Page 2
Illinois Valley News, Cave Junction, OR Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Someone once noted
that certain impossible tasks
are akin to herding cats.
Which is a true statement,
as anyone with even one
cat can tell you. Cats, or
kitty-cats if you prefer, are
as independent as … well,
as cats.
Reminds me of the
bumper sticker we slapped
on the rear of friends (I
mean, on the rear of their
car) in Brookings. The
sticker read, “You can al-
ways tell a Norwegian. But
you can’t tell him much.”
Actually, “independent”
is another way of speaking
the truth about cats, those
fur snakes, those feline sharks. Substitute “stubborn, per-
sistent or obstinate” instead of “independent,” and you’ll
get the idea. Cats do what they want, when they want,
how they want.
They do not accept discipline. You can try to regulate
them, for example when they leap onto your kitchen counter
or dining room table. You can shout, clap your hands, stamp
your feet, hiss or make any number of bizarre and creepy
noises. A cat will react to such efforts. They might actually
move away from where you don’t want them. Or not. But
beware. For they will get way more than even. They will re-
taliate for your human arrogance by shredding your furniture
or clothing. Or in severe cases, you will be chastised by cat
surprises in your closet.
And speaking of closets, we have this darling little
terror living with us, name of Jellirabbit. He has a fetish for
entering cabinets, closets and wardrobes. I don’t care if
he’s asleep, eating or doing anything. If he hears a stor-
age door opening, he’s there. Immediately. I think he has
the ability to teleport himself. Kind of scary. He is impossi-
ble to keep out of closets, especially one where cat food
is kept.
It doesn’t matter that the food in the closet is for the
outside cats. He seems to prefer it over the more expen-
sive brand we buy from our veterinarian for Jellirabbit and
his indoor buddy, Flint Eastwood.
Cats also have the ability to increase the force of
gravity. How else to explain the huge thump a 6-pound
kitty can make when he lands on the floor after jumping
off your bed, where he has slept on your pillow for the
past several hours while you were working to raise money
to buy his cat food?
And how can two cats sound like a herd of horses
coming down your home hallway? Amazing. I mean, be-
tween them they have eight legs, but it sounds like either
a runaway string of mustangs or 89 cats wearing boots.
One more aspect. Cats do
not like being laughed at.
For any reason. If you gig-
gle or snicker at them, for
example when they leap
Cave Junction
and miss their mark, they
Wednesday, Jan. 9
will get even. So keep your
Cloudy, cold with
closets closed.
freezing rain, snow late
High--44 Low--32
Thursday, Jan. 10
Rain throughout the
day and evening
High--44 Low--33
Friday, Jan. 11
Clouds with a peek of
sun
High--46 Low--29
Saturday, Jan. 12
Scattered clouds with
sleet later
High--45 Low--28
Sunday, Jan. 13
Mostly cloudy
High--46 Low--27
Monday, Jan. 14
Some clouds and
warmer
High--45 Low--41
Tuesday, Jan. 15
Mostly clouds and
overcast
High--51 Low--37
Following are the high-and-
low temperatures, and rainfall,
recorded in O’Brien
by Cheryl & Harry Johnson.
*Fri., Dec. 28: 41 - 39 0.39
*Sat., Dec. 29: 49 - 39 0.20
*Sun., Dec. 30: 41 - 29 0.05
*Mon., Dec. 31: 39 - 27
*Tue.,
Jan. 1: 39 - 25
*Wed.,
Jan. 2: 46 - 28
*Thurs., Jan. 3: 47 - 37 1.11
Following are the high-and-
low temperatures, and rainfall,
recorded in Cave Junction at
Illinois River Farm.
*Fri., Dec. 28: 42 - 38 0.25
*Sat., Dec. 29: 50 - 38 0.13
*Sun., Dec. 30: 45 - 28 0.05
*Mon., Dec. 31: 42 - 27 0.01
*Tue.,
Jan. 1: 44 - 27
*Wed.,
Jan. 2: 52 - 27 0.01
*Thurs., Jan. 3: 49 - 35 0.60
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 70, No. 43
Staff: Michelle Binker, Zina Booth, Josiah Dean,
Millie Watkins, and Tina Grow
Member: Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association
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Gold along with aggregate
From Robert Perkins
Cave Junction
On display in the Kerby-
ville Museum is a replica of a
7-pound gold nugget discov-
ered in Althouse Creek, a
tributary of Illinois River.
