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The INDEPENDENT, July 15, 2004
The
INDEPENDENT
Serving the upper Nehalem River valley. Published on the
first and third Thursdays of each month, by Public Opinion
Laboratory Ltd., 725 Bridge St., Vernonia, OR 97064, as a
free newspaper. Publishers, Dirk & Noni Andersen. Editor,
Noni Andersen. Phone/Fax: 503-429-9410, email: noni@
the-independent.net Display Advertising, Clark McGaugh,
email: clark@the-independent.net Classified Advertising,
Rebecca McGaugh, email: rebecca@the-independent.net
Opinion
Summer fun requires
effort, good planning
and great volunteers
Summertime means lots of good things — swim-
ming, baseball, picnics, camping, parades, fishing,
boating, biking, riding and much more. In Vernonia,
many of these activities are enjoyed in or on city,
school and state-owned facilities, with minimal fees or
no fees.
The Rock Creek swimming hole is a good example.
This year, the wading pool was resurfaced and a new
dam was built. These projects required sanding, sur-
facing, a new log, planks, hardware and labor. Some of
the labor and materials were donated, most notably
the 72’ peeled log from McCormick Lumber Co. in St.
Helens. Everything else was paid for by the city, and
the area teems with free activity well into the evening.
If you fish or launch your boat at Vernonia Lake,
camp or picnic at one of the city parks, play softball or
soccer at Spencer Field, or basketball at the school,
you are using public facilities. If you enjoy summer
reading programs at the library, use the horse arena at
Anderson Park, or fly out of Vernonia Airport, you are
using public facilities. If you walk, ride a bike or horse
on the linear trail, you are using public facilities.
There are not many towns as small as Vernonia that
have so many recreational opportunities, so a question
often asked is how, given a very tight budget, can the
city do this? In addition to careful use of available re-
sources and aggressively seeking grants, there is an-
other element: VOLUNTEERS!
Volunteers help with both planning and developing
the facilities. They help with operations and mainte-
nance. All youth activities have adult volunteers who
take care of business so the kids can have fun. Jam-
boree is coming up with a multitude of activities and
events that wouldn’t be possible without volunteers -
from the fishing derby to the logging show.
Look at it this way: It’s great if you participate in any
of the activities mentioned above. It would be even bet-
ter if you volunteered a little time in an area of your
choice to help keep these opportunities available.
Letters
Use of workers comp Scholarship awarded Thanks for July 4th help
not abuse of system to Bo Rumbolz
To the Editor:
The purpose of workers
compensation insurance is to
provide medical care for people
who are injured on the job.
Quotes
from
Vernonia
School District Superintendent
Mike Funderburg and school
board chairman Jim Krahn
(The INDEPENDENT July 1,
2004) give the impression that
district employees who have
used workers compensation
more than once “abused” the
system and are no longer em-
ployed in the district.
Since a claim has to be ap-
proved before there is treat-
ment, is this a way to accuse
health care providers of collu-
sion with false workers com-
pensation claims?
Or, more likely, is this a not-
so-subtle hint to current em-
ployees that, if they are hurt on
the job and want to stay em-
ployed, they’d better keep their
mouths shut and not file a
claim?
Charles G. Davis
Vernonia
To the Editor:
Due to some timing and cleri-
cal errors, the Vernonia Volun-
teer Firefighters Association did
not get their scholarship informa-
tion to Vernonia High School in
time for the graduation awards.
This letter is intended to publicly
acknowledge the young man
who was this year’s recipient of
the Gene Weller Memorial
Scholarship.
This young man has shown a
commitment to his fellow class-
mates throughout his career at
Vernonia High School, through
participation in school activities,
and through community involve-
ment. He was a member of the
school’s firefighter program his
Junior year, and has been a Vol-
unteer Firefighter throughout his
Senior year.
Because of this commitment
to others, the VVFA is proud to
present this year’s Gene Weller
Memorial Scholarship to Bo
Rumbolz.
Thank You
Ernie Smith
VVFA President
To the Editor:
I hope everyone enjoyed our
parade and fireworks as much
as I did.
We would like to thank
everyone who donated to our
fireworks fund. It was a very
successful year. With that kind
of response maybe we can add
to our display next year. Our
parade, sponsored by the City
of Vernonia was great. I would
like to thank my parade helpers
– Racheal Bentson, Darlene
Parrow, John Murray and Dylan
Snyder. A thank you to every-
one who made our parade and
fireworks special, including our
police dept., Metro West Ambu-
lance and our volunteer fire-
men, especially Tom Ramsey.
Thank you for not bringing your
own fireworks onto the school
grounds. Thank you for the use
of the school grounds and to
whoever cleaned up the school
grounds the next morning. A
good community effort by
everyone helps everything run
smoothly.
Enid Parrow
Vernonia Pride