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The INDEPENDENT, January 6, 2011
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
Vernonia 2010 Year in Review
From page 1
Mar. 15 – City council hold improper executive session
regarding an unlawful arrest lawsuit.
Mar. 18 – Catherine Mater, Sr. Fellow at Pinchot
Institute gave presentation on potential for
Vernonia to become a “Living Laboratory” for
sustainable biomass.
Mar. 28 – 13 downtown businesses vote to form
Downtown Association as Economic
Development sub-committee.
Apr. 1 – Unlawful arrest lawsuit against Vernonia
Police Department settled for $9,800.
Apr. 5 – City council approves $61,000 for GIS project.
Apr. 17 – Make Vernonia Shine Day.
Apr. 18 – Announcement of $400,000 Dept. of Energy
grant for biomass boiler for new school.
Apr. 29 – School board awards Vice Principal/Special
Education Director contract to James
Brookins.
May 7 – Vernonia First Friday season opens.
May 11 – Police Officer Jeff Dalrymple resigns.
May 13 – School board member Tammy Jennings
resigns.
May 16 – Vernonia Volunteer Firefighters’ Pancake
Breakfast.
May 17 – Vernonia Police Dept. gets council approval
to investigate replacing Justice Court with
Municipal Court.
June 5 – Vernonia High School graduation cere-
monies.
June 6 – Senator Jeff Merkley holds town hall.
June 7 – City council approves immediate resignation
of City Administrator Bob Young, appoints Bill
Haack as Pro Tem Administrator; Chief of
Police Frank Grace submits resignation to be
effective Sept. 1; Councilor Brett Costley
announces resignation effective July 1.
June 8 – Captain Mike Kay gives up position, returns
to Sergeant to get union representation due to
an investigation.
June 21 – Chief Grace tells council Justice Court is
fine, no need to change.
July 4 – Temporary Wheels Park opens.
July 8 – Bill Langmaid appointed to school board
vacancy.
July 19 – Catherine Helmer appointed to open council
position.
Aug. 3 – Governor Kulongoski issues Executive Order
Please see page 15
Ike Says…
By Dale Webb, member
Nehalem Valley Chapter, Izaak Walton League
Frankly as I sit here
at my computer on this
snow-covered day in De-
cember my mind is blank.
Probably having just
worked 19 out of the last
22 days has something
to do with my mind being
the way it is. Here are
some random thoughts.
We have had a couple of instances in the last
month that gave us all the “oh, not again” mo-
ment when it came to the possibility of flooding.
I think that is just going to be a fact of life for we
residents of Vernonia, for a long time coming. I
hope, though, people will understand that the
National Weather Service and our local emer-
gency service personnel have a far better under-
standing of the dynamics of what causes floods
in our area and are on guard watching out for us.
Then there are we armchair flood predictors sit-
ting in the wings always watching, also. We may
not be able to stop a flood in the future, but we
will know when one is coming and will be able to
give people ample time to protect their property
and themselves as best can be expected in that
type of situation.
Sturgeon fishing is on the decline in Oregon,
the great Columbia River is not what it used to
be. While it is such a shame this has come
about, we are still one of the few places in the
world where a person can catch these fish and
eat one. The last information I saw was that a
30% reduction in harvest was being proposed by
ODF&W staff. What this will look like, as far as
the fishing season time frame and harvest, is yet
to be seen and decided.
Deer hunting in Oregon will continue down the
same path, is my prediction. Unfortunately for
all of us, this is a downward path to very poor
hunting. Mule deer populations are under
tremendous pressure, both from hunters and
predators, and ODF&W’s unwillingness to do
what is necessary to reverse this trend will even-
tually lead to a failure. It will take only one hard
winter to finish the deer population off; will it be
this year? As I write this, winter on the Eastside
is shaping up to be a hard one for deer.
Blacktailed deer are also in a precarious situ-
ation locally, and the pain is spreading into other
areas such as the Cascades and the units to our
south. Again, hunting pressure, Hair Loss Syn-
drome, lack of logging (not in our area) and her-
bicide spraying are billed by many for the caus-
es of the deer decline. So far we have not seen
the leadership it will take to reverse this trend, so
we can figure on the trend continuing and
spreading to the south. Again, a hard winter
could have a dramatic effect on the overall pop-
ulation.
Rocky Mountain elk populations continue to
decline, too. Again hunter harvest and predation
by cougars, bears, coyotes and now wolves,
continue to result in declining populations.
Again there seems to be no direction to turn this
Please see page 16