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The INDEPENDENT, September 6, 2000
Tho
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, e-mail: noni@vernonia.com
Opinion
Correction is necessary
Having often pointed out that people shouldn’t place
blame without being certain where it belongs, guess
who fell into the same trap. Yep, ye editor.
The Vernonia School Board did not make the rule
regarding the number of votes required to approve
any transaction. That rule, which requires an affirma
tive vote by a majority of the board, and not just the
majority of the quorum, is state law.
That doesn’t make it a good law. It still allows a de
cision by the majority to be overruled by a minority of
votes. When the number of board members present
equals the number required for a quorum, a unani
mous vote is required to transact business. Under this
rule, a single board member can prevent any action
from occurring.
Somehow, though, it’s comforting to know the situa
tion wasn’t developed locally. But it still defeats the in
tent of rule by the majority; it is still a bad law.
City employees learn life
saving procedures
Ten City of Vernonia employees were so busy with
other activities one day last week, that it was neces
sary to hire someone to sit in the office. And it was a
good way to spend a little money.
The employees spent six hours learning first aid and
cardio-pulmonary resuscitation, CPR. Local instructor
John Naron, with his assistant Dawn Scott, taught the
class right in City Hall, making it possible to include
more employees than could have attended at some
other location.
Three administrative employees took the course -
Cindy Naillon, Julie Coontz and Mike Sykes; four from
public works - John Trent, Scott Rethwill, Jeff Burch
and Jim Gido; and three MTC summer employees -
Alishia Buffum, Brian Collins and Kody Watts. They
may never need to use what they learned. On the oth
er hand, if it is needed, it’s too late to start learning.
We are accustomed to having our volunteer fire
fighters and emergency medical service volunteers
learn these skills, but they can’t always be around
when needed. Other businesses or organizations
might consider scheduling such a class for ordinary
citizens who happen to be their employees or even
their customers.
VHS class will present
candidates to the public
Lots of candidates mean lots of choices, so local
voters are fortunate that the Current Affairs class at
Vernonia High School is planning a Candidates’ Fo
rum. The date isn’t set, yet, because school just start
ed. Teacher Steve Calhoun is to be congratulated for
taking on this task with his class.
If you want to help guide your
own future, register and vote.
tka Says. . .
By Dale Webb, member
Izaak Walton League, Nehalem Valley Chapter
Here are a few late summer ideas for day
trips in our local area. Saddle Mountain State
Park is an easy hour’s drive from Vernonia and
rewards those who hike the three mile trail to the
top, with a spectacular view. The trail is steep in
places and I would not recommend this hike for
small children. Older children should be warned
of the dangers that lurk just mere footsteps
away from the trail’s edge. Steep hillsides and
vertical drop-offs hold the potential for a nasty
fall. The trail can also be slippery underfoot with
loose rocks. Despite these dangers, a good time
can be had hiking the trail and using common
sense, and taking your time will reward you with
a beautiful view of the Pacific Ocean and the
Columbia river. Saddle Mountain State park also
has a varied landscape of vegetation. At the trail
head, you start out in a rain forest complete with
dripping trees. Then you travel ¡nto a mature
conifer forest, then into a near-alpine setting as
you approach the top. The mountain itself is ac
tually made of pillow lava and is a cast of a huge
hole that was once where the Columbia River
used to travel. Over the years, the sedimentary
rock that surrounded this lava deposit eroded
and the harder igneous rock was left standing,
creating a mountain. The hiking trail is a no-fee
area, but there are tent camp sites available at
the trail head and I believe there is a fee for their
use. I would suggest camping here on a hot
summer night since this is a cool spot under nor
mal conditions. Drinking water and restrooms
are available at the trail head.
It’s huckleberry time. My friend, Donna, invit
ed me to experience one of her family’s tradi
tions of picking huckleberries. Traveling into the
Columbia River Gorge, we crossed the Bridge of
the Gods at Cascade Locks, then proceeded up
and through Carson, Washington. Take the
highway that proceeds up the Wind River for
four to five miles and watch for the sign that in
dicates the Forest Service office to your left. In
formation about picking can be obtained there.
They also provide maps of the better picking ar
eas. You may pick up to three gallons of berries
per person without a permit, but you must have
a permit if you are selling the berries.
We took the 54 road, which climbed high into
the mountains. After about twelve miles, the
road turned to gravel and soon we were in good
picking areas. Unfortunately, the day was cloudy
and the clouds were raking the vegetation and
dropping their moisture. Soon our pants were
wet and those wearing tennis shoes made
squeaky sounds when they walked. The picking
was very good and the berries were ripe. When
this article comes out, the berries should be at
their peak, so don’t delay.
Archery deer season is in full swing, but ar
eas at the time of this writing were limited to
public lands, since most of the private timber-
lands were closed because of the high fire dan
ger.
Some hunters were surprised this year when
their application came back unsuccessful for
Saddle Mountain bull elk tags. The reason was
a cut back in the number of tags, to 1500 in each
season. Oregon Dep’t. of Fish and Wildlife has
reasoned that there are not enough older age
class bulls in the Saddle Mountain unit and they
needed to try and raise the number of bulls es
caping hunters. My opinion on this subject is
that this is a ploy by ODF&W to cause dissen
sion among the elk hunters, so they will start to
favor a spike-only hunting format that everybody
can hunt every year. The truth of why bull elk
numbers are down and that the age structure is
not near what ODF&W wants (we have never
seen what they want on paper), is that ODF&W
has systematically reduced the elk population in
the Saddle Mountain unit with excessive cow
hunts. When the Saddle Mountain unit went to
the 3-point or better rule in the late 70s, there
were an estimated 10,000 elk in the unit. Annu
al bull harvest just prior to the 3-point rule aver
aged over 900 bulls a year. We now harvest
fewer than 500 bulls a year, on average. The
first thing ODF&W did was harvest a large num
ber of cows in the first few years of the 3-point
rule and they have never let up since. The sec
ond thing they did was to lower the Management
Objective to 7,800 animals in the unit to justify
this cow harvest. The Management Objective
was set mainly by ODF&W and private landown
ers. I know this first-hand because I received the
mailing list for all the participants for a meeting
to set this objective. There were only two sports
men representatives and about ten private
landowners invited to the meeting. Both of the
sportsmen representatives were unable to make
the meeting and we were saddled with a 7,800
animal limit on our elk herd. This number has no
scientific basis and no studies have been con
ducted to indicate what the true carrying capac
ity of the Saddle Mountain unit is. Many of you
may think that I am beating up on you by op
posing the amount of cow hunting that is being
conducted in the Saddle Mountain unit, that isn’t
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