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The INDEPENDENT, June 5, 2008
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
Editor Rebecca McGaugh, rebecca@the-independent.net
Mentor Noni Andersen
Printed on 40% recycled paper with vegetable based dyes
Opinion
Graduates have choices
This weekend at Vernonia High School, 55 young
men and women will walk across the stage to pick up
their diplomas. From that point on, they will find that life
is full of choices.
Some of the grads will go to college to get a two year
degree, some will end up with Ph.D’s. Some will go
straight to work in a chosen field, some will just luck
into a job that suits them, some will have many jobs be-
fore finding their niche in the working world. Some will
get married and raise families, some won’t.
Perhaps the most important assets we could hope
they have are inquiring, open minds. Life long learning
is more interesting then reality T.V., really.
We hope every grad makes choices that bring them
many true friends, loving families and satisfying ca-
reers. And, we hope they’ll decide to give back to their
community by volunteerism. Join the boosters, run for
city council, the list could go on and on. The rewards for
volunteerism are great, try it and see.
Some, unfortunately, will become involved in drugs
(heroin use is on the rise right now, and that’s not good)
or crime and will be lost to their families and friends.
But, even those who go down really bad roads can find
their way back – as long as there is life, there is hope.
Here’s hoping that all the grads will stay safe while
they pursue whatever their dreams. Don’t drink and
drive, and don’t get in the car with any driver who has
been drinking or doing drugs. There are plenty of other
‘risky’ behaviors that are better avoided. Make good
choices.
This Vernonia class has the dubious distinction of
having started school in one flood school year (1996)
and graduating in another flood school year (2007).
May they have learned to handle adversity from this.
City does good, but badly
Kudos to Vernonia’s Mayor and Council for finding a
professional, qualified, interim city administrator. Jim
Johnson has already shown an ability to calmly steer
the ship away from the reefs.
But, Shame on the Mayor and Council for once again
putting the cart before the horse. There was no public
process or discussion of this hiring, so it appears they
made some decisions outside of the public meeting
process. Then, they announced the hiring before voting
on the contract. We hope things improve from here.
Ike Says…
By Dale Webb, member
Nehalem Valley Chapter, Izaak Walton League
The sky is slightly over-
cast as you drift down the
Nehalem River, your son’s
eyes dancing from spot to
spot on the river, looking
for that perfect place to
cast his lure. Here you
are, opening day of trout
season! For many this is
an annual event, one in-
grained and passed on from father to son/daugh-
ter for several generations. I can almost guaran-
tee a discussion of “how it used to be” will come
up. The fishing was great back in the old days,
lots of trout and big ones to boot…then limits
started being imposed and were continually
ratcheted down, until today, you can no longer
keep any Cutthroat Trout. Then the son or
daughter in the boat will ask, “Gee Dad, why
can’t we keep any trout, we’re catching lots??
Most Dads can’t answer that question, me in-
cluded!!
That will almost, but not quite, be true again
this year. Yep, there is a proposal this year to al-
low the retention of a few Cutthroat Trout in the
North coastal streams. Unfortunately, this pro-
posal was not well crafted and is creating a lot of
opposition, most of it warranted. The crux of the
problem is that Sea-run Cutthroat Trout are
mixed in with resident fish and the Sea-run Cut-
throat population is depressed and warrants pro-
tection. The proposed regulation change would
allow keeping two trout with an eight-inch mini-
mum size. Unfortunately that is too short to pro-
tection Sea-run Cutthroat Trout smolts, which
can be as much as 11 inches long. The proposal
would also allow retention in the fall when Sea-
run Cutthroat Trout are in the rivers. We definite-
ly should not catch any adult Sea-run Cutthroat
Trout. What should be proposed is a two-fish lim-
it, 12” long and above, and a retention season to
the end of July. I expect the current proposal to
die a very ungracious death at the rules adoption
meeting before the ODF&W commission.
What is more disturbing about this proposed
change is the amount of opposition that has
come from the catch and release crowd. While
catch and release is an appropriate method of
limiting harvest on fish runs that cannot sustain a
harvest fishery, it has now become a way of ex-
cluding people from fisheries and promoting a
“trophy” fishery. Since the C&R fisherpersons are
usually very dedicated to “their” fishery they are
also very vocal. The average Joe who wants to
take the kids out and catch some quality trout on
one weekend out of the year is simply drowned
out by the C&R crowd. What is more disturbing
though, is using “conservation” to keep a con-
sumptive fishery from becoming a reality. Yet,
these same people can often be found exploiting
the very fish they want to keep other people from
impacting. A prime example in this debate: The
C&R crowd do not think a consumptive Cutthroat
Trout fishery is warranted due to the impact on
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