L ibrary, U o f O
VALLEY REPAIRS DAMAGE OF 'MOST SEVERE' STORM
Vernonia and the entire Nehalem Valley reeled under the
force of the storm Friday night and were shocked by the real­
ization that "it can happen here.” Since Friday evening, there
has been little talk of anything else but the storm and the
various damages done by it. The only previous storm to any­
where approximate it was one the pioneers told of about in
1880.
However, as the survey progresses, the most familiar com­
ment is “This is a good place to live” for damage here has been
WIND completely removed roof of high school grandstand and left
it on ground behind, leaving seats intact. Stand was completed last
year by volunteer labor of Lions club and district to complete facili­
ties at athletic field. Roof structure and some of framework had
Storm Damage
To Co-op Lines
Tops $10,000
The Friday night storm knocked
out all electric service in the West
Oregon
Electric
Cooperative
system. Some of the consumers
are still out and will be out for
several more days.
Guy Thomas, manager, stated
that approximately 25 extra men
have been or will be used before
the entire damage is cleared. He
thanked members who have as­
sisted by clearing trees from roads
for easier access and who helped
in many other ways.
The first effort is to get the
greatest number of consumers on
as rapidly as possible. In some
cases the clearing of one span
may restore service to 30 custo­
mers while in the next case ten
spans may restore service to only
one customer.
By Saturday night Bonneville
transmission lines were restored
and service had been resumed in
Vernonia, Timber and Elsie. Not
all accounts in these places have
yet been restored.
Thomas’ early estimate of dam­
age was that it would be in ex­
cess of $10,000. The worst previous
windstorm was in December, 1961
and cost $6,000 for emergency re­
pairs.
No estimate of time for com­
plete restoration of service can be
given as every feeder must be
checked out and cleared of trees
and limbs before it can be re­
energized. Every feeder from the
various substations and main lines
was broken or had trees on the
line which had to be removed.
Thomas emphasized that the co­
operative’s annual meeting will be
held this Saturday, October 20 as
scheduled. The meeting will be­
gin at 10:00 a.m. at the coopera­
tive headquarters building. Letters
and programs have been mailed to
all memb?rs of the cooperative
and plans are to carry out the pro­
gram as announced.
been donated for project by Long-Bell Lumber company when
mill was lorn down and had been converted for use as grandstand.
Damage is fully covered by insurance.
Oernonïa Eatjíe
VOLUME 40, NUMBER 42
VERNONIA, OREGON
County Taxes
H it Peak Total
The Columbia county tax roll
for the fiscal year of 1962-63 was
officially accepted by Columbia
County Sheriff Spencer L. Younce
on October 17 according to Frank
LeMont, Columbia county asses­
sor.
The total taxes to be collected
in Columbia county, in the amount
of $2,922,658.54, is the largest tax
roll in the history of Columbia
county and was levied by the se­
veral taxing districts in the fol-
Yule Cantata
Help Needed
An all-community cantata to be
presented at Christmas time is
planned if enough adult singers
turn out to make it feasable. John
Jensen, vocal music instructor in
the elementary schools of district
47 joint, has offered to direct it
and Mrs. Lois Clark and Mrs. L.
H. Thomas will serve as accompa­
nists. The EUB church on State
avenue has been secured for prac­
tices.
Jensen stresses the fact that this
is a community affair and that
Mist and Birkenfeld are included.
It is not sponsored by any one
group. All singers are invited to
participate. At least 30 adult
voices are needed and there is an
urgent need for more men and
more sopranos.
Practice sessions will be each
Tuesday evening at 7.00 p.m.
lowing proportions:
County general fund, 4.6%,
$135,466.17; county road and oil­
ing, 9.3%, $270,372.08; all schools,
70.2%, $2,053,135.41; all cities,
6.0%, $174,450.40; fire, port, ceme­
tery, hospital, 7.2%, $209,503.48;
welfare, 2.7%, $79,731.00.
Not included in the above are
the state fire patrol tax amount­
ing to $17,599.70 and drainage as­
sessments amounting to $71,907.02.
