Inside:
Smoke alert
Forest Service
lists burn plans
Page 4
Rocky issue
Hearings continue
on aggregate site
Page 5
On track
Chautauqua talk
on iron horse set
Page 7
Sheriff coming
IVMA sponsors
safety meeting
Page 9
What’s the buzz?
Concern rises
about bee death
Page 14
Burning issue
Escaped debris
fires cause alarms
Page 16
Plus: Classified,
Service Directory
and Tales from the
Police Blotter ...
Candidacy
questions?
A public forum for candi-
dates seeking two seats on the
Josephine County Board of
Commissioners is set for
Monday, April 28 beginning
at 6:30 p.m. in the Josephine
County Bldg. in Downtown
Cave Junction.
Questions are to be sub-
mitted in advance for the
forum. It’s co-sponsored by
Illinois Valley News, I.V.
Chamber of Commerce, and
Social Justice Alliance. Ques-
tions can be brought to the
News or chamber offices, or
e-mailed to letters@illinois-
valley-news.com.
Balloting will be in the
May 20 primary election.
Mail-in ballots are to be re-
ceived during the first week
in May. They must be in the
county clerk’s office by 8
p.m. May 20, and can be de-
posited in the box at Cave
Junction City Hall by 8 p.m.
on the 20th.
City council
meet 4/28
A city of Cave Junction
ordinance that would place
ultimate responsibility for
water and sewer bills on
property owners, rather than
tenants, is to undergo its sec-
ond reading.
The reading and possible
adoption are scheduled to
occur Monday night, April 28
at 7 p.m. during a city council
meeting in City Hall. City
Recorder Jim Polk said early
this week that Ordinance 514
likely will be OK’d by the
council.
However, he continued,
there could be some changes
in connection with the ordi-
nance affecting deposits and
“capping” liabilities.
Also during the meeting,
the council, as a Contract
Review Board, will consider
eight bids for installing a
sewer line in Kerby Avenue.
The work will involve some
600 feet between Lister to
River streets.
Patrol deputy cuts
seen in budgeting
Sheriff Gil Gilbertson is
among Josephine County
public safety officials and
others who will make fund
presentations to the county
Budget Committee Wednes-
day, April 23 from 4 to 6 p.m.
Facing a budget that
lacks $12 million from previ-
ous income, the number of
sheriff’s office patrol deputies
could be reduced to 14 from
the current 22; and the jail
officers staff could be cut to
28 from the current 41.
Those proposed reduc-
tions were included in a pres-
entation to the committee on
Thursday, April 17 in Grants
Pass. Rosemary Padgett, the
county’s CFO, advised that:
“Josephine County is at a
turning point in its history”
because it is attempting to
deal with an anticipated loss
of $12 million in federal fund-
ing. A substantial portion of
the annual timber compensa-
tion has been used for sher-
iff’s patrols, juvenile justice
operations, and the district
attorney’s office.
Although the county re-
ceived its federal allocation
for the current 2007-08 fiscal
year, approximately half was
used for this year. The other
half or so was placed in a re-
serve fund for the 2008-09
fiscal year that will begin on
July 1.
The reserve fund contains
some $9 million. Anticipa-
tions are that it too will be
expended, meaning that the
2009-10 fiscal year budget
will contain even more drastic
reductions. Said Padgett:
“Without a sustainable
funding source for public
safety and the criminal justice
system, the county will be
greatly impacted. It is in the
(Continued on page 3)
TRSD hires new chief
Dan Huber-
21, the TRSD
Kantola, a former
Board of Direc-
principal at Illi-
tors
formally
nois Valley High
approved an em-
School, is the
ployment contract
choice for Three
with him as new
Rivers
School
superintendent.
District (TRSD)
The board’s work
superintendent.
of finding a new
During its
schools chief be-
Dan Huber-Kantola
regularly sched-
gan in December
uled meeting at Manzanita
2007, when the vacancy offi-
Elementary School in Grants
cially was first announced.
