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About The independent. (Vernonia, Or.) 1986-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 20, 2011)
The INDEPENDENT, January 20, 2011 Page 5 Rural community worked to reduce the danger of wildfire From page 1 concerned with wildfire protec- tion and, over the years, has demonstrated their dedication and ingenuity through such ef- forts as their campfire program and cooperative outreach ef- forts with the Mist/Birkenfeld Rural Fire Protection District. Most recently they have been working with the Oregon De- partment of Forestry (ODF) through a fuels reduction grant awarded to Columbia County. ODF has been the adminis- trator of a federal grant to help the residents of Columbia County prepare and protect themselves for wildfires. Kevin Nelson, a Forester with the Co- lumbia City ODF office, has been assisting Columbia Coun- ty residents in these efforts for the last year. Nelson performs individual Firewise assess- ments, signing up people for grant assistance with their pro- tection projects, and coordinat- ing community efforts. His serv- ices are available for anyone interested in learning how to protect their homes. Assisting Fishhawk Lake with their desire to become a Firewise Commu- nity is just one of his latest en- deavors. Grant money was used to hire a chipping crew to assist with Fishhawk’s first Firewise clean-up weekend, held last October. The residents pruned, cut, and otherwise cleaned up their properties of fuels and the chipping crew came through and disposed of the debris. Fishhawk Lake now joins a short list of only eight other communities in Oregon to be officially Firewise, and is the first in Northwest Oregon. If you are interested in hav- ing a free Firewise assessment done on your property, seeing if you qualify for grant assis- tance, or learning more about how you can protect your prop- erty call Nelson at 503-397- 2636. Minimum wage increase is a help to low-income Oregonian workers by Chris Thomas, Oregon News Service The first paychecks of the New Year are a little bit bigger for some workers in Oregon. The new minimum wage has kicked in: $8.50 an hour means those employees are earning ten cents more per hour than last year. It translates to a be- fore-tax annual income of about $17,000 a year for a full- time worker. Recent college graduate Laura Baker, who makes just above minimum wage, says the extra $20 or so a month re- ally helps, “For a salaried per- son, that may sound a little bit trivial, but for people who are just struggling to make sure they can go buy groceries, twenty bucks is a lot. That can help you buy a bus pass. It can help you buy school supplies for your kids.” Baker said she works two lower-paid part-time jobs, and has been unable to find work in her chosen profession. The Na- tional Employment Law Project (NELP) reports over 87,000 Oregonians make minimum wage, and more than 60 per- cent of them are women. Oregon is one of ten states where the minimum wage in- creases when cost of living goes up. Opponents of that system say it increases costs to business with very little ben- efit to employees. But Ann Thompson, NELP policy ana- lyst, says even a small in- crease for the lowest-paid workers produces a variety of benefits, from lowered absen- teeism and improved morale, to boosting the economy and the paychecks of other work- ers, as well, “Generally when we see minimum wage in- creases, it brings up the floor. So it brings up the lowest wage, but it also gives a little bit of a bump to the workers who are making, you know, 50 cents or a dollar more.” Oregon has a lower per- capita personal income than the national average but, ac- cording to the State Employ- ment Department, the number of minimum-wage workers is not a factor, and Oregon’s min- imum wage is the second-high- est in the nation. Mist/Birkenfeld RFPD Fire Chief Dave Crawford (left) and Fishhawk Lake Recreation Club rep- resentative Kathy Cardona accepted the community’s Firewise award, presented by Kevin Nelson of the Oregon Department of Forestry. Photo courtesy of ODF. Protect your debit card from skimming Better Business Bureau (BBB) warns that ATM skim- ming is a growing problem. Identity thieves tamper with ATMs to steal debit card num- bers and PINs. It only takes a few seconds to install cameras over the keypad and a device over the card reader. ATMs aren’t the only hot spots, credit card readers at gas pumps and retailers can be tampered with as well. According to Bankrate.com, ATM skimmers are close to reaping $1 billion annually from unsuspecting consumers. Ja- velin Strategy & Research esti- mates that one in five people have become victims. See Protect on page 8