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Illinois Valley News, Cave Junction, OR Wednesday, December 28, 2005
This was the week that the editor was going to recap
the past 12 months by looking through the 52 issues
(minus this week’s offering) and paint a picture of What
Happened During 2005. But the sands of time march
on, to mix metaphors; so I have another idea because of
time flying and deadlines crushing.
By the way, I’m reminded of two public relations
news releases from big companies. One read, “We’ve
got to keep our foot in the public’s eye.” The other stated
that a certain component comprised “the heart of the
guts.” Ewww.
Actually, I could review the past year by simply say-
ing that it was a lot like 2004, and predict that it likely will
resemble 2006. Most everything that happens around
here is cyclical, with unfortunate circumstances thrown
in: house fires, injury and fatal motor vehicle accidents,
lack of money (or the perception thereof) by many tax-
funded organizations, burglaries, thefts, vandalism, un-
expected deaths, lost pets. And so on.
They’re a bit depressing, but they occur each year
with amazing regularity, no matter what steps are taken
to prevent them in one way or another. To me, it’s like
ODOT trying to reduce accidents on Hwy. 199 with a
safety corridor near Grants Pass. Accidents will continue
no matter how much the speed limit is reduced. In my
view, we need safer, more-aware drivers. There seems
to be way too many not-alert motorists. Some even do
stupid things. Warning signs and reduced speeds are
not the answer. Oh, well.
But back to our Illinois Valley, and away from ad-
verse events: Of course there are great, wonderful and
happy events too. And outstanding folks. This valley is
full of helpful, caring people. They respond to help those
in need. And there are the children honored at our
schools for their various achievements. There also are
adults and organizations recognized for their accom-
plishments and helpfulness. All good “things.” We need
more of such endeavors.
I’m looking forward to the sixth year of the 21st cen-
tury. Let’s keep that good stuff coming and avoid the
creepy whenever possible.
Do I have New Year’s resolutions? Yeah, a few. I
resolve to stop losing my temper over minor problems
and inconveniences. I will not shoot my computer. I plan
to pray more so that I don’t talk to God only when I need
help. Plus, I’m going to exercise more and continue to
eat as much of a nonfat diet as I can. It’s heartfelt.
Additionally, I want my loved ones to know how
much I care for them. I don’t seem to let them know of-
ten enough that they are the lights of my life.
Finally, I would like to know where did 2005 go?
Man, the New Year stormed in before I knew it.
Prospero año, and to all a good knight.
P.S. -- Last week’s column about irrational airport
security checks brought more favorable commentary
than any other column I’ve written during the past 20
years. Additionally, many of you related your own horror
stories about small children and elderly parents being
put through the mill. It appears that TSA needs to be
more aware of TLC.
Fine Dining
Steaks - Chicken - Fish - Large Hamburgers
Restaurant separate from lounge
Friday Special - Prime Rib
Sunday & Monday - Filet Mignon
Bring in this ad for a 10% discount
Open 4 to 9 p.m. 7 days 592-2892 or 592-4222
Time goes, you say?
Ah, no! Alas, Time stays, we go.
- Henry Austin Dobson -
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
Email: newsroom1@frontiernet.net or
newsdesk@illinois-valley-news.com
Volume 68, No. 41
Staff: Michelle Binker, Becky Loudon,
Bryan Harley, Tabitha Jackson, Zina Booth.
Member: Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association
(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.
‘Thank you’ submissions
are not accepted as letters.
* * *
She feels developer
insulted community
From Mara Carnes
Cave Junction
I saw developer Larry
Osborn’s recent comment
and could not help but be
insulted. He said, “I don’t
think anyone can argue that
Cave Junction is not a very
pretty
place
to
live.” (Source: “Daily Cou-
rier” 12/16/05).
I must take exception to
that remark. From someone
who admits he only recently
stepped foot in our fair town
two years ago, I think he’s
blinded by his typical Cali-
fornian views.
I have lived in Cave
Junction for many, many
years. I attended IVHS and
now am a local business
owner myself.
Cave Junction is one of
the most beautiful places I
have ever been. I need only
look out my window at the
green mountains, or drive
five minutes to see the most
gorgeous river in Southern
Oregon. Our town is full of
character. You can drive the
“strip” and marvel at the
individual building person-
alities.
