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