The INDEPENDENT, December 18, 2008
Page 3
Letters
Yes, Virginia, there
is a Santa Claus
(This timeless classic is from
the Editorial Page of The New
York Sun, written by Francis P.
Church, September 21, 1897)
To the Editor:
I am 8 years old. Some of my
little friends say there is no Santa
Claus. Papa says, “If you see it in
The Sun, it’s so.” Please tell me
the truth, is there a Santa Claus?
Virginia O’Hanlon
New York
Virginia, your little friends are
wrong. They have been affected
by the skepticism of a skeptical
age. They do not believe except
they see. They think that nothing
can be which is not comprehensi-
ble by their little minds. All minds,
Virginia, whether they be men’s or
children’s are little. In this great
universe of ours man is a mere in-
sect, an ant, in his intellect, as com-
pared with the boundless world
about him, as measured by the in-
telligence capable of grasping the
whole of truth and knowledge.
Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa
Claus. He exists as certainly as
love and generosity and devotion
exist, and you know that they
abound and give to your life its
highest beauty and joy. Alas! how
dreary would be the world if there
were no Santa Claus! It would be
as dreary as if there were no Vir-
ginias. There would be no child-
like faith then, no poetry, no ro-
mance to make tolerable this exis-
tence. We should have no enjoy-
ment except in sense and sight.
The eternal light with which child-
hood fills the world would be ex-
tinguished.
Not believe in Santa Claus! You
might as well not believe in
fairies! You might get your papa to
hire men to watch in all the chim-
neys on Christmas eve to catch
Santa Claus, but even if you did
not see Santa Claus coming down,
what would that prove? Nobody
sees Santa Claus, but that is no
sign that there is no Santa Claus.
The most real things in the world
are those that neither children nor
men can see. Did you ever see
fairies dancing on the lawn? Of
course not, but that’s no proof that
they are not there. Nobody can
conceive or imagine all the won-
ders there are unseen and unsee-
able in the world.
You tear apart the baby’s rattle
and see what makes the noise in-
side, but there is a veil covering the
unseen world which not the
strongest man, nor even the united
strength of all the strongest men
that ever lived, could tear apart. Only
faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance,
can push aside that curtain and view
and picture the supernal beauty and
glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Vir-
ginia, in all the world there is noth-
ing else real and abiding.
No Santa Claus! Thank God! he
lives, and he lives forever. A thou-
sand years from now, Virginia,
nay, ten times ten thousand years
from now, he will continue to
make glad the heart of childhood.
Thanks for support-
ing food for pets, too
To The Editor:
To the wonderful people of
Vernonia!
Thank you so much for the
tremendous response to the raf-
fle for the dog basket benefiting
Between the Bookends
By Nancy Burch, Librarian
Vernonia Public Library
Personal beliefs and
family traditions dictate to
a large extent the way we
celebrate this special holi-
day season. The library
has books, music and
videos to add to your en-
joyment of the season.
Books such as Mary and
the Baby Jesus , Christ-
mas in the Old West , The Christmas Sweater ,
The Mitford Snowmen , The Christmas Train ,
Christmas in My Heart , In the Month of Kislev: A
Story for Hanukkah , and The Seven Days of
Kwanzaa may be found in the library.
Some of my favorites are the charming paro-
dies of Clement Moore’s The Night Before
Christmas. These include The Cajun Night Be-
fore Christmas , The Teachers’ …., The Princi-
pal’s .., The Librarian’s …., Trucker’s ….,
Ozark …., Redneck …., Texas ….., and Pennsyl-
vania Dutch …. Illustrated by the acclaimed,
James Rice, these books tell Moore’s story, with
humor and appropriate dialect as reindeer are
replaced by alligators, longhorns, hound dogs,
cows, or whatever might fit the theme. For exam-
ple, the Pennsylvania Dutch version reads:
Then off to the vindow ve ran in the dark,
Kicked the dog accidental—he started
to bark.
Ven ve looked through the vindow, coming
in through the gate,
It vasn’t vun moo-er ve saw—it vas eight.
From the Texas version comes:
His eyes were both squinty
And his skin was like leather
From too much exposure
To the raw Texas weather.
