The INDEPENDENT, December 21, 2011
Vernonia sports have a great season
by Gordon Jarman
Vernonia’s fall sports teams
enjoyed their most successful
season in many years. The Vol-
leyball team made the state
play-offs, the Boys Cross
Country team placed first in
several meets and the Football
team tied for second in the con-
ference.
Volleyball – The Vernonia
Volleyball team started their
summer program with the goal
of making the state play-offs.
The team consisted of 22 girls
on Varsity and JV. The JV
team, coached by Brandi
Everett, won several dual
meets and some tournaments.
The Varsity team, coached by
Teresa Williams, finished third
in the conference and won the
league play-off game, putting
them in the state tournament.
In that league play-off game,
the girls had to defeat Knappa,
a team that beat them earlier in
the year, at Knappa. The Ver-
nonia team played extremely
well and won the match placing
them in the state play-offs. In
their state play-off appearance,
they traveled to Days Creek,
near Canyonville, but ended up
losing that contest and finishing
their season. Days Creek went
on to win the 2A state title. Two
girls, Sara McMahon and
Kelsey Brown, made the All-
League team.
Cross Country – The cross
country team consisted of 27
athletes on the boys and girls
teams. The boys had a little
better record for the year and
finished second in the league
meet. The team’s most consis-
tent performer, and the athlete
who finished first for the Log-
gers in most meets, was
Nathan Fleck. Nathan is an
outstanding runner and fin-
ished high in the Special Dis-
trict 1 meet, as well. He was
awarded All-League and All-
District honors for his efforts
this year. Rowan Cheney
earned All-League honors for
the girl’s team. The team was
coached by Byron Brown, who
was named the Boy’s Team
Coach of the Year at the Dis-
trict 1 meet.
Football – The Loggers had
one of the largest turn-outs in
years, with 40 players starting
the season and ending with 38.
This enabled the program to
field both JV and Varsity teams.
The JVs played very well, com-
peting in five games and losing
only one of those contests. The
Varsity team accomplished a
feat that has eluded the football
program here for the past two
years – this is to obtain a victo-
ry over another opponent. They
had not only one victory, but
won three games in league, fin-
ishing with a tie for second
place in the final league stand-
ings. They did not make it to
the state play-offs due to the
application of the AZZI points
system, which is used to re-
solve ties in the Northwest
League. Overall, this was a
successful season, with sever-
al Loggers being named All-
League. Those named were
Joe Benes, Jake Titus, Jacob
Stevens, and Kristian Wred-
stroem as a running back and
kicker making second team All-
League; while Sean Solberg
and Kanan Olsen were first
team All-League players. I led
the Loggers brand new coach-
ing staff this year, with Willie
Hansen and John Murray as
assistants. Volunteers Tyson
Westby and Tyler Smith were
integral parts of the coaching
staff as well.
Vernonia School Board approves
superintendent to seek financing
The Vernonia School District
Board of Directors held their
December meeting on Decem-
ber 8.
The board authorized Su-
perintendent Dr. Ken Cox to
negotiate and prepare bridge fi-
nancing options for board ap-
proval. The district has long
known that there would be a
gap between the fundraising
efforts for the new school and
the construction. This bridge fi-
nancing will allow the district to
stay on schedule with construc-
tion. The board also authorized
Cox to manage cash flow for
the construction, up to $2 mil-
lion, providing that bridge fi-
nancing is imminent.
In other business, the board
held the first reading of district
policies on goals, safety pro-
gram, pest management, food
services and staff religious
dress.
The schools are now on win-
ter break until January 3. The
next board meeting will be Jan-
uary 12, at 6:00 p.m., at the
district office.
Chalk Talk
Chalk Talk is a column of information
about Vernonia schools. This column
was provided by Superintendent Dr.
Ken Cox.
Christmas Break is here, finally. On one hand it couldn’t come
soon enough, but as I think about the year so far, I wonder where
the time has gone. It is amazing how fast time flies when you are
having fun!
I want to let you know that things are going well with the new
school. We have made significant progress in the past few
months, with the drywall in the west classrooms wings being
taped as we speak. Much of the landscaping has been installed,
as well as most of the windows. We continue to work on the
bridge financing that we will need to complete construction while
we continue our fundraising campaign.
Since I am a grandpa many times over, perhaps I can share
some advice. Now that you have two weeks with your children or
grandchildren home, I hope you enjoy them. If possible, please
make sure they get a chance to do some reading, perhaps a
Christmas story or the children’s page here in The Independent.
Hopefully, through the activities you choose to do during this
time away from school, you will be able to establish a new fami-
ly tradition, or simply make some memories with your children. If
you can, take lots of pictures and share them with your children
in the spring to remind them of the fun they had (this helps trans-
fer those memories from their short term to long term memory).
And finally, don’t forget to let them know how much you love them
every chance you get.
And if any of you kids out there read this, don’t forget to make
your bed and tell your parents and/or grandparents thank you for
all they do for you, and how much you love them. No matter what
our circumstances, if we think about it, we can always find some-
one to thank for something. Go ahead, make someone’s day by
simply telling them you are thinking about them and, if appropri-
ate, that you love them.
Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and a safe, successful
New Year!
Young Sports Pac buyers may get refund
Anyone who purchased a
Juvenile Sports Pac between
Dec. 1, 2009, and May 26,
2011, was accidentally over-
charged by $3 and may seek a
refund from the Oregon De-
partment of Fish & Wildlife
(ODFW).
For the refund, email Dean-
na Erickson, or fax 503-947-
6117 with your Hunter/Angler
ID# (ODFW ID#), which is
printed on all licenses and tags.
Be sure to include the address
where the $3 check should be
mailed. Unfortunately, ODFW
is unable to credit a hunter’s
account $3 for a future pur-
chase.
The error was discovered
during a routine audit. Legisla-
tion that created the Juvenile
Sports Pack during the 2009
session did not provide ODFW
with the regulatory authority to
charge a $5 agent fee, the
amount charged for the adult
Sports Pac.
Since the error was discov-
ered, ODFW has reduced the
agent fee to $2, the same
amount charged for all other li-
censes and tags. A Juvenile
Sports Pac now costs $52, not
$55.
ODFW introduced the Juve-
nile Sports Pac, for resident
hunters age 17 and under, in
2010. The regular version of
this tag (for adults) costs
$164.75. A Sports Pac has a
Combination
Angling/Hunt-
ing/Shellfish License, Com-
bined Angling Harvest Tag, Val-
idation for Upland Bird and Wa-
terfowl hunting, General or
Controlled Buck Deer or Con-
trolled Antlerless Deer, General
or Controlled Elk, General
Cougar, General or Controlled
Bear and Spring Turkey Tag.
Page 13
Winter Starts
December 22, 2011