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The INDEPENDENT, November 7, 2012
Can You Dig It?
By Schann Nelson
Columbia County Master Gardener
The rain arrived! It’s
great to see the lawns
and fields green up
again. The cows and
sheep are much happier
and the ducks are ec-
static. Of course, any
leaves you didn’t get
raked up are now a sog-
gy mess to try and get off
your lawn so you can see the green, but that’s
OK.
Now is a good time to review the successes,
and failures, of last year's garden.
The category of soil improvement and feeding
the compost pile (garden goof-ups) this year in-
cluded all of my corn and peas. The clematis
“Montana” I have been struggling to get to sur-
vive in a new location for the last two years was
looking great until the dog decided that she had
to come off the porch through the arbor support
and broke the vine off at the base. Hopefully,
new growth will show up in the spring.
The best successes were Dennis’s potatoes,
and a small, but very artistic, area. I planted the
end of a bed with several basil plants edged with
white alyssum, and backed with Italian parsley.
Not only was it beautiful, it smelled great and
provided great additions to salads, sauces and
soups all summer.
After several years of banishing potatoes
from the main area of the garden, because I was
tired of having to peel the entire potato away be-
cause it was so scabby I let Dennis plant two
beds of potatoes in the garden this year. Boy did
they love it. He planted in two beds that had late
fall crops last year and so were not heavily ma-
nured. We had nice plants in the garden all sum-
mer and harvested a bunch of potatoes. The
only disappointment was that he thought he had
gotten Yukon Gold seed potatoes, but what he
harvested is clearly a baking potato. I have noth-
ing against bakers except that they aren’t as ver-
satile as the gold potatoes, which can be baked
or fired or boiled with equal success.
Next year I want to:
Plant fewer tomatoes (a perennial goal that
always seems to fail when the seed catalogues
arrive).
Try the winner of the Master Gardener toma-
to taste-off, “Early Cascade”. (See how it goes
with the above resolution.)
Mulch with cocoa hulls, especially in the
flower beds.
Plant more salad stuff, both early (lettuce and
spinach) and late (endive and kale).
Take the time on a sunny day to get out and
look at your yard and garden. The little winter
birds have returned and are busy in every hedge
and bush. It’s a good time to start looking at what
will need to be pruned in a couple of months.
There is plenty to do, too, trying to get things
cleaned up and mulched. Even a quick walk
through the yard can provide welcome relief
from being confined indoors.
Enjoy our mild climate that lets us get outside
all year. Time for me to go and water my house-
plants so I can take that walk after it stops rain-
ing.
Church Directory
V ERNONIA F OURSQUARE C HURCH
C OVENANT C HURCH V ERNONIA
P IONEER B APTIST F ELLOWSHIP
Carl Pense, Pastor
850 Madison Avenue, Vernonia
503 429-1103
Sunday Worship Service: 10:30 a.m.
Children’s Sunday School
Pastor John D. Murray
359 “A” Street, Vernonia
503 860-3860
Sunday School 9:45 a.m.
Sunday Worship Service 11:00 a.m.
Wednesday Prayer Meeting 7:00 p.m.
John Cahill, Pastor
939 Bridge Street, Vernonia
503-429-1161
www.pbfalive.com
Sunday School 9:30 a.m.
Sunday Morning Worship 11:00 a.m.
Thursday Prayer 7:00 p.m.
S EVENTH D AY A DVENTIST
Larry Gibson, Pastor
2nd Ave. and Nehalem St., Vernonia
503 429-8301
Morning Worship, 11:00 a.m.
Sabbath School 9:30 a.m.
A SSEMBLY OF G OD
Wayne and Maureene Marr
662 Jefferson Ave., Vernonia,
503 429-0373
Sunday School 9:45 a.m.
Morning Worship 11:00 a.m
S T . M ARY ' S C ATHOLIC C HURCH
Rev. Luan Tran, Administrator
960 Missouri Avenue, Vernonia
503 429-8841
Mass Sunday 12:00 Noon
Religious Educ. Wed., 3.15 p.m.
V ERNONIA C OMMUNITY C HURCH
Ralph Young, Pastor
957 State Avenue, Vernonia
503 429-6790
Sunday Bible Classes 9:00 a.m.
Family Praise & Worship 10:30 a.m.
Wednesday Prayer 6:30 p.m.
Thursday Ladies Study 7:00 p.m.
Nursery 10:15 a.m.
