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About Illinois Valley news. (Cave City, Oregon) 1937-current | View Entire Issue (July 13, 2005)
Page 2 Illinois Valley News, Cave Junction, OR Wednesday, July 13, 2005 Some friends and co-workers of mine partake of nico- tine by setting on fire tobacco in paper tubes, and pur- posely sucking the resulting smoke into their lungs. I find their habit stifling to my breathing, and I can say this with a straight-face, as I am a former smoker. My first experience was when I was around, oh, 9; and my mom and some relatives were playing poker. I was fascinated by the process of smoking and kept pestering my mom to “let me try.” She finally relented; I think just to get me to shut up so she could concentrate on her cards. I inhaled like a 12 hp bathroom fan. And cleverly swal- lowed the smoke. When I finally stopped gasping, choking and tearing, my mother gave me a sardonic, but sympathetic look. I never asked her for another drag. She smoked Pall Mall brand for years, although she insisted on calling them Pell Mells. I never touched another cigarette until I was approxi- mately 17 and had a job driving a bobtail refrigerator truck. All the other “truckers” smoked, and so, to make myself feel like one of the boys, I took up puffing. I didn’t like it, but I thought that it was required. I also thought that it made me look older, and perhaps cooler. Ha. Actu- ally, most of my smokes didn’t get smoked much; I just held them with two fingers on the hand that was most prominent on the steering wheel, so everyone could see how mature I was. I smoked any cigarettes I could get cheap or free. Cigarettes were 25-cents a pack most places; sometimes 50-cents. “EO’s” (everyone else’s) were a favorite. But in my quest to smoke without hurting myself I also puffed Bel- Air, Salem, True, Winston, Kent, Marlboro, Benson & Hedges, Montclair, Lark, Kool: You name it, I probably smoked it. Stayed away from Pall Mall, Lucky Strike, Chesterfield and Camel. Way too strong for me. Although as a copy boy at the former San Diego “Evening Tribune,” where I mostly stuck with Kent and Winston, and sometimes Marlboro, an old-timer and I sometimes shared his packets of imported smokes, the name of which I cannot recall. But they were strong. I usu- ally puffed more than I inhaled, just to maintain an image. This backfired on me, so to speak, during my fresh- man college year. I was standing in a hall awaiting a pro- fessor to inflict algebra, and an upper classman offered me a Lucky Strike. Not wanting to tarnish my supposed maturity, I took the stick and inhaled the whole thing. I then spent the entire class with my head on my desk, as the world spun by, with my stomach and brain trying to get into synch. It was a yucky situation. I’m getting dizzy just remembering that time. Suffice it to say that I stopped smoking a few years later when a co- worker underwent surgery for lung cancer. After the op- eration, we awaited word on his condition, which came via his wife. She made the following statement: “There’s good news and bad news. The good news is that they removed one lung and part of another to get the cancer. The bad news is that they couldn’t get all of it.” That’s when I quit, because I decided that breathing is more mature than smoking. Plus, getting cancer doesn’t sound like a whole lot of fun. Internet Access - Repairs - Accessories 139 S. Caves Ave. Suite F (inside Caves Mall) 592-4117 Mention this ad and pay just $10 for your first month of service! (Regular $15/Monthly) We have public computers available! Stop by and use our surf stations to check out the ‘net or bring down your laptop and hook up to our high-speed connections! www.ValleySurf.Net Subscribe to the ‘I.V. News’ 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 Periodicals postage paid at Cave Junction, OR 97523 Post Office Box 1370 USPS 258-820 Telephone (541) 592-2541, FAX (541) 592-4330 Volume 68, No. 17 Staff: Kacy Clement, Michelle Binker, Becky Loudon, Bryan Harley, Tabitha Jackson, Nina Holm Consulting. Member: Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association DEADLINES: News, Classified & Display Ads, Announcements & Letters 5 P.M. THURSDAY (Classified ads & uncomplicated display ads can be accepted until Noon, Friday with an additional charge.) POLICY ON LETTERS: ‘Illinois Valley News’ welcomes letters to the editor provided they are of general interest, in good taste, legible and not libelous. All letters must be signed, using complete name, and contain the writer’s address and telephone number. The latter need not be published, but will be used to verify authenticity. The ‘News’ reserves the right to edit letters. Generally, one letter per person per month at publish- ers’ discretion. Letters are used at the discretion of the publishers. Unpublished letters are neither acknowledged nor returned. A prepaid charge may be levied if a letter is inordinately long in the publishers’ opinion. POLICY ON “HERE, THERE & EVERYWHERE,” DISPLAY & CLASSIFIED ADS & NOTICES: All submissions must be hand delivered, faxed or e-mailed to us for publica- tion. Submissions must be resubmitted weekly if the item is to run more than one week. SUBSCRIPTION RATES One year in Josephine County - $20.80 One year in Jackson and Douglas counties - $24.40 One year in all other Oregon counties and out-of-state - $36 POSTMASTER: Please send address changes to P.O. Box 1370, Cave Junction, OR 97523 (Editor’s Note: Views and commentary, including state- ments made as fact, are strictly those of the letter-writers.) * * * Typed, double-spaced let- ters written solely to this news- paper are considered for publi- cation. Hand-written letters that are double-spaced and legible also can be considered. Cards of thanks are not accepted as letters. * * * Bluegrass Fest update From Pam Cooper, chairman for Illinois Valley Chamber of Commerce The second annual Siskiyou Bluegrass Festival is fast approaching, and will be held Saturday, July 30 at Lake Selmac. It’s a benefit fund-raiser for Illinois Valley Chamber of Commerce, and was a great success last year. This year, 11 bands are scheduled to perform. Also, Wild River Brewing & Pizza Co. and Taylor’s Country Store will provide food and beverages along with the Selma Center sup- plying great desserts. Those with a business who would like to display their business banner for a donation of $50 should con- tact the chamber office at 