The independent., March 01, 2000, Page 2, Image 2

Page 2
The INDEPENDENT, March 1, 2000
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. Edi­
tors and Publishers, Dirk & Noni Andersen. Phone/Fax:
(503) 429-9410.
Opinion
CUMjCULUtA
I______________________
Complaints provide
impetus to improve
It’s easy, tempting...and human...to dismiss com­
plaints we don’t want to hear, but government agen­
cies do so at their own peril, especially at the local lev­
el. In a town as small as Vernonia, complaints about
any part of city government must be taken seriously. It
is foolish to do otherwise.
Though only a half-dozen people spoke up at the
Feb. 22 meeting of the Vernonia City Council, their
complaints were consistent: They feel there is a delib­
erate pattern of harassment by some of the city’s po­
lice officers.
Generally speaking, people have to be pretty upset
before they will complain in a public forum about po­
lice behavior. They fear that any complaint about po­
lice harassment will engender even more harassment;
unfortunately, that is often true.
Vernonia Chief of Police Jim Walters has dismissed
the officer most frequently named for unprofessional
behavior. That was appropriate, but more needs to be
done. Walters seems to be willing to follow through
with closer supervision, but he must also insist that his
officers treat people respectfully unless they have rea- ¡
son to do otherwise. “Fishing expeditions” just to see
they can find something, anything, wrong, are particu­
larly odious.
When young officers come out of the police acade­
my, they know how to be law enforcement officers;
when they get on the street, they need to know how to
be peace officers. There is a difference.
This isn't NYPD Blue, and our officers shouldn’t act
like Sipowicz. The council should seriously consider a
police advisory board to work with Walters in a collab­
orative effort to help the department bridge the gap
that has developed.
Attitude of VHS wrestlers
deserves appreciation
Two Logger wrestlers—Justin Johnson and Blaine
Vandehey— returned from state competition with sec­
ond place finishes, something that would be gratifying
to most competitors, but not these two.
They each entered the competition as number one
seed in their respective weight classes and aren’t sat­
isfied with second place. Nevertheless, the second-
place finishes showed the true measure of these two
young men because they didn’t whine or complain,
and they didn’t blame anyone else.
Thanks, Justin and Blaine, your attitudes are re­
freshing.
It’s election time, can you vote?
This is an election year and, if you want to make
your own choice, you must register to vote. The pri­
mary election is in May, but registration closes 20 days
before the election, so plan to register by April 15.
On the other hand, if you don’t want to vote, you can
always let someone else make the decisions for you.
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B y Dale Webb
The Izaak Walton League sponsored a meet­
ing to see what kind of interest there is in our
community for a Steelhead brood stock program
in the upper Nehalem River. The turnout was
good, and I was amazed at the sentiments of
many of the local fisherman. There was talk of
catch and release before it became law, of clos­
ing spawning areas and even giving up fishing to
guarantee the future of Steelhead fishing. No­
body mentioned rescinding the catch and re­
lease rule until the local Steelhead fishery can
support a limited consumptive harvest. The con­
sensus was to try and enhance local Steelhead
so that, eventually, they will be able to sustain a
modest harvest. Many anglers talked of being
happy to take home only several fish a year.
The group decided that releasing unfed fry
would be the best approach and have the least
detrimental hatchery influence on the fish. That’s
a complicated process that would include catch­
ing the fish by hook and line, transporting them
first to a holding area, then to the hatchery on
the North Fork Nehalem. At the hatchery, the fish
would be spawned and the eyed-up eggs
brought back to Vernonia, where the eggs would
be raised and the fry released. Surveying for
suitable release sites would also take consider­
able time and effort.
In order to pull off this program successfully, a
dedicated group of individuals is going to be
needed. The core group is a good startjDut we
will need more. If you are interested, please no­
tify me. If there is not enough interest generated,
this project will not be attempted.
When you go to pick up your new hunting and
fishing licenses, you will have to dig deeper in
your wallet—the Oregon Legislature agreed to a
fee increase requested by Oregon Department
of Fish & Wildlife. ODF&W is in the midst of a
budget deficit and needed the funds to become
solvent once again.
Seniors will pay an annual fee of one-half the
cost of a regular adult license, which means
$16.50 for a combination license, $8.50 for a
hunting license and $9.50 for a fishing license.
There are no discounts for tag and bird valida­
tion fees. The one exemption is for seniors who
held a permanent hunting or fishing license at
the beginning of the year. They are “grandfa­
thered” and will not have to begin paying the an­
nual fees.
Fishermen will no longer be able to buy indi­
vidual fishing tags for salmon, steelhead, stur­
geon or halibut. Now you will get all the tags for
one low price of $16.50. If you fish in only one
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hatchery, you get to subsidize everybody else.
Of course ODF&W didn’t lose money on this
deal. Pioneer licenses (people 65 or older and
residents of Oregon for 50 years) will be free, but
the holders will now have to pay full price for tag
fees. All tag fees have been increased, with deer
and elk tags going up by $3.50 each.
With these fee increases, the cost for a fami­
ly of four who hunt deer and elk and also fish for
a species requiring a punch card, can now ex­
pect to shell out around $400 per year. While
many of us can afford to pay this amount, I won­
der if our sport is, once again, going to be a sport
of kings.
Deer in the local area are again experiencing
high levels of hair loss syndrome. Both of this
year’s fawns at my house have succumbed to
this condition and, at last count, I know of at
least seven deer that have died of this cause in
or nearby the city limits of Vernonia. Even
though this year’s weather has been drier and
sunnier than last year, the deer seem to be suc­
cumbing at just as high a rate as last year. The
key to identifying a deer with hair loss syndrome
is a scruffy look to the hair along the deer’s back
and sides. The hair will look like it is standing on
end from static electricity. Deer with advanced
cases of hair loss syndrome appear white on the
sides from the flank to the front shoulders. Death
usually occurs because of hypothermia and mal­
nutrition.
With two years of high levels of loss in the
fawn and yearling age classes, our deer herd is
on the brink of a serious decline. ODF&W must
reimpose the moratorium on antlerless harvest
of deer until this problem is fully understood and
a solution found to these dramatic losses. Any­
thing less is a direct disregard of ODF&W’s mis­
sion statement, and is likely to cause a legisla­
tive backlash against the department.
Many of you have seen my new toy on top of
my pickup. Kayaking has become a passion,
and I have spent many an hour on Lake Vernon­
ia getting the feel of this new kayak. Learning to
maneuver, turn and paddle in a straight line re­
quired practice. All the while I have been prac­
ticing in the lake, I have been eyeing the Ne­
halem river. Finally, I called Matt Chesley, anoth­
er local kayaker, and we took a short river trip
from the boat launch at the Spar Tree Restau­
rant to just below Big Eddy Park. The river is a
lot more dynamic than a lake or even large rivers
like the Columbia. I was telling Matt that I had
not tipped this kayak over and, not even thirty
seconds later, I was doing the cowboy scramble,
getting back into my boat.
Please see page 3