Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The independent. (Vernonia, Or.) 1986-current | View Entire Issue (April 18, 2012)
The INDEPENDENT, April 18, 2012 Where to Find Them U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (Dem) 1220 SW 3rd Avenue, Suite 585 Portland OR 97232 Phone: 503-326-7525 223 Dirksen Senate Ofc. Bldg. Washington, D.C. 20510-0001 Phone: 202-224-5244 E-Mail: http://wyden.senate.gov/ contact Website: http://wyden.senate. gov U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley (Dem.) One World Trade Center 121 SW Salmon St., Suite 1250 Portland, OR 97204 Phone: 503-326-3386 313 Hart Senate Ofc. Bldg. Washington, DC 20510 Phone: (202) 224-3753 E-Mail: http://merkley.senate. gov/contact WebSite: http://merkley.senate. gov U.S. Representative Suzanne Bonamici, (Dem) OR District 1 620 SW Main, Suite 606 Portland, OR 97205 Phone: 503-326-2901 2338 Rayburn House Ofc. Bldg. Washington, DC 20515 Phone: 202-225-0855 Website: http://bonamici.house. gov Senator Betsy Johnson (Dem) Senate District 16 PO Box R, Scappoose, OR 97056 Phone: 503-543-4046 900 Court St. NE, S-314 Salem, OR 97301 Phone: 503-986-1716 E-mail: sen.betsyjohnson@ state.or.us Website: http://www.leg.state.or. us/johnson Representative Brad Witt (Dem) House District. 31 21740 Lindberg Road, Clatskanie, OR 97016 Phone: 503-728-4664 900 Court St. NE, H-373 Salem, OR 97301 Phone: 503-986-1431 E-mail: rep.bradwitt@state.or.us Website: http://www.leg.state.or. us/witt Representative Deborah Boone (Dem) House District 32 PO Box 926 Cannon Beach, OR 97110 Phone: 503-717-9182 900 Court St. NE, H-375 Salem, OR 97301 Phone: 503-986-1432 E-mail: rep.deborahboone@ state.or.us Website: http://www.leg.state.or. us/boone Page 3 Letters Thank you for buying Girl Scout cookies To the Editor: We wanted to say thank you to everyone who helped sup- port the Girl Scouts by buying cookies from us. Whether it was from a Girl Scout you knew or from one of us at the booth at Sentry, the support is greatly appreciated. Our troop went beyond our goal of selling enough boxes to go to a pool party as well as do- nating 10% of our profits to Turner for flood recovery. We also earned enough for an extra special treat such as another outing or party. Thank you again, without you, we could not have achieved our goals. Girl Scout Brownie Troop 43023; Carly, Brianna, Averie, Taylor, Nita, Abby, Kaili, Morgan, Audrey, Sailor, Angie, Sky, Sadie, Hennessy, Jenna, Sydney, Kassidy, and Jayda Vernonia Support for school fund is appreciated To the Editor: The VHS Leadership Class would like to thank the local businesses that supported the Donate a Dollar, Build a School, Save a Town cam- paign. The fundraiser received $1,619.10 for our new school. We would like to thank the fol- lowing businesses for display- ing the donation jars and pro- moting our cause: NAPA Auto Parts, Bridge Street Mini Mart, Mariolino’s, Clever Cricket, True Value Hardware, Vernonia Pharmacy, Sentry Market, Black Bear Coffee Co., and Creatures Pet Store. We ap- preciate your help. Without your dedication to our new school, we could not have raised the money. Thank you so much! Vernonia High School Leadership Class Thanks, Synda, for 20 years of service To the Editor: Have you heard? One of ‘US’ is leaving. Synda and Ray Allen have decided to leave their post as care-takers at the cemetery and sadly Vernonia too. I can’t let this happen with- out saying a big “Thank You!” to her for her 20 years of serv- ice to the city. Synda has cared for our de- parted loved one’s last resting place, through rain or shine, good times and bad, so that we may visit there and be proud. She has always shown a caring heart for the families left behind. Her memorial services have been memorable. 20 years, 20 years of re- spectful service. So thank you, Synda, for your hard work, but most of all, thank you for being the caring, loving lady you are. I can only hope we find someone to fill your shoes who will care half as much as you. Much luck in your new “digs”. Sally Harrison Vernonia Hyde has worked for all of Columbia Co. To the Editor: As residents of Columbia County and retired teachers for the Vernonia School District, it is with confidence and high re- gard to say that our county is in good hands with Tony Hyde as one of our county commission- ers. Year after year we have per- sonally witnessed the commit- ment Tony has given to this county and the town of Vernon- ia. He continues to prove him- self with his hard work and ef- fort to help