Why would anyone
change this? Would they
prefer a town like they’d
find in California where
there is no personality and
everything matches? Sounds
awfully boring to me.
The people of Cave
Junction are one of the main
reasons many people who
leave the valley always re-
turn. We have a group of
some of the best people I
have ever met. This town
pulls together to help each
other out, and most of us
who have been around
awhile know each other.
I find it disheartening
that developers like Osborn
are pushing gated communi-
ties. Does he think so lowly
of us locals that he feels
people need gates to sepa-
rate themselves from us?
While Osborn is busily
exploiting our town, why
does he feel the need to also
insult us? Why is money
more important than people
to him? Not a single one of
his developments are priced
in a range that any average
local citizen could afford.
If our city council didn’t
have their noses pressed up
against his backside, maybe
they wouldn’t be blind to
this fact. Maybe it doesn’t
bother them to be insulted
like he has done, bit it sure
bothers me.
I have had the pleasure
of meeting Osborn and talk-
ing face to face. I really
don’t think he is a bad per-
son. I just am astounded at
his comments. I think Cave
Junction is beautiful. It’s sad
that he cannot see it, too.
Good Samaritans,
angels at her crash
From Olivia Taylor-Young
Cave Junction
By the grace of God and
some guardian angels, I am
writing this with nothing
more than aching muscles
and assorted ugly bruises.
On Dec. 14 my car hit a
patch of black ice on Hay’s
Hill. Careening across Hwy.
199, it slammed into the
opposite embankment, spun
and struck the slope twice
again before coming to rest
on the middle of the lane for
northbound traffic.
Prior to the accident,
there was a steady stream of
vehicles in both directions.
My first set of guardian an-
gels apparently put a
“heavenly hold” on oncom-
ing traffic; in those few mo-
ments there wasn’t any.
The second set of an-
gels, more Earthbound and
visible, came in the form of
Illinois Valley firefighters
and some other Good Sa-
maritans.
Once the car stopped
spinning, as I unsnapped my
safety belt and unlocked my
door, my first recollection is
of a man running toward me
yelling, “Don’t move. Don’t
move.” I cannot remember
his name; however, I clearly
recall him saying that he
was an I.V. firefighter.
I believe that at least
some of the other Good Sa-
maritans were I.V. firefight-
ers as well. In any event,
several people immediately
pulled over to offer aid.
With precision team-
work, they halted traffic in
both directions, gave emer-
gency first aid, kept me
calm and awake, and as-
sured me that help was on
the way.
The American Medical
Response paramedics, who
were there in a matter of
minutes, were also totally
professional and deeply con-
siderate. They immobilized
my neck and back to miti-
gate possible spinal cord
injury; yet also indulged the
seemingly irrational con-
cerns of someone in trauma.
In this case, that meant
assuring me that the Christ-
mas presents in my car’s
trunk were perfectly safe. In
addition, one paramedic
even dialed my husband and
let me tell him personally
that, while I was en route to
Three Rivers in an ambu-
lance, I was nevertheless
conscious and coherent.
The following day,
when my husband saw the
car, he said that the sight
was almost more frightening
than the original phone call,
and that my relatively un-
scathed condition was, in-
deed, a miracle.
I am eternally grateful
to those who stopped to
help. A confluence of events
may have put me in the
wrong place at the wrong
time -- black ice is black ice
-- but it put these guardian
angels in the right place at
the right time. They helped
turn a potentially terrible
situation into the best it
could be under the circum-
stances.
I appreciate each and
every one for coming to my
aid; for giving us the chance
to celebrate another wed-
ding anniversary the follow-
ing day; and for allowing
our family and other loved
ones to have a happy holi-
day season filled with appre-
ciation for the gifts of life
and of each other.
I hope that their lives
will be filled with people as
awesome as themselves.
‘Crimes committed;
rights violated by judges’
From Raymond Ronald
Karczewski ©
Cave Junction
How do I know the
above? I'm just one such
“living, breathing, flesh-
and-blood, sentient, natu-
ral man/victim” of their
criminal fraud.
Our courts are legal
fictions. They have
jurisdiction only over other
legal fictions. I am
not a legal fiction. Keep this
in mind. Very important.