Vernonia Community Preschool
N EHALEM V ALLEY B IBLE C HURCH
Gary Taylor, Pastor
Grant & North Streets, Vernonia
503 429-5378
Sunday School 9:45 a.m.
Morning Worship 10:45 a.m.
Nursery available
Wednesday Service 7:00 p.m.
V ERNONIA C HRISTIAN C HURCH
C HURCH OF J ESUS C HRIST
OF L ATTER D AY S AINTS
Sam Hough, Minister
410 North Street, Vernonia
503 429-6522
Sunday School 9:45 a.m.
Sunday Worship 11:00 a.m.
(meets in Youth & Family Center)
Various Home Group Meetings
Marc Farmer, Branch President
1350 E. Knott Street, Vernonia
503 429-7151
Sacrament Meeting, Sunday 10 a.m.
Sunday School & Primary 11:20 a.m.
Relief Society, Priesthood and
Young Women, Sunday 12:10 p.m.
“Spice” has sickened six since
May, can cause kidney failure
Oregon health officials are
working with epidemiologists
around the country to track
cases of sudden kidney failure
linked to ingestion of a design-
er drug known as “spice.”
The drug, which is typically
smoked, is believed to have
sickened at least six people in
Oregon and Southwest Wash-
ington since May. Public Health
Division Director Mel Kohn,
M.D., M.P.H, and Oregon
Board of Pharmacy Executive
Director Gary Schnabel R.Ph.,
R.N., strongly urge young peo-
ple to avoid the drug and par-
ents to talk to their children
about its dangers.
“People need to know that
synthetic or designer drugs like
‘spice’ or ‘synthetic ampheta-
mines’ are chemicals that are
not safe, can contain danger-
ous contaminants, and may
cause serious harm to users –
even death,” Kohn says. “If you
become ill after taking a de-
signer drug, seek medical at-
tention immediately and bring
the drug in so it can be tested.”
The kidney failure cases oc-
curred in individuals residing in
Oregon’s Clackamas, Wash-
ington, Marion and Douglas
counties, and Clark County,
Wash.
Schnabel notes that retail
businesses selling these prod-
ucts, and people buying and
possessing them, are breaking
the law. Worse, they are putting
themselves and others at risk
of serious injury or death.
“This is not just a bad trip,”
Schnabel said. “We are talking
about your kidneys and you
only have two of them. If you
take this stuff, the effects can
be almost immediate and can
put you in the hospital intensive
care unit, or kill you.”
“Spice” is a mixture of plant
material that is sprayed with a
designer drug similar to
tetrahydrocannabinol (THC),
the active substance in mari-
juana, Public Health Division
officials say. It is marketed un-
der street names such as “K2,”
“herbal incense,” “potpourri,” or
“JWH-018.” The sale of “spice”
is not legal in Oregon. It also is
referred to as “synthetic mari-
juana” or “synthetic THC.”
However, it is distinct from mar-
ijuana plants that are bred to
produce higher concentrations
of THC.
When “spice” is smoked,
users attain a “high.” However,
more serious effects have been
reported, including rapid heart-
beat, shortness of breath, agi-
tation, seizures, headaches,
nausea and vomiting, as well
as sudden kidney damage and
failure.
In April 2011, the Oregon
Board of Pharmacy voted to
ban sale and possession of
“spice,” “K2” and other danger-
ous synthetic cannabis prod-
ucts, as well as a group of
cathinone-type chemicals that
appear under such street
names as “bath salts,” “pond
cleaner” or “plant food.” By
adding these chemicals to
Schedule 1 of the Oregon list of
controlled substances, the
board gives law enforcement
authority to prosecute the sale
and possession of these sub-
stances under the Oregon Uni-
form Controlled Substances
Act.
Kohn says toxicologists at
the Oregon Health Authority’s
Public Health Division and the
Oregon Poison Center based
at Oregon Health & Science
University are investigating re-
ported cases of poisoning from
“spice.” They also are asking
doctors and specialists around
the region to report cases of
sudden kidney failure linked to
“spice” use, and they’re work-
ing with experts to analyze
samples of “spice” to find the
toxin causing the injuries.
According to a University of
Michigan study, 11.4 percent of
high school seniors reported
using synthetic marijuana in
the past year. Youth incorrectly
believe these substances are
legal and safe.
Similar cases have been
seen elsewhere in the United
States. A cluster of four cases
of rapid kidney damage in peo-
ple who had recently used
“spice” occurred in Casper,
Wyoming, during March 2012.
Have a Happy THanksgiving
Don’t drink & Drive