The library’s CD collection includes holiday
selections by Elvis Presley, Kenny Rogers, The
Statler Brothers, Anne Murray, Josh Groban, and
Bing Crosby.
Videos include White Christmas , It’s a Won-
derful Life , Christmas in Connecticut , One Mag-
ic Christmas , and A Holiday to Remember as
well as A Christmas Story , The Best Christmas
Pageant Ever , and The Polar Express, which will
be the three featured movies shown during De-
cember. Dates and times for these movies will
be December 18 at 7:00 p.m., December 20 at
4:00 p.m., and December 23 at 7:00 p.m.
Whether you find laughter in a Christmas din-
ner consisting of duck (with its head attached) as
did Ralphie’s family in A Christmas Story , find
new meaning in the nativity story as told by Bar-
bara Robinson in The Best Christmas Pageant
Ever, or find significance in the ringing of a bell
( The Polar Express or It’s a Wonderful Life ), re-
member the library is a good source to help you
enjoy this season in ways that bring special
meaning to your life.
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
the Pet Food Division of Vernon-
ia Cares. We made $164 at the
Christmas Bazaar. The winner of
the basket full of dog goodies
was Val Mack. Kathleen Pen-
nington was the winner of the
“pamper yourself” basket donat-
ed by Kathy Larsen.
The basket was filled with
goodies donated by local peo-
ple. Eileen Williams gave a cer-
tificate for an animal communi-
cation and a phone consulta-
tion for training. Mosquito
Lodge Lavender a certificate
for beautiful jewelry, Vernonia’s
Voice a year’s subscription,
The Independent a year’s sub-
scription, and Columbia County
Animal Control a microchip.
Also making donations were
Tobie Finzel and Chailey’s
Choice.
A special thank you to The
First Friday Group for sponsor-
ing the raffle and Tobie for sell-
ing tickets.
When you’re filling your bag
to donate to Vernonia Cares,
please don’t forget to add a can
or two of pet food. They get
hungry, too. Thank you again
for your tremendous response!
Carol Davis
Vernonia
Concerns of airport
neighbors are valid
To The Editor:
I’ve lived in my home on Air-
port Way for over thirty years.
My husband and I consider our-
selves Vernonians and we
would also like to think of our-
selves as good neighbors. We
love our property and our
home, which we expect to live
in for the rest of our lives. We
live across from the end of the
Vernonia Airport and we’ve
never had any problems but
now, we find ourselves em-
broiled in the proposal made by
Tim and Michelle Bero, to re-
zone their (Primary Forest) PF-
76 property to Airport Industrial
and build an airplane manufac-
turing business in an industrial
park. The proposed industrial
park will sit across from our
home and, in place of the beau-
tiful forested land we currently
view, we will see buildings, a
dramatic increase in traffic on
our narrow dirt road, and a
parking lot.
When the application for the
zone change was first submit-
ted by Mr. Bero, we were sur-
prised that we learned about it
from the neighborhood, rather
than Mr. Bero himself. The
neighbor closest to our home
told us Mr. Bero told her what
he planned to do with his re-
cently purchased property and
when our neighbor asked
whether he had to go through a
process to be approved, he told
her it didn’t matter because it
was already a “done deal”. He
told her he wouldn’t tell her
what she could do on her prop-
erty and no one could tell him
what he could do on his. She
was stunned silent by his confi-
dence and wondered what he
knew that we didn’t.
The neighbor next to her had
researched with the county ex-
tensively before purchasing
their retirement property be-
cause they wanted to be sure
the surrounding property could
not be built on. The planning
department at Columbia Coun-
ty told them Primary Forest was
the single most difficult zoning
to change. Now, the planning
department is recommending
approval. The prior owner of
the Bero property was not al-
lowed to sub-divide his proper-
ty. What suddenly changed?
Next to those neighbors is
an animal rescue that operates
a dog boarding business out of
the home. Their property ex-
tends to the other side of the
road and an easement agree-
ment exists between that prop-
erty and Bero’s, set-forth in the
early fifties for private and resi-
dential use. Those neighbors
have never been approached
by anyone regarding the use of
their easement for commercial
business.
Our neighbors have all ral-
lied together. We are con-
cerned about numerous things,
including the reduction in value
of our properties that would be
sitting across from an industrial
Please see page 24
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.