The INDEPENDENT, August 21, 2008
Page 3
Letters
Health inspection of
Market not warranted
To The Editor:
The local Health Inspector,
in search of violations after a
phoned-in tip, recently inspect-
ed the Friday night Open Air
Market. Perhaps there were
some violations, perhaps not. I
don’t know; I wasn’t there.
Baked goods, frequently sold at
the venue and labeled as being
from non-certified kitchens,
were one possible concern. Ap-
parently, no illnesses had been
reported.
We live in a world where mil-
lions of people are homeless
due to war and natural disas-
ters. Countless people starve
to death each day. Our nation is
at war in two countries on the
other side of the world. Our
country’s economy is sliding
deeper into recession. In our
own county, over sixty percent
of the population are living at
the lower economic levels, just
making it day-to-day. Vernonia
has lost whole families to other,
more stable communities due
to the after-effects of the flood
among other problems.
Where is the sense of pro-
portion here? Next time we, as
citizens of this community, see
a problem, why not come to-
gether with possible solutions
instead of complaining, de-
stroying, or demanding that our
already over-taxed, over-bur-
dened, over-worked bureaucra-
cies “just fix it!” as if we, our-
selves, were uninvolved by-
standers in our own lives?
A local enterprise had
brought much needed income
to local inhabitants. Downtown
businesses certainly benefited,
especially the Buckhorn and
the Black Bear among others.
The questions we should all
be asking ourselves are: Do my
actions benefit the community?
Am I contributing to the greater
good? If we cannot honestly, in
good conscience answer YES
to these questions before we
act, perhaps we should hold
our peace until we can.
Sincerely,
Erika Paleck
Vernonia
Don’t put U.S. job on
Deputies’ shoulders
To The Editor:
Although I’ve never met
Wayne Mayo, it seems he has
a bone to pick with me.
While supporting his ballot
measures at a recent forum,
Mayo said that anyone who
doesn’t support 5-190 & 5-191
is a “bad American”. Since I find
these measures of his pointless
and potentially harmful to our
county, I guess he means me.
Just for the record, I’m a law-
abiding, tax-paying resident of
Columbia County. I served for a
couple of decades in the mili-
tary of our country. I’ve been
working, pretty much continu-
ously, since I was in my teens. I
Between the Bookends
By Nancy Burch, Librarian
Vernonia Public Library
The Friends of the Li-
brary had a wonderfully
successful book sale dur-
ing Jamboree weekend.
Several energetic ladies
worked many, many hours
to unpack, organize and
sell the books. Many fa-
vorable comments were
heard about the quality of
the books and the way they were organized and
displayed. People buying books must be some
of the nicest in the world. They are so happy to
find books to add to their collections at reason-
able prices while supporting worthwhile causes
such as Friends of the Library. Thank you all so
much for making this such a fabulous success.
The summer reading parade entry was fun,
well-received and garnered a 1st place in the
children’s division. Bill Sword deserves a huge
thank you for letting his wagon become a “buggy
float” and for pulling it with his trusty tractor. For
the youngsters who participate in the parade,
having candy to throw is great fun and Randy
Parrow of Sentry once again made this possible.
Thank you, Randy.
All in all, the summer programs were a big
success and youngsters have until September
1st to complete their reading goals and turn
them in at the library to receive their prizes.
With only a couple of weeks until school
starts, it’s still vacation time for many families.
To keep the vacationing spirit alive you might
want to watch RV starring Robin Williams as he
drags his reluctant family on a road trip in an at-
tempt for them to spend quality time together.
(This movie might make you glad you are home.)
Those who camp might enjoy the pictures and
articles about travel trailers of the past in the cur-
rent issue of Reminisce, entitled “On the Road
Again” and The Long, Long Trailer with Lucille
Ball has some of the funniest scenes imagina-
ble.
New books include Fractured by Karin
Slaughter, It Only Takes a Moment by Mary Jane
Clark, Breaking Dawn by Stephanie Meyer,
Damage Control by J. A. Jance, Time is a River
by Mary Alice Monroe and Off Season by Anne
Rivers Siddons. I’m currently reading The Condi-
tion by Jennifer Haigh. This novel is of particular
interest to me because Gwen, one of the main
characters, was born with the same genetic dis-
order (Turner’s Syndrome) as was one of our
children, and this is the only time I’ve ever seen
this particular condition mentioned except in
medical articles.