Pass on Monday night, April
(Continued on page 10)
Cave Junction resident Russell Gilbert
Pewsey, 43, was seriously injured when his
motorcycle crashed near milepost 39 of Hwy.
199 at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, April 16, said
Oregon State Police. Indications were that he
came off the 2000 Indian and struck a tree.
He was transported from Illinois Valley Airport
by Mercy Flights and taken to Rogue Valley
Medical Center in Medford. OSP said that his
blood-alcohol content at the hospital was .074
percent. (Photo by Dale & Elaine Sandberg,
Illinois Valley Fire District Media Dept.)
I.V. Grange will celebrate; present citizen of year award
An open house and
award ceremony will be held
at Illinois Valley Grange Hall
on Friday, April 25 from 6 to
8:30 p.m. in celebration of
April as Grange Month.
The hall is at 3763 Hol-
land Loop. The free event for
the valley community will
include a fund-raising spa-
ghetti dinner for the Illinois
Valley Section of the Boys &
Girls Club.
Besides Grange displays
and the meal, a Grange Com-
munity Service Award will be
presented, said Kendell Phil-
lips, Grange president. He
provided the following.
The word “grange” is not
something heard in day-to-
day conversations, but if you
lived in England or France
during the Middle Ages, you
would know the word meant
granary or barn.
Hundreds of years later, a
new agricultural organization,
the Patrons of Husbandry,
formed in 1867. Within the
next few years, the organiza-
the first formal groups to ad-
mit women to membership on
an equal basis with men.
Boys and girls 14 years and
older were eligible for full
State Grange was organized
in 1873. Two years later, on
Jan. 5, 1875, Grange #178
was established in Kerbyville.
It was Josephine County’s
Today’s Illinois Valley Grange Hall on Holland Loop. (Photo by Roger Brandt)
tion became known as the
“grange,” perhaps because
the meeting halls built looked
like the long, narrow grana-
ries constructed during the
Middle Ages.
The Grange was one of
membership admitted on
equal terms with adults. Each
member had one vote.
Interest in the Grange
movement peaked in the
1870s, and it was during this
time that the first Oregon
first Grange.
The Grange Movement
experienced a decrease in
popularity during the 1890s.
The Kerbyville Grange ap-
peared to follow the national
downturn and went dormant
around 1896. However, when
interest in the Grange Move-
ment increased in early 1900,
the Kerbyville Grange was
reorganized and relocated at
Bridgeview in 1907 under the
new name of Illinois Valley
Grange, #370.
It is uncertain why the
Grange was moved to the
small and remote community
of Bridgeview rather than
being re-established in Ker-
byville. The reason may have
been the concurrent establish-
ment of Deer Creek Grange
near Dryden (Lake Selmac
area). There may have been a
decision to put more distance
between the two Granges to
provide better service to resi-
dents and decrease competi-
tion between the two halls for
membership.
Construction of the
(Continued on page 3)
Span fixed
at McCaleb
Illinois Valley Safe House Alliance held its annual Soup For
The Souls fund-raiser Saturday, April 19 at I.V. Senior Center.
The successful event featured a wide variety of soups do-
nated by individuals and restaurants, and a silent auction.
Attendees were eligible for door prizes and got to keep a
hand-made soup bowl. (Photos by Michelle Binker, Illinois
Valley News)
On Friday and Saturday,
April 18 and 19, a work crew
of community volunteers
improved a low-water bridge
on the road to McCaleb
Ranch from Illinois River
Road out of Selma.
The low-water bridge
spans Illinois River providing
passage for vehicle traffic to
McCaleb Ranch, as well as
access to a popular swimming
and scuba diving spot.
McCaleb Ranch property
is privately owned by the Boy
Scouts of America (BSA). The
U.S. Forest Service maintains
the bridge. Work on the
bridge was a joint venture and
partnership between the forest
service and BSA.
Improvements on the
vehicle bridge included re-
placement of 14 bridge bump-
ers. They are mounted to the
bridge on the sides and assist
(Continued on page 10)