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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.
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Questions? So ask,
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There have been times when people in the upper
Nehalem valley had legitimate reason to complain
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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.
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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.
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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.