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)
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