The INDEPENDENT, May 16, 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
Letters
Coal exports are bad
for Columbia County
To the Editor:
I live in Columbia County,
Oregon, where the two dirty
coal export projects are being
proposed to go through our
port. Having over 30 years as
an educator I have strong con-
cerns about the health and
safety for my community. I
stand in applause for Gov.
Kitzhaber, the EPA for their
concern over the effects on the
environment, health and safety
issues with both of the pro-
posed coal projects (Oregon
Gov. John Kitzhaber calls for
sweeping review of coal ex-
ports fro the Northwest ports –
Oregonian, April 25). In St. He-
lens the trains would cut the
community in half affecting the
ambulance, fire trucks, parents
from getting across town and
people can’t get to the small
businesses. It would increase
pollution from coal dust, the
diesel fuels from the trains and
barges plus noise and traffic
congestion. I do NOT want this
in my community as it is wrong
on so many levels.
Sincerely,
Marjorie Kundiger
St. Helens
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
Thanks for help with
Ryan Roberts fund
To the Editor:
Many thanks go out to the
people who came and spent
their money at the Lincoln
Grade School Sale.
The donation to the Ryan
Roberts Kidney Fund is an im-
portant fundraiser.
I spent all my time up there
in memory of Black Hawk Pilot
Erik C. Kesterson, killed in ac-
tion in Mosul, Iraq, in Novem-
ber of 2003. We still miss him
greatly. He was a good friend to
all those his age, older and
younger, too. He always
jumped in and helped when
anyone needed an extra hand.
We all loved him very much. He
spent the last year of young
adulthood going into adult hood
camping with my son, Joe J.
Hammons, and by the river on
Timber Road property. The
Free Wheelers do everything
we do in his honor.
I want to thank those who
brought in donations for the
sale: Robert and Kathy Leach
and Family, Synda Allen, Jack
Randall, Gregg Schaumburg,
Andrew and Amy Quaring,
Papa Joe (and I donated).
There were a couple of others
whose names I didn’t get. You
know who you are and I appre-
ciate everything that made it
easier to make money on the
small sale.
I made $602.00, in all, do-
nated at the U.S. Bank.
I’m proud of those who
came out to support the Ryan
Roberts Kidney Fund and you
all know who you are, so give
yourselves a great big pat on
the back.
All my love,
Sunny Suppes and
The Vernonia Free
Wheelers
Do elected officials
know what’s best?
To the Editor:
Anyone out there feel that
we are being punished for just
being American, besides me?!
I can no longer sit back and
say nothing about the fear I
have for this country. I must
speak out and remind people:
the citizens of this great nation
did not cause the problems we
are facing.
Since the formation of our
country, “we the people” have
been led by elected leaders.
Lately our leaders have the no-
tion that they and they alone,
have all the answers to our
problems. Some of our elected
officials believe that they know
what is best for all of us. We
can all see how well that notion
is working, now can’t we?
What we have is a govern-
ment that believes passing
2000+ page bills, which no one
has even read, is the wise thing
to do. As one of our brilliant
government officials put it: “But
we must pass the bill so we can
see what is in it.” It seems to
me there is something wrong
with that approach, don’t you
agree?
It is beyond my comprehen-
sion why more people are not
speaking out about the loss of
their constitutional liberties.
Freedoms which are being
threatened today, among oth-
ers, were written by our found-
ing fathers in a document we
now know as the First Amend-
ment.
Our government is asking us
to tighten our belts and have a
budget to run our households.
But the current administration
hasn’t been able to put a budg-
et together for over three years.
They say they don’t need a
budget. Much less abide by the
constitution; after all it’s just an
old piece of parchment. “We
the people” just need to trust
them. Just turn a blind eye to-
ward the corruption, fraud and
out-right blatant wasteful
spending. One example of this
is the government shelling out
taxpayers’ money to their politi-
cal supporters and friends.
Now, I ask you: Do our elect-
ed officials really know what is
best for us? Are their policies
reflecting an honest concern
for the good of the people, or
are they displaying greed? Are
their actions showing more de-
cisions that serve the good of
the Republic? I don’t know
about you, but this bureaucrat-
ic mess our officials have creat-
ed hasn’t earned my trust!
Therefore, I’m just a bit cynical
about the “trust me” philoso-
phy.
Our kids, grandkids, and
even our great-grandkids, are
being saddled with the greatest
debt put on any generation in
the history of America. It will
take decades to honor this
debt. If “we the people” don’t
get a handle on this self-serv-
ing, out of control, out of touch
government soon, I’m sorry to
say that this great nation of
ours is headed towards becom-
ing a fallen nation. We are fol-
lowing in the footsteps of Jeri-
cho, Babylon, Rome, and the
U.S.S.R., to list a few of the
greats.
Wake up America! This
country was established by the
people, for the people. Our
Pledge of Allegiance says,
“One nation under God.” not
one divided nation under the
government. Our money says,
“IN GOD WE TRUST,” not in
our government we trust!
Speak out loud and clear Amer-
ica! Make sure your voice is
heard!
Don Sandrich
Vernonia
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.
— NOTICE —
The INDEPENDENT pub-
lishes on the first and third
Wednesday of each month.
Because May has five
Wednesdays, there will be
three weeks before the next
issue, on June 6, 2012.
The deadline for the June
6 issue is Friday, June 1.
Vernonia City Update
by Bill Haack, City Administra-
tor
Why we flush water from fire
hydrants
It may seem strange to see
utility workers letting thousands
of gallons of water flow freely
from a hydrant, particularly dur-
ing the hot summer months or
even a drought. So why do we
do this? There are several rea-
sons, but to put it simply, we
don’t have a choice.
Line Breaks – Whenever a
water line breaks, a repair or
replacement must be made.
That section of pipe must then
be “super-chlorinated” for disin-
fection. The disinfected section
must then, in turn, be flushed
from a hydrant to prevent the
highly-chlorinated water from
entering the rest of the system.
Chlorine Residual – Sec-
Please see page 4
Out of My Mind…
From page 2
those, too.
Now it’s our head-in-the-
sand approach to fiscal respon-
sibility. We pay for weapons
systems that the military does-
n’t want, and we subsidize the
oil industry so Exxon-Mobil can
produce heart-warming ads
about the importance of educa-
tion. But we don’t want to pay
for education.
Good public schools have
done more to create a healthy
American society than any oth-
er element of public life. Why
are we crippling our nation’s fu-
ture, and why aren’t we angry
about that?