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About The independent. (Vernonia, Or.) 1986-current | View Entire Issue (June 3, 2010)
The INDEPENDENT, June 3, 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 July 4th parade time changed to 3:00 p.m. To the Editor: Due to the many activities planned for the 4th of July, and the concerts starting at 4:00 p.m., the time of the parade has been changed to 3:00 p.m. The parade route will be the same – forming on Weed Ave. and disbanding on State Ave. As in the past, no ATVs will be allowed in the parade. DeLoris Webb Vernonia Pride Addiction treatment smarter than prison To the Editor: Here are a couple of addi- tions to Noni Andersen’s won- derful commentary on the War On People Who Use Drugs. The state of Oregon spends more money to fund the prison system than it spends on high- er education. This is more than just an interesting statistic. Fewer than 2% of state prison- ers have a Master’s degree or a Ph.D. while fully 68% are high school dropouts. There is a di- rect cause and effect relation- ship between how much edu- cation one has and one’s propensity to engage in crimi- nal behavior. Every additional dollar spent on prisons is one less dollar available to make proven, positive, long-term im- provements to the problem: ed- ucation and treatment. Albert Einstein defined in- sanity as doing the same thing over and over again while ex- pecting a different result. De- spite a decades-long war on people who use drugs, usage rates among teens is roughly the same today as it was in the 1960s. The reason is simple: addiction is a medical problem, not a criminal problem. At- tempting to solve a medical problem with a criminal solution is like trying to improve the fla- vor of pizza by reading poetry to it. Marijuana is illegal today be- cause citizens in the 1930s and 40s were duped into believing outrageous lies that had been cut from whole cloth. Aren’t you tired of being manipulated? Manipulated by special interest groups like Big Pharma, who want us to believe the only good medicines are the ones to which they hold the patents. Manipulated by the prison in- dustrial complex that claims to keep us safe while profiting from the suffering of harmless people. Manipulated by law en- forcement interests who contin- ually recycle the same tired, self-serving, discredited and scientifically unsupported clap- trap they’ve spewed for seven decades. Legalize now! Miles R. Wickstrom Vernonia Candidate expresses thanks to supporters To the Editor: A special thank you to those Columbia County residents who supported my candidacy in the May primary for Columbia County Commissioner. It was a close race and in the end, I fell short by 107 votes, less than 2% of the total votes cast; a re- spectable showing. I sincerely appreciate your help. I’d like to thank the county’s department heads, who made time to meet with me and dis- cuss their programs, goals, and challenges. In my interviews with the county’s staff, I found that we have a lot of caring and professional people who have been doing more with less nearly every budget cycle. A lot of positive things are being done at the county that the pub- lic never hears about, and that’s unfortunate. I’d like to thank my fellow candidates for challenging me to learn more and strive more Salem Scene By Representative Brad Witt Oregon District 31 We completed the last of three town halls on May 1st, this one centered on Job Creation and the Economy. They were held in Astoria and St. Helens, and we enjoyed a great response in both loca- tions. Once again, our pan- elists were extraordinary! Here’s who came to help us out: ≈ Brig. General Mike Caldwell, Deputy Director State Defense Force ≈ Tom Byerley, Administrator Oregon Employment Division ≈ Nick Beleickis, Senior Analyst, OR Work- force Division ≈ Mark Elsworth, Regional Director, Gover- nor’s Office ≈ Ryan Fischer, Portland & Western Railroad ≈ Jack Crider, Port of Astoria ≈ Paula Miranda, Port of St. Helens ≈ John Lansing, Seaport Airlines I was really impressed with the depth of knowledge displayed by these representatives of both the public and private sectors, but I particu- larly valued the input from you, our resident ex- perts. You know the things that work in your area. And since Oregon is staring down the bar- rel of another budgetary shortfall, these discus- sions were especially timely. They help me to know where I should focus my energies should opportunities arise to obtain whatever limited funding will be available. Here are some of the ideas that were distilled from the comments: ◊ Preserve “Heritage Industries” i.e., Fishing, Hatcheries, Timber, Longshoring, Exports, Trucking ◊ Create an unloading fee for Tuna ◊ Remove barriers to investments ◊ Develop a full complement of transporta- tion options ◊ Hi-speed internet availability (Broadband) in rural areas ◊ Streamline the permitting process; create a one-stop permit process ◊ Access to capital (lending & lenders) ◊ New economic opportunities – attract new employers ◊ Highway 30 – major access to northwest region Thanks again for making these town halls such a success…but don’t stop there. Please Please see page 22 to be a better candidate, and the county’s citizens who at- tended the public forums, con- tacted me personally with their concerns, and spent some time researching the candidates in this race. It takes informed vot- ers to have a successful demo- cratic process. Still, less than half of all the county’s regis- tered voters exercised their right to vote in this election and I find that disheartening. Finally, I’d like to thank my friends and especially my fami- ly for allowing me this opportu- nity to run for office. They have been supportive and under- standing as I sacrificed my job and neglected their needs to fo- cus on this campaign. I’ve missed the girls’ softball games, family meals, neglect- ed housework, and been un- available much of the past 2- 1/2 months and still they’ve stood by me and supported me. It hasn’t been easy. There are a lot of challenges for the county ahead and none of the county’s leaders will have it easy. This isn’t a job that someone applies for because of the paycheck. It’s a job that you apply for because you want to make a difference. I learned a lot from this experience and I think it’s important that we all try to BE THE CHANGE that we’d like to see in our leader- ship. What will YOU do for Co- lumbia County today? Support a local business? Volunteer in a service organization? Help your neighbor? Donate to a lo- cal charity? Run for office? It is not a duty of just the County Commissioners to make a dif- ference in our county’s future. It’s up to each of us. I hope you’ll join me in continuing to make our county a better place to live, work, and play. LEAD FROM WHERE YOU ARE. To- gether, we can make a differ- ence. Sincerely, Shawna Sykes Scappoose 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.