The INDEPENDENT, July 20, 2011
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
313 Hart 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
Thinks administrator
not needed by city
To the Editor:
I am glad we no longer have
a rubber stamp city council.
Making good decisions takes
time.
Right now we have an intel-
ligent mayor who is the acting
city administrator. By not hav-
ing a paid administrator the city
is saving a lot of money, money
that can be used, and is need-
ed to maintain the city.
I believe the city is being run
as well as when we had a paid
administrator. In fact I think it
may be run better.
When filling the vacant
council position I would like
someone voted in by the peo-
ple of Vernonia. I believe we
can wait to fill the vacant coun-
cil position until November of
2012.
It is time the people of Ver-
nonia have a little more say in
what is going on in Vernonia.
Emil E. Rode
Vernonia
“Shelly” was loved
by many people
To the Editor:
A celebration of life took
place for Rachelle B. Law July
2, 2011. She preferred to be
called “Shelly”.
Shelly was born June 18,
1972, in Portland, attended
Beaverton Special Ed., until
1984 when she entered Aloha
Christian Academy for three
years, then attended Banks
Christian School for two years,
then Forest Grove High
School, where she entered
Oregon Special Olympics.
Shelly won over 52 medals;
gold, bronze and silver, in all
sports and equestrian. Shelly
graduated, in 1992, from Sun-
set High School
Shelly was a Champion in
life. Mo matter what came her
way – she forgave and smiled.
Shelly married Mathew in
2001. She gave birth to a baby
girl, under much protest from
society. However, God won
out. Another baby, a boy, was
born in February 2006. Shelly
got diabetes, then Type II.
Shelly moved to Vernonia in
2010. She enjoyed the city and
especially Vernonia Senior
Center and she volunteered at
the Food Bank.
Shelly loved the Seventh-
day Adventist Church – where
her celebration was held.
A Mother’s Message: Dear-
est Shelly, I didn’t get to say
goodbye to you before Jesus
took you home. Shelly dedicat-
ed her life to Christ in April –
Easter of 2011.
Shelly never held a grudge
and totally forgave all who hurt
her. Shelly loved her family, no
matter what.
I am blessed to have had
you in my life. I will miss you
and I will never forget you. You
will be in my heart till we meet
again in Glory. God Speed and
Love, Mom.
Shelly’s service brought to-
gether many who loved her and
to support the family. Thank
you, Pastor Dennis S.D.A.,
Foursquare Pastor Carl, As-
sembly of God Pastor Wayne
Marr, Christian Church Minister
Sam Hough and Lance Hol-
berg of Good Samaritan Min-
istries in Portland.
Shelly trusted the wrong
people with her life. They re-
fused medical care, wouldn’t
call 9-1-1. There is a police in-
vestigation.
Gail B. Law
Vernonia
CEO Richard Whitehead said
the ambulance was dispatched
within 20 seconds, but had the
aunt called 9-1-1 instead of her
niece in the first place, help
would have been on the way
sooner.
Thanks for helping
pay for fireworks
To the Editor:
As the lead pyrotechnician
for the Vernonia Fireworks
Crew, I would like to say thank
you to the following organiza-
tions and individuals whose
contributions allowed me to put
on Vernonia’s 4th of July fire-
works show. Vernonia Preven-
tion Coalition, Vernonia Volun-
teer Fire and Rescue Associa-
tion, Vernonia Mini Mart, Ver-
nonia Lions Club, Vernonia
Boosters, Vernonia Volunteer
Ambulance Association, Jack
and Randal Harvey, Vernonia
Hardware, Vernonia True Val-
ue, Randy Carlton, Tobie
Finzel, and all who put money
in the buckets around town.
Tom Ramsey
Vernonia
Great time had at
911 operator did not July’s First Friday
To the Editor:
satisfy this caller
To the Editor:
I called 911 on Tuesday
June 28th for my Aunt. I had
called from my place of work,
because my Aunt had called
me because she was having a
difficult time talking and breath-
ing. I gave them all the informa-
tion that was needed, address,
telephone, condition and so
forth. The 911 operator pro-
ceeded to tell me that I should-
n’t have called for her that she
should have called herself, I
told her that she was having
difficulty talking and breathing,
the whole time I just wanted
her to get the ambulance to her
and get her help. When I got to
the hospital to see her she told
me that the 911 operator called
her after I had talked with her
and told her to call 911 for her-
self from now on. I really took
offense to this because what if
the person was unconscious
and couldn’t call for them-
selves. I just thought that I
needed to voice my concern
about the attitude of this indi-
vidual that works for 911.
Tina Brewington
Vernonia
Editor’s Note: Columbia 9-1-1
July’s First Friday, at the
Scout Cabin, featured a gor-
geous summer evening of local
crafts, original art works, and
the magical Celtic music of
Alexander Adams. Children
painted stars and decorated
cookies. Thank you to all the
visitors who stopped by and to
the Boy Scouts for a moving
flag retirement ceremony.
Thanks also go to Forest
Wheeler for making balloon
hats and cats for the kids, and
to Sentry Market for donating
cookies for decorating. First
Friday supports Hands-on Art
in Vernonia and it couldn’t hap-
pen without the generous ef-
forts of all the volunteers who
set up, kept things running
smoothly and cleaned up after-
wards.
Diana Peach
Vernonia First Friday
Burch says problems
are Haack’s fault
To the Editor:
I am not a political person. I
have no grand ideas what will
save the world. And I don’t
think it is realistic to believe our
government has all of the an-
swers. But I do believe people
can get creative to solve their
problems if they are open to
communication. The situation
in our town has shown what
happens when communication
breaks down.
I was cautiously optimistic to
be honored by the vote of con-
fidence by the citizens of Ver-
nonia. While I realize not every-
one voted for me or even likes
me I believed I could help bring
the community together for the
better of everyone. And the
vote was overwhelming.
I stated I wanted to see
change in our government. And
I wanted to address the prob-
lem with irresponsible spend-
ing Vernonia has suffered by
our leaders. I wanted to see
openness between the City
Council, City Management and
the people. To help us move in
a positive direction. While deal-
ing with the very real threats to
the way of life here.
What I walked into was a
struggle to educate myself in
the very thing I prided myself
in, the ability to communicate. I
was told by our Pro Tem City
Administrator, Bill Haack, I
could no longer attend the
meetings I had been attending
for years. I was presented with
a confidentiality agreement
from our cities [sic] attorney
and was pressured to sign it.
This ran right up against my
beliefs and created a feeling of
distrust from the city manage-
ment. But I made up my mind I
would do my best to help these
people to trust me. This doesn’t
mean I would just blindly do
what they told me to but I would
find a way to work this out and
build trust.
Our relationship deteriorated
when I stepped into office with-
out as much as a brief state-
ment from our Pro Tem Admin-
istrator. It rapidly went down hill
when I was made aware of
some serious spending on
problems related to our police
Please see page 20
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.