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The INDEPENDENT, April 27,1994
INDEPENDENT
Serving the upper Nehalem River valley. Published
twice monthly on the second and fourth Wednesdays of
each month, by Public Opinion Laboratory Ltd., 1206
S tate A venue, Vernonia, OR 97064, as a free
new spaper. Editors and P ublishers, Dirk & Noni
Andersen, (503) 429-9410.
School funding is
not getting better
Measure 5 has been in effect long enough now to
cause economic pain in many school districts. Even
in Vernonia, with a property tax rate that falls well be
low most districts, the revenue replacement system
set up by Measure 5 has resulted in economic dis
comfort, if not distress. The strangest thing about all
of this, is that there are still so many people who don’t
understand what has happened.
When Measure 5 passed and put a cap on property
taxes that could be levied for schools, the state was
told to make up the difference from the general fund.
What Measure 5 didn’t explain is that the general
fund is derived mostly from income taxes and no
property tax goes to the state.
People are still saying, “Well, my property taxes
haven’t gone down so I just don’t believe there isn’t
enough money for education. What is the state doing
with it?’’
Once again, all together: No property taxes go to
the state.
Some goes to the schools (that part under the
Measure 5 cap), the rest goes to the county, city, fire
district, emergency dispatching district, 4-H and Ex
tension district... but it doesn’t go to the state.
That’s why it's meaningless to say you won’t vote
for roads or law enforcement or parks until the
schools are taken care of. The schools can’t be taken
care of with local taxes whether the rest of local gov
ernment is properly funded or not.
Of course the health club owner from Gresham
who initiated Measure 5, has reaped a tremendous
benefit, just as he wanted. If the schools are harmed,
it really is not a concern of his and he can laugh all
the way to the bank.
An interesting twist is that property taxes are based
on market value so, obviously, the easiest way to re
duce property taxes is to lower the price of any prop
erty you sell. The only reason that doesn’t work is
that everybody wants to sell for the highest price they
can get. Nevertheless, if market value drives the sell
ing price of property, it also drives the appraisal for
property tax purposes. So, as property values in
crease, our property taxes increase, too. But that
doesn’t help the schools because—one more cho
rus—no property taxes go to the state.
The only way we can help funding for education, at
this time, is to decrease funding for other services in
order to send more money to the schools. But what
should be decreased? Law enforcement? Prisons?
Highway maintenance? Mental Health Services?
They have all had their funding cut and they are al
ready working with fewer personnel.
Each of us can identify areas of state government
that we wouldn’t mind seeing cut, but for each deci
sion, there’s someone on the other side of the fence,
strongly defending that particular agency or service.
Measure 5 didn’t pass in Columbia County. It is,
nevertheless, absolutely necessary to understand
ballot measures and not be taken in by simplistic
statements or solutions.
By Dale Webb, member
Nehalem Valley Chapter, Izaak Walton League
Oh what a feeling success is! A few issues
ago I reported that Bear Creek, which runs
through Vernonia, had a run of adult Coho
Salmon return to it and spawn about a mile
above town. That was very good news since
these fish are probably returning hatchbox fish
that were raised here in Vernonia and re
leased by our school children in an education
al program run by the Izaak Walton League.
The return of these fish is of even more sig
nificance now, due to the closure of the ocean
sport and commercial fisheries. These clo
sures were instigated by the lack of these
Coho Salmon. Now, for even better news, it
appears that the juvenile hatch was very suc
cessful and Bear Creek is now alive with Coho
fry. Juvenile fish have been observed from
the headwaters all the way down into town.
Betty Wall, who lives on the inside comer of
Weed Ave. and Maple St., has been gracious
enough to allow me to place some instream
structures in a couple of Bear Creek pools on
her property. These structures consist of
Christmas trees anchored in place to provide
shelter for juvenile fish. I kept telling Betty
that there were going to be some Coho juve
niles using her pool. I knew that the fry would
emerge from the gravel toward the end of
March, but a survey at that time found no fish.
About the middle of April another survey found
juvenile fish, but they seemed to be stopped
at the old Eddie Miller Pond. I started sweat
ing, fearing that I may have misled Betty and
she wasn't going to have any fish in her pool.
But, a few days later, my fears were allayed
when we observed at least nine juveniles in
the first pool below the culvert. Oregon De
partment of Fish & Wildlife standards for a ful
ly stocked stream are placed at two fish per
Doesn’t want to pay
for law enforcement
To the Editor:
W hat's $.03 more? Why
not go one step further and
allow property owners outside
of “the cities” to pay all costs
square meter of pool habitat. Using this stan
dard Bear Creek appears to be fully seeded.
Bear Creek is not what you would call a
p ristin e stream . The headw aters of the
stream were clearcut with no buffer being left
(maybe an oversight by O regon Dept. of
Forestry or even the Oregon Dept. of Fish and
Wildlife?). The stream runs through the tim-
berland that stands above town and has good
pool habitat formed by a fair amount of woody
debris that is instream. It is hampered by a
heavy sediment load, typical of so many of our
local streams, that most likely is left-over from
the first logging era. Once the stream reaches
town, the fish must contend with Miller’s Pond,
which is a hindrance to upstream migration for
both adults and juveniles. In fact, it is most
likely a death trap, because the fish use the
pond until the stream starts to dry up in the
summer, then they cannot escape back up
stream and they succumb to lethal water tem
peratures. The lower section of stream is
nothing more than a series of culverts and
backyards that are pleasing to humans but not
to salmon (except for Betty's place).
Despite these odds, the fish seem deter
mined to survive and, with a little bit of help,
they will. Some people out there are probably
asking “well, what can I do?” The best answer
I can give you is to be aware that these fish
are there. Secondly, please be sure that any
sprays or substances you may use around the
creek are not lethal to fish. Thirdly, if you want
to provide some habitat on your section of
stream, please give me a call and I will give
you a hand. Also remember, even if you live
blocks away, that what you allow to enter the
storm drains can end up in Bear Creek.
Now, get out back and look in your section
of creek to see if you have any of Oregon’s
next most likely threatened or endangered
species.
for county sheriff. He would
then be our sheriff; and then,
when a summons is served in
“the cities,” or when a “city cit
izen” is stopped in our area
for a violation of our rules, our
county sheriff could fine and
c o lle c t enough (plen ty) to
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cover his services and defer
our costs.
If you don’t like that one,
the n-----
We will pay all costs for
running the s h e riff's office
but— the money the county
Please see page 3