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The INDEPENDENT, February 18, 2010
Between the Bookends
Teens – some dates are dangerous
By Nancy Burch, Librarian
Vernonia Public Library
If you take a jet boat
ride on the Snake River,
you might be regaled with
the tale of the massacre of
nearly three dozen Chi-
nese miners—how a gang
of horse thieves lined the
miners up and shot them,
one by one, after they re-
fused to disclose where
they had hidden their gold, and how the gold was
never found because the first miner killed was
the only one who spoke English. If this happens,
just remember that the tragedy did take place,
but the story told during your journey might not
be completely factual. Would anyone finding the
gold want it known he was involved? How would
anyone know the sequence in which the men
were murdered, or that the first man killed was
the only one to speak English? Although three
men were arrested and charged with the murder,
no one was held accountable for this crime and
the records associated with the incident were
missing for years and only found in 1995 in an
unused Wallowa County safe. When he first
learned of these documents, R. Gregory Nokes
was a reporter for The Oregonian, and he ap-
proached the discovery as a news story. After his
retirement in 2003, he found the time to thor-
oughly research the incident, which resulted in
his recently published book, Massacred for Gold:
The Chinese in Hells Canyon. Nokes admits that
even though he has learned a great deal, he
hasn’t learned everything about the incident. For
anyone interested in historical events in Oregon,
this is a book I would encourage you to read and
then, if you do happen to hear the spiel while on
a jetboat excursion, you will have an under-
standing of the event and be able to discern fact
from reality with a little embellishment.
Whether it was done by chance or intentional-
ly, a fictionalized story about this incident has
also recently been published. Entitled, Deep
Creek, this novel takes place in Idaho Territory in
1887, and begins as the daughter of a judge
catches the body of a man while fishing in Deep
Creek. As the bodies of more than thirty Chinese
miners surface, their employer hires an Idaho
lawman to solve the case. Written by Dana
Hand, this novel combines history and imagina-
tion as it also helps illuminate this long sup-
pressed American tragedy.
Other recent acquisitions include Hell Gate by
Linda Fairstein, One False Move by Harlan
Coben, Winter Garden by Kristen Hannah, Se-
crets of Eden by Chris Bohjalian, as well as a se-
lection of DVDs including Cool Runnings, Ax
Men, Season Two, and The Bucket List.
Movies for February will be Cloudy With a
Chance of Meatballs on Saturday, the 20th, at
2:00 p.m., and Just Like Heaven starring Reese
Witherspoon on Thursday, the 25th, at 6:30 p.m.
Discussion of Sherman Alexie’s book, The
Absolute True Diary of a Part-Time Indian will
take place Monday, February 22 at 5 p.m.
Thanks to The Friends of the Library, the li-
brary now has a storage cabinet for craft sup-
plies and a new display for DVDs. This also al-
lows the utilization of a much needed additional
book shelf.
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
OSU Extension Service announces 4-H scholarship
OSU Extension Service in
Columbia County has an-
nounced a $5,000 scholarship
for 4-H youth attending Oregon
State University in the fall.
The Columbia County 4-H
Finance & Investment Scholar-
ship is designed for youth who
are interested in pursuing a de-
gree at Oregon State Universi-
ty. This is a multi-year scholar-
ship of up to $1,250.00 per
year, for four years at OSU. Ap-
plicants must have participated
in the Columbia County 4-H
program and have some expe-
rience in the area of business
and finance (examples include:
V ALLEY V ETERINARY C LINIC
R ABIES
S PECIAL
$ 50
8
Per vaccine, per animal
Through February 2010
Open Thursdays
From 9 am to 5 pm
1-503-556-3084
58376 Nehalem Hwy. S. Vernonia
member of FBLA, taken high
school personal finance or in-
vestments classes). Scholar-
ship recipients must be attend-
ing Oregon State University
and be majoring in Finance or a
closely related field in the Col-
lege of Business or in the Agri-
cultural and Resource Eco-
nomics Program.
