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About The independent. (Vernonia, Or.) 1986-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 22, 1995)
w Page 2 ■ .a , The INDEPENDENT, Nov. 22,1995 ».INDEPENDENT Now 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, D irk & Noni Andersen, (503) 429-9410. TRc\ hks 3 H<U Been Pr© Congress acts like inconsiderate brats After partially shutting down the federal govern ment for 12 days, Congress finally sent a continuing resolution to the president, without any riders at tached. They have no reason to be proud of them selves, however; the president should have had a budget to sign many weeks ago, not just a temporary resolution. Each session of Congress starts soon after Jan. 1. The fiscal year ends Oct. 30. During that ten-month period, the House of Representatives is supposed to develop a budget, send it to the Senate, work out Senate and House differences in conference, send the budget to the President, then negotiate a solution to differences with the executive branch. There is nothing new or startling about this procedure. The House hasn’t done its work, but under the “leadership” of Newt Gingrich, it couldn’t even com plete a simple continuing resolution that the president would sign. Instead, the resolution was loaded with conditions that should have been settled long ago in the budget process. It obviously made no difference to Gingrich and his adherents that even partially shutting down the feder al government could have extremely negative effects on veterans, retirees, the medically disabled and oth ers who need, and are entitled to government ser vices. The only thing that seemed to matter was some kind of perverse, infantile satisfaction about this mis use of power. To say that Congress’ behavior is appalling would be an understatement. If Gingrich were even half the leader he thinks he is, he would have seen to it that the House of Representatives did its work instead of posing for photo ops on the Capitol steps. Speaking of politicians... In the special senate election underway in Oregon, Republican Gordon Smith claims to understand Ore gonians, but how can he? He attended private prep school and private colleges, all in other states, then stepped into a ready-made family business. He prob ably worked hard at the business, but it’s highly un likely that he ever had to worry about next month’s car payment. Norma Paulus and Jack Roberts are both far more likely to do a satisfactory job for the people of Ore gon. On the Democrat side, Ron Wyden has done a good job of making himself look out of touch. It isn’t so bad that he doesn’t know the price of bread, milk, gasoline or Levis (he probably doesn’t do his own shopping), but being unable to point out Bosnia on a map and not knowing the name of the Canadian Prime Minister makes voters wonder if he’s also out of touch in Washington, D.C. Peter Fazio may have some rough edges, but he retains the independent spirit Oregonians have al ways appreciated. He won’t toe the party line when he thinks it’s wrong; he’s our kind of person. ** # •y r» r- I .2 » I By Dale Webb, member Izaak Walton League, Nehalem Valley Chapter Vandalism to logging equipment is a seri ous threat to the general public’s access to private timber lands. The North Coast Game Association (NCGA) views it as such a prob lem that they printed the following in their newsletter: “The North Coast Game Association will pay $500 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of any individual found damag ing logging equipment in the Saddle Mountain Unit. Do not confront the individual or individu als involved. Please call a report in as soon as possible with a description, license plate num ber and the specific location. A cap of $2,000 will be paid out in the 1995-1996 season. Contact NCGA at 503-325-4411 or at P.O. Box 538, Astoria, OR 97103.” NCGA was formed about four years ago, prim arily to fight the Hunter’s Choice deer season, in which any deer could be shot dur ing the last five days of the season. Having won that battle, they now are instrumental in trying to keep private timberlands open to the public. Speaking of stopping the Hunter’s Choice season, it sure seems to me that I am seeing more deer this year. On a recent elk scouting trip, I saw six deer (one a spike) in about an hour before dark and they were not all togeth er. On another trip I saw three nice bucks in the back of pickups in one drainage. The deer sign has also picked up, I am now seeing tracks (like a herd of sheep) where I had seen few before. I can’t wait to see what it looks like next year. While on the subject of deer hunting, I hap pened to be one of the lucky hunters to draw a Controlled Mule Deer tag in Eastern Oregon this year. My Dad and his hunting partners got even luckier, winning the draw last year and this year. Luckier, yet, was the town of Ver nonia, for I think everybody who applied for the Murderer’s Creek Unit got their tag. It’s kind of hard to believe that so many people in one town could win in a unit with less than a 50-percent chance. If anybody who applied through the Vernonia Western Auto store did not get a buck tag for the Murderer’s Creek unit, I would like to know. Call me at 429- ■H 7193. Maybe Arnie’s luck rubbed off on all of us, but I suspect a first-year computer mess- up. Deer hunting in Eastern Oregon this year brought back many memories, since I haven’t been back to my old hunting grounds fo r about ten years. This year was extra special for me as I got to take my son on his first deer hunting trip. He managed to take a nice three- point buck, even though he was shaking like a leaf in a gale from excitement. I won’t mention how big my buck was this year. It was good for me to be back in my old stomping grounds; the land hasn’t changed a lot and I still could remember my way around without too many “where am I ats?”. I did miss my old hunting partner, Ray Taylor, and his tattered red crush er hat. I swore that, for a moment, I could still see that old red crusher peering over that same big boulder in the Big Swale that I had seen so many years before. Alas, I will have to be content with my memories of Ray since he has passed away. Many Eastside hunters did not do very well this year and it is hard to place a finger on why. Deer numbers should be starting to re bound from the last few bad winters, but sign was very scarce. Deer hunting there is a far cry from what I remember as a beginner. One thing I did notice was a huge increase in elk sign in the area, which may be one of the rea sons the deer herds are having a hard time coming back. While on our trip, we ran into a biologist with the U.S. Forest Service and he felt the large increase in elk numbers in Murderers Creek unit has caused competition for winter feed between the deer and elk. He also men tioned that he felt that ODF & W was having a hard time figuring out what they wanted to do about the problem. The paradox is: Do you let the elk herd expand at the expense of the deer or do you crop back the elk herd on the chance that the deer herd will rebound? I think I would ask the sportsmen what they want, and explain that you probably can’t have your cake and eat it too. By the time this article comes out, most of us will be thinking about stuffing ourselves with some turkey (that is if I have got my bull). Please see page 3
