PRESORTED STANDARD
U.S. Postage Paid
Vernonia, OR 97064
Permit No. 37
Vol. 25, No. 10
THE
FREE
INDEPENDENT
The Voice of the Upper Nehalem River Valley for Over 25 years
May 19, 2011
Hudson faces possible
recall from city council
Vernonia High School Band members took fifth place at statewide 2A/1A competition. Pic-
tured are Josh Butcher, Quin Johansen, Jackson Miller, Austin Edgar, Rachel Brown, Rowan
Cheney and Kim Allen. Photo courtesy of Betsy Miller.
Three recognized with
Life Saving Awards
Please see page 5
Columbia County voters say no to
increased funding for sheriff
In unofficial results from the
May 18 Columbia County elec-
tions, the Sheriff’s Levy, 5-120,
failed with 57.07 percent of vot-
ers saying no to that measure
and 42.93 percent voting yes.
The voter turn-out for the
election was 46.43 percent, a
fair number for a special elec-
tion.
In other races, all three in-
cumbents running for re-elec-
tion for Vernonia 47J School di-
rector were returned. Greg
Kintz, Tim Bamburg and Bill
Langmaid all ran unopposed.
Directors running for election
to the Vernonia Rural Fire Pro-
tection District; Joel Glass, Don
Schulte and Terence Lindauer,
also ran unopposed.
In the only contested 9-1-1
Director election, for Vernonia
Zone 4, Kathy Denckla beat
Leslie Seeberger with 50.32
percent of the vote to Seeberg-
er’s 48.28 percent.
Scott Wilson, Donna Adams,
and Allen Tuck were unop-
posed for Mist-Birkenfeld Rural
Fire Protection District Director
positions.
Banks School
bond goes down
to defeat again
Results from the May 18
special election were unofficial
at press time, but with 100 per-
cent of precincts counted,
showed the Banks School Dis-
trict General Bond measure 34-
187 failing by 51.03 percent
(48.97 percent voted for the
measure).
Banks School Director posi-
tion 3 was won by Laurie Sheri-
dan Schlegel with 74.97 per-
cent of the vote over Steven C.
Greagor. Kathy Edison ran un-
opposed for position 5.
Director positions 4 and 5 on
the Banks Fire District ran un-
opposed, Mark Schmidlin for
position 4 and Mike Durham for
position 5. In the contest for po-
sition 2, Mitch Vandehey won
the seat over Craig Stewart,
with 66.36 percent of the vote.
Vernonia Council Member
Kevin Hudson joined council
members Willow Burch and
Marilyn Nicks to terminate the
city’s contract with Columbia
Pacific Development Corp.
(Col-Pac) during the May 2
council meeting. The Col-Pac
contract allowed their employ-
ee, Bill Haack, to fill in here as
interim city administrator, so
terminating the contract re-
moved Haack.
The following day, a cam-
paign was organized to recall
Hudson.
Chief Petitioner Sharon
Bernal filed all of the necessary
forms and a small group met on
May 3rd. Blank petitions were
obtained on Friday, May 6, and
enough signatures were gath-
ered over that weekend to turn
the petitions in on Monday, May
9. The county elections division
certified the signatures, which
made the recall effort official.
A statement of reasons for a
recall is required by law. The
reasons given are as follows:
“Kevin Hudson has en-
gaged in a personal relation-
ship with a Vernonia Police Of-
ficer, yet he knowingly voted
to protect that employee’s in-
terests and then voted to fire
Bill Haack, Vernonia Interim
City Administrator who is the
best person we have had in that
job for more than a decade.
Hudson mistakenly concluded
that Haack was a threat to his
friend. When Hudson made
those votes, he knew that his
Police Officer friend had lied
on his employment application
to the City of Vernonia.
Hudson has demonstrated
disregard for the welfare of the
People of Vernonia and the
City as a whole. He has a pat-
tern of using his vote to protect
his friend at the cost of those
he represents. He has shown no
regard to the imperative issues
of the city, for example: Due to
Hudson’s actions, the city is at
grave risk of losing its liability
insurance for clean water and
other city services. Hudson had
been warned of this risk prior
to his votes.”
Hudson had to decide by
May 16 whether to resign his
position, or to rebut the charges
on the recall petition. His deci-
sion was to rebut. Following are
excerpts from his Justification:
“I have a lot of friends in
Vernonia, one of them being a
police officer. Personal rela-
tionships do not affect my de-
cisions as councilor; I will do
what is necessary.
The statement that Haack is
the best City Administrator in a
decade is an opinion, and
everyone is entitled to an opin-
ion.
I believe the record will
show I have overwhelmingly
supported Vernonia by my
council actions in favor of the
new school, flood recovery,
and many other issues benefi-
cial to our community. I want
See Recall on page 5
CCRider has student
summer bus passes
CCRider Summer Fun Stu-
dent Bus Passes are now avail-
able and may be purchased on
the bus from a driver, or at the
CCRider office, 700 Port Av-
enue, St. Helens.
Passes are $30.00 (exact
change is required on buses)
and are valid June 15 thru Sep-
tember 7, 2011. Students must
be 6-19 years old and show
valid picture or student ID when
purchasing and using the pass,
or proof of school attendance.
Students under age 9 must be
accompanied by an adult when
using the bus.