The independent. (Vernonia, Or.) 1986-current, November 02, 2011, Page Page 3, Image 3

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

    The INDEPENDENT, November 2, 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 ace
pl
620 SW Main, Suite e 606
r
Portland, OR 97205
o on
Phone: 503-326-2901
– n lecti
d e Ofc. Bldg.
2338 Rayburn
l
ne ti House
g
i
Washington,
s un DC 20515
e
t
Phone:
R en 202-225-0855
Website:
m 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
Unnecessary wars
interfere with needs
To the Editor:
As a candidate for the U.S.
Congress, House of Represen-
tatives, 1st district of Oregon.
At age 80, here’s my short
personal take on running for
U.S. Congress.
1. Not for the faint of heart.
2. Have a message that is
real and precious. My platform
is: Get out of the war business,
govern by consensus/compro-
mise, which most Americans
support.
Have a plan to get elected –
I didn’t, just the hope of getting
my message out. The “good”
that could happen, with all the
country’s needs – jobs, educa-
tion, health care, etc., etc., etc.,
– won’t happen when we’re still
doing unnecessary wars.
Our congress has no
morals, but lots of greed. Forty
thousand lobbyists with big
checkbooks, unlimited cam-
paign contribution. That needs
to change. I would propose a
$50.00 limit on lobbyist and
campaign contributions. We
need a people congress, you
can’t recall congress, but you
can request expulsion which
would have the same effect.
My grandchildren matter,
your grandchildren matter. It’s
your country, your congress,
your opportunity and obligation
to make it better.
Thanks for listening – Vote.
Dan Strite
Warrenton
Information on local
internet access
To the Editor:
The Vernonia Economic De-
velopment Committee and the
City Administrator would like to
inform the community of two re-
cent developments related to
high speed internet access:
1. Frontier has recently im-
proved their DSL equipment
within town. Frontier sub-
scribers should be able to ob-
tain internet access as follows:
a. Now: approximately 7
Mbps download within a 2 to 3
mile radius from their switch
building, and approximately 2.5
to 3 Mbps within a 4 to 5 mile
radius. (Frontier’s switch build-
ing is just east of the central
bridge in town.)
b. By July 2013: Four re-
mote switches will be upgraded
such that approximately 85% of
Frontier’s subscribers should
be able to obtain 3 Mbps.
2. Coho.Net, based in Hills-
boro, has recently installed 5 to
10+ Mbps internet service to
the Vernonia Airport. They are
willing to provide service to res-
idents in the Vernonia area who
either do not want to wait for 1b
above, who fall outside the
85%/3 Mbps service area of
Frontier, or determine that they
can get faster speeds from
Coho due to their location.
a. Coho.Net’s service is via
microwave (wireless) transmis-
sion that requires line-of-site
repeaters placed in towers or
tall trees. They are willing to in-
stall selected repeaters to
serve approximately (10) or
more subscribers each, at
rates competitive to DSL and
satellite.
Notes: All speeds listed are
approximate minimums. Both
Frontier and Coho.Net provide
upgrade options for heavy
/business users. You can con-
tact Frontier to request a line
test to your residence for a
more precise estimate of your
expected DSL speed.
Mitch Seibert
Vernonia
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.
City Update
City Administrator Haack gives updates on projects
by Bill Haack, Administrator
City of Vernonia
The City of Vernonia contin-
ues to review changes and im-
provements in our public works
water, sewer and stormwater
facility plans.
At this time, the City is em-
barked on a water rate study
that will lead to a modification
of the water utility rates. This
discussion has been of interest
to the City Council since 2007
and the City has sought profes-
sional input three times to sup-
port the work of the City Engi-
neer and the Public Works
Committee.
Earlier this year the City en-
gaged Oregon Association of
Water Utilities (OAWU) to take
our ideas and put them into a
framework for our review.
Our core assumptions are
as follows:
• The base rate should cover
60-75% of the annual operating
costs for the water fund budget
(this is a Best National from the
Rural Water Association)
• Rate structure should be
fair and equitable to all classes
of users
• Rate structure supporting
users outside of the City limits
should pay a consumption cost
commensurate with users who
live within the City limits
• Rate structure should fore-
cast future adjustments in the
rate structure on an annual ba-
sis
• Rate structure should in-
clude reserve accounts to
make debt payments and to es-
tablish a capital improvement
program
• Rate structure should be
professionally reassessed on
average every five years by a
third party
The members of the City
Council and the Public Works
Committee are reviewing a
draft water rates schedule and
plan to have a public hearing in
the near future on the proposed
changes.
As we have reported in the
past, the City is actively work-
ing on a plan to modify the
wastewater facility to further
our plan to both be a good
steward of the environment
and to be in compliance with
the Safe Drinking Water Act.
As many of you know the
City is out of compliance with
the State of Oregon Depart-
ment of Environmental Quality
(DEQ) National Pollutant Dis-
charge Elimination System
(NPDES) permit. Per our
NPDES Permit, the City is re-
shot off in time before the cat
got away. So within one day my
friend had seen six deer preda-
tors. While some may think that
Bobcats are not deer preda-
tors, they would be wrong, es-
pecially in regards to young
deer.
Please be safe while hunt-
ing, wear your hunter orange
and clearly identify your target,
we have already lost one citi-
zen this hunting season; we
don’t need any more accidents.
Ike Says…
From page 2
and the tail was long!
Cougar! Swinging his rifle off
his shoulder he got on the cat
just as it turned sideways and
walked into the reprod. My
friend simply could not get the
stricted from releasing third
stage water discharge into the
Nehalem River for a period of
time due to the differential in
temperature between the la-
goons and the river in the
warmer months of the year. For
the majority of the year, howev-
er, this is not a problem for
DEQ, and the City discharges
to the river during those
months of the year.
Recently Jon Forrester, rep-
resenting the City contract en-
gineer (HLB OTAK, Gearhart
OR) made a presentation to
City Council that described the
City’s revised plan for the
wastewater facility. Following a
meeting with DEQ last month,
HLB OTAK has initiated a plan
to redirect the discharge from
the third lagoon to underground
sand and gravel layer below
ground. This is called hyperoic
discharge. In our meeting with
DEQ, it became clear that this
model is a great use of natural
groundwater to cool the dis-
charge prior to reintegrating
with the flow of the river chan-
nel. To add information to our
study of this model, the City
hired Shannon and Wilson, a
Please see page 21