The INDEPENDENT, January 21, 2010
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: http://merkley.senate.
gov/contact
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
Congratulations on
25th anniversary
To the Editor:
As usual, I was a bit late
catching up on my reading last
week and didn’t get to the Jan.
7 issue of The Independent un-
til today (Jan. 15). Congratula-
tions on reaching the quarter-
century mark. You’ve got a
ways to go to catch up to the
News-Times (established in
Forest Grove in 1886), but 25
years is an achievement worth
celebrating for a kid like The In-
dependent.
Seriously, I hope the resi-
dents of Upper Nehalem River
Valley appreciate what you do.
Over the past two years,
dozens of newspapers – from
the Seattle Post-Intelligencer to
the Colorado Rocky Mountain
News have folded. Others – in-
cluding the Chicago Tribune
and Chicago Sun-Times, have
filed for bankruptcy protection.
It’s a tough time to be run-
ning a newspaper, particularly
one like The Independent,
which truly lives up to its name
by bringing readers the facts
about what’s going on with lo-
cal government while also
keeping them posted on the
new arrivals at the public library
and the bargains to be found at
local stores.
Most people who pick up the
paper have no idea of the
amount of work that went into it.
As someone who does, I again
extend my congratulations to
all of you. Here’s to the next 25
years of great community jour-
nalism!
John Schrag
Editor & Publisher
News-Times
Forest Grove, Oregon
Thanks for helping
VHS 2010 Senior Trip
To the Editor:
Class of 2010 Senior Trip:
We would like to thank the local
businesses and community
members that have been so
generous in assisting the Class
of 2010 students in their fund
raising efforts. A special thanks
to Sentry Market for their dona-
tion of soda and candy for us to
give out as prizes at basketball
games and also their patience
during all of our can/bottle
drives; Black Bear Coffee Co.,
Blue House Café, Café 47, The
Clever Cricket, Penny with
Jazzercise, and Vernonia Phar-
macy, for their donations of gift
cards and/or products for our
raffle baskets at the Christmas
Bazaar, and every community
member that has bought a raf-
fle ticket, attended our rum-
mage sale or donated cans to
our can/bottle drives.
The students are working
very hard at raising their money
but as of today are just half way
to meeting their fund raising
goal. fund raising will continue
through May. A chili feed is
scheduled for Thursday, Febru-
ary 11th, at the home basket-
ball game, which is also Senior
Night. The next can/bottle drive
is scheduled for February 20th
from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at
the WGS play shed.
Once again, thank you to
EVERYONE that has helped
us. It is greatly appreciated.
Kari Moeller,
Michelle Gilbertson
Coordinators for
Vernonia High School
Senior Class Trip
Florist tells how to
get the best services
To the Editor:
Sending Flowers?
Being in the florist business
during a recession has been a
real challenge to myself and
family. Not only do we have
Costco and other grocery
stores selling flowers, but many
other online services that lure
customers with great prices
and easy access. After several
different situations, I thought it
best to share what I have
learned.
First, having a wire service
involved (FTD, Teleflora, etc.)
will cost the customer approxi-
mately 30% more to place the
order. Secondly the amount
charged to the florist for using
these wire services is on the
average of $200 monthly as we
are paying a membership fee
and being forced to purchase
containers etc. that are sold
through the wire service. This
amount forces the prices on flo-
ral arrangements to be more
and/or takes away from the
quantity of flowers going into
the arrangement so that the
florist can cover all costs in-
volved.
I have made many a phone
call for customers who walk
into my shop and need some-
thing sent to different states, I
sure do not mind doing this,
pleasing my customers is im-
portant to me. I look for florists
in the yellow pages on line who
are willing to give a florist-to-
florist discount so that I can
have my time and long distance
reimbursed. This not only gives
the florist doing the order more
money to work with, but saves
the customer fees that wire
services charge.
Quality is still the best
through a florist. We spend
many hours shopping for the
best quality and freshest prod-
uct for our customers. We also
put a considerable amount of
time and effort into each
arrangement to make sure the
client gets a beautifully, long
lasting design piece.
I have shopped at Costco for
years and, yes, they have
some beautiful arrangements
and I did some research of my
own to figure out how they can
offer such great prices – well of
course quantity is always a fac-
tor. I googled “Costco Flowers
Imported” after being told about
incidents where workers were
becoming ill due to the pesti-
cides used on the imported
flowers and the link I found told
a story that we might all consid-
er before buying imports.
http://www.panna.org/node/606
In conclusion, saving my
customers time and money is
important to me, if you have a
computer and the internet, we
advise that you look for a florist
in the town you are sending to,
through the yellow pages.
Florist websites are linked at
www.superpages.com for those
who like to have visuals of what
they are sending. If you choose
the zip code for a florist the
same as you are sending you
might be surprised at the quali-
ty and quantity your recipient
gets, as you have saved the
florist time and money in being
closer for delivery. Hopefully
this is some helpful advice to all
who would like to afford send-
ing flowers in such a financially
challenging time. Receiving
flowers is such a joy, so should
be giving them. Shopping local
pays.
Lisa Edgar
Vernonia Florist
Don’t be dismissive
of domestic violence
To the Editor:
The January 5th edition of
the Voice reported on the Ore-
gon Department of Police Safe-
ty Standards and Training
(DPSST) investigation of public
safety officer Mike Kay. That re-
porting of the DPSST’s investi-
gation and factors surrounding
Mr. Kay’s pre-employment liti-
gation activity appeared to be
rather shallow. It lacked the de-
tail to give the public a true pic-
ture of what had occurred. The
Voice treated this matter as a
petty ordeal with little merit,
however, the victim probably
doesn’t agree. The following is
my understanding of what oc-
curred:
In the late “1990s” Mr. Kay,
while working as a public safe-
ty officer, was arrested and
charged with an “assault in the
presence of a victim’s child;” a
felony in the State of Oregon.
Mr. Kay was issued a restrain-
ing order prohibiting him from
having any contact with the vic-
tim. A trial occurred and Mr. Kay
was found not guilty on the
felony charge. Mr. Kay had vio-
lated the restraining order, was
indicted, and once again he re-
quested a trial. The jury found
Mr. Kay guilty of violating the
restraining order. Mr. Kay was
placed on probation and was
required to do community serv-
ice or go to jail. It was later
found that Mr. Kay had violated
his probation, as well.
The victim filed a Title 42
USC section1983 complaint in
the US District Court. This type
of complaint is a “civil action for
deprivation of rights.” This type
of action is generally filed
against the police department
and/or the city when the victim
is deprived of constitutional
rights, privileges and immuni-
ties by an official’s abuse of
his/her position. In her com-
plaint the victim alleged that Mr.
Kay intimidated her, threw her
down and slapped her face,
held her in a hostage-like situa-
tion, etc. At one point the victim
alleged that Mr. Kay “hit her with
See Letters, page 21
Policy on Letters
The INDEPENDENT will
not publish letters with per-
sonal attacks on private citi-
zens. Preference will be giv-
en to brief letters, 300 words
or less.
All letters must be signed
and include a verifiable ad-
dress or phone number.