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The INDEPENDENT, July 26,1995
^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 ta te A ve nu e, V ernonia, OR 97064, as a free
new spaper. E ditors and P ublishers, D irk & Noni
Andersen, (503) 429-9410.
|T3 a ifT IfJ S
Sportsmanship trophy
more important than win
The Vernonia Youth Summer Baseball Association
has, since its inception, been great for local children.
It has given them a safe recreational activity while
helping them develop some physical skills at levels
appropriate to their ages. Any program that includes
young people from age four through high school is
ambitious, indeed. VYSBA is successful, too.
Now all those who have so diligently volunteered
their time and efforts have received an outstanding
gift from a team of nine and ten year-old ball players.
It’s not just because the American Midgets played
skillfully enough to go to state play-offs; that’s not the
most important part of VYSBA.
The gift was earning the state trophy for Sports
manship. Team members may be too young to appre
ciate it, but their coaches, parents and all the adult
supporters of VYSBA have reason to be very proud
and happy.
Congratulations to all of you.
Public hearing may as
well have been in private
Complaining is always easier than doing something
to solve a problem, a truism that has been proven
again, this time by the citizens of Banks.
When city officials get frequent complaints about a
problem, it’s only natural for them to respond with an
effort to solve that problem. In Banks, those com
plaints are about inadequate law enforcement, so
part of the effort included a public hearing that would
allow the subject to be reviewed, poked and prodded
in public.
Two citizens attended.
Lack of funds prevents obtaining law enforcement
services in Banks at this time, but it will escape en
tirely without local input and support.
It takes more than complaints to reach a goal. If the
citizens don”t care, why should anyone else?
County should first try
to eliminate frustrations
Many normally calm people have expressed con
siderable frustration over “politicizing” the relationship
between Columbia County’s gravel mining industry,
their detractors and county officials. But one state
ment was used repeatedly at the hearing on whether
the county should relinquish its responsibilities for
surface mining regulation to the state.
“I have always supported local control, but...”
The next part of the sentence varied, depending on
the speaker’s point of view, but the idea came across
loud and clear: The county’s response to problems
that have developed between the mining industry and
citizens disturbed by that industry, has been inade
quate. Not all of the complaints are valid, but that isn’t
the point.
It is important that the Board of Commissioners
seek common ground and eliminate the frustrations.
vvn; v
—
I HAD to PARK ___
1
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Wit. >'v'
By David Michael Jones, member
Isaak Walton League, Nehalem Valley Chapter
Som e fis h e rm e n aske d me about the
worms they were seeing on trout from the Ne-
helem system this year. Their comment was
that this is much earlier than normal; usually
the worms appear in August and September
when the water is warmer. I contacted a biolo
gist and was told that the worms are a normal
occurrence and might be earlier this year be
cause of our warm May. They probably pose
no hazard for either humans or the fish, al
though the worms can weaken the fish. There
is a possibility that the worms, combined with
low oxygen in the warmer water can weaken
and stress a fish. The fish will seek cooler wa
ter if it is available.
On to more pleasant fishy news! The Ikes
are again organizing a Fishing Derby at Ver
nonia Lake during the Vernonia Friendship
Jam boree and Logging Show com ing up
soon. This is open to children and there will be
prizes. I was able to add to the prizes recently
with a very generous donation of a Sage six
w e ig h t yo u th fly po le from- K a u fm a n n ’s
Streamborn in Tigard. Kaufmann’s is both a
retail and mail order fly fishing store and can
be contacted at (503) 639-6400 if you want to
request a catalog, get directions to the store,
order some gear, and/or get fishing informa
tion. Their staff is quite knowledgeable and
helpful. By the way, they also included a reel,
fly line and backing for a complete youth fly
fishing outfit. I had to string the pole and make
a couple of casts in my backyard and can tell
you th a t is one nice pole. I w o n d e r...if I
shaved my beard if I could pass for fourteen?
Probably not. Anyone who would like to do
nate som e fis h in g prizes for the children
please call me at 503-429-9251. We would be
happy to accept donations from any individual
or business. I’ll probably tie up some woolly
worms and such, that could be used for bass
and maybe some streamer flies for trout. It is
possible to fish flys with a spinning outfit. A
bubble or bobber and a length of leader to a
dry fly and one can cast it quite well and take
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fish. With a wet fly it is just a matter of a small
split shot on the line ahead of the fly.
Being a fisherm an all of my life, I enjoy
sharing the knowledge and information my ex
perience and, more often, my reading and re
search bring me. There is an author named
Roderick L. Haig-Brown whose books I have
been reading the last year or so and I find his
books to be filled with down-to-earth fishing
lore and a love for Nature. He has a book for
the seasons; i.e., Fisherman’s Spring, Fisher
man’s Summer, Fisherm an’s Fall, etc. A l
though I haven’t read any of his other books, I
plan to and can certainly recommend the au
thor. I recently picked up a book at K auf
manns called Fly Patterns o f Roderick Haig-
Brown, by James Lingren, that lists a number
of patterns developed for the trout, salmon,
and steelhead of the west coast. This year, I
hope to bring a summer steelhead to hand on
a dry fly of his called the Steelhead Bee. In
my last column I mentioned some very good
fishing over on the Deschutes River; anyone
heading that way may want to pick up a copy
of Fishing in Oregon’s Deschutes River, by
Scott Richmond. Keep tight lines and release
Natives!
Another excellent book for the outdoor per
son is Plants o f the Pacific Northwest Coast -
Washington, Oregon, British Columbia and
Alaska, by the British Columbia Forest Service
and at least ten contributing authors. This is
one of the best plant books that I have seen.
It contains both Latin and common names,
color plates and, one thing that I found quite
interesting, the use that the Native Americans
had for the plants.
I plan to do another column on recycling but
would like to include a larger area in the col
umn. Anyone within the readership of The IN
DEPENDENT who has information to share
on recycling can mail it to me to be used in
that column. The address is 12865 Keasey
Rd., Vernonia, OR 97064. Thank you!
Izaak Walton League meetings are
the third Wednesday of each month,
Vernonia Public Library at 7:00 p.m.
The public is welcome