PRESORTED STANDARD
U.S. Postage Paid
Vernonia, OR 97064
Permit No. 37
“Voice of the Upper Nehalem River Valley”
Vol. 20, No. 22
To help others…
Old error causes Goodman resignation
By Noni Andersen
Vernonia City Council mem-
ber Shirley Goodman has re-
signed after learning she is not
an eligible voter in the City of
Vernonia. She was elected in
November, 2004, and was
serving her first year in office.
The Knott Street property
Northrup Creek
recreation area
open to public
Vernonia Lions President Bill James presented Vernonia
Cares Director Sandy Welch with a donation to help pro-
vide Christmas food boxes to needy families.
Donations needed to help
fill Christmas food boxes
If supporting funds allow,
Vernonia Cares Food Bank
plans to offer Christmas holiday
food boxes to low income
households within the Vernonia
community.
Registration
opened November 1 and the
deadline is December 9. The
boxes will be disbursed during
the week before Christmas as
registered households pick
them up from Vernonia Cares
Food Bank.
The holiday food boxes will
contain the basic groceries for
a Christmas meal. “Our target
group is the households who
fall within the food bank income
guidelines,” said Vernonia
Cares Director Sandy Welch.
“That is $1475 gross income
per month for single person
households, plus $503 per
month for each additional per-
son in the household.”
Applications may be ob-
tained and submitted at the
food bank, which is open Tues-
day and Thursday from 10:00
a.m. to 2:00 p.m. It is located in
the American Legion Hall at
627 Adams Avenue. Forms
may also be requested by call-
ing 503-429-1414. Please
leave clear information with
names and addresses. All ap-
plications must be received by
Vernonia Cares by December
9. That allows time to fill the
boxes with the appropriate
amount of food for the house-
hold size. Only pre-registered
households will be served.
“At this point, we are plan-
ning to provide this service and
praying the food and funds ar-
rive to support it,” Welch em-
phasized. “We’ve been unable
to set aside the usual holiday
groceries during the year be-
cause of the high demand for
monthly food assistance during
2005. We’ve had great support
for the holiday food boxes from
our community in the past and
I’m looking to them again this
year. Thus far, the Vernonia Li-
Please see page 21
November 17, 2005
The Northrup Creek area
north of Jewell on the east side
of the Clatsop State Forest is
again open to the public, ac-
cording to the Oregon Depart-
ment of Forestry.
Area roads have been
closed for the last five months
for construction of Northrup
Creek Horse Camp. Although
the campground is not com-
pletely finished, ODF has re-
opened the area to the public.
The area near the Foster Main-
line logging road is popular
among hunters.
Nearby trails remain under
construction and, due to the wet
weather, are not recommended
for use by horses at this time.
All trails near the campground
are limited to non-motorized
use and closed to all-terrain ve-
hicles (ATV). ATV use in the
campground also is prohibited.
Campground rules are posted
for more information.
Construction of the 11-site
campground began last May
and will continue through the
winter, with several sites
closed to public use during this
time. Some sites are available
for camping, and fees will be
charged for campground use.
Northrup Creek Horse Camp
will hold a grand opening in the
spring of 2006. For more infor-
mation about the facility, con-
tact Bryan Nielsen, Astoria Dis-
trict Recreation Coordinator,
503-325-5451.
where Goodman lives is partial-
ly within the city limits and par-
tially in Columbia County. For
more than two decades, she
has received ballots for elec-
tions regarding city issues and
candidates, therefore, she con-
sidered herself a resident of
Vernonia.
State law is specific regard-
ing residency for voting purpos-
es. If a property is within two ju-
risdictions, as in this case
(county and city), the location
of the residence determines the
jurisdiction for voter registra-
tion. The Goodman residence
is in the county portion of their
property so when she first reg-
istered to vote from that ad-
dress…about 25 years ago
…she should have been placed
in a rural Vernonia precinct, not
in a city precinct. The mistake
was made long ago and was
just recently discovered.
Some residents have asked
what could be done to put Good-
man back on the council. That
is technically possible, but it
would be a lengthy process.
Like most jurisdictions, the Ver-
nonia City Charter requires a
candidate for office to reside in
the city for at least one year.
Before Goodman could do that,
she would have to move into
the city; build or move her home
inside the city limits, or request
annexation into the city. Annex-
ation would be difficult because
the city’s Urban Growth Bound-
ary does not include the part of
Knott Street where the Good-
man home is located.
After all that she would still
have to wait at least one year in
order to establish residency.
The Vernonia City Council
accepted Goodman’s resigna-
tion, with regrets, at their No-
vember 7 meeting. The city will
advertise for applicants to fill
the councilor position, then the
council will interview and vote
on a replacement.
47J Board reinstates food service
employee; looks at finger scans
The November 10 Vernonia
School Board meeting began
with a call from the district’s at-
torney, who recommended a
reinstatement agreement for a
former district employee.
Following that cryptic begin-
ning, the board ended the
meeting by voting unanimously
to reinstate a food service per-
son with a reinstatement
agreement. No additional infor-
mation was provided to the
public on the issue addressed.
In between the odd begin-
ning and end, other business
was conducted.
Finger Scans
Board member Kim Wallace
reported on a trip that she, par-
ent Liz White and two students
took to observe how the finger-
print scanner worked at the
Rainier school cafeteria. They
were all impressed by the way
the cafeteria lines moved in
Please see page 15
Keenon appointed
interim surveyor
Vernonia resident Jerry
Keenon has agreed to serve as
interim Columbia County Sur-
veyor to fill the vacancy result-
ing from the death of long-time
County Surveyor Phil Dewey.
The County Surveyor is an
elective position and Mr.
Dewey’s term would have run
through 2008. Keenon will
serve until January 3, 2006, al-
lowing time for the county
Board of Commissioners to ad-
vertise the vacancy and ap-
point an interim surveyor until
the May, 2008 election.
Mr. Dewey’s obituary may
be found on page 21.