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Illinois Valley News, Cave Junction, OR Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Finally, the final comments on my now not-so-recent
trip to coastal San Diego County. First, 5-year-old
granddaughter Natalie’s joke: “Why did Tigger look in
the toilet? He was trying to find Pooh.”
Oh, and as for reaching the new home that daughter
Vicki and Matt are buying in Carlsbad. She knows about
my male sense of finding places and so provided direc-
tions. Seems to me that all the street names to reach
the place belong to authors of one sort or other: Can-
non, Faraday, Whitman, Tolkien, Dickenson, Delaney.
And about those beeping-bleeping carts at the
Seattle airport (SEA or Sea-Tac if you prefer) on our
return trip. The darn carts were darting about like min-
nows in a small pond while we waited for our flight to
Medford. It appeared that elderly persons and those
with various physical handicaps were being transported
hither and yon as a service. But wow, it became annoy-
ing with nearly nonstop high-pitched back-up warnings
even though the carts were moving forward.
If memory serves, we bought some fancy to-go
Wolfgang Puck salads at John Wayne Airport in Santa
Ana (SNA) prior to boarding the flight to Seattle. As we
had been up since 5 a.m., we wanted to eat, and the in-
flight snacks provided wouldn’t be enough. My salad
was good, and the dressing made an attractive comple-
ment to the front of my shirt. Not the fault of turbulence;
just my sloppiness.
And here’s an admission: I didn’t have to rouse Jan
and Kim so early to drive to SNA. It was a Saturday morn-
ing; traffic was light; and the trip I thought would take at
least 90 minutes only took 45 minutes. Additionally, I
thought it would take more than a little time to surrender
the car we rented: It took approximately 10 seconds. So
we had lots of time to kill. I think that Kim and Jan have
forgiven me by now for unnecessarily getting them up too
early.
While we awaited our flight from SNA to SEA I pur-
chased a copy of the Oregon County Register newspa-
per. And while in Carlsbad I regularly purchased copies
of two daily newspapers, the San Diego Union~Tribune
and North County Times. Humm, actually I worked for
both (the former Evening Tribune before the staffs of it
and the Union were combined; and the NC Times when
it was the Escondido Times-Advocate.) Anyway, my
point is that crime is rampant in the Big Cities, based on
what I read. We in Illinois Valley think we have prob-
lems? Not compared to other locales.
I mean, there was even a story about perceived
gang problems in Avalon on Catalina Island. Some
claim that gangs have moved in, but others state that
people are over-reacting to some graffiti and guys with
shaved heads.
One more anecdote. We thought it would be fun to
take Amtrak from Santa Ana to Oceanside, as it’s next
to Carlsbad, and daughter Vicki could pick us up. But
we wanted to check on the distance and the cost of the
fare from SNA to the railroad station. Could not find out.
Tried Amtrak. Tried the Santa Ana Fire Dept. Tried the
Santa Ana Visitor Center. Tried the Santa Ana city
clerk’s office. Even tried two cab companies. No one
could provide the information. Strange and unhelpful.
Next week’s Corner: Who knows? You just never
259 Too Far South, CJ, Lease Option/Rental
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
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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 71, No. 21
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Incredible I.V. firefighters
From David & Martha
Hodges
Cave Junction
Three weeks ago our
house in the 7000 block of
Caves Hwy. burned to the
ground; complete destruction.
But I want to tell the commu-
nity what an incredible job
our volunteer firefighters did.
When they arrived, the
house was fully engulfed. The
efforts were put to saving my
husband’s truck and a shed.
Neither was damaged at all.
A massive amount of water
was pumped to keep the fire
back. My car was parked in
front of the house and the
raging inferno. They put the
water between the two.
Although the side of the
car literally melted in places,
the damage was cosmetic and
is repairable. These people
were awesome. Through the
heat and the exhaustion, they
kept on.
I know that my neigh-
bors all realize that their
homes remained safe only
because of the efforts of our
fire district. Without its fire-
fighters, this huge fire could
have become the epicenter of
another Biscuit Fire -- in a
populated area. Chief Rich
reminded me that these men
and women are all volunteers.
Perhaps if there were a
regular crew, the 17-minute
response time could have
been shaved to eight to 10
minutes. Perhaps something
else could have been saved.
When our community is
asked to vote for the opportu-
nity to have a regular staff,
I’d like for everyone to re-
member our fire.
