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Illinois Valley News, Cave Junction, OR Wednesday, January 31, 2007
We bit the bullet recently (because I’m always
shooting off my mouth) and acquired a new motor vehi-
cle. This was accomplished with creative financing and
having a used vehicle that held its value.
So now we have probably the most luxurious set of
wheels we’ve had in all our 63 years. It definitely beats,
in more ways than one, my first car, a ‘52 Ford with a ‘54
Olds mill and tranny. It smoked and smelled bad. But it
was fast, although the Ford rear axle kept snapping in
half from the torque of the four-speed automatic trans-
mission. Each axle cost me $60, which was one week’s
net pay for me then (1960).
We were misled by the ad for the car. Among the
notations were R&H and W/W. Turned out that R&H
actually meant “Rattles & Heaves,” and W/W stood for
Wheels Wobble.
Back to the present, I had looked at a sporty Japa-
nese vehicle. It had 650 hp with gears of 1st, 2nd, 3rd,
4th, 5th and Banzai! Also looked at a small electric-
powered car. Took it home and my wife drove it around
the living room a couple of times. Realizing that neither of
these would be practical for hauling newspapers, we
opted for another Japanese-brand vehicle, a Toyota
Highlander, offering the best of Japan and Scotland.
Our new vehicle has all sorts of bells and whistles,
as the saying goes (but neither bagpipes nor Samurai
swords). I’m still working on figuring out the actual fea-
tures. Discovered last week that there is even a “Low
Tire Pressure” warning light. I took care of the tire, but
the warning light stayed on. My engineer-brained son,
Mike, had to find the reset button for me. He knows his
Dad; made me push it (the button, not the car) so I’d
remember where it is.
Sometimes I feel like Capt. Picard of the starship
“Enterprise,” what with all the controls. I tried shouting,
“Red Alert!” but nothing happened, so I guess the car
doesn’t have that feature. I’m still working on the tem-
perature controls, which seem to have a mind of their
own. Maybe I should break down and look at the
owner’s manual or watch the CD that was provided to
acquaint one with their acquisition. Nah. I’m a guy -- why
would I want to do that?
Every so often I find a new feature in the car, like it
actually has a glove compartment. There’s storage
available beneath the shift console, and another storage
spot under the driver’s right elbow. Took me a while to
understand use of the cruise control, but I was deter-
mined to engage it. I know, read the booklet. Nah, I’d
rather just stumble around like when you stay in a hotel
and wake up in the dark and try to find the bathroom
without turning on a light. Must be a guy thing.
Next, I’m going to comprehend the vehicle’s remote
door lock system and alarm. Might even look at the
owner’s manual. But probably not.
Vendors
(non-member & member) for
Spring Craft Fair
Friday & Saturday, April 13 & 14
$20 fee for both days
due at registration (no refunds).
Only 25 tables available!
Reserve yours early at
I.V. Senior Center front desk
beginning Thursday, February 1st
through Monday, April 2nd,
520 E. River St.
592-6888
Illinois Valley News
www.illinois-valley-news.com
An Independent Weekly Newspaper Co-owned and published by
Robert R. (AKA Bob or El Jefe), Editor and Jan Rodriguez
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. 46
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Millie Watkins, and Tina Grow
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See an ‘emergency?’
Stop and find out!
From Tim Norman,
Volunteer Firefighter
Cave Junction
I am writing about a
sensitive subject that, I
think, needs to be addressed.
We truly live in a remark-
able age, the age of the cel-
lular phone.
Being a volunteer fire-
fighter, I am affected by this
innovation daily. It is truly
remarkable. Cellular phones
expand the contact area of
the 911 system immensely.
Before this technology,
if someone was in trouble
in an outlying area, a phone
had to be located to start the
response process. This obvi-
ously meant that we were
losing precious minutes
(sometimes hours) where
time is of the essence. We
have a thing called the
“Golden Hour,” which is
another discussion.
While I embrace this
technology, it is not without
its pitfalls. While dropped
calls (disabling the ability of
Dispatch to track the caller)
and being out of a service
area are problems in them-
selves, the issue I want to
discuss is the Age of the
Drive-by Good Samaritan.
Where the exposure to
incidents has increased, the
amount of false alarms has
increased as well.
For example (I will not
list names or locations due to
privacy issues), we were
called out for an
“unconscious person” lying
on the side of the road one
day. Upon arrival, we found
the person sitting on their
suitcase drinking coffee from
a Thermos. It turns out that
the person had been walking
all day and just decided to lie
down for a minute.
Another incident was a
“structure fire” that had our
whole Cave Junction Station
1 scrambling. When our
command vehicle arrived,
the responder found the resi-
dent sitting at a campfire in
his front yard, roasting
marshmallows.
I’m not making this up.
Anyone with a scanner
could verify what I am relat-
ing. I might also add that the
resident took exception to
being swarmed upon by just
about every piece of appara-
tus from Station 1. It is a
traumatic experience, to say
the least.
In both incidents, if the
caller would have just
stopped and merely asked
the simple question -- “Is
everything OK?” -- all of
this could have been
avoided.
I have listed only two
incidents. The fact of the
matter is, we receive at least
five such calls a week.
Some may attest that this is
a conservative estimate.
In any case, we are be-
ing rooted out of bed or
pulled away from the dinner
table, as the level of adrena-
line climbs with the prospect
of donning breathing appara-
tus and walking into a burn-
ing structure, only to arrive
to a legal-size burn pile with
the resident looking at us as
though we’re crazy.
This really gets old.
