The INDEPENDENT, October 20, 2005
Page 3
Letters
Service
members
cheered by contact
To the Editor:
I would like to thank every-
one who has signed the cards
and banners for our military, at
the fourth of July festivities and
at several yards sales this sum-
mer. Three of the banners have
been sent. The two which have
arrived at the bases were re-
ceived with much appreciation.
The third banner should have
arrived at its intended Army
base sometime in the last two
weeks.
Your kind words and signa-
tures on these items really do
cheer up these guys and gals.
These are emails I received
from “my” young Marine and
his SSgt when they received
their banner with a couple hun-
dred Vernonian signatures: July
28, 2005, “Wow…got 2 pack-
ages today. oh my. i would like
to extend our deepest thank
yous. that banner you guys had
put together was amazing.
Between the Bookends
By Nancy Burch, Librarian
Vernonia Public Library
October is such a dra-
matic month. It assaults
the senses in so many
ways — sights, smells,
touch, and even one’s
hearing and taste. The
leaves are gorgeous with
their many colors; wood
stoves and burning leaves
produce odors that one
smells only once a year; the air feels crisp and
invigorating; the wind causes the remaining
leaves to rustle while the thuds of football hel-
mets, pep bands and referee’s whistles can be
heard at schools around the country; and just
thinking about juicy apples and spicy pumpkin
pie makes the mouth water. It’s also the time of
year when one thinks about the upcoming winter
weather and wonders what will be in store this
year. The Old Farmer’s Almanac has been used
for many years for forecasting the weather and
the library has just purchased the 2006 edition
for both adults and children. Even though this lit-
tle yellow book is associated mainly with weath-
er forecasting, its first and foremost annual re-
sponsibility is to present the astronomical struc-
ture of the forthcoming year as it relates to us
here on earth. Since its first issue in 1792, the Al-
manac has served as a weekly, monthly, and an-
nual calendar, and has offered a sort of human
agenda in harmony with the earth’s place in the
universe. If you are lucky enough to have saved
issues throughout the years, you’re in for a real
treat as you reread them. The library has only a
few copies, but does have a volume entitled The
Best of the Old Farmer’s Almanac—The First
200 Years . This contains such pearls of wisdom
as this cure called the Hungarian Hat Trick for
drinking too much alcohol, as follows: “Place a
hat on a bedpost. Get into bed and start drinking.
When you see two hats, stop drinking.” How
about “Do nothing in great haste except catching
fleas and running from a mad dog.” Then there’s
this good common-sense advice “Don’t be idle,
plan your daily activities, send your children to
school, stay on the farm, avoid hard liquor, watch
every penny, mend your fences, and be good to
your wife.” Be sure to look for these issues on
your next visit to the library and don’t forget to
look for this winter’s weather prediction. By the
way, Birds and Blooms magazine tells us that
woolly bear caterpillars can be weather predic-
tors—If they have lots of black segments, expect
a harsh winter and if the segments are reddish-
brown, expect a mild winter.
Through the month of October, youngsters
may guess the number of candy and other Hal-
loween-related items in the containers in the li-
brary. Winners will be announced during the Oc-
tober 31 Reading Enrichment program, between
3:30 and 4:30. Youngsters are also encouraged
to guess the answer to the daily Halloween rid-
dle that is displayed on the bulletin board in the
library’s entryway.
This time of year means that programs for
adults will once again be taking place. Saturday,
November 5 at 1:00 p.m., Merv Johnson will be
at the library presenting a program on historic
logging. He will be showing slides of early log-
gers and logging equipment. This should be a
very interesting program and the community is
invited to attend. There will be no charge and re-
freshments will be served.
The library has the latest issues of Good
Housekeeping, Ladies’ Home Journal, Redbook,
County, Taste of Home, Country Living, Country
Extra, Reminisce, Family Fun – all reflecting the
Fall theme. New acquisition, Holiday & Celebra-
tions Cookbook 2005 , features all kinds of the-
matic treats for the palate, including Evil Eye
Truffles and Goblin Eyeballs. For a good Hal-
loween scare you might want to try Dean
Koontz’s Frankenstein Books 1 & 2, the old
Hitchcock video— Psycho , something by John
Saul or Stephen King or how about Edgar Allen
Poe’s Tales of Suspense ?