I also want to extend our
gratefulness to this commu-
nity. We have been blessed
beyond belief. We appreciate
all for their prayers, time,
hard physical work, stuff and
donations, all expressing
love. To be so saddened and
overwhelmed by this loss,
and then to be so over-
whelmed by such kindness
has been very healing. Our
God has a plan.
(Editor’s Note: A vol-
unteer firefighter notes that
response times result be-
cause volunteers must first
leave their homes and drive
to stations to pick up appa-
ratus, rather than already
being in a station.)
Brown Barn Laundry
From Scott Hicks
Cave Junction
This is in reference to the
recent Judy’s Brown Barn
Laundry caper when the
equipment was removed from
Cave Junction’s only coin-
operated laundry. Walls and
plumbing were destroyed in
the process.
My family and I met
Judy Thomas, lessee of the
Brown Barn laundry, last
summer when we moved
here. If not for help from
Judy and her entire family,
In a page one story in the
July 30 issue, the word ‘junket’
was used in the headline to
characterize Commissioner Jim
Raffenburg’s convention trip
earlier this year without any
explanation within the story
that the opinion expressed was
that of fellow Commissioner
Dave Toler, not the headline
writer.
becoming established in Cave
Junction might not have been
possible for us.
She has helped many
other people too. She ran her
business as a community-
minded business should be
run. She always went out of
her way to make everyone
feel welcome, and provided
many public services to the
community, including donat-
ing free showers, etc. to the
homeless and others, instead
of just complaining that
“someone” should do some-
thing.
I personally tried to
speak to the mayor and he
didn’t care. Wow. He has
such a vendetta against the
local street people, and has
put a lot of effort into trying
to rid Cave Junction of them.
He apparently doesn’t realize
that most of them have been
here for a large part of their
lives and won’t be leaving
any time soon.
Losing the town’s only
laundry doesn’t seem to be a
problem to him. I thought he
arranged for more law en-
forcement to protect the citi-
zens. Apparently being drunk
in public is more serious here
than what happened at the
laundry. It took almost three
days for a deputy to even take
a report.
The closest laundry is in
Grants Pass. Not sure what
people in Cave Junction will
do when they need clean
clothes, especially those with-
out transportation. Bottom
line: What’s wrong with this
picture?
tant vote on July 23, when he
joined his other Oregon col-
leagues in the U.S. House of
Representatives to dedicate
$8 billion to the Highway
Trust Fund to ensure that our
highways and public trans-
portation systems are main-
tained and improved during
the coming year.
Many in our community
may not know that the federal
government provides, on
average, approximately 40
percent of the funding for our
highway and public transpor-
tation, construction and main-
tenance efforts -- efforts that
are vital to keeping our
families safe, our businesses
thriving and Oregonians
working.
Increased investment in
transportation stimulates the
economy and reduces conges-
tion, pollution and fatalities.
Unfortunately, the main
source of this funding is ex-
pected to have a significant
shortfall over the coming year
and that could result in a 34
percent cut in federal funds
for our state highway pro-
gram. The passage of this bill
is an important step in pre-
venting such drastic cuts.
In a day when partisan-
ship seems to get all the atten-
tion, it is good to see Ore-
gon’s delegation setting an
example of which we can be
proud.
Don Shaw
IICRC Certified Technician
Phone: 592-3095
Licensed - Bonded - Insured Cell: 660-9074
Bi-Rite
Auto Parts
327 S. Redwood Hwy. 592-3601 or 592-3691
Mondays - Fridays, 8 - 5; Saturdays, 9:30 - 4
DeFazio on roadways
From Jay M. Clemens
President & CEO
Associated Oregon Industries
Salem
On behalf of a great
number in Oregon’s business
community, we want to note
Rep. Peter DeFazio’s impor-
Family
Events
at the
Blackberry Festival
Jubilee Park - Cave Junction
Saturday, August 9 - 10 to 4
Animals
Puppets
Face painting
Bubble booth
Many various children’s arts,
crafts, & games
Child IDs
Snow cones & cotton candy
Art exhibits
Sunday, August 10 - 11 to 2
Assorted Living History Players
Rogue Valley Flyers – radio controlled airplanes
Illinois Valley Little League – concessions stand
Sponsored by
Illinois Valley
Family Coalition