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About Illinois Valley news. (Cave City, Oregon) 1937-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 16, 2006)
50¢ Salvage logging protest forces closure of Eight Dollar Road A security checkpoint enforces closure of Eight Dollar Road to the public, where salvage logging began Mon- day, Aug. 7. ‘The bad part about all this is the general public is paying the price, not being allowed to go to the river or to the mountain,’ said John West, of Silver Creek Timber Co., which has the Mike’s Gulch contract. (Photo by ‘Illinois Valley News’) Illinois River Road is closed in connection with a Biscuit Fire salvage logging protest, and an activist on a log over Illinois River was arrested, plus an investiga- tion is under way concern- ing who illegally cut the log. Arrested was Laurel Sutherlin, 29, a member of the Oxygen Collective. He was charged with interfering with an agricultural opera- tion in connection with the temporary blockade. He was strapped to a platform made of wood at Eight Dollar Road Bridge. The platform, suspended from a 40-foot-long log cut from the nearby Days Gulch Botanical Area, was placed in such a way that the road was impassable. U.S. Forest Service and Josephine County Sheriff’s Office engaged Marty Hert- ler, of Marty’s Tree Service, to safely lower the platform. A crowd of other activ- ists was present, but no other arrests were made. The forest service on Tuesday, Aug. 8, shortly after the protest was discov- ered, closed the road to the public indefinitely. It took the same action in March 2005 because of timber har- vest protests. It continued until Aug. 1, ‘05. In the latest action, the Rogue River-Siskiyou Na- tional Forest issued a road closure order “to provide for public safety.” Said USFS, “Actions of individuals protesting the logging of the Mike’s Gulch Sale have placed them- selves, logging contractors, other members of the public and agency personnel in danger. “Protesters (Aug. 8) blocked the road leading into the Mike’s Gulch Sale on the Illinois Valley Ranger District. One man suspended himself by a rope system from a log attached to the green-painted steel bridge crossing the Illinois River and illegally pre- vented road access. “Recreation users were trapped inside the national forest,” said USFS, “and fire-fighting personnel were prevented from surveying the forest for lightning fires in yesterday’s (Aug. 7) storm. “This conflict at the salvage sale resulted in a (Continued on page 4) Citizen involvement on priorities for law enforcement seen working in CJ A public meeting of the Cave Junction Security Council will be held Mon- day, Aug. 21 in CJ City Hall starting at 6:30 p.m. The following is by Cpl. Sean Rarey, of the Josephine County Sher- iff’s Office, who organized the security council. * * * Together, we are mak- ing a difference. Whereas critical secu- rity issues remain, I believe that the work the Cave Junc- tion Security Council (CJSC) is doing is a remark- able step in the right direc- tion. It is a chance for those who wish to be a part of the solution to play a strong role in the city’s future security. CJSC involves a monthly workshop that in- volves city government, businesses and residents along with the sheriff’s of- fice. The workshops focus on security priorities, and serves as a think tank and a recommending body for solutions to the problems. It should be news to no one that this county is danger- ously short on resources. With these shortages, it is simply not possible for the sheriff’s office to be all things to all people, so input from CJSC assists us in fo- cusing the limited resources we have on the problems NUMEROUS ACTIVITIES highlighted Friday through Sun- day, Aug. 11-13, in and around Downtown Cave Junction. They included Second Friday Art Walk and the 25th an- nual Wild Blackberry Arts & Crafts Festival. The weekend also included a piratical fund-raiser for the Cave Junction Swimming Pool (see photos on page 16). There also was the fourth annual Illinois Valley Chamber of Commerce Golf Tournament at Laurel Pines/I.V. Golf Course (see photos on page 7). Art Walk attractions included (left photo) Cave Junction resident Molly Savannah Robinson, 28, performing in front of Time Capsule, a vintage cloth- ing and memorabilia store. And the monthly showcase of artistic endeavors featured a mural (top photo) by Lane Cosner. The mural at Nacho Mamas Taqueria was com- missioned by owner Andrea Thomas, and provides the ‘first topless bar’ in Cave Junction. The Blackberry Festi- val attracted hundreds of spectators and entertainment included ‘The Toyes unplugged’ plus strolling minstrels ‘Matt & Heather.’ Additional Art Walk photos on page 9; more festival photos on page 8. (Photos by ‘Illinois Valley News’ & Lee Eschen) CJ residents were in fatal Bolan Lake wreck Two men in a fatal Bolan Lake-area crash ini- tially identified as California residents actually are Illinois Valley residents, according to updated information. They were in a Jeep that went over a thickly over- grown embankment, ending up approximately 300 feet below a road. The crash, reported Monday, July 31, occurred near the intersec- tion of Happy Camp Road and Bolan Lake Road. Basil Wolfe, 56, was in fair condition several days after the wreck at a Medford hospital. His companion, Leroy Pearce, 62, was dead at the scene, officials said. They had recently moved to Cave Junction. Wolfe was taken by Mercy Flights medical evacuation helicopter from a landing zone set up. Illinois Valley Fire Dis- trict, American Medical Response, Josephine County Sheriff’s Office, the county Search And Rescue unit, and U.S. Forest Service ini- tially responded. A 911 call was received from Wolfe at approximately 9:30 a.m. July 31, but it’s unclear when the crash occurred. Those agencies devoted several hours searching for the site of the crash. It was located by Cave Junction resident Jon Tromler, ac- cording to an account by him and his father, Dave. California Highway Patrol and Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Dept. subsequently became involved after the men were located. CHP continues to investigate. Cpl. Sean Rarey, of Josephine County Sheriff’s Office. most pressing, with the least amount of wasted effort. CJSC is part of a com- munity-oriented policing experiment initiated in Janu- ary by Undersheriff Brian Anderson. I was selected to fill the vacant officer-in- charge position for the Illi- nois Valley Sheriff’s Sub- station, and asked to come up with a Community Ori- ented Policing (COP) plan that would address the spe- cific issues of the city, yet work with the existing re- source constraints. The undersheriff and I are aware that this undertak- ing will be a challenge, be- cause we lack two important elements found in most suc- cessful COP plans: money and manpower. A day in the typical deputy’s life involves re- sponding to calls for service, in order of priority, and tak- ing action on those calls. These calls never end, and at times are stacked so deep that it can take days to get to a call. Realizing this, most COP plans will take a dep- uty or deputies out of the “call-chasing” mode, and put them in a “problem- solving” mode. These deputies establish security and livability priori- ties in the community, and attempt to find longer-term solutions to the problems. These deputies are free to make “projects” of prob- lems that are identified, and spend 100 percent of their time on the project until the problem is solved. (Continued on page 7) Wyden aids secure funding for county Meanwhile, JoCo commissioners prepare for worst (see page 5) Rural counties in the West that face an exhaustion of funds through the Secure Rural School and Commu- nity Self-Determination Act of 2000 may get an extra year to prepare for the budg- etary shock. Set to expire at the end of September, the Secure Rural Schools funding (commonly referred to as O&C Safety Net funds), has provided Josephine County with some $13 million to $15 million per year. The funds are distrib- uted to counties which faced a loss of revenue due to re- duced timber receipts when the federal government cut back on logging to protect varied environmental inter- ests. The money pays for schools, roads and law en- forcement, among other county services. At the prospect of los- ing the funding, U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) used his leverage as a key member of the Democratic minority to delay the ap- pointment of Bush’s nomi- nees for positions with the Interior and Agriculture de- partments. Wyden agreed to relin- quish the hold on the nomi- nations after U.S Dept. of Agriculture Undersecretary Mark Rey agreed to support a one-year extension to the payments. But the matter of where to find the funds still looms. Earlier this year the Bush administration pro- posed selling approximately 300,000 acres of public forestland, raising $800 mil- lion to help the payments program continue for an additional five years. The proposal encountered strong opposition, and the admini- stration backed off. Library tax district sent to Nov. 7 ballot Josephine County Board of Commissioners voted 3-0 Wednesday, Aug. 9 during its meeting in Grants Pass to send the mat- ter of establishing a library tax district to the voters come Nov. 7. Those spearheading the measure had gathered close to 9,800 signatures to dem- onstrate support. Without passage of the measure, county libraries likely would close as of July 1, 2007, as the county board has indicated there will be no financial support after the end of the current fiscal year. Adoption of the district would establish a permanent tax rate of 55-cents per $1,000 of assessed property value. It’s estimated that nearly $2.7 million would be raised in the first year after the tax went into effect. The funding would al- low the library system to provide levels of service which have been cut back for several years. The district would be governed by a five-member board, elected at-large. Current library board member Whitney Lard, who expects to be running for a district board seat, said that the election will occur at the same time voters are decid- ing on the library district. If passed, the district would become effective by mid-December. If voters reject the district measure, (Continued on page 7)
