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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
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Opinion
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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