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Illinois Valley News, Cave Junction, OR Wednesday, August 13, 2003
Although I enjoy a certain amount of limited
cooking, I’ve never been asked to wear a chef’s hat.
It’s not that I’m totally a kitchen klutz. My chili
concoction and my version of machaca have brought
rave reviews. Or was it that after eating the stuff the
eaters just started raving?
Anyway, the first time I remember cooking was at
a primitive Boy Sprout camp in eastern San Diego
County. I was assigned to cook dinner one night. The
entrée was fish, not sure what kind. Didn’t matter.
When I got through cooking the heck out of it, every-
one thought we were having large, misshaped potato
chips for dinner. I was not assigned another meal.
Another time, in Escondido, I decided to make
bread pudding and surprise Jan. I took the messy mass
of bread odds and ends we’d been saving, whipped up
a batch of “bread pudding” with other ingredients and
plopped the thing in the oven.
When it was done we had enough bread pudding
for maybe a battalion or two. When it was cool
enough to eat, I proudly served it to Jan and the kids.
They took first bites and then looked at each other.
Oddly. Then at me. Also oddly. Jan said, “Did you
put sugar in this?” And I had to admit that for some
unknown reason I had forgotten sugar.
Jan definitely was surprised. But not much.
Tried all sorts of after-the-fact remedies, including
honey. All to no avail. Ended up dumping my won-
derful dessert into the garbage grinder. Haven’t had
the heart to try that dish again.
Sometimes I take directions too literally. When I
worked in a cafeteria, the manager handed me a small
salad to go and told me, “Plop a blob of salad dressing
on this.” I took the salad to the 5-gallon bucket of
dressing and, using a large ladle, deposited a huge
glunk of dressing atop the salad. When the manager
saw what I had done, he didn’t know whether to flip
or go blind. He grabbed the salad from me, turned his
back to the customer, and scraped off most of the
dressing. Later he laughed about it. Sort of. And he
never let me forget my culinary faux pas.
And speaking of food, I was a judge for chili
cook-offs in Brookings. Had some fun and some good
chili. Except for one dish that I’m telling you tasted
like the guy had put bleach, cat spit and gasoline in it.
I mean, it was vile. He didn’t win, but he was so
drunk that I’m not sure he knew it.
Last Saturday I was privileged to be a judge for
the Blackberry Festival cooking contest. So I got to
sample several blackberry items: coffee cake, pie and
cheese cake. Because of my diet I took extremely tiny
bites. (Right - now I’ll sell you the $8 green bridge.)
Here are a few food phrases you can use.
*Say this to a waiter who brings stale rolls: Ex-
cuse me, but this is not well bred.
*Use this for a cup of bad coffee: Pardon me, but
this provides grounds for a complaint.
*And finally, here’s one for when you get a fine
meal: Wow, what foods these morsels be.
Now excuse me, I’m going to make one of my
current specialties: Toast.
Did you find it?
The first person to bring the ‘hidden’
slice of pie in this issue to the
‘I.V. News’ office will receive one free piece of
pie at Stevereno’s Family Restaurant & Lounge.
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 66, No. 21
Staff: Cindy Newton, Britt Fairchild,
Chris Robertson, Steve Fairchild & Becky Loudon
Member: Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association
DEADLINES:
News, Classified & Display Ads,
Announcements & Letters
3 P.M. FRIDAY
(Classified ads & uncomplicated display ads can 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: Please send address changes to
P.O. Box 1370, Cave Junction, OR. 97523
(Editor’s Note: Views
and commentary ex-
pressed in letters to the
editor are strictly those
of the letter-writers.
* * *
Typed, double-spaced
letters are acceptable
for
c o ns id e ra t ion .
Hand-written letters that
are double-spaced and
highly legible also can
be considered for publi-
cation. Cards of thanks
are not accepted as let-
ters.)
* * *
‘Roadless areas’
From Jim Nolan
Cave Junction
Many of the Illinois
Valley residents may not
be aware that one of the
major reasons for letting
the Biscuit Fire burn for
several days was that much
of the burn area was in-
cluded in the disputed In-
ventoried Roadless Areas
(IRAs).
