The INDEPENDENT, November 7, 2012
Page 5
Between the Bookends
by Nancy Burch, Librarian
Vernonia Public Library
It has probably been forgot-
ten by all but a few that an “un-
official” Friends of the Library
was active in the early 1990s.
Money was raised by serving
coffee at rest stops and from
donations. These volunteers,
including Marguerite Nice and
Julie Milander, successfully
guided summer reading activi-
ties including entries in the Jamboree Parades. Of
course, the library was still in the old building, with
very limited space. I remember one particularly inter-
esting afternoon when a performer was delayed due
to road construction. There were probably 60 people
crammed into that little space—waiting, waiting and
waiting. Marguerite Nice was an absolute life saver as
she told stories and led songs for over an hour until
the program could begin. There was wonderful parent
involvement in all of the activities. Does anyone re-
member the parade entry when the banner was writ-
ten backwards because its creator thought that it was
necessary to be read that way as the float proceeded
through the route? That was also the year that young-
sters dressed as loggers and animals, while the adults
were paper trees. Photo albums in the library showing
participants including those from the Knowlton, Bono-
ra, Pelster, McGaugh, Fogel, Lee, Cutright and Dewe-
ber families are available for anyone who would like to
relive these days of summer fun.
It was determined that, in order for the Friends
group to be more effective, a 501(c)(3) designation
was necessary. A highly motivated group persevered
and, in 2002, achieved this status, allowing federal tax
exemption of donations to nonprofit organizations.
The nucleus of this group (Jennifer Butcher, El Donna
Williams, Claudine East, Joann Glass, and Linda
Johnston) has been joined by other active members
including Roxana Sherman-Heath and Jennifer
Moloney, and these are the members who work so dili-
gently to organize the twice yearly book sales. The
proceeds from these sales, from membership dues,
and from donations, have provided invaluable oppor-
tunities for additional programs, services and materi-
als that would otherwise have not have been avail-
able. Purchases of books and equipment, cultural
passes, movie licensing, carpet cleaning, snacks and
supplies for youth programs, overnight stays for out of
town authors, a new vacuum cleaner, and sponsor-
ship of programs for both youth and adults are just
some of the ways in which the money from the Friends
has been used. Keep in mind that the next meeting of
this group will take place on the second Tuesday of
January with new members always welcome.
Stories involving ordinary people caught in extraor-
dinary situations continue to intrigue me. How one’s
split-second decision can escalate until that person is
caught in a web from which there seems no way to es-
cape, is the story line in many novels. The unexpect-
ed discovery of large sums of money and the spiraling
events is the theme of Learning to Fly by April Henry,
A Simple Plan by Scott Smith, Crux by Julie Reece,
and The Pull Out Method by Lucky Stevens. When a
car accident leaves Free Meeker in possession of
someone else’s bag containing nearly a millions dol-
lars, fate seems to be giving Free Meeker the chance
to make her life over, but author April Henry creates a
very different and complicated conclusion in Learning
to Fly. Because a movie (not a very good one) was
made from Smith’s, A Simple Plan, many of you are
probably familiar with the spiral of blackmail, betrayal
and murder that take place when three men decide to
keep the $4.4 million they find in a wrecked plane.
Council looks at parking, zoning, RV’s
A Public Hearing on Down-
town rezoning and other zone
changes was held at the Ver-
nonia City Council’s October 1
meeting. The rezoning would
include changing 26 lots on
Rose Ave. and Weed Ave. from
Residential to Downtown
zones, changing the flood buy-
out properties from residential
to either public or park zones,
and changing a portion of Cali-
fornia Ave. from residential to
commercial zone. School Su-
perintendent Ken Cox, and
Casey Mitchell (who owns the
parcel on California Ave.)
spoke in favor of the changes.
Four people spoke in opposi-
tion, primarily being opposed to
the rezoning on Rose and
Weed avenues. One person
spoke as a neutral party. When
all testimony and public input
was complete, council decided
to continue the hearing to No-
vember 19.
Council then held a public
hearing on RV Habitation
Amendments that were intend-
ed to clean up the existing lan-
guage regarding the habitation
of RVs that was considered in-
flexible and unclear. After clos-
ing that hearing, council voted
to adopt the changes. At the
October 15 meeting, these
changes were presented as
Ordinance 885 and adopted by
vote of the council.
With council consensus and
the recommendation of the
Public Works Committee, May-
or Josette Mitchell appointed
Sally Harrison and Jacob Lee
to the committee.
Council approved a motion
for City Administrator Bill
Haack to start the process of
finding a consultant to do a
Wastewater Rate Study to de-
termine what the city should be
charging, based on the true
cost of providing wastewater
treatment services. Discussion
of the need for this study came
up during the water rate study
earlier this year.
At the October 15 council
meeting, Haack told council
that winter park hosts for both
Anderson Park and Vernonia
Lake have been hired.
There was no public testi-
mony at a hearing to change
the building code fees. After
council reviewed the proposal,
they voted to adopt the new
fees.
There was public testimony
opposed to the idea of charging
downtown businesses a $10
per parking spot fee based on
a chart listing the types of busi-
ness, their “parking needs”,
and the businesses’ square
footage. Four people spoke
against the parking code
changes or made suggestions
to amend the idea. Council
asked staff to figure out how to
determine the fees each busi-
ness will pay and agreed that
the fee will be included in the
business license renewals in
July 2013.
Council adopted Ordinance
884 Oregon Smoke Free Work-
place Law, which states that
See Council on page 14
When Julie Reece’s protagonist in Crux, Birdie (eight-
een years old and homeless) grabs some money
thrown by a mysterious guy, she becomes the girl that
thugs want to kill, money-guy wants to recruit, and
very rich out-of-her-league hot guy wants to save. The
Pull Out Method by Lucky Stevens finds former crimi-
nal and air-conditioning repairman, Reggie Stanchion,
getting his life back on the right track, when, finding
himself stuck in the crawl space of a bank during a vi-
olent robbery, he hears details of the robber’s plan and
decides to take over the robbery. That spur-of –the-
moment decision leads to treacherous and unexpect-
ed challenges for Reggie and to a complex, some-
times humorous, can’t-wait- to-turn-the-page story
with an unpredictable conclusion.
The Long Rain by Peter Gadol and Reservation
Road by John Burnham Schwartz are novels in which
drivers cause fatal accidents and must live with the re-
sulting spur-of-the-moment decisions they make. An
interesting twist to this theme is a sequel to Reserva-
tion Road (Northwest Corner) in which Burnham revis-
its, twelve years later, both the family of Dwight Arno
(the driver responsible in the fatality) and the Learner
family (whose 10-year-old son died in the accident).
I guess this theme of impulsively made decisions
fascinates me because it seems that any one of us
could find ourselves in situations where we are mistak-
en for someone else, or happen to be in the wrong
place at the wrong time, or maybe witness something
we shouldn’t, or just react to the body language or re-
mark of someone in a way that sets unforeseen events
in action. If this sparks your imagination, you might
want to read one of the newest acquisitions, The Three Day
Please see page 18
Vernonia Public Library: 701 Weed Avenue
Hours: Mon., Wed., Fri. 10 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Tues., Thu. 1:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.
Sat. 10 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Preschool Story Time: Mondays, 10:30 a.m.
Phone: 503-429-1818