With all the excitement last month of getting ready to publish twice each month, I forgot to comment on the fact that, for the first time in three years, those of us in Vernonia got through the month of December without a major weather disaster.  Yes, it was awfully cold, and some of us had pipes freeze, but that sure beats the heck out of downed trees and no electricity, flooding and no electricity, and two feet of snow and... that's right, no electricity.  We got a break this year and everybody who wanted them had holiday lights.  It was nice for a change. 

          Speaking of electricity, I was visiting with West Oregon Electric Cooperative General Manager Marc Farmer the other day, just after some high winds took out some power lines in his service area.  So far it's been a pretty mild winter, but Farmer said he had crews out for over 24 straight hours, working to restore power to customers.  It is obviously a big inconvenience when the power goes off, as it's known to do around here.  But as Marc Farmer reminded me, look around at what a beautiful and wonderful place we live, with lots of open space and green trees.  It's those green trees that make this such a great place-- it's also those trees that take out our power lines when the wind starts to blow-- or the snow piles up.  Sometimes you just have to take some bad with all the good.  And thanks to all the folks at WOEC who work so hard to keep the lights on for us.

          Speaking of good, we have a new column starting this month, featuring recipes for good, healthy food.  In Clean Food For Life, local fitness trainer and high school sports coach, Teresa Williams, will provide us with new ideas to help you eat better, eat smart, and eat right.  Welcome, Teresa!

          We're trying a bit of an experiment this month.  I've mentioned that Vernonia's Voice has its own Facebook page, which we've used to publish photos of events that have not fit in the print issue of the  paper.  This month, we're going to try to post pertinent and timely information on that page-- things you might want to hear about between issues of the paper.  Not sure yet how this will work out, but if you're on Facebook, and are not already a fan of Vernonia's Voice, hook up with us and keep an eye out for posts about Vernonia.