PRESORTED STANDARD
U.S. Postage Paid
Vernonia, OR 97064
Permit No. 37
Vol. 25, No. 2
THE
FREE
INDEPENDENT
The Voice of the Upper Nehalem River Valley for 25 years
January 21, 2010
Sandra McLean unveiled a portrait of her late husband, Judge
Rod McLean, at the Vernonia City Council. The picture will
hang in Court/Council Chamber. See full story on page 5.
The Vernonia High School Wrestling Team at Clatskanie.
Photo by Chris Barnes
Alley will speak at GOP meeting
Logger wrestlers dominate at Clatskanie tournament Allen
Allen Alley, Republican can- drinks.
The VHS wrestling team
showed great depth at the
Clatskanie tournament, claim-
ing the team title by more than
125 points over the second
place team. The Vernonia team
showed superior experience
and technique throughout the
day and is looking very tough
overall. The wrestlers claimed
six individual titles: Shylo Doo-
ley at 125 LBS, Dillon Dethlefs
at 135 LBS, Calvin Barnes at
145 LBS, Cody Cowles at 152
LBS, Brett Benes at 189 LBS,
and Alax Barber at 285 LBS.
While posting champions in
six of 14 weight classes is a
staggering result, equally im-
pressive is posting second
place finishes in six of the 14
weights classes. The Loggers
wrapped up the day with sever-
al third and fourth place finishes
as well. These results are not
unusual for the VHS Wrestling
team; they have been doing
this all season.
Vernonia Wrestling has done
very well as a team this season.
“In wrestling, team results are a
reflection of the depth of the
squad. We always hear about
the guys who take first place,
but the guys who help bring
home team titles are the ones
who go unrecognized. We have
kids who are winning matches
in tournaments and pushing our
guys in the practice room, and
you may never hear their
names,” said Coach Barnes
about the success of the team
this season. “Wrestling cele-
brates the underdog and the
unknown soldier as well as the
medal winners.” The coaching
staff believes that everyone on
the team is equally important.
Anyone can succeed at
wrestling if he or she is willing
to do the work.
Led by head Coach James
Brookins, Assistant Coaches
Wolf and Barnes, and several
volunteer coaches, the team
has depth in the coaching staff
as well. As coaches, they have
experience in the light, middle,
and heavy weight class divi-
sions so they are able to tailor
techniques to meet the needs
of the wrestlers based on their
size. Most teams don’t have
this luxury and end up being
strong in some weight classes
and weak in others.
Based on the depth and ex-
perience of the team, they ex-
pect the success to continue
into future seasons.
Team results to date this
season are first at the Banks
dual meet tournament, fourth at
Harrisburg, first at Amity, sec-
ond at Gervais, first at Neah-
Kah-Nie, and first at Clatskanie.
VHS Wrestling will host two
home meets this season; Fri-
day, January 22, at 5:00 p.m.
and Thursday, February 4, at
5:00 p.m. Plan to come out and
enjoy the competition.
didate for Governor in the May
Primary Election, will be speak-
ing at the monthly Columbia
County Republican MeetUp
gathering on Friday, January
29, at the Village Inn, 535 S.
Columbia River Hwy, St. He-
lens. The meeting will be held
from 6:30 p.m. to about 8:30
p.m. Guests are encouraged to
arrive early to order food or
Ballots can be left
in area drop sites
Senator Ron Wyden came to
Vernonia on January 13 to hold
a Town Hall. Over a hundred
people were in the audience at
the high school gymnasium,
about half of them students. In
a procedural change, instead of
just raising hands to ask ques-
tions, a form was filled out and
a ticket given to the questioner.
There were two tickets, student
and community. After his intro-
ductory comments, Wyden al-
ternated taking questions
(drawn from the tickets) from
each group.
Drop sites for the January 26
Special Election are as follows:
• Vernonia Library, 701
Weed Ave., during regular li-
brary hours through January
25; from Noon to 8:00 p.m. on
January 26.
• Mist-Birkenfeld Rural Fire
Protection District, 12525 High-
way 202, through January 25
during office hours; from 8:00
a.m. to 8:00 p.m. on January
26.
There will also be a drive-by
drop box in the lower (back)
parking lot at the Columbia
County
Courthouse,
230
Strand St, St. Helens.
Over 30 years Alley has built
an experience base that spans
multiple disciplines from engi-
neering to marketing, venture
capital, entrepreneurship, and
public service, as well as being
the Republican candidate for
Oregon Treasurer in 2008.
For more information contact
Fred Yauney at fyauney@ya-
hoo.com or 503-543-6271.
Sen. Wyden has Town Hall in Vernonia
Student questions ranged
from, “What do you plan to do
about the deficit?” to “What
would success be in Afghani-
stan?” To the Afghanistan ques-
tion Wyden responded,
See Town Hall, page 4
Town Hall Cancelled
The January 21 Ver-
nonia School District
Town Hall has been can-
celled. It will be resched-
uled for February.
CORRECTION: The photo of a house fire on Page 1 of
The INDEPENDENT’s January 7 issue should have been
credited to Doug Harrod. We sincerely regret the omission.