our county prosper, and our small town flourish. Tony’s recent accomplish- ments have been helping to se- cure funds to finish the con- struction of the new K-12 school without adding extra costs to the taxpayers. Trust is earned by how you prove your- self and Tony has exceeded this expectation. It is without reservation that Jim and I fully support the re- election of Tony Hyde for Coun- ty Commissioner. Ginger Johns Jim Johns Vernonia Vote for new faces Preheim and Maygra To the Editor: The first president for which I was old enough to vote was John Kennedy back in 1960. The first political election in which I became involved was Robert Kennedy’s run for the presidency in 1968. After that election I was paid for my serv- ices to help people get elected. I began by working for Wayne Morse, Mark Hatfield, and vari- ous other candidates for both state and federal elections. Now, I am actually a cam- paign manager and I feel really good about this one even though, once again, I am not getting paid. Tammy Maygra and Brady Preheim are running for positions 3 and 1 against two incumbent commissioners, one of whom has been in office for 16 years and the other who is already a PERS retiree. Once again we are a grass roots organization as we were when I worked to help repeal the hospital tax and then again to get new people elected to the Columbia Health District board. This time, however, it ap- pears people are taking even more interest and are actually donating money for this elec- tion. Which, of course, brings me to my moment of contention. By logging on to ORESTAR, I found that on Earl Fisher’s last election, he had nearly $40,000 to spend which averages about $20 per vote. He actually paid his campaign manager more than $18,000 to help him win. The same campaign manager is back to help him this time and, with inflation, I cannot be- gin to imagine what she is be- ing paid this time around. I also found many investors and con- sultants from out of town and out of state contributed to his campaign. He contributed Please see page 19 Policy on Letters The INDEPENDENT will not publish letters with per- sonal attacks on private citi- zens. Preference will be giv- en to brief letters, 300 words or less. All letters must be signed and include a verifiable ad- dress or phone number. Out of My Mind From page 2 elements for profitable businesses and a healthy economy. Your income taxes also pay for many non-tax corporate subsidies. These include farm subsi- dies that go to mostly big ag corporations for corn, soy beans, cotton and wheat, despite their high, and highly profitable prices. In contrast, only 13% of farm subsidies go to farmers who grow vegetables. Other non-tax subsidies include those for the exploration and development of oil/gas wells. Once the wells are producing, their operators re- ceive depletion subsidies. Yep, we pay them to find and develop the wells, then we pay them be- cause they use up the product we paid them to find. And BP saved $13 billion in taxes by writing off losses from their gulf oil spill. In other words, you paid for BP’s lack of attention to safety. It’s almost enough to make a strong man cry. If you haven’t noticed that Republicans in the House of Representatives have passed a budg- et bill that, they say, “cuts the deficit and creates jobs”, I’m sure you’ll hear much more about it in the months to come. The budget designed by GOP budget guru Paul Ryan maintains the Bush tax breaks and reduces tax rates for wealthy cor- porations and individuals (Tax effects for individ- uals will be in a future column). The deficit reduction side of the Ryan budget sort of includes eliminating some tax breaks, but doesn’t specify even one tax break for elimina- tion. It does, however, specify cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, along with Pell grants, food stamps and other programs that help people who actually need the help. As Mitt Romney said, “Corporations are peo- ple, my friend.” Apparently, to be treated like a person, we must become a corporation. But that won’t work either, because there wouldn’t be enough non-corporations (formerly known as persons) to pay for corporations’ tax and business subsidies. What a dilemma. Note: Tax data included here is from studies by Citi- zens for Tax Justice, a 501 (c)(4) public interest re- search and advocacy organization, and the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a 501 (c)(3) non- partisan research organization that focuses on feder- al and state tax policy.
