Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The independent. (Vernonia, Or.) 1986-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 17, 2009)
The INDEPENDENT, September 17, 2009 Where to Find Them U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (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 U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley (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.sen ate. gov WebSite: http://merkley.senate. gov 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 Senator Betsy Johnson (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 Representative Brad Witt (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 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 Page 3 Letters Thanks for helping To the Editor: We would like to thank Kay- la and Bill Long and everyone who showed up for my benefit dinner at Café 47. We had a great turnout. Thank you, Darrold and Teresa Mushatt Sometimes the truth is hard to confirm To the Editor: “Experience is what you get when you don’t get what you want.” Randy Pausch-The Last Lecture. I never expected to be writ- ing this letter (don’t believe me…ask my husband or boss). I can no longer be quiet though, because what I want is the truth and I’m not getting it, and nei- ther are you! Therefore, I now feel I must share perhaps the most important thing I can; my experience. I will try to keep this as brief as possible; but that may be a challenge. My purpose in writing this letter is to give the citizens of Vernonia the truth regarding blatant lies written about my family in a letter to the editor, in the July 16, 2009, issue of The Independent, by current city administrator Bob Young. His statements that, “Mr. Graf has a previous arrest for assault and disorderly conduct, which was known to the officers,” and “Mr. Graf had previous contact with the police while under the influ- ence of prescription and poten- tial illegal street drugs, that re- sulted in his being transported by ambulance.” are absolute lies, and I have documents or lack of documents to prove it. I also share my experience to let you know…be careful whose word you trust. I can’t believe I feel the need to state all of the following, but I want the community to know the truth about who is writing this. That may be unclear to those of you who have read past letters to the editor. My name is Linda Graf, my hus- band is Ed Johnson, and our bi- ological son is Elliott Graf, age 18. I approached Mr. Young in his office and requested a re- traction in the newspapers re- garding his untrue statements, written as fact about my son. I wanted to know where he got his facts considering he had only been administrator for about 2 weeks when the paper came out including the letter he wrote and signed his name to. I was told he asked for and was submitted written statements by both former administrator Jim Johnson and then acting Police Chief Mike Kay regard- ing the matter. I asked if those statements were the only thing he based his statements on and he replied, yes. He told me he totally trusted these two men and their statements. My Out of My Mind… From page 2 Even the conservative American Medical Associ- ation, which has fought every previous attempt, now supports health care reform. How can anyone feel smugly righteous about condemning others to illness and death by claiming they are opposed to “socialism”? If all those screaming “socialism” really opposed gov- ernment-supported or joint public/private pro- grams, they would be heading angry throngs de- manding that our roads, schools, water systems, fire departments, police departments, armies and navies, Social Security and Medicare be torn up and dismantled! These programs are, after all, just a few of our everyday socialist services. That pretended opposition to health care re- form as socialism is particularly hypocritical when it is spouted by U.S. Representatives and Senators who, as federal employees, have tax subsidized health care benefits. They pay premi- ums, true, but their costs, generally, are less than most families have to pay. Sen. Ron Wyden, Sen. Jeff Merkley and Rep. David Wu all use the same health plan, the Blue Cross/Blue Shield standard family plan. The monthly premium (per family) is $1,120.47, of which they each pay $356.59 a month. They also have a $20 co-pay for most doctor visits, and an annual deductible of $600 per family. Their rates are low because there are about 8.5 million federal employees, a group so large that no insurance company wants to exclude the marketing potential, even though it means they must charge a little less and cannot deny cover- age for pre-exisisting conditions. A good public option would be somewhat similar, which is why health insurance companies oppose it so vocif- erously. They would, of course, support a man- date requiring all of us to buy health insurance – as long as there were no strings attached, like not covering pre-existing conditions. Returning to Congressional hypocrisy, legiti- mate concerns about deficit spending are under- standable. What is not legitimate is that many of those who supported deficit spending for killing Iraqi civilians and American soldiers in a war of choice, pretend to be concerned about deficit spending for helping Americans stay healthy. Since they aren’t really opposed to either so- cialism or deficit spending, it is logical to assume that their behavior is influenced by campaign contributions from health insurers, drug compa- nies and Wall Street. That money is just too sweet to ignore. Janice Fine, of Dollars and Sense magazine explains the situation very well: “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 umpire - ‘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 industry lobbyist walks into the office of a key legislator and hands her or him a check for $1,000, we call that a campaign contribu- tion. We should call it a bribe.” question is why he would trust anyone’s word after knowing them less than two weeks! He assured me he would review the facts and get back to me, which he did. He returned with a verbal statement that he had done a review and he stood by his statements. I then told him I had documents to prove him wrong and wanted the docu- ments the police department had to prove his statements were true. I submitted a request for information form and was denied the papers due to (ORS) 419A.255; which does allow inspection of records by a parent; and Vernonia Police Department juvenile records police 810.43, which I was not given a copy of. I spoke with Police Chief Grace in his office regarding this issue and men- tioned the Oregon Records Law. On September 8, 2009, I received a letter from him stat- ing Oregon Revised Statutes may allow an exception for par- ents, and he would be consult- ing experts. I am currently awaiting reply on this matter. Not only do I have medical records to verify what was writ- ten is a lie; but I called the Ju- venile Department at the court- house in St. Helens to verify with a counselor that NO AR- RESTS were ever charged to Elliott Graf, and followed up with the Circuit Court, who also verified NO ARRESTS for an Elliott Graf. Exactly what my personal records show. Now I challenge all citizens of Vernonia to find out for your- self the truth, considering my experience, and as I stated pre- viously…be careful whose word you trust. Linda Graf Vernonia 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.