IVCRT wins 10-year Caves concession contract
A long-term “shot in
the arm” in the form of a
10-year contract to manage
the concession at Oregon
Caves National Monument
has been awarded to Illi-
nois Valley Community
Response Team (IVCRT).
The long-awaited de-
cision for Oregon Caves
Outfitters under IVCRT
was revealed on Monday,
Oct. 6.
The announcement
was made by Craig Acker-
man, superintendent of the
monument, operated by the
National Park Service
(NPS); and Jon Jarvis,
NPS Pacific West regional
director.
“I guess we can finally
exhale,” said George
Fence, IVCRT chairman.
“We have sought this mo-
ment for two years, and
now the real fun begins.
“I must say that I am
so proud of the skills, lead-
ership and just plain hard
work demonstrated by so
many in helping us win
this bid,” Fence said. “A
10-year contract will help
pave the way for genuine
economic and quality-of-
life revitalization for our
area.”
After two successful
seasons managing tempo-
rary contracts, IVCRT,
which is a 501c3 nonprofit
organization “engaged in
the social and economic
development of rural Jose-
phine County,” will main-
tain its management role of
the concession through
2013.
IVCRT is one of the
few nonprofit national park
concessionaires in the
country, said Executive
Director Ron Phillips.
“Otherwise,” he said, “it’s
a field dominated by a few
large corporations. This
contract represents a spe-
cial, mutually beneficial
partnership between a local
community and NPS.”
The concession is
comprised of food, lodging
and gift sales.
Jarvis said that a panel
of concession profession-
als analyzed proposals on
specific objectives and
recommended selection of
IVCRT.
“We concur with the
team’s high standards of
supporting the park and its
desire to encourage sus-
tainable tourism, as well as
its community develop-
CJ studio
shows off
textile arts
By BRITT FAIRCHILD
Staff Writer
At the Singing Loom
Studio opening during
September’s Second Fri-
day Art Walk, Cave Junc-
tion artist Libby Goines
noticed that some of her
visitors looked puzzled, as
though they didn’t quite
know what to make of the
place.
She even spotted a
woman picking through
one of her work baskets,
looking for an item to buy.
For Goines, their be-
havior reinforced her rea-
sons for wanting to open
the studio in the first place.
“(People) can see what
a working artist’s studio
looks like,” she said of
Singing Loom, something
currently lacking in town.
Located above Blue
Moon Books & Coffee in
Downtown CJ, Singing
Loom Studio offers the
community a chance to
explore and learn such tex-
tile arts as weaving, spin-
ning, beadwork, sewing,
knitting and embroidery,
and others.
Known already in the
valley for her musical tal-
ents, Goines also offers
singing, guitar and piano
lessons.
Joining Goines in the
studio next door is CJ artist
Deborah Dawson, who
offers private and group
painting instruction and
other art-related activities.
The women are calling
their developing art collec-
tive, “A Creative Space.”
“It took an Aquarian
named Libby Goines to
light a fire under me,”
Dawson said, noting she
used the last of her savings
to open the studio and had
been planning to open one
for about a year.
It’s a risk, she admit-
ted, but at least she’s doing
something she loves.
An artisan group,
funded by a grant through
I.V. Community Response
Team, also is looking into
using the third studio in the
upstairs building. The
other studio is vacant.
The time is right,
Goines said, for introduc-
ing such a concept like A
Creative Space to the area.
(Continued on page 8)
ment spirit as a nonprofit
organization,” said Acker-
man. “IVCRT has done a
good job during the past
two years under especially
difficult and uncertain cir-
cumstances.”
He specifically noted
last year’s 500,000-acre
Biscuit Fire that threatened
evacuation of all 15,000
I.V. residents. The fire
caused a 25 to 50 percent
reduction, said Ackerman,
in visitation during last
summer and fall.
Despite that, he said,
the Outfitters “not only
recovered from that set-
back, but increased occu-
pancy in the Chateau (built
in 1934) by 80 percent
from last year.”
With 41 valley resi-
dents on staff, IVCRT has
focused on employing I.V.
community members. It
also has integrated local
arts and crafts, and other
products representing the
uniqueness of Southwest-
ern Oregon into the gift
shop and food service op-
erations; an approach
strongly supported by
NPS.
(Continued on page 8)
Suspect in O’Brien
incident on the run
SHOOTING -- Ameri-
can Medical Response
(AMR) and Illinois Val-
ley Fire District medics
tended to two gunshot
victims at the AMR fa-
cility
behind
Cave
Junction City Hall on
Sunday, Oct. 5 follow-
ing an incident in
O’Brien.
Josephine
County Sheriff’s Office
deputies and other
lawmen in the area are
looking for the sus-
pect in the shootings.
