Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The independent. (Vernonia, Or.) 1986-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 16, 2011)
PRESORTED STANDARD U.S. Postage Paid Vernonia, OR 97064 Permit No. 37 Vol. 26, No. 22 THE FREE INDEPENDENT The Voice of the Upper Nehalem River Valley for Over 25 years November 16, 2011 Vernonia School District continues funding quest by Dr. Ken Cox, Vernonia School Superintendent On Saturday, November 12, the Freewheelers Club of Vernonia cut wood donated by Dustin Thompson of St. Helens. They gave most of the wood to senior citizens in the area and are raffling off a trailer load as part of their effort to adopt a family for Christmas. The club was started by Joe Hammond in honor of his friend Erik Kesterson, a soldier killed in Iraq, who went to school in Vernonia. The club honors Kesterson’s memory by doing good works, such picking up litter in town and on the highway, and finding ways to help those in need. See more pictures on page 20. Photo by Sunny Suppes. Former officer says he will sue city The attorney for former Ver- nonia police officer Michael Kay sent a letter to the City of Vernonia notifying them of Kay’s intent to sue the city for “high six figures,” The four page Notice of Tort Claim letter from Attorney Michelle R. Burrows, dated No- vember 4, 2011, starts with the general reasons of actions, “re- sulting in his (Kay’s) unlawful and unconstitutional termina- tion from employment.” Bur- rows goes on to say they in- tend to name the City of Ver- nonia for the actions of Mr. Bill Haack, former Chief Grace, Chief Connor (sic), Justice of the Peace Wally Thompson, Kathy Peck, Dian Rubanoff, Mayor Sally Harrison, and Offi- cer Carnahan. “Because the City has edited, destroyed and refused to provide extensive documentation there are likely other acts and actor (sic), in- cluding City Council members, who will be implicated as dis- covery proceeds,” the letter continues. The letter also states, “We were unaware of the degree of falsification, manipulation, per- jury and outright lying the vari- ous individuals engaged in to perfect the termination of Offi- cer Kay until Kay was terminat- ed.” Burrows asserts that, “The DPSST investigation of Mike Kay involved a somewhat ab- surd claims (sic) he “falsified” K-9 accreditation, stole money and falsified public records on the retention, training and ex- perience of his K-9 officer,” but then goes on the say, “The DPSST dog certification issue is primarily for DPSST to sort out.” DPSST has already noti- fied Kay of their intent to re- voke his certification, for life, to be a police officer. Kay is cur- rently waiting for his final round of appeals with DPSST on that issue. Though the letter refers to Haack as “the primary bad ac- tor in all of this,” it goes on to say, “others followed or con- tributed to the enormous and often breathtaking effort to dis- credit a man who likely saved lives (emphasis added).” “We will be seeking all back pay, front pay, emotional dam- ages for loss of an entire ca- reer. I expect our prayer to be in the high six figures together with our attorney fees,” the let- ter asserts. Burrows added that the lawsuit will be filed in feder- al court, before the arbitration is scheduled. The arbitration referred to is arbitration re- quested by the police union for a date not yet set. Consideration and response to the potential lawsuit will be determined by the city attorney and the city’s insurance com- pany. New Spencer Park Town Hall The Vernonia School Dis- trict will hold a Community Town Hall on plans for New Spencer Park, on December 6, starting at 7:00 p.m. in the green building. Park design information will be presented by the district’s architectural firm. The [Vernonia School] Dis- trict recently went to the Ver- nonia Planning Commission asking for an adjustment to our Conditional Use Permit for the new school. We asked them to allow us to run the utilities, from Bridge Street along Missouri to the new school, overhead, as they are now, rather than un- derground. Based on the infor- mation we had at the time we made the presentation we felt it was a reasonable request, and it would also save the District an estimated $87,000. The Planning Commission unanimously approved our re- quest and we are moving for- ward with the project right on schedule. However, some of the concerns that were ex- pressed seemed to have an underlying question: Where are we with our financing of the new school? I would like to an- swer that question and briefly recap our financial journey to date. When we started this jour- ney we had BOORA Architects help us design a school that met all of our needs because Vernonia Thanksgiving Dinner A Community Thanksgiv- ing Dinner will be held at the Vernonia Community Church gym on Thursday, November 24, from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. Turkey or ham will be on the menu at this free dinner. Everyone is invited to the dinner, which is sponsored by the Pioneer Baptist Fel- lowship and the Vernonia Community church. To donate or volunteer to help at the dinner, call Cathy at 503-429-8033 or Dennis at 503-429-0335. many felt that we only had this one shot at new schools for our community. They came up with a $48 million design. Two years ago we successfully passed a bond for $13 million and we were able to sell them at a pre- mium and get $13.6 million in return, while keeping the cost to taxpayers almost 10 percent lower than the original tax rate estimate. Thank you for your down payment on our new schools! We were then faced with a very large gap, which we im- mediately addressed by con- solidating the design and bring- ing the project estimate down. Today we are looking at a budget of over $39 million. It was about this time that the District contracted with the Metropolitan Group of Portland to act as our fundraising coun- sel and laid out an aggressive, four-year fundraising strategy based on reaching out to foun- dations, corporations, state See School on page 3 Vernonia Christmas Events Washington Grade School Winter Concert will be De- cember 1 at 7:00 p.m., in the gymnasium. The presentation will in- clude the 5th grade begin- ning band, and the elemen- tary students holiday musi- cal. ~ ~ ~~~~~~~~~~ Vernonia Christmas in the Country Bazaar will be held at the Vernonia Middle School (green building) on December 3 and 4. Hours are Saturday 10 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Sunday Noon to 5:00 p.m. The bazaar is a fundraiser for the Vernonia Boosters scholarship fund.