Page 12
Illinois Valley News, Cave Junction, OR Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Tree of Life opens ‘branch office’
Inmate release plan concerns lawmen
Bothersome deadwood
in the far reaches of tall trees
is not only unsightly, but can
be hazardous to homes and
people.
Culling those dead
branches is no problem for
veteran tree-climber Josh
Harvey, of Tree of Life Tree
Service.
Some trees are easily
climbed; a big Douglas fir
may have any number of
lower limbs to gain a foothold
on, and Harvey can zip
straight up the tree to tie off at
the top. But some of the “big
long stringy oaks” he says,
require that he wear spurs to
get into them.
“If I’m doing a restora-
tion job, taking care of the
tree and thinning out dead-
wood, I’ll wear the spurs to
climb up to the top to tie off,
then send the spurs back
down,” he explained.
With his rig anchored
high in the tree and secure in
a harness, Harvey has room
to work.
“The point,” he said, “is
to get as high as possible and
then you have more room to
swing all over the tree.”
Setting to work, Harvey
scours the tree for dead twigs
and branches, working deftly
with a small chainsaw and
gloved hands. Within a few
minutes, as the branches rain
down, the tree begins to look
smart and clean.
Potentially dangerous
branches over a house also
can be removed, using rig-
ging to lower the limb to the
ground.
Harvey is a licensed ar-
borist, bonded and insured.
He said that he’s been climb-
ing trees for 12 years, and that
he trained while working for
a tree service company in
Grants Pass.
Harvey has lived 22
years in Illinois Valley With
this new venture, he hopes
that his skill with a saw will
translate into a livelihood.
“I’ve always been in the
Releasing persons who
have committed vicious
crimes into Oregon neighbor-
hoods is not supported by the
Oregon State Sheriffs Asso-
ciation and Oregon Associa-
tion of Chiefs of Police.
Additionally, the associa-
tions are not pleased with the
apparent secrecy in connec-
tion with implementing a new
program of release.
Josephine County Sheriff
Gil Gilbertson provided a
position paper issued by the
associations. It states in part:
“As law enforcement
administrators, our mission is
to conserve the peace. Essen-
tial to conserving the peace is
protecting the citizens we
serve. Public safety has al-
ways been our number-one
priority.
“Yet, public safety is
often as much about percep-
tion as it is reality. When our
citizens do not feel safe,
peace is difficult to maintain.
It is under this premise that,
collectively, we wish to ad-
dress a dangerous situation,
which threatens to undermine
the conservation of peace in
Oregon.
“The Psychiatric Security
Review Board (PSRB) is now
engaging in the implementa-
tion of a plan, which resulted
from a recent policy shift. This
plan involves transferring fo-
rensic clients (those found
guilty of a crime, except for
insanity) housed at the state
hospital into group homes in
various neighborhoods
throughout Oregon. Many of
these forensic clients have
Josh Harvey (Photo by Michelle Binker, IVN)
woods, always with a saw. I
like the outdoors,” he says.
He’s a Pacific Northwest
native; he’ll even climb in
wet or windy weather.
“Some people will see
me in the tree as it sways and
think, ‘That’s crazy!’ But as
long as you do things right
it’s safe,” Harvey says.
“Trees are stronger than peo-
ple might think.”
Along with pruning, thin-
ning, and hazardous remov-
als, Tree of Life Tree Service
offers organic soil amend-
ments. Harvey’s father-in-law
and partner in tree care, Rich-
ard Murren, specializes in soil
amendments and tree nour-
ishment.
Murren, who farms
worms for their nutrient-rich
castings, is a sales representa-
tive for Excell, a brand of
organic fertilizers. Harvey
says that he’s seen Murren
nurse a dying tree back to
health with a draught of
worm-casting tea delivered
straight to the root system.
Tree of Life also offers
fire-prevention work, and can
work with land owners to
receive state grant money for
fuel-reduction work. “I’d like
to help property owners take
advantage of that program,”
said Harvey.
He prefers to bid each
job individually, noting, “I
come out and give a free esti-
mate and bid the job.”
He works quickly and
can see to the removal of all
debris from the property or
pile it to burn.
Tree of Life Tree Service
can be reached at 592-6853 or
415-1502. -Michelle Binker
Oregon ready for major health emergency
A new assessment of the
nation’s ability to respond to
a public health emergency
ranks Oregon as having
achieved nine of 10 key pre-
paredness indicators.
Oregon was one of 22
states to score nine or above,
higher than all other Western
states.
