The INDEPENDENT, O c t 13,1993
By Charlene Bechen
Banks Library Volunteer
November 13 is recycle Saturday at the
SWATCO service yard at 15945 NW Sellers
Road, about one block south of the Sunset
Highway. Hours are from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
M agazines are now accepted, as well as
glass, aluminum, tin cans, brown paper bags,
newspaper, corrugated cardboard (before 2
p.m.), motor oil in screw-top containers, plas
tic milk, juice and water jugs. Volunteer help
is always welcomed. Please call Donna Mc
Call at 324-3404, or the library at 324-1382, if
you would like to help.
Quilters and would-be quilters are invited to
join the Friends of the Library year-long quilt
ing bee. "Shady Evergreen" is the pattern
chosen for this year's quilt. The fabric has
been purchased and work will begin soon.
The quilt is scheduled for completion during
the 1994 Washington County Fair. The fin
ished quilt will be raffled off at the 1994 Banks
Barbeque. Please call Jami Masson at 681-
9453, or the library at 324-1382, for more in
formation.
Saturday recycling and the quilt project are
both sponsored by the Friends of the Library.
This community group provides extra funds
and resources for the Banks Library. The al
■
.............
Soys
lotment of county funds is based upon the
number of books checked out at each branch,
so smaller branches, such as Banks, receive
less money. Without help from the Friends,
many books and much of the furn ishing s
would not be here. The Friends most recent
gift is a new shelving unit and more best sell
ers. Membership forms for the Friends of the
Library are at the front desk.
Staff Sgt. Karl Alberg returns for the fifth
time in Prized Possessions, a psychological
suspense thriller by L. R. Wright. Sgt. Alberg
is asked by a neighbor, Emma O'Brea, to help
find her husband, who has mysteriously disap
peared, leaving all his prized possessions, in
cluding his gun. As Alberg begins his search,
he learns the O'Brea marriage may not have
been as happy as it appeared and he starts to
suspect that Mrs. O'Brea may have other rea
sons for wanting her husband found. Mean
while, on the other side of town, a second sto
ry is unfolding, involving Eddie Addison, a
simple-minded delivery boy. Wright masterful
ly weaves these two tales together as Eddie
and Emma meet in a startling confrontation.
Library Hours: Wednesday and Saturday,
10 a,m. - 4 p.m., Thursday 1 - 7 p.m.,
Friday, 1 « 5 p.m.
=•: • M111B
From Page 2
this spotting. This is the same parasite that
found fair numbers of Coho in the headwater
can kill dogs if they ingest fish from our local
refions, but from the Highway 26 bridge down
streams. We were finding this condition main
stream they became nonexistent. Again, the
ly in the Nehalem River and it is said to cause
lack of large woody debris, deep pools and
mortality among infected fish.
cool w ater tem peratures are
suspected of having lethal ef
Nehalem River and Rock Creek Stream Flow Data
fects upon these fish.
The Steelhead situation in
the Nehalem was much better
than the Coho's. The surveys
fo u n d num erous S te e lh e a d
above Timber; they were almost
the only fish we found below
the Highway 26 bridge to Ver
nonia, except for som e C ut
th ro a t Trout. The density of
Steelhead in the Nehalem near
Vernonia is not high but it is en
couraging to see that they can
s u rv iv e r the e le va te d w ater
temperatures. The Steelhead
seem to solve the cover prob
lem in the summer by using fast
w ater slots in the soapstone
bedrock. An example of this
was seen at Airport Park, where
Steelhead live in slots in water
depths of less than a foot. A lot
of the fish found in this area are
w h at we c a ll 1+ S te e lh e a d
which means they are over 1
year old. Steelhead have to
spend two winters before they
smolt the following spring.
Rock Creek above Vernonia Water Plant--------------------
One of this year's highlights
CFS = Cubic Feet per Second (A cubic foot of water = 7.4 gallons)
was watching our video camera
operator, Roger Lindsley, walk
Rock Creek has considerably more water flow than the Nehalem
on water going "Oh! Oh! Oh!" It
River, probably due to the geology of the headwater areas. The
lowest average stream flows were in early September. The July 24
seems as if Roger got tired of
increase was because of rain the previous night. The increase on
w a lk in g around in his chest
9 /2 2 is interesting because there had been little or no rain
w a d e rs and shed th e m fo r
preceding the measurement and it probably was caused by shorter
som e te n n is shoes.
He
days and cooler nights, which reduced the effect of evaporation in
seem ed ju st fine around the
the stream. ODFW has varying in-stream water rights, with a
electroshocker until he stepped
minimum of 5 CFS in September, an amount that may be too low
for fish survival. Fish survival is linked with stream flow because
on the anode tail that trails be
higher stream flow is the only thing that can mitigate a lack of
hind the electroshocker opera
shade
cover to keep stream temperatures below lethal limits.
tor. Trouble was, we didn't get
it on ta p e .. .darn!
