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Illinois Valley News, Cave Junction, OR Wednesday, May 7, 2003
Honors due
responders
at GP blaze
Brown new state forester
Marvin Brown of Mary-
land has been selected as the
new Oregon state forester by
the Board of Forestry in a spe-
cial meeting held in Salem.
The former Missouri state
forester fills a vacancy left by
Jim Brown, who resigned ear-
lier this year to become Gov.
Kulongoski’s chief natural
resource policy adviser.
Currently director of pri-
vate forestland management
with the American Forest and
Paper Association in Wash-
ington, D.C., Brown served as
state forester of Missouri from
1992 to 1999. He worked for
Willamette Industries from
1999 to 2002 as director of
forest policy, stationed in
Portland, Ore., and Ft. Mill,
S.C.
As head of the Oregon
Dept. of Forestry, (ODF)
Police officers, sheriff’s
deputies, firefighters, medics
and other support personnel
will be honored for their ef-
forts at a $6 million blaze on
March 6 by the Grants Pass
Dept. of Public Safety
(GPDPS).
The arson fire involved
two assisted-living facilities.
The awards/medal ceremony
will be held at 7 p.m. on
Wednesday, May 21 during a
regular session of the Grants
Pass City Council.
In the days following the
incident, stories emerged in-
volving heroic acts by several
GPDPS police officers and
firefighters, Josephine County
Sheriff’s Office deputies and
Rural/Metro Fire Dept. fire-
fighters.
In addition, many other
members contributed in a vari-
ety of ways, which collec-
tively resulted in the rescue of
more than 60 elderly resi-
dents, as well as suppression
of the fire. GPDPS detectives
have arrested a juvenile sus-
pect for starting the blaze.
Blanche M. Phlaum
U.S. Navy Petty Officer
3rd Class Blanche M. Phlaum,
granddaughter of Ronald
Phlaum of Kerby, and a 1999
Illinois Valley High School
graduate, is deployed to the
Western Pacific and Arabian
Gulf while assigned to the
aircraft carrier USS “Carl Vin-
son,” homeported in Bremer-
ton, Wash.
Phlaum is one of more
than 6,000 Pacific Fleet Sail-
ors and Marines aboard the
ships of the USS “Carl Vin-
son” carrier battle group com-
mitted to maintaining peace
and stability in the Western
Pacific region.
During the deployment,
volunteers from Phlaum’s ship
gave a combined 420 man-
hours of their liberty time to
the Sae Doel Children’s Home
during a port visit in Pusan,
Republic of Korea. Phlaum’s
ship also made port visits in
Guam and Pearl Harbor, Ha-
waii where Sailors had the
opportunity to shop, sight-see
and enjoy the culture and cui-
sine.
Aircraft carriers like the
“Vinson” are deployed
throughout the world to main-
tain U.S. presence and provide
rapid response in times of cri-
sis. They serve as a highly
visible deterrent to would-be
aggressors, and are equipped
with the most versatile and
powerful weapons and aircraft
available, the Navy said.
Brown will administer the
agency under policies set by
the board. The department
provides wildfire protection to
16 million acres of private and
public forestland, implements
the Oregon Forest Practices
Act and manages 800,000
acres of state-owned forests.
In addition, ODF provides
technical assistance to the
state’s many family forestland
owners.
The resident of Rockville,
Md., has forestry credentials
that include international pol-
icy-making experience. He
served on a panel that wrote
the Montreal Process Criteria
and Indicators, widely recog-
nized measures of forest sus-
tainability that the Oregon
Board of Forestry has adapted
and incorporated into its draft
2003 strategic plan.
JACOBSON PAINTING
Thinking of having
your paint jobs done?
NO JOB IS
TOO SMALL
Phone 592-6310
Today
for a FREE estimate!
ILLINOIS VALLEY HIGH
SCHOOL, which hosted the
annual Academic Masters
competition on Wednesday,
April 30, had five winners. In
top photo (from left) Oley
Crocker, 3rd in science, Jes-
sica McMahan, 3rd, music;
Chris Boatman, 4th, math;
Daniel Clausnitzer, 4th, Eng-
lish; and Kyle Hoelzle, 4th,
social studies. Grants Pass
High won the team trophy
against I.V., North Valley
and Hidden Valley. Center
photo shows all competi-
tors, and Boatman in com-
petition at right. (Photos by
Ryan Schaffer)
CARL JACOBSON JR. PAINTING
License #137572
Cell phone 592-9219
BPA quits Enron; sees wholesale drop
The Bonneville Power
Administration has terminated
all its remaining contracts
with the bankrupt Enron.
BPA estimates the action
will reduce a proposed 15 per-
cent wholesale rate increase
by about 2 percent.
The agreement saves more
than $40 million for North-
west ratepayers, a discount of
30 percent off the market
value of the contracts. Under
the agreement approved by the
bankruptcy court, BPA pays
Enron’s creditors $99 million.
The agreement also re-
solves legal uncertainty about
other Enron contracts BPA
unilaterally terminated early
in 2002. Those terminations
saved ratepayers approxi-
mately $150 million, which is
already figured into BPA’s
rates.
“We were able to negoti-
ate a very beneficial settle-
ment for ratepayers,” said
BPA Administrator Steve
Wright. “The agreement
avoids high legal costs and
unpredictable rulings by regu-
lators and the courts. It’s a
significant step among our
efforts to reduce costs and
provide certainty at a moment
when the Northwest economy
needs it most.”
Wright said he particu-
larly wanted to thank Sens.
Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), and
Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.),
for their unflagging pursuit of
a resolution of Enron bank-
ruptcy issues in a way favor-
able to Pacific Northwest con-
sumers.
“Their strong support in
this matter put us in a better
position to negotiate the
agreement,” he said.
BPA’s portfolio of busi-
ness with Enron dates to 1998
when the company was a ma-
jor market participant. In
2001, utility and industrial
customers throughout the re-
gion placed an additional
3,000 average megawatts of
demand on BPA under new
five-year agreements.
Lacking sufficient genera-
tion from the federal system,
BPA met some of the need by
Pay no attention to
what the critics say;
there has never been a
statue erected to a critic.
- Jan Sibelius -
entering into five-year con-
tracts to buy power from mar-
keters, including Enron.
BPA purchased about 300
average megawatts from En-
ron at an average price of
about $52 per megawatt hour
(MWh) to be delivered be-
tween 2003 and 2006. At the
time, market prices ranged as
high as $100 MWh. Prices
now are a little above $35
MWh. After Enron filed for
bankruptcy in 2001, it contin-
ued to honor its BPA contracts
by delivering power.
BPA will pay the settle-
ment from a government fund
that provides money for reso-
lution of legal disputes. The
agency will repay the fund
over seven years.
A big
THANK YOU
to all the teachers, classified and office staff.
You are always there for our kids.
Your dedication is so greatly appreciated.
Evergreen PTA