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Wednesday, June 4, 2014
GRADUATION TIME: Don’t miss our special section on the Scappoose High School Graduation in this issue of The Chronicle.
2/21/12
3:24 PM
TODAY’S WEATHER Mostly sunny Highs to 74 Page B3 Lows to 45
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The Chronicle
$1.00 Vol. 132, No. 23 30 Pages
www.thechronicleonline.com
Head Start bids farewell to ‘School Bus Polly’ ST. HELENS — After more than three decades of driving for Columbia Pacific Head Start, Warren resident Polly Brown will soon trade in the keys to her little yellow school bus for the keys to her own little green Volkswagen bug. “School Bus Polly,” as the kids like to call her, has been the Head Start bus driver for the past 31 years, making her a familiar face to not only local kids, but their parents, too. On Friday, she will drive her last bus route before embarking on a new journey — retirement. When she first started her job, Polly remembers driving a van to pick up the kids and bring them to old the Bachelor Flat school, where Head Start was located before moving next door to McBride School. A couple years later, she took on a second responsibility in the parent involvement aspect of Head Start. “Then we got a new bus in 1990, I think,” she remembers. “And I’ve drove that since that time. For 20-some years, it’s been my ride up and down the highway.” While she says the roads haven’t changed much during the duration of her career, Polly remembers times when she was able to do more than transport children to and from school. She explains, “If there were people out of firewood, my center manager and I would go pick up wood … Now, they don’t do that, but back then we would do that. We’d bring a gallon of milk to a family, I’ve done that. I went and helped them clean their house. We’d bring them leftover food. I mean there was a lot of things that we did that we don’t even think about doing now.” “The important thing that I think about Head Start is it isn’t just about the kids, you know? I feel like I relish the value of the kids to the point where it nourished me and caused me to grow as a person, but the parent is the one in a lot of need at that time.” Polly adds, “We had a center for parents to come by and have a cup of coffee, talk See POLLY, Page A3
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Concert series to kick off 10th year BY DON PATTERSON dpatterson@cntrymedia.net
The St. Helens High School jazz band will take the gazebo stage at Columbia View Park to kick off the Thirteen Nights on the River concert series on Thursday. Perhaps it’s fitting that musicians representing SHHS open the 10th year of the popular Thursday night concert series. It was built for them. In 2004 a group of citizens, city parks personnel and music buffs created a vision of a rustic amphitheater – someplace for the high school alumni band to perform during July 4th festivities on the waterfront. The original amphitheater received broad and enthusiastic support, which prompted its designer, Larry Buzbee, to optimistically proclaim the project could be completed by July 4. AMANDA FRINK / The Chronicle
Rainier High School student, Dylan Lane, is interviewed by a television news crew Friday morning. Fellow student NaythanTaylor and Lane attracted media attention when they said they were suspended from school after Taylor reported to the administration that Lane was being bullied.
Rainier bullying incident becomes center of news media storm BY AMANDA FRINK news@thechronicleonline.com
RAINIER — Two Rainier High School students are attracting national media attention after a student says he reported that his friend was being bullied and both of them received suspensions. RHS senior Naythan Taylor was at home on suspension last week after he says he reported to school officials that his friend, 15-year-old Dylan Lane, was being bullied to the point of having suicidal thoughts. According to Lane, it all started when he and his friends were talking at their lunch table and an 18-yearold RHS student accused them of talking about her. Lane stated that they were not talking about her, to which she called them derog-
atory names and threatened to punch Lane in the mouth. After the altercation, the boys say the girl posted a posted a photo of Lane on her Instagram account, where she called him derogatory names, wrote about wanting to punch him, and added “… all he can do is call the cops he can’t even stick up for himself…” The boys say she also wrote a statement encouraging Lane to kill himself. According to Taylor, the post spread quickly around school and other students began posting insulting comments, including one student who claimed they had seen Lane’s genitals. Lane says students began circulating a photo of what was alleged to be Lane’s genitals, but Lane says the photo is fake. Taylor says it got so out of hand that Lane was contem-
plating suicide. “That day was hard for me,” says Lane, who witnessed the same girl bully another student before. “I had suicidal thoughts.” “He made comments about self-harming himself and that’s what worried me the most, that’s why I pursued the issue,” Taylor explains. “I can’t understand why someone would do that to someone, she’s taken it too far,” Taylor says. “The kid said that he was going to kill himself and that’s the last thing you want. I just told him, ‘It’s not worth it, think about your mom and all of us that care about you.’” Both boys say the reported the photo and its comments to school counselor Erin Fox and principal Graden Blue several times and were told to “drop it and
go back to class.” “I told [Blue], ‘I’m being bullied and she’s telling me to kill myself’,” Lane explains. “Just telling [Lane] ‘Don’t worry about it’ all day long as people are chirping and commenting on the picture still and all that stuff, in a small school, everybody knows,” Taylor explains. “And some of the things that were said were absolutely ridiculous for him to have to live with for the rest of his life. I couldn’t even imagine.” In the end, the boys say the girl who posted the photo was suspended. But in an unexpected turn, Taylor says he was also suspended from school. Statements released from See BULLYING, Page A2
As the project evolved, competing visions for what the amphitheater should look like, red tape and funding problems stretched opening day nearly a year, but on June 2, 2005, opening ceremonies declared the new amphitheater on the river ready for all to use. A barbershop quartet from Portland was the inaugural act of a new concert series, Thirteen Nights on the River, conceived to promote the venue and provide summer entertainment in the beautiful new park. The headliner that first night was a locally popular rock ‘n roll band, The Weiners. “The goal was to put Columbia View Park to use,” remembers St. Helens City Councilor, Keith Locke. Locke, who See CONCERTS, Page A6
Burglaries plague St. Helens residents BY DON PATTERSON dpatterson@cntrymedia.net
Law enforcement in Columbia County is busy with a rash of burglaries. According to Sheriff Jeff Dickerson, CCSO deputies investigated 20 burglaries and thefts in the county during the month of May. He said city police departments were investigating additional cases. Dickerson displayed a map of the St. Helens area with markers indicating the location of recent thefts. The thefts appear mostly concentrated along Sykes and Gable Roads from Highway 30 to East Kappler Road in the St. Helens area. Dickerson said the burglaries mostly happen during the day, when people are away at work or school. The thieves kick in a door or climb through a window to gain entry to the home, he said.
DON PATTRSON / The Chronicle
Looking for clues: CCSO deputies plot recent burglaries on a map, looking for a pattern that might yield clues as to who is responsible for the recent string of burglaries in St. Helens.
“They usually go after jewelry, guns, cash and coins. [They are} not taking a whole lot at any one place.” In some cases, the thieves go after tools or equipment left unattended outside. Almost all the thefts have occurred at residences. Sheriff’s deputies “have scheduled extra patrols in the areas most affected,” Dickerson said. “To date we have no solid suspects, but continue to work in conjunction with the City of St. Helens Police Department, on developing a strategic plan to solve these crimes,” Dickerson believes it is the work of a group of guys. “We’re definitely disturbed by it.” The Sheriff is asking that any citizen with any information about these crimes or anyone who might know the perpetrators call the CCSO tip line at 503-366-4698. Calls are anonymous.