Page 24 The INDEPENDENT, May 20, 2004 Careful food planning will keep the fun in summer Because foodborne illness is more common during the sum- mer, when you plan and pre- pare summer meals that you’ll eat outdoors, assume bacteria will be joining the picnic. Bacteria grow rapidly in warm weather, so perishable foods — including cooked meat, baked beans, potato and pasta salads, and cream pies — shouldn’t be left at warm temperatures longer than 2-3 hours. To keep hot foods hot and cold foods cold, transport them in insulated containers. If you can’t control tempera- tures, use foods that can be safely held. Good choices are items that are sold unrefrigerat- ed in grocery stores. Good ex- amples are unopened canned meat and fish, canned beans, bread products, canned fruit juices, and whole fresh fruits and vegetables. Be sure to cook meat thor- oughly, too. Ground meat should be brown throughout. Plan carefully and enjoy summer by being safe rather than sorry. Vernonia Cares gets donations from two extra sources in May Top, as they have done each year since 1996, the Rose City Motorcycle Club arrived on May 15 with donations for Ver- nonia Cares. The club escorted a van, donated for the trip by Bob Lanphere Motors, which carried 1596 pounds of food and other needed items. Above, on May 8, Letter Carriers throughout Columbia County collected donations of non- perishable food items for the Food Banks in the County. Ver- nonia Letter Carriers collected 620 pounds of food that went directly to Vernonia Cares. 47J Board will hold next Budget meeting on May 20 at 6:00 p.m. SERVING THE COMMUNITY FOR OVER 55 YEARS 2008 Main Street • Forest Grove • 503-357-6011 M-F 8:30-5:30 • Sat 8:30-5:00 • Closed Sunday From page 15 The INDEPENDENT that WESD recognizes that schools are the backbone of the com- munity in smaller districts and that WESD works to benefit lo- cal contractors. However, he added, he would be remiss if he did not warn the board about “an element in the pri- vate sector that believes they have a right to public money” and may dispute this use of public procurement law. The board unanimously ap- proved the concept of working with WESD on a design/build project and authorized the su- perintendent to sign the neces- sary agreements. Other business The board approved a modi- fied superintendent’s contract allowing the superintendent to retire due to changes in PERS, then contract back to the dis- trict and continue in his current position. Approved a change in grad- uation requirements, eliminat- ing Family Living though keep- ing total credits the same. Announced that the budget committee would meet Thurs- day, May 20, at 6:00 p.m.