New port executive director
$500,000 for businesses, nonprofits Page A3
Page A3
$1.50
Wednesday, November 3, 2021
thechronicleonline.com
Serving Columbia County since 1881
Where We Live
Local business preserves the past
Photos by Zoe Gottlieb / The Chronicle
2Cs Vendor Mall keeps history alive with its antique goods and old architecture. ZOE GOTTLIEB chronicle2@countrymedia.net
A local store is lending a hand in preserving the past. In a building that now holds a three-floor antique and secondhand goods store, 2Cs Vendor Mall was once the home of a longstanding fraternal organization, and later, a Pendleton garment factory. Current 2Cs Vendor Mall Owner Mitzi Ponce rents from Philip Stanton, who bought the property in 2016. His family corporation owns various properties in St. Helens, including Molly’s Market, Plymouth Pub, and Running Dogs. Ponce said she used to work in high tech before she turned to
managing antiques, a move which has helped her transition into retirement. “I don’t really fit in well with in a corporate world,” she said. “This is something that aligned with my own interests and hobbies. I had booth space in the store, under the previous owners. (When) they were ready to retire from owning the store, I was ready to retire from my job, and it just kind of worked out.” A brief history The 2Cs Vendor Mall building, located on 215 S. 1st St., was built in 1927 and once housed an international, non-sectarian fraternal organization called The Order of Knights of Pythias. The fraternity
was founded in Washington DC by Justus H. Rathbone in 1864 and became the first fraternal organization to receive a charter under U.S. Congress. According to Ponce, the Pythians ran a JC Penny, which helped it finance its large gatherings. “The way that we understand it is that back in the day, they would build a larger building than they needed for their lodge and a commercial portion of it would pay for the mortgage,” she said. “That way, instead of indebting your members into the future for building a new lodge, you actually had a commercial organization that was paying that bill every month.” These events were held in the ballroom, an area of the building
which still stands today. “That ballroom was their Kingdom Hall, but then they also have rented it out to the old John Gumm school, and they would have dances over here, rented it out for weddings and for bands and for private parties and things like that,” Ponce said. “Since the very beginning, people in St. Helens have had events up there.” The Pythians used the Lampson carrier system to manager their transactions, according to Ponce. “They were a spring-loaded pulley device,” she said. “The accounting was up in the loft over the front door. And so, the people on the sales floor would put the money in this carrier, and then pull the cable and it would go zinging up to the
accounting, and they would take care of the money and then send the receipt back down.” Ponce said she still receives comments from customers who witnessed the Lampson carrier in action. “We still have people, at least once or twice a month come in and tell us that, you know, this is the first store where they got a real pair of big boy pants and the cashiers use the pneumatic tubes to send the money zinging around,” she said. Once the property changed hands in the 1980s, it became a Pendleton garment factory, where See 2CS Page A4
Protests impacting students ZOE GOTTLIEB chronicle2@countrymedia.net
Scappoose School District Superintendent Tim Porter has issued a letter to parents, concerning protests that students say are impacting their safety coming to and from Scappoose High School. Protestors have staged rallies at the intersection of High School Way and Highway 30, adjacent to the high school. In the Oct. 29 letter, Porter stated that according to student reports, protestors exchanged words with students and blocked access to school pathways, causing a disturbance. “Unfortunately, during recent protests, multiple students have reported experiencing events in which their sense of security was threatened,” Porter’s letter reads. “These incidents include adults verbally assaulting children on their walk to school and blocking their sidewalk and crosswalk access. While we fully support the right of people to protest peacefully, and it is our understanding that there may be more protests in the future, we did want (parents) to be aware of some of the concerns that we have been made aware of.” Porter said he was told that students were criticized by protestors for their adherence to Gov. Kate Brown’s mask mandate. “All I know is that students reported to us that some of the adults were not being very kind about their Opinion ..................... A4 Obituaries ................. A5 Classified Ads ......... A6 Crossword ............... A6 Legals ....................... A7 Children’s Parade .... A9 Phone: 503-397-0116 Fax: 503-397-4093 Email: chroniclenews@ countrymedia.net 1805 Columbia Blvd., St. Helens, OR 97051