In the far, distant past,
the mountains just south of
present-day Cave Junction
reached an elevation of
25,000 feet. Erosion created
the present Illinois Valley.
Early day miners discov-
ered considerable deposits of
gold in all the creeks empty-
ing into Illinois River. Suffice
it to say, untold gold deposits
exist adjacent to the east fork
of Illinois River.
Proposed removal of
aggregate will include gold.
A smelter could easily sepa-
rate valuable gold, which has
a present-day value of $850
per ounce, as occurred on
Applegate River.
Should the proposal by
Barlow/Copeland interests be
approved by JoCo officials,
the process must be moni-
tored.
Public safety issue
From Ward Winter
Cave Junction
I thought that one of the
duties of the county commis-
sioners was to provide for the
public safety. If it is, then
let’s get with it.
This county is fast
becoming dysfunctional, and
I am tired of reading in the
I.V. News Police Blotter that a
deputy could not respond.
I’ve hated guns since
Vietnam, but I now sleep
with a pistol under my pil-
low. It appears that if I am
robbed, the sheriff will tell
me to phone my insurance
company.
It is time to get off the
dime and quit the ridiculous
in-fighting. Figure it out or
give up the job to someone
who can do it.
Where are baseball sponsors?
From Darlene Anderson for
I.V. Little League Board
I.V. Little League Board
once again is soliciting for 14
baseball team sponsors and
additional sponsors to help
with the program. This year,
the board has chosen to allow
sponsors specific to equip-
ment and activities (see our
ad elsewhere in this issue).
With various levels of
sponsorship available, it is the
board’s hope that more peo-
ple will be willing and able to
donate to the league in sup-
port of the Little League
Baseball program.
Last year’s program sup-
ported the play of 170+ junior
athletes in Illinois Valley,
culminating with a State
Championship title for the
Illinois Valley Senior Divi-
sion. This program provides
positive enforcement of team
play, social interaction, and
encourages competition with
fair play.
Our program also gives
the youth of the valley an
outlet for their energies that
may otherwise be detrimental
in the community.
All donations of sponsor-
ship are used for Illinois Val-
ley youth and help to con-
tinue the program each year.
Community members have
been wonderful to us in the
past, and we are hoping that
they will be even more gener-
ous this year.
We hope that people will
check the sponsorship adver-
tisement and send in what
they can afford to help us
continue keeping youth in-
volved in positive activities.
OHV plan criticized
From Mark Brockman
Selma
I am a retired sheet metal
worker. I live on a fixed in-
come. The land I own is my
largest asset.
BLM’s Western Oregon
Plan Revisions lays out two
Off-Highway Vehicle (OHV)
Emphasis Areas that threaten
my investment. The Elliot
Creek OHV Emphasis Area is
practically in my backyard,
and, from a noise point of
view, it is. That’s also true of
the Illinois Valley OHV Em-
phasis Area.
I know that its noise will
travel to me and my
neighbors because we can
hear the remote-controlled
airplane events held at Lake
Selmac, and dirt bikes are a
damned sight louder. If the
OHV Emphasis Areas are
established, every day could
be noisy.
Property prices drop
when a neighborhood is con-
sistently noisy. I don’t like
my “quality of life” to be
lowered, and I don’t like my
savings to be stolen.
The Executive Order
signed by President Nixon in
1972 says off-road vehicles
on public lands “shall be lo-
cated ... to ensure the com-
patibility of such uses with
existing conditions in popu-
lated areas, taking into ac-
count noise and other fac-
tors.” This is law. BLM
should obey it and keep OHV
Emphasis Areas away from
people’s homes.
I bet others wouldn’t
want people biking through
their back yard either; proba-
bly for the same reasons.
Signs not IVMA matter
From F. John ‘Frank’
Abernathy, president/CEO
Illinois Valley Merchants
Association
Cave Junction
This is in response to
your Dec. 26 letter to the edi-
tor from Linda Corey-
Woodward. Her letter stated
that “… Illinois Valley Mer-
chants Association … should
move forward now …” re-
garding the “Welcome to the
Illinois Valley” signs.
