New center
is the hub
for Selma
By BRITT FAIRCHILD
Staff Writer
For two years, Illinois
valley resident Bill Hunt
envisioned a place dedi-
cated to the people of the
Selma community.
A town hub, so to
speak, where citizens
could meet, share ideas,
take classes and have fun.
He wasn’t alone. Oth-
ers in the area wanted the
same thing.
Now, the volunteers
involved in forming a non-
profit organization called
the Selma Community and
Education Center are help-
ing each other realize that
dream.
“Selma needs a com-
munity center,” said Hunt,
of Kerby, who spear-
headed the idea. “What we
can do with it is wide
open.”
The group plans to use
the former Selma Elemen-
tary School to hold a range
of community events from
Bingo games, cooking
classes and after-school
programs, to potluck din-
ners and dances and even
job training and economic
development. Rooms are
available to rent by the
hour.
“We want to do what-
ever the community
wants,” said board of di-
rectors member Pamela
Tennity, who moved to
Selma almost two years
ago from Ashland, a place
she described as having a
great sense of community.
“It can happen here
too,” she said. “People
think of Selma as a wide
spot in the road, but there
are hundreds of people
living here.”
Tennity, who is
searching for someone to
lead a theatre program for
third to sixth-graders, said
she especially hopes to see
a lot of children activities
provided at the center.
“There’s no organized
program for children,” she
said.
So far, the group has
opened the building for
several community meet-
ings and held its own
swap meet fund-raiser at
the site on Friday and Sat-
urday, Aug. 8 and 9.
Yoga classes are also
being offered twice a week
and Southern Oregon Sani-
tation has provided recy-
cling receptacles at the
facility as well.
A project with the U.S.
Forest Service to create a
small interpretive museum
focusing on the Biscuit
Fire is also under way.
The group, which
formed in June, is renting
the building from Three
Rivers School District
(TRSD) for $10 a year and
is also responsible for cov-
ering insurance and other
expenses. It finalized a
lease with TRSD last
month after another or-
ganization’s lease on the
(Continued on page 7)
Business owners band
together to stop crime
Staking a claim for the
Cave Junction business
sector, a group of down-
town merchants have
vowed to begin a cam-
paign for thwarting a rash
of burglaries and vandal-
ism.
Ironically the initial
group, representing ap-
proximately 12 businesses,
met Friday evening, Aug.
8 in the Jubilee Park pavil-
ion, a site visited often by
vandals. Those at the infor-
mal meeting, called by
Mike and Donna Pernicka
of Puff ‘n’ Stuff, saw
where the chainlink enclo-
sure had been cut to reach
a soft drink vending ma-
chine, which was vandal-
ized.
Attendees plan to ap-
proach the Cave Junction
City Council, Josephine
County Sheriff’s Office,
and the board of county
commissioners to state
their concerns, list of pri-
orities and ask for help. In
addition, several merchants
said they are sleeping in
their businesses at night,
and that they are armed.
Others said that they
are patrolling the down-
town area during certain
hours, generally between 2
and 6 a.m., although
schedules vary. Some are
carrying video cameras.
One merchant said that
her store was vandalized in
broad daylight by juvenile
boys who threw a cinder
block through her front
window. “When someone
phoned the sheriff’s office
they were told there was
no one to respond,” said
the owner.
“People are infuriated
at such answers,” she said.
Despite the indication
that much of the current
crime wave is being perpe-
trated by persons from
about 13 to 22 years old, it
was noted that there are
many “good kids; awe-
some kids” in the valley.
However, the group that
seems to be involved in the
(Continued on page 7)
FACE FULL OF FUN -- Downtown Cave Junction came alive Saturday and Sunday,
Aug. 9 and 10 for the Wild Blackberry Festival. Vendors lined the streets selling
blackberry jam and other goodies. Some got a face full of tasty blackberry pies at
ShopSmart during hours of pie eating contests.
(More photos on page 4 and 5)
Hospice information center offers help
By BRITT FAIRCHILD
Staff Writer
Verdene Cagle knows
how it feels to lose a loved
one.
Her husband, Richard,
died almost two years ago.
He spent the final
months of his life under
the care of Lovejoy Hos-
pice, an organization that
provides end-of-life care
and support for terminally
ill persons and their fami-
lies in Josephine and parts
of Jackson and Douglas
counties.
Having hospice help
didn’t diminish the pain
and sorrow of watching
her husband of 25 years go
-- but it helped.
“They (Lovejoy) took
wonderful care of him,”
Cagle said.
So much so, that in
March, she began training
to become a Lovejoy vol-
unteer herself so that she
could reciprocate to others
the support she received.
Now, Cagle, who is
involved in Lovejoy’s be-
reavement program, has
another way to share her
hospice experience and
knowledge with those in
need.
On Tuesday, Aug. 5
Lovejoy opened an infor-
mation center at Immanuel
United Methodist Church,
200 W. Watkins, in Cave
Junction.
HEALING HANDS - I.V. Lovejoy Hospice volunteers will
staff the new information center in Cave Junction. Pic-
tured above are (from left) volunteers Kate Schiffman,
Bill Shiery, Outreach Coordinator Judy Hill, volunteer
Bonnie Greener, Development Coordinator Pam Allis-
ter and volunteer Verdene Cagle.
The center is open on
Tuesdays and Thursdays
from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and
is staffed by Cagle and the
seven other I.V. Lovejoy
volunteers.
Having a place where
residents can receive infor-
ma t i o n a b o u t wh a t
Lovejoy is and the services
it offers, from profession-
ally facilitated bereave-
ment groups to community
education programs and in-
home respite care, will
better serve the I.V. com-
munity, said Kate Schiff-
man, who has been a vol-
unteer for three years.
Schiffman, who pro-
vides respite care to fami-
lies, became inspired to
volunteer after caring for a
dying woman who did not
have hospice support.
Unfortunately, many
of those who could benefit
from hospice care know
nothing about it, said Judy
Hill, Lovejoy outreach co-
ordinator.
“(Hospice) is such a
scary word for people,”
she said, adding she hopes
the center will help change
that feeling of the un-
known.
If hospice can begin
working with a family
sooner, the easier it is to
make that transition.
“The earlier we can get
people the better,” Hill
(Continued on page 7)
An ironic view of CJ business owners crime preven-
tion meeting through a vandalized fence at Jubilee
Park on Friday, Aug. 8.
Mayor agrees: CJ needs
to beef up its security
Cave Junction Mayor
Ed Faircloth stands solidly
behind a request by down-
town merchants to beef up
law enforcement to deter a
crime wave of sorts.
He faulted Josephine
County Sheriff Dave
Daniel for not taking a
closer look at the city’s
crime problems and re-
sponding appropriately.
In addition, a commit-
tee will be formed during
the next week to 10 days to
brainstorm ways to reduce
incidents of crime during
the past several months
that have cost downtown
businesses thousands of
dollars in lost merchandise
and damage to their stores.
The mayor made his
supportive comments dur-
ing the city council meet-
ing in city hall on Monday
night, Aug. 11.
“I don’t think we’re
getting the service we de-
serve and pay for,” he said
following a presentation by
Bob Rodriguez of “Illinois
Valley News.” Rodriguez
had been asked to outline
(Continued on page 9)