PRESORTED STANDARD
U.S. Postage Paid
Vernonia, OR 97064
Permit No. 37
Vol. 27, No. 10
THE
FREE
INDEPENDENT
The Voice
Voice of
of the Upper Nehalem River
The
River Valley
Valley for
for Over
Over 25
27 years
years
May 16, 2012
May 15 election results
The Vernonia High School Band went to state competition, on May 10, and came home with
the 1st place trophy for division 2A/1A. The band is shown on the stage after receiving the
award, which is held by Director/teacher Robert Izzett. Vernonia beat 6 other bands in the
competition. In 2011, the band came in 5th at state. Photo by Tracy Easlon.
Kay threatens to sue more Vernonians
Former Vernonia Police
Sergeant Michael Kay’s attor-
ney, Michelle R. Burrows, sent
a letter to the City of Vernonia
dated April 14 stating that the
original notice of lawsuit (Tort
Claim Notice) is being amend-
ed.
According to the letter, the
following individuals would be
included in the lawsuit: Mr.
Randy Parrow, Mr. Jim Tierney,
Mr. Brett Costly (sic), Ms.
Shirley (sic) Daughtry, Chief
Matt Workman, Ms. Linda Graff
(sic), Mr. Jim Johnson, Ms.
Joanne (sic) Glass, Alex Sosn-
kowski and Mayor Josette
Mitchell.
“An explanation of their in-
volvement in the termination
and destruction of Michael Kay
will be forthcoming in a com-
plaint we are now drafting to be
filed in United States District
Court, Portland Division,” the
letter continued.
Another paragraph stated
that “We have uncovered enor-
mous irregularities in public fi-
nance, public meeting and land
use regulations within your city
– some of which may be con-
nected to actions taken against
Kay…” Burrows also said she
intends to ask for an investiga-
tion of the issues and the in-
volvement of the following peo-
ple: Mr. Tony Hyde, Betsy
Johnson, Bud Dow, Sharon
Bernal, Josette Mitchell and
her husband, Casey.
Burrows’ original Tort Claim
Notice was sent to the City of
Vernonia, on November 4,
2011, and stated her intent to
ask for, “back pay, front pay,
emotional damages for loss of
an entire career in the amount
of high six figures, including at-
torney fees.” By law, any law-
suit must be filed within two
years of the Tort Claim Notice.
Kay’s employment with the
Vernonia Police Department
was terminated on June 28,
2011. Prior to that date, the De-
partment of Public Safety Stan-
dards and Training (DPSST)
Police Policy Committee voted
unanimously, on May 19, to re-
voke his certification to be a
police officer. DPSST found,
based on their investigation, 10
known instances where Kay
“misrepresented” the truth, was
“untruthful”, and “dishonest”.
Kay filed a grievance complaint
with the police bargaining as-
sociation requesting arbitra-
tion. That grievance hearing is
scheduled for August of this
year.
DPSST does not consider
Kay’s employment discharge fi-
nal until so determined by the
arbitration. As a result, DPSST
suspended their mandatory
revocation of Kay’s certification
until arbitration is complete. At
that time, if Kay’s discharge is
upheld, DPSST’s mandatory
revocation of his certification
resumes. If Kay’s employment
termination is not upheld in ar-
bitration, DPSST still has a
“discretionary” revocation pro-
cess that could resume.
High school
graduation
ceremonies
Banks High School grad-
uation is June 8 at 7:00
p.m.
Vernonia High School
graduation ceremony is on
June 2 at 2:00 p.m.
Be sure to pick up the June
6 issue for the Vernonia
High School Graduation
Section.
With a very low voter turnout
of 23.63 percent of registered
voters in Columbia County, and
98.15 percent of ballots count-
ed, both county commissioner
positions appear to be headed
for a runoff in the November
election. In order to avoid a
runoff, one candidate would
have needed to receive 50 per-
cent plus one of the votes cast.
That didn’t happen.
In the run for Columbia
County Commissioner Position
1, incumbent Earl Fisher was
leading the crowd with
1,753votes (29.63 percent) fol-
lowed by Wayne Mayo with
1,330 votes (22.48 percent).
The other three candidates
were out of the running; Brady
Preheim (754 votes), Terry Lut-
trell (1,048 votes) and Colleen
DeShazer (1,018 votes).
Incumbent Commissioner
Tony Hyde led the pack for Po-
sition 3, with 2,696 votes, but
that totaled 46.72 percent of
ballots cast, 3.28 percent less
than the 50 percent needed to
avoid a runoff. Unless that vote
tally changes by morning, Hyde
will face Tammy Maygra in the
November election. Maygra re-
ceived 1,751 votes (30.35 per-
cent), followed by Jim Gibson
with 1,118 (19.38 percent),
while 186 voters favored Ver-
nonian Reginald Ward.
Measure 34-197, the Banks
School District #13 bond levy,
appeared to be failing, with 526
no votes (51.57 percent) and
494 yes votes (48.43 percent).
Washington County was re-
porting 100 percent of the
precincts with a 20.5 percent
voter turnout.
These tallies are “unofficial”
results until they are certified
by the Oregon Secretary of
State.
Vernonia meets $1 million
challenge for new school
The new K-12 school and
community center in Vernonia
is one giant step closer to com-
pletion today. Catalyst: the
campaign
for
Vernonia’s
schools has announced the
successful completion of a $1
million challenge grant to raise
support for this innovative proj-
ect.
Dozens of generous busi-
nesses, foundations and peo-
ple from across Oregon have
stepped up with contributions
of $10,000 or more, unlocking
a $1 million one-to-one match-
ing contribution from The Ford
Family Foundation to help this
rural timber town recover from
two devastating floods.
“We thank The Ford Family
Foundation for their longstand-
ing and generous commitment
to our community,” stated Ver-
nonia School District Superin-
tendent Dr. Kenneth Cox. “The
Foundation understood from
the start that recovering from
two 500-year floods in 11 years
is more than a single communi-
ty can bear on its own. They
were willing to make an ex-
See $1 million on page 13
Look for these
articles inside
Junior Salmon Auction on
May 18 ....................... pg. 5
UNWC annual meeting on
May 19........................ pg. 7
Vernonia school surplus
sale on May 22......... pg. 12
Climate change presenta-
tion on May 25............. pg. 7
May is Motorcycle Safety
Awareness Month .. pg. 10
Vernonia community gar-
den space ................ pg. 8
Vernonia City Council
meeting ..................... pg. 4