The INDEPENDENT, March 19, 2009
Letters
Between the Bookends
By Nancy Burch, Librarian
Vernonia Public Library
The spring book sale
sponsored by the Friends
of the Library was very
successful. Thanks to all
who donated books, pur-
chased books and helped
with the sale. All proceeds
will be used to supplement
library programs and ma-
terials. The next meeting
of the Friends will be Tuesday, April 7th at 6:30
p.m. in the library. Dues are only $5.00 for an in-
dividual and $10.00 for a family membership
with new members gladly accepted.
Mark your calendar for this Saturday, March
21st at 2:00 p.m. when Barbara Scot and Eileen
O’Keeffe McVicker, will be at the library dis-
cussing/autographing their book, Child of Steens
Mountain. This is McVicker’s memoir of her
childhood as the daughter of an Irish immigrant
sheep rancher who homesteaded on the south-
ern slope of Steens Mountain. The book has
been edited and organized by McVicker’s friend
and neighbor, author Barbara Scot.
There will be no preschool or after school pro-
grams the week of Spring Break—March 23-28.
Instead, the library has several movies sched-
uled to be shown during the week, as follows:
Wed. March 25 @ 2:00 p.m., High School Musi-
cal III; Thurs. March 26 @ 2:00 p.m. Horton
Hatches the Who; Fri. March 27 @ 7:00 p.m.
Twilight ; and Sat. March 28 @ 7:00 p.m. Sweet
Home Alabama. For further family fun during the
week, remember the passes to the Children’s
Museum and to OMSI which may be checked
out.
Book discussion will be Monday March 30 at
5:30 p.m. with the featured book being Dreams
from My Father, by Barack Obama.
Something I seldom do is read two books at
the same time but this happened because I hap-
pened to pick up Jodi Picoult’s new book, Han-
dle With Care, on my way to the dentist. Of
course there was a wait, so I started to read and
have not been able to stop. As usual Picoult has
created a heart-wrenching novel incorporating
several controversial issues including medical
malpractice, adoption, abortion, loyalty to friends
and love of family. The main questions that the
novel raised for me are—Should only healthy
babies be born if prenatal testing shows abnor-
malities?; How can parents-to-be possibly make
that decision?; and How can the value of any life
be determined? These issues arise when Willow
O’Keefe is born with brittle bone disease, requir-
ing her mother, Charlotte, to be a full-time care-
giver and straining the emotional and financial
limits of the family. Charlotte decides to sue for
wrongful birth to ensure Willow’s future, claiming
that her doctor should have noticed irregularities
early enough in the pregnancy to make termina-
tion an option. This lawsuit is entirely at odds
with the feelings that Charlotte and her husband
Sean have concerning Willow, who is smart, fun-
ny, pretty, kind, brave, wise beyond her five
years and loved wholeheartedly. This is a novel
of a family bound by an incredible burden and a
powerful capacity for love.
The book I was originally reading and would
also like to recommend is, Sing Them Home, by
Stephanie Kallos. This novel, set in Southeast-
ern Nebraska, involves the lives of three siblings
and the impact their mother’s death has on their
personalities and relationships with the opposite
sex. Kallos has the ability to make even the un-
likely believable. I am anxious to return to the
book and find out what happens to these quirky
characters.
Other new acquisitions include The Rene-
gades by T. Jefferson Parker, Whisper to the
Blood by Dana Stabenow, Love Mercy by Ear-
lene Fowler, Torched by April Henry, Into the For-
est by Jean Hegland, and Heart and Soul by
Maeve Binchy.
The Arts and Crafts Society recently made a
donation to help fund the afterschool program,
which will help purchase snacks and craft sup-
plies. This group will be meeting regularly in the
library on the 2nd and 4th Thursdays of each
month at 1:00 p.m. and invites people to bring
their works-in-progress and join them.
