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About Illinois Valley news. (Cave City, Oregon) 1937-current | View Entire Issue (June 13, 2007)
Safe House secures new site Alliance will relocate to current CJ Home Valley Bank By SCOTT JORGENSEN Mallette said that she’s services and give a whole lot IVN Staff Writer been working on securing a of support that we weren’t Illinois Valley Safe site since she began her posi- able to do because we were House Alliance (IVSHA) has tion in October 2001, and that restricted by the size and lo- purchased the cation of our current Home building,” she Valley Bank said. “This is a building in monumental Cave Junction achievement.” and will move The new site its operations was appraised there from at $717,000, quarters at I.V. Mallette said. Resource Cen- Home Valley ter. contributed The new $147,000 to- facility will be ward the total, named t h e (From left) IVSHA Board Chairman Beth Williams, Home and IVSHA will Home Valley Valley Bank CEO Robert Ward, and IVSHA Executive pick up the re- Center for Ad- Director Chris Mallette. (Photo by ‘I.V. News’) m a i n i n g vocacy, Resources, Education IVSHA has come a long way $570,000. and Support (CARES), it was during the past few years. IVHSA still must raise announced Wednesday, June The Home Valley acquisition approximately $591,000 to- 13. has been in the works for a ward the purchase price and IVSHA Executive Direc- year. remodeling costs of the exist- tor Chris Mallette said that “We’ve taken some ing building, Mallette said. the existing bank structure pretty big steps when you “The cost of the whole will be remodeled and turned think that our first staff per- project, in phase one, is into an advocacy center, and son was hired at the end of $1,066,000,” Mallette said. that a safe house will be con- 2001 and we’re now in the “We have commitments for structed elsewhere on the process of hiring our sixth $475,000.” 1.27-acre property at Lister person,” Mallette said. But she said that having a Street and Kerby Avenue. “We’ve worked with over permanent location will make Home Valley will vacate 2,400 adult and child survi- it easier to raise that money. its current location there later vors since then and built a “We’ve had initial con- this year. It will relocate to a whole program.” versations with many regional new building under construc- Securing a permanent foundations,” she said. “They tion on Redwood Hwy. in CJ location will make it easier were all interested in our pro- at the former site of Select for IVSHA to achieve its goal ject, but they wouldn’t act on Market, next to Caves Phar- of helping survivors of do- our proposals until we had macy. mestic abuse, Mallette said. two things: proof that the The DMV office will “This is taking us to a community supports us and stay in its portion of the build- whole new level so we’ll be securing the site. I think ing, continuing to pay rent. able to provide a whole lot of (Continued on page 3) EMOTIONS RAN HIGH as the Illinois Valley High School Class of 2007 re- ceived diplomas Tuesday evening, June 5. The ceremony was held in Ken Mann Memorial Gym instead of at the athletic field due to rain. Emily Harris was valedictorian; and salutations were Ian Barker-Cortrecht, Nick Greener and Austin Hocker. Faculty speakers in- cluded Elaine Barker, Gary Enoch, and Steve Morgan. The IVHS band was di- rected by Kevin Soon; and incoming student body president Steven Paul was master of ceremonies. (Photos by Michelle Binker / ‘Illinois Valley News’) Approved JoCo ’07-’08 budget scuttled Raffenburg plan for allocations of fed money, says Ellis, ‘like starting over’ Measure 37 reforms to be on ballot By SCOTT JORGENSEN IVN Staff Writer Last week, the Oregon House and Senate voted to refer a series of Measure 37 reforms to the Nov. 6 ballot. Measure 37 was ap- proved by 61 percent of vot- ers in the 2004 election. The measure states that govern- ment entities must either pay compensation for zoning regulations that devalue pri- vate property or waive them. However, much contro- versy has arisen since the passage of Measure 37, with very clear divisions emerging between property rights advo- cates and defenders of Ore- gon's 30-year-old land use system. Those divisions have also become apparent during Oregon’s 2007 Legislative session, as Democrats and Republicans have spent months battling over pro- posed changes to Measure 37. The attempted legislative remedy came in the form of House Bill 3540, a 24-page bill that would establish an “express lane” approach for smaller claims, create the position of Land Use Om- budsman to oversee the proc- ess, and put a 20-home cap on Measure 37 claims. But the bill won’t be passed into law unless voters decide to approve it Nov. 6. HB 3540 passed the Sen- ate Tuesday, June 5 on a 19- 11, party-line vote, with all Democrats voting in favor and all Republicans opposed. The following day, it passed the House on a 31-26 party- line vote. Rep. Peter Buckley (D- Ashland) said that HB 3540 addresses the concerns about Measure 37 in an even- handed manner. “We attempted to find middle ground and fairness for small property owners so they can add a house or two on their property for family mem- bers,” Buckley said. “We streamlined the process to make it work for