PRESORTED STANDARD
U.S. Postage Paid
Vernonia, OR 97064
Permit No. 37
Vol. 27, No. 2
THE
FREE
INDEPENDENT
The Voice
Voice of
of the Upper Nehalem River
The
River Valley
Valley for
for Over
Over 25
27 years
years
January 18, 2012
Vernonia School District
continues fundraising
Snow finally arrived this week in Vernonia and once it was here, it kept coming for a few
days. Picture taken heading to the bridge over Rock Creek going into Anderson Park.
Special Election ballot drop-off
sites and certification information
The Public Certification Test
of the counting equipment for
the January 31 Special Gener-
al Election will be held on Tues-
day, January 24, 2012. Testing
will begin at 10:00 a.m. in the
County Elections Dept. The
public is welcome to attend.
Drop sites for the election
will be as follows:
• Vernonia Library, 701
Weed Ave., Jan. 13 - 30, during
library hours and from noon to
8:00 p.m. on January 31.
• Mist-Birkenfeld RFPD,
12525 Hwy. 292, Jan. 13 - 30
during regular office hours and
January 31 from 8:00 a.m. to
8:00 p.m.
Ballots can also be dropped
off at the Columbia County
Courthouse Monday through
Thursday from 8:30 a.m. to
5:00 p.m. and January 31 from
7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. There is
also a drive-by drop box in the
lower parking lot of the Court-
house.
Vernonia Band
Concert
An “Evening with Oscar”
is the theme for the Vernonia
High School Band Concert
on January 24, from 7:00 to
8:00 p.m. at Washington
Grade School.
Town Hall with
State Senator
Betsy Johnson
in Banks
Left to right, Suzanne Bonamici the Democratic and Indepen-
dent candidate, and Republican Rob Cornilles are candi-
dates in the January 31 Special General Election.
State Senator Betsy John-
son will hold a Town Hall
meeting on Monday, January
23, at 7:00 p.m. in the Banks
Elementary School cafeteria.
Subjects will include what
to expect in the upcoming
February Session, budget is-
sues, and education. Also on
hand will be Ben Cannon,
Governor Kitzhaber’s Educa-
tion Policy Advisor.
Recent donations to the Ver-
nonia School District’s new
school fundraising efforts were
reported at the January 12
school board meeting. Superin-
tendent Dr. Ken Cox told the
board that $63,000 came in last
week and that as of the end of
December,
an
additional
$325,000 had been pledged or
received. Cox also told the
board that $917,000 of the
Ford Family Foundation $1 mil-
lion Challenge Grant had been
met and that the foundation
has approved continuing the
challenge into October.
High school leadership stu-
dent Alexis Baska added that
Scappoose High School wrote
a check for $800 (over their
stated goal) toward the high
school challenge goal of
$11,000.
In the meantime, the board
approved Resolution #11-01,
for a $3 million bridge financing
loan. The temporary financing
will be obtained from Wedbush
Bank in Portland so construc-
tion can continue on schedule
while the fundraising contin-
ues. The district always knew
there would be a timing gap
and a need for a bridge loan,
so this is not an unexpected
event.
Construction is on schedule
and interior paint is on the walls
now, in the west wing. The dis-
trict expects to have the keys to
the building on June 8 and
move in July 2 - 12. Demolition
of the old schools is slated to
begin on July 15.
Tree removal will start soon
to prepare for ODOT’s road im-
provements, now scheduled to
start this summer.
The next school board meet-
ing will be February 9, at 6:00
p.m., in the district office.
Vernonians can start signing up
as patients with Verdura Wellness
The Verdura Family Well-
ness clinic is expected to open
in late February in the building
previously occupied by Provi-
dence Medical.
New patient Welcome Pack-
ets are now available at West
Oregon Electric Co-op and at
the Vernonia Pharmacy. Pack-
ets include an envelope that
can be sealed and dropped off
in a lock box at Vernonia Phar-
macy. The packets will be
picked up weekly. Filling out
this paperwork ahead of time
will save patients time at their
initial visit, because their infor-
mation will already be loaded
into the Verdura system. There
are separate adult and pedi-
atric packets available.
More information should be
available in early February.
Come to event meeting and find
out “what’s going on” in Vernonia
Vernonia’s old school build-
ings will be demolished this
summer, so big changes will
have to be made in some com-
munity activities.
Want to know what’s going
on with Jamboree, Salmon
Festival, 4th of July or other
Vernonia community events?
Want to be involved?
Come to the first community
event planning meeting of 2012
on Thursday, January 26, at
6:00 p.m. at city hall.
This is your chance to find
out “what’s going on” at the
meeting.