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The INDEPENDENT, Oct. 25,1995
ihelNDEPENDENT
Serving the upper Nehalem River valley. Published
twice monthly on the second and fourth Wednesdays of
each month, by Public Opinion Laboratory Ltd., 725
B rid g e S tre e t, V e rn on ia , OR 97064, as a free
new spaper. E ditors and P ublishers, Dirk & Noni
Andersen, (503) 429-9410.
I W ish rue se/wrote
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The INDEPENDENT
moves downtown
Nearly a decade after starting publication, The IN
DEPENDENT now has a location on Bridge Street.
The new office is at 725 Bridge Street, between the
Joy Theatre and C rabtree’s Pub-Deli. The phone
number will remain the same, however: 503-429-
9410.
There may be some glitches while becoming ac
customed to the new phone/fax system, but they will
be ironed out as soon as possible.
Another change coming up is a change in the days
of publication, from the second and fourth Wednes
days of each month to the first and third Wednes
days. That change will begin on December 6, the first
Wednesday in December.
Community needs
school facilities plan
Vernonia School District facilities are old, over
crowded and in need of repairs. Their age is a factor
not simply because of normal deterioration, but be
cause the needs of educational facilities today are
very different from the needs at the time these build
ing were constructed, even the newest of them.
By Dale Webb, member
Izaak Walton League, Nehalem Valley Chapter
Something sure is smelling rotten in our lo
cal rivers lately and I like it! We have had a
very good return of summer Chinook salmon
this fall and they are a little ripe right now. The
Nehalem Valley Chapter conducted surveys
for the Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife
(ODF&W), again this year, and all of our sur
vey areas saw big increases of fish over last
year. Our surveyors counted over 275 fish this
year, compared to about 100 last year. Water
new attitude toward these weary travelers;
many people now defend these fish from un
scrupulous behavior. I did catch one young
man, while on my survey route, with a fishing
pole in hand. Though he assured me that he
was only after harvest trout, we both know
that a steelhead pole with twenty-pound test
line is just a little heavy for trout. I hope our lit
tle dist
iion helps change his mind about
havi’
little Tun” with such a valuable re
source.
I want to thank local landowners for access
When Vernonia High School was built in the early
50s, there was no reason to consider the kind of elec
trical installations needed for a computer lab or satel
lite television hookups. Today, it is educationally negli
gent to ignore those needs.
The biggest barrier to meeting the district’s needs
is, of course, money. It’s a forgone conclusion that not
all the needs will be met. The questions remain, how
ever: What should be taken care of first; what are the
priorities; what can safely be postponed?
The long range facilities planning now underway is
meant to point the district in the right direction. In or
der to do that, the community must be involved— not
just parents, either.
Whether or not you have children in the schools,
these plans will affect you. Why not put on your think
ing cap and attend the next facilities meeting? it will
be on November 8 at 7:00 p.m. The meeting room
will be announced later.
In the meanwhile, there is time to go to the district
office and pick up the packet of information that has
already been generated. Review the information and
see what conclusions you reach. Then attend the
next meeting and express your ideas about what
needs to be done and how to do it.
A vital part of long range planning is consideration
of as many points of view as possible. Our children
are the future and your participation is needed.
A salmon prepares a nest for her roe.
conditions were very favorable for the salmon
this year and helped contribute to far-reaching
distribution of the fish.
This is where some of you readers can
help: We know fish were spawning in Rock
Creek all the way up to Cookie Polos* and as
far as Ralph Bergerson's on the Nehalem Riv
er, if you saw any of the big chinook spawning
above these locations, give me a call at 429-
7193. Salmon put on quite a show as they
complete their 90-mile-plus river journey home
to spawn. My favorite viewing spot is at the lit
tle falls at the mouth of Rock Creek where,
when the fish are running strong, you can see
up w a rds o f tw e n ty fish an hour passing
through.
We also are very pleased with the public's
Photo by Dale Webb
across their lands to conduct these surveys,
plus a special thanks to those who helped
conduct surve ys w h ile som e of us lucky
hunters were off in eastern Oregon. These
surveys are valued by ODF & W since they
are the only surveys of the upper Nehalem
River summer chinook.
The N ehalem Valley C hapter received
some good news in the form of a $1500 grant
from the Restoration and Enhancement board
for our stream-side tree planting project.
These moneys will buy a new brush cutter and
pay for trees for the next two years. Caven-
ham Forest Products has graciously agreed to
supply our Douglas fir trees for this year’s
Please see page 3