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The INDEPENDENT, January 1, 2009
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, noni@the-independent.net
Vernonia 2008 Year in Review
From page 1
following the December 2007 flood).
Feb. 7 – Public Hearing held on Flood Ordinance.
Feb. 14 – Jim Krahn appointed to 47J Board.
Feb. 19 – City Council creates Economic Development
Committee by Ordinance. Council approves
contracts for M.R. “Dick” Kline and Aldie
Howard to run through June 30.
Feb. 22 – Vernonia 2020 planning meeting held with
community stakeholders.
Feb. 28 – City in default with Oregon Secretary of
State’s office when audit not turned in by
extension deadline.
Mar. 3 – 1st Vernonia 2020 open meeting with com-
munity members.
Mar. 6 – Interim City Administrator Aldie Howard says
he won’t allow Vernonia Police column to be
sent to The Independent. Improvised
Explosive Device (IED) set off by students in
garbage can behind Vernonia Middle School.
Mar. 11 – 1st 47J School Board held in District Office
since Dec. 3 flood.
Mar. 17 – 1st of 23 FEMA manufactured homes arrive.
City hands out audit at council meeting.
Mar. 20 – Vernonia Police column back in paper, must
be hand delivered by Interim City Admini-
strator Aldie Howard, rather than e-mailed.
Mar. 21 – FEMA Center at City Hall closes.
Mar. 31 – EPA & DEQ arrive to clean up hazardous
flood debris from Nehalem River. Donation
Center at Lincoln Grade School closes.
Apr. 2 – City turns off Leonard Simmons water after he
refuses to pay water loan replacement fee and
Howard refuses his utility payment, throwing it
back at him.
Apr. 3 – Vernonia Police column out of paper after
Howard bills paper $52.30 for that column and
Library column.
Apr. 7 – Council approves lease of Vernonia
Community Learning Center (VCLC) space to
Columbia County Flood Relief (CCFR).
Apr. 10 – 47J Board announces start of Oregon
Solutions project to fund and resite schools.
Apr. 11 – Howard tells paper, “No columns” then allows
columns submission via email the same day.
Apr. 16 – Howard sends letter to Vernonia Chamber of
Commerce suggesting they suppress The
Independent, and support Vernonia’s Voice.
Apr. 18-19 – Snow falls in Vernonia.
Please see page 14
Ike Says…
By Dale Webb, member
Nehalem Valley Chapter, Izaak Walton League
I approached the gated
road with apprehension, I
was a little later than I
wanted to be. Would
somebody already be
there? I sighed in relief,
nobody was parked at the
gate, my opening day of
elk season would not be
an immediate competition.
I quickly got my mountain bike out of the back
and started pushing it up the hill, I’m no Lance
Armstrong, besides it was still dark and I wanted
to take my time and stay cool. I slipped up the
mountain in the dark and could just slightly make
out my surroundings. I was going through a new
clear-cut and was pretty much discounting the
possibility of seeing elk in it because it was so
new. I reached the upper end of the clear-cut
and thought to myself, I should glass this little
basin above me, just in case. I looked through
the binoculars and hmm…a line of stumps;
stumps heck, those are elk! I quietly put the
kickstand down on the bike and slipped my rifle
off the handlebar rack. It was way too dark; I fig-
ured I would just wait until daylight and legal
hunting time. I could see the elk in the darkness,
but couldn’t see if any of them had antlers. Then
the fog moved in and the elk disappeared, this
was not good. I finally decided to backtrack
down the road, cut up through the clear-cut to hit
the road above, then sneak around the top and
the elk should feed out in front of me. I made the
400-yard climb fairly quickly, but was paying the
price for getting over-heated. Luckily I had
sprayed all my optics with a good de-fogging
agent, all I had to do was cool down. I sneaked
down the road while I peeled off some clothing.
When I got to the draw where the elk should
have been, they were gone! Then I heard crash-
ing in the timber off to my right and I knew I had
been winded and the chase was now on. I have
killed very few bulls in clear-cuts, today was def-
initely not going to be one of them. Of course
the elk were heading down into a hole. I fol-
lowed along, then started skirting above them, I
hoped. Soon I jumped them again and saw a
cow and calf, but could only hear the others
crashing through the forest. I got to a good van-
tage point where I could look down through
some bigger timber (a real rarity today) and
hoped the elk would circle underneath me. Fi-
nally I gave up, started up the old cat road I was
on and into a reprod patch about 10 years-old. I
looked across the small draw onto the opposite
hillside 150 yards away and there stood an elk!
I got the binoculars up and, as the elk moved its
head, I saw the legal antlers swinging with the
head. I quickly switched to my rifle’s optics and
brought the crosshairs to the ribs, but I could
also see all the limbs of the roadside alders, oh,
this was not good. Finally I picked the best hole
I could and touched the .270 off. The bull imme-
diately bolted forward. I ran up the cat road a few
Please see page 3