These IRA designa-
tions are essentially de-
facto wildernesses man-
aged by the USFS under
the same guidelines as
congressionally designated
wilderness areas. In other
words: “Let it burn.”
Because of the USFS’s
lack of understanding or
willingness to respond to
the fire as they should
have, we damn near lost
the whole valley.
These so-called IRA’s
are really not roadless. For
years now, the Siskiyou
National Forest has been
systematically decommis-
sioning roads in the sup-
posed roadless areas for
many varied reasons, such
as the prevent of the spread
of Port Orford root fungus,
noxious weeds and inva-
sive species control.
The environmental
groups, such as the Siski-
you Project, have been
steering the USFS toward
road closures in favor of
other means of controlling
the fungus and weed
growth, because it serves
two purposes: To reduce,
in a small but ineffective
way the spread of these
maladies, but more impor-
tant, to put pressure on the
USFS to close the roads
and de-inventory them.
Why are road closures
so important to the Siski-
you Project and the USFS?
Because Congress cannot
declare an area as
“wilderness” until there are
no roads or the roads that
are there have been re-
moved or decommis-
sioned.
It has become apparent
to many that the
“Clintonites” are still run-
ning the USFS. The USFS
support of the IRAs is evi-
dence that it plans to con-
vert nearly 58.5-million
acres nationwide of forest
lands to wilderness. How-
ever, there is still some
hope that this disastrous
plan can be defeated.
On July 14, the state of
Wyoming and the U.S.
District Court agreed that
the USFS is using the IRA
designations as a club to
illegally expand the wil-
derness areas across the
American Continent.
The judge states very
clearly how the Dept. of
Agriculture (USFS) has
overstepped its bounds and
mandate. It is a relief to me
to know that there are peo-
ple in high places that un-
derstand what is at stake
when rogue agencies try to
assert their power in areas
where they have no author-
ity.
(Continued on page 3)
Desire to
learn leads
to fine art
The Illinois Valley
Fine Artists, Inc. an-
nounced Leslie J. Blanche
as Featured Artist for Au-
gust and September.
A Selma resident for
the past two years, Blanche
joined the artists soon after
moving to the area.
Blanche was born in San
Diego, Calif. And has ex-
perience in computer-aided
drafting.
For 14 years Blanche
and her husband, Don,
traveled on the water in a
trawler. They had the op-
portunity to travel the East
Coast seeing Maryland,
and spending several years
in Florida and several
years in the Bahamas.
They have family on the
West Coast and settled in
Illinois Valley.
The artist’s desire to
learn how to paint pictures
led her to pursue like-
minded individuals in the
community and she dis-
covered Illinois Valley
Fine Artists group in Sep-
tember 2002 and says, “I
came to the club one day
with no experience, and
with the exceptional guid-
ance from the accom-
plished artists in our group,
Leslie J. Blanche
I have gained so much
confidence and am having
a great time.”
She now paints with
the group on Mondays,
when not horseback riding
with her mom and friends,
and prefers painting with
acrylics.
Blanche is displaying
her paintings in the First
Klamath Bank in Cave
Junction through Septem-
ber.
The art group wel-
comes anyone to come and
watch the artists at their
various activities. There
are a wide variety of indi-
vidual projects being
worked on at their Monday
workshops in the RCC
Belt Bldg. in Kerby. New
members are always wel-
come and refreshments are
available. For more infor-
mation, phone Cassandra
at 592-3949.
at the Illinois Valley Lions Club
Labor Day Festival
Saturday, Aug. 30 - 10 a.m.
Jubilee Park, Cave Junction
CASH AWARDS!
1st Place Team - $300 2nd Place Team $200
3rd Place Team - $100
Entrance Fee:
$10 per person
Must be submitted
by Saturday, Aug 30
Mail to: Wayne Whitfield,
P.O. Box 183 O’Brien, OR
97534
(541) 596-2719
2003