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Illinois Valley News, Cave Junction, OR Wednesday, May 24, 2006
This was the week that you could have heard about
my recent adventures in gardening, which resulted in
one mighty blister on the palm of my right hand, and un-
counted sore muscles. Or you might have been regaled
with The Tale of my corralling four errant cats (who all
have their own tails) for grooming, which included hav-
ing to move furniture because they were hiding, result-
ing in three scratches (on me). And uncounted sore
muscles. Also on me.
But no: Instead, here is a topic that’s been buzzing
in my brain and being batted about in my cabeza so
long that it’s beginning to bug me. Ready? OK, the sub-
ject is my maternal grandmother’s living room and some
young boy memories. Still ready? Here goes.
My Granny Vicky’s living room was the first room you
entered from a concrete porch with red brick pillars on N.
El Paso Street in El Paso (think Marty Robbins), Texas.
The red brick house sat high above the street and side-
walk with high curb, which still had metal rings for tying
horses. To reach the house you climbed two sets of con-
crete stairs with sparkly things in them; there was a rock
wall along the sidewalk. At the top stair you opened the
filigreed dark-wood door that had those old-fashioned
dead bolts and an ornate door handle. The door had a
window covered by a frilly curtain, like a doily.
Once in the living room, because of the heavy, over-
stuffed furniture, well-worn rug, and little-used fireplace
that had tile around it, you could feel as though you had
been transported to the past. One eye-catcher (some
said eye-sore) was a large metal sculpture of Cleopatra.
It’s still a bit of a family mystery as to where the miniver-
sion of Cleo came from, but I think that one of my cous-
ins “inherited” it, and it’s in her house.
That living room provided some early education for
me. I was like the mouse in the corner, not especially
noticeable, but listening with both ears wide open. So I
heard a lot of adult language (not swearing), just adults
conversing about many topics offering many perspec-
tives. Who were some of the talkers?
There was a large, elderly Catholic Irish priest; a
small, energetic woman with two young daughters; a
nurse and a paraplegic World War II military pilot; the
extremely tall juvenile delinquent with two-tone hair from
across the street; and various Catholic nuns. In those
days, all you saw of a nun was her face and hands.
There was an ex-husband of one of my aunties; the cur-
rent beau of the same auntie; numerous cousins and
friends from Texas and New Mexico; and several elderly
women who all dressed exactly like my Granny Vicky
with black or dark blue dresses and sturdy black shoes,
plus hats with veils. Sometimes they wore gloves.
Besides the conversations to which I was privy, it
was interesting to see the amount of Pearl beer that was
consumed on hot Texas nights. Those in the dark
dresses and sturdy shoes drank tea. At least, I think it
was tea. And Aunt Carrie, who died last year at 99, al-
ways made sure that I was well supplied with crème
soda ice cream floats while I enjoyed hearing all the
conversations, jokes and off-hand comments.
And you wonder how I turned out this way? Hey, it
was my introduction to what I call a living language. Talk
might be cheap, but mix it with ice cream sodas in my
granny’s living room, and it’s darn near priceless.
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
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When humor goes, there goes civilization.
- Erma Bombeck -
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 69, No. 10
Staff: Michelle Binker, Becky Loudon,
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(Editor’s Note: Views and
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* * *
Typed, double-spaced let-
ters written solely to this news-
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cation. Hand-written letters that
are double-spaced and legible
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‘Thank you’ submissions
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* * *
‘I.V. Noose’ gains
a good ‘atta-boy’
From V.A. Cordova
Rancho del Cielo, Calif.
Just wanted to say that
your newspaper is pretty
darn good.
I’ve seen many publica-
tions through the years and
can say that you and your
co-workers are doing an
exceptional job for a weekly
newspaper with a small
staff.
Keep up the good work.
She studies budget;
says pool should open
From Bea Thompson
Selma
Tuesday night, May 16,
I attended a city of Cave
Junction budget meeting.
My concern was the
closing of the swimming
pool. Previous to the meet-
ing I had obtained some
financial records from the
city since it took over the
pool in 2003. I spent several
days going over the records
and went into the meeting
with a pretty good idea of
what it cost to run the pool
last year.
It is pretty confusing
because the pool season is
spread over two fiscal years.
The city’s fiscal year runs
from July 1 through June 30.
Had the pool season all
been in one fiscal year, the
pool would have taken in
more revenue than it spent
with a combination of dona-
tions and user fees. The do-
nations were more than
$23,000; and the user fees
were more than $15,000.
The expenses, including
pool staff, but excluding
maintenance work and pay-
roll office work by city
workers, would have come
in around $21,000.
Unfortunately, the city
was in a deep hole from the
previous pool season when
it gave the Grants Pass
YMCA $28,000 plus all
user fees to run the pool.
This year the city has
budgeted $6,400 to maintain
the pool when it doesn’t
open. I learned in the meet-
ing that Josephine County
had offered to contribute a
quarter of the pool budget
up to $10,000 if the city
would match funds, and a
quarter was earned by user
fees and a quarter was pro-
vided by donations.
I understand that the city
is strapped for cash, but it is
going to spend $6,400 when
the pool is closed. The rest of
the city’s quarter could be
provided by city staff that
has to be paid any way.
The pool was run fru-
gally and well last year by
Cynthia Hobbins. The pool
was heated solely by the
solar panels. There is a full
tank of propane ready for
this year. Cynthia would be
willing to run the pool
again.
My question is, why
close the pool this year?
Library district workers
noted for ballot measure
From Whitney Lard
Volunteer coordinator,
The Real Library
Committee
I appreciate the fabu-
lous volunteers who can-
vassed the neighborhoods,
stood on sidewalks in rain,
snow and hail to gather sig-
natures to put the formation
of a library district on the
Nov. 7 ballot.
Their hard work and
dedication to our libraries
says much about them; their
belief in our community,
and the value of libraries.
I also appreciate the
businesses from throughout
the county for being drop-
off and collection points, for
having signature sheets in
their businesses, and for
allowing our signature gath-
erers on their properties.
They stand as bright points
in the democratic process.
Hundreds of volunteers
turned in more than 1,000
signature sheets containing
almost 10,000 signatures.
Each volunteer has my
gratitude, as well as those
who signed the petition,
lending their voices to the
future of our libraries.
County library system
gets a positive nod
From Sue Berglund
Kerby
Let’s get to the real
problem: O&C funding for
the libraries has all but dried
up, and not because six
county library employees
went to an educational semi-
nar in Salem to help better
serve the community.
There is always lots of
finger-pointing, but when
there is work to be done
only a handful of concerned
citizens collected more than
9,000 signatures on petitions
so the public will be able to
decide if the library will
exist in our future.
If this levy would pass it
would ensure that the library
system would continue to
provide and serve education
to its communities. These
(Continued on page 7)
A page 1 caption in the May 17 issue was in error. It mis-
takenly stated that the former Deer Creek Ranch was pur-
chased by Siskiyou Project, when actually it should have
stated that the purchase was by Siskiyou Field Institute.
* * *
Additionally, Greg Walters wants to clarify and correct
statements attributed to him in a page 14 article in the May 17
issue, “Ecotourism possible option to logging: panel.”
Walters said that the statement about a railroad not being
finished should have read that the land was ceded back to the
public domain, aka federal, and not “the state” as reported.
Regarding the attribution to him of a resounding “Yes”
about collusion between mining and timber companies, Wal-
ters clarified that he was referring to historical situations, and
not any current ones.