Everyone may not want to be frightened but
would like something to read while sitting by that
warm fire watching leaves fall. At least one of the
new acquisitions should meet that need. They in-
clude School Days by Robert B. Parker, A
Breath of Snow and Ashes by Diana Gabaldon,
The Divide by Nicholas Evans, The Last Days of
Dogtown by Anita Diamant, A Sudden Country
by Karen Fisher, or The Sunflower by Richard
Paul Evans, Burning Fence by Craig Lesley, or
The Price of Silence by Kate Wilhelm.
Saturday, October 29 at 7 p.m. will be the first
Family Movie night at the library. Fresh popcorn
and apple juice will be provided. This first movie
night will feature a comedy from the past that will
be enjoyable and suitable for all ages.
Experience this season to the utmost and
don’t forget the library as a source of sugges-
tions to make it more enjoyable.
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. - 4 p.m.
Preschool Story Time: Mondays, 10:30
a.m., when school is in session.
Phone: (503 ) 429-1818
we’ve go it hanging right in our
office. as soon as you walk in,
you can’t help but notice it. we’ll
be the envy of all the other peo-
ple around. we took some pic-
tures of it with us in front of it,
and we’ll send them your way
later tonight.”
A few hours later: “Hi Cat.
Well I think that that banner
was a wonderful idea. When
we hung it up, we just kind of
stood there in awe, looking at it.
We had seen stuff like that be-
fore, but nothing has been for
us like that. It was cool cause it
has our shop specifically on it,
and not just the mals 26.”
From his Sergeant that day:
“Ma'am, I’d like to take time to
thank you for this great looking
banner that you sent out to
Steve. We hung it inside our of-
fice space and took pics and
I’m sure you will get them soon.
Thank you for all your support.
Your friend, Jason”
Thank You to all who helped!
Be sure write some cards and
letters to put in the drop boxes.
Cat Ross
Vernonia
Condemnation legal,
but bad government
To the Editor:
Recently the U.S. Supreme
Court approved of the right of
local governments to use their
condemnation power [to] take
away peoples’ homes and busi-
nesses to transfer the use of
the property to big corpora-
tions. A lot of folks – both pro-
gressives and conservatives –
objected to this saying that if a
big corporation wanted your
land and you didn’t want to sell
that should be the end of it.
We now have right here in
our own backyard the Port of
St. Helens proposing to con-
demn and dispossess the
Thompson family from their
farm outside Clatskanie to
transfer the use of the property
to a New York-based corpora-
tions that the Thompsons have
refused to sell to.
The Scappoose-Spitzenberg
Citizen Planning Advisory Com-
mittee took up the issue of this
use of the condemnation power
at its last meeting and passed a
resolution condemning the
Port’s use of or the threat to
use its condemnation power to
dispossess people from their
homes and farms in favor of
third party corporations. If you
think the Port’s actions are an
abuse of power, now is the time
to say so. If they can do it to the
Thompsons they can do it to
any of us; if they get away with
it in Clatskanie sooner or later
they’ll try it in the south county.
If the Port doesn’t change its
mind on this it may be the time
for all of us to start thinking
about abolishing the Port and
ending the Port’s long line of
misadventures once and for all.
Michael Sheehan
Scappoose
Bridge St. crossings
are not safe for kids
To the Editor:
It is not safe for our children
to cross Bridge Street on their
way to school in the morning.
When the children get to the
crosswalk at Washington and
Bridge they end up waiting a
long time before they can cross
safely. Most of the cars are in
too much of a hurry and they
don’t notice the children waiting
to cross. Some are simply not
paying attention.
We teach our children not to
step off the curb until all traffic
has come to a complete stop.
This is the problem. In most
cases the cars don’t stop un-
less a pedestrian steps off the
curb and starts crossing in front
of them. I have seen students
step off the curb in front of mov-
ing traffic just so they can get to
school on time.
Banks, Hillsboro, Beaverton
and many other cities provide
blinking lights and student
crossing safety signs in front of
their schools. I think it is time
for the city of Vernonia to install
blinking yellow lights at both
ends of the schools on Bridge
Street for our children’s safety.
It shouldn’t take a tragedy be-
fore something is done.
Shawna and Adam Lloyd
Janet and Richard Moore
Vernonia
County Parks Dep’t
says thanks for help
To the Editor:
Columbia County Forest
Parks and Recreation would
like to thank all the volunteers
who have donated time and
money to the County Parks.
Please see page 21