The independent., December 13, 2007, Page Page 9, Image 9

The INDEPENDENT, December 13, 2007
Page 9
Vernonia High School basketball team was able to play at Gaston
By Zack Palmer, of the News-
Times. Reprinted by permis-
Jason Weller, a junior at Ver-
nonia High School, on the
basketball court at Gaston
on Friday, December 7. With
Vernonia’s schools all dam-
aged and made uninhabit-
able by the recent flood, it
was uplifting to have the
team be able to play this
game. Practice on Thursday
was held at Pacific Universi-
ty. Photo courtesy of the
News-Times.
sion
With their neighbors from
Vernonia reeling after last
week’s flash flooding, Gaston
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residents showed their support
by donating the proceeds from
Friday night’s basketball game
to a school and community in
need.
According to Gaston High
School athletic director Tim Oli-
etti, the decision to turn Fri-
day’s basketball doubleheader
with Vernonia into a fundraising
event for the neighboring com-
munity was a “shower moment”
— the sort of epiphany that
pops into one’s head without
warning.
“I was just standing there
and I thought, ‘Man, we should
really do something for them,’”
Olietti said. “If we’re going to
play, the least we can do is
make them feel welcome —
and not just say welcome, to
actually do something. I’m not
really into lip service.”
So when Gaston played host
to the Loggers on Friday, Oliet-
ti opened the gates — the cost
of admission was simply a do-
nation to Vernonia High School,
which was ravaged by last
week’s flooding of the Nehalem
River. Some fans paid the nor-
mal admission price, others
paid $20. One anonymous fan
dropped a $100 bill into the cof-
fer.
“I was very pleased,” Olietti
said of the $595 raised at the
gate — about six times what
Gaston typically takes in at a
boys and girls basketball dou-
bleheader. “I didn’t know what it
would come to and it didn’t re-
ally matter. We just wanted to
do something to help.”
Just getting back on the bas-
ketball court after last week’s
events would have been
enough for many involved with
the athletic program at Vernon-
ia.
“Right now we’re just work-
ing on getting these kids a little
sense of normalcy,” said Ver-
nonia athletic director Gordon
Jarman. “Playing that game
was very therapeutic for those
kids. It was good for them to get
their minds off everything else
that’s going on.”
Friday’s game almost didn’t
happen. Jarman called Olietti
on Wednesday morning and
left a voice mail saying that
they would probably have to
cancel the game in light of the
flooding. When Olietti called
back later in the day, however,
Jarman had gotten the blessing
of his two basketball coaches
and was ready to play.
“I wanted to check with the
coaches first and see how
many kids were directly affect-
ed by the flood,” Jarman said.
“After talking to them, they said
if we could get a practice facili-
ty lined up for Thursday they
thought we should try to play.”
A staff member with connec-
tions to Pacific University made
a few phone calls and the Log-
gers rolled up in a caravan of
buses on Thursday afternoon
to practice at Pacific Athletic
Center. The next night, Vernon-
ia’s four basketball teams (two
JV and two varsity) were back
in action against Gaston.
“I didn’t know about until af-
ter the game, but apparently
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