The INDEPENDENT, August 19, 2004
Page 3
Letters
From page 2
question whether or not we
should keep our armed forces
in Iraq. But if we really consider
it, those who are attacking our
military are attempting to con-
tinue attacking us as a country,
because our military represents
us, the U.S. And we are over
there because of 9-11! And who
can deny that the attacks of 9-
11 threatened the world’s safe-
ty? To deny it and leave our
attackers un-chastened would
be to leave mass-murder
assassins on the loose and
make people everywhere fear
for their safety even more than
they do now. We as a nation
are bringing justice to those
who brought the tragedy to us.
It would be cowardice for us to
back out now just because the
going is getting rough. Who
ever said war was easy? Or
pleasant? And what did we
expect to find when we went
over to Iraq? Repentant terror-
ists? Terrorists ready to give up
their dictatorship over their
country? No! We expected to
find cruel opponents ready to
stop at nothing to keep their
country and its people in their
cruel grasp.
The attempt of our soldiers’
attackers is to force us to leave
Iraq so they can once again
gain control over their country,
and eventually the whole world
(as is their plan!).
This war with Iraq is a matter
of justice, not vengeance or
power. It is our duty to see
through to finish the work we
began, and not let down the
people of Iraq who are depend-
ing on us. Keep in mind: We
Between the Bookends
By Nancy Burch, Librarian
Vernonia Public Library
The Friends of the
Library had a very suc-
cessful book sale during
Jamboree and would like
to thank everyone who
donated and purchased
books. Julia Schafer of
Hillsboro was the winner
of Christopher Burkett’s
gorgeous new book,
Resplendent Light, which
was donated by Christopher and Grey Dawn
Gallery. Other raffle winners were Robb Wilson,
Diana Skidmore, and Kaytee Burghard. All prof-
its from the sale and raffle will be used to provide
materials and programs for the library.
The Summer Readers once again made it
through the parade on their float reflecting the
summer theme of Discovering New Trails @
Your Library. The youngsters made all of the
decorations at the last program, which was
August 4th. On that last day as they were mak-
ing “float” decorations, they were also treated to
“floats” (root beer floats). I was especially grate-
ful to the parents who accompanied their chil-
dren on the float. The candy for the youngsters
to throw during the parade was once again
donated by Randy Parrow and Sentry Market. It
was a fun summer with Camrin Eyrick and Linda
Johnston creating some great activities for the
children. Youngsters who have not yet turned in
their reading goal sheets to receive their prizes
may do so until September 1st. Thanks to all
who participated in making this another fun/edu-
cational summer for the youngsters of the com-
munity.
From my summer reading, the two new books
I would recommend are Coal Run by Tawni O’Dell
and After the Fire by J. A. Jance. Coal Run takes
place in the coal-mining country of western
Pennsylvania and tells the story of a local ex-
football hero and his effort to rectify a secret mis-
take of his past. It also tells about the communi-
ty of Coal Run and the effect that a mining explo-
sion had on the remaining citizens. Narrated by
Ivan Zoschenko (“the Great Ivan Z”) this book
has a rich cast of characters, including his for-
mer beauty queen sister, his former idol, and the
young woman whose life he changed forever.
This is a book of humor, suspense, and compas-
sion. The other recommendation is not a novel,
but a book of poems and recollections of Judith
Jance as she chronicles the relationship with her
first husband as it collapsed due to his alcohol
addiction and to her unwitting denial and co-
dependence. After the Fire gives Jance’s fans a
chance to better know the author and to see how
her eighteen-year involvement with an alcoholic
helped shape the character of Detective J. P.
Beaumont, the protagonist in sixteen of her nov-
els.
Other new acquisitions for adults include
Shoot the Moon by Billie Letts, Kill the Messenger by
Tami Hoag, Unlucky in Law by Perri
O’Shaughnessy, The Blackbird House by Alice
Hoffman, Kiss Me While I Sleep by Linda Howard,
Sam’s Letters to Jennifer by James Patterson, The
Rule of Four by Dustin Thomason, Day of the Dead
by J. A. Jance, Garden of Beasts by Jeffrey
Deaver, and My Life by Bill Clinton.
The Randy Hansen family recently donated
two beautiful books to the library in memory of
Max White and Shirley Cutright. These items will
be enjoyed by library patrons and are much
appreciated additions to the library’s collection.
