Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Illinois Valley news. (Cave City, Oregon) 1937-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 8, 2003)
Illinois Valley News, Cave Junction, OR Wednesday, January 8, 2003 Page 2 .Alot of peepul say that noosepaypers rite storees tht are aimed at peepul who kant read above maybee the sixth- grade level. But I, for one, do not believe such drivel. I think that we write to at least the seventh-grade. Just kid- ding. Actually, El Jefe is having a difficult time getting going on this week’s offering, probably because he has so many topics in mind. One that comes immediately to the forefront involves Christmas and New Year’s. For Christmas, our son, Mikey, and wife, Christy, and daughter, Kimberly, 6, drove down from Washington state; thereby giving us a wonderful holiday. Jan and I had figured that we’d be alone, but having family with us was a treat. We were allowed to watch “Willie Wonka & The Chocolate Factory” three times. It’s an interesting movie, especially because it demonstrates all too clearly Gene Wilder’s comedic insanity. Kimberly enjoyed it a lot, as did her grandparents, who both have their own brands of insan- ity. And we got to watch “Monsters Inc.,” which turned out to be quite entertaining and well done. I only got scared a couple of times. We also watched “An Ant’s Life,” and found it to be a pretty decent flick. (I may never step on an- other of those little insects for as long as I live.) The most fun we had occurred on Christmas morning, as Kimberly opened the 542 gifts for her under our tree. The number doesn’t include those that she opened at her home in Covington before the move south to Beautiful Downtown Cave Junction. And as usual, she left a few of her presents behind, which we will either ship to her, or maybe take them up there ourselves, as we tentatively planned an outing to Underground Seattle. We’ve already been to Oregon Caves NM (national monument, not New Mexico), and thought we should expand our horizons, so to speak. Jan and I finally got mugs emblazoned with #1 Grandma and #1 Grandpa. So we’ve arrived. It was great fun having our three guests, and we were reluctant to see them go. They arrived on Christmas Eve and left on the following Saturday morn, so we had a terrific visit; including a delicious Christmas Day dinner that Jan and Christy worked on. For New Year’s Eve, Jan and I swilled ourselves silly on non-alcoholic wine and apple cider. She made a non-fat dip for our non-fat crackers, and we enjoyed the repast while watching a movie. Can’t recall the title. And wow, we made it all the way to 11:30 before falling into the arms of Mor- pheus. (And each other.) When we awoke the next morning, it was already 2003, which we calmly accepted. What with all the medically enforced time off that El Jefe is enduring at this point, he’s been watching too many movies. I list “good ones” as those above, plus “Bad Com- pany,” “Divine Secrets of the YaYa Sisterhood,” “Enigma” and “Saving Grace.” The “so-so” ones include “K-19/The Widow Maker,” “The Art of War,” “Star Wars/Attack of the Clones,” “Minority Report,” “Goldmember” and others too numerous to mention. And thass it 4 this weak. Illinois Valley News An Independent Weekly Newspaper Co-owned and published by Robert R. (Bob) and Jan Rodriguez Bob Rodriguez, Editor El Jefe Entered as second class matter June 11, 1937 at Post Office as Official Newspaper for Josephine County and Josephine County Three Rivers School District, published at 321 S. Redwood Hwy., Cave Junction, OR 97523 Periodicals postage paid at Cave Junction, OR 97523 Post Office Box 1370 USPS 258-820 Telephone (541) 592-2541, FAX (541) 592-4330 Volume 65, No. 42 STAFF: Virginia Gilliam, Cindy Newton, Britt Fairchild Chris Robertson, Sharon Silva & Becky Loudon Member: Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association DEADLINES: News, Display Ads, Announcements & Letters 3 P.M. FRIDAY (Ads will be accepted until Noon, Monday with an additional charge.) POLICY ON LETTERS: ‘Illinois Valley News’ welcomes letters to the editor provided they are of general interest, in good taste, legible and not libelous. All letters must be signed, using complete name, and contain the writer’s address and telephone number. The latter need not be published, but will be used to verify authenticity. The ‘News’ reserves the right to edit letters. One letter per person per month. Letters are used at the discretion of the publisher. Unpublished letters are neither acknowledged nor returned. A prepaid charge may be levied if a letter is inordinately long in the editor's opinion. SUBSCRIPTION RATES One year in Josephine County - $20.80 One year in Jackson and Douglas Counties - $24.40 One year in all other Oregon counties and out-of-state -$28 POSTMASTER: Send address changes to P.O. Box 1370, Cave Junction, OR 97523 Editor’s Note: Views and commentary expressed in letters to the editor are strictly those of the let- ter-writers. * * * Typed, double-spaced letters are acceptable for consideration. Hand- written letters that are d o u bl e - s pa ce d an d highly legible also can be considered for publi- cation. Cards of thanks are not accepted as let- ters.) * * * Finger-pointing From Tom Kitchar Cave Junction On Saturday, July 13, 2002, lightning strikes started small wildfires in the Kalmiopsis Wilderness. Due to the inept fire man- agement policies of the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), in particular, our own Siskiyou National Forest (SNF), these fires were left unattended for several days until they had grown to more than 20,000 acres. By then the fires were out of control and with the extremely dry conditions it looked like all the SNF could burn (including Illinois Val- ley and Cave Junction). By the time the fires were declared “contained,” nearly 1/2 million acres had burned. Some $160 million was spent, and the citizens of Jo- sephine, Coos, and Curry counties all knew first-hand the panic of possibly