By way of comparison, the dis­
tribution of the 1961-62 taxes is
shown below:
County general fund, 4.7%,
$118,288.62; county road and oil­
ing, 10.6%, $264,205.60; all schools,
69.4%, $1,736,294.08; all cities,
6.5%, $162,117.90; fire, port, ceme­
tery, hospital, 5.8%, $144,387.26;
welfare, 3.0%, $75,989.00.
The 1961-62 total was $2,501,-
282.46 plus the state fire patrol
tax in the amount of $15,533.42
and drainage assessments totaling
$67,080.36.
Due to the disaster in Columbia
county, tax statements will be a
few days late, Spencer L. Younce,
sheriff, states. Monday, October
22, will be the start of mailing
of statements. All taxpayers are
asked to bring in the double state­
ments when paying. Any one hav­
ing five or less statements may
receive them in several envelopes
as the cost is too much to group,
and it permits the statements to
be mailed much earlier by not
grouping.
THURSDAY, OCT. 18, 1962
Co-op to Hold
Annual Meet
As Scheduled
“The annual meeting will ba
held as scheduled,’’ Guy I. Thom­
as, manager of West Oregon Elec­
tric stated Wednesday.
“Even
though the storm has created
m a n y problems, arrangements
have been completed for the meet­
ing and we are legally bound to
hold the meeting at this time,”
he concluded.
The meeting will be held at the
cooperative headquarters building
beginning at 10:00 a.m. Saturday,
October 20. Registration will be­
gin at 9:00 a.m.
Gerald F. Diddle, director, Wes­
tern Area (Electric) REA, will
be the principal speaker.
Two directors are to be elected.
The terms of George L. Smith and
Noble Dunlap are expiring. Both
have been renominated. Dunlap
is opposed by Robert Mathews of
Mist. Smith is opposed by Hans
O. Slette and Dudley Spofford of
Vernonia.
Reports of the years’ operations
will be made by the various co­
operative officials.
The cake contest which is a
feature of the annual meeting will
be held with junior and senior
divisions. The Vernonia grade
school chorus under the direction
of John Jensen will sing a group
of selections. The Christian church
ladies will provide the lunch.
much lighter than in communities
on all sides and no lives were lost ish things happened in connection
or serious injuries sustained,
with this, also. At one house on
Saturday morning, the town was Second avenue on Cor?y Hill, tree
a scene of havoc which only those roots under a part of the house
who got around early really saw, lifted and tore it from the house.
for everyone went to work at At the Sanden house on Scappoose
once to clean up debris and put road which recently was purchas­
things back to normal. Trees were ed by the G?ne Calhoons, trees
down everywhere and some homes fell to completely surround it, but
have the appearance of a plucked none hit the house. A huge cedar
chicken as they stand without the in the Thayer yard fell across the
familiar trees surrounding them.
porch roof and breezeway be­
Among the amazing thing is tween the house and cellar.
that so few houses were actually
Several people felt they had a
damaged by trees when so many very close brush with death. Mr.
fell around them.
and Mrs. J. W. Acaiturri, who had
By Wednesday, a tentative es­ four tall trees fall at their home,
timate of insurable damage in the one of which hit the house, were
area had been placed at from $12,- making their way to the R. C.
000 to $15,000. Of this, it is esti­ Lindsay home when a tree fell
mated that at least $6,000 or $7,000 just behind them. Mrs. Robert
will be needed to repair damage at Pollock, coming from Staleys, saw
the high school, the most heavily a tree leaning dangerously over
damaged place in the valley. This the road and stepped on the gas
included the grandstand which so as to just get by and have the
lost its roof, the public address tree graze the back of her car.
system which was on the grand­ Richard Peterson of Natal was
stand roof ready for the scheduled coming home from Clatskanie in
Friday night game, the carport his pickup when a tree blocked the
at the east end of the building road. He first thought he would
where busses loaded and unload­ sit it out, then decided to walk.
ed, damaged roof, broken win­ He was only a short distance from
dows, an aluminum awning and the car when a tree fell, crushing
the cab of the pickup completely.
water damage in rooms.
Some damage was incurred at
each of the elementary buildings
in the district but was not exten­
At several homes, including the
sive at any of them.
