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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