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About Illinois Valley news. (Cave City, Oregon) 1937-current | View Entire Issue (April 14, 2004)
Page 2 Illinois Valley News, Cave Junction, OR Wednesday, April 14, 2004 Several stupendous, wonderful ideas for this week’s column entered my smiling, tattered brain. Unfortunately (for me) they all left almost immedi- ately through the extra holes in my head (fortunately for you). Be that as it might, I’m going to try using my pocket notebook to keep track of such ideas. Because it’s just too much trouble to dredge for new topics, so to speak, (like dragging a river for a missing sack of fish). Something like that. I suppose this is as good a time as any to recall my glory days in the San Diego Zoo, where I spent two years in low gear. That’s right. Never could get my delivery truck out of low gear because of the crowds; not to mention the fact that the zoo roads are not de- signed for high-speed traffic. What was I doing there? Staring at girls mostly. Or telling stupid jokes to my maniacal co-workers. But really, my job was to keep filling the vending ma- chines, all of which then sold stuff for 10-cents, ex- cept for the cigarette machines. A pack of smokes then cost 25-cents. That was a long time ago. I think today you can’t even buy a dime for 10-cents, and quarters cost even more. At any rate (maybe 10-cents), it was a terrific job for a young guy. I even became used to zoo visitors refusing to yield the right-of-way to my Econoline van. I was on urgent business with a load of Snickers, ½ pints of chocolate milk, and sacks of unshelled pea- nuts. Who did they think those visitors think they were? Pedestrians? Paying customers? Something like that. Those were the days when many people were un- accustomed to using vending machines. Or at least they acted as though they’d never seen one. We had to give them advice on where to put the money, how to set the dials, what handles to pull, and so on. The chewing and smoking they could handle themselves. Besides becoming a whiz at servicing vending machines; muttering under my breath at people block- ing my way; and telling dopey jokes, I also learned to imitate certain sounds: the cry of peacocks; the vo- calization of gecko lizards; the hoarse cry of seals; the hooting of certain simian critters; the squawking of various parrots. Plus I could walk like a gorilla, al- though I might have already had that talent. Maybe the hooting too. Too bad the zoo expedition only lasted two years. If the company I worked for had bothered to secure a decent contract, I’d probably still be in the zoo. Some- thing like that. One of the most striking differences between a cat and a lie is that the cat has only nine lives. - Mark Twain - Sometimes I wonder if men and women really suit each other. Perhaps they should live next door and just visit now and then. - Katharine Hepburn - 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 Volume 66, No. 4 Staff: Cindy Newton, Chris Robertson, Michelle Binker, Shane Welsh, Becky Loudon & Kacy Clement 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. POLICY ON “HERE, THERE & EVERYWHERE”, DISPLAY & CLAS- SIFIED ADS & NOTICES: All submissions must be hand delivered, faxed or e-mailed to us for publication. Submissions must be re- submitted each week if the item is to run for more than one week. 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 (Editor’s Note: Views and commentary expressed in let- ters to the editor are strictly those of the letter-writers. * * * Typed, double-spaced letters are acceptable for con- sideration. Hand-written let- ters that are double-spaced and highly legible also can be considered for publication. Cards of thanks are not accepted as letters.) * * * Bush ‘dishonest’ From Lou Chauvin Cave Junction Recently, the Bush cartel issued a statement that the administration “changed its policies to address the terrorism prob- lem, even before 9/11,” claiming that the Bushites “went from a policy of swatting flies to putting al Qaeda at the top of the list.” But a look at the re- cord reveals yet another dishonesty: In the face of warnings before 9/11, the administration de- e mph asiz ed co unter- terrorism; never once con- vene its own counter- terrorism task force; and threatened to veto efforts to divert national missile defense funds into counter- terrorism. It also delayed arming the unmanned Predator drone flying over Afghani- stan; terminated a highly classified program to monitor al Qaeda suspects in the U.S.; and attacked previous administrations for focusing too much on Osama bin Laden. It also rejected security recommendations from the government’s bipartisan National Security Com- mission; and downgraded the counter-terrorism of- fice (Clarke) within the White House. In fact, al Qaeda was so low on this list of priori- ties that neither Bush, Che- ney or Rice never once, according to unclassified or declassified records, uttered the terms “al Qaeda” or “Osama bin Laden” between the time the Bush cartel took office and 9/11. ‘Grace or law?’ From J.D. Freeman Cave Junction From Deuteronomy 25:13-16: “Thou shalt not have in thy bag divers weights, a great and a small. Thou shalt not have in thine house divers meas- ures, a great and a small. “But thou shalt have a perfect and just weight, a perfect and just measure shalt thou have: that thy days may be lengthened in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.” I believe that this pas- sage applies to life on Earth, not in the hereafter. To paraphrase: You shall not have in Elementary Schools Menu Sponsored by ‘Illinois Valley News’ 321 S. Redwood Hwy. 592-2541 THURSDAY, APRIL 15 *Conference Day No classes FRIDAY, APRIL 16 *Conference Day No classes MONDAY, APRIL 19 *Chicken nuggets, hamburger, cheese pizza, peanut butter & jelly sandwich, chef salad TUESDAY, APRIL 20 *Beef teriyaki dippers, cheeseburger, pepperoni pizza, ham & cheese sandwich, garden salad WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21 *Corn dog, hamburger, cheese pizza, tuna salad sandwich, Cobb salad your purse false money. The paper “dollar” today is not a true dollar. One dol- lar equals 371.25 grains of pure silver. Quarters and dimes should be made of silver. They are not. They are made of copper, coated to look like silver. They are nothing but false money, slugs of base metal. Does the above pas- sage from the Bible sound like it applies only to the hereafter? I think not. I believe that it applies to our lives here on Earth. And this is only one tiny part of what is not be- ing taught. Hosea 4:6 reads, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; be- cause thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also re- ject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law if thy God, I will also re- ject thy children.” ‘Lemonade stand’ From Dave Toler Cave Junction Like a soaring helium balloon that reluctantly succumbs to gravity, some things are inevitable, even here in Illinois Valley. It was bound to hap- pen. As sure as the de- scending balloon, the law of supply and demand was bound to hit home, even if it’s Illinois Valley. If you’ve lived here 20, 30 or 40 years, it might be difficult to imagine that the valley could actually be a place where people who are financially better off are actually yearning to be. After all, this is a com- munity that has possessed one of the lowest house- hold median incomes on the entire West Coast for more than 40 years. But like gravity, the law of supply and demand will eventually have its way. The only question remaining: How are we going to respond? I learned firsthand about that law when I was a kid. I noticed that my best days in the lemonade stand business came on hot, sultry days when my competitor, Jason, was not on the corner down the street doing the same thing. The demand was strong; the supply was lim- ited. Business was good. A few things I didn’t learn. Despite rising de- mand and less supply, I kept selling my lemonade at a rock bottom price. I was so excited that people (Continued on page 3) ‘Chili today, hot tamale’ Linda Oncay’s (right) chili concoction was chosen ‘The Best’ on Saturday, April 10 during the eighth annual Chili Cook-Off at Carlos’ Restaurante in Downtown Cave Junction. Morris McCaslin’s (left) offering re- ceived the People’s Choice award, and honorable men- tion went to Joe Williams (not shown). It was Oncay’s third victory. Other entrants were ‘Tubb’ Madden, Gary Price, Maureen Connolly, Lisa Bond and Bob Rodri- guez. Judges were Harold Harrup, Kathaleen Ponder, Michael Yanase and Pat Sculley. All entrants received Carlos’ eighth-annual cook-off baseball caps. The top two winners’ caps include the word, ‘Champ.’ CJ woman, son said unhurt in Hwy. 199 roll-over crash A Cave Junction resi- dent and her young son were reported basically uninjured following a roll- over accident on Hwy. 199 near the California border at approximately 11 p.m. on Sunday, April 11. A northbound Ford pickup truck driven by Jenny Peters, who works for Oregon Caves Chev- ron, went out of control and crashed upside-down when she swerved to miss a deer. Illinois Valley Fire District and American Medical Response re- sponded to the scene and assisted Peters and her son, Dennis, 5. She was said to be half in-half out of the vehicle in a ditch, but extrication was not required. (Editor’s Note: Informa- tion for the preceding story came from I.V. Fire District and Oregon Caves Chevron.) 1-541-476-2127 Avoiding tobacco use is the single most-important step to take to reduce cancer risk. Tobacco use causes approximately 30 percent (169,000) of all cancer deaths in the United States each year. Cigarette smoking is responsible for nearly all cases of lung cancer. It also is linked to cancers of the mouth, larynx, esophagus, stomach, pancreas, kidney and bladder. Pipe smoke, cigars and smokeless tobacco also can cause cancer. is open Saturdays: 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Hours: Mondays - Saturdays 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. For more information phone (800) 922-1025