Joe Lawler residence in River­
view and the Edith Crowston res­
idence on Corey hill, falling trees
tore
the electric service installa­
When the carport blew off the
high school, it narrowly missed tions from the houses. At the Otto
Darrold Proehl and Dale Andrich Siedolman place on the Pebble
when it passed over the car they Creek loop, the barn and other
were in and struck the house of farm buildings were flattened.
Many people lost roofs or parts
Herb Sturdzvant, doing consid­
erable damage to the foundation. of roofs. At the Leslie Caron
home three successive layers of
He was not home at the time.
Many of the trees which were roofing were peeled off.
downed were uprooted due to the
rain-soaked ground. Many freak-
Much Timber Down
Two Escape Injuries
Add'l Details Page 8
PTA Members to Start Census Job
For District 47 Area Next Week
The school census for district 47
joint will be taken next week by
members of the PTA with Mrs.
Lynn Michener and Mrs. Calvin
Bass acting as co-chairmen. They
also will cover the territory of
Pebble Creek and the part of the
district that lies in Washington
county.
Letters have been sent out
through the schools to let parents
know that the census will be
taken starting Monday, October
22. Persons who have neighbors
who may not get the letter from
school or the paper are asked to
inform them of the planned cen­
sus taking.
Workers who will assist with
the census and the area they will
cover are as follows: Mrs. Earl
King, downtown; Mrs. I^arry Sut­
ton, Capitol Hill; Mrs. Chet Ray,
O.A. Hill; Mrs. Oren Weed, Tim­
ber road; Mrs. Frank Serafin and
Mrs. John Serafin, Riverview;
Mrs. Ted DeWitt, Keasey route
and Stoney Point; Mrs. Kenneth
Tupper, Scappoose and Apiary
roads; Mrs. Cliff Fe'herston, Cor­
ey hill and Rose avenue; Mrs. Ro­
bert Mathews, Mist and Mrs.
Francis Larson, Birkenfeld.
The school census is tak?n ev­
ery two years, and includes all
persons through 19 years of age,
even though some in this age
group may be married or in col­
lege or in the armed forces. Every
person in the district who is en­
umerated in this age group means
about $120 in state school funds
for the district.
All families are urged to have
the necessary information readily
available when the workers call.
Information needed will be date
of birth, place of residence and
age as of October 25. Anyone who
will not b? home should call Mrs.
Michener, Mrs. Bass or the school
with the required information. Al­
so all persons who have dogs that
annoy strangers are asked to tie
them up or watch for the census
taker to avoid possible dog bites.
Loggers Tally First Victory of
Season with Defeat of Banks 14-6
The Vernonia Loggers took to
the gridiron Tuesday evening
against the Banks Braves in a
make-up game, which was origi­
nally scheduled to take place on
Friday evening, but postponed
because of the storm. The local
eleven finally hit the win column
in this tilt, defeating the Braves
14 to 6 in a- game which was
marked by many mistakes on both
sides.
Vernonia scored their first
touchdown at the start of second
quarter play when they took over
on the visitor’s 40 after a despera­
tion fourth down pass by Banks.
With the local eleven using Mona­
co as battering ram they drove to
the one-yard stripe and from that
point Monaco dived over for the
score Try for point was good.
The local eleven scored once
again in second quarter play with
about two minutes left on the
clock when Cox hit Phillip Meyer
from 25 yards out for the tally.
Try for point was once again good
making the score stand 14-0 at
halftime.
Last quarter play saw th? local
eleven penetrate all the way to
the visitor’s 10 only to fumble and
stop the drive. Banks with five
minutes in the game took the ball
on their own 12 and combining
both a passing and running attack
drove all the way to score. Final
score 14-6.
In second half play the local
eleven seemed to once again bog
down due to mistakes and lack of
a sustained offense.
Saturday afternoon the Log­
gers will journey to Portland to
take on North Catholic. North
Catholic is the same team which
defeated Banks several weeks ago
60-0 so should be rated a definite
favorite. Game time is 2 p.m
FRONT of. hangar at airport was blown away and roof fall across
plana owned by Mrs. Frank Hays. Pina in back of hangar, ownad by
Wally Groscha. was not damaged. Four other planes owned by people
living hare wara kapt at Scappoose airport where wind damaged
all of them, the most severe loss amounting to $1000 to $1200 on the
plana ownad by Bud Atkins.