PRESORTED STANDARD
U.S. Postage Paid
Vernonia, OR 97064
Permit No. 37
Vol. 27, No. 18
THE
FREE
INDEPENDENT
The Voice
Voice of
of the Upper Nehalem River
The
River Valley
Valley for
for Over
Over 25
27 years
years
September 19, 2012
Local men make artwork
for Vernonia school
On Tuesday, September 4,
Dr. Ken Cox, Vernonia Schools
Superintendent, was presented
with an beautiful piece of art-
work for the halls of the new
school. Local businessmen
and the local carpenter fore-
man for the Vernonia school
project put their skills together
and built a sawblade with the
Vernonia school logo and pre-
sented it to the school.
A wall in the lobby of the
new school includes a moun-
tain landscape, trees cut from
the school grounds, and a
donor board with honors to
those contributing to the Ver-
nonia school project. Dewayne
Cowles of Cascade Acoustics
felt that the four foot diameter,
round steel sawblade with Ver-
nonia logo would go perfectly
with the design of that wall.
Cowles contacted two local
men, Chris Provost of Chief-
built CNC to help design and
manufacture the blade, and
Gary Meyer of Meyer’s Auto
Body for painting. In addition to
the blade, Provost, with the
help of Meyer, presented Ver-
nonia with a gift of CNC art-
work worth in excess of a thou-
sand dollars to help with project
funding.
One in serious condition,
one jailed after Hwy. 47 crash
Left to right; Vernonia School Superintendent Dr. Ken Cox, Wall & Ceiling foreman for Cas-
cade Acoustics Dewayne Cowles, Beylee Provost, helper extraordinaire, Chris Provost of
Chiefbuilt CNC, and Gary Meyer of Meyer’s Auto Body, all of Vernonia. Photo courtesy of
Rachel Cowles.
BOLI announces 2013 minimum wage
Brad Avakian, Comissioner
of the Oregon Bureau of Labor
and Industries (BOLI), on Sep-
tember 17, announced the min-
imum wage rate that will take
effect on January 1, 2013 will
be $8.95 per hour.
The 15-cent increase tracks
a 1.7% increase in the Con-
sumer Price Index from August
2011. Speaking at a press con-
ference in Springfield, Avakian
called the increase necessary
to help Oregon families make
ends meet in tough times.
“Oregonians recognize the
rising cost of living facing every
one of us, and our strong mini-
mum wage law is essential in-
surance that Oregon workers
and their families can maintain
their purchasing power and
continue to contribute to our lo-
cal economies,” said Avakian.
State law, enacted by Ore-
gon voters in 2002, directs the
BOLI Commissioner to adjust
the minimum wage for inflation
every September, rounded to
the nearest five cents. The ad-
justment accounts for inflation
as measured by the Consumer
Price Index (CPI), a statistic
published by the United States
Bureau of Labor Statistics
measuring the average change
in prices over time for a fixed
“market basket” of goods and
services, such as food, shelter,
medical care, transportation
fares and other goods and
services people purchase for
day-to-day living.
“Especially in a tough econ-
omy, it’s critical that we not let
working families, who are al-
ready struggling to tread water,
drift into even deeper water,”
said Bob Baldwin, president of
Lane Central Labor Council.
“Increasing the minimum wage
is fundamentally necessary to
preserve the purchasing power
of low-wage Oregonians, who
would otherwise see the same
paycheck no longer covering
the same expenses.”
Oregon is one of ten states
that makes annual adjustments
to its minimum wage based on
inflation and the CPI. Revised
minimum wage posters reflect-
ing the new rate will be avail-
able for free download from
BOLI’s website. That site,
which includes additional infor-
mation about all of BOLI’s ac-
tivities, is http://www.oregon.
gov/BOLI.
Julie Ann Maria Johnson,
shown in her booking photo
from Columbia County Jail.
Julie Ann Maria Johnson,
26, Vernonia, was arrested
September 17 after a motor ve-
hicle accident on Hwy. 47 in
which a passenger in the vehi-
cle she was driving was in-
jured.
According to Oregon State
Police
Sergeant
Luke
Schwartz, at approximately
4:37 p.m., a single vehicle
crash was reported on High-
way 47 about two miles north
of L. L. “Stub” Stewart Start
Park. Upon arrival, police and
fire personnel found the pas-
senger, Sarah E. Leloff, 32,
Vernonia, seriously injured and
learned the female driver fled
the scene on foot. LifeFlight re-
sponded to the scene and
transported Leloff to Oregon
Health & Science University.
Preliminary investigation in-
dicated the vehicle Johnson
was driving was southbound
when it traveled onto the shoul-
der. The driver lost control and
the vehicle rolled before com-
ing to rest. Neither occupant
was using safety restraints.
Johnson was in custody af-
ter she was found two hours
later. She was taken to the Co-
lumbia County Jail, charged
with Hit and Run Property,
Criminal Mischief 2nd Degree,
Assault 4th Degree, Reckless
Driving, Reckless Endangering
and Driving Under Influence of
Intoxicants.