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About The independent. (Vernonia, Or.) 1986-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 2, 2004)
PRESORTED STANDARD U.S. Postage Paid Vernonia, OR 97064 Permit No. 37 Vol. 19, No. 1 “Voice of the Upper Nehalem River Valley” Welcome to 2004 January 2, 2004 County awarded U.S. funds for food, shelter Columbia County has been awarded $43,595 in federal funds to supplement emer- gency food and shelter pro- grams. The selection was made by a national board, chaired by the Federal Emergency Manage- ment Agency (FEMA), and composed of representatives from The Salvation Army, American Red Cross, United Jewish Communities, Catholic Charities, USA; National Coun- cil of the Churches of Christ in the USA, and United Way of America, which also provides administrative staff and serves as fiscal agent. A local Board, with repre- sentatives from the VFW, American Red Cross, Salvation Army, Columbia County Dept. of Emergency Management, community churches, home- less and others will determine how the funds are to be distrib- uted. Organizations wishing to ap- ply for the grant money must meet the following criteria: Be private, voluntary non- profits or units of government; Have an accounting system; Practice nondiscrimination; Have demonstrated capabil- ity to deliver emergency food and/or shelter programs within Columbia County. If a private organization, a volunteer board is required. Organizations must have a permanent Columbia County Weather causes power outages With snow, instead of dust, covering the sidewalks along Bridge Street this week (bottom photo), it looks remarkably unchanged since the top photo was taken in 1925. The white lettering on the old photo shows against The INDEPENDENT building, before the theater was built. The building that is now the Lyon’s Den can also be clearly seen, also. The building adjacent to the fenced boardwalk on the left, where Shay Park is now located, housed the telephone company. FREE Weather-related power out- ages affected many members of West Oregon Electric Coop- erative from Sunday evening, Dec. 28, through the following morning. A brief outage occurred about 8:00 p.m., Sunday, when Please see page 5 presence. Qualifying organizations are urged to apply for a portion of the $43,595.00 by Friday, Jan- uary 16, 2004. Send proposals to P.O. Box 538, Rainier, OR 97048. In- quiries may be made through the United Way of Columbia County at 503-556-3614. Second Town Hall meeting on economy Vernonia business owners, and others interested in the health of Vernonia’s economy, will continue a discussion on economic development that was started with a town hall meeting in November. A second, follow-up meeting was originally set for mid-De- cember, but was rescheduled because of the holidays and businesses’ extended hours. It will be held, instead, January 12 at 7:00 p.m. at the Scout Cabin. During the November meet- ing, participants developed lists of Strengths, Weakness- es, Opportunities and Threats (the “SWOT” procedure). There will be a review of those lists during the January 12 meeting, prior to discussion of future plans. Participants will also have an opportunity to review the progress of the plan developed after the flood in 1996, when Rural Development Institute fa- cilitated several months of analysis and planning. This meeting will be pivotal in setting the direction of growth for the City of Vernonia. Participants will set goals and help put committees into place to achieve those goals. Everyone with a stake in Vernonia’s economic develop- ment is urged to attend.