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About The independent. (Vernonia, Or.) 1986-current | View Entire Issue (March 3, 2011)
Page 2 The INDEPENDENT, March 3, 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 Opinion Council needs to look at administrator selection Being a member of the City Council in any town can be uncomfortable at times. Sometimes what seems to the council member to be right, also seems to many others to be wrong. That appears to be the current sit- uation in Vernonia regarding the hiring of a City Admin- istrator. After many years of administrators whose perform- ance was, shall we say, often less than stellar, the city now has a competent, professional administrator in Bill Haack. To recap what most Vernonians already know, Haack was hired in a near-emergency situation after the Council’s last pick ran through the budget like a teenager with his first pay check. So, what is different about Haack that makes city committee members, city staff, and ordinary citizens comfortable. One big factor is his familiarity with sever- al complex local projects that he was already working with on a part-time basis. Additionally, he researches subjects before deciding how to handle them, answers questions with clear, understandable explanations, and listens to other opinions. He already has good relations with state and county agencies, and he’s willing to ask questions about how to best help Vernonia reach its goals. Haack doesn’t want tenure but is willing to stay on for another couple of years; he isn’t breaking the bank, and he comes to work regardless of the weather. If he is replaced by someone else, someone unfamiliar with Vernonia’s complex problems, the city will fall even far- ther behind. Nevertheless, Councilors Kevin Hudson, Willow Burch and Marilyn Nicks want to use some of the city’s battered budget to pay the League of Oregon Cities to do a search for a new administrator – even though they are aware that LOC’s recent search for another small city turned up only two applicants who would accept the salary offered; neither one was hired. (See Council article on page 4) The only reason given by the three councilors was “Let’s see what’s out there.” That isn’t sufficient. Council rules allow a member who voted in the ma- jority to move for reconsideration of an action at the same or next regular meeting. This would be much wis- er than paying for a tour to “see what’s out there.” Ike Says… By Dale Webb, member Nehalem Valley Chapter, Izaak Walton League Recently I discovered a rare treasure in the form of history about the early days of hunting and fishing in our state. The source for the informa- tion in this article comes from The Oregon Sports- man, which was pub- lished monthly by William L. Finley, State Game Warden. The articles I have read spanned the period from 1911 to 1913. The numbers for license sales were listed by county, and I found that in 1912. Columbia Coun- ty had sold 538 hunting licenses and 510 fishing licenses at $1 each. From what I could gather from the articles, there were no elk seasons in this time frame due to the low numbers of elk, and it also can be observed that deer hunting had fallen on tougher times compared to the game observed when white men first appeared in our state. With that said, most of us would have thought the bag limits to be quite liberal. No Doe hunting was allowed, but three “horned” bucks were allowed. On the fishing side of the picture, the bag lim- its were, well, quite liberal. The article had the following in regards to bag limits: “The opening season on trout over 6 inches is from April 1st to October 1st. The limit is 75 fish or 50 pounds in inches is from November 1st to March 31st of the following year, during which time it is unlaw- ful to have trout in possession under 10 inches in length. The bag limit is 50 fish or 50 pounds in any one day. Bass, crappies, Williamson’s white fish, catfish and grayling open season all year with hook and line only. Bag limit 40 pounds in any one day.” Back in those days, predators were strictly viewed as direct competition in propagating us- able game for human consumption and were treated as such. Bounty programs were in force both by the state and the counties. The following bounties were paid, by species: The state paid $20 for a gray or timber wolf, $15 for a cougar and $1 for a bobcat. The counties paid $1.50 for a coyote, $5 for an adult wolf, $2.50 for a wolf pup, $2 for a bobcat-wildcat or lynx and $10 for each mountain lion, panther or cougar. Trappers could make a good living, since they could col- lect the bounties from both the counties and the state. It is interesting to note the distinction between Gray and Timber wolves in these articles, in fact, game officials in those days recognized a sepa- rate sub-species of wolves that existed only from the crest of the Cascades to the Willamette Val- ley, that was called “Canis Gagas” and was viewed as being distinctively different in size and coloration from the Gray wolves. The monthly ar- ticles made numerous references to these Tim- ber wolves being encountered by sportsmen and Please see page 20