Since 2003 the Trust for
America’s Health (TFAH)
has issued its “Ready or Not?
Protecting the Public’s Health
from Diseases, Disasters, and
Bioterrorism” report. It exam-
ines the country’s readiness to
respond to health threats and
areas of vulnerability.
“The report shows that
investments in preparedness
have brought improvements
across the country, and this is
certainly the case for Oregon,
said Dr. Grant Higginson,
community health and health
planning administrator in the
Oregon Dept. of Human Ser-
vices Public Health Division.
“However,” he said, “it’s
critical that government fund-
ing in this area be maintained,
or the gains we’ve made will
go away.”
The Bush administra-
tion’s FY 2008 budget con-
tains a $146 million cut in
public health preparedness
funding, which represents a
25 percent reduction from FY
2005, according to the report.
Higginson pointed to
public health’s response to
recent disastrous windstorms
and flooding as examples of
where the investment paid off.
“We were able to mount
a coordinated effort that
brought rapid assistance to
counties in need,” he said.
“This was due to improved
planning capability and a
stronger public health infra-
structure, both made possible
through federal preparedness
funds.
“While improvements in
preparedness have been
made, work still remains,”
Higginson cautioned. “One
area of concern is liability
protection for health-care
personnel who respond to a
public health emergency.
“Because comprehensive
safeguards are not in place,
there could be a problem in
recruiting health-care workers
during a major disaster.”
Suspect jailed
on murder rap
been convicted of serious vi-
cious crimes, such as murder,
rape, assault and arson.
“Not surprisingly, as
word
of this
plan
i
s
leak-
ing out,
citizens
living near
such homes
are becoming extremely up-
set. We are concerned as
well.
“While we wish to be
sensitive to the treatment
needs of PSRB clients and are
supportive of efforts to treat
the mental illnesses which
have contributed to their
criminal activity, this plan still
presents us with the dilemma
of having dangerous criminals
living in our neighborhoods.
This situation poses real and
perceived threats of danger to
our citizens.
“The real danger con-
cerns recidivistic activity.
Although this danger is statis-
tically minimal, it is still real.
Even one victim is too many.
Perhaps more significant is
the problem of perceived dan-
ger. Living next door to a
dangerous and mentally ill
criminal would be disconcert-
ing at the very least. Main-
taining one’s sense of security
and peace of mind under
these circumstances must be
extremely difficult.
“Making matters worse,
the PSRB initiated its plan in
Kierin Diane Nichols,
50, of Grants Pass, has been
charged with murder and
placed in Josephine County
Jail, said Grants Pass Dept. of
Public Safety (GPDPS).
The victim was identified
as Lola L. Wilson-Pierce, 82.
Her body was found in
her residence on Nov. 17
when GPDPS officers con-
ducted a welfare check. The
crime was not revealed until
officers could investigate.
Investigation led to the
arrest of Nichols on Wednes-
day, Jan. 2.
Dental seat open
Applications for a li-
censed dentist to serve on the
Josephine County Board of
Health will be accepted until
Jan. 31.
Applications are avail-
able at the county courthouse
in Grants Pass o r visit
www.co.josephine.or.us.
virtual silence. Although it
claims that public safety is
foremost in its considerations
for moving forensic clients
into the community, the lack
of communication with citi-
zens, law enforcement and
other community partners
leaves us all to wonder.
“By all appearances, this
silent plan seems to have
been designed to avoid
public controversy. As a
matter of public policy,
we believe this plan was
ill conceived and,
frankly, wrong.
“We encourage the
PSRB to suspend the imple-
mentation of its policy until
this issue has been properly
addressed with the public in
an open and honest manner.
We do not wish to inappropri-
ately insert ourselves into the
treatment decisions of PSRB
clients.
However, when those
decisions affect the peace and
security of our citizens, we
believe it is necessary and
right for those citizens to be
collaboratively involved in
the planning process. To pro-
tect our citizens, we in the
law enforcement community
need to be involved in the
process as well.
“It is local law enforce-
ment who will respond to
these locations when prob-
lems arise. We stand a much
better chance of being able to
protect our citizens when we
know the potentially danger-
ous people living in our
neighborhoods; know where
they live and, know whom
we can contact for additional
information in an emer-
gency.”
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2008 Levels of Sponsorship
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2008 Illinois Valley Little League Sponsor Form
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League and help us provide training, equipment, and competition for the 150+ junior
athletes in the valley. Please be as generous as possible. Thank you!
Enclosed is my donation of:
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