Welter Family Cemetery turns 100

The year 2012 marks the 100-year anniversary of our family cemetery, and we will be having a celebration on Sept 1.

We have sent announcements to family members, but would like to put an invitation out to anyone who we may have missed. Welters are a widespread family in Columbia County, it seems. We have the Clastskanie Welters, the Goble Welters and the Scappoose Welters.

This is an article that was written in 1971 that gives some history of our cemetery.

Years ago, rail passengers bound for Portland must travel by ferry from Kalama, Wash., to Goble, where the southbound train waited. Not far from where that ferry landing had been, and visible from Highway 30 in Columbia County, is the Welter family cemetery.

Not as old as some — it has been in the family since 1912 — nevertheless the family came from Luxemburg more than 100 years before and those settlers are buried there, along with other family members who were born and lived and died in the area. Some died in infancy, and some were veterans of this nation’s wars.

Old Highway 30 cut the plot in half in 1913 and only a half-acre remains. Then the old road itself was bypassed, and now the cemetery rests serenely removed from the close onrush of traffic.

Yet, with each passing, some small portion of history has come to an end. Their contribution has been made, their work completed and the true story of this nation and what it was and has become rests in cemeteries like these.

Twila Nelson — Kalama, Wash.

Sidewalk safety lessons needed in St. Helens

Some local business owners have resorted to placing signs outside their businesses in an attempt to get the skateboards, roller blades and bicycles off of the sidewalks and into the bike lanes. The signs went out after a pregnant woman and her young daughter were exiting a business and were nearly struck by a bicycle traveling at a high rate of speed on the sidewalk.

This has been an ongoing issue that has been brought to the attention of a city council member. On any given day, local business representatives have reported that they have counted more than 20 bicyclists and skateboarders traveling on the sidewalks. This will only get worse as the kids head back to school.

Awareness of the city ordinance has to get out to the public somehow. The signs posted along Columbia Boulevard are placed too high and do not stand out for the public to even notice them. Educational flyers or workshops would be a great way to get bicycle safety and the rules of the road out to the kids, and we should encourage adults to take the safety course as well.

Bill Cade, Shannon Vaerewyck — Bertucci’s St. Helens

Credit union board needs lesson on its bylaws

The chances the St. Helens Community Federal Credit Union board members being challenged with a recall petition will retain their seats probably aren’t very good. A lot of poor decisions and lack of communication probably sealed their fate, and they probably know this.

So why are they spending so much money to retain their volunteer positions? Let’s look at it from a different angle.

A new board could mean a new CEO. So now it looks like CEO Brooke Van Vleet has convinced the board to change or ignore a few things. Unfortunately, for the board members, the one of the things ignored were the St. Helens Federal Credit Union bylaws.

Broadening the scope of voters with a mail-in ballot appears to be an attempt at securing votes from those who will just “check the box”. Maybe even get enough votes to change, what I’m sure she assumes, will be the outcome of the upcoming special meeting.

I am going to cite just two of the several bylaws they have ignored, changed or didn’t bother to read.

Article XVI. General Section 3. Notwithstanding any other provisions in these Bylaws, any director or committee member of this Credit Union may be removed from office by the affirmative vote of a majority of members present at a special meeting called for the purpose, but only after an opportunity has been given to be heard.

No mention of write-in here, so let’s give them the benefit of the doubt and use the write-in provision for the annual meeting and election.

Article V. Board of Director Elections. Section 7. The Board of Directors may authorize the use of absentee ballots in conjunction with the other procedures authorized in this Article, subject to the following conditions:

(b) The Secretary, at least 30 days prior to the annual meeting, will cause printed ballots to be mailed to all members of the Credit Union who are eligible to vote and who have submitted a written request for an absentee ballot;

(c) The Secretary will cause the following materials to be mailed to each eligible voter who has submitted a written request for an absentee ballot.

So how much money was spent in mailing out 15,000+ ballots? Oh, in excess of $12,000. Over $3300 in mailing postcards, and $1,700 in placing an ad in two newspapers. This does not include the fees from the attorneys, and the auditors.

While writing this letter, I received a call from Attorney Lance Noggle, Office of General Counsel for the National Credit Union Administration, who said in response to my question about write-in balloting: Without question, “a write-in ballot is not allowed for a special meeting, you need to be present to vote.”

See you at the meeting on Sept. 4.

Steve Knebel — Oregon Indoor Organics Inc., Rainier

Mayo needs to focus on home, less on ‘the feds’

Again, Mr. Wayne Mayo has stirred the simmering pot of Fear of Big Government. While it succeeds in getting his name in print at a time when he’s facing a runoff election, it does little else to demonstrate his ability to solve the problems of the community he claims he wants to serve.

Not long ago he was willing and determined to spend precious county resources to defend his wrong-headed, extreme anti-immigration measure that was clearly unconstitutional, and would have bankrupted the county in the effort to defend it.

He doesn’t talk about problems like:

1. What can be done to get viable small businesses occupying the expanding number of empty storefronts I see in St Helens.

2. Paving the remaining gravel streets in the city, installing barriers on narrow county roads.

His topic is the FBI interrogation procedure, a wild, but reliable diversion from Columbia County’s real problems.

What are his ideas about everyday, fixable problems in Columbia County? Where is the tangible evidence of a desire to improve the quality of living for the diverse community he says he wants to serve?

Instead of the politics of fear and the rhetoric of distrust, could he, for instance, build coalitions of businesses, government and volunteers to promote the successful, but under-funded vocational programs in the high schools? Or perhaps organize a salvage drive to benefit the county food bank? Or maybe an after school program benefitting working parents?

I don’t doubt Mr. Mayo’s zeal or tenacity in denouncing the federal government, nor question his right to do so. However, his willingness to actually serve the public, as well as his ability to cooperatively govern Columbia County with ideas for real problems, are less evident than his habitual zeal for denouncing “the feds”.

Ann Mathers — St. Helens