Illinois Valley News, Cave Junction, OR Wednesday, August 3, 2005
Page 2
Our house, two dogs and three cats pretty
much have returned to “normal,” whatever that
means, subsequent to our daughter, Vicki, and
two grandchildren, Natalie and Ella, returning to
San Diego County after devoting two weeks to a
visit with my wife, “Nonna,” and me, “Pop-Pop.”
It was a terrific and timely visit, as we cannot
at this time take the time, or even leave the time,
to travel to Carlsbad. Ella Valentina, named after
Nonna’s mom (Louella), and mine (Valentina) was
born approximately 12 weeks ago.
We were “dying,” as the weird expression
goes, to see her, as well as Vicki, Natalie (who’ll
be 3 this month), and Vicki’s husband, Matt. He
couldn’t take more time from work, as he used his
maternity leave immediately after Ella’s birth.
Fortunately, our son, Mike, who moved here
recently from Washington state, was able to fly to
San Diego and return with our daughter and the
two girls. Otherwise, it would have been a mighty
tough time for her, packing two kids and all the
paraphernalia that’s needed. Then he was sweet
enough to fly back with them, again to help with
all the stuff. On the return trip he also took our
other granddaughter, Kimberly, 9, and they
stayed in Carlsbad five days. So Kimberly got to
visit the San Diego Zoo and LegoLand.
Our two big cats stayed hidden during most of
the visit here. “Flint Eastwood,” our newest addi-
tion, was unable to hide, as Natalie carried him
around most of the time. She claimed that he
wanted her to do that, and no one argued. What’s
the use, arguing with a 2-year-old, anyway?
Our doggies, “Bingo” and “Rocky,” received
much attention from our two oldest visitors, espe-
cially the one that’s turning 3. The young one
seemed mildly interested in them, but other dis-
tractions, such as eating and getting new diapers,
took precedence.
Our visitors saw some of the “local sights” in
and around Illinois Valley, and enjoyed their stay,
as did we. It was interesting, in an odd sort of
way, to again experience having small children
underfoot and about. However, being grandpar-
ents is totally different than being parents. (You
know who you are folks, and that this is truth.)
Also, the care and feeding of small people
presents new perspectives. Especially when your
kids have been out of the house for oh, maybe 18
or so years. Something like that.
We are back to “normal,” but it was so much
fun being a little abnormal that we can hardly wait
until the next visit. It’ll just take time.
Pregnancy Center
Benefit Concert
with
Kristy Lee
Saturday
August 13
5 p.m.
at
Illinois Valley
High School
Tickets $15, 2 for $25, Children under 18 FREE!
592-6058
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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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Post Office Box 1370 USPS 258-820
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Volume 68, No. 20
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‘Good old days’
From Laura Helms
Selma
It’s nice to see log
trucks on the roads again.
Reminds me of the
good old days when a man
could support his family,
and his children had a future
around here in the valley.
If the environmentalists
shut us down, don’t worry --
there’s always welfare. It’s
the nicest building in town,
and business is booming.
‘Local terrorists’
From Mara Carnes
Cave Junction
In response to Peggy
Norman’s letter (“Illinois
Valley News,” July 27), I
feel compelled to respond.
It’s obvious to me that
she missed the point en-
tirely, so I decided to assist
her in understanding Jenni-
fer Berubee’s letter (“Illinois
Valley News,” July 13).
“Jen” was using the
truck-burning as an example
of yet another crime in Cave
Junction to go along with
the others recently: the
swimming pool break-ins,
the vandal rampage against
many local businesses, the
Ollis Road thefts, the disap-
pearance of Domingo Com-
pany-Ramirez, and many
other unmentionables.
This town is small
enough that most of us
know each other; gossip
spreads like wildfire. Yet
nobody ever reports infor-
mation they might have
heard or seen about these
local terrorists.
I find it hard to believe,
as well, that nobody can
come forward and report the
animals involved so that we
can keep our streets safe.
Every week I read about
a woman in a car missing
the driver door, accused of
exposing herself to children.
While I don’t know this per-
son, I’ve seen her. I bet that
someone in this town knows
who she is. Why don’t they
tell her to stop acting like a
heathen and get some help?
There’s a small red car
here in town missing a
windshield that I watched
almost nail some kids in a
crosswalk. There were four
young men in this car -- and
not one of them could tell
the driver to stop acting like
a jerk?
Instead of misdirecting
anger at someone like “Jen,”
who loves this town and
only wants to protect it, peo-
ple should direct their anger
toward getting this town
cleaned up.
There are hundreds of
homes being built. If we
cannot protect the people
who already live in the val-
ley, how can we expect to
protect the hundreds more
coming?
Businesses won’t open
here and offer jobs if they
keep getting ripped off. We
need to take our streets back
from the troubled youth,
meth freaks, and other
moral-lacking people.
‘Give America back’
From Richard Strohl
Cave Junction
The problems in Amer-
ica are significant and need
immediate attention from
politicians at all levels.
Failure to act will have
a devastating effect on the
American standard of living
for many decades or forever.
