The INDEPENDENT, September 16, 2004
Page 3
Letters
Kid campers express
thanks for lots of fun
To the Editor:
We, the Kindergarten boys
and the first aid team of
Echoing Evergreen Camp at
Camp Wilkerson, would like to
say thank you to all of our spon-
sors. Camp was so much fun
and we can’t wait to come back
next year. We especially liked
the B-B guns and archery.
Bailey Morrison won a sharp
shooter award. Tristan Adams
and Blake Clark really enjoyed
the meadow games. Daniel
Fletcher enjoyed the snow
cone snacks. Jacob Butcher
liked learning to cook thumb
print bread. Jack Doile really
enjoyed the ambulance tour.
Johnny Levinseller loved roast-
ing and eating hot dogs. Sierra
Roberts enjoyed the dipping
candle station. Melissa Zavales
enjoyed teaching all the kids
first aid. We would like to
extend a special thank you to
Kathy Ward and Katie Poetter
and all the volunteers for a
wonderful camp experience.
We love camp!
Echoing Evergreen
campers
Vernonia
(Ed. note: Even receiving this letter
was fun; it came on a 3x4’ sheet of
orange paper.)
Waste Management
loss unsubstantiated
To the Editor:
I went to last week’s City
Council meeting to understand
why we might lose a valuable
and necessary asset like our
transfer station. We heard a
representative
of
Waste
Management claim the transfer
station loses $1,000 every day
it’s open. We were told that to
“stop the bleeding” our transfer
station must close. The only
alternative considered was to
substantially raise the rates.
You pay too little here in
Vernonia, we were told.
Let me offer another view. It
is worth noting the differences
between our station and the St.
Helens transfer station. The St.
Helens station has a expensive
compactor, vehicle scales, and
an office with power, water,
sewer and telephone services.
They also have several pieces
of heavy equipment, an acre of
asphalt paving, at least four
employees and an expensive
piece of real estate across the
street from Wal-Mart. Vernonia
has none of that overhead.
Maybe the extra cost comes
from their habit of trucking the
garbage to St. Helens before
they drive it to McMinnville.
Between the Bookends
By Nancy Burch, Librarian
Vernonia Public Library
It’s hard to believe sum-
mer has ended and anoth-
er school year has begun.
At the library, this means
that pre-school story time
will again be taking place
on Monday mornings at
10:30 and that the
Reading Enrichment after
school programs will soon
be starting. Flyers will soon be available in the
library, as well as at the school, announcing the
dates and times for these activities for young-
sters ages 6-12.
In the planning stages is yet another library
program for youngsters. At least one evening a
month, at around 7:00 p.m., youngsters will be
able to listen to some stories just before bed-
time. Since this will be likened to a bedtime story
time, the children may come in their pajamas,
then just go home and hop into bed. Times for
this new program will also be announced shortly,
with its continuation determined by attendance.
Adults may start clearing their schedules and
marking their calendars for two Chautauqua pro-
grams scheduled for this fall. On Tuesday,
October 19 at 7:00 p.m., Jeni Foster, of Grants
Pass, will be entertaining with a program enti-
tled, My Grandfather’s Immigrant Eyes: Songs
and History of the Irish Emigration to America.
Foster will combine historical narrative with tradi-
tional Irish music to create a portrait of both the
Irish who made new lives for themselves in
America and those who stayed behind and
struggled with the loss of their sons and daugh-
ters. Myron Lane, our wonderful library board
member and maker of colorful, informative fly-
ers, is currently at work publicizing this event.
The second Chautauqua program to keep in
mind will be on Thursday, November 18, at 2:00
p.m. Mary Bywater Cross will present a program
entitled, The Ties that Bind: Quilts of the
Community. These free programs are sponsored
by the Oregon Council for the Humanities, and
the local Friends of the Library.
If you would like to be involved with promoting
presentations such as these, with fund-raising
events such as the annual book sale or gift wrap-
ping books at Barnes & Noble, or if you would
just like to see what the Friends of the Library is
all about, you are encouraged to attend the next
meeting on Tuesday, October 5, at 7:00 p.m. in
the library.
The current display table features—Guess
what! School! Cam Jansen and the First Day of
School Mystery, Back to School for Rotten Ralph, The
School Skeleton, Arthur’s Back-to-School Surprise,
Back-to-School Belly Busters, and Amelia Bedelia
Goes Back to School are some of the new titles that
youngsters will find on this table. Adults will also
find some titles featuring school, or school
teachers, on display.