592-3326, or e-mail me at nowcoop@yahoo.com. We also need just a few more volunteers. We want people to contact us if they would like to volunteer. We hope that everyone will join us at the festival, which will run from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Concert-goers should bring lawn chairs and be prepared for warm weather. This is a great event, and we know that all who attend will have a great time. Growth; quality of life From Dorothea Hover-Kramer Cave Junction As someone who has moved here recently, I was interested to read in your newspaper about the many new developments such as the projected 400 new homes in our area. While growth is impor- tant, we need to remember that quality of life in our area is what makes people want to live here. I am wondering how there will be enough water for these developments. Many wells in our area run dry in the summer and dur- ing drought. There is no denying that the entire West Coast is un- dergoing climate changes and increased dryness. All home owners, especially those on wells, need to be informed about any plan- ning that is happening to prevent possible difficulties in the future. I encourage all of us who care about planning for adequate water supplies to attend the town hall meeting for Illinois Valley residents on Monday, July 18 at 7 p.m. in Selma Community Center. The Josephine County watermaster and a represen- tative of I.V. Soil & Water Conservation District will be present to give their views and answer questions. The meeting would be more centrally located in Cave Junction, but we do not have a facility large enough for town hall meet- ings yet. All of us need to work together to make sure that we can continue to enjoy the beauty and peacefulness that is around us. ‘Get involved’ From Jennifer Berubee Cave Junction I am writing this on behalf of my entire family. Last week, my brother Matthew Berubee’s pickup truck was burned by some- one wanting to take revenge and cover up burglary. Last night Valley Surf Internet, the business of my sister, Mara Carnes, was broken into after being in business only a few months. Both crimes happened in the same general area. Anyone reading this probably is expecting me to criticize the Josephine County Sheriff’s office or be outraged at the sheriff for not providing enough pa- trols here. We all feel as though there aren’t enough patrols here -- that is not my issue this time. Both these crimes occurred right in residential areas. Nobody could have picked up a telephone to phone the sheriff’s office? Nobody could stick their head out a window and yell, “Hey, what are you doing there?” When did this town become a bunch of strangers to one another, refusing to get involved? I always wanted to be- lieve that neighbors looked out for one another. My brother’s pickup was com- pletely engulfed in flames, and I don’t buy that nobody noticed until it was too late; and the same with my sis- ter’s business. Maybe the outcome would have been the same had someone bothered to phone. But someone should have cared enough to phone and report these crimes. Anybody who wit- nessed these crimes and did nothing is, in my opinion, just as guilty as the ones responsible. I am writing this to simply say: Enough is enough. It is time for everyone to stop being afraid to get in- volved, and take more of an interest in what is going on around them -- even if it doesn’t directly affect them. ‘Genocide-suicide’ From William Schneider Cave Junction A few weeks ago, I wrote a letter in which I questioned our motives in Iraq in relation to the horrors occurring 400 or so miles to the south in Sudan. I would like to make very clear that any doubts I have as to the motives of our government are in no way meant to diminish the heart and integrity of those who truly wish to free this world of the tyranny of regimes like Saddam Hussein’s. I believe most, if not all, of the boots-on-the-ground soldiers, mothers, fathers, and children of America are not only doing their job as ordered, but truly have the best of intentions for the Iraq people, and for that matter the world, in their sacrifices, often times that being their lives. Which brings me to ask, How does the Government of the people, by the people and for the people so cal- lously send the citizens they are there to serve -- yes, I said serve -- to fight and die for anything less than the most-honorable of reasons; how and why is it that we choose so carefully when and how to deal with it? Honor is honor. Terror is terror. They have no bor- ders. How then is it that we can so honorably fight terror in one place, but turn a blind eye to terror only a few hun- dred miles away? There must be some reasons, and it is those rea- sons that cause me to ques- tion this government’s posi- tion toward Iraq as opposed to Sudan, Rwanda, North Korea, Saudi Arabia etc., where terror and oppression are at least equal to or far more heinous than little Sad- dam’s. The contradiction, as I said before, of Iraq and Su- dan or Rwanda, is inescap- able for any honest person. I note the hacking, the raping, the indiscriminate shooting of not just a few thousand, but of more than a million, and millions more displaced by a regime as far away from Iraq as Cave Junction is from L.A. In other words, really close. How do we claim honor on one side of the coin and (Continued on page 3) IVHS Alumni and Friends say Thank You… ...to the following businesses and organizations for generous donations of time and merchandise, and for the special attention given us -- making Reunion Weekend 2005 a success. Your support is truly appreciated! Bridgeview Winery Carlos Restaurante Cave Junction Cares, Lynn Boucher Caves Pharmacy City of Cave Junction Crystal Fresh Bottled Water, Dairy Queen Walt Farmer Darn Near Everything Dillon’s Nursery Foris Vineyard IVHS, JoAnn Bethany It’s A Burl I.V. Building Supply I.V. Chamber of Commerce I.V. Golf Club (Laurel Pines) Illinois Valley News Junction Inn Kerbyville Museum, Dennis Strayer KUHS Alumni Inc. Mary Anne’s Catering Oregon Caves Chevron, River Valley Village Jeff Stiles Select Market Shop Smart Food Warehouse Stevereno’s Family Restaurant Taylor’s Country Store & Deli True Value Hardware Wild River Brewery & Pizza Co. HomeTowne Interiors, Al Hurt Congratulations to Courtney Christianson, ‘05, our $1,500 Bill Broeffle Vocational Scholarship recipient and to Patrick DeCelles, ‘05, our $1,500 Academic Scholarship recipient.
