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About The independent. (Vernonia, Or.) 1986-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 13, 2007)
Page 16 The INDEPENDENT, December 13, 2007 Community gets flood of assistance from much wider community By Christian Gaston of the News-Times. Reprinted by per- mission. While western Washington County largely dodged the del- uge of last week’s storm, busi- nesses and community groups across the region have opened their pocketbooks to provide re- lief to the water-logged town of Vernonia. The Columbia County city, located north of Buxton on Highway 47, is less than 20 minutes from Banks — but it looked more like a coastal com- munity last Monday. Wedged into a valley at the confluence of the Nehalem Riv- er and Rock Creek, the timber town was inundated with mud- dy floodwaters, putting up to 40 percent of the town’s 2,340 res- idents under water. On Saturday, the federal government declared Oregon’s three hardest-hit counties, in- cluding Columbia County, a federal disaster area, making federal disaster assistance available to the citizens of Ver- nonia. Long before the federal dec- laration, however, truckloads of goods were being trundled up Highway 47 from western Washington County to help in the rebuilding effort. Michelle Gilbertson, branch manager of West Coast Bank in Forest Grove, has lived in Vernonia for 19 years. She re- members the last time the city was covered in mud, in 1996. Then, the city banded to- duties there, but instead be- came drafted as interim city ad- ministrator. Howard said city administrator Dick Kline got on a plane Tuesday to honor a family commitment on the East Coast. The task Howard inherited is staggering. “It’s going to take a while to get everything out of here,” Howard said. All of the city’s schools were affected to some degree by the packages for Vernonia. Michael Doherty, sales man- ager of Doherty Ford in Forest Grove, sent a 2006 Ford F150 loaded with supplies on Wednesday and has been col- lecting donations at the dealer- ship’s sales office since last Fri- day. “They faxed us a list of sup- plies that they need and we headed over Bi-Mart,” said Do- herty, who said his employees raided the shelves for every- gether in what was mostly a homegrown aid effort to mop up after the “100-year flood.”This time around, it’s a different story. As Gilbertson headed into Forest Grove Sat- urday, she was stunned to see a convoy of 20 big rigs heading north to her hometown. “Everything that was coming in, it was unbelievable,” Gilbert- son said. “It turned the town into a traffic jam but it’s helped in getting things cleaned up.” Aldie Howard, former Forest Grove planning director, head- ed into Vernonia on Tuesday to assume his part-time planning flood, but the high school may be a total loss. “The school was destroyed,” Howard said. “It’s just inundat- ed with water.” (While younger students are taking up tempo- rary classrooms in a local church, high schoolers began commuting to Scappoose this week.) By Wednesday, it was clear that the floodwaters which had threatened homes in Gales Creek and Forest Grove and made transportation tricky around Gaston were receding, and local business leaders were busy putting together care thing from sleeping bags and knit caps to duct tape and ibuprofen. “It was a lot of the lit- tle things that you don’t think about.” Doherty’s crew returned but left the truck for local residents to use. “We’ve got a lot of long- time customers out there,” Do- herty said. “They had a need and we had some resources.” The Forest Grove Chamber of Commerce’s holiday lighting committee put together a quick supply drive. Chamber Director Teri Koerner said the business group managed to gather a half a trailer of goods and $700 in cash. Lyle Spiesschaert drove the chamber’s donations to Ver- nonia in a truck still decked out from the Forest Grove Holiday Light Parade. Spiesschaert said the truck rolled through town playing Christmas music, a sort of double-dose of good- will. “We came in just after dark Please see page 17 Run with Extra Confidence with Chevron DELO 400 ™ PLUS MOTOR OIL The name you trust for: • Gasoline • Diesel Fuel • Oils • Solvents • Additives • Greases Winter is here… see us for A NTI F REEZE H EATING O IL CALL (503) 429-6606 WILCOX & FLEGEL 720 Rose Avenue • Vernonia Your Painting & Interior Specialist Vernonia, Oregon 503-830-6057 CCB# 159353
