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About Illinois Valley news. (Cave City, Oregon) 1937-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 15, 2003)
Page 2 Illinois Valley News, Cave Junction, OR Wednesday, October 15, 2003 Not much to talk about this issue, especially be- cause we don’t have all that much room. However, we do have a lot more room in one part of a building, now that we’ve had our yard sale. This room was so packed with stuff and junk that I didn’t realize it had a floor. It was a tough Saturday, hauling all that cra... er, good stuff out for the sale. It was so cold that morning that I had to retrieve a sweater from the sale stash and put it on. Plus a cap. The editor has been involved in numerous yard sales and swap meets in his violent past. Will be glad to relate some of those experiences for your dining and dancing pleasure. But not this week. No, you’ll have to wait until next week for the good stuff. At least, that’s what I told all those people at the yard sale. It was a difficult sale for El Jefe, as he is quite sentimental. But it was time to let my first- grade reader go; plus my collection of lint. GREAT PUMPKINS Family Tree Garden Center at 441 S. Junction Avenue will receive entries in a giant pumpkin contest on Satur- day, Oct. 18. Seeds were given away free by Family Tree Garden Center in June. There will be three winners in each of four age categories in the free contest. 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 (Editor’s Note: Views and commen- tary expressed in let- ters to the editor are strictly those of the letter-writers. * * * Typed, double- spaced letters are ac- ceptable for consid- eration. Hand-written letters that are double- spaced and highly legible also can be considered for publi- cation. Cards of thanks are not ac- cepted as letters.) *** ‘Risky business’ Sheriff Dave Daniel Grants Pass Josephine County is a $108.5 million a year busi- ness. As taxpayers, we are all shareholders in this business. Shouldn’t we demand of our Josephine County CEOs (the county commissioners) the same accountability and finan- cial management we would demand of any other busi- ness we invest our money into? Our current county charter designates the three full-time commissioners as having complete control over county operations and the budget. Yet the only qualifica- tions required to be a com- missioner is being elected to the position. During the five years I have been in office, I have seen too many budget decisions made for political reasons rather than sound financial ones. The situations I’m most familiar with is the funding for the sheriff’s office. You elected me to be your sheriff because you trust me to continue to do the best job I can with the resources I’m given. In July of 2000, I lost 41 positions from my de- partment. I asked the citi- zens to help me by voting in a one-year levy to re- store these positions. I did- n’t ask for more than that, because I know the county was going to receive ap- proximately $2.5 million more the following year that we received the year before. I trusted the com- missioners to follow the priority our citizens have stated over and over again -- fund public safety. That didn’t happen. It hasn’t happened to this day. I’ve seen my depart- ment shrink from 118 em- ployees in 2000 to only 88 today. That is a loss of 30 employees in a three-year period. It costs an average of $100,000 to hire, train, Volume 66, No. 30 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 Nominated for Quote of the Year is the statement by Texas Congressman Dick Armey when asked, “If you had been in Presi- dent Clinton's place would you have resigned?” Armey's reply: “If I had been in the president's place I would not have gotten the chance to resign. I would have been lying in a pool of my own blood, looking up, and listening to my wife ask, ‘How do you reload this son of a B?’” and get two years of ser- vice from each deputy. Once you multiply that $100,000 cost times the 30 deputies this county has lost you will see that the staggering loss to the citi- zens is $3 million. One commissioner has consistently voted against every sheriff’s office budget for the last five years. In several instances, he was able to talk one of the other commissioners into following his lead. It only takes two votes to destroy our protection. This is not what I need to adequately provide safety and security to the residents of our county and I believe it is not what our residents want. However day-to-day decisions con- tinue to be made based upon politics -- not profes- sional management princi- ples. The “good ol’ boy” system probably worked well in the last century, but this is the 21st century and we need a professional county administrator to oversee the day-to-day operations of Josephine County. The proposed charter accomplished that. Another reason I sup- port the new charter is be- cause four of the new part- time commissioners will be elected from districts. I feel that those commis- sioners will be more re- sponsible to their constitu- ents when they serve a spe- cific area. Two of the cur- rent commissioners live in the city of Grants Pass and the third lives just outside the city. Do the residents of Illinois Valley, Williams, Wolf Creek, and other out- lying areas get the same considerations as those closer to the city? Let’s elect people to the JoCo Board of County Commis- sioners who want the posi- tion to serve their commu- nities, not to get a pay- check. I believe the proposed charter will result in an improved county govern- ment. I hope to be joined in voting “yes” for the new charter in November. ‘Not the answer’ From Don Smith, Siskiyou Project execu- tive director In a letter of Sept. 24, Jim Frick suggests that logging 2 billion board feet of trees off the Biscuit burn area is needed, and that “if we harvest even 200 million board feet we could finance schools, benefit our community with jobs for locals and lessen our increasing tax burden.” Post-fire logging typi- cally cost taxpayers a lot more than the government generates by selling burned trees at extremely low prices. Logging Biscuit will not provide money to fi- nance schools and will cre- ate only temporary jobs. Under the provisions of Sen. Ron Wyden’s “Secure County Payments Act,” Josephine and Curry counties will receive the same fixed sum from the federal government regard- less of the amount of log- ging from Biscuit. Also, at a time when the timber market is flooded, dump- ing more logs will drive down prices even further, affecting small woodlots owners the most. As Frick suggests, we need to create “defensible space around this valley” by thinning small trees and brush in areas where the community and forest overlap. Success will de- pend in part on the leader- ship from private property owners. Corner of Redwood Hwy. & Rockydale Road, Cave Junction Oregon 97523 - 592-5386