New acquisitions look very promising. They
include Trace by Patricia Cornwell, The Dangerous
Hour by Marcia Muller, Sammy’s Hill by Kristin
Gore, Strange But True by John Searles, Night
Swimming by Robin Schwarz, Murder List by Julie
Garwood, High Country Fall by Margaret Maron,
An Unfinished Life by Mark Spragg, Amagansett by
Mark Mills, and A Taint in the Blood by Dana
Stabenow. I am familiar with, and very fond of
some of these authors; others are entirely new to
me, but look very promising. I can hardly wait to
choose and begin reading.
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
Don’t get me wrong. If pay-
ing a little more is justified, I will
gladly pay the cost. However, I
would first like to know that
someone has really looked into
Waste Management’s claim of
losing $1,000 per Saturday.
After more than a hundred uses
of the transfer station, I have
never seen a single cash
receipt prepared there. Any
regular user of the transfer sta-
tion is so used to long lines they
are unlikely to believe Waste
Management’s other claim that
they average only 100 vehicles
per Saturday. I for one, am
unhappy about a doubling of
our rates with no questions
asked.
I find the history leading to
this discussion is particularly
interesting. The conversation
leading to the threat to close
the transfer station came up
when the City asked Waste
Management why it did not col-
lect a franchise fee for the busi-
ness at the transfer station. To
my ear, Waste Management’s
response sounds like a negoti-
ation tactic. It would be useful
for them to remember that they
have a lot more to lose than the
transfer station business.
Waste Management should be
on notice. Its customers up
here in the valley are watching
how this plays out, and the next
time the garbage franchise
comes up to bid, our voices will
be heard.
Casey Mitchell
Vernonia
City should be more
open to $$ increase
To the Editor:
I am not a person that is par-
tial to parting with my “treas-
ures”, so I tend to recycle when
managing my waste. On the
few occasions that I have
decided that “things must go”, I
have enjoyed the services of
the
city-owned
Waste
Management Transfer Station
located in close proximity to my
whims and caprice. I have also
enjoyed the fees they charge
and have always felt that they
were “more” than fair and equi-
table.
It has come to my attention
that Waste Management (WM)
has notified the city that
because of cost restraints they
will be forced to drop their fran-
chise. This leaves two options
to the local community in a very
short time frame; truck your
offal to Forest Grove or St.
Helens. Since I have used
Forest Grove’s facility I will
make comment that the
garbage fees for a ≤ ton pick-up
load runs from $45-$65 (stan-
dard fee; not based on weight)
and that one offloads their own
trash into open bins. A run to
Forest Grove takes up more of
my time and utilizes more fuel
than I care to burn.
Since I do not handle “con-
jecture” willingly, I stopped by
city hall after reading the small
post in The Independent to get
some pertinent information with
regards to “managing waste in
the city of Vernonia.” Upon ask-
ing a few simple questions
about tonnage and transfer
costs, I was told that this infor-
mation
was
“privileged”
because of “constraints by
WM” about releasing this data.
Somewhat baffled by this
response I asked for [a contact
person] at WM and was given
the name of the Operations
Manager for Columbia County.
I e-mailed this person and
asked:
1. How many tons of waste
was hauled from the Vernonia
site, and
2. What was the amount of
dollars this site accrued/ton?
Within two days I had a
response via e-mail: From
April 2003 to March 2004 the
Vernonia transfer station cus-
tomer count was 2835 vehicles
that brought in a total of 595.08
tons and produced $36,826.50
of revenue; costs per customer
an average of $61.88/ton;
WM’s cost to dispose and
transfer this garbage to
McMinnville is $65.18/ton.
Why this information was
held “sub rosa” and kept in the
dark from the community is
beyond me. In order for WM to
continue their excellent servic-
es and not carry on business
“in the red” is a simple
rate/vehicle increase of $10, or
$20 for a month worth of usage
– the price of 10 lattes. This is
a no-brainer for me and I can-
not for the life of me understand
the city’s position on nixing a
rate increase and, to make
matters worse, why they would
put this community’s access to
this facility in jeopardy because
of some policy that has only
made things worse.
In conclusion, I just want to
Please see page 17