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About Illinois Valley news. (Cave City, Oregon) 1937-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 1, 2006)
Page 2 Illinois Valley News, Cave Junction, OR Wednesday, February 1, 2006 Last week’s Corner was not meant to end as a cliff-hanger; it was a slip on our part. The last sentence should have read: And if the pilot says that we’re going to Phoenix, I’ll just sit back and relax. * * * OK, having managed to survive the crowds, craziness, chaos and confusion of Ari- zona’s Phoenix airport, which has more roadways, ramps and overpasses than Jose- phine County, we returned home to Illinois Valley while visions of cacti danced in our heads. There were seven of us on my surprise birthday trip: Jan and me, and our son, Mike, and his daughter, Kim, from Cave Junction; and our daughter, Vicki, and her daughters, Natalie and Ella, who flew from San Diego to Phoenix. Vicki’s sister-in-law, “Liz,” let us use her totally awesome home in a gated community on a golf course in Chandler, not too far from Phoenix. Frankly, it was tough to return home: Vaca- tions never last long enough. Anyway, here are some somewhat ran- dom thoughts I scrib- bled on scraps of pa- per during the trip: With seven of us, including a 9-year-old, a 3-year-old and an 8- month-old, it wasn’t easy getting everyone ready to leave the house. We arrived at it late in the afternoon of a Wednesday; then had two days for ex- ploring; and had to be back at the airport fairly early Saturday morning. We man- aged to be in the rented van ready to roll by 11:15 a.m. Thursday; 11:40 a.m. Friday; then 8:30 a.m. Saturday. Why are there so El Jèfé at 1861 courthouse in Florence, Ariz. many businesses in Phoenix that sell new and used tires? The area is growing hugely. Housing and com- mercial developments are sprawling across the desert. There has been no rain in the area since Oct. 19, and of course in such a dry climate there is a lot of static electricity. I’m extremely susceptible to it. In fact, waiting to board our flight to Portland on the re- turn leg, I went to a water fountain, and the water zapped my lips. It was rather painful. After leaving I-10 and getting onto Hwy. 87 on our way to the Casa Grande Ruins National Monument, tremendous memories filled my mind. Memories of traveling with my parents on their trips from San Diego to visit their families in El Paso, Texas. Had lots of nostalgic thoughts, and I think I recognized several friendly saguaros. At one point we passed a traditional-looking trading post with three guys leaning against the front. When we returned several hours later, the same guys were still there holding up the wall. There was a neat-looking frontier-type church nearby that I wanted to visit. But the gate was locked. Vicki has nicknamed 8-month-old Ella “Inspector Gadget” because of her amazing ability to stretch and reach anything she wants. We had to be real careful to keep breakable stuff and hot stuff out of her reach. In fact, anything we didn’t want pulled onto the floor. With two granddaughters of speaking age, the oft-used expression, “Are we there yet?” was oft used. My lips became chapped because of the dry weather. Fortunately, Natalie had a tube of “Hello Kitty” lip moistener and I (“PopPop”) used it to good effect. The Arizona Dept. of Transportation has incorporated some really clever, interest- ing Southwest art designs into its bridges, embankments and such. We even saw sev- eral terra cotta-colored bridges. People in Arizona, especially those with Arizona li- cense plates (only required on the rear, not the front of vehicles) drive, well -- fast. We got used to fast too. To celebrate my birthday we went to Scottsdale Fashion Square and tried to have lunch at PK Chang’s. But there was an hour-long wait, so we moved on, as no one, especially the little ones, could wait that long. We ended up at the Tejas Grill, and it was excellent. The “wait staff” wear Levi’s blue jeans and white shirts. Very cool. En- joyed the margaritas too, which the place is said to be famous for. Our waiter even brought a birthday dessert that we could all share. Also very cool. Well, shoot, I’m beginning to run out of room, and I’ve still got a bunch of notes to lay on you. I’ll summarize: If you’re ever in Florence (Arizona) go to the Mt. Athos Greek restaurant. More good food. It’s approximately 10 miles from the Casa Grande Ruins, which were rather amazing and interesting to view. We never did get used to the alkalinity in the water in the Grand Canyon state. There are roads in the middle of nowhere in the great desert; wonder why they’re there. The Arizona winter weather was in the mid-60s during the days; 30s at night. Even during the day you could feel a cool breeze. A guy at the airport told us that dur- ing the summer it can get up to 117 to 120. “But it’s a dry heat,” he said. With a straight face. Newspaper Co-owned and published by Robert R. (Bob) and I became the U-turn king An Independent Weekly Jan Rodriguez - Bob Rodriguez, Editor El Jefe of the Southwest, as I’m not 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 good in new places. Fortu- 321 S. Redwood Hwy., Cave Junction, OR 97523 nately, my family can follow Periodicals postage paid at Cave Junction, OR 97523 maps quite well. Otherwise, Post Office Box 1370 USPS 258-820 Telephone (541) 592-2541, FAX (541) 592-4330 we’d probably still be wan- Email: newsroom1@frontiernet.net or dering around the Phoenix newsdesk@illinois-valley-news.com area. Mike observed that Volume 68, No. 46 Staff: Michelle Binker, Becky Loudon, Central Arizona College Bryan Harley, Tabitha Jackson, Zina Booth. probably does not have Member: Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association shirts that read, “Central Ari- DEADLINES: zona College Athletics,” be- News, Classified & Display Ads, Announcements & Letters cause of the unfortunate ac- 5 P.M. THURSDAY ronym that would result. (Classified ads & uncomplicated display ads can be Arizona is on Mountain accepted until Noon, Friday with an additional charge.) Time, which is an hour 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 ahead of our Pacific Time. I complete name, and contain the writer’s address and telephone number. The latter need not did not change my watch, 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 publishers’ discretion. Letters are used at the choosing instead to simply discretion of the publishers. Unpublished letters are neither acknowledged nor returned. A add an hour whenever I prepaid charge may be levied if a letter is inordinately long in the publishers’ opinion. checked the time on my POLICY