Meth labs so
far all in I.V.;
regrettably
‘Hearty’ gifts
for the love
of your life
All three clandestine
methamphetamine labs shut
down this year by Josephine
County lawmen have been
in Illinois Valley.
During January, officers
of the Josephine Interagency
Narcotics Team (JOINT)
served search warrants at
three residences within Cave
Junction city limits, and two
at dwellings in rural Cave
Junction.
If the trend in the num-
ber of labs continues at three
per month, said JOINT, it
would break last year’s re-
cord of 22 labs busted. Of
those, four were in Illinois
Valley, JOINT said.
Officers seized 47 meth
labs in the county during
2003, 42 during 2002, and
63 during 2001.
The county, with 46
buildings declared unfit due
to chemical/drug contamina-
tion, leads the state in the
number of such buildings.
Besides the harmful
effects on the users and soci-
ety as a whole, officers note
that chemicals used in
manufacturing meth are
volatile, and have caused
intense flash fires.
In addition, combining
such chemicals results in
deadly phosphine gas.
Those who want to
add hearty power to Cu-
pid’s arrow need look no
further than pages 4 and 5.
From candy and flow-
ers, to jewelry, cards and
various other thoughtful
gifts, a fine “from the
heart” Valentine’s Day
selection is available from
merchants.
And to add to the
heartfelt situation, a num-
ber of restaurants are of-
fering special meals for
sweethearts, lovers, part-
ners, friends and spouses -
- or a combination.
See what’s offered on
pages 4 and 5.
WONDERFUL WOOLY WINTER GALA - The third an-
nual Wooly Winter Gala was held Sunday, Feb. 6 at
Lorna Byrne Middle School to benefit the Illinois River
Valley Arts Council. Olivia Fox, 2, enjoyed petting
‘Nikodemos’ with llama mama Joyce Abrams (left) and
baby mama Lacey Fox. In photo below (from left)
Olivia; Alyssa Person, 8; BreAnna Allan, 15, a youth
table helper; and Camelia Swenson, 7, had a good time
with various gala craft projects. The arts council pre-
sents valley projects with the Southern Oregon Guild.
(Continued on page 8)
Illinois Valley girls
varsity basketball team
is ‘hooping it up’ with a
7-1 Skyline Conference
mark and looking good.
See page 9.
592-2541
Evergreen, Home Valley
set $500,000 in rec fund
Town halls
set on meth,
legislation
Three area legislators
will conduct public meet-
ings Saturday, Feb. 12 in
Grants Pass to hear from
constituents and discuss the
continuing methampheta-
mine problem.
The meth problem will
be addressed during a
“regional town hall summit”
by U.S. Congressman Greg
Walden (R-Ore.) and others
from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. in
Anne Basker Auditorium
adjacent to the county court-
house in Downtown GP.
Walden -- with invited
experts from law enforce-
ment, anti-drug coalitions,
the governor’s office and
federal offices -- will
“discuss the rampant use
and production problems
facing our communities and
what can be done at the lo-
cal level to help advance the
fight against meth.”
The public is encour-
aged to attend. Walden said
that 35 percent of meth lab
seizures during 2004 were
in his congressional district.
But, he added, the district
has only 20 percent of the
state’s population.
“This drug affects us
all,” said Walden. “I believe
that these forums will be
informative for everyone:
The threats posed by this
drug are too close for any of
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Among performers at the
third annual Wooly Win-
ter Gala was Second Fri-
day String Band with
Carol
Valentine
(substituting for Kent
Fisher), Jack Dwyer and
George Shook. Other
performers
included
Alan Laurie, Jemarc Jug-
gling and Patti Culver.
The master of ceremo-
nies was Smokey Little
Hawk.
Cougar wrestlers show winning ways
Illinois Valley High
School wrestlers have excel-
lent chances of pinning and
otherwise winning their way
to the state tournament.
They’ll be heading to the
district championships first,
but it looks as though the
team will turn in outstanding
performances, said head
coach Jay Miller.
The meet will be in
Klamath Falls on Friday and
Saturday, Feb. 11-12.
Including his work with
the valley youth wrestling
group, Miller has 26 years
coaching experience, about
nine of them as head coach.
And the Cougar team, for
the first time in memory,
clinched the Skyline Confer-
ence dual-meet title. That
notable achievement results
from going undefeated
against all-league competi-
tion, subsequent to a 61-15
victory against Rogue River
Thursday, Feb. 3 on the
Chieftains’ home mats.
