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The INDEPENDENT, June 3, 2004
The
INDEPENDENT
Serving the upper Nehalem River valley. Published on the
first and third Thursdays of each month, by Public Opinion
Laboratory Ltd., 725 Bridge Street, Vernonia, OR 97064, as
a free newspaper. Publishers, Dirk & Noni Andersen. Editor,
Noni Andersen. Phone/Fax: 503-429-9410, e-mail:
noni@vernonia.com Display Advertising, Clark McGaugh,
e-mail: clark@vernonia.com Classified Advertising, Rebec-
ca McGaugh, e-mail: rebecca@vernonia.com
Opinion
Arrogant administration,
lazy oversight committee
make travesty of system
An editorial opinion is rarely written in the first person sin-
gular – “I” instead of “we” or “you” – but this one is personal.
When starting The INDEPENDENT, 19 years ago, I had
to learn Oregon’s governmental systems – legislative, ad-
ministrative, fiscal, etc. – on the municipal, county, special
district and state levels, because my journalistic and gov-
ernmental experience was in another state.
One of the things I learned is that Oregon has a very
good system for keeping citizens involved in making deci-
sions about local government budgets. The system requires
a budget committee composed of the district’s elected gov-
erning board and an equal number of appointed communi-
ty volunteers.
When the budget committee receives a proposed budg-
et, which has been prepared by whomever is charged with
that duty, it is then responsible for reviewing the budget and
understanding it sufficiently to feel comfortable that it meets
the district’s needs as well as possible within the anticipat-
ed revenues. Once that is done, they pass the budget on to
the governing board.
As the page one article explains, that didn’t happen with
the Vernonia School District budget.
A few committee members met with the administration to
help develop the budget; that part is good. Then the 44
page bundle of numbers, with a $5.3 million general fund,
was brought to the whole committee, which was asked to
approve it without any review other than what the superin-
tendent presented. A majority on the committee agreed.
Because I’m stubborn, I read the budget and, guess
what…found errors. Then there were two hours with the su-
perintendent and finance officer as we discussed problems
in the budget software, and items that were allocated to the
wrong place. Incidentally, closing Lincoln won’t save
$30,000, as claimed.
In 18 years of service on budget committees – nine with
the county and nine with the school district – this is the first
time I have been asked to approve a budget without being
given time to read it. Even worse, it’s the first time that I
have seen a majority of budget committee members pub-
licly express such lack of concern.
Some of them complain about how their taxes are spent,
but this action says, “Here, help yourself to my bank ac-
count, It’s too much work to go through all these numbers!”
Oregon’s system is good, but it works only when it is
used.
Ike Says…
By Dale E. Webb, Member
Nehalem Valley Chapter, Izaak Walton League
Did you get out and fish for cutthroat trout
yet? The season opened on May 22 and I ob-
served a few rigs parked along the Nehalem Riv-
er on my way to work. I haven’t gotten any re-
ports on how the fishing was, but I would expect
it to be average. The river level was quite low
and made for some bumpy boating. It seems
each year that a few people don’t know when the
season opens or they just want to get a jump-
start on everybody else. I have seen numerous
people fishing out of season while kayaking and
while driving along the river. In fact I saw two
young gentlemen the week before the opener
fishing right below the Green Bridge here in
town. I know one of the two young men — and
he knows when the season opens, since he is an
avid fisherman. But he has now discredited him-
self as being an ethical fisherman.
The reason the season opens late is to pro-
vide protection to out-migrating steelhead and
salmon smolts. There is not much sense in
catching hundreds of these smolts and inflicting
mortal wounds when all we have to do is wait un-
til they have migrated down the river to the bay.
If the indications that I have observed this year
hold true for smolts, then there were many of
them. I have been amazed this year at all the fish
fry and fingerlings I have seen while kayaking.
On a recent trip, after the fishing season opener,
from Anderson Park to Big Eddy Park, I ob-
served thousands of fish. Most were chinook fin-
gerlings, but I also saw numerous bigger fish
scurrying from the sight of my boat. I don’t re-
member seeing this many fish in the river, but it
must be good news.
Speaking of good news, while reviewing
ODF&W’s proposed angling regulations, I no-
ticed a staff proposal to allow a two cutthroat lim-
it for North Coast streams, which would include
the Nehalem. It appears that timing for the sea-
son would remain as it is now and two cutthroat
trout over eight inches in length would be al-
lowed. If you favor this proposal you should write
a letter of support to ODF&W by September
third. There are people who oppose this propos-
al, so your support could be critical if it is to be
adopted. The main reason for curtailing cutthroat
trout harvest on Oregon’s coastal streams was
because of concern about sea-run cutthroat
trout.
It was believed that the sea-runs had suffered
significant population declines in the past, yet
this variant of the resident cutthroat trout was not
fully understood by biologists. The reason for the
new proposal is better information about sea-run
cutthroats. Genetic studies have found very little
difference between sea-runs and resident fish in
river basins. In fact, the study found more genet-
ic differences between cutthroats from adjacent
basins than among the three distinctive life his-
tories found within a single basin. With this
knowledge, it has been decided that a limited-
consumption fishery will have no significant ef-
fect on sea-run cutthroat trout. It’s amazing what
a little good science will do. In talking with
Please see page