Page 2
The
The INDEPENDENT, September 5, 2012
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
New school finally open
We admit that when the bond measure for the new
school was on the ballot, we didn’t like it. The reason
– we don’t like gambling. But, the majority of the Ver-
nonia community took that gamble, beat the odds, and
now we have a new school. It’s nice that it’s built to
LEED Platinum standards, but we’re really glad our
students no longer have to go from modular to modu-
lar to go to classes or the bathroom. We’re glad they
won’t have to go out in the rain and snow to get to the
cafeteria. We were especially thrilled to see the excite-
ment on the faces of both children and school staff at
the Grand Opening.
The school looks nice, but that’s not really what
makes a school the heart of a community. It’s the kids,
and it’s the activities that are held at the school. The
stage in the new school is beautiful and we look for-
ward to seeing the Christmas programs, community
theatre presentations and other events that bring the
community together. As was stated at the grand open-
ing, “this is not just a school, it’s a community center”,
and it feels really nice to have a space for get-togeth-
ers that is out of the way of the water around here.
Walking by the old schools yesterday morning was
bittersweet without bell tones signaling the class peri-
od changes. On the other hand, it’s sure a relief to
have that new building open and operating.
No new council members
Unless there is a surprise write-in campaign, there
will be no new faces on city councils, in either Vernon-
ia or Banks. The filing deadline for the November elec-
tion is over and the only people who filed for those po-
sitions were the incumbents. There have been plenty
of people bringing up issues in both communities, but
apparently the people with the issues are not willing to
serve on the council and help solve the problems that
face any city; water, sewer, zoning, etc. That’s too bad,
but the good people who are willing to serve deserve
your thanks and your support. And, while you’re at it,
tell them what you think about the issues that affect us.
Update on Vernonia Police car use
The last thing Vernonia Police Chief Conner said re-
garding police cars going home with officers was that
the practice would end after Jamboree. And it did.
Thanks, Chief.
Ike Says…
By Dale Webb, member
Nehalem Valley Chapter, Izaak Walton League
The hot temperatures
we had over Jamboree
weekend, ended our
two-year run with sub-
lethal temperatures in lo-
cal streams. On Monday,
August 6th, I recorded a
stream temperature of
75.7 degrees, which ex-
ceeds the upper lethal
limit for salmonids. With the elevated stream
flows that we are seeing this year, the lethal
stream temperatures most likely did not extend
upstream above Vernonia as far as in previous
years. Still, when the river turns hot like this, it
excludes a tremendous amount of the main
stem Nehalem River from rearing habitat and
kills a lot of the fish that get trapped by these hot
water events. Hot weather in the second full
week in August also pushed stream tempera-
tures beyond the upper lethal limit of 75 de-
grees. The main stem at the Green Steel Bridge
was 76.0 degrees, the Nehalem at the conflu-
ence with Rock Creek was 75.0 degrees and
Rock Creek was 69.8 degrees. Again, good
stream flow, as shown with Rock Creek, is a sav-
ing grace and Rock Creek most likely did not
suffer significant mortalities.
Many people would think with the recent hot,
dry weather spell, that we may be close to a wa-
ter curtailment, but actually we are not. Looking
at the USGS stream gauge pages, it is readily
apparent, despite the recent hot weather, that
coastal streams all across Oregon are running at
normal or slightly above normal flows. Currently,
the upper Nehalem gauge is experiencing some
problems, the stream flow data is not being giv-
en. Having watched this gauge from time to
time, I can see that USGS is trying to “ground
truth” the station with actual conditions, but is
having some sort of issue. Driving by the station
the other day it appeared that a new gravel bar
has appeared and divided the channel right in
front of the station, maybe this is the issue.
Don’t be alarmed though, none of these issues
should have any effect on our flood warning in-
formation from this gauge.
My hunting buddy, Jim King, and I made a trip
over to eastern Oregon to hunt coyotes a few
weeks ago. Jim had a good idea where to look
for the song dogs since he had hunted the same
area a few times for antelope. The first dog of
the trip was observed from the two-track road we
were driving, and Jim made an off-hand shot on
him. We made our first calling set-up after walk-
ing through a saddle in a ridgeline paralleling the
road we were on. The Foxpro caller screamed of
a rabbit in distress across the large expanse of
sage and junipers that laid before us. Within
eight minutes a coyote appeared off to my right,
Jim let him come on in and I nudged up the
sound on the now silent caller. My sights were
already on the coyote, when he stepped up on a
rock and cocked his head to listen to the dying
rabbit. That was the last thing he heard. Jim and
I looked at each other, both thinking, “Wow, two
dogs within an hour.” We walked back past the
Please see page 4