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Illinois Valley News, Cave Junction, OR Wednesday, June 29, 2005
By popular demand, this week’s hoopla will address
our quartet of house critters, which provide untold
amounts of joy, hairballs, front-yard surprises, and hairy
furniture and clothing.
We had to take Maui the mostly Siamese mother cat to
our veterinarian last week because a tooth was sticking
out of her mouth. In an odd way. We don’t know how the
tooth, which we think was an incisor, got loose, but I have
some ideas. All of them are related to being chased by her
totally handsome 16-pound son, Bubba. I think she proba-
bly ran into a wall or bonked her face on one of two cat
towers that have somehow been installed in our casa.
Oh, by the way, she’s OK; we just have to watch for
infection, which is easier than it sounds. Ever tried to get
a cat to let you check its mouth voluntarily? Scary.
We quite often awaken with either Maui or Bubba
perched on our bodies, usually on our chest or in the
bladder area, which is sure-fire way to get us up. Also,
Jan and I are sometimes given the feline honor of them
curling up at our backs. Also, this usually involves them
taking a slurpy, jostling kitty bath. Interesting.
Rocky the barky (he’s a Pomeranian) is our smallest
creature, and sometimes Bubba looks at him like prey,
especially after he’s had a short haircut (Rocky, not
Bubba). Rocky only weighs about half of what his distant
cousin the cat weighs. Rocky likes to sleep with us, but
we make him go to the foot of the bed because neither of
us can stand his death breath. He’d like to sleep between
us, but it’s just a bit nauseating. He also snores a lot, and
it’s intriguing, sometimes sounding like an orchestra tun-
ing up. Something like that.
Bingo the dingo (mixed breed terrier, Australian shep-
herd and whatever) likes to “pretend chase” the cats.
They’re never sure if he’s serious. We make every attempt
to ensure that Bingo knows the cats are off limits, but he
can be sneaky. If we call him on it, he just gives us an in-
nocent, “Who, me?” look and then goes somewhere and
hides. A dead giveaway.
We enjoy our pets, finding them entertaining and
friendly, although not necessarily in that order. I have to
admit though, that watching Bubba chase Maui up a cat
tower and then have one of those rapid-fire cat paw fights
is an intriguing event. Especially because such incidents
cause Maui to hiss and spit like a trouper.
Haven’t had any midnight surprises on the carpet re-
cently, and that’s always good news. I hate it when I have
to make a special effort to wash between my toes.
Well, gotta’ go this week, doggone it. It can be a dog-
eat-dog world, and that’s not the cat’s meow.
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1165 Court Street
Medford
Corner of Court & McAndrews
772-0282
Open 7 Days
891 NE D Street 780 NW Garden Valley Blvd.
Roseburg
Grants Pass
Next to Staples
Next to Joann Fabric
474-1060
677-9001
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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
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Volume 68, No. 15
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Get in the swim
From Bea Thompson
Selma
One of the best-kept
secrets in the county is the
beautiful public pool in Cave
Junction. It’s far nicer than
the pools in Grants Pass.
Amazingly, it rarely is
crowded. Unfortunately,
unless more people realize
what a gem it is, it probably
is not going to stay open in
future years. This year, gen-
erous donations have al-
lowed the pool to offer open
swimming.
Thirty-two people have
shown an interest in aero-
bics classes, so it is looking
good that two aerobics
classes will start in July; at
noon and 5:30 p.m. The fee
will be $75 or free with a
membership.
People can sign up at
the pool anytime from 1 to 5
p.m. Mondays through Fri-
days. A schedule of swim-
ming classes will be offered
starting in July if enough
people show an interest. The
pool telephone number is
592-3990.
I hate to let out the se-
cret, but I guess that I would
rather share the pool with a
few more than have no pool
at all.
Purple alien invaders
From K. Stone
O’Brien
My ex-favorite flower,
spotted knap weed, resem-
bles a bachelors button. I
thought it was a native wild
flower, but it is an alien in-
vader from Europe.
Meadows that once had
a few knap weeds with beau-
tiful purple blooms mixed
with our abundant native
wild flowers were stunning
with so many colors. Now
those meadows are nothing
but spotted knap weed, stun-
ningly beautiful.
But no other flowers --
just knap weed. Now it’s
found its way into our for-
ests and woods, and guess
what? It squeezes the life
out of little tree seedlings
too (future forests).
I was tempted to let it
grow here at my home. It’s a
real pretty flower, but it’s so
invasive, to a point of
squeezing out all other
plants. And a single plant
produces up to 1,000 seeds.
Worse yet, the dry vegeta-
tion it leaves when it dies is
extremely flammable, more
so than native plants and
grasses.
This stuff has got to go.
Pulling it up by hand seems
to work the best. It’s espe-
cially easy after a recent
rain, as you get the roots
when the ground is moist.
