PRESORTED STANDARD
U.S. Postage Paid
Vernonia, OR 97064
Permit No. 37
“Voice of the Upper Nehalem River Valley”
Vol. 23, No. 16
Post-flood town hall on
mitigation process, more
The modular mash…
The removal of Vernonia School District’s water-damaged modular classrooms is one of
many jobs made necessary by last December’s flood.
Council accepts offer for old City Hall
At a special meeting of the
Vernonia City Council on Au-
gust 6, according to a press re-
lease from Interim City Admin-
istrator Jim Johnson, coun-
cilors decided to accept an of-
fer from Samuel and Elenora
Semerjian to purchase the old
city hall building, located at 919
Bridge Street in Vernonia for a
$67,000 cash offer.
According to information in
the guide for the Historic Walk-
ing Tour of Vernonia, the build-
ing was the Safeway grocery
store from 1935 until sometime
in the 1950s. The guide says,
“We believe the first store here
might have been Skagg’s Unit-
ed Store in 1924.” Old city hall
also housed the police station
and the city’s library.
In recent years the building
has deteriorated. The roof
Golf tourney for Summer Baseball
The 3rd annual Vernonia
Youth Summer Baseball Asso-
ciation Golf Tournament will be
held Saturday, August 23, start-
ing at 9:30 a.m., at the Vernon-
ia Golf Course.
The events include a 4-per-
son scramble and trophies for
longest drive, closest to pin,
and longest putt. The cost to
enter is $60 per person (tax de-
ductible) and includes the
greens fee and lunch. Club and
cart rentals are available. Play
will take place rain or shine.
This is a fundraiser for Ver-
nonia Youth Baseball. To re-
serve your place, call Melissa
at 503-429-0969 or Brent at
503-429-9352.
August 21, 2008
leaks, the plumbing has prob-
lems, the electrical systems
need to be upgraded, and the
rear of the building is in need of
structural repair work.
The building and land were
recently appraised by inde-
pendent appraiser Jeff Ben-
ham. He valued the property at
$85,000.
According to Mayor Sally
Harrison, the City decided to
accept an offer of less than the
appraised value for a number
of reasons. The mayor said the
City was worried about the ex-
pense of making roof repairs as
winter approaches, and Coun-
cilors wanted to get the proper-
ty back into private hands and
back on the tax rolls as quickly
as possible. The sale has the
added benefit of filling up an-
Please see page 4
The first of a series of Town
Hall meetings in Vernonia was
held August 19, from 7:00 to
9:00 p.m., at the Scout Cabin.
The meeting started with an
hour of information provided by
Bill Haack (ColPac), Dr. Ken
Cox (Vernonia Schools), Dan
Brown (Columbia County Flood
Plain Manager), Jim Tierney
(Columbia County Flood Relief
Director) and Columbia County
Commissioner Tony Hyde.
Presentations included pro-
cess information with examples
of hazard mitigation. The focus
was on substantially damaged
homes (50 percent or more
damaged) and gave an idea of
the complexities involved in
each possible decision; lifting
homes, buy-outs and moves.
Tierney stressed that each
situation is being reviewed on
an individual basis since so
many factors, such as whether
the home had flood insurance,
can affect each home.
Dr. Cox provided an over-
view of the work of the Oregon
Solutions team, which was put
together by Governor Kulon-
goski, to help with siting and
funding of new schools, and re-
ferred to the informational letter
each home in the school district
received this week with similar
information.
Commissioner Hyde remind-
ed those in attendance that, af-
ter the 1996 flood, it took two
years for federal money to start
flowing into the community so
homes could be lifted, and that
only about 16 homes were lift-
ed then. This time, more
homes are affected and money
is starting to flow already.
This meeting kicked off a se-
ries of monthly informational
meetings expected to run for
the next six to 12 months.
Compared with town hall meet-
ings held soon after the 2007
flood, which ran to packed
houses in the grade school
gymnasium, only 35-45 people
were at this meeting and the
questions and comments from
the audience were much less
emotionally charged than those
Please see page 5
Hwy. 47 will close
for culvert work.
See page 5
School starting so drive carefully
Be prepared for a longer
commute due to the addition of
school buses being out and
about, and increased vehicular
traffic as a result of teenagers
driving to school.
Expect the unexpected,
Blood Drive Aug. 5th
A Red Cross Blood Drive will
be held at the Vernonia Com-
munity Church, 957 State Ave.,
on Wednesday, August 27,
from 1:30 to 6:30 p.m.
Identification is required in
order to donate. To schedule
an appointment, or for more in-
formation, call the American
Red Cross at 503-528-5593.
watch for children darting out
into the street or children riding
their bicycles, especially during
the dark hours of the morning.
Be patient and observe the
law when approaching or fol-
lowing a school bus that acti-
vates its stop arm for loading
and unloading children.
Be very mindful of intersec-
tions where children are prone
to gather for the bus or at des-
ignated bus stops.
When traveling in or around
areas where schools are locat-
ed, be aware that the speed
limit has been reduced. The
speed in a school zone is 20
mph.