With football season starting soon, the family
movie this month will be Air Bud, Golden Receiv-
er to be shown at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, August
19th. The adult movie for August will be Driving
Miss Daisy to be shown Thursday the 28th at
7:00 p.m.
Book discussion will take place Monday, Au-
gust 25th at 5:30 p.m. with Beryl Markham’s
memoir, West With the Night , being the featured
book.
Vernonia Public Library: 701 Weed Ave.
Hours: Mon., Wed., Fri. 10 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Tues., Thur. 1:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.
Sat. 10 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Preschool Story Time: Mondays, 10:30
a.m., when school is in session.
Phone: 503-429-1818
volunteer, when I can, in the
community. My family’s been in
the United States for over two
hundred years – though there’s
some question about whether
they all came here legally. And
I’m not used to being referred
to as a Bad American.
I’ve read a whole bunch of
emotional arguments, both for
and against these measures,
but my main objections to them
are pretty down-to-earth:
Money. Or lack of it. These
bills smack of the same sort of
thinking that gets folk up to their
necks in credit card debt. We
aren’t a rich county to start with,
but these bills make no provi-
sion for raising the funds nec-
essary to enact them or carry
them out. Instead, they are to
be bankrolled by the county’s
general fund – is there going to
be some huge surplus there
that the rest of us are unaware
of? The reports I’ve read in the
paper seem to indicate the op-
posite…
Redundancy. There are al-
ready several state and Feder-
al laws that address the same
issues that Mayo’s bills do. His
supporters maintain that the
laws aren’t being enforced. So
the answer is… MORE laws? If
Mayo had put half the effort into
calling for enforcement of exist-
ing laws that he has into drum-
ming up support for these bills,
he might have had some real
success by now. Hell, I proba-
bly would have supported him.
But then, I guess he wouldn’t
have gotten all this publicity
Priorities. I can’t bring myself
to believe that this is the most
pressing criminal issue facing
Columbia County. When I read
the papers, I read about as-
saults, burglaries, drunk driv-
ers, and tweakers stealing
spools of copper wire. These
are the sorts of crimes I’d like to
Please see page 22
Policy on Letters
The INDEPENDENT will not publish letters that include per-
sonal attacks on private citizens. Because of space limitations,
preference will be given to brief letters, 300 words or less.
All letters must be signed and include a verifiable address or
phone number.
Where to Find Them
U.S. Senator Ron Wyden
(Democrat-OR)
1220 SW 3rd Avenue, Suite 585
Portland OR 97232
Phone: 503-326-7525
230 Dirksen Senate Office Bldg.,
Washington, D.C. 20510
Phone: 202-224-5244
Website: http://wyden.senate.
gov
U.S. Senator Gordon Smith
(Republican-OR)
One World Trade Center
121 SW Salmon St., Suite 1250
Portland, OR 97204
Phone: 503-326-3386
Fax: 503-326-2900
404 Russell Senate Ofc. Bldg.
Washington, D.C. 20510
Phone: 202-224-3753
Website: http://gsmith.senate.
gov
U.S. Representative David Wu
(Democrat-01)
620 SW Main, Suite 606
Portland, OR 97205
Phone: 503-326-2901
Fax: 503-326-5066
2338 Rayburn Building
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: 202-225-0855
Fax: 202-225-9497
Website: http://house.gov/wu
Senator Betsy Johnson
(Democrat-16)
PO Box R,
Scappoose, OR 97056
Phone: 503-543-4046
900 Court St. NE, S-314
Salem, OR 97301
Phone: 503-986-1716
E-mail: sen.betsyjohnson@
state.or.us
Website: http//www.leg.state.or.
us/johnson
Representative Brad Witt
(Democrat-31)
21740 Lindberg Road,
Clatskanie, OR 97016
Phone: 503-728-4664
900 Court St. NE, H-277
Salem, OR 97301
Phone: 503-986-1431
E-mail: rep.bradwitt@state.or.us
Website: http//www.leg.state.or.
us/witt
Representative Deborah Boone
(Democrat-32)
PO Box 926
Cannon Beach, OR 97110
Phone: 503-717-9182
900 Court St. NE, H-375
Salem, OR 97301
Phone: 503-986-1432
E-mail: rep.deborahboone@
state.or.us
Website: http//www.leg.state.or.
us/boone