mask wearing,” Porter said. One of Porter’s chief concerns he said is the commotion surrounding the protests, and how it can impact the ability of students to get to school safely. “They had kind of stretched these banners across where they were on the sidewalk, but it wasn’t (like) they weren’t someplace that they aren’t allowed to be,” he said. “But they had stretched these across, and so it made it really difficult for our students to get to cross the crosswalk there. We actually had some incidences of students walking out into the road to get around them which is unsafe.” The increasing frequency of student reports necessitated his open dialogue with parents through his official letter, Porter said. “I want to reiterate; this is this has nothing to do with the protesters or their right to protest, that has nothing to do with it,” he said. “We (just) want to let parents know that we’ve had several students report to us not feeling safe with some verbal assaulting going on toward our children, and we just wanted to make sure that the parents peacefully protest.” In his letter, Porter tells parents the district is taking action to support the safety, security, and well-being of Scappoose students, the actions include: • Notifying the police regarding these incidents, so they can be proactive in their approach to protecting our community. • Each morning, the district will have educators outside welcoming students to school in a positive manner. • Counselors and social workers are available at each school if a student feels the need to connect with a trusted adult. Read Porter’s full letter to parents with this story at thechronicleonline.com.
Zoe Gottlieb / The Chronicle
The local group, Freedom Rally, voices opposition to the state’s vaccination mandate during a rally in Scappoose.
Rally says no to mandate ZOE GOTTLIEB chronicle2@countrymedia.net
A local group is voicing opposition to the state government-mandated COVID-19 vaccination for most public employees, including school teachers. The group, Freedom Rally, helped a protest against the vaccination mandate at Highway 30 and High School Way near Scappoose High School late Tuesday afternoon, Nov. 2, in what the members consider to be an infringement of Constitutional rights. Freedom Rally is a collective of Scappoose residents opposed to vaccine mandates, led by co-organizers Sherri Ryan and Molly Walters. Ryan and Walters said they will back parents and schoolchildren, just as they have employees who lost their jobs due to vaccination status. “We are standing in solidarity for people that are losing their jobs at our school district are being discriminated against because of their medical choices, and in anticipation of vaccine COVID-19 vaccine mandates in our district,” Walters said.
Over the last few weeks, Ryan and Walters have stood alongside rally members at the intersection of Highway 30 and High School Way, urging Scappoose School District to reevaluate their vaccine requirements for staff, parents, and volunteers.
We are not anti-vax. We are not pro-vax. We are simply pro medical freedom. ~ Molly Walters, Freedom Rally
“I don’t think it’s correct. It’s discriminatory,” she said. According to Walters, the issue of vaccination is timely because on Nov. 16, Portland Public School District will set the precedent for other schools to follow. “Portland Public Schools will be voting on Nov. 16, about whether they will mandate the vaccine for students to be able to attend those
schools,” she said. “Typically, school districts in the state follow with the largest district, so we are trying to make sure that (Superintendent) Porter and the school board know that as parents, we will not be standing for a COVID vaccine mandate for our children.” A Freedom Rally petition being circulated in the community contains a clause stating that parents will pull their children out of school if the district follows suit with Gov. Kate Brown’s orders, mandating vaccination for children, according to Walters. She added that over 50 people have joined the ranks of the Freedom Rally, many of whom are parents with kids in the school district. According to Walters, the group welcomes both vaccinated and more mask-conscious persons, and she emphasizes that there is no shortage of them in her circle. “The (rallies) are an effort to get the word out that we are not anti-vax. We are not pro-vax. We are simply pro medical freedom,” she said.
Vol. 139, No. 44
ColumbiaCountyOR.Gov/Vaccine | 503-397-7247