Page 8
Illinois Valley News, Cave Junction, OR Wednesday, April 30, 2003
Project ...
(Continued from page 1)
ence teacher Mary Trammell
said the project will create a
“living lab” for students.
“Indirect learning works
best,” Trammell said. “The
learning the kids do should
radiate into the community,”
she said.
Ultimately, students will
learn to respect Nature and
become “caretakers in the for-
est,” Trammell said.
The students will be in-
volved in making trails, and
deciding what to plant in the
area. Eventually, the area will
be like a living lab for stu-
dents, Trammell said.
She has received a Teach-
ers in the Woods grant to at-
tend a seminar this summer.
Students will be really
involved, will help evaluate
the area, establish native vege-
tation and help in ridding the
area of noxious weeds, also
identifying plants.
There is also talk of even-
tually putting in a pond.
“They have an area that’s
literally in their backyard,”
Cleveland said. “This little
area is quite a representation
of the area’s forest.”
Cleveland did some of the
clearing work at the school
site in 2001 as part of a pro-
ject for the city of Cave Junc-
tion. He has done this type of
work for 20 years.
He said that Hewkin ap-
proached him with the project.
Cleveland initiated sup-
port from FAC and ODF to
develop an action plan.
FAC has dedicated time
and resources to help with
fuels reduction. The last day
of clearing brush was on Mon-
day, April 28. The IVHS track
team and coaches showed up
to work.
FAC also will supply the
plants to be planted, said Fitz-
patrick, FAC forest technician
involved in the project.
FAC President Susan
Chapp said that the group sees
its role as a long-term one.
Volunteer fallers, includ-
ing Bob Webb and Dominic
Materazzi, donated time and
effort to cut down some snags.
Another project goal is to
improve or replace the fence
currently surrounding the
wooded area through grant
funds, Cleveland said.
FAC doing the prelimi-
nary work of clearing under-
brush and fuels reduction. Fu-
els reduction work was to be
finished on Monday.
Money for the project was
made available through the
National Fire Plan.
“It’s a win-win situation
for everybody,” Cleveland
said, noting that he is thrilled
to be a part of the project.
Dykes chosen
to lead county
health office
Josephine County Board
of Commissioners announced
the appointment of Pam
Dykes as interim director for
the Josephine County Public
Health and Community Ac-
tion Dept.
Dykes will replace the
retiring Gwen Bowman effec-
tive June 1.
Dykes was hired by Jose-
phine County in July 1990 and
currently serves as the deputy
administrator of the depart-
ment, as well as the division
manager for Public Health and
Correctional Health. She was
awarded the title and job re-
sponsibilities of director of
nursing in May 2000.
The interim director posi-
tion will include administra-
tion of the following depart-
ment divisions: public health,
environmental health, animal
protection and regulation,
Community Action, Food
Share, correctional health.
One student died, and three classmates from Lorna Byrne
were injured in the crash of a pickup truck. (Photo by IVFD)
Family, I.V. mourn loss
(Continued from page 1)
with Dr. James Olson, county
medical examiner.
The girl’s father and her
aunt, Cave Junction resident
Kris Rust, said that they have
“found it impossible” to con-
tact him, despite numerous
telephone calls to various lo-
cations, as they want to know
when the body will be re-
leased so that a funeral and
burial can be held. They also
phoned Karen Gunson in the
state medical examiner’s of-
fice in Salem, who gave them
no help, said Rust, but made
excuses.
“We’ve been waiting for
several days now to find out
when the body will be re-
leased,” said Rust on Monday,
April 28. “Many relatives who
came from out-of-town, figur-
ing that a funeral would be
held soon, have had to leave,
as they were unable to wait
here any longer.”
She added that the family
“will bring Tygrachet home”
and bury her on the family
ranch here. Earlier, there was
a plan to have the burial in
Pennsylvania, but that has
been changed. A memorial
fund was set up at SOFCU in
Cave Junction to help with
that, but the family no longer
needs financial help, said Ty-
grachet’s father.
He indicated that the fund
provides a way for many in
the community to show their
caring, and that any monies
given to the memorial fund
will be put to good use for
others.
Tygrachet, said LBMS
Principal Peter Maluk, was “a
bright and wholesome”
youngster involved in activi-
ties including drama. Her
mother noted that Tygrachet
was “a good girl” who “made
one mistake and died.” Be-
sides school activities, the girl
had won a number of beauty
pageants, her mother said.
The mistake to which she
referred is that the girl was
missing from home last
Wednesday morning, and that
she had been seeing a new
boyfriend after breaking up
with another. The parents, at
the recommendation of the
sheriff’s office, reported her
as a runaway person so that
deputies could look for her.
However, before she
could be located, the crash
occurred. There was no evi-
dence of alcohol use, said the
sheriff’s office.
Injured in the accident,
reported at 4:32 p.m. on
Wednesday, April 23 in the
2900 block of Dick George
Road, were O’Brien resident
Dustin F. Culver, 13, identi-
fied as the driver of his par-
ent’s 1989 Chevrolet pickup
truck by Josephine County
Sheriff’s Office; and Cave
Junction residents Christopher
Cueva; and O’Rion C. Bellus,
both 14.
