Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Illinois Valley news. (Cave City, Oregon) 1937-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 8, 2003)
Page 16 Illinois Valley News, Cave Junction, OR Wednesday, October 8, 2003 Funding for helicopters pays off in fire season MOTORCYCLE RIDER DOWN -- Brad Paul Stryker, 47, of Gladstone was injured in a motorcycle accident Thursday, Oct. 2 on Redwood Hwy. near Reeves Creek Road just before 3 p.m. when a motor home driver slammed on his brakes too fast while driving in front of Stryker, said Josephine County Sheriff’s Office. Stryker and his bike slid to a stop in the middle of the roadway. He was transported to Three Rivers Commu- nity Hospital in Grants Pass by American Medical Re- sponse., which responded to the scene with I.V. Fire District, the sheriff’s office and Oregon State Police. (Photo by Steve Fairchild) Time to purge underage drinking, study says OLCC determined to eradicate teenage alcohol consumption and its consequences A new national study says it’s time to get tougher on underage drink- ing, and recommends a number of law enforce- ment steps that are already practiced by the Oregon Liquor Control Commis- sion (OLCC). These include compli- ance checks of merchants for liquor sales violations, putting the lid on teen drinking parties and certi- fying the training of alco- hol servers and sellers. The report by the Insti- tute of Medicine and Na- tional Research Council says the social costs of underage drinking are $53 billion a year, including $19 billion for alcohol- related auto accidents and $29 billion for alcohol- fueled violent crime. Un- derage drinking is the No. 1 drug problem in Oregon and the primary enforce- ment focus of the OLCC. The agency uses a va- riety of strategies to ac- complish this mission in its balancing enforcement program, said Teresa Kai- ser, OLCC director. The OLCC works with other police agencies, liq- uor licensees, educators, youth and parents on other proven methods to deter drinking by youth. This includes detecting and breaking up under-21 drinking activities at school dances, hotels or private homes, or in iso- lated rural areas, such as mountain, ocean or river- side recreation areas. OLCC inspectors also work on underage drinking during college football games, especially at tail- gate parties. The athletic departments at the Univer- sity of Oregon and Oregon State University pay for the OLCC patrols from donated funds and no tax dollars are used. “The main focus of Firefighters hesitate to extinguish house fire Illinois Valley Fire District and Oregon Dept. of Forestry firefighters had to put on the brakes before rushing in to fight a night fire near Selma on Wednesday, Oct. 1. The fire occurred at a mobile home owned by Dip Daggett Mulch at 113 Forest Creek Road, a house which is on a list of the fire district’s possible drug sites, according to ODF. It was the same site at which Josephine County Sheriff’s Office deputies raided and discovered a small methamphetamine lab and more than a dozen marijuana plants in 1996, said the sheriff’s office. In 1999 a house on the site owned by George Mulch also was destroyed by fire. Firefighters on Wednesday were ordered to delay fighting the fire until the site was declared safe. The single-wide 40- foot trailer was quickly engulfed in flames due to an electrical fire possibly caused by a generator. Firefighters reported that between 75 and 100 junk cars made fighting the fire difficult, and firefight- ers stayed on scene for two hours mopping up the site. Riverside Physical Therapy Full Rehabilitation Services: •Physical Therapy •Occupational Therapy •Speech Therapy TWO LOCATIONS TO SERVE YOU Cave Junction Office 218 N. Redwood Hwy. (541) 592-6580 grants Pass Office 1619 N.W. Hawthorne Ave. Suite 109 (541) 476-2502 •Jeff Wood, M.S., P.T. these programs is on pre- venting minors from ob- taining alcohol and the many problems associated with that activity,” said Pete O’Rourke, regional manager at the OLCC’s Eugene office. “That in- cludes drunken driving, traffic accidents, assaults, fights, vandalism, sexual assaults, poor academic performance and more.” “Minor” posting signs at restaurants, dance halls and other businesses that serve alcohol will soon be more user friendly, under an administrative rule amended recently by OLCC. Some licensees said