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About Illinois Valley news. (Cave City, Oregon) 1937-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 25, 2004)
Page 2 Illinois Valley News, Cave Junction, OR Wednesday, August 25, 2004 Every so often it feels as though we are sur- rounded by cats and dogs; or at least by cat and dog hair, or the quite visible signs of our hairy compan- ions. I mean, there are only two of each living with us in our casa, but sometimes it seems like a herd. Of course, one cat galloping down a hallway, fol- lowed by a dog in hot pursuit definitely constitutes a herd. Noisewise, anyway. Speaking of noise, anyone who has ever been awakened at 3 a.m. by the entertaining sounds of hacking, gagging and coughing (from a cat, not your spouse) knows of what I speak. Yes, the dread ailment known as hairballs rears its ugly head, so to speak. And later that morning, perhaps only a short time later, when heading for the bathroom, one may dis- cover the location of said hairballs. With their bare feet. Icky. Other signs of feline habitation are the scratch marks on various pieces of furniture and the inside of the front door. We can’t seem to find a scratching post that is better than our furniture. We’ve tried. Even purchased a tall tower, designed for cat climbing and scratching. Unfortunately, it was not well-made, and we had to take it back after 16-pound “Bubba” nearly took an unplanned dive because the tower wasn’t strong enough to hold tight between the floor and ceil- ing. Because of the feline skill at opening the bottom doors on our dresser, and the folding door to our pots- and-pans cupboard, we had to install child-proof latches. They work, except that our nocturnal guests keep trying to open them, making banging noises. Usually at 2 a.m. Another cat factor involves the frightful item known as a litter box. Although the one in our bath- room for “Bubba” and his mom, “Maui,” has a high bottom lip, they still scatter litter onto the floor in sub- stantial quantities. Crunching underfoot, it always re- minds me of going to the beach. Except for the aroma. Moving rapidly from this area, we come to our two dogs. They’re the two critters who bark. But they do not hack up hairballs. No, they just barf now and then. Sometimes we can tell the source; often not. And it almost always happens at night after we’re asleep. Sometimes on the bed. A most exciting life for us, never knowing what’s going to happen next. Again moving rapidly from this area we must touch on dogs barking. All I can say about this is that I used to think Pomeranian “Rocky” had a brain the size of a walnut. But because of his barking without reason, except that he thinks he should because maybe there was a reason, I have changed his brain size to a pea. What happens is that he hears himself barking and thinks, “Hey, I hear barking; I better challenge that and sound the alert.” Have to stop now. I hear the sounds of an ap- proaching herd. (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. Handwritten letters that are double-spaced and highly legible also can be con- sidered for publication. Cards of thanks are not accepted as letters.) * * * Pretty city From Ruth E. Wick Cave Junction Our little town is really looking good; don’t you think? Business buildings (are) all painted or cleaned (and) streets are clean. Robbing schools From Pamela Tennity Selma I remember a poster I hung in my kitchen in 1970: “Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we had all the money needed for our schools, and the Pentagon had to hold a bake sale to buy a new bomber?” More than 30 years later, we are still robbing our schools and social pro- grams to pay for a military that is growing out of pro- portion to the need. The Vietnam War was a mis- take -- so is the war in Iraq. Star Wars doesn’t work, and we’re paying billions for a system to protect us from missiles that no longer are a threat. Bush and his administra- tion have introduced pre- emptive war against world opinion. (Remember that millions marched in the streets all over the world against the war in Iraq.) Homeland Security spends millions on four- year-old threats, keeping us fearful in our own homes to satisfy their own political agenda. If we spent a tiny per- centage of the military budget on alternative en- ergy, we wouldn’t have to invade other countries to feed our power hungry people. I will vote for John Kerry because he under- stands the environmental, social and health-care is- sues crucial to the future of this country. “Ahem, we are getting rather low on bananas,” one