I am the Cave Junc-
tion man who underwent
two hunger strikes total-
ing 55 days; was thrown
out of JoCo Jail at the curb
of
Three
Rivers
Hospital, near death, be-
cause I protested being
unlawfully tried as a paper
terrorist for my right to hold
public officials accountable
for their crimes.
I challenged the courts/
prosecution to produce any-
one who under oath or affi-
davit claimed that I had
committed a crime. They
did not. Would not. Could
not.
Throughout my unlaw-
ful arrest, being held hostage
for 128 days of incarcera-
tion and some 20
court appearances, I repeat-
edly challenged the
court/prosecution to prove
they had jurisdiction over
this non-fiction, living,
breathing man. They did
not. Would not. Could not.
Under U.S. law, when
challenge to jurisdiction is
made to our present Mari-
time Law Administrative
courts, which require con-
tract, consent, or waiver of
rights by the accused to
grant them jurisdiction, all
court proceedings must halt
and jurisdiction be proven,
in writing, by the court be-
fore proceeding further.
To this very writing,
three-plus years afterwards,
the Josephine County courts
and prosecutors have not
and will not prove jurisdic-
tion. Why?
Will justice or police
state tyranny be our JoCo
legacy? We should demand
that our courts answer the
questions they have so dog-
gedly evaded.
Illinois Valley elk
to be eliminated
From Sandy Raymond
Cave Junction
Have you phoned the
Oregon Dept. of Fish &
Wildlife (ODFW) to com-
plain of elk eating your
roses or of other property
damage?
If you made that com-
plaint, you did it prior to
1994 and were persistent
enough in your complaints
through 2003 to have the elk
in Illinois Valley designated
as an “EDA.”
If you don’t know what
an EDA is, it’s perhaps time
to learn PDQ or the ELK
will be MIA. No, not miss-
ing in action -- I’m refer-
ring to Missing In the Area
of the Illinois Valley.
For those unaware, Illi-
nois Valley is comprised of
two designated hunting units
divided by Redwood Hwy.
The Chetco Unit lies on the
west side and the Applegate
on the east. In the Chetco
Unit there is an early and
late hunting season for
which you must enter a
drawing to receive a Harvest
Tag, which, if successful,
allows you to hunt for one
bull elk in this unit.
A disabled hunter, pos-
sessing a Permanent Dis-
ability Permit (PDP), is now
also limited to one bull elk
in this unit. The Applegate
Unit boundary follows U.S.
199 from California to I-5,
and then south through
Medford, Ashland and again
the California border.
The Applegate Unit is
also subject to an early and
late hunt. However, the dis-
tinction is that they are open
hunts. Although designated
a Bull Elk Only Hunt, a
drawing isn't involved; the
hunter merely purchases a
tag for the hunt of their
choice. The distinction for
this unit is that the PDP
holder is allowed to harvest
one elk. The definition of
one elk is: Bull, Cow or
Calf; more commonly re-
ferred to as a “Hair Tag.”
Until perhaps four years
ago, to my knowledge, there
were no elk in Illinois Val-
ley, and now there appear to
be three small groups. That
these few animals have mi-
grated to the valley, from
either the Onion Mountain
(Chetco) or Williams
(Applegate) area is unim-
portant. What is important is
that there are once again elk
in Illinois Valley.
On Nov. 10, I wrote
ODFW questioning the wis-
dom of a potentially devas-
(Continued on Page 3)
If you know someone who
needs a helping hand…
And you don’t know how to help,
please contact:
THE ILLINOIS VALLEY
FAMILY COALITION.
DEADLINES:
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25 agencies to match up the services
needed with the organization that
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POSTMASTER: Please send address changes to
P.O. Box 1370, Cave Junction, OR 97523
Linda Sallman
128 S. Redwood Hwy.
Cave Junction OR 97523
541-592-4541
Across from Select Market on Redwood Hwy.
Open Mondays - Fridays, 9 to 5
Auto - Home - Life - Commercial
TOGETHER WE CAN HELP
INDIVIDUALS AND FAMILIES
PUT THE PIECES
OF THEIR LIVES
BACK TOGETHER.
ILLINOIS VALLEY FAMILY COALITION
535 E. River St.,
Cave Junction, OREGON
Carol Ronan, Exec. Director
541-592-3961, ext. 303