the agency’s red-bordered minor warning signs are confusing to customers and their tone is negative and forbidding. The new signs will accentuate the positive when listing the hours that minors may enter an area where food and alcohol are served. Instead of pro- claiming “No minors per- mitted” in big red letters and “except during meal hours…” in small letters the new signs will say “Minors permitted during these hours…” in a more welcoming green color. The changes only ef- fect signs that allow mi- nors into appropriate areas of licensed premises for eating. The more restric- tive “No minors permitted” signs are for areas where drinking is the predomi- nant activity. These signs will not be changed. OLCC inspectors also have a new tool to combat drinking-related violations in the field -- a flashlight that sniffs the air for the presence of alcohol. The Oregon Beer and Wine Distributors Associa- tion donated 10 passive alcohol sensor units to beef up the OLCC’s underage drinking prevention pro- gram. The alcohol sensing devices are designed to sample a person’s breath, open containers, or en- closed spaces such as vehi- cles or party rooms, for traces of alcohol. They are attached to 12-inch, police- style flashlights and may be used without a subject’s direct participation. The battery-powered sensor has a small silent pump that draws an air sample through an electro- chemical fuel cell, which generates a small electrical current when alcohol vapor is present. Chain Link Specialist IVHS Activities Calendar Brought to you by the folks at 592-3556 Cave Jct . 469-7545 Brookings/ Harbor THURSDAY, OCT. 9 *Frosh/Soph football at Henley - 4:30 p.m. *JV/Varsity volleyball At Lakeview 5:15/6:30 p.m. *Twin Day *Pep Assembly end of day FRIDAY, OCT. 10 *Statewide In Service Day - No classes *Girls soccer at Hidden Valley - 10 a.m. SATURDAY, OCT 11 *Varsity football vs. Henley - here - 1 p.m. *Boys soccer vs. Rogue River - here - 10 a.m. *Homecoming Dance 8 p.m. to midnight *Cross country at Rogue River - to be announced TUESDAY, OCT 14 *JV/Varsity volleyball at North Valley 5:15/6:30 p.m. WEDNESDAY, OCT. 15 *School board meeting at Fruitdale - 7 p.m. 592-6192 After two severe fire seasons in a row and weather conditions lining up for a third, the Oregon Legislature last spring took preventative action. It ear- marked $5.7 million to bolster the Oregon Dept. of Forestry’s (ODF) fire- fighting capability. On Sept. 27, a fire near Mo- lalla underscored the bene- fits to the forest of the ad- ditional funds. “Having a severity helicopter on standby al- lowed us to keep the acres burned on the Pine Creek Fire relatively small,” the department’s Molalla Unit manager, Ken Cushman said. “Without the quick access to this standby ship we could easily have seen a fire size of a few 100 acres to even a few 1,000 acres.” But with the aid of the water bucket-toting heli- copter, firefighters were able to control the blaze at 13 acres. ODF typically contracts with private avia- tion firms to have helicop- ters available on a “call when needed” basis, an arrangement that reduces cost but is contingent on availability. The extra dol- lars allocated by the Legis- lature in 2003 enabled fire managers to place helicop- ters on standby, which meant they were available to respond immediately to a dispatch order, often ar- riving at a fire in only a few minutes. The rapid response time made a crucial differ- ence on the Pine Creek Fire. That day, soaring temperatures and a dry easterly wind propelled the blaze through a young conifer plantation, brush, and hardwood trees. Cush- man made the call to Terra Helicopters, Inc. in McMinnville. ODF dispatched the Terra helicopter and other contract helicopters to nu- merous wildfires this sum- mer. In addition, the dept. put the legislatively ear- marked funds to use by retaining a large air tanker on contract. Based in Med- ford, the airplane made dozens of flights through- out the state to drop liquid fire retardant on wildfires. Honesty, a great policy! Jack & Vicki France would like to thank the employees of Giant Burger in Cave Junction for their honesty and the return of my wife's purse that we left behind. After arriving at our home in Smith River, Calif. we received a phone call informing us that they had the purse. A BIG THANK YOU to Giant Burger The France Family, Smith River, Calif.