Illinois Valley News, Cave Junction, OR Wednesday, September 8, 2004
GIVE LIFE - American Red Cross will hold a
blood drive on Thursday, Sept. 9 from 1 to 6 p.m. at
Illinois Valley Senior Center, 520 E. River St., Cave
Junction. Phone (800) 448-3543 for more info.
BRIDGEVIEW WASH - A fund-raiser car wash
will be held by Bridgeview Community Church
Youth Group at Oregon Caves Chevron on Saturday,
Sept. 11 from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
POTTSVILLE POWWOW - The 14th annual
Pottsville Intertribal Powwow will be held at Potts-
ville on Pleasant Valley Road in Merlin. There will be
three sessions beginning Saturday, Sept. 11, from
noon to 5 p.m., and 7 to 11 p.m. and again on Sunday,
Sept. 11 from 1 to 4 p.m. For more information,
phone, (541) 474-2690 or (541) 476-0126.
HOSPICE PRESENTS - Rod Rollins will ad-
dress the topic, “Look Good - Feel Better,” on Mon-
day, Sept. 13 from noon to 1 p.m. at Lovejoy Hospice
conference room, 939 S.E. Eighth St. in Grants Pass.
Participants are asked to bring a lunch. Beverages and
dessert will be provided.
EVERGREEN PTA - Evergreen Elementary
School will hold its first PTA meeting on Tuesday,
Sept. 14 at 2:20 p.m. in the school’s library.
SHERIFF SUPPORT - Sheriff Dave Daniel an-
nounced that Josephine County citizens can become
Honorary Members of the Oregon State Sheriff’s As-
sociation. Membership appeals will be mailed. Those
wanting to join voluntarily can do so for a fee. Those
who do not receive a membership appeal and would
like more information can contact the Oregon State
Sheriff’s Association at P.O. Box 2313, Salem OR
97308, phone (503) 364-4204, or contact the sheriff’s
office at (541) 474-5120.
NOTEPAD - Book sale volunteers are needed
for the I.V. Friends of the Library fund-raiser on Fri-
day and Saturday, Sept. 10-11. Phone 592-2866 …
An Emergency Preparedness Fair, sponsored by
Josephine County Citizen Corps, will be held Satur-
day, Sept. 11, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the Wal-Mart
parking lot in Grants Pass … An all-congregations
evening service will begin at 6 on Sunday, Sept. 12 at
Community Bible Church. The speaker will be Dr.
Don Blackburn, Community Bible pastor … A Walk
for Life will be held by Pregnancy Center of Illinois
Valley on Saturday, Sept. 18. To sign up or for more
information, phone 592-6058.
LAST WORDS - The forceps of our minds are
clumsy forceps, and crush the truth a little in taking
hold of it. (H.G. Wells)
Let us take things as we find them:
Let us not attempt to distort them into
what they are not. We cannot make facts. All
our wishing cannot change them.
We must use them.
- John Henry Cardinal Newman -
For the past 15 years I’ve made many friends while
working at Family Tree Garden Center.
I no longer work there but would still like to visit
with you. You can now find me
at my new place of employment:
Dillons Nursery & Garden Center
Patty Schalk
Sunday, Sept. 12
8:30 a.m. to noon
ALL-YOU-CAN-EAT
*Adults-$5
*Children under 11- $2.50
*Waffles *Pancakes *Biscuits & Gravy *Ham
*Sausage *Eggs *Juice *Coffee *Tea or Milk
Page 3
(Continued from page 2)
Jim Raffenburg for com-
missioner Position 2 this
November. You can learn
about his positions at
www.jimraffenburg.com.
He alone has the support
and ideas that can turn this
around fast.
Happy with JoCo?
From Luz Moore
Cave Junction
Are we happy with the
way our county govern-
ment has been run? Are we
better off now than 10
years ago?
Consider this: 10 years
ago our library was forced
to shut for a month. After
many years of good leader-
ship, it has now fallen back
upon former unpredictable
county political shenani-
gans, deteriorating books,
and closed doors.
