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About Illinois Valley news. (Cave City, Oregon) 1937-current | View Entire Issue (April 13, 2005)
Rural Advocate offers Land eyed homeless assistance for future Door-to-door bus noted for elderly, disabled *You’re homeless or stranded in Illinois Valley -- do you know where to go for help? *You’re an I.V. resident Maureen Goodrich -- do you know where to send the homeless or stranded for assistance? *And if you’re an I.V. resident and want to help or- ganizations that aid them, do you know how to go about it? People in all three cate- gories will be helped by a forthcoming brochure from Illinois Valley Family Coali- tion (IVFC), with funding from the Medford-based Car- penter Foundation, said Mau- reen Goodrich, hired March 23 at IVFC as a rural advo- cate. The brochure for busi- nesses, residents and those in need will include information on where to go for hot meals, clothing, mental health help, a hot shower, transportation, groceries and other needs, such as where to wash clothes. As well, Goodrich -- working with IVFC Execu- tive Director Vikki Miller -- will include insights on: *Scheduling door-to- door service, such as rides to medical appointments, bank- ing or shopping, for senior citizens and people with dis- abilities. *How to connect with available resources for those without pharmaceutical cov- erage. *How to access resources throughout Josephine County for low-income housing. Also, she wants to begin a story hour for children at the IVFC location on E. River Street in Cave Junction. And she would like to develop computer-based literacy ac- tivities, as the center has sev- eral computer terminals avail- able for use at no charge. Regarding use of the door-to-door service that’s available, Goodrich and Miller noted that the number of people from Selma using the service is quite low. Eva Rathburn has been hired part time through a grant to coordinate transporta- tion, and can be contacted at 592-6139. Senior citizens and those with disabilities have priority for the bus. It is available Mondays through Fridays from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. The fee is $2 per round- trip, and side-trips cost 50- cents each. The area the bus covers is from Selma to O’Brien. The driver is “Charlene.” Miller said that last year a study was conducted through a partnership with Options of Southern Oregon Inc. to de- termine the needs surrounding homelessness in Illinois Val- ley. That study is providing the basis for the brochure. In addition, Miller cited the Carpenter Foundation for its continuing financial assis- tance. Regarding Goodrich, Miller said, “We couldn’t be luckier to have such a bright, warm, friendly and easy-to- talk-to advocate. She is very interested in helping those with special needs, and she is an exceptional problem- solver. “People in need of ser- vices,” said Miller, “are sure to receive her full attention and energy.” Goodrich, whose hus- band, David, is pastor of Im- manuel United Methodist Church in CJ, previously has worked as a special education teacher at Illinois Valley and Hidden Valley High schools. “There are a lot of church people in this valley,” she noted, citing the 13 churches in I.V., and many are willing to share their resources; to make a dent in the needs af- fecting the homeless.” They and others, she in- dicated, will find the coming brochure a useful tool. County looking at low ledger Less income, higher ex- penses. That’s the gist of a “State of the County Report” given Tuesday night, April 12 by Josephine County commis- sioners during a town hall meeting in Anne Basker Auditorium in Grants Pass. Using a series of graphs, the board demonstrated the county’s continuing struggle to stay afloat financially. “A lot of people don’t realize that a small percentage of their tax bill goes to support county operations,” said Commis- sioner Dwight Ellis. The board also indicated that should the county lose its O&C “safety net” funding, some drastic changes would have to be made. Following the fairly brief presentation, questions were received from the audience, who wrote them on 3-by-5- inch cards. Disabled busing grant slated A $77,686 grant to continue providing transportation service to disabled people in Josephine County was to be considered by the county commissioners. The item was on the board’s agenda for its meeting Wednes- day morning, April 13 in Grants Pass. It was anticipated that com- missioners would OK the con- tinuing grant from Oregon Dept. of Transportation to Options for