Page 2
The
The INDEPENDENT, September 7, 2011
INDEPENDENT
Published on the first and third Wednesdays of each month
by The Independent, LLC, 725 Bridge St.,
Vernonia, OR 97064. Phone/Fax: 503-429-9410.
Deadline is noon the Friday before each issue.
Publisher Clark McGaugh, clark@the-independent.net
Editor Rebecca McGaugh, rebecca@the-independent.net
Printed on recycled paper with vegetable based dyes
Opinion
Now it’s time to get back
to work on city projects
The Vernonia City Council hasn’t let any grass grow
under their feet since appointing three new council
members.
It has been just eight days since Mayor Josette
Mitchell and Councilor Randy Parrow appointed Bruce
McNair, Kim Tierney and Donna Webb to fill the coun-
cil positions left vacant by the recall of the three coun-
cil members who fired the highly regarded Interim City
Administrator Bill Haack.
In those eight days, the council has met far more fre-
quently than usual, bringing the new councilors up to
date, re-hiring Haack as city administrator, and hiring
reserve police officer Brent Thompson to fill one of two
vacancies on the police force. These are all positive
steps.
There is still a lot to do, and an inadequate budget
will require both council and staff to consider how to
meet the City’s needs within those budget constraints.
This is a good opportunity for all concerned to take a
new look at what is needed, not just what is wanted.
WOEC is a good example
The new West Oregon headquarters facility is a
good example of careful planning within a strict budg-
et. The planning has been combined with a willingness
to continually review goals and costs, then being will-
ing to make changes, when necessary, to stay within
the budget.
The equipment bays have been designed to double
as an emergency evacuation facility, including, among
other considerations, generators to provide power in
the event of another disruptive event such as the
floods in 1996 and 2007.
Many decisions were made that make the building
look much more expensive that it is —no, those floors
really aren’t slate. Many energy efficient elements will
reduce the overall operating costs, including lights with
motion sensors that will turn themselves off when a
room is empty.
An open house planned for September 30, from
2:00 to 7:00 p.m., will be a good time to tour the facili-
ty. Remember, West Oregon Electric Cooperative is
member-owned; so take a tour of your new building.
Ike Says…
By Dale Webb, member
Nehalem Valley Chapter, Izaak Walton League
With the weather be-
ing so warm, I’m sure the
archers pursuing deer
and elk across Oregon
are praying for some
rain. I also imagine the
local timber companies
are doing the same, and
probably have their
hands on the fire danger
closure signs. The wet spring has made for ex-
tra lush vegetation across Oregon this year and
now, with the hot dry weather, it has turned into
a potentially exceptional fire season. While
these two groups want the rain to return, I know
for a fact the construction workers working on
the school next to my house want more sun-
shine; they have definitely seen their share of
rain this year!
Dad mentioned the other day that he has
been having an odd feeling this year – he keeps
wanting to start gathering up the camp gear for
deer camp. Well, not this year. We put in for a
harder to draw unit this year, and came up draw-
ing a blank. We will have to settle for the
mediocre Blacktailed hunting here at home this
year. It is a shame Oregon has come to be
known as a sub-par deer state, and with a game
department that seems more interested in sell-
ing tags for non-existent game animals, no
change is in sight.
I read with interest a hunter’s report on a
hunting/fishing forum about mentoring his grand-
daughter on a doe antelope hunt. His hunting
party had four doe tags as everyone showed up
at camp. This Grandpa had a great time with his
granddaughter as they pursued antelope, and
had a couple of encounters with a few does.
What amazed me more about his story, though,
was that out of four doe tags, there was not one
animal taken. Would one wonder that maybe the
area they were hunting didn’t need to have a
doe hunt to begin with? I might have thought
these hunters inept or hunting in the wrong area
if not for the fact that I accompanied a friend last
year to a place very near where these hunters
hunted this year. I don’t call antelope popula-
tions plentiful when you see only four antelope in
two days of heavy scouting. This just has to
make hunters shake their heads in disgust, es-
pecially when a sportsman burnt 12 points to get
this hunt!
Chinook salmon in the Nehalem River are
again going to be open for fishing. This fishery is
conducted mainly in Nehalem Bay, about 90 riv-
er miles from Vernonia, but some of the fish the
anglers will be pursuing are actually spawned
right here in town and further upstream in both
the upper Nehalem and Rock Creek. Many of us
noticed the dismal returns of adult fish the last
two years, most likely due to poor survival of fish
in the ocean environment. While part of the rea-
son for these dismal returns has to do with sur-
vival of young Chinook in our local river, a big
part of the reason is ocean fisheries to our north
in Alaskan and Canadian waters.
Please see page 3