Pouring boiling water on it
works, as does keeping it
mowed or weed-whacked to
its crown.
You can spray chemi-
cals (yuck), but better plan
on several applications, as
this weed is tough. I find
that it is easy to uproot by
hand, and as a result we
have less every year.
The bad news is that I
see it cropping up all over
our valley. If not controlled
it may some day be our state
flower, as it will have
squeezed the life out of all
the rest.
For more information
on spotted knap weed, and
how to get rid of it, or how
to get involved with tree-
planting riparian areas in
Illinois Valley, contact the
Forestry Action Committee
at 592-4098.
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Unborn murder victims
focus of Anderson bill
The Oregon House has
passed legislation to allow
prosecutors to charge the
killers of pregnant women
for two deaths: one for the
mother, one for the child.
HB 2020, co-sponsored
by House Speaker Karen
Minnis and Rep. Gordon
Anderson, gives unborn
children who are the victims
of assaults (as the result of
assaults on their mothers)
standing under Oregon law.
Currently, 30 other states
and the federal government
have similar laws.
Anderson, who au-
thored a similar bill in 2003,
said, “As a grandfather, I
can understand the grief and
sense of loss a family would
go through with the loss of
an unborn child. We must
protect mother and child
when a criminal heartlessly
snatches life from either or
both.”
“HB 2020 recognizes
what we all know to be true:
when a pregnant woman is
killed, two lives are lost,”
said Minnis. “When a preg-
nant woman is killed, her
family is traumatized not
just by her death, but the
death of their unborn child
or grandchild.”
HB 2020 establishes an
unborn child as the legal
victim of a crime that results
in harm to the unborn child
-- whether the unborn child
is killed or seriously injured.
The bill includes excep-
tions for legal abortions and
for acts committed by the
mother. The bill also states
that it is not a defense to
prosecution if the defendant
did not know, or could not
reasonably have known, that
the woman was pregnant.
In addition, the bill cre-
ates the crime of assault of
an unborn child and classi-
fies the crime as a Class B
felony punishable by a
maximum prison sentence
of 10 years, a fine of up to
$250,000 or both.
A person commits this
crime if they knowingly
cause physical pain to the
mother of an unborn child
without the mother’s con-
sent, and by causing physi-
cal injury to the mother;
which causes serious physi-
cal injury to the unborn
child or causes the unborn
child to be born prior to 37
weeks gestation and the
child weighs 2,500 grams or
less at the time of birth.
Rep. Linda Flores said,
“This bill is needed in Ore-
gon. Just 18 months ago, a
pregnant Oregon City
woman was brutally
stabbed. She lived, but her
baby died. Her attacker
could only be charged with
assaulting her. He should
have also been charged with
killing her baby.”
This bill is commonly
referred to as the “Laci Pe-
terson Law” because it was
drafted in response to the
murder of Peterson and her
unborn son, Connor.
Anderson originally
drafted this bill following
the murder of Kerry Repp of
Central Point after her for-
mer husband was acquitted
of her death. HAB 2020
passed the House easily
with votes from both sides,
but it faces a real test in the
Senate, Anderson said.
He added, “Our laws
now support the mother’s
choice to abort a baby, so
why shouldn’t our laws
equally support the mother’s
choice to let a baby live?”
Pregnancy Center of
the Illinois Valley
481 S. Junction Ave.,
Cave Junction
592-6058
MANSFIELD R. CLEARY
Attorney at Law
General Practice in
Illinois Valley
since 1980
Practice includes but not limited to:
Bankruptcy - Eliminate
financial problems
Living trusts - Avoid probate
Estate planning - Wills,
power of attorney
Domestic relations
Auto accident - Personal Injury
Criminal - DUII
Real Estate contracts - Foreclosure
592-2195
200 W. Lister
Thank You to the many businesses that made the
I.V. Extreme Sports Festival 2005
a success!
Abiding in the Vine
Bikekraft
Bounty Hunter Ranch
Cascade Block
Cave Bear Pawn
Caves Phamacy
Crystal Fresh Bottled Water
Dave’s Perfect Pizza
Dillon’s Nursery
Dr. Housel, DDS
Evergreen Federal Bank
Extreme Boardshop
Gilmore Construction
Goodwill
Home Valley Bank
I.V. Building Supply
Isaacs
Junction Inn
KLDR Radio
Martha Lewis for Avon
Martin’s Printing
Napa Auto Parts
Oregon Caves Chevron
Pizza Pit
Phil Aria Catering
Rising Suns
Roe Motors
Shear Madness
Shop Smart
Sis-Q Communications
Spin Cycles
Stevereno’s
Taylor’s Sausage
The Flower Ladies
The Time Capsule
Treehouse Floral & Gifts
True Value Hardware
Valley Service Center
Wild River Brewing & Pizza Co.