Southern Oregon Inc. Advertise in the ‘Illinois Valley News’ B&G Club Clarification as to whether a 1.45-acre parcel of vacant land could be used for construction of a Boys & Girls Club facility for Illinois Valley is requested by the city of Cave Junction. The land lies between Junction Avenue and Old Stage Road. The clarification was requested by I.V. resident Chris Freedman, of Fire Mt. Gems, for the club. Freedman asked the city to correspond with Ora May Meyer and find, regarding her late husband’s will: “Did his directive that the 1.45-acre plot, donated to the city, for park purposes only include use of the property as a club- house of the Boys & Girls Club of the Rogue Valley?” The city accepted the property by resolution in 1991 from the Meyer Loving Trust. City Recorder Jim Polk wrote a letter dated April 5 this year to Mrs. Meyer to determine whether the property could be transferred to the Boys & Girls Club for construction of a facility. Polk said that the land is basically land-locked, al- though there is an easement only for emergency vehicles. The parcel is surrounded by homes and businesses; the latter being Ron Versteeg’s law office and Family Tree Garden Center on Junction Avenue. ‘The Claw’ versatile in removing small brush including berry vines Former Illinois Valley resident Tom Vallejo, who operates Vallejo Land Improvement from Rogue River, demonstrated ‘The Claw’ last week to the U.S. Forest Service in Cave Junction. The tool was developed by Vallejo and Pete Eresh. Vallejo uses low- impact equipment that doesn’t damage the ground, but does a great job removing small brush, especially blackberry vines. Using flat-track equipment, he can work on a 50-degree slope, and get close to riparian areas with little damage. He can be con- tacted at 472-5042. (Photo by Dale Sandberg) I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody. ‘LEARNING THROUGH ARTS’ is the title of a program sponsored and conducted by Southern Oregon Arts Guild of Cave Junction, which currently is working with Lorna Byrne Middle School students on a project linking Cave Junction, salmon and the Illinois River. Anastasia McCleary (left) is among eighth-graders involved, as well as (bottom from left) Trinidy LaRue and Tracie Losey. Guild members including Cate Bendock, Reni Schaeffer and Linda Naydol are working with all grade levels. The salmon rendi- tions (from top clock- wise) are by Jessica Cooper, Brittani Loucks, Aleena Anderson, Jeff Evans, and Tonya Tyler. ‘Learning Through Arts’ began three years ago involving artists and educators in the commu- nity and includes the an- nual ‘Dia De Los Muer- tos’ project. - Bill Cosby - Following are the high- low temperatures and rainfall recorded by O’Brien residents Cheryl and Harry Johnson. *Mon., April 4: 57-33, .04 *Tues., April 5: 66-40 *Wed., April 6: 66-34 *Th., April 7: 50-37, .98 *Fri., April 8: 41-37, 2.36 *Sat., April 9: 62-36 *Sun., April 10: 63-33 Cave Junction Wednesday, April 13 Rain with slush, Overnight clearing High--49, Low--33. Thursday, April 14 Partly cloudy, Cool evening High--53, Low--33. Friday, April 15 Mostly sunny, Mild evening High--63, Low--40. Saturday, April 16 Variable moisture, Decreasing late High--61, Low--41. Sunday, April 17 Scattered sprinkles, Light evening rain High--55, Low--38. Monday, April 18 Cloudy & cool, Rain increasing late High--58, Low--36. Tuesday, April 19 Still raining, Pouring through night High--61, Low--39. Sheriff seeks more money; sues on promotion Josephine County Sheriff Dave Daniel is sticking to his guns on two money issues, including one for which he is suing the county board of commissioners. Daniel told commission- ers last week, as initial data were presented for the 2005- 2006 fiscal year, that unless the sheriff’s office receives another $1.2 million, he will lose 18 deputies. The $1.2 million repre- sents a 13 percent rise from the $9.7 million budgeted amount for the current fiscal year that will end June 30. His new budget, if approved, would total $10.9 million. Without additional fund- ing, Daniel said, his force would shrink to 71 deputies. During the past five years, the sheriff’s office has lost 29 deputies because of budget issues cited by Daniel, who took office in January 1999. In addition to the sheriff’s office, budget increases also are proposed for the district attorney’s office, and the Community Service Dept. D.A. Steven Campbell seeks another 10 percent from his current budget of nearly $2 million. He wants to hire an additional secretary and a (Continued on page 7)