Don’t get me wrong. Every-
body realizes that this is
the life we signed up for
when we joined our Illinois
Valley Fire District, and
most show up with vigor and
conviction, but that doesn’t
dismiss the fact that these
situations are avoidable.
I don’t want to discour-
age people from getting
involved.
This is one of the few
saving features for the hu-
man race: a person helping
another person in need.
What I am saying is this -- If
you commit to becoming
involved, stop your car, get
out and ask the simple
question.
What would really help is
staying on scene, and on the
line with the 911 operator,
until emergency services ar-
rive. Most times, this means
waiting around for a matter of
minutes. While it will take a
little longer for major appara-
tus to respond, you will at
least see a brush truck/
command vehicle or a medi-
cal unit in literally minutes.
That is all it takes to
eliminate false alarms and
the potential wasting of our
resources and taxpayer dol-
lars -- a few more minutes
of your time.
Again, I applaud those
who feel the need to get in-
volved when a fellow hu-
man being is in trouble. I’m
just asking for those people
to follow through.
False alarms are not
only wasteful of our re-
sources; they have the possi-
bility of being disastrous. I
hate to think of a house be-
ing destroyed by fire, or
someone dying because we
couldn’t get there due to re-
sponding to a burn pile on
the opposite side of town.
Volunteers sought for
Takilma Fire Station
From Cathy Ducat
aka ‘Sunshine’
Takilma
Now wait a minute.
I could have written that
article -- regarding the house
fire in Takilma (Jan. 17,
2007 “I.V. News”), that was
full of nonfact -- way more
interestingly.
First, although it is true
that the co-owners of the
property (Kitty & Edward
Crow) are definitely out-of-
town, they are even farther
away than that. They are
both no longer living.
And the second person
believed to have jumped
from the second-story win-
dow (Otis Jones) is housed
in Josephine County Jail,
where he has been for
months.
Justin Leavitt, who did
indeed jump out a window,
ironically is one of the few
people to have signed up as
a volunteer firefighter for
the Takilma Fire Station.
And someone has been
trying to get volunteer fire-
fighters together. It’s me,
the resident fire-dancer.
I was told by I.V. Fire
District that I needed more
people and to come back
when I have enough people
for a crew.
I was told that men with
beards and mustaches can-
not wear the fire turnout
gear such as breathing appa-
ratus. That’s why I’ve only
conditions he created within
the sheriff’s office?
I believe that this is the
same Dave Daniel who re-
ceived a vote of “no confi-
dence” from his deputies; I
believe this is the same
Daniel who failed to investi-
gate citizen complaints; and
I believe this is the same
Daniel who elected to ig-
nore his office and abandon
his employees during the
Kim search.
I believe it is the same
Daniel who will go down in
history as the best “part-
time” sheriff in the history
of Josephine County.
I have worked closely
with Gil 10 hours a day for
the past four weeks. He is
committed to save the jobs
of his employees; create a
fair working environment;
and provide the quality of
law enforcement the citizens
of this county deserve.
I accepted the position
as Gil’s undersheriff be-
cause I believe in his vision
of law enforcement, and I
made a promise to him and
the citizens of this county.
We will work to earn your
trust and make this county a
safer place to live.
Sheriff Gilbertson and I
have been in office just four
weeks. We are working hard
to resolve problems that
Daniel took eight years to
create. I would ask that we
be given the time and sup-
port we need to turn around
this situation.
The intent of this letter
is not to trade cheap shots
with Daniel. My intent is to
share the truth, and it is that
Daniel failed at his job, and
it’s time he was held ac-
countable for his actions.
got eight people to sign up.
One of the other eight peo-
ple to have signed up was
Dudley, also mentioned in
the article.
Some reading this have
seen the flyers I posted since
before last summer, asking
people to sign up.
This is really frustrat-
ing. I am embarrassed to
live in a community where
there is a fire station and fire
trucks and no one to man
them.
So let’s try this again. I
want to drive the fire truck.
We had it more together
30 years ago when all we
had was a phone tree, a
pickup truck and the hand
siren kept in the drawer at
the Takilma Clinic.
To sign up, I can be
reached at 592-6781. If I can
get more than eight people
to sign up, we can move
forward and actually have a
working fire station.
Your house or mine
could be next. Let’s not lose
another home to fire. Sign
up today.
New undersheriff queries
remark by former sheriff
From Don Fasching
Selma
I was told by several
people I respect to not reply
to the letter from Dave
Daniel (“Immediate past
sheriff critical of tax plan”
in the Jan. 24 issue), but I
cannot stand by and allow
these unprovoked attacks
against the character of an
honorable public official.
How dare Dave Daniel
criticize Gil Gilbertson?
When is Daniel going to be
held accountable for his
mistakes and the deplorable
Linda Sallman
128 S. Redwood Hwy.
Cave Junction OR 97523
541-592-4541
Across from Caves Pharmacy on Redwood Hwy.
Open Mondays - Fridays, 9 to 5
Auto - Home - Life - Commercial
Take your Valentine to...
Wednesday, Feb. 14, 4 p.m. to close
2 Prime Rib Dinners
or
2 Shrimp Dinners
only
$ 20
(mix or match)
Limited seating ~ Reservations required
592-6434
(Visa, Mastercard, Discover, & checks welcome)
Special Prices on some
LLAMA FELT HATS
Look for the green tags
at the S. Oregon Guild Gallery in the
RCC Belt Building in Kerby 10 -- 3 Wed.-Sat.
Sign up for the Feb. 18
Hat Workshop at The SOG Gallery
or at Picket Fence Fabrics
Phone 592-6078