losing everything to the fire. And certainly, every per- son in Southwestern Oregon and surrounding counties en- joyed breathing the smoke for weeks on end, the watery eyes, the sore throats, the half-headaches, etc. As bad as all that was, what makes it even worse is that for years now a certain group of people worked like the devil to make 100 percent sure that something like this summer’s fires would, abso- lutely, positively happen. For more than 20 years, these people protested, lobbied, sued, wrote countless “letters to the editor,” and spent mil- lions of dollars to make sure that these fires would happen. As so much diligent ef- fort should not go unnoticed and unappreciated, we should all give thanks to the folks at Siskiyou Regional Education Project (SREP), Headwaters, and other such groups. With- out their unstopping efforts, these fires may have been containable, stoppable, and maybe even preventable. For several months now, many letters to the editor have been printed in area pa- pers, submitted by environ- mentalists and all trying to shift the blame for these fires to anyone else. To date, they have blamed God, USFS, SNF, loggers and even “global warming” (but certainly not themselves). Oregon’s own, U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, said, during his visit to see for himself, “This is not time for pointing fingers…” Gee, why not? Could it be that if there were any finger-pointing, the fingers would be pointed at him and those individuals he seems to represent? I say just the opposite. This is exactly the time for finger-pointing. Maybe they would rather we all forget about the danger, the panic, the smoke, the disruption of lives, the lost lives, the dead and suffering animals, and the thousands if not millions of dollars spent moving and storing irreplaceable items, animals, etc. Maybe they want us to forget the thousands of acres burned to a crisp, the billions of board-feet of timber wasted or going to waste, or the hundreds of potentially high -paying jobs th at could’ve been created salvag- ing the burned timber, thus wisely restoring and manag- ing the forest. I, for one, will not forget. I will be constantly re- minded of what these folks have done every time I drive by the soon-to-be-closed Rough & Ready Lumber mill. I will be reminded every time I go shopping in Cave Junction where there will be more closed businesses, shorter lines, and more park- ing spaces because some 145 families will no longer be shopping and spending money like they used to. I’m sure that I will be reminded in future years as more of the SNF and more of our livelihoods, dreams, and security goes up in smoke. Why would a group of people devote so much en- ergy into the social and eco- nomic destruction of this area? They say it’s to “protect the environment.” I beg to differ. I fail to see how burn- ing 1/2 million acres of forest protected anything. As if this wasn’t enough to make them happy, they scream, complain, and threaten legal action as soon as anyone starts discussing salvage logging in less than 5 percent of the burned area, even when allowing some salvage logging may have saved Josephine County’s last lumber mill and nearly 150 jobs. This is not about protect- ing the environment. Instead, it’s about power: control. The ultimate goal is the total con- trol and ownership of all the land and natural resources (known by another name: “socialism”). doctor, and I showed the medicine to the pharmacist and asked him what they would have charged. He quoted $22 and gave me a slip of paper with their price. I then returned to the first store and confronted the salesperson with the new in- formation. He seemed sur- prised and checked with the second store, which would not provide a price over the phone. The reason for the high price was said to be that the distributor for the store deter- mines the price. They then checked around town and found an- other known-to-be reasonable store and was given a quote of $14. The store we were dealing with then honored that price and refunded the difference to my friend. What if we hadn’t checked? What if the doctor hadn’t told us the approxi- mate cost of the medicine? What if I hadn’t been with my friend and she had just paid whatever they charge? She is on a small Social Security in- come like many other senior citizens (including me). Is this the kind of service patrons are getting from their pharmacies? No wonder the costs of medicines are sinking seniors into bankruptcy. I suggest to anyone getting a prescription to check around before having them filled. Don’t just accept what they say without question. Phone the stores and ask. If they don’t want to tell you over the phone try another or visit them. Prices of prescriptions vary considerably. Why pay more than necessary? (Continued on page 3) Support the merchants who advertise in the ‘Illinois Valley News’ Tuesday - Saturday 3:30 to 8:30 p.m. 592-3228 355 Caves Hwy. Closed Sunday & Monday Prescription prices From Sandy Miller Cave Junction I have recently accompa- nied a 90-years young friend to a doctor in Grants Pass to have a scalp problem medi- cated. She was given a pre- scription for an ointment to use at night. The doctor advised us that the medication would cost approximately $20. He also suggested two pharma- cies. We took her to one which we knew to be popu- lar, where she had the pre- scription filled. The cost was $54. We were shocked. She wrote a check and we left the store. The more I thought about it, the angrier I got and de- cided to do some quick re- search. We went to the other pharmacy suggested by the Meidinger Concrete Construction Serving the Valley since 1974 Licensed - Bonded - Insured Specializing in all types of Concrete and Masonry New - Foundations - Walks - Drives - Patios Mobile Home Runners and Foundations Bridges and Abutments - Slabs - Large or Small Exposed Aggregate - Retaining Walls and Basements Stamped & Colored Concrete Phone 592-4485 Mike Meidinger License #93173
