Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The independent. (Vernonia, Or.) 1986-current | View Entire Issue (May 7, 1997)
The INDEPENDENT, May 7,1997 ■ M i í s ü z r ) 7 t By Charlene Bechen Volunteer, Banks Library After many disappointing delays, the Banks Public Library is finally in its new home! The address is 111 Market Street. It is just down the street from the Banks Christian Academy. Our phone number remains the same, but technical problem s made it im possible to reach the library by phone for several days. We hope this did not cause too much inconve nience for our patrons. Hours of operation are the same: Tuesday and Thursday, 1 p.m. - 7 p.m. and Wednesday, Friday and Saturday 11 a.m. - 5 p.m. Unfortunately, the book drop will not be available for a few more days. Books may be returned during our open hours, or at any of the other Washington County Library book drops. The Grand Opening celebration begins Friday, May 16 with a dedication cere mony at 4:30 p.m ., follow ed by an Open House on Saturday, May 17 from 11 a.m. - 5 p.m. Please join us for the festivities. Thanks to the timing of the move back into the Portland Main Library, the Friends of the Banks Library had the opportunity to acquire some excellent library shelving. The Friends are inviting members of the community to pur chase these shelves for our library. In return, each donor will have a name plate affixed to By Dale Webb, member Izaak Walton League, Nehalem Valley Chapter It is with a heavy heart and teary eyes that I write this column for my uncle, Gene Weller. I was fortunate to have had an uncle like Gene, for all my memories of him are happy. I can’t write about all the times we shared, for that would fill every issue of The INDEPENDENT for years. Here are a few of my memories. I was still in grade school when my dad, Gene and his sons, and my cousin, Dean, headed off to Camp Olson to find a fishing spot that had landlocked rainbow trout (steelhead) in it. The fish were landlocked because of a huge log jam that had blocked the stream. We rode in Uncle Gene’s old Chevy pickup until we came along a mountain stream. We walked along that stream until we reached another stream coming from the east, then started over the log jam that seemed, to me, to be a half mile long. It was kind of spooky on top of those big logs, looking down into big holes filled with water, but dad and Uncle Gene encouraged us along. We started fishing just above the log jam and, boy, were there a lot of fish! Uncle Gene stayed with Steve, Denny and Dean, while dad and I worked our way upstream. The stream was over-populated so we kept most of the six-inchers that we caught. Eventually, we worked our way back to Uncle Gene and my cousins; they were where we had left them, still catching fish. Who knows how many miles of tangled fishing line Gene had untangled that day? By early afternoon we were all a little bit hungry, so Uncle Gene untied the camp stove from his pack and deep fat-fried the biggest mess of stream-raised trout that we have ever eaten. They were golden brown and so nice and crispy you could eat the bones and all. Now I know where I acquired the taste for crispy stream trout. Uncle Gene also enjoyed backpacking into the mountains, and one unforgettable trip was to the Three Sisters Wilderness. From the trail- head we (Beside Uncle Gene and me, the group included dad, Steve, Denny and another uncle, Donnie Wantland.) took an angling as cent up the hillside. It was starting to get dark when we reached an area where there were big rock slides, with timbered strips between them running up the hill. The adults decided we should go up one of the timbered strips and, when we finally broke over the top, there lay Tam Lake in front of us. Uncle Gene and dad sure could read a topo map! We spent several days fishing Rim and Tam Lakes and Page 3 w ,<V their gift. It could say “A Gift From...” or per haps “In Memory of...”. Please call 324-8180 if you have any questions or would like to pur chase a bookshelf. The Friends’ Spring Plant & Book Sale on Saturday, April 26, was a big success. Timber Press donated more than $300.00 worth of books for the sale. Five of these volumes are being raffled off. Tickets may still be pur chased for one or all of the volumes. The win ning tickets will be drawn at the Grand Open ing. Raffle tickets are $1.00 each. The five books are The Graham Stuart Thomas Rose Book, Flowering Crabapples by Fr. John L. Fi- ala, The Genus Hosta by W. George Schmid, The Book o f Rhododendrons by M arianna K n eller and The H arm onious G arden by Catherine Ziegler. Several new books highlight the new book display this month. They incude The Cat Who Tailed a Thief by Lillian Jackson Braun, Deep End o f the Ocean by Jacqueline Mitchard and The Partner by John Grisham. Banks Library is located at 111 Market Street. Library Hours: Tues, and Thurs., 1 p.m. to 7 p.m.; Wed., Fri. and Sat. 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Call 324-1382 for informa tion. taking in the beauty of the wilderness. I re member standing side by side with Uncle Gene in late evening, fly fishing and catching nice little Eastern brook trout from Tam Lake. As I matured, experiences with Uncle Gene involved more hunting. Once, when we were hunting up Kenusky Creek for blacktailed deer, I was big enough to be on my own and had spent most of the day wandering around a hill side, looking for that elusive buck. Late in the day, I realized I had seen some of that ground before and, after a couple more circles, I end ed up on top of a knoll with the ground falling off in all directions. I wasn’t totally lost, but I was confused about which direction would be the shortest way back to the pickup. Just then a grouse flew up in a tree in front of me and I couldn’t resist the urge, so I tried to shoot it (I’m sure I scared it as it flew off untouched.). It wasn’t long after the shot that I heard Uncle Gene’s familiar hoot. I headed down the hill to