Thanks to a donation to the Friends of the
Library that was designated for the encourage-
ment of reading for children, a nice selection of
Beginning Readers—both fiction and non-fiction
have recently been acquired. These include
information about topics such as bats, volca-
noes, wolves, and mummies.
The class action lawsuit against the top five
compact disc distributors involved in price fixing
in the 1990’s has been settled. As part of the set-
tlement approximately 5,540 music CD’s are
being distributed by states to not-for-profit corpo-
rations, charitable groups, and government enti-
ties such as schools and libraries. Thanks to the
effort of our State Library personnel, our library
has just received 46 of these varied music CD’s.
Be sure to look for these on your next visit to the
library.
Vernonia Public Library: 701 Weed Ave.
Hours: Mon., Wed., Fri. 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.;
Tues., Thur. 2 p.m. - 7 p.m.
Sat. 10 a.m. - 2 p.m.
Preschool Story Time: Mondays, 10:30
a.m., when school is in session.
Phone: (503 ) 429-1818
didn’t start the war – the terror-
ists did. If we back out now it
will do great damage to the
respect and confidence the
world has had in the United
States, as it’s protector and
defender.
Fellow Americans, please
seriously consider this crucial
issue, and the part you play in
this war. Freedom from fear is
one of the four freedoms our
U.S. Constitution upholds. Will
you help keep our country “free
from fear?” Will you uphold the
cause of true freedom? Or will
you suffocate it and cause free-
dom to die out?
Thank you, and my God
Bless America… and you.
Sincerely,
Michelle Huntington
Birkenfeld
Thank you all for a
great Jamboree!
To the Editor:
Dear Jamboree Committee,
City
Council,
Volunteers,
Vernonia Police, and all
involved:
In light of last year’s
response to how Jamboree
went, I thought it was neces-
sary to write this year to say
WOW!!!!! A JOB WELL
DONE. This was a very pleas-
ant festival and I think you all
deserve a big hats off.
It was nice to see everyone
so relaxed and working togeth-
er. Can’t wait till next year.
Thank you,
Toni Candiello
Vernonia
Thank you, Vernonia,
for exceptional help
To the Editor:
A BIG Thank You! To the
community of Vernonia and
Nehalem Valley Speed and
Beauty Car Club. We would like
to thank Glenda Delemos
especially for getting 9-1-1 on
the phone as fast as she did,
and all of the phone calls to
check on my grandmother.
Eula Gifffert “grandma” col-
lapsed Aug. 8 with what we
thought was a bump on the
head. As it turns out, she had a
bleed in the brain. She passed
away Aug. 12. To the car club
members, by-standers and all
of the EMT’s who helped pack
up all of our picnic stuff and put
them in our cars, which were in
the show that day, Thank You!
Without all of your help we
would not have been able to
get out of there as quick as we
did. To the Paramedics, thank
you for getting her to the hospi-
tal as quick as you did, and for
everything you did to make her
as comfortable as possible.
It is amazing what people do
for each other in a time of need!
We just wanted to thank every-
one who helped our family that
day.
Thank you all!
Clarence Giffert,
Ron Giffert,
David, Rauna, Chelsea,
Brooke & Brandan Johnson
Vernonia
Where is justice in
Washington County?
To the Editor:
Where is the justice? What
happened
to
justice
in
Washington Co., when an aver-
age everyday person gets
caught with $20.00 worth of ille-
gal drugs in their possession,
they are arrested and have to
post a min. bail of $2,000 which
is 10 percent of $20,000. By no
means am I condoning that it’s
right to have these drugs. But
where is the justice when a
man who was a city official until
his arrest and is charged with
11 counts of sex abuse by sex-
ually abusing two teenage
boys, which can affect those
boys for the rest of their lives,
can bail out of jail with only
posting a bail amount of
$1,113.00.
Obviously
in
Washington Co. it’s the person
who has the drugs, NOT the
person who messed up these
teenage boys lives and their
family and obviously has been
deceiving the people of
Cornelius. Where is the jus-
tice? Not in Washington Co.,
that’s for sure.
Jay Silas, Sr.
Banks
Ambulance volunteers
appreciate support
To the Editor:
We, the Vernonia Volunteer
Ambulance Association, would
like to take this opportunity to
thank the entire community for
their support during our garage
sale on July 30-31, 2004.
The Association is trying to
raise money to send a new vol-
unteer to Emergency Medical
Please see page 24