ON “HERE, THERE & EVERYWHERE,” DISPLAY & CLASSIFIED ADS & NOTICES: All submissions must be hand delivered, faxed or e-mailed to us for publica- wristwatch. Of course, not being good at math, I miscal- tion. Submissions must be resubmitted weekly if the item is to run more than one week. SUBSCRIPTION RATES culated a couple of times, One year in Josephine County - $20.80 but maybe that’s why I write One year in Jackson and Douglas counties - $24.40 One year in all other Oregon counties and out-of-state - $36 and avoid arithmetic. POSTMASTER: Please send address changes to It was a wonderful trip. P.O. Box 1370, Cave Junction, OR 97523 Illinois Valley News (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. * * * Union contract agreement belies cost-control efforts From JoCo Commissioner Jim Raffenburg Grants Pass The tentative agreement between Josephine County and AFSCME (American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees) is the result of a 2-1 vote by the Josephine County Board of Commissioners. This agreement was reached with AFSCME over my strong objections. Fore- most was my objection that by agreeing with the terms of this contact, the county has effectively retreated from any serious attempt to control costs. By agreeing to these terms, the county is now in a no-win position. It must either offer parity for re- maining county employees or create an unequal “caste” system of benefits. The county cannot af- ford universal parity with this contract, and county employees will not tolerate a caste system. By Tuesday, Jan. 17, requests were al- ready coming in from other employees asking when they would “get theirs.” I was notified that OPEU (Oregon Public Em- ployees Union) has also tentatively settled its nego- tiations with the county and its membership unani- mously ratified a similar agreement subject to the AFSCME terms. Josephine County is in a financial crisis. The sup- posed “firm position” of the commissioners on Jan. 6, where we said, “this far and no farther,” would have al- lowed the county to prevail and see the strike through to a successful, financially sound conclusion. The only thing lacking was the resolve of one more commissioner. If the above were not enough, these contracts with AFSCME and OPEU also contain a hidden time-bomb called the “me too” clause. It gives union employees a vested interest in the lawsuit of the nonunion/ management employees still pending against the county. Should the county lose even part of this lawsuit, all our union employees would be contractually entitled to even better benefits than they had under their previ- ous contract, including a retroactive restoration of the deferred compensation 6 percent county match, higher paid leave sell-back levels, and the notorious nine weeks of paid leave after only one year of em- ployment. There is certainly no doubt that these contracts are good for our union em- ployees. But I fear the end result will not be good for taxpayers. This coming November, due in large part to this con- tract, the people of Jose- phine County will be asked to increase their property taxes, because there are both new, real dollar costs and because this contract effec- tively renders defunct the September 2005 benefit changes and their projected dollar savings. My opposition to this contract has nothing to do with my views as to whether any employee is “worth it or not.” My opposition is based on my conviction that costs must be brought under con- trol. The implications of these contracts mean that nothing has really change --: county spending continues unchecked. I have promised to not ask taxpayers for any more money until I could look you in the eye and say that the county has done every- thing possible to control costs. In light of the coming loss of O&C money, I had hoped to be able to say that in fact the county had done everything possible to cut costs, but I cannot. Even though county services will be affected by the loss of this O&C money, I cannot in good conscience ask the people of Josephine County for more money because I do not believe the county has earned the right to ask for it. Those requests will be coming this November, of that I am sure. Consider those requests carefully be- fore you vote. In addition I can no longer support any new or increased fees, for the same reasons. Every penny govern- ment spends comes from some type of tax or fee. Gov- ernment will never learn to live within the means of the people who pay taxes until forced to do so by voters. In closing, there is one simple fact that is becoming very apparent. Government (taxpayers) can no longer afford to continue to pay high wages and provide ex- tremely generous benefits to public employees. Taxpay- ers nationwide understand this because they are being squeezed to a point not seen since the founding of this Republic. It is time for the average person to stand up and say, “Enough.” I say, “Enough.” Good neighbor boosts optimism for positive From Lyn Berry Hopeful Rancho Cave Junction Many of us have experi- enced vandalism to our mail boxes. It increased recently to the point that I couldn’t bear to buy and install yet another mail box after only a few weeks. I just left the post stand- ing by itself at the end of the driveway. Imagine my amazement when I returned home to find a new mailbox installed. I questioned everyone I could think of, not knowing who installed it. Finally, the mystery was solved. A good neighbor had seen the empty post, and went the “extra mile” to not only provide a mailbox, but to put it up. It is encouraging that there are some people who are treating others as they would like to be treated and doing such a nice thing in the world where there is so much senseless destruction and negative action. He’s concerned about Alito effect on democracy From Tim Norman Cave Junction One thing that has hap- pened to this country since the fall of the Twin Towers: We have become divided as a nation. (Continued on page 3) Fire Mountain Gems and Beads Now Hiring Fire Mountain Gems and Beads is actively recruiting for full and part time high-energy individuals to join our growing team. Fire Mountain is a leading direct marketing company in the jewelry industry and has been satisfying customers with excellent products and customer service for over 30 years. We successfully market our products through our extensive catalogs and website to a broad customer base of creative jewelry makers, jewelry stores, and crafters. Please visit our website at www.firemountaingems.com for a full description of the following openings and to print out an application. 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