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About The independent. (Vernonia, Or.) 1986-current | View Entire Issue (June 4, 2009)
Page 2 The INDEPENDENT, June 4, 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 Printed on recycled paper with vegetable based dyes Opinion Graduation really just the beginning of education As high school graduates go forth into the world over the next week or so, they will probably be hearing advice from all quarters. We’ll add our thoughts that who you are is more important than what you do for a living. Being a good, ethical person will serve better in the long run than being “out to get whatever you can.” With that, we’ll let these quotes speak for us. During my second year of nursing school our professor gave us a quiz. I breezed through the questions until I read the last one: ‘What is the first name of the woman who cleans the school?” Surely this was a joke. I had seen the cleaning woman several times, but how would I know her name. I handed in my paper, leaving the last question blank. Before the class ended, one student asked if the last question would count toward our grade. “Absolutely,” the professor said. “In your careers, you will meet many people. All are significant. They deserve your attention and care, even if all you do is smile and say hel- lo.” I’ve never forgotten that lesson. I also learned her name was Dorothy. – Joann C. Jones Education is a companion which no misfortune can de- press, no crime can destroy, no enemy can alienate, no despotism can enslave. At home, a friend, abroad, an in- troduction, in solitude a solace and in society an orna- ment. It chastens vice, it guides virtue, it gives at once grace and government to genius. Without it, what is man? A splendid slave, a reasoning savage. – Joseph Addison Education is a better safeguard of liberty than a stand- ing army. — Edward Everett Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined. – Henry David Thore- au I hope that my achievements in life shall be these - that I will have fought for what was right and fair, that I will have risked for that which mattered, and that I will have given help to those who were in need, that I will have left the earth a better place for what I’ve done and who I’ve been. – C. Hoppe It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to enter- tain a thought without accepting it. – Aristotle Ike Says… By Dale Webb, member Nehalem Valley Chapter, Izaak Walton League This year’s Cutthroat Trout opener was a good one. With people being able to keep two trout over 8 inches, it appears that a few more people were in- terested in fishing. The catch reports that I have received indicated a very successful fishery, with upwards of 60 fish per pole being caught by some. I even did a little fishing, and those stream-caught cutthroats were tasty! Well, that was the good news, now the bad. ODF&W district biologist Herman Biederbeck has proposed that the Saddle Mt. rifle elk sea- sons be cut by 300 tags per season. The ration- ale for these cuts is that the post-season bull elk numbers are not meeting the goal of 20 bulls per 100 cows. I doubt that his numbers are wrong and an adjustment needs to be made, but I do take exception to the rifle hunters taking the total brunt of the tag cuts. In reviewing the harvest stats, it is clear that rifle hunters have maintained a level harvest average for a long time. Those stats also show that archery harvests have steadily climbed in the last ten years, and so have the number of archery hunters. I would think that simply cutting 600 rifle tags is going to produce more archery hunters, something the die-hard archers are not real keen on. Last year many archers were complaining about too many hunters during the season and some said there were more hunters afield than during the rifle seasons; they were correct. More than 1500 archers indicated that they hunted the Saddle Mt. unit during the season; there are usually around 1200 hunters during rifle seasons. One has to remember the history of elk hunt- ing in the Saddle Mt. unit. With an elk population in excess of 10,000 in the mid ‘70s, there was fierce competition for the any-bull hunts. Some 12,000 rifle hunters fought over 900 bull elk in 1974. With upwards of 13 hunters per square mile, the hunt was more of a zoo. Sportsmen demanded change and, in 1978, that change took the form of controlled hunts and a 3pt. or better rule for Saddle Mt. The starting number for each hunt was 3,500, which in most cases never filled up. Many people would apply for other units and use the local unit as a second choice. The first archery seasons were cow only and occurred after the two rifle seasons. I’m not sure what year the archery season was switched to the August-September time frame, but it had little impact, with few people participating and few elk being harvested. Rifle hunters saw sev- eral more adjustments to their seasons, with the tag numbers cut to around 2,200, then down to 1,500 tags when ODF&W changed how leftover tags were sold. The last impact to Saddle Mt. ri- fle hunters was a one day reduction in the first season and two days off of the second season. Throughout these cuts, archers maintained a 30 Please see page 24