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)