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
Out of My Mind
From page 2
economic agricultural problems
• $140,000 to research or-
ganic crops
• $180,000 to research the
oil-producing plant, Meadow-
foam
• $2.3 million for wave ener-
gy development
• $1.5 million for geothermal
energy production
• $190,000 for OHSU’s One
Sky National Resource Center
for American Indian/Alaskan
Natives to provide better sub-
stance abuse and mental
health services
Page 3
• $200,000 for the OHSU In-
stitute for Neuropsychiatric Di-
agnosis
• Nearly $34.5 million to sup-
port the U.S. Army Corps of En-
gineers’ plan to deepen the Co-
lumbia River Channel, to main-
tain the shipping channel be-
tween Portland and the mouth
of the Columbia River. (Accord-
ing to Rep. David Wu, this fund-
ing will help support the nearly
40,000 jobs that rely on the Co-
lumbia River maritime indus-
try.)
Altogether, Oregon will re-
ceive $75,251,925 in funding
for 120 earmarks.
In comparison, Kentucky will
receive $140,482,257 for 164
earmarks. Using 2008 popula-
tion estimates, Oregon will re-
ceive $19.86 per person and
Kentucky will receive $32.91
per person.
Does that mean Kentucky’s
earmarks have more pork than
Oregon’s? I don’t know be-
cause I haven’t looked up the
reasons for all of the earmarks
in either state.
Pork, it seems, is in the eye
of the beholder.
Customer must have
believed in miracles
To The Editor:
I have been retired for 14
years. I sometimes wish that I
had something to do. Recently,
I went to Fred Meyer to have a
Policy on Letters
The INDEPENDENT will
not publish letters that in-
clude personal 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 ad-
dress or phone number.
key made. The old gentleman
who duplicated my key, like
myself, was working for some-
thing to do, and told me the fol-
lowing story:
A woman came in earlier
and had a key made. She
came back an hour later com-
plaining that the key didn’t
work. The old gentleman laid
the new key over the old key.
He examined both keys and
came to the conclusion that
they were identical. He asked
her, “Are you sure the old key
worked?” She said, “No it didn’t
work. That’s why I had another
key made.”
Eddie Peters
Vernonia
“If a baseball player slides into home plate and, right before
the umpire rules if he is safe or out, the player says to the um-
pire — ‘Here is $1,000.’ What would we call that? We would call
that a bribe. If a lawyer was arguing a case before a judge and
said, ‘Your honor before you decide on the guilt or innocence of
my client, here is $1,000.’ What would we call that? We would
call that a bribe.
“But if an industry lobbyist walks into the office of a key legis-
lator and hands her or him a check for $1,000, we call that a
campaign contribution. We should call it a bribe.”
— Janice Fine, Dollars and Sense magazine
Where to Find Them
U.S. Senator Ron Wyden
Senator Betsy Johnson
(Dem)
1220 SW 3rd Avenue, Suite 585
Portland OR 97232
Phone: 503-326-7525
223 Dirksen Senate Ofc. Bldg.
Washington, D.C. 20510-0001
Phone: 202-224-5244
E-Mail: http://wyden.senate.gov/
contact
Website: http://wyden.senate.
gov
(Dem) Senate District 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
U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley
Representative Brad Witt
(Dem.)
One World Trade Center
121 SW Salmon St., Suite 1250
Portland, OR 97204
Phone: 503-326-3386
B-40B Dirksen Senate Ofc. Bldg.
Washington, DC 20510
Phone: (202) 224-3753
E-Mail: senator@merkley.senate.
gov
WebSite: http://merkley.senate.
gov
(Dem) House District. 31
21740 Lindberg Road,
Clatskanie, OR 97016
Phone: 503-728-4664
900 Court St. NE, H-373
Salem, OR 97301
Phone: 503-986-1431
E-mail: rep.bradwitt@state.or.us
Website: http//www.leg.state.or.
us/witt
U.S. Representative David Wu
(Dem) OR District 1
620 SW Main, Suite 606
Portland, OR 97205
Phone: 503-326-2901
2338 Rayburn House Ofc. Bldg.
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: 202-225-0855
Website: http://house.gov/wu
Representative Deborah Boone
(Dem) House District 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