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About The independent. (Vernonia, Or.) 1986-current | View Entire Issue (April 16, 2009)
Page 14 The INDEPENDENT, April 16, 2009 Johnson wants geese task force Should you serrate or not serrate? On April 2, the Oregon Sen- ate approved passage of SB 622, creating the Task Force on Geese Control. Geese over- population has become a seri- ous problem for the agricultur- al, recreational, and aviation in- dustries throughout western Oregon. “Hundreds of thousands of geese are wreaking havoc across Oregon,” said Senator Betsy Johnson (D-Scappoose), sponsor of the bill. “They are significantly damaging valuable crops, befouling parks and golf courses, and pose a serious threat to air traffic.” The recent emergency land- ing by a passenger plane on the Hudson River is attributed to a flock of geese colliding with the plane. In recent years, the goose population in Oregon has exploded, as many of the By Murray Carter once migratory birds have de- cided to claim Oregon as a year-round home. Johnson also pointed out the droppings left behind by geese can spread disease to the point that some public beaches have been closed because of con- tamination. “The number of these animals that we’re talking about creates a real public health risk,” she said. In the last thirty years, the number of geese in Oregon has grown from about 25,000 a few months a year, to over 200,000 that stay year round. The Task Force is charged with studying the issues raised by these numbers and studying various methods of population control. The Task Force creat- ed in SB 622 will be comprised of volunteer members and will receive no funding. May Day Customs May Day, on May 1, is a time to celebrate the onset of the month that sees the Earth preparing itself to burgeon to its maximum capacity. Since the ancient days in England there has been a custom of "bringing in the May". On May Day people would go to the woods in the early dawn to pick flowers and lop off tender branches to decorate their houses. As many of you may have noticed, our local Head Start organizes many fund raising activities to supplement their Parent Fund budget. One of these upcoming fund raisers will be “1/2 Price Knife Sharp- ening” by Vernonia resident and Master Bladesmith Murray Carter. Because I expect to en- counter a fair number of serrat- ed blades, I am providing the following information. Serrated knives are very common, and as such, are not given much thought. The cut- lery industry has duped the consumer into believing that serrated knives are normal. In actuality, serrated knives are inferior in many ways to straight-edged knives, the de- tails of which I’d like to discuss. There are many criteria for good performing blades, such as edge-holding ability, edge sharpness and durability, but the most important criteria is “sharpenability” or, articulated another way, how easy the knife is to sharpen. Even a April 6 phone outage caused by digging Verizon lost phone service on Monday, April 6, from 8:20 a.m. until about 6:00 p.m. in all lines between Hillsboro and Vernonia. The outage was caused by a construction crew at 10th Ave. and Baseline St. in Hillsboro working on a turn lane. The crew cut a Verizon fiber optic line that was only eight inches below the surface of the road instead of the stan- dard depth of 30 inches. Veri- zon quickly fixed the line, but then had to move the line down to the standard depth. 1,443 lines in Vernonia were affected by the outage. Mariolino’s blade forged from the best steel in the world will dull through use, and being able to quickly and efficiently sharpen the edge back to it’s original sharp- ness is a great asset. Serrations are typically added to knives of inferior met- allurgy to make them cut more aggressively, or are added to pocket knives to make them look “cool” or intimidating. How- ever, they greatly complicate the sharpening process. Quick and efficient sharpening is no longer possible on a serrated knife. As for the cutting applica- tions of serrated knives, here are the only two tasks which serrated knives will out-perform a properly sharpened straight- edged blade: • Cutting bread straight out of the oven (only if you bake bread at home because after 20-30 minutes all bread crust becomes softer, and is best cut with a non-serrated blade) • Cutting steak or other meats on a ceramic plate. Despite what you have seen on “Ginsu” commercials or read or heard in urban legends, there are no other cutting tasks which are not performed better with a properly sharpened straight-edged knife. So what is a properly sharp- ened blade? It is a blade that has appropriate edge geometry for the cutting task at hand, a blade that will shave hair from the arm AND have microteeth that will slice into either a toma- to skin or fibrous material (like rope) with abandon. So when you respond to our Head Start Parent Fund fund raiser for 1/2 Price Knife Sharp- ening and bring your knives in to be sharpened, be sure to in- dicate whether you want me to grind the serrations off your knife or whether you want to keep them. For more information about what to do with serrations, pur- chase my Advanced Knife Sharpening DVD., available to Vernonia residents for only $25 (regularly $35). See more at www.cartercutlery.com or call direct at 503-816-6556. Wolves topic of Zoo talk From page 12 trapping and poisoning pro- grams to make the state safe for livestock. They are now spreading back into the state from Idaho, where the federal government released wolves in 1995 to launch a species re- covery program. The number of reported wolf-sightings in Oregon has steadily risen over the past several years. Last year more than 140 sightings were report- ed. However, only one wolf pack with a breeding pair has been found in Oregon so far. In his lecture, Morgan will discuss several conservation and protection plans to help wolves thrive as they colonize portions of Oregon. Included in those plans, the Oregon De- J OIN US FOR P RIME R IB S ATURDAY N IGHTS To the Blue House Crew: Sam, Eleonora & Richard Welcome to our community 721 Madison Ave.,Vernonia • 503-429-5018 partment of Fish and Wildlife has set a goal of placing at least four wolves each in east- ern Oregon and western Ore- gon. An Oregon native, Morgan graduated with a bachelor’s de- gree in Wildlife Science from Oregon State University in 1986. He has been employed by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife since 1987. Morgan was the district wildlife biologist in Heppner, where he worked with a variety of wildlife species for more than 16 years. Currently, he is serving as the wolf coordinator and Northeast region wildlife diversity biolo- gist in La Grande. The zoo opens at 9:00 a.m. daily and is located just off Highway 26. The zoo is also accessible by MAX light rail line. General admission is $9.75 (12-64), seniors $8.25 (65+), children $6.75 (3-11), and infants 2 and under are free. A parking fee of $2 per car is also required. Additional in- formation is available at www.oregonzoo.org or by call- ing 503-226-1561. Also, see related picture on page 24.