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About The independent. (Vernonia, Or.) 1986-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 17, 2011)
The INDEPENDENT, August 17, 2011 CASA for Kids gets a national grant to develop new programs CASA for Kids, Inc. has been selected to receive a $41,000 National CASA Asso- ciation new program develop- ment grant, according to Tom Dunn, chief financial officer of the NCASAA. Confirmation of the award came in a recent let- ter from the national leader. Kathryn Bourn, executive di- rector of the local CASA pro- gram, is excited about the grant award. “This grant will provide us with financial stability to grow the CASA program in Co- lumbia County,” she said. CASA for Kids provides vol- unteer Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASAs), who give a voice to abused and neglect- ed children in foster care. Last year, 182 children in Columbia County spent at least one night in foster care. CASA for Kids was able to provide an advo- cate for only 1 in 5, however. The grant funds will help CASA for Kids train and super- vise new CASA advocates. “Our goal is to serve all foster children entitled to a CASA by the end of 2014,” Bourn said. To achieve that goal, CASA for Kids will need an additional 60 CASAs. “We added eight new CASAs this spring, and plan to train 12 more CASAs this fall,” she said. “We plan to train 20 CASAs a year until every foster child in Columbia County has a CASA.” CASA for Kids is recruiting prospective volunteers for its upcoming October new CASA class. Having a CASA is an evi- dence-based best practice for serving abused and neglected children in the foster-care sys- tem, Bourn said. When children in the foster-care system have a CASA advocate, studies show that: • The children receive more services to address their edu- cational, psychological and medical needs, and their par- ents receive more services to address the reasons the chil- dren were removed from the family home. • Children who are able to return home to their parents ex- perience more stability—rather than bouncing in and out of fos- ter care. • Children who are not able to be reunited with their parents are more likely to be adopted than to remain in long-term fos- ter care. CASA for Kids, Inc. was one of six CASA programs across the country to receive a new program development grant, according to Coral Edward, NCASAA grants program man- ager. Overall, National CASA awarded $7.3 million to 224 programs in various grant cate- gories. Grant funds came to National CASA through the fed- eral Department of Justice. Ac- cording to Dunn’s announce- ment, the grant period for the award is the 2011-12 fiscal year. The local CASA program is a 501(c)(3) non-profit support- ed by the Oregon Commission on Children and Families, the Northwest Educational Service District, the cities of St. Helens and Scappoose, foundations, and individual and corporate donors. For additional information regarding CASA’s upcoming events, or to become a CASA, contact Bourn at 503-366-4133 or email info@casaforkidsinc. org. Page 15 Power of the People By W. Marc Farmer, General Manager, West Oregon Electric Cooperative It’s Annual Meeting Time Again It’s hard to believe that another year has gone by already and it is time once again for our WOEC Annu- al Meeting. This is our 67th Annual Meeting since our creation in 1944. This meeting will be much different than in the past, as we will be holding it in the truck bays of our new building. The theme this year is “Welcome Home” as the new head- quarters building will be the new home for West Oregon Electric Cooperative. Since the new building belongs to all of our members, it is your new home as well. We will not be serving lunch this year, as we expect the number of attendees to be much larger than our budget can serve and, rather than increase the budget during tight financial times, we are serving light refresh- ments and drinks. We will be dedicating the new building immediately following the annual meet- ing and allowing those attending to get a sneak peek at the new facility before the grand open- ing in September. You should have all received your ballots and invitations to the meeting. West Oregon today provides electric service to 4,341 meters spread across 1,224 square miles through five counties. We currently have 466 miles of overhead lines and 153 miles of un- derground lines. Of course the overhead lines run through very rough terrain, and in a service area containing far more trees than people as our system is sparsely populated, with an aver- age of only 6 meters per mile of line and over 2 million trees throughout it. Today, as we did back in our beginning, we strive to keep the lights on and provide power for all of our members’ needs. Speaking of needs, just think of how much those needs have changed over the years. In the beginning having one or two light bulbs was a big deal. Then refrigeration and washing ma- chines became the next luxuries, along with heating and cook stoves. Today we have stores full of electronics to do almost everything for us. The need for more power, more reliability of that power, and more efficient use of the power has risen dramatically over the past 15 years. The Co-op has been working to meet those de- mands by upgrading our system, cutting more trees and undergrounding more lines to in- crease reliability. We participate through BPA in energy efficiency programs, and we, as mem- bers of PNGC, look for ways to provide more power. It is a daunting challenge to do all of these things, especially in the economically diffi- cult times in which we find ourselves. The Man- agement Team and Board of Directors take these challenges very seriously and remain committed to providing the most reliable, effi- cient, and cost effective power we can. I hope to see you at our annual meeting, which starts with registration at 10 a.m. on Sat- urday, August 20th, with the business meeting to begin at 11 a.m. There will be door prizes, the results of the election for Board of Directors po- sitions Districts #3 and #7, an update on the Co- op from our Management Team and our Board President, refreshments, and a sneak preview of the new headquarters facilities. ODFW changed groundfish rules effective July 21 Fishery managers recently announced two changes to the ocean groundfish sport fishery that became effective Thurs- day, July 21. The fishery beyond the 20 fathom line (as defined in regu- lation) will be closed in order to reduce catch-and-release mor- tality of yelloweye rockfish. An- glers may occasionally catch, but cannot keep, yelloweye rockfish while fishing for other species. Yelloweye rockfish, along with canary rockfish, are considered overfished by NOAA Fisheries and a certain percentage of those caught and released must be reported as mortality. According to Lynn Mattes, Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife (ODFW) sport ground- fish project leader, yelloweye rockfish generally live in deep- er waters so bringing the fish- ery inside 20 fathoms will re- duce impacts to the population while allowing anglers to con- tinue to fish for other bottomfish such as black rockfish and ling- cod. Additionally, yelloweye rockfish caught and released from shallower than 20 fathoms have a lower mortality rate. “After consulting with the Sportfish Advisory Committee we made the decision to pull the fishery in to 20 fathoms to help reduce impacts to yellow- eye rockfish, while still offering fishing opportunities for other species,” Mattes said. The Sportfish Advisory Committee advises ODFW on marine sport fisheries; its mem- bers include private anglers, charter boat operators and a port representative. In addition, sport anglers fishing from boats may no longer retain cabezon after July 21 because fisheries managers estimate the harvest limit of 15.8 metric tons will have been met. Sport boat anglers may continue to harvest other legal species such as black rockfish, lingcod and greenling. Open Daily 11 a.m. Biker Friendly Happy Hour: Mon - Fri 4 pm - 7 pm Ladies Night: Wed. 5 pm - Midnight Watch Here for Coming Attractions Open until midnight Sun-Thu & until 2:30 a.m. Fri, Sat. 733 Bridge St., Vernonia 503-429-9999