In addition, Miller and
his charges are anticipating
also taking the district title,
which would be another his-
toric first for IVHS.
The Cougars have only
three seniors, but are bol-
stered by a talented group of
freshmen and others. The
seniors, who are ready for
district, are:
*Seth Green (130), a
four-year wrestler, who was
district champ as a sopho-
more and runner-up as a jun-
ior. “I believe he’ll be a shoe-
in at district,” said Miller.
*Wescott Lynch (152),
also a four-year man, who has
made two trips to state.
*George Middle (215), in
his first year as a matman.
At Klamath Falls, the top
three finishers in each weight
category will go to state. The
state contest will be in Salem
Thursday through Saturday,
Feb. 17 through 19.
“We have 26 kids on the
team,” said Miller, “which is
up 14 from our normal size.
“We’ve finished in the
top 10 in past years; this time
we’re looking to be in the top
five. We’ve got a lot of talent
and a good shot.”
Besides the seniors, he
feels that three or four fresh-
men likely will place at the
state contest. They include
Jesse Swift (130), who’ll be
the #1 seed at district. He’s
won all his league matches
this year, including opponents
from 4-A schools. I.V. is 3-A.
Two others are Jacob
Miller (119) and Jerrad Miller
(125). “I believe they’ll make
it to state,” said the coach.
“This is an exciting year
for us,” he added. He said that
the program, bolstered by
youth wrestling that prepares
youth for the Cougar team,
has and has had “a lot of out-
standing individuals.”
The team earns its major
funding by running a food
booth at the annual Josephine
County Fair. It also holds
other fund-raisers. Miller
cited Jerry Sommers as the
“main man” for fund-raising.
A $500,000 revolving
“zero interest” loan fund to
help establish and maintain
recreation fields in Jose-
phine County has been set
up jointly by Home Valley
Bank and Evergreen Federal
Bank.
The program, with each
bank providing $250,000,
was announced by Home
Valley President Robert
Ward, and Evergreen Presi-
dent Brady Adams.
The program will focus
on an interest-free revolving
loan fund for nonprofit
groups. Funds could be used
to acquire, improve or main-
tain community recreation
fields.
“Today, many of our
tax-supported public ser-
vices are facing financial
challenges,” said Ward.
“We wanted to come up
with a program that would
address some of the needs of
our public recreation fields
without requiring the use of
taxpayers’ dollars,” said
Ward.
“By creating an interest-
free revolving loan fund,”
he said, “we can help the
community keep and im-
prove the fields that are such
an important asset to our
communities, without hav-
ing to raise taxes or use ex-
isting taxes.”
Added
Adams,
“Whether you are a player
or a spectator, recreation
fields provide positive ex-
periences. These shared
times help build strong
families and strong commu-
nities.”
The $500,000 fund will
be available without interest
to “local nonprofits inter-
ested in improving the com-
munities’ recreation fields.”
The borrowers will pay back
their loans from nontax-
payer sources such as fund-
raisers or concessions. The
repaid money will then be
available for other loans,
said Adams and Ward.
“Being the only locally
owned banks in the commu-
nity,” said Ward, “we are in
a unique position to be able
to put together an innovative
program like this one.
“In today’s world of
bigger and bigger
megabanks,” he added,
“programs like this show
that local community banks
can still make a significant
difference in improving the
quality of life in our com-
munities.”
(Editor’s Note: See the
advertisement from the
two banks on page 16.)
O’Brien weather, listing
high-low temperatures and
rainfall, as recorded by Cheryl
& Harry Johnson:
*Fri., Jan. 28, 45-38; 1.81
*Sat., Jan. 29, 48-31
*Sun., Jan. 30, 45-30
*Mon., Jan. 31, 50-31
*Tues., Feb. 1, 47-31
*Wed., Feb. 2, 50-27
*Thurs., Feb. 3, 54-29
Cave Junction
Wednesday, Feb. 9
Partly sunny,
Clouds increasing late
High--53, Low--26.
Thursday, Feb. 10
Variable sunshine,
Cloudy evening
High--54, Low--27.
Friday, Feb. 11
Partly sunny,
Evening showers
High--56, Low--34.
Saturday, Feb. 12
Possible showers,
Mostly cloudy evening
High--51, Low--30.
Sunday, Feb. 13
Showers likely,
Cats & dogs late
High--51, Low--29.
Monday, Feb. 14
Mostly cloudy,
Partial evening clearing
High--53, Low--31.
Tuesday, Feb. 15
Partly sunny,
Clouds increasing late
High--56, Low--32.