Some of the immediate
problems are lopsided
American trade agreements,
loss of American jobs to
Third World countries, un-
funded corporate pensions,
massive federal deficits,
secretive government,
political lies and hidden
agendas, health care, corpo-
rate welfare, and inadequate
corporate oversight, un-
funded federal mandates.
Also, an out-of-control
military industrial complex,
political trashing of Social
Security, World Bank con-
trol over Third World coun-
tries, pre-emptive war and
corporate greed.
Our Founding Fathers
and Constitution guarantee
the right to vote for all citi-
zens. The right is given to
people and not corporations.
Yet, American corporations
control American politicians
as never before with mas-
sive contributions to all, and
constant pressure from cor-
porate lobbyists
The favorite second
career for retired politicians
is to become political lobby-
ists. Politicians’ concern for
individual rights is only a
drop in the ocean of concern
for corporate favors.
It is common knowledge
that most wars engaged in by
American forces are to pre-
serve the integrity and de-
sires of American corpora-
tions, not the rights, con-
cerns, and wishes of the
masses. The political tradi-
tion is not left, right, Repub-
lican or Democrat.
It is mass deception by
most politicians favoring
corporations over individual
rights.
All Americans con-
cerned about their children’s
future should demand that
American politics change
now. Corporations should
be forbidden to contribute to
or lobby politicians. Only
those who are legally al-
lowed to vote should be al-
lowed to contribute or lobby
politicians --- corporations
are not allowed to vote, they
should not be allowed the
same rights allowed voters.
Give America back to
the voters and stop corporate
greed because the conse-
quences are loss of individual
liberties: The choice is ours.
gressional Caucus to Fight
and Control Methampheta-
mine, passed with over-
whelming bipartisan support
as part of the Foreign Rela-
tions Authorization.
The first amendment
mandates that the five na-
tions which export, and the
five which import the largest
amounts of pseudoephedrine
(a key ingredient in meth)
fully cooperate with U.S.
law enforcement to prevent
its misuse and diversion into
meth labs worldwide.
If these countries fail to
cooperate in these efforts,
their eligibility for aid from
the United States under the
Foreign Assistance Act
would be diminished. These
consequences would put
meth on the same footing as
“natural drugs” such as
heroine and cocaine, which
are already regulated in the
same way.
The second amendment
addresses the smuggling of
meth from Mexico.
“Superlabs” throughout
Mexico produce more than
half our country's meth sup-
ply, and smuggle the poison
into America, where it infil-
trates our communities, es-
pecially in the West.
The amendment calls
for the Bureau for Interna-
tional Narcotics and Law
Enforcement Affairs (INL)
to take actions to improve
bilateral efforts along the
border to prevent smuggling
of meth from Mexico.
The amendment specifi-
cally directs INL to help
Mexican officials enhance
their ability to combat
smuggling through equip-
ment, training and technical
assistance, and encourages
the Mexican government to
take immediate action to
reduce the diversion of
pseudoephedrine from le-
gitimate destinations into the
hands of drug traffickers and
superlabs.
As you recall, Greg
joined with colleagues on
both sides of the aisle a few
weeks ago to vote for in-
creased funding levels for
critical programs that help
the fight against meth
through programs at the
local and community level.
He firmly believes that
the only way to truly suc-
ceed in this effort is to en-
sure a multiprolonged ap-
proach-one that combines
the determination and front-
line efforts by our talented
local officials with national
and international efforts led
by the federal government.
This continuing effort is
one to which Greg and other
members of the meth caucus
will remain committed.
Corrections to letter,
‘How to stop theft’
From S.D. Freeman
Cave Junction
(Editor’s Note: Some
material in a letter in the July
20 issue inadvertently was
omitted. Following are the
paragraphs with the omitted
portions included.)
“This Constitution, and
the Laws of the United
States which shall be made
in Pursuance hereof … shall
be the supreme Law of the
Land and judges in every
State shall be bound thereby,
anything in the Constitution
or Laws of any State to the
contrary notwithstand-
ing.” (U.S. Constitution, Ar-
ticle VI, paragraph 2.)
Further, paragraph 3 of
Article VI requires all
“Members of the several
State Legislatures, and all
executive and Judicial Offi-
cers, both of the United
States and of the several
States, shall be bound by
Oath or Affirmation to sup-
port this Constitution.”
The above information
is enough to make you real-
ize that the government is
stealing from you.
Walden vs. Meth
From Angela Wilhelms,
press secretary for Con-
gressman Greg Walden
Washington, D.C.
Congressman Walden
wanted me to share some
information about two key
amendments he voted for to
further enhance the continu-
ing fight against metham-
phetamine, especially our
international efforts.
By not only fighting
meth in our local communi-
ties, but addressing the issue
abroad as well, we reduce
the threat posed on our own
soil by this toxic poison.
The amendments of-
fered by Greg’s colleague
from Oregon’s Fifth District,
Rep. Darlene Hooley, and
other members of the Con-
at Lake Selmac Everyday
Any ability from never ridden to advanced.
If it’s hot, ride early, like 9 a.m., or late after 7 p.m.
To make a reservation
phone (541)-592-2143
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What do you do when
you can’t get to the river ?
Use llama air conditioning
Call or email and
come for a visit.
Joyce & Harry Abrams
592-6078
llamuz@forestedgefarm.com