him and sheepishly explained that I had shot at a grouse...then I asked him if he was headed back to the pickup. Uncle Gene got a glint in his eye and said, “Why sure, just follow me.” I was a freshman in college when I shot my first bull elk. Uncle Gene, Owen East, dad and I hunted together. Uncle Gene and Owen had gone after one herd on opening day, while dad and I drew a herd with a big bull. I managed to get that bull and we were preparing to pack him up to the road when Uncle Gene and Owen showed up. Owen stood there shaking his head in disbelief that the kid had gotten that bull. We cut the bull in half and packed him up to the pickup. Uncle Gene offered his hand in the customary victory handshake, when we were done. A couple of years later, I was standing on the same ridge when I jumped a bull and he ran right toward where Uncle Gene was com ing down the hill. I was mad that I didn’t get a shot but, as I was waiting for the boom of Un cle Gene’s 30-06, that bull ran right back in front of me and I dropped the hammer on him. Minutes later Uncle Gene showed up and said he had gotten a glimpse of the bull but it turned and headed back my way. That bull probably figured he was safer trying to get by me than trying to get by Uncle Gene. We packed that bull from the woods together, building bonds as on many such occasions. Uncle Gene and dad used to fish a lot for steelhead, back when the fishing was good, and I was with them the day Uncle Gene caught his biggest steelhead. We were an- Please see page 13 W eek in Vernonia was time well spent To the Editor: We would like to extend our sincere thanks to the folks of Vernonia, particularly the staff of The IN D E P E N D E N T fo r making our son’s “Senior Pro ject" such a rewarding experi ence. Richard came away, af ter one week of working with you as his mentors, possess ing a well-rounded view of how a small town newspaper oper ates. He was impressed by the com m unication process that takes place in a small town, how advertising works to pro vide free information to all of you and, e sp e cia lly, the amount of effort it takes to or ganize, report, photograph, typeset, paste-up, sell adver tising, print and distribute a small town newspaper. The rewards of his experi ence will be far reaching; his life goals will have a new tilt. He will always remember the friendliness, encouragement and kindness he experienced in a small town called Vernonia. Thanks, Vicki & Wayne Crosby Grass Valley, Calif. Doernbecher benefit good because of you To the Editor; The Vernonia High School D o e rn b e ch e r C om m ittee would like to say THANK YOU to Randy Parrow for coordinat ing the music for the first-ever Mr. Doernbecher Pageant, in which George Vandehey was crowned “Mr. Doernbecher". Randy also worked hard, ac cumulating door prizes and or ga nizin g the C om m unity Dance/Trivia Contest. All of the individuals that participat ed had a great tim e at the dance. Also, thanks to the following establishments that donated items for door prizes for the Trivia Contest: Leonetti’s Pizza & Grill, Lew’s Place, The Craft Room, S tro u se ’s D iscount Store, Western Auto, The Hair Parlour, Lyon’s Den & Pub, Cedarside Inn, and Westwind Arts, Inc. Lastly, the committee would like to thank all of the individu als who sponsored our efforts. In one week we raised approx imately $718.00. Thanks again for all of your efforts. Sincerely, Debbie McConnell, Advisor Doernbecher Committee “Y es” on Measure 50 for quality of life To the Editor: Households are beginning to receive their ballots for the State of Oregon special elec tion May 20, 1997, regarding Measure 50. Measure 50 finally brings back the priority all citizens have for schools and public safety that would have been sacrificed under Measure 47. I encourage all registered voters to mail in your ballot. This is a critical vote; a “YES” vote is needed to bring back some of the funding lost under Measure 47. By voting “YES" you are not only helping out V e rn o n ia , but a ll c itie s throughout our state. Measure 50 is basically just a clarification of Measure 47. It reduces value to 1995-96 less 10-percent. It creates m axi mum assessed value which cannot increase by more than 3 -p e rc e n t p e r y e a r w h ile maintaining a 17-percent tax cut. Under Measure 50 the state is required to replace school revenue lost to cuts. It limits local governm ent’s ability to increase fees to make up for losses. P lease m ark y o u r b a llo t “YES” for MEASURE 50. We cannot afford to lose the quali ty of life we value. Gayle Shriver Vernonia State forests must consider all values To the Editor: As a member of both the Nehalem Valley Chapter of the Izaak Walton League and the Nehalem Valley W ater shed Council, I am concerned about the O regon D e pa rt ment of Forestry’s bias in fa vor of timber harvesting over all o th e r uses in ou r state forests. State forest land and the Department of Forestry’s reg ulatory pow er over private timber harvests are critical to the conservation and restora tion of salmon, steelhead and other endangered species. As private forests are rapidly be in g c o n v e rte d in to tre e plantations, state lands will become increasingly impor tant as eco-system reserves. The highest, best use, and greatest permanent value to the pe op le of O regon, re quires the co-equal consider ation of wildlife, water quality, recreation and timber in the management of state forests. Anything less is not sustain able, and is not forestry. Dennis Nelson Vernonia Lone Star proposal bad for road system To the Editor: I would like to address your readers regarding the recent proposal by Northwest Aggre gates Company (a.k.a. Lone Star) to enter into a road-re- structuring project with C o lumbia County for a portion of Honey man Road. Lone Star Is proposing to prepay depletion taxes in the amount of $168,400, repre senting an average depletion tax of approxim ately $3,508 per month for four years. The Please see page 16
