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About The independent. (Vernonia, Or.) 1986-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 7, 2010)
Page 2 The INDEPENDENT, January 7, 2010 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 Opinion (January 30, 1986) Newspapers have come and gone in Vernonia with a reg- ularity that inevitably breeds a sense of futility. Pessimism abounds. Doomsayers convincingly point to numerous past failures as proof of future failures. But wait! In your hands at this moment, you are holding The INDEPENDENT “Voice of the upper Nehalem Valley”, – fresh off the press! Volume 1, Number 1, January 30, 1986, published monthly on the last Thursday of each month. A press run of 200 will be delivered FREE to outlets from Timber, on the upper Nehalem, including Manning and Bux- ton, to Vernonia, Mist, Birkenfeld and Jewell. There is a new determination in this venture! There is no expectation that a fortune can be realized by publishing a newspaper in Vernonia. To the contrary. It is a resolve, root- ed in the growing awareness of a desperate community need. It is substantiated and nurtured by increasing re- quests and urgings by those who deplore scuttlebutt, rumor and gossip as their primary source of information; or no in- formation at all. We agree. The community cannot survive as a political and/or social entity without a newspaper of its own; without reliable, effective communication. Cohesion, consensus and community progress decline in its absence. We are also encouraged. We have been listening, and we have been overwhelmed by the expressed good will and support extended us as we have worked with the Vernonia Jamboree publications and, again, with our Christmas in Vernonia tabloid. The response to all of these has been most gratifying. So, in the gathering gloom, we propose to provide an insignificant, flickering flame. We must emphasize that The INDEPENDENT is a “free” newspaper. What that means, quite literally, is that the ad- vertisers are providing it for YOU at no cost to you. They, in turn, most assuredly deserve your support. What can you do? We ask you to give it a careful reading; invite you to help us with your suggestions; give us your input; feed us news items, tips for stories, calendar items, letters to the editor. Support our advertisers. Opinion (January 7, 2010) We continue to be amazed at the level of community sup- port we experience. People often stop us on the street to tell us to “keep doing what we’re doing.” Many residents have never known a community newspaper other than this one. We remain committed to the ideals that originally started this paper. We will continue to provide you with information about your community and your community government. In return, please support our advertisers. Ike Says… By Dale Webb, member Nehalem Valley Chapter, Izaak Walton League Last elk season start- ed with a bang in my hunt area, unfortunately it end- ed up with six people get- ting tickets. It is amazing how one event can snow- ball and overtake others that aren’t even involved in the original event. This story starts with a spike bull being taken on the morning of opening day, in the Saddle Mountain unit hunt, which is 3pt. or better. The people in- volved thought they were in the Scappoose unit and were not being deceptive about their har- vest. Soon my hunting partner discovered their mistake and had made a phone call that led to a phone call to the Oregon State Police tip line. Soon, three separate OSP pickups were con- verging on the scene. The culprits were appre- hended and, while travelling into the gated area, OSP discovered other hunters who were hunting without proper tags, or any tags at all! One offi- cer I talked to after the event said, “I thought there were more people in here hunting without tags than legal hunters.” Unfortunately, I believe his observation is accurate. One thing my hunt- ing partner and I observed, after the dragnet, was that all the other hunters disappeared. I guess they figured out that a gated system is not an outlaw refuge! We plan on having the Troop- ers sweep the area again next year, so be warned. It amazes me how people continue to make mistakes. Take the couple that shot the spike bull: they stated that they had hunted the area for years and that it was the Scappoose unit. A quick read of the unit boundary description made it is easy to understand that these two people were almost three miles from the boundary and across a definitive boundary road for the unit. We will let the judge decide whether this was a mistake or intended. It is understandable, though, why some sportsmen have a hard time keeping up with new changes in the game laws. There are usually a few new ones every year, and there are those that are poorly written or tend to lend themselves to varied interpretations. For instance, consider the regulation about carrying a center fire rifle during certain control hunts, without a valid tag for that season. You could ask 100 different hunters whether they could continue to carry a ri- fle after they have punched their tag and you will get four different answers. Yep, nope, maybe, and I have a constitutional right. Well, ODF&W has changed that rule a little further for this com- ing year. Starting this year, you can continue to hunt with a center fire rifle in controlled hunt units after you have punched your tag. Now don’t misinterpret this as meaning you can you can continue to hunt the species for that controlled hunt, but instead you can now continue to be in the field hunting bears and cougars if you have a valid tag for them. The way the new See Ike Says, page 21