The INDEPENDENT, March 7, 2012
Ike Says…
From page 2
sea turtles, dolphins and lots of sea birds. I actu
ally got to see my first flying fish, now that is a crazy fish, they re-
ally do seem to fly across the water and for a long ways. The birds
chasing them gave us an aerial display of flying prowess that
would make any fighter jet jockey jealous.
Here is a brief synopsis of our impressions of each country that
we visited. Costa Rica is a beautiful country, tropical in nature and
very broken in terrain. We traveled up above what is called the
Central Valley into the coffee bean growing area, where the hill-
sides are covered by coffee bean plants. The distractions that we
saw were all the iron bars and fences that control access to each
house; this really gave the impression of a high crime rate, which
we were told is not the case. The other distraction to an otherwise
very beautiful country is that it appeared customary to bring your
garbage to the side of the roadway and simply set it on fire.
Garbage was in every pull-off on the highway.
Panama is very similar to Costa Rica in terrain and vegetation.
Our tour included an hour-and-half bus ride through the country-
side to an arm of a lake, where we boarded dugout canoes with
outboard motors that took us on a 40-minute ride. Being a kayak-
er, I was still more than a little nervous when we rounded a point
and ran head-on into a stiff head wind, then started across a wide-
open portion of the lake. It would have been a long swim to shore,
but then again our canoe would not have sunk. The Embera Indi-
an village was a neat place to experience and, at times, I think
these people who choose to live in the jungle just might be
smarter than the rest of us. The houses were less gated than
Costa Rica, but garbage dumping was still a noticeable distraction
to the beautiful countryside.
The Panama Canal is indeed an engineering marvel and to get
to transit it in a Panamax size ship will surely be one of my most
favorite memories of this trip. Passing the Queen Elisabeth II in a
narrow portion of the canal was a rare experience we were told,
the cheers from all the people on both ships was awe inspiring!
Our next port was in Cartagena, Colombia, we ported right in
the city, so we did not get to view the countryside much. Let’s just
say Cartagena is not a city for the faint hearted to drive in. My im-
pression of drivers in Columbia is that, if you need to stop to do
something, you simply stop in the travel lane and go do it. Every-
body else will simply speed around your stopped vehicle; need-
less to say I had some white knuckles a few times, and one tour
bus got side-swiped. We toured an old fort and it was amazing to
think of how the defenders designed their fortress physically to
make it very difficult for their taller attackers. Our tour also includ-
ed the old part of town and churches where the Spanish Inquisi-
tion took place. The town was clean and hardly any ironwork was
visible for home protection. Panhandlers, on the other hand, were
numerous.
Aruba is a very neat and clean little island in the Caribbean.
Donna and I both enjoyed the sun and surf on the west coast. The
sand is coral sand and is so different than our coastal beaches.
We both thought that Aruba would make a great place to fly into
and, we gathered from some of the people who regularly travel
there, that the cost to stay is reasonable. We didn’t have time to
explore Aruba much, but it does give the impression somewhat of
a desert island.
Please see page 17
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Page 13
Power of the People
By W. Marc Farmer, General Manager,
West Oregon Electric Cooperative
Bringing You
Up to Speed
Things continue to hap-
pen around here as al-
ways. Winter continues to
remind us that spring is
not here just yet. The
snow and wind storms
have kept us busy with
outages and costs. January was the second
highest in both categories, in recent history, and
February has seen scattered outages mostly
due to snow and wind. Our crews have been
busy round the clock and on weekends as well.
At least some of the January snow storm
costs in Columbia County will be partially cov-
ered. We found out just this last week that Co-
lumbia County was included in a federally de-
clared FEMA Disaster signed by President Oba-
ma. This means up to 75% of our costs to recov-
er from the snow storm in the declared county
will be reimbursed to WOEC. Our costs in Clat-
sop, Washington, and Yamhill Counties will not
qualify for FEMA reimbursement. In order to
qualify, the Governor must declare the county a
disaster. In order for him to do so, the county
must reach a specific dollar amount which is
based upon a formula that includes total dollars
expended, divided by the population number for
that county. Washington County was the second
most expensive for us during the storm, but the
population is so large that costs did not reach
the total necessary to trigger a declaration. The
good news is that Columbia County was the
area that was the most expensive to repair in
this event, so this will be a big help to the Co-op.
Another update should be to answer the
question we hear a lot regarding when WOEC
will be completing the paving of Cougar and
Rose. The answer is as soon as the metal shed
is emptied and removed by the current owner,
then we can finish the roadwork on Cougar and
pave all of remaining sections at once. The cur-
rent owner has until May 7 to complete the re-
moval.
Another big topic is the status of the new Ver-
nonia substation. We have submitted for the fi-
nal permits, completed the bid process and se-
lected the contractor for the project, and have
ordered all of the components. We anticipate re-
ceiving the final permits by the end of March and
will then begin construction. Tice Electric Com-
pany was the successful bidder and will be the
contractor for the entire project.
The next update will be to answer the ques-
tion of what happens to our old headquarters
building. We will be completing the sale of the
old building to FEMA, most likely in March or
April of this year. Then, per FEMA’s require-
ment, the old buildings will be demolished, then
ownership transferred over to the City of Ver-
nonia. The property will never be able to be built
upon again, but can be used by the City as a
park, a parking lot, or a community garden. We
are waiting for paperwork from Rural Utilities
Services (RUS) to complete the sale process.
As a final note, we did recover the stolen line
truck and the police have a party of interest they
are pursuing. There were several vehicles
stolen from this area by the same people. We
appreciate the continued efforts by our local po-
lice to solve this crime and find those responsi-
ble.
Obituary
MARY LUCINDA MCCAIN
Mary Lucinda McCain, 99,
Forest Grove, died February
12, 2012. Funeral services
were held February 17 at Cor-
nelius Community Church. In-
terment was at Skyline Memor-
ial Gardens.
Mrs. McCain was born No-
vember 28, 1912, in Payette,
Idaho, to Herbert Cloude and
Rebecca Lucinda (Hurlburt)
Wayne. She graduated from
Payette High School in 1931.
In 1937, she married Harlan
McCain. They made their home
in Ontario, Los Angeles, Cali-
fornia, then Hillsboro for 35
years. They then lived in Bay
City, Salem, and in Forest
Grove starting in 1991. She
was a homemaker.
She enjoyed her church,
playing games, babysitting her
grandchildren, crocheting, sew-
ing, canning, gardening and
traveling.
She was preceded in death
by her husband and her nine
siblings.
Survivors include her son,
Jim McCain of Banks; five
grandchildren and 15 great-
grandchildren.
Duyck & VanDeHey Funeral
Home was in charge of
arrangements.
TRUDY PREWITT
Rotraud “Trudy” Elizabeth
Maria Prewitt, 71, died Febru-
ary 10, 2012. A memorial serv-
ice was held February 17 at
Grace Baptist Church in War-
ren.
Mrs. Prewitt was born Octo-
ber 18, 1940, in Innsbruck,
Austria, to August and Frieda
(Knapp) Mathofer. She lived in
Frankfurt, Germany, when her
husband was in the U.S. Army.
She lived in Salt Lake City,
Utah, before moving to Beaver-
ton for 38 years. She earned a
Bachelor’s degree in education
Please see page 18
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Jeffrey & Kathryn Hoyt,
Gregory & Rachel Hoyt,
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Attendant: Ray Pelster
2308 Pacific Av. Frst Grv....357-2161
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E-mail: Fuitenrosehoyt@aol.com
To sign the online guest book or send
a condolence to the family, go to:
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