The INDEPENDENT, April 4, 2012
AARP says, “You’ve earned a say”
by Chris Thomas, Oregon
News Service
AARP is asking Oregonians
to stand up and share their
opinions about the futures of
Social Security and Medicare,
in a new campaign called
“You’ve Earned a Say.”
The group says Congress is
treating Social Security and
Medicare as line items in the
federal budget debate, rather
than as the programs that keep
a majority of Americans out of
poverty in retirement. And
Joyce DeMonnin, outreach di-
rector for AARP Oregon, says
the discussion isn’t only for re-
tirees, “One of the things we
want to do is not just talk to cur-
rent beneficiaries, but Boom-
ers, and Gen X, Gen Y and Mil-
lennials, and say, ‘You know, if
we all work together, this pro-
gram can be there for you.’”
DeMonnin says Social Se-
curity pumps about $750 mil-
lion a month into Oregon’s
economy. In addition to re-
tirees, the Oregon recipients in-
clude more than 130,000 chil-
dren and people with disabili-
ties.
Lee Hammond, president of
AARP’s national board, says
Congress has been crunching
the budget numbers without re-
leasing much information about
what its decisions will mean to
people, now or in the future.
AARP wants to change that, by
asking experts at two think
tanks – one conservative and
one liberal – to weigh in. Ham-
mond continued, “We’re going
to be having all of the plans
that come forward for Medicare
and Social Security, vetted
through two different groups,
who are sort of strange bedfel-
lows: the Brookings Institute
and the Heritage Foundation.
And we’re going to get their
take on how it affects people,
and let everybody know that.”
AARP has set up a website,
EarnedaSay.org, to collect
opinions and post information
about the campaign.
AARP also released a new
national survey of people over
age 18. It says from all political
camps, 98 percent think Social
Security and Medicare are im-
portant to retirees, but only
about half think the programs
will be there when they need
them.
Page 9
Bits & Bites
By Jacqueline Ramsay
The other day my
granddaughter came and
asked me for a piece of
tape. I ask, “What kind of
tape do you want?” “Just
tape.” “Cloth tape or pa-
per tape,” I ask. “I want to
seal a letter.” “Oh, well
you know there are a lot
of tapes in this house.
We’ve got paper tape, cloth tape, masking tape,
plumbers tape, bias tape, painters tape and, oh
yes, Scotch tape. And, they come in all colors,
you know.” Gritting her teeth at me she said, “Oh
Grandma, give me Scotch tape, please.”
Careful what you ask me for, you might get
the wrong thing.
Another side of me surfaced a couple of days
later. Some of you know that I knit (I also teach
others to enjoy the hobby). Anyhow, I was knit-
ting away and I noticed a goof. So, I picked back
to the spot, made what I thought was a correc-
tion. Oh yeah, not so quick, because it became
a bigger goof. So rip it out. Well, to make my
painful tale a little shorter, I picked, ripped and
re-knit about 25 rows before I quit for the week-
end. I changed the pattern a little. The goof was
simple but I had only eight bobbins going in two
directions and my brain just couldn’t remember
which thread went left and which one didn’t.
Anyway, if you want perfection, you have to
keep your eye on the work in front of you and
not the all day running of some silly show on T.V.
And, now to the topic of the day – Our Spring
weather. If the groundhog saw his shadow I was
asleep. But this I do know, we had snow the sec-
ond day of Spring. The next morning it was gone
and the sun came out. There was a break and
then it snowed again. I walked in the slush one
morning and the next day I took a knife with me
to cut my way through the fog. So, now I put on
a heavy coat, pull a cap over my ears, wrap a
wool scarf around my neck, pull on my wooly
gloves, grab my four-wheeled chariot and brave
whatever happens to be on the menu for the
day. No use trying to outguess the weatherman.
It’s too much trouble. So ta-ta for now. See
you all whenever.
Lions dinner raises money for Roberts
Vernonia resident Ryan
Roberts is closer to getting on
the waiting list for a kidney
transplant, thanks to a Corned
Beef & Cabbage fund raiser
sponsored by the Vernonia Li-
ons on St. Patrick’s Day.
Roberts was presented with
a check for $658.00 a week lat-
er, on March 24, at a “Spaghet-
ti Feed” fund raiser, also for
Roberts.
The Spaghetti Feed was
hosted by “The Vernonia Com-
mittee of Volunteers”.
left to right, Lion Vince Asz-
man, Lion Becky Abney and
customer Shirley Daughtry.
Photo by Randall Harvey.
50 Years Ago This Month
The April 5, 1962, issue of
the Vernonia Eagle included
the following news story on the
front page:
Consideration of hiring a life-
guard for the city park pool for the
coming summer season was one of
the matters taken up by the Ver-
nonia city council at its meeting in
the city hall Monday evening of
this week. Mrs. Roy Jones was
present to introduce to the council
Rev. Bruce Roberts of the local
Christian church who would like
the job. Lester Sheeley also gave
the council the information that he
had made Portland contacts con-
cerning possible lifeguard appli-
cants and had located one person
interested in the job, Dan Wolf,
student at Portland State college.
The council stated that they
will receive written applications
for future consideration which
should give qualifications and in-
clude recommendations if possi-
ble.
Consideration was again given
to the unplatted area on OA hill
below the old ball park for which
the St. Mary’s Catholic church has
made an offer of $500 for a church
building site. The council had pre-
viously decided to have a survey
made of the tract to determine ex-
act acreage and boundaries but
had failed to find someone to do
the work. They had approached
Neil Zimmerman and Dave
McMinn, Crown Zellerbach sur-
veyors, who declined due to press
of company business, and the
county surveyor, Clarence Wagn-
er, who is booked ahead for two or
three months. The council will
also hear the views of the planning
commission concerning this area
before a decision is reached.
The council authorized the pur-
chase of grass seed and fertilizer
for use at Anderson park.
An objection was received
from the Vernonia chamber of
commerce to the use of the word
prohibitive n regard to expense of
maintaining the lights on the Rock
Creek bridge. Their investigation
had revealed that the West Oregon
Electric company had quoted a
cost of $1.25 per light per month.
There are five of the old lights on
the bridge. No decision was
reached by the council as to
whether the lights would be re-
tained or eliminated.
Louis Towne, chairman of the
Columbia county redevelopment
commission, asked for sugges-
tions relating to the area’s eco-
nomic problems which should be
placed before the commission for
study.
Councilman Ed Miller told the
council of efforts now underway
to organize a Nehalem Valley His-
torical Society which would be in-
terested in establishing a museum
in the former International Paper
company office.
The council included the Scout
cabin in its list of insured build-
ings at $4,000.
Estimates are to be obtained
from local workman for installing
the rear entrance door in the base-
ment of the city hall to provide a
jail exit as recommended by grand
jury surveys. The door is to be a
three-foot solid heavy duty door
with no glass, equipped with yale
or comparable lock and the en-
trance is to be canopied and
equipped with eave trough and
down spout. The city employees
will complete the work which will
include fireproofing of inner parti-
tion between the cell block and
furnace room.
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