The published letter also
stated that, “Those interested
can contact the chamber and
IVMA, and have a planning
meeting.”
I want to make it clear
that Illinois Valley Merchants
Association (IVMA) does not
involve itself in the
“Welcome to Illinois Valley”
signs, or promotion of tour-
ism in Illinois Valley. The
signs are a function of the
I.V. Chamber of Commerce,
and not IVMA.
Comments or questions
concerning the signs should
be directed to the chamber
(592-3326), and not IVMA.
IVMA strives to provide
benefits for a wide variety of
merchant and nonmerchant
members of Illinois Valley.
Its tasks include collaborative
advertising and sponsorship,
securing business for I.V.
merchants, and protecting
merchants from the effects of
crime.
Also, holding community
forums on business issues,
establishing community part-
nerships, and providing tech-
nical mentoring experiences.
Ready for 747s?
From Ed Russell
Cave Junction
The reality of 747s down
Main Street is not far out for
our airport and our future.
Illinois Valley Airport
was built for smoke jumper
planes and possible use as a
military runway if we were
invaded during World War II.
The runway is long and
sound.
Most don’t know that the
“Airport Master Plan” already
dictates the relocation of Air-
port Drive and would buy all
the property north of the air-
port for some distance. A
simple extension of the run-
way would take similar form.
In this New “20 Year
Plan,” without oversight and
community input, who knows
what “Eminent Domain” may
accomplish for the sake of
some, legitimately question-
able, commercial venture.
Ever since the “Industrial
Park” was established, the
airport, is, could, or shall be,
some kind of “International
Trade Zone.” The cargo air-
craft large enough to carry a
“pay load” and cross our bor-
ders, and/or to fly to Asia, are
very large, very loud aircraft.
(Be careful what you ask
for.)
The encouragement for
an industrial theme for this
airport is inappropriate. We
are just located in the wrong
place in the transportation
matrix. We are surrounded by
an irreplaceable natural asset
which provides value to prop-
erty and our lifestyles; it
won’t provide any benefit to
reasonable or successful en-
terprise, and will cost too
much in any terms anyone
wants to discuss.
Plus, we have to give up
the “Greater Economic Po-
tential” of a beautiful, rela-
tively mundane, naturally
evolving, local resource that
is symbolic of, and symbiotic
with this community.
This is a rural airport that
serves our needs, and is its
own/our own, unique destina-
tion attraction/money maker.
It doesn’t make sense to
give up our historic Siskiyou
Smokejumper Base, the
camping, the community
space, and our airspace over-
head, just to profit a very few,
and, maybe, hopefully, tem-
porarily, get a handful of un-
skilled unsustainable jobs
while destroying more of the
valuable character of this
community.
The fact is that this will
be at the expense of lots of
well-paying, “homegrown,”
high-tech aviation jobs in the
smaller aircraft and hospital-
ity industries that are cur-
rently evolving at the airport.
These are in harmony with
(Continued on page 3)
Give your child the
for future success!
2 pre-school openings for
children 4 years & older
8:30 - Noon,
5 days per week.
Christ-centered, loving,
structured environment
$125 per month includes
tuition & curriculum
592-3896
Community Christian
Academy
Community Bible Church
113 S. Caves Ave.
W E N EED Y OUR S UPPORT
Hold our elected and appointed officials
accountable for their decisions.
Show your support by attending the meeting in person:
Monday, January 14 at 7 p.m.
Cave Junction County Building
This meeting will cover
aggregate mining at the
Holland Loop/Fort Briggs aggregate
mining site (now known as I.V. Ranch)
by Barlow/Copeland
N O M ORE B ENDING R ULES
FOR SPECIAL INTERESTS!
SUBSCRIPTION RATES
One year in Josephine County - $22.80
One year in Jackson and Douglas counties - $26.40
One year in all other Oregon counties and out-of-state - $36
POSTMASTER: Please send address changes to
P.O. Box 1370, Cave Junction OR 97523
This ad has been paid for by Paid for by STRIVE –
Save The Rural Illinois Valley Environment.