Application and letters of
recommendation must be re-
ceived by April 1, 2010. For
questions about qualifying, call
Jenny Rudolph, Extension Ed-
ucator, OSU Extension Ser-
vice, Columbia County at 503-
397-3462.
For more information and a
copy of the application, go on-
line to http://extension.oregon
state.edu/columbia/sites/de
fault/files/Columbia_County_S
cholarship_Application_2010.p
df , or visit the OSU Extension
Service office at 505 N. Colum-
bia River Highway, St. Helens.
by Chris Thomas,
Oregon News Service
Valentine’s Day is anything
but “hearts and flowers” when
one partner can’t control their
temper, and dating violence
can happen at any age. A 2009
survey of Oregon 11th-graders
found six percent had been in-
tentionally hit, slapped or phys-
ically hurt by someone they
were dating.
National figures are much
higher according to Kerry
Naughton, Crime Survivor Pro-
gram director for the Partner-
ship for Safety and Justice, al-
though the problem is hard to
quantify. Naughton explains
that many people do not report
dating
violence
because
they’re embarrassed or they
don’t think of it as a crime.
“It’s difficult enough to really
get a handle on the prevalence
of intimate partner violence in
adult relationships. It’s even
more difficult when we’re talk-
ing about teenagers, who have
a lot less experience with
healthy relationships and dat-
ing in general.”
In a 2004 University of
Michigan survey, 81 percent of
parents said dating violence ei-
ther was not an issue for their
children, or they were not sure
if it was, and more than half
had not discussed the topic
with their teens.
Naughton says people often
make excuses for the erratic
behavior of someone they care
about, which can lead to an es-
calating cycle of abuse.
“Dating violence isn’t just a
bad mood after a bad day. It’s a
pattern of behavior that can in-
clude physical, sexual, verbal
or emotional abuse.”
February is Teen Dating Vio-
lence
Awareness
Month.
Naughton says her group’s
Web site has links to informa-
tion for both teens and parents
at www.safetyandjustice.org
and click on “crime survivors.”
The national Teen Dating
Abuse telephone helpline is 1-
866-331-9474.
The Oregon 11th-graders
statistic is from the 2009 Ore-
gon Healthy Teens Survey con-
ducted by the Oregon Depart-
ment of Human Services and
Oregon Department of Educa-
tion.
Ag. scholarship open to women
The Oregon Farm Bureau
Women’s Advisory Council is
now accepting applications for
its 2010 Memorial Scholarship.
The scholarship is open to
women who have completed at
least one year of college and
are pursuing an agriculture- or
forestry-related major. Appli-
cants also must be voting or
supporting Farm Bureau mem-
bers or be part of a family that
has a Farm Bureau voting or
supporting membership.
Both full-time students, with
at least 12 credits per term, and
part-time students, with at least
6 credits per term, are eligible.
The scholarship application
is available on the Oregon
Farm Bureau website at ore
gonfb.org. Applications are due
by May 1, 2010.
For more information, con-
tact Anne Marie Moss at 503-
399-1701 or annemarie@ore
gonfb.org.
“Undie Sunday” all month of Mar.
Participating Churches in
partnership with Columbia
County Commission on Chil-
dren and Families (CCCCF),
are sponsoring Undie Sunday.
The Undie Sunday “month of
giving” began on February 14
and will run through March 7.
This project was created be-
cause many children in Colum-
bia County are in need of basic
necessities like underwear and
socks. Local churches, organi-
zations, and community mem-
bers have been asked to partic-
ipate by collecting new under-
wear and socks for children
ages birth through high school.
Churches,
organizations
and individuals who would like
to donate new socks, under-
wear, and diapers for little ones
may drop items off at your local
participating church or organi-
zation, or you can call the num-
ber below to find out where the
drop off locations are in your
area. Items may also be left at
the Commission on Children
See Help on page 11