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