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About The independent. (Vernonia, Or.) 1986-current | View Entire Issue (June 19, 1996)
Page 2 The INDEPENDENT, June 19,1996 The INDEPENDENT Serving the upper Nehalem River valley. Published twice monthly on the first and third Wednesdays of each month, by Public Opinion Laboratory Ltd., 725 Bridge Street, Vernonia, OR 97064, as a free newspaper. Editors and Publishers, Dirk & Noni Andersen, (503) 429-9410. \JtLL. US boVf r° Q u it o u K — e— V * * — X -1 > 72? T OF r ic e . Questions? So ask, don’t sit and gripe 3? s To fcuJ THAT OFFICE; Y/e C */ J v rr a There have been times when people in the upper Nehalem valley had legitimate reason to complain a about being neglected by government officials. During the next seven days, nobody here has reason to fret about neglect. Tomorrow, June 20, a field representative for U.S. Rep. Elizabeth Furse will be at the Vernonia library from 12 noon to 1:00 p.m. On Friday, Feb. 21, U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden will be in St. Helens at 7:00 p.m., in the Columbia Center on e e too 18th. The following Thursday, June 27, Columbia County Commissioner Joel Yarbor will hold a town hall meet ing in Vernonia, at 7:00 p.m. in the city library. | Ike Soys These meetings have one thing in common: They are not scheduled for speeches; the intent at each of B y D avid M ichael Jones, member these meetings is communication. Izaak Walton League, Nehalem Valley Chapter Actually, a field representative from Furse’s office is here nearly every month, also in Clatskanie, Rainier, As the sun sank behind the distant ridge, St. Helens and Scappoose. If you have trouble getting the sage-scented air became alive with hun the ear of Furse’s staff, you can’t be trying very hard. dreds of flying silhouettes which were a com This will be Wyden’s first visit to Columbia County bination of large salm onflies and golden stoneflies. The salmonflies are one of the as a U.S. Senator. When he was a representative, this largest stoneflies, and get trout and anglers all wasn’t part of his district. Now he has the whole state very excited. I rested myself and my fly pole, for his district and, to his credit, he is trying to reach and sank down on the bank of the Deschutes Oregonians no matter where they live. It’s true that we River to watch a spectacle that I had never will have to drive to St. Helens to meet Wyden, but witnessed before that evening. The mauve, most of us drive farther than that several times a red, and pink tinted sky was filled with the week. larged winged insects that dove and wove Yarbor’s visit next week will probably have more im their way among each other. By holding my mediate application for most people. Again, this meet hand up and counting the number of bugs be ing isn’t for making speeches, but to give people the hind it I was able to determine that the flying opportunity to talk with county department heads, ask population numbered in the hundreds. The sections of the sky covered by my hand al questions, make suggestions, or whatever. If you want ways covered at least a dozen bugs and often to know when the roads will be fixed, why you have to over two dozen. A few of the hapless flyers have a dog license, how your property taxes are de ended up in the river and prompted aggres termined, or anything else about county government, sive rises from the trout. This multitude of ris June 27th is the time to ask your questions. es brought me out of my pleasant reverie and On the other hand, if you’re not really interested in back to reality...and a pleasant one it was. A learning how the system works or why it works the quick cast lay the dry fly on the water and a vi way it does or what you can do to utilize your govern olent rise knocked it out of the water without a ment better, there’s no reason to pull yourself away hookup. Recasting the improved sofa pillow, I from those fascinating summer television re-runs. rose, hooked and landed, after three reel burning runs, one of the biggest redsides of Please, though, stop complaining about being ne my life. A quick picture and a twist with the for glected. 6o AHEAD A /D SP£Nb O ur . TH E CAHPAI6A// a /<5 k////*-£ g 'I <5 Thfc You,THE TAtPAYEl, PAYS US F«R bow 6 A J W 'R B usy T o D o ’ ’ Open process is good, are you interested WOEC? When School District 47J decided to implement a more open process for selection of a high school prin cipal, they did a good job. Involving teachers, staff, students and community, in addition to board mem bers, is a sensible way to achieve a broad consensus. Now West Oregon is seeking a general manager and a similar process would be smart. Why not seek members from each district to serve on the screening committee? It won’t slow the process down and it’s likely to aid in a smooth transition. Think about; it can’t hurt and it may be beneficial. ceps to free the barbless hook and the fish was on its way into its native river. Six more rises and the fishing light was off; it was time to head for the rig. As I picked my way up to my van, I thought about how fat the bodies of the redsides in the Deschutes are com pared to the slim m er coastal cutthroats that I fish on Rock Creek. I remembered seeing only one stonefly on Rock Creek so far this year, and none last year. The stonefly common on Rock Creek is brown and black, one-and-a-quarter to one- and-a-half inches long and, if you collide with one while out bike riding, you will remember it. It has been years since I’ve seen the little yel low stonefly or large numbers of the brown and black stoneflies. £ ...... I Stoneflies in the nymphal stage of their life cycle require highly oxygenated water and fishermen often fish the riffles for them. When they begin their migration to shore, along the rocks of the stream bottom, they can become vulnerable and available for the trout as the current dislodges them and tum bles them dow nstream . R andall K aufm ann, of Kaufmann’s Streamborn in Tigard, has devel oped some excellent nymph patterns for the stonefly and one can get an update on De schutes fishing or other streams by dropping by the store at 8861 SW C om m ercial in Tigard. My choice for fishing the dry fly for the salmon fly “hatch” is the MacSalmon with the dark chocolate-colored head, and the only reason I didn’t have one on to hook that big redside is because another fish broke my six- pound tippet and left with my last one, the af ternoon before. As I’m working up this column, I can see a number of bird species in the yard and at the feeder. And at the cat food feeder, which also seems to be a bird feeder for the scrub, or gray jays, among others. The gray jays are bringing their charcoal colored young ones to the cat food and I’ve found robin shells and seen immature robins in the yard. There don’t seem to be as many hummingbirds at the feeders, so we don’t have to fill them so fre quently. I would like to remind those of us who feed those little feathered jewels, the Rufus Hummingbirds, that it is not at all necessary to put food coloring in the sugar water, in fact I have read that it is harmful to their little bod ies. We feed a solution of one part white sugar to four parts of boiling water, with no color, and have dozens of these little jewels around. This solution will store in the refrigerator for at least a week. It is also necessary to clean out the fungus that forms in the feeders and a good way to keep the ants out is to hang the feeder from a length of small diameter fish line. Izaak Walton League meetings are the th ird W ednesday of each m onth, Vernonia Public Library at 7:00 p.m. The public is welcome.
