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About Illinois Valley news. (Cave City, Oregon) 1937-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 28, 2004)
New medical center utility grant gained City gets $441,666 for infrastructure These contented bovine creatures munch naturally grown hay. (Photo by Shane Welsh) Where’s (non-mad cow) beef? At Fincher Farms By SHANE WELSH Recent scares over tainted beef -- “mad cow disease” --have led con- sumers to seek alternate sources to purchase their meat. Illinois Valley ranch- ers Jana and Clayton Fincher say business is booming as a result of the “mad cow” fear gripping much of the nation. The Finchers began raising beef for themselves and have recently found a high demand for the ‘natural’ beef they are rais- ing. “We wish we had more steers,” said Fincher, “We are getting a lot of calls lately. I think people are more in tune to what they’re eating now. They’re coming and asking smaller farmers what they are feeding so they can get good beef.” What separates the Fincher herd from others is the way their animals are raised and fed. Many commercial beef producers in this country use feed containing meat byproducts for the cattle. They found that vegetable protein doesn’t produce as good a quality of milk or growth rate as do animal part byproducts. When The couple grows its own hay naturally, but if they need additional feed they purchase it from neighbors who don’t use pesticides. cattle are slaughtered, the remains are rendered, in- corporated into feed prod- ucts, and fed back to the animals. “We never feed any hormones to our herd,” said Fincher, “I don’t feel it is a true picture of how an animal can do on its own. In the long run, it is something that I think will turn around and bite you.” On Jan. 8,, the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture (USDA) augmented regu- lations by declaring by- Timbre of Biscuit salvage studied by forest service With more than 23,000 comments received on the Biscuit Fire salvage plan, the U.S. Forest Service process of analyzing the data and issuing a final environmental impact statement (EIS) is lumber- ing along. The forest service has proposed harvesting 518 million board feet of tim- ber from the Biscuit Fire, which occurred during sev- eral months of 2002 and threatened evacuation of the entire Illinois Valley and its approximately 15,000 residents. It is believed that the proposed salvage effort would be the largest such logging effort in history. By the same token, the Biscuit wildfire is recog- nized as one of the largest of its types in U.S. history, covering some 500,000 acres of timberland in and around Siskiyou National Forest. The comment period ended on Tuesday, Jan. 20. Now faced with sorting products such as the skull, brain, trigeminal ganglia, eyes, vertebral column, spinal cord and dorsal root ganglia of cattle more than 30 months of age, and the distal ilium of the small intestine of cattle of all ages, as specified risk ma- through the mass of public remarks, the forest service is estimating that a final EIS might not be available until mid-April. This means that salvage logging might not occur until late spring or early summer. However, appeals and lawsuits could cause ex- tended delays. Another factor in- volves a report from an Oregon State University at Corvallis expert on salvage logging. John Sessions, an OSU forestry professor, estimated that rapid sal- vage logging could realize enough monies to pay for the multimillion costs of fighting the huge confla- gration and replanting burned areas. Because burned timber deteriorates rather quickly, said Sessions, some 40 percent of the salvageable trees will be worthless to lumber mills by sometime this summer. Siskiyou National For- (Continued on page 8) terials for “mad cow” dis- ease. The Finchers usually grow their own hay natu- rally for feed. If bought, feed is picked from neighbors who don’t use pesticides. “When our cattle are near ready for market, they are shut up and given natu- rally grown barley, oats or corn; not any of the stuff that has fancy commercial feed in there,” said Fincher. Other than illness, the main problem that can oc- cur through feeding en- hancement is usually over- sized animals whose ud- ders are no good for milk production in about three years. “We want the cows to keep producing for 10 to 15 years,” said Jana Fincher. Although there is some debate as to how “mad cow” is contracted, USDA has developed stringent guidelines to help elimi- nate the risk of infection spreading to other herds. USDA has initiated a comprehensive epidemiol- ogical investigation work- ing with state, public health, and industry coun- terparts to determine the source of the disease. In the meantime, ranchers like Clayton and Jana Fincher are taking home the proverbial “cash cow.” For more information, phone the USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline at (888) 674-6854. Lord, we know what we are, but know not what we may be. - Shakespeare (Hamlet) - GRADUATION ‘GONG’ - Taylor’s Sausage Country Store in Downtown Cave Junction was packed on Sat- urday night, Jan. 23 for a fund-raiser ‘Gong’ show to benefit the 2004 all-night drug-and-alcohol-free graduation party for Illinois Valley High School sen- iors. Plenty of talent was exhibited, from skits and singing to comedy and instrumental performances. The benefit, co-sponsored by Taylor’s and Home Val- ley Bank, raised $678, said Tanya Campbell, president of the graduation night committee. Proceeds consist of a raffle, food and donations from Terry Taylor at Taylor’s, and ‘I.V. News.’ (More photos on page 8.) Sidewalks are creeping north. The city of Cave Junc- tion has received a grant from the Oregon Economic & Community Develop- ment Dept. (OECDD) to assist the city in complet- ing infrastructure exten- sion for the planned new Siskiyo u Communit y Health Center commercial area. It’s at the north end of the city on the east side of Redwood Hwy. between Wild River Brewing & Pizza Co. and Laurel Road. The award of $441,666 was announced during the Cave Junction City Coun- cil meeting Monday night, Jan. 26 in CJ City Hall The grant will help fund extension of water and sewer lines, and a sidewalk from the north end of CJ on Redwood Hwy. near CJ 1-Hour Photo to the new project location. Citing critical need for “enhanced infrastructure connectivity” in order to bring several proposed commercial, residential, and community service projects to fruition, the city has identified this particu- lar public works project as the key first step to address this need. Water and sewer lines, hydrants and culverts are planned. The project calls for 2,303 feet of eight-inch water line; and 1,952 feet of eight-inch sanitary sewer line. Also to be in- cluded are three new fire hydrants, eight new man- holes, concrete culverts and boxed culverts to carry storm water under Red- wood Hwy. and necessar- ily related public and pri- vate infrastructure im- provements In other business, the city council: *Approved a park-use request from Illinois Val- ley Little League for the ball fields at Jubilee Park for the baseball season. *OK’d a request from I.V. Little League to oper- ate the concession stand at Jubilee Park during the (Continued on page 7) Value, usage of property could change with rules State and county amendments may affect property use and change the value of some property. The Josephine County Planning Commission and the Oregon Land Conser- vation and Development Commission (LCDC) are proposing amendments that would modify existing Josephine County Rural Land Development Code (RLDC). The proposed changes will be discussed during an informational meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 11 at 7 p.m. in the Anne G. Basker Auditorium in Grants Pass, adjacent to the county courthouse. The proposed amend- ments encompass the fol- lowing: *Modification of wild- fire safety standards. This will deal with safety stan- dards for dwellings in for- est zones. The changes would include construction standards for driveways, fire safety building fea- tures, vegetation around (Continued on page 8)