For quite a few years now we have been
Volunteers who helped this year included
finding a strange spotting condition, mostly
Tom, Craig and Ken Enneberg, Robb Wilson,
Steelhead and Cutthroat Trout. Our biologist
D olly Keenon, R oger Lindsley, Don and
Michael Webb and I. If you are interested in
didn't quite know what to make of it until I
asked a former assistant biologist from our
participating in some fish surveys, give me a
area about it and he stated that it most likely
call and I will try and give you some advance
was Dog Salmon Flukes that were causing
notice of next year's planned surveys.
A fallen o fficer is
remembered
To the Editor:
On October 1, 1971, (Ver
nonia Police) Chief Raymond
Garcia died in the line of duty,
making the ultimate sacrifice
for the safety and well-being
of others. The Vernonia Po
lice Department is proud to
recognize, honor and remem
ber Chief Garcia.
Chief Garcia's name is en
graved on the National Law
E n fo rce m e n t M em orial in
Washington, D.C., and on the
O regon Law E nforcem ent
Memorial, located at the Ore
gon State Police Academy in
Monmouth.
The Vernonia Police De
partm ent is asking the c iti
zens of Vernonia to support
the N ational Law E nforce
ment Memorial Fund, which
ensures that as long as the
N ational Law Enforcem ent
Memorial stands in our na
tion's capitol, the names of
America's fallen law officers
will never be forgotten.
Donations may be made to
Law Enforcement Memorial,
605 E Street NW, Washing
ton, D.C. 20004, or to the
Oregon Police Academy in
Monmouth.
Sincerely,
James L. Walters
Chief of Police
Vernonia Police Dept.
M ist S chool fund
raiser a big success
To the Editor:
The recent Rummage Sale
held in the Mist Grade School
gym added $1,100 to the Mist
School Fund. The money will
be used for field trips, assem
blies and other types of en
richment activities for the stu
dents enrolled in Mist School,
grades K-5.
People in the M ist area
were very supportive, with
donations of rummage, re
freshm ents, many hours of
time and a great turnout to
purchase sale items.
The Vernonia School Dis
trict donated items left over
from their June auction. This
included office machines, fur
niture, gym lights, maps and
books.
On b e h a lf of th e M ist
School staff, we wish to ex
tend a BIG THANK YOU to
all those involved in making
th is fu n d ra is e r a SUPER
SUCCESS!
Sincerely,
Sunny Hunteman, teacher
Sharon Batty, teacher
Mist School
Leonetti welcomed
to OBC membership
To the Editor:
Because he stood up for
what he believed in, it is my
pleasure to welcome Mario
Leonetti to membership in the
"Old Boy's Club".
The O .B .C ., often m en
tioned in editorials in The IN
DEPENDENT, is supposedly
a group of regressive former
Page 3
c ity c o u n c il m em bers who
ruled the town a few years
ago. Why, they were even
against hiring a city manager!
The next honor to which
Mario might qualify could be
The INDEPENDENT'S...."Af
te r Years of N eglect" club.
Those were the years when
econom ic tim e s w ere very
tight and fees for city services
w e re not ra is e d .
In the
1 9 80 's, th e e co no m y im
proved, things began to look
up for the town. Maybe.
A well qualified Jim W al
ters now starts his job under
a cloud, the new city manag
er is already at odds with the
council, and the council is still
being criticized by The INDE
PENDENT for doing its job.
It's good to know thin gs
haven't changed so much af
ter all.
Bill Hansen O.B.C.
Former Councilor
Emmett, ID.
(Bill: The economy is no
be tte r; the m oney is being
spent smarter and without the
cost of law suits engendered
by ineptitude; the police chief
is not under a cloud; the city
adm inistrator is not a t odds
with the council because he
did what they instructed him
to d o — a n d y o u fin a lly
learned not to bet on Buffalo
in the Superbowl!
Ed.)
Carcus Creek sale
is short-sighted
To the Editor:
Let me assure you first that
I am very much a believer in
the d e m o c ra tic p ro ce ss.
H ow ever, th e re are som e
fla w s in h e re n t in the s y s
tem— including short-sighted
decision making by our rela
tively short-time elected offi
cials.
Thomas Jefferson under
stood that such flaws were in-
terent in democracy. That's
why he stressed the im por
tance of an educated and in
formed citizenry— to advise
against such tendencies as
we now see in the C ounty
Commissioners' dogged de
termination to sell off a lovely
piece of woodland called Car
cus Creek County Park in or
der to counter the possibility
of a sh o rtfa ll in this year's
budget.
If the Commissioners have
their way, this 250 acres of
fin e m ixed O regon tim b e r
which we all own will be sold
to the highest bidder as soon
as possible, at today's low
market price, and most likely
to a logging o u tfit th a t w ill
clearcut it.
Isn't using our own avail
able assets to balance the
budget ju s t responsible b e
havior on the part of our com
missioners?
in the short-term, we might
be tem pted to accept the ir
logic. But unlike the Commis
sioners, we are responsible
for long-term effects. We in
tend to live here for our life
time, and would like our chil
dren and grandchildren to en-
Please see page 9
I
>
*
B.