find out that they will be required to demonstrate characteristics “in keeping with accepted stan dards of good citizenship” at all times throughout the school year. Superintendent Mike Fun- derburg and new high school principal Curtiss Scholl will present an expanded and re vised Code of Conduct to the Vernonia School Board at their August 14 meeting. The entire “Athletics and Activities Partici pation Policy - Participant Code of Conduct" is written in the form of a contract that must be signed by the student and a parent prior to participation. The revised code does not greatly expand the categories of misconduct for which an ath- Please see page 24
