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About Illinois Valley news. (Cave City, Oregon) 1937-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 11, 2002)
Page 4 Illinois Valley News, Cave Junction, OR Wednesday, December 11, 2002 Hunnicutt named OIA head director Oregonians In Action (OIA), Oregon’s property owners association, an- nounced the appointment of Dave Hunnicutt as executive director. Hunnicutt succeeds Larry George, who resigned to de- vote more time to his family’s hazelnut processing business. Hunnicutt has been OIA’s director of legal affairs since 1996. “We were all disap- pointed when Larry resigned, but we’re ready to move for- ward and continue fighting for property rights and represent- ing the interests of property owners throughout the state,” said Hunnicutt. OIA will continue to take an active stand in defending the rights of Oregon property owners. “Our mission will remain the same,” said Hunnicutt. “We will promote and defend the rights of landowners to make reasonable use of their property, challenge burden- some and unnecessary regula- tions which limit individual freedom.” Hunnicutt indicated the OIA will ask the legislature to adopt a replacement for Ballot Measure 7, the compensation measure approved by the vot- ers in November 2000, and recently overturned by the Oregon Supreme Court. In addition, OIA will seek changes to Oregon’s overly restrictive rural zoning laws, and will challenge urban poli- cies that mandate high density housing developments in es- tablished neighborhoods. “We will continue to be involved in all areas of gov- ernment-with the legislature, the state agencies, the courts, and the initiative process,” said Hunnicutt. “OIA has grown tremen- dously in the last decade, and I hope to continue that pro- gress,” he said. YOUTH WRESTLING The Illinois Valley Youth Wrestling program spon- sored a tournament at Illinois Valley High School on Saturday, Dec. 7. Eight individual youth wrestling teams com- peted in six different categories. Each youth wrestling group will sponsor one of these tournaments as one of their major fundraisers. Approximately 260 wres- tlers from eight different programs attended the I.V. tournament. There are 36 youths participat- ing in the I.V. Youth Wrestling program. (Photos by Kathy Young) ‘The Outdoor Toy Store’ 370 Caves Hwy. (541) 592-3416 M-F 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Sat. 8 a.m. to Noon DHS has two stage plan to guard against smallpox Public health officials at the Oregon Dept. of Human Services (DHS) will send two smallpox vaccination plans to the Federal Centers for Dis- ease Control and Prevention (CDC). “There’s not been a case of smallpox in the United States since 1949,” said Mel Kohn, state epidemiologist in DHS. “But because there is a remote possibility that small- pox could be used in a bioter- rorist attack, our Nation needs to be ready to protect its citi- zens,” said Kohn. DHS will forward its plan for how public health would protect Oregonians in case of a smallpox outbreak. A sec- ond plan for vaccinating health workers in preparation for smallpox has been for- warded to the CDC. Other states around the Nation are submitting similar plans. “Smallpox vaccine is not entirely safe. It can cause se- vere side effects and in rare instances even death,” said Kohn. “We need to be ready to spring into action if smallpox is discovered, yet we don’t want to risk harming large numbers of people through large scale vaccination in the absence of the disease,” said Kohn. The first plan focuses on the approach Oregon would take to protect the public if a case of smallpox was de- tected. It relies on a concept called “ring vaccination.” “Ring vaccination in- Dave’s Outdoor Power Equipment volves swift inoculation of people who were in very close contact with a smallpox vic- tim,” Kohn said. “This is followed by an additional round of vaccina- tion with a second set of per- sons, those who were in con- tact with the contacts of the victim,” he said. Kohn noted that individu- als who are vaccinated within four days of exposure to smallpox should be protected against the disease. The second plan details how Oregon will prepare for a potential smallpox outbreak. If Federal authorities release the vaccine for preparedness pur- poses, a small number of health care workers around the state will be offered vaccina- tion. They would then be ready to respond to an out- break, if needed. “A total of approximately 100 public health workers at nine locations around the state will be identified and offered vaccine, along with approxi- mately 600 health care work- ers in hospitals throughout Oregon,” Kohn said. “During the next year, all local health departments will develop the capacity to estab- lish large immunization clin- ics quickly,” he said. Kohn emphasized that all vaccination is voluntary. He also said that if the federal government made a recom- mendation for broader vacci- nation, the state public health officer would advise the gov- ernor on how that could be carried out. Be holiday safe - Don’t drink and drive.