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About The independent. (Vernonia, Or.) 1986-current | View Entire Issue (March 7, 2012)
PRESORTED STANDARD U.S. Postage Paid Vernonia, OR 97064 Permit No. 37 Vol. 27, No. 5 THE FREE INDEPENDENT The Voice Voice of of the Upper Nehalem River The River Valley Valley for for Over Over 25 27 years years March 7, 2012 VHS boys basketball team takes 4th at state tourney by Mike Weber, for The Inde- pendent Vernonia senior guard Pavel Jiranek leaps high for a shot during the first quarter of a boys basketball state tournament playoff game against Regis on March 2 at the Pendleton Con- vention Center. Photo by Mike Weber. State finds $4.5 million for Vernonia Thanks to hard work by leg- islators, students in the Ver- nonia School District are now guaranteed not to be slogging through the mud from one modular to another next fall. It took until the last day of the Oregon Legislature’s ses- sion this year, but an additional $4.5 million for Vernonia’s new school was included in the final agreement, along with $10 mil- lion for community colleges to build or renovate facilities that can be used for career and technical education. New School Town Hall There will be a Vernonia School Town Hall tomorrow, Thursday, March 8, to update the community on the new school project. The meeting will be at the cafeteria build- ing (green building) starting at 7:00 p.m. According to Senator Betsy Johnson, the Vernonia funding resulted from modifying a bill passed after widespread storm damage around the state in 2007, The original bill created a fund that could be used as loans or grants for local disas- ter assistance. The modifica- tion creates a risk management fund for non-matching grants or loans to local governments and school districts for federally de- clared emergencies. The De- partment of Administrative Ser- vices will determine the terms Johnson/Witt Town Hall Senator Betsy Johnson and Representative Brad Witt will hold a Town Hall meeting in Vernonia, this Saturday, March 10, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at the Scout Cabin on Park Drive. and conditions for repayment of any loans from the account. “This will get the building to occupy level,” Johnson said, “although more money will be needed.” Johnson also wanted recog- nition for two legislative “he- roes” who worked hard to make this effort successful: Alissa Keny-Guyer of North Portland, and Greg Smith of Heppner. Their approach was both sim- ple and profound, that we are all part of the Oregon commu- nity. St. Patrick’s Day Parade St. Patrick’s Day Parade, March 17, starting at 1:00 p.m. at State Ave. and Bridge St. Everyone can be Irish for a day. Come join the parade or just enjoy watching the show. PENDLETON - Prior to the 2011-12 basketball season, the last time the Vernonia High Loggers boys basketball team advanced to the state tourna- ment in Pendleton was back in 1996. David Weller was 10- years old then and now he’s the head coach at Vernonia, home of the fourth best Class 2A basketball team in Oregon. The Loggers (24-5) conclud- ed a fabulous season by win- ning the prestigious OSAA/ U.S. Bank/Les Schwab Tires fourth place trophy with a 46-37 win over the Weston-McEwen TigerScots March 3 at the Pendleton Convention Center. Weller, Vernonia’s 25-year-old first-year head coach, was the youngest coach among the elite eight squads that compet- ed in the tournament March 1- 3. “It’s a thrill to get fourth place, especially after having a disappointing loss in our first game,” said Weller, the older brother of Logger players By- ron and Craig Weller. “This is pretty exciting and these guys earned the trophy. Ever since we started practice back in No- vember, they’ve been working hard all season, so it’s nice to get fourth place. I couldn’t be more proud of my two brothers. We’ve grown together in our re- lationship. We’ll always have some very special memories of this year to look back on for the rest of our lives.” Vernonia, the Northwest League Champions, took a 12- 9 lead at the end of the first quarter on Byron Weller’s layup moments before the buzzer sounded. In an evenly played See VHS on page 20 Dinner to raise funds for Roberts A Corned Beef and Cab- bage dinner, to benefit Ver- nonian Ryan Roberts, will be held on St. Patrick’s Day, March 17, from noon to 5:00 p.m. at the Vernonia Commu- nity Learning Center, 949 Bridge St. The dinner, for $8, includes corned beef, cab- bage, potatoes and bever- age. Hot dogs and desserts will also be available for pur- chase. This fundraiser is spon- sored by the Vernonia Lions Club to help Roberts raise money for a needed kidney transplant. Five VHS wrestlers make it to the state tournament Five members of the Ver- nonia High School Wrestling Team earned spots at the 2012 Wrestling State Champi- onships, held in Portland on February 24 and 25. Wrestlers earning spots at the state championships were Shylo Dooley, Quin Johansen, Joe Benes, Jake Stevens, and Brett Benes, each in a different weight bracket. These team members, along with Coach Chris Wolf, went to compete against other top wrestlers dur- ing the two day event. Brett Benes (195 lbs), and Jake Stevens (182 lbs) both brought home Second Place trophies, while Quin Johansen (145 lbs) won Third place in his division and Joe Benes (152 lbs) had a Fourth place finish. Shylo Dooley (132 lbs) gave it a good effort, but didn’t make it past the first round of competi- tion. Overall, a very fine finish to a great season on the 2011- 2012 Vernonia wrestling mats.
