Page 2
The INDEPENDENT, December 1, 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
Warning: Ice-slick roads
The cold, dark days of winter often bring ice-slick
roads and streets to our area. No matter how hard they
try, road crews cannot apply enough sand, gravel or
de-icer to make the roads safe.
The primary responsibility for safe travel lies with the
person behind the steering wheel so BE PATIENT! If a
driver in front of you is traveling slowly, it probably is
because they need to do so, so BE PATIENT! Allow 15
minutes more than you would when the weather is
good and BE PATIENT!
Drivers should be aware that there have already
been several weather-related accidents this week, so
BE PATIENT, or you may BE A PATIENT!
Join the holiday festivities
The cold, dark days of winter also make the lights
and colors of the holidays welcome. This weekend will
bring holiday lights, music and shopping. The Boosters
and the Seniors bazaars will open Saturday morning.
In the evening, the Community Tree lighting will in-
clude music and the lighted truck parade is beautiful
and imaginative.
Be sure to check local shops; you will have fun and
find a remarkable array of gifts for all occasions.
Sidewalks are for walking
Since holiday shopping brings more people down-
town, this is a good time to remind everyone that it is
illegal to ride a bicycle, skateboard, scooter, etc., on
Bridge Street sidewalks between Weed Avenue and
California Avenue. They are also illegal on Jefferson
and Madison Avenues between Bridge and Maple
Streets.
The safety of both pedestrians and riders is the rea-
son for this ordinance. Because downtown sidewalks
are narrow, it is very easy to hit someone leaving a
store. A bike rider could be seriously injured, too, by
darting into the street to avoid a pedestrian.
Riders may use alternative routes, including the lin-
ear trail and Maple Street, or walk their bikes.
— CORRECTION —
Bill James was misidentified as president of the Vernonia Li-
ons in a picture caption in the Nov. 17, 2005, issue. James is past
president. The current president is George Tice.
Ike Says
By Dale Webb, member
Nehalem Valley Chapter, Izaak Walton League
Elk season, this year,
was a little different. We
had all the wind and rain
before the first season,
then it started to break for
the first season opening
day. This made for some
prime hunting conditions,
not only from the stand-
point of being able to
sneak around in the woods, but the elk were also
wanting to come out and feed in the clearcuts
and fields. The word around town and other ar-
eas on the coast is that a lot of bulls were taken
during the first season. The second season was
just the opposite, it had been dry for the whole
week prior to opening day and there were tracks
everywhere; the trouble with that, though, was
that some of them were a week old! Lack of rain
and the fact that the elk had already been hunt-
ed, contributed to much tougher conditions for
the second season hunters. Even with these
conditions, bulls were taken.
This year also seemed to many of us, to be
the year for younger hunters. Many young
sportsmen took bulls this year and some very
fine ones at that! Maybe it is just because some
of us are getting older and everybody seems
younger now!
Another change occurred this year – the fund-
ing of a five-year wildlife officer enforcement
program, through the Oregon Fish & Wildlife
(ODF&W) Access and Habitat (A&H) program. A
$2.00 surcharge added to each hunting license
is used to gain or ensure hunting access, and
also to improve habitat for wildlife. There are two
A&H programs for Northwest Oregon; the first
one encompasses Benton, Lane, Lincoln, Linn,
Polk and Yamhill counties. The funding total for
the five year program comes to $697,306 and is
used to hire and equip six retired Oregon State
Police (OSP) wildlife officers to patrol these six
counties, in addition to the existing officers in this
area.
The second program encompasses Clatsop,
Columbia, Washington, Tillamook and Yamhill
counties, with a grant totaling $577,680, to fund
five retired OSP wildlife officers. One of the pri-
mary goals of this program is to enforce access
issues on private lands in the funded units. What
this means is, to catch people who are sneaking
into closed lands or roads. A good example of
this would be the people who sneak into closed
areas to hunt during high fire danger, and those
who sneak around gates or barricades. Lands
closed due to logging operations will also get ex-
tra enforcement.
Generally the officers are out there to see that
everybody is following not only hunting and fish-
ing regulations, but also the regulations that tim-
ber companies lay out for everyone to follow.
With this additional manpower, timber compa-
nies are more willing to allow access on their
lands. Now, if you see somebody doing some-
thing that they should not be doing on private
Please see page 3