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The INDEPENDENT, August 4, 2005
The
INDEPENDENT
Published on the first and third Thursdays of each month by
The Independent, LLC, 725 Bridge St., Vernonia, OR 97064.
Phone/Fax: 503-429-9410. Publisher Clark McGaugh,
clark@the-independent.net • Managing Editor Rebecca Mc-
Gaugh, rebecca@the-independent.net • Editor Noni Ander-
sen, noni@the-independent.net
Opinion
It’s time for Jamboree
fun and friendship
After 49 years, the community still gets excited
about Jamboree with friends and family. Lots of former
residents will be visiting and a lot of family members
will come to join the fun. This is the way it should be.
Parents will be helping children at the fishing derby;
multi-generational families will be participating in the
horse gaming; proud children will toss candy to spec-
tators as they ride in their Dad’s shiny log truck in the
parade. Whole families will work together on their en-
tries for the car show and costumed participants in the
Nehalem Valley Rendezvous will range from preschool
age to octogenarians.
There will be games for children, dances for teens,
and concerts for all ages. Friends and families will
meet for breakfast at the Senior Center, then join in
worship together. Many of the logging show officials
and participants are the grandchildren of those who
started this time-honored activity.
There will be so many activities underway, simulta-
neously, that we undoubtedly will miss some element
of Jamboree.
Vernonia’s population will swell this weekend to
about double the official figure; at times there will be
even more people. Newcomers will get their first im-
pression of Vernonia and former residents will see how
it measures up to their memories.
This is when we can be Vernonia’s best ambassa-
dors or worst examples; it is up to us. So, let’s help the
newcomers have as much fun as the old timers. Just
kick back, relax and enjoy the 49th annual Jamboree.
Be careful, have fun, and please don’t drink and
drive. Not many family members will take time during
Jamboree to visit you in jail and no one wants to spend
time in the hospital.
★ ★ CAUTION ★ ★
The annual Multiple Sclerosis bike ride is the same
weekend as Jamboree. On Sunday, August 7, there
will be approximately 750 bike riders along Hwy. 47,
McDonald Road, Pebble Creek and Timber Road.
For everyone’s safety, please be careful!
Ike Says…
By Dale Webb, member
Nehalem Valley Chapter, Izaak Walton League
It’s Jamboree time
again! Don’t forget to take
the kids down to the Fish-
ing Derby at Vernonia
Lake on Friday. Sign up
between 4-5 p.m., then
fish for an hour. There are
lots of great prizes, be-
sides fishing is fun!
This sure is a different
year; it does look like we are going to get a sum-
mer though. The Nehalem River is maintaining
well above the average stream flow for this time
of year. This is good news because this will pro-
vide more habitat and cooler temperatures for lo-
cal fish populations. While we have good news
inland, the news out in the ocean is not so good.
Recently, the waters off the coast have been ab-
normally warm, which is great if you are a tuna,
but not for salmon. Tuna have been caught as
close as 12 miles off the mouth of the Columbia,
now that is close.
Did you hear about the anchovy bait ball that
moved up the Necanicum River at Seaside? The
pictures that I saw showed dead anchovies
everywhere. The concentration of fish was so
high that they sucked the oxygen right out of the
water and suffocated themselves. It was report-
ed that the anchovies were seen as far as five
miles upstream. Local fishermen cashed in on
this event, with some of them dipping up to sev-
eral hundred pounds of fresh anchovies for bait.
This is not the first time this has happened in the
Seaside area, a friend told me, it happened a
few years back and the town did stink for a while
afterwards.
Recently I attended my class reunion. That
was a great time and the next day we had a re-
union of all the classes in the seventies, which
was more fun. This brought up a theme that is
getting a lot of talk in the hunting forums. Hunt-
ing as many of us have known it, has changed
from the annual get-together of our younger
days.
It used to be that hunting trips and the reunion
of old friends happened on a yearly basis. I re-
member my hunting party, which always had a
person or two that you didn’t associate with on a
daily, or even a monthly basis. Yet we would
make camp together and tell hunting stories to
each other every year.
This went away when controlled drawing en-
tered the hunting scene a number of years back.
The effects of controlled drawings are starting to
show in the form of lower hunter participation
and lack of recruitment of young hunters. I be-
lieve this hidden effect, while subtle at first, will
have huge ramifications in the future.
It is interesting to note that hunter numbers
were not the sole driving force for controlled
hunting; it was and is game populations. Hunter
numbers have steadily declined since the con-
trolled hunt format began and continues to de-
cline each year. Some think this is good news
because they may be able to draw more often,
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