The INDEPENDENT, April 21, 2005
Page 17
Timberline Topics
Vernonia High School is not publishing
Timberline, the school newspaper,
this year. This space has been made
available so the VHS journalism stu-
dents work can be published. Only
spacing and fonts have been changed.
SOLV Clean Up Day
Help Paint the V.H.S Football
Grandstands!
By Samantha Gunter
On April 28th, the leadership
class will be pressure washing
the V.H.S grandstands so that
they can paint on May 6th and
7th. The leadership class is
inviting the community to volun-
teer to help with this project.
The students picked this proj-
ect not only for the football fans
but for the class of 2005’s grad-
uation.
This project will bring more
pride to the school and commu-
nity. The whole school will be
involved in helping paint but,
because of regulations, the stu-
dents can only go so high and
do so much. That is why we
need community members to
help us paint the higher parts of
the grandstands.
The Leadership class has al-
ready asked for donations for
paint and paint brushes, but if
you have anything that you
would like to donate, it would
be greatly appreciated. If you
would like to volunteer or you
have a donation of some sort to
give to the Leadership class for
painting the grandstands,
please contact Samantha Gun-
ter at V.H.S (503) 429-3521.
OSSOM
By Torin Tierney
Have you, your child, or your
friend ever been unable to think
Left, John Howley painting
posters in Leadership Class.
Below, Kristel Norby and
Larinda
Botchie
paint
posters for S.O.L.V.
of something to do on Friday or
Saturday night, so you found
yourself going to do something
illegal or wasting the night
away. There is an organization
here for you. OSSOM stands
for Oregon Student Safety On
the Move, and it is an anti-drug
and alcohol program that offers
alternative activities.
The OSSOM program is
sponsored by the school, and
consists of students, a law en-
forcement officer, and school
advisors. The law enforcement
representative is Officer Kay,
the K-9 Unit in town. The two
school representatives are Ms.
Streeter and Ms. Webb, and
the rest of the members of OS-
SOM are students. The struc-
ture of OSSOM is just like any
other organization. There is a
president, a vice president, a
secretary, a treasurer, and a
project coordinator. The presi-
dent of OSSOM is Mackenzie
Basset; the vice president is
Lindsey Lennen; Kristen Cota
is the project coordinator;
Amanda Rogel is the secretary,
and the treasurer is Elise Blum.
Some of the parents of the stu-
dents, such a Robin Basset as
City Administrator, or Michelle
Blum who started the “Youth In
Action” group, are also actively
involved with young people in
the community. With parents
like these, you know the kids
will do a good job.
The main point of OSSOM is
to promote awareness about
drugs and alcohol. They also
help, find sober alternative ac-
tivities for OSSOM members to
do. Depending on the school
and the level of support, the al-
ternatives may include activi-
ties like all night concerts and
all night bowling. In a small
town like Vernonia, it is often
hard for kids to think of things to
do that would be fun. This fact
leads many high-schoolers to
begin using substances. OS-
SOM hopes to fill the gap with
bowling, movies, or shopping. It
is not that kids in the city are
substance free, but they do
have more alternatives in the
city. The more options for going
out of town, the less they will
blame their boredom on Ver-
nonia. Because we live forty-
five minutes from the nearest
entertainment, it is hard for
families to afford the cost and
time. Theoretically, OSSOM
could host an activity every
weekend as long as there was
enough funding and adult sup-
port.
When I first heard of OS-
Left to right- Kristin Cota, Elise Blum, Lindsay Lennen,
Mackenzie Bassett
SOM, I thought they were a
group of around ten of the go-
getters in the school, but I was
wrong. After attending a meet-
ing, I realized they were a large
group of forty to fifty people.
These were some of the most
popular people in the school.
With forty to fifty people to
choose from, anyone will find
someone to get along with.
Members have to pledge to be
drug and alcohol free and
Local named to Vernonia’s Kindergarten Round-
SOU Dean’s List up at Washington School May 6
Jamie Easlon, of Vernonia,
was named to the Winter 2005
Dean’s List at Southern Ore-
gon University (SOU). Stu-
dents on the Dean’s List have
completed 12 or more graded
credits and attained a 3.50 or
higher grade point average.
SOU, located in Ashland, is
a contemporary public liberal
arts and sciences university.
Vernonia
Kindergarten
Round-Up will be May 6 from
8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at Wash-
ington Grade School (WGS).
Children must be five years old
before September 1, 2005, to
register for the 2005-06 school
year.
When registering, be sure to
bring:
• State issued Birth Certifi-
cate: Hospital copies are not
acceptable. There will be forms
available at registration to or-
der an Oregon state certificate
if needed.
• Immunization Records:
Children will not be allowed to
attend the first day of class if
immunizations are not com-
plete.
For those unable to attend
registration, forms will be avail-
able at WGS office after May 6.
spend some volunteer hours
promoting drug-free activities.
Parents, if OSSOM is going
to succeed, it needs members
and volunteers. If you have a
high school student, encourage
them to join OSSOM. It is a
year round program, so they
can join anytime. OSSOM also
needs parents to help them out
by volunteering to take an
evening and chaperone an
event. Many kids do not want to
ask their parents to chaperone
and others may be afraid to ask
someone else’s parents. Com-
munity members, who have
suggestions about OSSOM or
want to comment about OS-
SOM, feel free to come to the
meetings and volunteer.
Vernonia Sentry
Market,
West Oregon
Electric Cooperative,
Wilcox & Flegel,
and The Independent
provided the space
for this issue of
Timberline Topics
Computer Counselors
Doug Tesdal and Glenda Delemos
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