The INDEPENDENT, May 21, 2009
Page 3
Letters
Stamp Out Hunger is
a wonderful program
To the Editor:
Dear Letter Carriers;
Thank you for running the
Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive
on May 9. Thanks to your ef-
forts and the generosity of the
Vernonia people, 1,061 lbs. of
food was delivered to this food
bank. Thank you so very much
for your organization, work, and
generosity to make this event
happen. Special thanks to Pe-
ter O’Leary for taking the lead
for this project.
Vernonia Cares Food Bank
assists over 450 people per
month with three days worth of
emergency groceries. We can
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.
only do this through generous
donations like the food the
Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive
brought in.
Sandy Welch
Executive Director
Vernonia Cares FB
Vernonia is home, in
spite of the floods
To the Editor:
Over the past couple weeks,
I have been interviewed by
both newspapers, and televi-
sion news stations. In each of
these interviews, I have tried to
give a true accurate portrayal of
what life has been like since the
flood of 2007. I hope that to all
of those who were directly af-
fected (I believe everyone in
our community was affected)
by the floods, that I have done
justice to the story. I know each
of us has our own individual
stories of how this has affected
us and each of us has most
likely handled this crisis in our
own ways. Anyhow, during the
interviews that I have had, I al-
ways get asked if we are going
to stay in Vernonia?
This morning I woke up at
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
107 Russell 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
4:15 a.m. and headed off to the
shop to meet up with the rest of
the crew and head in to work.
After arriving at the shop I
found out that due to some
equipment being down, we
weren’t going to be working to-
day. Since I have a wife and
kids who were still in bed, and
there is no being quiet in the
FEMA trailers, I decided to
drive around a little bit until my
family’s alarms went off and
they got up for school and
work. I went down to the lake
where I sat and watched as a
gentleman was fishing in the
early hours. I noticed a couple
ducks swimming around and
two eagles looking for break-
fast. As I sat there watching the
lake with just a little bit of fog
rolling across the top, one of
the eagles swooped down and
retrieved its breakfast. I took
out my binoculars and watched
this event and scanned the lake
where the fish were starting to
jump and the sun was coming
up.
I sat there remembering the
evening before and the walk
that my wife and I took at
around 7:30 in the evening with
a wonderful 71 degrees and a
town that was getting ready for
a new week. We walked up
through town, stopping at a
couple of the benches that had
been built and donated to the
city. We took a break and just
sat for a few minutes and en-
joyed the peacefulness of the
town. We strolled by the new
park areas that are being
worked on, and the whole time
we waved at passers by who
waved to us.
I have always considered
myself a Vernonian, but the
truth is I didn’t move here until I
was in the 6th grade (1971),
and my family moved us away
in 1976 to Forest Grove where
I graduated High School in ‘78.
I moved back to Vernonia in
1979 after an attempt at col-
lege, only to leave in 1981 to try
my hand at school again. I re-
turned in late 1981 and married
my wife, Robin, in 1982. We
left Vernonia again in 1985 to
start our careers and a family.
After our son was born and was
ready to start school, we decid-
ed that we wanted him to expe-
rience Vernonia and to attend
schools that may not have all
the bells and whistles, but
where every teacher knows
every kid, and very few ever
slip through the cracks.
We arrived back in Vernonia
in late 1995, just in time to have
our brand new manufactured
home destroyed by the ‘96
floods before we could even
close on our loan. We rebuilt,
and we made sure that our
home was above that record
flood level, so we would never
experience that kind of disaster
again. Well, as most of you
know, I should have gone a
couple feet higher, and now
here we sit, waiting for our next
adventure. After the floods of
‘07, we have experienced so
much love and friendship from
everyone we know and many
that we don’t know. We are not
sure if we will be rebuilding on
our property, or if the buy-out
will go through and we will build
or buy another home in another
location. I do know that we love
this community that works so
well together, doesn’t give up,
and is determined to not just re-
build, but to be an even better
place to live.
See Letters, page 18
Salem Scene
By Representative Brad Witt
Oregon District 31
Last week, the House
passed one of the more
contentious bills so far this
session, HB 2186A. The
vote was 32-28, reflecting
the divided feelings about
this legislation, even
though the scope of the
bill had been substantially
narrowed since its intro-
duction. The measure authorizes the Environ-
mental Quality Commission (EQC) to adopt
standards and requirements to reduce green-
house gas emissions.
Oregon has been a leader in this area for
quite some time. Back in 1992, our state adopt-
ed CO2 benchmarks for the Oregon Progress
Board, which sought to keep emissions at 1990
levels. It was not until 2003 that the Governors
of Oregon, California and Washington created
the West Coast Governors’ Global Warming Ini-
tiative to develop joint regional strategies to ad-
dress the growing alarm over the effects of car-
bon emissions on our environment. Since then,
the Governor and the Legislature have taken
small bites at this apple, with the 2007 Legisla-
ture adopting greenhouse gas reduction goals
in statute.
HB 2186A is an attempt to implement these
goals by addressing tire efficiency, engine idling
reduction, low-emission fuels, product composi-
tion and truck aerodynamics. At the outset, al-
most everyone, including yours truly, had prob-
lems with this bill. Many questioned why Ore-
gon should take the lead; why not just wait for
the federal government to set uniform standards
for everyone? The fact is that those of us in the
West have traditionally set the standard for the
rest of the nation when it comes to the environ-
ment, not the other way around.
Having said that, HB 2186A will not be imple-
mented immediately. The bill gives the EQC
rule writing authority; but the rules will not take
effect until July 1, 2011, so the Legislature can
review the rules in the next session before they
go into effect. I supported this bill because this
issue is not something that we can continue to
put off, waiting for the perfect moment to arrive.
The time to begin is now.
Part of this beginning is the placement of side-
boards around some of the key provisions of the
bill. Doing so will preserve the bill’s environmen-
tal protections, while protecting consumers and
businesses from possible over-regulation.
As an example, the typical tires that many of
us purchase at such tire distributors as Les
Schwab, etc., will likely meet the “roll-resistance”
provisions of HB 2186A. The same cannot be
said, unfortunately, for the bulk of present-day
“original equipment” tires.
It is therefore incumbent upon the Legislature
to make sure that HB 2186A targets any inferior
new tires, rather than technologically advanced
after-market tires. In this way, consumer savings
See Salem Scene on page 20