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.