PRESORTED STANDARD
U.S. Postage Paid
Vernonia, OR 97064
Permit No. 37
Vol. 25, No. 12
THE
FREE
INDEPENDENT
The Voice of the Upper Nehalem River Valley for Over 25 years
June 16, 2011
Vernonia girls bring home trophy
The Vernonia EXTREME
10U softball team played in the
St. Helens Tournament on June
4. After winning their first two
games in the afternoon, they
went on to win the champi-
onship game and the first place
trophy in the early evening.
The team played their final
game of the season at Vernon-
ia on June 6, after first posing
with their tournament trophy.
4th of July Parade
The Vernonia 4th of July Pa-
rade will start at 4:00 p.m. this
year. The staging area will be
Weed Avenue, alongside Ver-
nonia City Hall.
The parade
will move down
Bridge St., ending
at State Avenue.
Vernonia EXTREME 10U team, left-to-right, top row: Molly Foutch, McKenzie Pickering, Joyce
Everett, Coach Steve Wolf, Coach Amy Cieloha, Jordan Walters, Jazmine Hanner, and Brook-
lynn Walters. Bottom row: Sofia Wolf, Meghan Foster, Hannah Baska holding the tournament
trophy, Jessica Butcher, Paige Cieloha. Not pictured is Odessa Roberts.
Timber likely to lose post office
by Debi Wagner
Built in 1925 the rural historic
Timber Post Office is on the hit
list for closure. At a public meet-
ing conducted by The United
States Postal Service (USPS),
on May 26, the timetable was
laid out for possible closure.
Mike McQuire, Post Office
Operations Manager explained
the format for closure consider-
ation. The process is currently
in the study phase, which re-
Vernonia is taking
applications for
City Councilor.
See page 5
The Vernonia team was able
to play this season because
they were allowed to participate
in the St. Helens softball
league. On behalf of the team,
Coach Cieloha said, “We want
to thank St. Helens softball
league for including Vernonia in
your softball season, we really
appreciate it. We have had a
fun year!”
Wall Raising set
There will be a Wall Raising
Celebration for the community
to watch the first walls rise at
the Vernonia new school site on
Spencer Ave., on Monday, June
27, starting at 10:00 a.m.
The celebration, with re-
freshments, will take place on
the residential property at 1201
Texas Ave. There will be shut-
tles leaving the middle school
building (the green building)
starting at 9:30 a.m. There is no
parking at the site, so everyone
is asked to use the shuttles to
get there.
quired the public community
meeting. A committee of USPS
employees will have 60 days to
render a decision. The next
step is 120 days for public com-
ment, and the final decision will
follow in approximately eight
months.
Decline of volume and disre-
pair of the leased building were
the main reasons mentioned.
McQuire has documentation of
over six years of requests to
See Not all on page 5
Army Band to perform here July 2
The 204th Army Band, of the
Army Reserves, will be per-
forming a free concert in Ver-
nonia, on July 2, at 4:00 p.m. in
Hawkins Park.
The concert will consist of a
little bit of everything, including
Sousa marches, popular tunes,
standard band music, and sev-
eral small ensembles, jazz
band and others.
The band, based out of Van-
couver, Washington, was acti-
vated October 16, 2008, as part
of the 88th Regional Readiness
Command out of Fort McCoy,
Wisconsin.
In the event of inclement
weather, the concert will be
moved to the stage at Washing-
ton Grade School. The concert
is sponsored by the Vernonia
Band Boosters and the City of
Vernonia.
Timber Post Office is the heart of the small rural community. PHOTO BY DEBI WAGNER