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The INDEPENDENT, July 7, 2005
Declaration of Independence
resounds loudly, to others, too
The fourth of July barbecue was tasty, the parade
was fun, the fireworks elicited oohs and aahs.
Independence Day was enjoyed by most Americans,
but how many spent any time reflecting on why or how
it occurred, or what it means today?
Here are some of the injustices perpetrated by King
George III, as specified by the Continental Congress:
“He has made judges dependent on his Will alone, for
the tenure of their offices...
“He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent
hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat
out their substances.
“He has affected to render the Military independent of
and superior to the Civil Power.
“He has combined with others to subject us to a juris
diction foreign to (us)...giving assent to their Acts for...
“Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
“Protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment
for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhab
itants of these States:
“Cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
“Depriving us in many cases of the benefits of Trial by
Jury:
“Transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended
offences.
“He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt
our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
“He is transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenar
ies to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyran
ny...unworthy [of] the Head of a civilized nation.
These Injustices instilled anger, fear, rage, insur
gency and rebellion among the citizens of the 13
colonies. They fought with tactics unknown to the
British and German armies at that time-tactics that to
day are called guerrilla warfare. And they won.
Americans, of all the nations in this world, should not
be surprised by the anger of the insurgents in Iraq.
They feel, rightly or wrongly, that they are suffering the
same injustices specified above.
Americans, too, should look at the first three charges
mentioned above because they, along with the weak
ening of Trial by Jury, are dangerously close to what is
happening today.
Our freedoms were hard fought and hard won. We
must not let them be diminished.
By Dale Webb, member
Nehalem Valley Chapter, Izaak Walton League
It sounded like the trout
season opener was very
good this year, but again
when isn’t it? I had one lo
cal report 100 fish plus per
rod on opening day on a
local stream which he
boated down. Where else
can you go and have this
kind of fishing, not a lot of
places come to mind. The fish had good size
again this year, some pushing 17 inches in
length.
While we are talking fishing, Dad and I made
our annual trip to Oxbow Reservoir. The fishing
was a little slower than in past years, probably
due to the wet slow spring that we have had, yet
we still managed to catch a lot of Catfish, and
fewer Crappie and Bluegills. The weather was a
mixed bag, but it never kept us from fishing and
being cooler was better than the scorcher Hell’s
Canyon can dish out. The local bighorn sheep
paid a visit to our campground while we were
there. The group of sheep was made up of all
rams, some of which were impressive. I think
Dad and I created some new fishermen while we
were at Oxbow. My cousin, Dennis Weller, and
family joined us for a few days and the boys had
a ball. During the two days that the boys fished
with us they boated close to 50 catfish!
Fishing at Lake Vernonia has been good also
this year, with a lot of trout being caught. I hear
of late that ODF&W planted some more Steel
head in the lake and that a couple of them have
been caught.
Well, the wait for controlled hunt tags is over
and there are a lot of hanging heads again this
year. No sheep, antelope or goat tags, darn!!
Well, at least we got deer and elk tags. ODF&W
is starting to make changes in seasons and pop
ulation management objectives across the state.
With the changes in population management ob
jectives comes a reduction in antlerless harvests
so that the herds can grow to the new set levels.
While Saddle Mountain unit did not get a new
population objective, it was revealed that the
herd was below population objective. The district
Biologist has thus reduced the Cow elk hunts
substantially for this year and is proposing to
eliminate most of them in 2006. I predicted this
event. One, we have been harvesting too many
Cow elk and secondly, the advent of the handi
cap tags in which either sex can be harvested
has added additional harvest which must be ac
counted for. Many of you know my feelings about
the handicap hunts and how I feel they are being
abused, well fellows, that problem just cost the
general public some Cow hunts. The proposal
that I have seen is for the elimination of the
Nicoali, Rock Creek, Nehalem #2 & #3 and Asto
ria #1, #2, #3 in 2006. All other Cow hunts have
severely reduced numbers. Don’t expect things
to change back some day, because ODF&W
does not seem to have the stomach to reverse
the handicap hunter program. Let’s just
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