Our library director
makes $80,000 yearly; yet
has refused to consider a
salary cut even though li-
brary staff have been
forced to do so.
And there are two
county retirement plans
available to employees. All
of this (salaries referred to
in the previous letter)
while three commissioners
twiddle their thumbs over
the fact that our welfare
state federal will be gone
by 2007. That’s enough to
send anyone to a shrink.
No thanks -- our fam-
ily will remember this in
November and vote for
Jim Raffenburg for Posi-
tion 2 commissioner. He is
the right man for the job,
and he has solid, workable
plans for ensuring that Jo-
sephine County has a fu-
ture for us all.
Veterans’ affairs
From Bear Marston
Cave Junction
All vets who didn’t get
Rep. Defazio’s Veterans’
Report need to know that
my last letter was opinion;
this one is fact.
In February, President
Bush proposed an inade-
quate budget for the Dept.
of Veterans Affairs (VA).
His budget was $1.2 bil-
lion below the level re-
quested by his own VA
secretary.
The budget drafted by
Republican leadership in
Congress was not much
better. It provided $1.3
billion less for veterans’
programs in 2005. (Less)
than the bipartisan recom-
mendations of the House
Committee on Veteran’s
Affairs.
Now you’ve got to
ask, “Why do the Republi-
cans do more to us than for
us?” Think about it before
you vote.
In the Wednesday,
Sept. 1 issue of “Illinois
Valley News:”
*A page 10 article
listed supplies students
will need for the new
school year. The list is for
Lorna Byrne Middle
School students, not Ever-
green Elementary School.
*On page 20, Stuart
Mepham taught for 31
years at Westmoor High
School in Daly City, Calif.
He also was a substitute at
Illinois Valley High
School.
Get ‘The News’
every week.
See page 8.
Do it now!
Life goes on as usual at Lake Selmac, although a toxic algal bloom is causing prob-
lems, making the water unfit for human consumption. (Photo by Shane Welsh)
Officials work to remedy Selmac water
At Lake Selmac, the
word is, “Don’t drink the
water.”
Despite recent treat-
ments, which appeared to
have improved drinking
water quality at the lake,
the Oregon Dept. of Hu-
man Services (DHS), Jose-
phine County Health
Dept., and the county
parks department have is-
sued revised restrictions on
public water use there.
The algae bloom re-
sponsible for high levels of
algal toxin in the lake has
become much more severe,
according to a statement
issued Thursday, Sept. 2
by Kerr Kauffman, a DHS
environmental health spe-
cialist.
“Piped water at the
park facilities should not
be ingested, used for tooth-
brushing, or for bathing,”
Kauffman said.
Vitamin E best
in certain way
A new study has found
that cereal fortified with
vitamin E has a high rate
of absorption into the
bloodstream, whereas pills
taken separately with the
same food have inconsis-
tent effects, while taking
the supplements alone is
largely useless.
The research was pub-
lished in the “American
Journal of Clinical Nutri-
tion” by scientists from the
Linus Pauling Institute at
Oregon State University
(OSU).
“The study points the
way to more effective
methods of taking this es-
sential vitamin if people
wish to supplement their
diet,” said OSU.
“Park toilets and hand-
washing facilities will con-
tinue to operate, but no
other uses should be made
of the piped water.”
Kauffman reiterated
that supervision of small
children and pets is crucial
to avoid contact with lake
water or ingestion of piped
water at the park. The rec-
ommendation to not eat
fish from the lake remains
in effect.
On Aug. 19 DHS and
Josephine County officials
issued an advisory against
water contact at Lake Sel-
mac, and at the same time
closed the public drinking
water system there.
Though similar warn-
ings have been issued for
natural and man-made
lakes across Oregon, ac-
cording to Bruce Bartow,
Josephine County Parks
director. “The difference
here is this is one of the
few places where we are
trying to treat the water for
campground use,” he said.
Bartow added that Cy-
cle Oregon, which will
arrive at Lake Selmac
Monday, Sept. 13, with
2,200 cyclists and support
crews, is fully aware of the
water problem. However,
they are self-contained and
will bring their own water
and washing facilities.