50¢
Vandals
hit pool;
loss set
at $850
Sheriff links
get outta jail
situation to
county board
Effective Monday, July
11, the capacity at the Jose-
phine County Jail was low-
ered from 135 inmates to
125 inmates.
Sheriff Dave Daniel
also announced that, “The
jail has two vacancies,
which we have been unable
to fill because the Board of
Commissioners refused to
sign necessary personnel
forms in a timely manner
allowing the sheriff’s office
to fill those positions.
“We are currently re-
leasing approximately 50
felons per month from the
jail,” said the sheriff.
“Lowering the cap will
result in approximately 60
felons being released a
month early,” he said.
JoCo section
heads listed
in new format
Effective Friday, July 1,
the department organiza-
tional structure of Josephine
County was changed, it was
announced Tuesday, July 5
by county commissioners.
The following reflects
the titles of the new depart-
ments and the names of
those who will be adminis-
trative directors heading
those departments.
*Community Justice
Dept., Marie Hill.
*General Services
Dept., Mark Sorensen.
*Health Services Dept.,
Leslee O’Brien
*Property Services
Dept., Robert Weber.
Questions or comments
may be directed to the com-
missioners’ office.
Remember: You want
it in the ‘Noose?’ Our
new deadline is 5 p.m.
Thursdays, with late
classifieds until noon
Fridays with space
available.
Illinois Valley
Wednesday, July 13
Sunny & Hot
High--97, Low--57
Thursday, July 14
Lots o’ Sun & Heat
High--96, Low--55
Friday, July 15
Sunny
High--93, Low--56
Saturday, July 16
Bright Sunshine
High--93, Low54
Sunday, July 17
Sunny. Patchy clouds
at nigh.
High--92Low--52
Monday, July 18
Mostly Sunny
High--91 Low--49
Tuesday, July 19
Sunny & Warmer
High-94Low-58
Following are the high-and-
low temperatures recorded in
O’Brien by Cheryl & Harry
Johnson.
*Fri., July 1: 93-66
*Sat. July 2: 93-55
*Sun., July 3: 93-55
*Mon., July 4: 98-57
*Tues., July 5: 92-59
*Wed., July 6: 83-59
*Thurs., July 7: 80-50
ART WALK ATTRACTIONS - The Second Friday Art
Walk in Downtown Cave Junction was held July 8.
Among participants were (counter-clockwise from top,
left) Finny Caulfield, of Rising Sons, admiring glass
etchings by Kaye Kinton; multimedia artist Carol Craw-
ford Myers at April’s Aroma Home; Marian Chavez with
her works at Special Productions; and Sparrow with
her handcrafted jewelry at Jefferson State Financial
Group. She also plays French tunes on accordion. The
next Art Walk will be held Aug. 12.
Venerable Holland Store a community mainstay
By CHRISTINA HILL
Correspondent
Nestled at the base of a
Y-shaped fork between
Althouse Creek Road and
Old Brown Town
Road, sits the Holland
Store.
It began in the
1890s, and has been
passed through the
hands of several own-
ers.
That is, up until
two decades ago,
when George and Jody
McElroy, husband and
wife of 25 years and
counting, purchased
the store and have
called it their home
since.
“There's a three-
bedroom, two-bath
home which is at-
tached to the store, so
it’s pretty easy to walk
through the door and
go to work,” Jody said with
a laugh.
On June 7, the
McElroys celebrated 20
years of being in business.
“We bought the store in
1985 and had a lot of work
to do before it was up and
running again,” said Jody.
ing burnt in the 1930s and
was rebuilt in 1936. Accord-
ing to Jody, the store and a
hotel that used to sit next to
it were the center of a large
JODY & GEORGE McELROY (Photo by Christina Hill)
“It had been shut down for a
few years and needed a lot
of clean-up work.”
The original store build-
gold-mining community.
“This store was the first
place in the valley to have
power and running water,”
she recalled.
Perhaps it was the his-
tory behind the old hard
wood floors and the charm-
ing covered front porch that
attracted her husband,
but as for Jody, when
she first laid eyes on it,
she had a hard time
seeing past the dilapi-
dated, old building, she
said.
“My husband in-
stantly fell in love with
the place, and I hated
it,” she said. “It was
horrible. It was in
really bad condition.
And, the first few
years here were tough.
“All my relatives
still lived in the Vaca-
ville (California) area,
and it was a complete
culture shock to me.
Then after about three
or four years, the place
grew on me. George
took to it right away. It’s
like he was born to be here,
but now I could never leave
(Continued on page 13)
‘Stable Schools Plan’ OK’d by House; sent to Senate
By Oregon School
Boards Association
Predictability and stabil-
ity in K-12 funding are the
hallmarks of a proposal (HB
2450) approved recently by
the House and advanced to
the Senate.
The “Stable Schools
Plan,” chiefly sponsored by
House Speaker Karen Min-
nis (R-Wood Village), was
approved on a 33-26 party-
line vote.
