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The INDEPENDENT, July 12,1995
The
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, V ernonia, OR 97064, as a free
new spaper. E ditors and P ublishers, Dirk & Noni
Andersen, (503) 429-9410.
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Taxpayers pay cost
of recall election
The voters of Columbia County have spoken
—shouted is a more apt description—and their mes
sage is loud and clear: Elected officials must have
clear ethical standards; they must have integrity.
Too bad that vote couldn’t reach across the United
States and remove a few more “saviours of the peo
ple.”
It is also too bad that county taxpayers will have to
absorb the $13-15,000 cost of the election that was
needed to remove former Commissioner Bruce Hugo
from office. Once having admitted his malfeasance,
he could have demonstrated some honor by stepping
down. That would not have been comfortable, but it
would have been better than being recalled.
This is a sad chapter in Hugo’s long career as an
elected official.
Some lessons not
found in text books
The Fresno (Calif.) Bee asks some interesting
questions about the Supreme Court’s decision up
holding the power of public schools to subject stu
dent athletes to random drug testing, which, it says,
“is an unfortunate reminder that the protection of the
Constitution often stops at the schoolhouse door.”
The Bee’s questions include the following:
“If random drug testing is ‘undertaken (in Justice
Scalia’s words) in furtherance of the government’s re
sponsibilities, under a public school system, as
guardian and tutor of children entrusted to its care,’
who else could it test and what else could it do?
“Could a school that believes it has a serious prob
lem with safety or classroom order subject all stu
dents to drug tests or to random body searches?
Could the court, reversing earlier decisions, prevent
students from wearing buttons or armbands bearing
messages that the school principal, acting in loco
parentis, regarded as objectionable? Could students
who refused to submit to school wide testing be ex
cluded from school altogether?”
It continues “What seems clear is that the decision
will be an invitation to other districts to start similar or
even broader programs; with each, students are re
minded that the brave constitutional words they read
in their government and history classes don’t really
apply to themselves or to the schools they attend.
“Teaching about the Bill of Rights—as practice and
not just textbook theory—is not the main concern of
the courts, but, as they contemplate their new author
ity, it surely ought to be a major consideration of the
schools.
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By Dale Webb, member
Izaak Walton League, Nehalem Valley Chapter
A few years ago I wrote an article about
the beginnings of the closure of local timber-
lands to public access. My worst fears have
now become a reality. A drive along public
roads now reveals a variety of colors for gates
that have now sealed the local forest from the
public. Cavenham Forest Industries' gates are
yellow, Longview Fibre’s are blue, Evenson
Timber Company’s are orange and Stimson
Lumber Company’s are yellow.
Gone are the days when you could jump in
the rig and go for a tim berland drive, late
evenings at the favorite beaver pond and free
rambling during hunting seasons. These free
doms are gone forever, because of the soci
etal change called progress. What a contra
diction this word progress is! Along with the
new jobs, new businesses and new people
throughout northwest Oregon, came the prob
lems that finally overwhelmed the local timber
companies. The solution was sim ple-close
the land to public access. Many do not agree
with the issues involved in having corporate
giants close land to the public, but it is difficult
to deny that garbage dumping, vandalism and
other forms of misconduct aren’t good rea
sons for doing so!
Some of the local timber companies are try
ing to be as sensitive to public needs as is
possible. These companies are entering into
cooperative management programs offered by
the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Two examples of this are the Benson Point
and Lost Lake travel management areas. In
these areas, the main roads are left open
while side spurs are closed to vehicular traffic.
Enhanced enforcement is provided by sports
men through license fees. This type of man
agement provides sportsmen with access to
game animals while easing some of the con
cerns of the landowners. This type of access
management is expensive, though, and there
are not enough dollars to create or administer
such a program throughout all the private
lands in the state.
All of the local timber companies have pub
lic access policies for their lands (where they
are not under cooperative agreements), which
sometimes leads to confusion. On a recent
fishing trip to upper Rock Creek, I thought the
gates would be open to allow access. I was
half right. Longview Fibre’s gate was open, but
Stimson’s gate was locked, even though there
were four signs stating that the land was open
for fishing for three days. A phone call the fol
lowing week revealed that it was open for
walk-in only. Next year bring your bicycle.
I figured other people must be as confused
as I am about the different access policies, so
I got on the phone and got some answers.
Following are the latest access policies of the
major private timberland owners in the local
area.
Evenson Tim ber Company, phone 728-
2411: Evenson’s lands are open for “walk-in
only”, year around until fire season has been
declared, then they are closed to public entry.
Some vehicular access may be allowed during
the walk-in period, but only by written permit.
Evenson also allows vehicular access during
big game seasons on some of their land (Ben
son Point travel management area), but this is
contingent on weather conditions because of
fire danger. “Operational areas” are closed to
public entry at all times. All areas are subject
to closure at any time and are patrolled. Even-
son provides an after-hours phone message
and recording service for the public, regarding
access. It may be obtained by calling their
business number listed above. A good rule of
thumb is, if in doubt, call before entering.
Cavenham Forest Industries, phone 429-
6102: Cavenham’s policies have moderated
in recent years and they now allow “walk-in”
access to their land unless it is posted other
wise, i.e., fire danger closure. The rule of
thumb during rifle big game season is, if the
gate is open and it is not posted otherwise,
the road is open to the public. Roads that
Cavenham will open to the public should have
a sign stating so, along with the dates they will
be open. Cavenham has security patrols and
offers phone information only during business
hours. All active logging sites are closed to the
public. This policy is only for their Vernonia
area tree farm.
Stim son Lum ber Company, phone 357-
2131: Stimson’s policies are the most restric
tive of the local timberland owners. Stimson
lands are closed to public entry except during
the rifle big game seasons (subject to weath
er) and during the opening weekend of stream
Please see page 3
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