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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)