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About The independent. (Vernonia, Or.) 1986-current | View Entire Issue (April 4, 2012)
The INDEPENDENT, April 4, 2012 Scappoose farmer fined for water pollution related to cattle waste William Holdner, 86, Scap- poose, was sentenced March 19, for two felony counts of Wa- ter Pollution in the First Degree and 25 misdemeanor counts of Water Pollution in the Second Degree. All charges stem from one of Holdner’s beef farming operations. He was ordered by the Oregon Department of Agri- culture to obtain a Confined An- imal Feedlot Operation (CAFO) permit for his Dutch Canyon Road operation, which typically has 300 beef cattle on site. Evidence in the case showed that Holdner illegally discharged cattle waste in Mud Creek and South Scappoose Creek and did not have a CAFO permit. Holdner was sentenced to five days in jail, and faces a $300,000 fine if he fails to shut down his farming operations within 90 days. Holdner says he plans to comply but will ap- peal the decision. Two rivers to open for Chinook The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) has announced that the popular spring chinook fisheries on the Deschutes and Hood rivers will open April 15. Deschutes River – Accord- ing to Rod French, ODFW fish biologist, managers are pre- dicting over 14,000 hatchery fish will return to the De- schutes, one of the largest re- turns since the hatchery pro- gram began on the river in the 1970s, and nearly three times the number that has returned in the last five years. “If the run comes back as predicted, chinook salmon fish- ing on the Deschutes should be excellent,” he said. “The Deschutes River fish- ery below Sherars Falls is ex- tremely popular because it of- fers a great chance to catch a Columbia River spring chinook from the bank,” he said. “In re- cent years, as many as 10,000 anglers a year have participat- ed in the fishery.” Here is a summary of the temporary rules for the De- schutes River adopted by ODFW: • Open for adipose fin- clipped chinook from April 1 through July 31, from the mouth of the I-84 bridge up- stream to Sherars Falls. • The catch limit is two adult adipose fin-clipped salmon per day, and five adipose fin- clipped jack salmon per day. • All non-adipose fin-clipped chinook salmon must be re- leased unharmed. • It is unlawful to continue to fish from Sherars Falls down- stream to the upper railroad trestle after taking a daily bag limit of two adult chinook salmon. Hood River – Managers are predicting far fewer adult fish returning to the Hood River, about 650 hatchery fish. According to French, the Hood River offers another good opportunity to catch a spring chinook from the bank, but in conditions that are much less crowded than on the De- schutes. In addition, the re- moval of Powerdale Dam in the summer of 2010 expanded the legal angling area and offers anglers considerably more room to spread out. Here is a summary of the temporary rules for the Hood River adopted by ODFW: • Open for adipose fin- clipped chinook from April 1 through June 30, from the mouth to mainstem confluence with the East Fork, and the West Fork from the confluence with the mainstem upstream to the angling deadline 200 feet downstream of Punchbowl Falls. • The catch limit is two adult adipose fin-clipped salmon per day, and five adipose fin- clipped jack salmon per day. • All non-adipose fin-clipped chinook salmon must be re- leased unharmed. Page 13 Power of the People By W. Marc Farmer, General Manager, West Oregon Electric Cooperative I Can Dig It! Once used as Seven- ties slang, it also fits dur- ing the Spring and Sum- mer months for those who become anxiously en- gaged in gardening, land- scaping, construction proj- ects, the honey-do lists, road repairs, and so forth. It is a time of concern for us, as we inevitably incur outages from those who dig where our power lines are located. This creates a safety hazard and puts lives in jeop- ardy. It also causes additional work for our crews, who have to drop everything to go repair the line and restore power to our affected mem- bers. To save us all from harm, and save time and money, let me share with you information on a new number you can call before you start dig- ging. It is as easy as it gets, as it has only three numbers – 811. The new 811 number is a national “Call Be- fore You Dig” phone number designated by the FCC to eliminate the confusion of multiple “Call Before You Dig” numbers, and to help saves lives, costs, and minimize damages to under- ground utilities. The call will be directed to a Lo- cal One Call Center where personnel will notify affected utility companies, who will send crews to mark underground lines for free. Knowing where underground utility lines are buried before you dig helps prevent injury, ex- pense, and penalties. Every year, almost 700,000 utility lines across the U.S. are hit by digging projects. Only 52% of people planning to dig are likely to call to have lines marked before digging. The penalties for not calling beforehand are significant. The person causing the damage to underground facilities, (it is the same for tele- phone, gas, electric, cable), will be charged for the repair of the facilities. They will also be sub- ject to enforcement actions by the Oregon Pub- lic Utilities Commission and Civil penalties of up to $1,000 for the first violation and up to $5,000 for each subsequent violation. Civil penalties for intentional violations of the Oregon Excavation Law are up to $5,000 for the first violation and up to $10,000 for each subsequent violation. So, let’s all be safe and call the 811 number before any digging around underground utility lines. It will end up saving us all a lot of time, money, and possible injuries. On the same token, it is also a time that a lot of folks trim or fall trees on their property. We in- variably end up putting lines back up that some- one has dropped a tree across or a limb has fall- en upon. If you are falling any trees that have the potential of falling across our power lines, please notify us and we can make arrange- ments to drop the line until the tree is down. It is free if we drop the line, but it will cost you if you drop the line. We charge the full cost of repairs to anyone who damages any of our lines by neg- ligence. If you notice limbs or trees that pose an imminent danger to our lines, please give us a call so we can notify our tree trimmers to put it on their schedule. This will help us be proactive rather than reactive and have to come out dur- ing a storm or after hours to repair a downed or damaged line. Together, we can keep our lines and our peo- ple safe, our costs down, and the system up and on. Thank you for helping us to help you. Want to know what happens around here all year? Get The Independent delivered to your home for a year for only $20.00 Call today to start your subscription 503-429-9410