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