might say while gaz- ing past columns and domes -- into the littered streets of the dirty, down- trodden side of a good idea. And one might won- der how this dirty little town got the name of “Washing Town.” Go fig- ure. The wish-he-was-King Kong in this two-faced, plugged-nickel “Washing Town” is also (and aint it phoney but we’re not laughing), George; imag- ine that. “Curious chap,” one might say, while pondering the political possibilities of posturing chimps being replaced by actual, intelli- gent, more highly-evolved humanoids. First though, what is needed are scoop shovels, hip waders and some hon- est hard work at removing all the bovine scat from the monkey house and some progress in real time shown by the scrubbing ‘til it shines on both sides of the tracks of “Washing Town.” “Nah. Too much work,” said one ostrich to another. Well, as Curious George and the man in the yellow hat paddle their canoe out of my mind, I got a glimpse of the book they were reading when not paddling, titled “The Rabid Dingo of Ostrich- ville.” Below in smaller print, “The Death of a De- mocracy.” Imagine that. Logging response From William Reid Cave Junction In her letter on “Logging ‘politics’” (in last week’s issue of “Illinois Valley News”), Catherine Austin com- ments on all the thoughtful letters regarding the Bis- cuit Fire sale. From the tone of her letter it is ap- parent that in her opinion, only the letters opposing salvage logging are “thoughtful.” If she had read what was proposed in Environ- mental Impact Statements from the Forest Service and the final Record of Decision, she would know that no logging was ever proposed for the wilder- ness area. If she would read the Records of Decisions -- regarding Late- Successional Reserve (LSR) Salvage & Planting, (Continued on page 3) You are invited to attend a meeting Friday, Sept. 3 - 6 p.m. Josephine County Bldg., 102 S. Redwood Hwy. The meeting is to introduce our product called FIRE BLOC *FIRE BLOC is a product when mixed with water will prevent the encroachment of fire: wild or domestic. *FIRE BLOC is non-toxic and biodegradable, and when sprayed on any surface lasts for 30 hours. *FIRE BLOC is also very effective in suppressing any type of fire and can be used to set up a fire barrier as wide as necessary to protect all vegetation and structures in the path of the fire. *Several local and regional fire prevention agency reps. will be attending. *We will be setting up a manufacturing plant in Cave Junction and are looking for financial assistance to accomplish this task. Fire Bloc, Inc. (541) 592-7020 ‘Monkey Business’ 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. 23 Staff: Cindy Newton, Chris Robertson, Michelle Binker, Becky Loudon, Shane Welsh & 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 From William Schnieder Cave Junction Remember Curious George the monkey and the man with the yellow hat? Ah yes, what a little scamp that monkey was; and the man in the hat was pretty cool too. Speaking of monkeys, I can imagine a little town, let’s say, back east some- where. A dirty little town with the worst of slums and some of the cleanest, well-scrubbed, white- washed if you will, streets and buildings in the world. “Capital, old chap,” one might say upon seeing the array of columns, domes and phallic symbols; some bananas please. In this town lives a bunch of overdressed, chit- tering-chattering chimpan- zee, wanna-be-gorillas and a bunch of spider monkeys running around, messing up everything that they get near as spider monkeys without diapers will do. Funny thing though. They create this mess and blame it on the ostriches, steal the bananas, rip up the trees, chitter scream- ingly and chattering loudly; demanding that the ostriches bring them more bananas. NOW ONLY $ 24 95 A MONTH FOR 4 MONTHS HURRY , LIMITED TIME OFFER GREAT FOR BACK TO SCHOOL. GET $80 OFF HIGH-SPEED INTERNET when you sign up for Frontier Choices, SM our popular value package with all your favorite calling features. • It’s ALWAYS ON and ALWAYS FAST— up to 20 times faster than Dial-Up. • You can TALK AND SURF AT THE SAME TIME on the same line. • Easy installation using any existing phone jack — no holes to drill, no cables to run. • You can even access your e-mail when you’re on the road. Hey, slow down just a little and call 1-866-292-7283 . © 2004 Citizens Communications Company. Offer limited to residential DSL customers when ordered with Frontier Choices, expires 10/1/04, and cannot be combined with any other offer. Term commitment is required. 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