Bellus was taken via a
Mercy Flights medical
evacuation helicopter to
Rogue Valley Medical Center
in Medford. He was reported
in critical, but improving con-
dition. Culver and Cueva were
taken by American Medical
Response ambulance to Three
Rivers Community Hospital in
Grants Pass. Their conditions
were not immediately avail-
able, but unofficial reports
said they were “doing OK.”
An accident reconstruc-
tion team from Oregon State
Police is said to be working on
the case with sheriff’s road
deputies and detectives. Inves-
tigation also involves the
situation of the boy’s driving
the pickup, apparently without
his parent’s knowledge.
The morning after the
crash, Maluk went on the mid-
dle school television station,
KVIK, and talked about the
incident to inform students. In
addition, several persons
trained in grief counseling
were at the school, and many
of the some 370 students
availed themselves of their
presence, said Maluk. “We
also have done some debrief-
ing during the days follow-
ing,” he said.
For valley emergency per-
sonnel involved in the inci-
dent, including members of
I.V. Rural Fire Protection Dis-
trict, a Critical Incident Stress
Debriefing was held on Friday
evening, April 25 in Cave
Junction City Hall. “It was
well attended and went well,”
said acting Chief Jeff Gavlik.
Tygrachet’s family is
grateful for the prayers, food
and other forms of support
that have come from through-
out the Illinois Valley commu-
nity.
And, noted her mother,
“The whole town is grieving
for our little girl, who brought
so much love. She was always
such a good girl.”
Commented the girl’s
principal: “It’s tragic and so
unnecessary. How could this
happen? We’re trying to deter-
mine that.”
Besides counseling, stu-
dents were encouraged to
write poems and stories, and
draw pictures to help them
cope with the loss of their
classmate. Here’s one:
* * *
Until You’re Gone; in lov-
ing memory of Tygrachet Rose
- By Roxy Holmes, classmate:
You never know what
you'll miss until it’s gone, and
you can’t see the pain that’s
caused to those who care until
you’re gone.
You never knew, but I
cared so much; yet I didn’t get
the chance to tell you until you
were gone.
And now you’re gone, and
I’m so helpless. What to do?
How to deal? Why’d you leave
me? I’m so confused.
I thought everything was
fine, until the moment I real-
ized that you were gone.
COLORFUL, PLAYFUL PLAYERS - Team ZTO from Cave Junction-based DMZ Paintball
Supply took first place in the Sunday, April 20 five-man paintball tournament in Klamath
Falls. ZTO players (from left) Jeff Bradbury and Jonathon Bradbury, both from Cave Junc-
tion; Michael Champlain from Sunny Valley, name unavailable, Loren Yarbrough, from Cave
Junction, and name unavailable. Names also unavailable for the man with the small child.
DMZ, weather permitting, plans paintball competition on Saturday, May 3 beginning at 9
a.m. at the paintball park on Upper Reeves Creek Road off Kerby Mainline Road.
(Photo by DMZ Paintball)
Seniors drug discount
program in effect
been insured for prescription
Oregon’s new program to
deliver discounted Medicaid
prescription-drug prices to
low-income seniors will be-
come statewide on Thursday,
May 1, when the last of Ore-
gon’s 36 counties are added to
the self-supporting program.
That is when low-income
seniors in Josephine, Jackson,
Benton, Clackamas, Lincoln
and Linn counties will become
eligible to request applications
for the first time. Those in
other counties became eligible
to join the program during the
past three months.
The Senior Prescription
Drug Assistance Program,
authorized by the 2001 Ore-
gon Legislature, is managed
by the Oregon Dept. of Hu-
man Services (DHS).
“This is an opportunity for
low-income seniors to save
substantially on prescription
drugs,” said Lynn Read, state
Medicaid director in DHS. “It
is easy to sign up, and more
than a third of Oregon’s phar-
macies are voluntarily partici-
pating.”
Seniors may request appli-
cations by calling (800) 359-
9517 (or TTY: 800 621-5260).
The toll-free phone line ac-
cepts calls weekdays (except
holidays) 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
As many as 100,000 low-
income seniors are believed to
be eligible.
To be eligible, a senior
must be 65 or older, have an
income below 185 percent of
the federal poverty level
($16,391 annually for an indi-
vidual), have less than $2,000
in liquid assets (not including
house and car) and not have
drugs in the prior six months.
If a prescription drug
would normally cost $60 but
the state Medicaid program
pays $50, then the participat-
ing senior would also pay $50.
Typical discounts are 10 per-
cent to 20 percent, although
Read said mail-order prescrip-
tions may be discounted more.
Seniors pay a $50 annual
fee after they are determined
eligible for the self-supporting
program, which issues a mem-
bership card that seniors may
use at participating pharma-
cies.
The program is not a
Medicaid program, and par-
ticipants do not become Medi-
caid clients.
Read said the Governor’s
Commission on Senior Ser-
vices reported that 50 percent
of uninsured seniors take par-
tial doses, and 83 percent skip
filling some prescriptions.
Fifty-seven percent of
Oregon’s seniors have no in-
surance for drug costs, accord-
ing to the commission’s data.
More than a third of the
state’s 750-plus pharmacies
have signed up to participate
in the voluntary program.
Saturday, May 3
592-4553
Don’t forget
Cinco de Mayo
Monday, May 5