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About The independent. (Vernonia, Or.) 1986-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 6, 2003)
Page 2 The INDEPENDENT, February 6, 2003 n . INDEPENDENT Serving the upper Nehalem River valley. Published twice monthly, on the first and third Thursdays of each month, by Public Opinion Laboratory Ltd., 725 Bridge Street, Ver nonia, OR 97064, as a free newspaper. Editors and Pub lishers, Dirk & Noni Andersen. Phone/Fax: 503-429- 9410, e-mail: noni@vernonia.com S <s KCAT" "T o I A? A C o o a Z T Î^ X ojAÇKt -rnefte a k b Opinion HI More elections scheduled With an election in November and another in Janu ary, it seems as though there should be a pause in pol iticking. However, elections are scheduled for March and May. Nehalem Valley residents will see’only one item on the March 11 ballot. Columbia County Measure 5-103 would create an ordinance prohibiting the county from providing any services to minor children unless per mission of a parent or legal guardian is obtained. The toneless only exception in the measure is for emergency servic es provided “when the child is in danger of loss of life Alo-vrw- or of serious physical injury.” The INDEPENDENT will publish more about the proposed ordinance in the Feb ruary 20 issue. The May election is the regular time for election of special district directors; in Vernonia, Mist and Birken- fefcf, that means school district and fire district. By Dale Webb, member There will be four positions on the ballot for Vernon Nehalem Valley Chapter Izaak Walton League ia Administrative School District 47J. Three of them are According to information I received, and also for four-year terms that will expire in 2007; the fourth is read on Oregon Dep’t of Fish & Wildlife’s web to fill the remainder of a term that ends in 2005. Three positions will be on the ballot for the Vernonia site, Vernonia Lake is going to be stocked with only 4,500 rainbow trout this year. I contacted Rural Fire Protection District, all for four-year terms, Keith Braun our District fish biologist, who said and four for the Mist-Birkenfeld Rural Fire Protection that was a mistake and that Vernonia Lake will District, two of them for four-year terms and two for receive about 10 percent fewer fish than last year. Keith didn’t have the final number at the two-year terms. There will also be board openings on the Columbia time, but this should put our allotment from 8,000 to 9,000 fish. The reason for the decrease is a 9-1-1 Communications District and Northwest Region switch in hatchery production from the Cedar al ESD. Creek hatchery to the Nehalem hatchery. Keith All of these are volunteer positions and the financial did not say if this is a permanent reduction. I feel outlay is minimal; a candidate can either pay a filing fee it is important that Vernonia receive a high level of $10.00 or obtain the signatures of 25 registered vot of hatchery fish, since we draw very large num bers of fishermen, have very good facilities for ers on a nominating petition. To do a good job, howev disabled persons, do not have other close loca er, all of these positions require a great deal of time tions and can truly say that the fish planting has and attention. a positive economic impact on the community. With the defeat of Measure 28, sportspeople What they don’t require is experience as an educa tor or a firefighter because board members don’t teach can expect cuts in Oregon State Police wildlife law enforcement. I have always supported hav and they don’t fight fires. Their job is to develop policy, ing more wildlife law enforcement, but there oversee administration, set goals and plan for the fu comes a time when a person needs to sit back ture. The most valuable board member will have one and ask the question: Can this be done differ very important characteristic - a desire to learn how to ently? In my opinion, the OSP wildlife division is be a good director. That person will take advantage of ineffective at best. Enforcement is very spotty and usually centers around district offices, an ex opportunities to improve his or her skills and knowl ample being the Astoria area where I was edge of (for lack of a better word) boardsmanship. checked four times last year. Yet I hunted, or was For anyone interested in an unpaid, time consuming in the field in Eastern Oregon and here at home and rewarding job, nominating papers may be obtained close to 20 days last year and never saw an OSP officer. Quite frankly, wildlife outlaws have from the agency involved. Sweer y i r i s Ç O U LO H refuges where there is a void in law enforce ment. It may be time to rethink whether using OSP officers as the enforcement arm of ODF&W is the best that we can do. I feel that OSP officers are probably the most professional that we will ever get, but we are paying a high price for an unacceptable level of service. We cannot effec tively enforce the wildlife laws of this state with only 100 officers. We also must recognize that wildlife law enforcement is usually seasonal. There are times that we need many more offi cers and then there are times of the year when we need few. A program that may give us this type of law enforcement would employ the use of a smaller permanent force, the use of retired po lice officers and a trained reserve force. We need a network of officers who, even when they are not actively working, are in the community and have an ear to the ground. We need to make a change; it is obvious that there is not going be more money for wildlife enforcement and at the level of enforcement we are now receiving, we might as well give it to the schools. The North Coast Game Association, which many of you belonged to, is now defunct. NCGA closed their books last month and distributed the remaining funds to OSP wildlife in Astoria for the purchase of decoys. While this is a sad develop ment, it was not unexpected. NCGA was devel oped by a handful of dedicated sportsmen to fight for reasonable big game hunting in the North coast units. The association, which once numbered up to 900 members, fought to reduce the antlerless harvest of deer and elk. NCGA also actively participated in ODF&W’s public hearings and public work groups. I feel Please see page 16
