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The INDEPENDENT, July 5, 2000
Benjamin Franklin on
freedom of the press
Benjamin Franklin was a printer, publisher, philospher,
businessman, scientist, inventor, politician, statesman
and humorist. With less than two years of formal school
ing, he became the master of his age and one of its
greatest men. He was a patriot with a sense of balance
and a sense of humor. He was a publisher with a temper
and a sense of humor. He defended all freedoms, but
here is part of what he said about freedom of the press.
“Being frequently censured and condemned by
different persons for printing things which they say
ought not to be printed, I have sometimes thought it
might be necessary to make a standing apology for
myself and publish it once a year, to be read upon all
occasions of that nature. Much business has hither
to hindered the execution of this design; but having
very lately given extraordinary offense, I find an apol
ogy more particularly requisite at this juncture,
though it happens when I have not yet leisure to write
such a thing in the proper form and can only in a
loose manner throw those considerations together
which should have been the substance of it.
I request all who are angry with me on the account
of printing things they don’t like calmly to consider
these following particulars:
1. That the opinions of men are almost as various
as their faces; an observation general enough to be
come a common proverb, “So many men, so many
minds.”
2. That the business of printing has chiefly to do
with men’s opinions, most things that are printed
tending to promote some, or oppose others.
3. That hence arises the peculiar unhappiness of
that business, which other callings are no way liable
to; they who follow printing being scarce able to do
anything in their way of getting a living, which shall
not probably give offence to some, and perhaps to
many.
4. That it is unreasonable in any one man or set
of men to expect to be pleased with everything that
is printed as to think that nobody ought to be pleased
but themselves.
5. That it is unreasonable to imagine printers ap
prove of everything they print, and to censure them
on any particular thing accordingly; since in the way
of their business they print such great variety of
things opposite and contradictory.
8. That if all printers were determined not to print
anything till they were sure it would offend nobody,
there would be very little printed.
9. That notwithstanding what might be urged in
behalf of a man’s being allowed to print whatever he
is paid for, yet printers do continually discourage the
printing of great numbers of bad things.
I consider the variety of humors among men and
despair of pleasing everybody; yet I shall not there
fore leave off printing. I shall continue my business. I
shall not bum my press and melt my letters.”
— Benjamin Franklin
Ike Says. . .
By Dale Webb, member
Izaak Walton League, Nehalem Valley Chapter
In my last column, I talked extensively about
the duckweed that was being released from the
Vernonia sewage treatment ponds. This dis
charge was stopped just as the paper was hit
ting the street. By order from the Department of
Environmental Quality, the discharge of duck
weed was terminated. Upon follow up contacts
with personnel from D.E.Q., it became readily
apparent that this condition was not a gray area,
but was clearly defined in the rules and that the
City of Vernonia was in clear violation. The ef
fect of the duckweed on the Nehalem River will
most likely be minor, thanks in a big part to the
abnormal rainfall event that followed this dis
charge. The high water spread the duckweed
downstream and upon the banks of the Ne
halem. Duckweed was observed as far down
stream as Birkenfeld and most likely traveled
even further. It is unfortunate that this event oc
curred because now people are questioning the
operation and effectiveness of the sewage treat
ment plant. People are now wondering what is
really going into our river, and is it environmen
tally benign?
A special friend and I biked the Banks-Ver
nonia trail from the Beaver Creek Trailhead to
the Buxton trailhead a few weeks ago. The ride
was very enjoyable and the trail is in good con
dition. I will have to admit though, that my legs
were burning at the end of our 22 mile trip. We
had to walk our bikes at the High trestle cross
ing due to the steep grade and loose rock. The
Buxton trailhead is very nice and will soon have
an outdoor shelter constructed on the site. The
wash-out on the Vernonia side of the Beaver
Creek Trailhead has been fixed so the entire trail
is once again open. So get on your bike and ex
plore this wonderful asset that we have right
here in our backyard.
My son, Michael, and I recently completed an
all day float trip down the John Day river from
the small town of Spray to Service Creek. It took
approximately ten hours to complete the journey
down 13 river miles as we fished our way down
stream. We rented two CataRafts (basically a
seat supported by two pontoons) from Spray
Raft Rentals and Shuttle Services (541-468-
2229). The CataRafts are maneuvered two
ways, one is with oars; the second is with fins on
your feet which are very helpful while you are
fishing. The day of our trip was very hot, but hav
ing your feet in the water helped temper the
heat.The CataRafts were very stable while go
ing through rapids, which were plentiful and
cooling when the water slopped up your front.
The fishing for smallmouth bass was fair, but the
fish were small. I have read that the fishing in
the John Day river can be red hot with upwards
of two hundred fish a day not being uncommon.
We kept six fish for dinner and they were very
good. Fishing the John Day’s smallmouth bass
is exciting since 4he fisb are visible as they
chase your crank baits or smash your lure just
after it hits the surface. We used mainly Ripalas,
both diving and floating. Gold and silver and
blue and silver seemed to be the colors of the
day on our trip. By the time you read this article,
it may be too late to float the John Day river due
to low water levels, at least in the upper reach
es. Call Spray Raft Rentals for conditions.
Mike and I camped both the night before and
the night of our trip at Shelton Wayside, which is
a State Park. We stayed at this location because
it is situated at a higher elevation and in the big
timber, and was a lot cooler than down on the
river about eight miles away. While getting a few
last minute groceries at the store before the trip,
Mike said a watermelon sure sounded good. So
we bought one and enjoyed a couple slices our
first night. A problem on the second day was that
the watermelon would not fit in our cooler, so we
decided to cover the exposed end with a plastic
bag and stick the watermelon back in the small
creek by our campsite. When we came back
from our trip that night, we were sure looking for
ward to that nice cold watermelon. There was
another camper in our spot when we pulled into
the park, so we camped in the spot next to them
and I went down to collect our watermelon. The
man and wife in our old campsite said they
thought someone had eaten our watermelon,
when I started explaining what I was up to. They
had seen our rinds from the previous night in the
garbage can. I walked over to the creek and
looked in dismay when I saw the plastic bag had
been pulled off the top of the watermelon. Upon
closer examination, I found that birds had eaten
all the meat out of the watermelon’s rind. So
much for watermelon that night! Mike and I will
have some good laughs in the future when we
remember the hollowed out watermelon, eating
our food off of plastic signs since dad forgot pa
per plates and having Pepsi for breakfast since
dad forgot to bring the hot chocolate. I've got to
make that checklist!
My kayaking buddy, Troy Horton, and I have
continued our exploration down the Nehalem
River and have now made it down to the mouth
Please see page 3