The INDEPENDENT, December 1, 2005
Readers cause Miller to say “Got milk?”
Vernonia High School Sports Report
By Ben Schorzman
The Vernonia Kindergarten through fifth grade classes read 2,058 books in five weeks, ex-
ceeding the goal necessary to cause Principal Aaron Miller to milk a cow. Miller is the one
kneeling above as he milks Pepper Ann, the cow, provided by George and Judy Marsh of Cor-
nelius. Judy Marsh is at the cow’s rear, helping while acting Superintendent Ann Kingsley
holds the reins and offers encouragement.
Lee wins trip to D.C. for writing essay
Dalan Lee, a junior at Ver-
nonia High School, recently
won a trip to Washington, D.C.
Lee wrote an essay on patriot-
ism winning the trip sponsored
by the Oregon Chapter of the
Colonial Dames.
The Colonial Dames is a
group of women selected on
their historical ancestry to pre-
serve all things with historical
significance, to educate fellow
citizens on our country’s histo-
ry, to stimulate a spirit of true
patriotism and to honor the
memory of historic ancestors.
Here is the essay, entitled
Patriotism;
Webster’s dictionary defines
the word patriotism as “devo-
tion to one’s country.” This is a
very vague statement and in
the wake of the turmoil of past
few years one must reexamine
what it means to be a “patriot”
for your country. I believe that
to be a through and through
one hundred percent patriot in
a democracy you must always
question our countries logic
and to always voice your opin-
ion whenever possible. The
beauty of a true democracy of
course is that you can disagree
with the government and do
something about it.
Democracy also has a dra-
matic downfall; that is that a
choice few citizens of a demo-
cratic country think that their
opinions matter above all else
and this leads to riots and van-
dalism that could lead to the
cause of many deaths that did-
n’t need to happen, all because
of a political election that didn’t
swing their way. What I’m trying
to say is that a true patriot
takes the good with the bad; he
or she believes so much in the
values of a true democracy that
nobody, not even the president
of that country should get in the
way of that country’s freedom.
To love your country is not
so much as to love the lakes,
streams and dirt beneath your
feet but to love the values and
ideals for which it stands and
the grounds for which it was
created. The kamikaze fighter
pilots of World War II are an ex-
cellent example of the word pa-
triotism, men willingly commit-
ted fiery suicide for the idea to
protect their homeland, I can
think of no greater devotion to a
single ideal.
Devotion to your country and
devotion to your government
are two very different things.
The government makes the de-
cisions and represents your
countries ideals and values to
you and other nations. Patrio-
tism, I believe should not re-
quire you to be loyal to govern-
ment, but to check its decision
making and its representation
of you. It’s as much your coun-
try as it is theirs, sometimes
more.
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Page 11
Football
The Vernonia fall sports sea-
son was wrapped up on No-
vember 22 with the Fall Sports
Dessert. At the dessert, the All-
league players were an-
nounced and the team did very
well. Senior Russell Lende was
1st team All-League Punter
and 1st team Defensive Back;
Senior Bryan Budge was 1st
team Defensive End; Junior
Willie Hansen, 1st team Offen-
sive Line; Sophomore Jeremy
Lende, 2nd team Tight End; Ju-
nior Luke Johnston 2nd team
Fullback; and Junior Brent
Thompson 2nd team Line-
backer. Thompson got the
nomination at Linebacker, but
he could’ve been nominated at
Running back, too. He aver-
aged just over 100 yards rush-
ing a game. Russell Lende av-
eraged 35 yards a kick as a
punter; Coach Funderburg said
with a smile “Unfortunately, that
means that we had to punt a lot
this season.”
The team graduates three
seniors, Lende, Budge, and
John Howley, and they were
significant
season.
contributors
this
Volleyball
One player from the team
received All-league honors this
year, Senior Kristin Cota re-
ceived 3rd team honors.
Winter sports
Winter sports are underway
with boys and girls basketball
and wrestling. Games start No-
vember 29 with both basketball
teams traveling to Catlin Gabel.
On December 2, the boys play
Amity at home. The girls also
play at home. All home games
start at 3:00 p.m. with the JV
Girls, followed by JV Boys at
4:30 p.m., Varsity Girls at 6:30
p.m., and Varsity Boys at 7:30
p.m.
The wrestlers start with a
tournament at Banks on De-
cember 2. On December 8,
they wrestle at home with Sea-
side and Amity visiting. You can
go online to the Vernonia
School District’s home page at
<www.vernonia.k12.or.us> and
follow the links to the high
school page, then athletics to
get schedules for any of the
teams.