people. Lar- ger claims, we broadened it out so the impact on neighbors could be considered.” Sen. Jason Atkinson (R- Central Point) characterized the passage of HB 3540 as “arrogance run amok.” “I think is a terrible injus- tice to the voters of Oregon,” Atkinson said. “This govern- ment, especially the executive branch, has succeeded now in overturning the will of Ore- gon voters.” Rep. Ron Maurer (R- Grants Pass) described HB 3540 as a “lawyer’s bill,” and said that it was deliberately written in complicated legal terminology that few will be able to understand. “It was intentionally de- signed to create a double- negative effect, which is con- fusing,” Maurer said. “I just don’t believe that most peo- ple are going to be able to read this legislation and inter- pret its meaning and be able to take part in a rational de- bate.” Atkinson said that HB 3540 favors the interests of big government at the ex- pense of small land owners, and uses bureaucrat-friendly language to do so. He added, “Measure 37, as it was written, had 1,000 words. This one took out 852 words and replaces it with volumes and volumes and volumes of words that undo the will of the people. “This is government and power gone to the head of people who are now saying, (Continued on page 4 ) By SCOTT JORGENSEN IVN Staff Writer A last-minute budget proposal during a Thursday, June 7 meeting by Jim Raf- fenburg, chairman of the Jo- sephine County Board of Commissioners, stunned members of the county Budget Committee. It subsequently rescinded a $13 million budget for the 2007-08 fiscal year that was approved during a tense meeting on May 17 in the face of drastic budget short- falls because of the lack of federal O&C monies. However, the committee was reconvened after Presi- dent Bush signed legislation which included a one-year extension of the county pay- ments program for timber- dependent areas. It’s anticipated that Jose- phine County will receive approximately $12 million under the payments program. Earlier this month, Dave Toler, vice chairman of the county board, said that the commissioners likely would place half those federal dol- lars in a reserve fund and al- locate the other $6 million towards its criminal justice system. The latter is com- prised of the offices of the sheriff, district attorney, and juvenile justice. However, Raffenburg was vacationing in Hawaii when the federal legislation was signed. And when he returned last week, he had his own ideas about what the budget from July 1, 2007 through June 30, 2008 should look like. In a prepared statement, Raffenburg said that the county should combine the $12 million in federal funding with the $4.8 million general fund transfer to the public safety fund, approved on May 17, for a total two-year budget of $16.8 million. Approximately $8.4 mil- lion would be allocated for the ‘07-’08 fiscal year, with the other half set aside as un- budgeted reserves for ‘08-’09. Raffenburg said that he didn’t want to announce his proposal in such an abrupt manner, but “didn’t have a choice.” Commissioner Dwight Ellis said that the committee would need at least one more meeting to evaluate the plan. “This is just like starting over,” Ellis said. “There is not enough information for me to go on.” Under Raffenburg’s pro- posal, interfund transfers from the Josephine County (Continued on page 4) Some electricity bills to rise 13% due to suit Some Pacific Power resi- dential customers soon will see a 13 percent increase on their monthly bills. Pacific Power (PacPow) said that the rise will affect residential customers who use 1,000 kilowatt-hours of elec- tricity per month. The change is due to a court case challenging the BPA (Bonneville Power Ad- ministration) Residential Ex- change, said PacPow. On bills from the utility, there is an item listed as “BPA En- ergy Discount” that applies the credit. The program has no ef- fect on PacPow revenues or income; benefits flow directly to its customers, said the util- ity. Because of the challenge, upheld in court: “This means that the credit will be reduced for bills issued in June and is sus- pended for bills issued in July and after until litigation is resolved or other federal ac- tion occurs,” said PacPow. The credit received by customers is affected because of a lawsuit filed by Industrial Customers of Northwest Utilities (ICNU), a special interest group, said PacPow. It added that ICNU represents large electricity users, the Public Power Council and several public utilities, which were parties to the suit in fed- eral court. Energy-saving tips can be found at pacificpower.net or by phoning (888) 221- 7070. Meanwhile, said PacPow, “We will continue to work hard on your behalf and keep you informed of our progress in seeking a remedy to this (court) decision. “It’s about fairness, com- mon sense and fighting for what’s right for all consumers in the Northwest,” PacPow concluded. A PICKUP TRUCK driven by Christopher E. Jorgensen, 40, of Grants Pass, crashed into a Rough & Ready Lum- ber Co. storage building Wednesday, June 6, said Oregon State Police. The crash was reported at 6:40 a.m., and was attributed to the driver spilling hot coffee on one leg. He was cited on a charge of careless driving. (Photos by Dale & Elaine Sandberg/ I.V. Fire District Media Dept.)
