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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.
** #
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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