The INDEPENDENT, December 3, 2009
Where to Find Them
U.S. Senator Ron Wyden
(Dem)
1220 SW 3rd Avenue, Suite 585
Portland OR 97232
Phone: 503-326-7525
223 Dirksen Senate Ofc. Bldg.
Washington, D.C. 20510-0001
Phone: 202-224-5244
E-Mail: http://wyden.senate.gov/
contact
Website: http://wyden.senate.
gov
U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley
(Dem.)
One World Trade Center
121 SW Salmon St., Suite 1250
Portland, OR 97204
Phone: 503-326-3386
107 Russell Senate Ofc. Bldg.
Washington, DC 20510
Phone: (202) 224-3753
E-Mail: http://merkley.senate.
gov/contact
WebSite: http://merkley.senate.
gov
U.S. Representative David Wu
(Dem) OR District 1
620 SW Main, Suite 606
Portland, OR 97205
Phone: 503-326-2901
2338 Rayburn House Ofc. Bldg.
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: 202-225-0855
Website: http://house.gov/wu
Senator Betsy Johnson
(Dem) Senate District 16
PO Box R,
Scappoose, OR 97056
Phone: 503-543-4046
900 Court St. NE, S-314
Salem, OR 97301
Phone: 503-986-1716
E-mail: sen.betsyjohnson@
state.or.us
Website: http//www.leg.state.or.
us/johnson
Representative Brad Witt
(Dem) House District. 31
21740 Lindberg Road,
Clatskanie, OR 97016
Phone: 503-728-4664
900 Court St. NE, H-373
Salem, OR 97301
Phone: 503-986-1431
E-mail: rep.bradwitt@state.or.us
Website: http//www.leg.state.or.
us/witt
Representative Deborah
Boone
(Dem) House District 32
PO Box 926
Cannon Beach, OR 97110
Phone: 503-717-9182
900 Court St. NE, H-375
Salem, OR 97301
Phone: 503-986-1432
E-mail: rep.deborahboone@
state.or.us
Website: http//www.leg.state.or.
us/boone
An Oregon Perspective
By Senator Jeff Merkley
Taking Back Our
Economy
The reach of last year’s
economic collapse has ex-
tended far beyond Wall
Street. Because of the
bad bets made by the big
banks, thousands of Ore-
gonians have lost their
homes and hundreds of thousands more have
lost their jobs.
It seems obvious that our financial system
needs significant reform and increased trans-
parency, but the industry is just as freewheeling
and unregulated as it was before crashing our
economy.
And, astonishingly, many of the Wall Street
banks – the same banks that taxpayers bailed
out over the last year – have spent millions de-
ploying lobbyists to Washington to weaken or
stop any real reform of our financial system.
They prefer to continue setting their own rules
and relying on American taxpayers to pay for the
huge risks they take.
Failing to restore accountability and trans-
Letters
parency to our financial system is like cleaning
up the wreckage of the pile-up on the highway,
but not putting in place the road signs to prevent
it from happening again. If we continue to rely on
the same flawed regulatory system, we’re setting
our economy up for future financial failure.
We have to take action to make our financial
system work for middle-class families and small
businesses again. Starting this week, I’ll be join-
ing my colleagues in the Senate Banking Com-
mittee to move forward on a package of reforms
to do just that.
I’ll be fighting to make sure that the bill we
send to the president includes a Consumer Fi-
nancial Protection Agency to weed out the tricks
and traps often incorporated into consumer fi-
nancial products.
To be effective, the reform bill also has to in-
clude stronger regulations of complex transac-
tions like derivatives trading, and the means for
regulators to stop firms from becoming “too big to
fail” and bringing down the entire system.
Oregon families are still hurting from the dam-
age done by the big Wall Street banks. It’s time
to fix the financial system to make sure the banks
can’t turn around and gamble the American
economy into another economic crisis.
Ike Says…
From Page 2
ored hillside.
I was still shaking, my rifle
scope had fogged up and I had
to wipe it with my shirt; my
glasses were in about the same
shape. It was the perfect envi-
ronment for fogged glass – a
hot body and cool foggy weath-
er. I got my trusty rifle cradled
in my shooting sticks and set-
tled down on the old bull. I had
already used my range finder to
know the distance, and then the
old brain had to calculate the
drop. I figured as long as I held
just inside the top of the bull’s
back I would be successful.
As my rifle recoiled, I lost
sight, but heard the smack of
my bullet hitting home, and re-
gained sight fast enough to see
the bull crumple right in his
tracks. I was actually a little
alarmed by this, most times a
bull falls in his tracks only from
a spinal or brain shot, but if the
bullet had just clipped a spinal
process, the bull could soon be
on his feet. The bull was strug-
Page 3
gling a little and I sent two more
rounds his way to quiet him. Fi-
nally I was satisfied that the bull
was not going to get up and
made my way down to him.
When I got close enough to
see antlers my heart sunk; all I
could see was a stub of an
antler sticking up and then a
brow tine; it looked like this bull
only had 2pts! Then I noticed a
big club--like drop tine, well he
was a legal bull, but not what I
had seen. When I got closer, I
could see the antler on the
ground was a full 6pt., whew!
My first shot had struck the bull
high and had basically broken
his back, besides going through
both shoulders.
I attached my punched tag
and got to work gutting and
skinning the bull. I actually had
cell phone coverage in my spot
and made a couple of calls, one
to my hunting partner who was
a couple of miles away. Then it
was back to the pickup and the
pack board and axe, I would
start packing the bull up closer
to the road. When I got back to
the pickup I discovered I hadn’t
placed my axe in the pickup!
Oh well, I would pack the two
forequarters up the hill and take
one out; I could do that with my
knife. I finished packing both
forequarters up to the road and
made the first round out with
my bike. Once I got the back to
the pickup I decided, heck, that
wasn’t too bad, I would go get
the other forequarter.
About half way back up the
hill, my cell phone went off, it
was Marshal, my hunting part-
ner. I asked him what he was
doing? He replied, “Oh just sit-
ting here looking at the bull I
just shot”! When it rains it
pours!
Have a safe and merry
Christmas!
Izaak Walton League,
Nehalem Valley Chapter
meets monthly on the 3rd
Thursday at 7:00 p.m. Call
503-429-7193 for location.
Head Start parents
appreciate support
To the Editor:
The parents of Head Start
would like to thank everyone
for all of their generosity so far
this year! The kids have been
super busy learning all sorts of
new things! All the kids are
learning with Choosy how to
eat right and exercise, which is
wonderful! They are focusing
on animals right now and are
very intrigued by all that they
are learning!
We also want to remind
everyone of the pictures with
Santa fundraiser on Saturday
the 5th, from 10 a.m. to 4:00
p.m., everyone is encouraged
to stop by and have their pic-
tures taken. Once again thanks
to everyone for all that you do
for our kids.
Thanks,
Jailee Slaughter
Chairman
Thanks to all for Fall
Festival participation
To the Editor:
The Mist-Birkenfeld Helping
Circle would like to thank
everyone who participated in
any way to our Fall Festival.
Especially to the businesses
and people that donated items
or services. Also the people
who purchased those items.
We would also like to thank the
people who participated in our
program and our auction.
Shirley Kyser
President
M-B Helping Circle
Policy on Letters
The INDEPENDENT will
not publish letters that in-
clude personal attacks on
private citizens. Because of
space limitations, preference
will be given to brief letters,
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Get in the holiday spirit by enjoying the many
holiday events in Banks and Vernonia.
And remember to patronize local merchants,
they help our communities thrive.