The proposal would
dedicate 51 percent of state
personal income taxes to K-
12 schools beginning with
the 2007-09 biennium, and
guarantee at least a 9-
percent biennial growth in
the State School Fund.
Two-thirds of the excess
personal income tax collec-
tions, beyond the amount
necessary to fund the 9 per-
cent State School Fund
(SSF) growth guarantee,
would be deposited in the
Education Stability Fund
(ESF), and the other one-
third into a new Successful
Schools Fund.
The ESF would be
tapped to maintain 9 percent
biennial growth in the SSF
in times declining income
tax revenue brought on by
economic recession. The
SSF would provide re-
sources to schools strug-
gling to raise student
achievement to state stan-
dards or to implement to
replicate innovative pro-
grams.
The proposal also now
uses an assumed $5.318
billion appropriation to the
2005-07 State School Fund
to calculate the guaranteed
2007-09 K-12 funding
amount of $5.8 billion. The
$5.318 billion was the
amount determined in De-
cember by the School Reve-
nue Forecast Committee as
needed in 2005-07 to main-
tain school district programs
and services.
during the last three years,
but has moved back to its
old stomping grounds at
Jubilee Park.
“It’s great to be back in
the park,” said Scott Thorn-
hill, unit director of the I.V.
Boys & Girls Club. “We
had been down here (Jubilee
Park) for so many years, and
thought it would be a good
change and opportunity to
go into the schools for the
summer.
“The facilities were
great, but we just did not get
the number of kids we did at
the park. After asking the
members and kids around
town, the feeling was that
although the school is nice,
they were there for nine
months, and they didn’t
want to spend summer there
too.
“Moving back to the
Brit bikes due
Approximately 300
members of a Norton motor-
cycle group from British
Columbia are anticipated at
Lake Selmac this week.
As a fund-raiser, break-
fast will be provided Friday
and Saturday, July 15-16 by
Illinois Valley Volunteer
Firefighters Association.
Masked thugs
rob GP tavern
park had its reservations, but
the feeling with the staff and
the organization was posi-
tive, and with great support
from the mayor and the city
council, the club board and
executive, we decided to do
it,” Thornhill said.
This summer is loaded
with guest speakers, field
trips, teen-age-only activi-
ties, fine arts, and character
Two armed men forced
patrons to lie on the floor,
and took cash from Mario’s/
Purple Parrot on Rogue
River Hwy., said Grants
Pass Dept. of Public Safety
(GPDPS).
The hold-up occurred
Wednesday, July 6 at ap-
proximately 12:35 a.m. The
suspects are two men, both
about 5-8 to 6-0, with aver-
age builds.
Both suspects were
armed with black handguns,
said GPDPS.
One man was wearing a
white tank top, white jean-
type pants, tennis shoes, and
a dark ski mask. The other
suspect was wearing dark
pants, dark shirt, and a dark
ski mask.
The suspects ordered
(Continued on page 14)
(Continued on page 3)
‘The Club’ offers cornucopia of activities for valley youth
As summer makes its
way into July, something is
happening in Jubilee Park.
It happened once be-
fore, for six years, and then
it was gone. But it’s back
and having a blast.
It’s the Illinois Valley
Unit of the Boys & Girls
Clubs of Rogue Valley. The
club has been at Evergreen
Elementary School and
Lorna Byrne Middle School
Hoodlums used a rock
to break a glass door at Cave
Junction Swimming Pool
Sunday afternoon, July 10,
resulting in a minimum loss
of $850, said manager Cyn-
thia Hobbins.
The cost to repair the
door and the cash register
was estimated at $500 by a
city official. And the thieves
took $100 in petty cash, and
at least $250 worth of mer-
chandise, Hobbins said.
She said that the break-
in was spotted by a Jose-
phine County Sheriff’s Of-
fice deputy around 5:30
p.m., and that the officer
found unmelted ice cream
bars on the floor. “They must
have just left,” Hobbins said.
She speculated that the
city might offer a reward of
$1,000 for information lead-
ing to the arrest and convic-
tion of those responsible.
City Recorder Jim Polk said
Monday, July 11 that the
reward likely would be con-
sidered, but that nothing
official had yet come from
the mayor or city council.
Meanwhile, the pool is
open Mondays through Fri-
days from 1 to 5 p.m. for
open swimming; with adult
lessons and water-aerobics
from noon to 1.
However, Hobbins
noted that the break-in, van-
dalism and burglary are dis-
heartening.
“After all that we’ve
gone through to get the pool
open, this is discouraging,”
she said. The pool telephone
number is 592-3990.
(Editor’s Note: The
Cave Junction City Coun-
sel meeting scheduled for
Monday night, July 11,
was canceled due to lack of
a quorum. A special meet-
ing is tentatively planned
for Monday, July 18 in city
hall beginning at 7 p.m.)