The INDEPENDENT, March 4, 2010
March is named Red Cross Month
Governor Ted Kulongoski
has proclaimed March as Red
Cross Month in Oregon, joining
President Barack Obama in a
tradition upheld by every U.S.
President dating back to
Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1943.
See Oregon’s 2010 Red Cross
Month
proclamation
at
www.oregonredcross.org/procl
amation.
“The American Red Cross is
there when people need us
most. During March, we thank
those whose support enables
us to continue our work,” said
Maree Wacker, Regional Exec-
utive for the American Red
Cross in Oregon. “Their gen-
erosity helps us continue to
serve those who need us every
day – whether they are down
the street, across the country or
around the world.”
The American Red Cross is
part of the world’s largest hu-
manitarian network – 97 million
volunteers helping in 186 coun-
tries. In this country, the Red
Cross helps change lives sev-
en days a week, 24 hours a
day.
Last year in Oregon:
• 600 families relied on the
Oregon Red Cross for immedi-
ate help after a disaster.
• 2,200 military families re-
ceived assistance with emer-
gency communications from
the Oregon Red Cross.
• 6,500 Oregonians give
their time to make their commu-
nities safer by volunteering for
the American Red Cross.
• 74,000 Oregonians gave
life-saving blood through the
American Red Cross.
•
122,000
Oregonians
learned
life-saving
skills
through the American Red
Cross.
The help of the American
Red Cross extends around the
world to those in need. In just a
little over a month since the
earthquake devastated Haiti,
the Red Cross has helped
more than one million people in
the region. Relief efforts in-
clude providing clean water
and sanitation, food and relief
supplies, and health care. It will
take many years for the people
of Haiti to recover and the
American Red Cross will work
in close coordination with other
organizations
to
support
longer-term assistance proj-
ects.
March is a great time for
people to get involved with the
American Red Cross – to give
blood, take training in CPR and
first aid, volunteer or give a fi-
nancial gift to help when the
next disaster strikes. Contact
the Oregon Trail Chapter at
503-284-1234 or visit www.ore-
gonredcross.org to find out how
you can get involved.
In Oregon, the American
Red Cross shelters, feeds and
provides emotional support to
victims of disaster an average
of 10 times a week; supplies
more than 90 percent of Ore-
gon’s blood; teaches thou-
sands of Oregonians lifesaving
skills; offers transportation to
seniors and the disabled; pro-
vides international humanitari-
an aid; and supports military
members and their families.
The Red Cross is a charitable
organization – not a govern-
ment agency – and depends on
volunteers and the generosity
of the American public to per-
form its mission. For more in-
formation,
please
visit
www.oregonredcross.org or
join our award-winning blog at
www.oregonredcross.org/blog.
Page 15
Power of the People
By W. Marc Farmer, General Manager,
West Oregon Electric Cooperative
One Down,
Two to Go
We actually have one
major project completed
and two that are works in
progress.
On
the
Timber/Elsie Transmission
Line Project, where we un-
dergrounded 14.4 miles of the 16 mile line, the
construction portion has been completed. This
project has been the largest and most time-con-
suming project in the history of West Oregon.
With a final cost of over $6 million, (of which over
$2.6 million was paid for with federal grant
funds), it is also the highest project cost we’ve
ever undertaken.
The result, though, is a line that has been
knocked out of service at some point by trees
and/or wind every year of its existence, and se-
verely damaged to the point of costing over a
million dollars twice, will now be our most reli-
able line for the foreseeable future. We have sig-
nificantly increased the reliability and longevity of
this transmission line with cable that is out of the
trees and has a warranty for the next 40 years.
Following is an excerpt from our Operations
and Engineering Manager Steve Scott’s report to
the Board.
The construction work is 100% complete, and
the clean-up/follow-up work about 95% com-
plete. The new transmission line has been oper-
ational since Tuesday, Dec. 22, 2009, without in-
cident. Since that time, we’ve had one heavy wet
snow storm in the area and one strong wind-
storm, both of which would have taken out the
old overhead line at numerous locations. The
Michels Job Shack is gone and the surrounding
area has been cleaned up. All removed trans-
mission poles and hardware have been dis-
posed of in the appropriate manner. The remain-
ing work primarily consists of two things, (1) re-
moving run-off barriers required by various per-
mits (DEQ, County, etc.) and the closing out of
said permits, and (2), thermal scanning the ter-
mination elbows in the vaults. The environmen-
tal follow-up work (#1) is required to be done in
the spring, and WOEC has agreed to also have
the thermal scanning (#2) done in the spring to
avoid tearing up the newly seeded trench route,
which would surely occur if the work was done
now.
As Steve stated above, there are final require-
ments we will need to follow in order to officially
close the project. Since federal money was used
from FEMA, Oregon Emergency Management,
and Rural Utilities Services, there were many
federal requirements, forms to complete and
permits to obtain, which then need to be closed
out, and other stipulations for receipt of funds.
Since the funds received were over $1 million,
an audit will be performed so that all funds re-
ceived and spent can be accounted for.
I would like to extend congratulations and my
sincere gratitude and appreciation to all of our
personnel who made this project a reality. With-
out the many, many hours of dogged determina-
tion, time, effort, and energy that was dedicated
to this project from both a financial and opera-
tional standpoint, this project would not have
been completed as successfully and smoothly
as it did. It was indeed a team effort to reach a
successful completion on this important and cru-
cial project. Thanks everyone!
Make Vernonia Shine on April 17
This year registration will be
at the Vernonia Middle School
starting at 9:00 a.m. Lunch will
also be served in the school’s
cafeteria from noon to 1:00
p.m..
This year we will be focusing
on cleaning the moss from the
bricks downtown, digging out
from around the trees and re-
barking, removing Ivy from
some of the trees by the river,
and some general litter picking
up.
A new feature we’ve added
this year is some informational
tables, which will be set up in
the covered play area. At this
time we do not have all commit-
ments firmed up, so look for
them in the next paper.
It looks like we will have
plenty of things for you to do,
so put April 17th on your calen-
dar and plan to come out and
give us a hand.
Make each day count, so that when tomorrow comes...
there are no regrets, just MARVELOUS memories.
Lee Anne Krause
Independent Team Leader
for the The Pampered Chef
leeannekrause@gmail.com 503-816-9810
www.pamperedchef.biz/leeannekrause
Meyers
‘ Auto Body,Inc
503-429-0248
493 Bridge St, Vernonia, OR