Consultants will help find fire chief
By BRITT FAIRCHILD
Staff Writer
Illinois Valley Fire
District (IVFD) board de-
cided during a special
meeting on Friday eve-
ning, Oct. 3 in the district’s
main fire station to use
BOLA Consultants in
Jacksonville to advertise
for a new fire chief.
Board members will
meet with Lou Gugliotta
from BOLA during an-
other special meeting on
Wednesday, Oct. 8 at 6
p.m. at the main station,
681 Caves Hwy., to dis-
cuss criteria for the posi-
tion.
IVFD Board President
Joel Downing said Mon-
day, Oct. 6 that a job de-
scription developed in
1999 and reworked in
2000 will be used in the
advertising process.
“It’s still valid to this
day,” Downing said of the
description, noting the re-
quirements for the job in-
clude management and
firefighting experience.
The board noted a col-
lege degree is also pre-
ferred, but not required.
BOLA’s services will
include providing a back-
ground check, printing and
mailing expenses and other
advertising-related costs.
(Continued on page 3)
LATE NIGHT FIRE -- Illinois Valley Fire District and Oregon Dept. of Forestry re-
sponded on Sunday, Oct. 5 to an 8:06 p.m. alarm for a wildfire with two structures
moderately threatened, said I.V. Division Chief Joe Feldhaus. The fire of undeter-
mined origin burned a half-acre of grass and brush, and some $2,000 worth of red-
wood planking at 1111 Lone Mountain Road. No injuries were reported, and firefight-
ers rapidly extinguished the blaze. I.V. sent four engines, two tenders and three
brush rigs; ODF sent four engines, because of the potential for a much-larger fire.
An “armed and dan-
gerous” suspect in the
shooting of two O’Brien
residents apparently was
chased by a deputy some
17 hours after the incident,
but the driver escaped into
a wooded area after his
pickup truck hit a tree.
Josephine County
Sheriff’s Office (JCSO)
deputies and lawmen in
surrounding areas includ-
ing Northern California are
seeking Wilfred C. Cod-
dington, 47, of 475
O’Brien Road, where the
shootings occurred.
He is wanted in con-
nection with single gun-
shot wounds to the abdo-
mens of Jesse J. Ballenger-
Windle, 26, of 9407
Takilma Road; and Jeremy
L. Jorgensen, 18, of 475
O’Brien Road.
The victims were
taken to Three Rivers
Community Hospital in
Grants Pass by American
Medical Response follow-
ing the incident reported at
11:29 a.m. on Sunday, Oct.
5.
They were in stable
condition, said JCSO.
Following the call for
help on Sunday, emer-
gency personnel could not
locate the two victims, as
they had been taken by
private vehicle, driven by
an unidentified woman,
toward Cave Junction. It
appears that they first were
taken to Siskiyou Commu-
nity Medical Center. Find-
ing no one there, they were
then driven to the AMR
quarters, where medics
from AMR and Illinois
Valley Fire District re-
sponded.
At the AMR site, the
two were given first aid
and basically stabilized
before being taken to
Grants Pass. Two ambu-
lances were used.
Meanwhile on Sunday,
deputies sought informa-
tion from the two, and oth-
ers went to the shooting
location. Officers sur-
rounded a residence and
shed, and a canine deputy
was called in. Neighbors
were alerted.
However, the suspect
was not found. But a dep-
uty at 3:51 a.m. on Mon-
day tried to stop a pickup
truck he believed was
driven by Coddington.
JCSO said that the ve-
hicle failed to yield to
emergency lights on Naue
Way near its intersection
with Lone Mountain Road.
After the vehicle
(Continued on page 7)
Disabled I.V. woman to
walk for three days to
raise cancer awareness
By BRITT FAIRCHILD
Staff Writer
If no one will walk
with JoAnne Forbing, then
JoAnne Forbing will walk
alone.
She’s determined to
cross the finish line at this
year’s Avon Breast Cancer
3-Day walk in San Fran-
cisco on Nov. 7-9 -- even
if no one from Illinois Val-
ley is there to cross it with
her.
“I’m a very stubborn,
strong-willed person,” said
Forbing, a modest and gen-
tle but resilient disabled
woman who uses crutches
which she calls her second
pair of “legs” to help her
walk.
Forbing participated in
the 60-mile Avon walk in
Seattle last year, but
stopped after 44.6 miles
because of dehydration and
the blisters on her hands
from her crutches.
After traveling so
many miles the hilly ter-
rain also became difficult.
Despite stopping early,
Forbing however recalls
the event with a sense of
awe.
“It’s an experience you
don’t even know how to
describe. The unity is
something that is totally
indescribable,” she said,
noting some 3,000 men
and women took part in the
Seattle walk.
“It kind of dumb-
founded me,” she said.
The 51- year-old
(Continued on page 7)