Page 15
Illinois Valley News, Cave Junction, Ore. Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Man on the Street:
What kinds of activities would spur economic
development in Illinois Valley?
“We need more jobs, is what we need.”
~ Kelly Kennedy
“More jobs. We need to get more
people in here that want to work.”
~ Ed Ledlow
“We need to help people with their
mortgages so they have money to spend. I
think mortgages are a critical issue.”
~ Jean Jaeger
“I would like to see more things for
the kids. There’s really nothing to do
around here to stay out of trouble.”
~ Maggie Harvey
“A factory of some type that would
have to be environmentally sound and
would have to use something that we have
here. It would have to be something that
comes from the valley itself. Timber, miner-
als, something like that.”~ Bob Perguson
“I think what they should have done
was lower the interest rate to four percent.
Everybody would have an extra $500 a
month to spend.”
~ Russ Carpenter
Funding received for forest fuels reduction
Hazardous fuels reduction
project areas located on the
Rogue River-Siskiyou Na-
tional Forest will receive $3
million in new funding for
wildland fire management
work -- including $2 million
worth of work in Josephine
County.
The work will provide
job opportunities for the pri-
vate sector under the authori-
ties of the 2009 American
Recovery and Reinvestment
Act, said U.S. Forest Service.
“The new funding creates
private sector jobs in areas that
are hit hard economically,”
said Scott Conroy, Rogue
River-Siskiyou National For-
est supervisor.
“The forest service lo-
cally is using these dollars to
fund shovel-ready projects
that can be immediately
awarded within seven days
through federal government
contracts with the private sec-
tor,” he said. “These projects
are priorities, as they can start
immediately and can provide
private jobs and help local
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communities while doing
much-needed work on public
lands,” said Conroy.
Under the language of the
American Recovery and Rein-
vestment Act, the forest ser-
vice is creating as many jobs
as possible to get money flow-
ing through communities hard
hit by unemployment.
The four project areas are
located on land in areas of
high fire danger and will re-
duce overcrowded trees and
brush, creating a total of $2
million of projects located
within Josephine County and
$1 million of projects located
within Curry County.
Proposed labor-intensive
work includes cutting trees
and brush, pre-commercial
thinning, and pruning the
lower tree limbs. Also, hand-
piling the cut material, burn-
ing hand piles, under-burning,
and roadside brushing and
chipping.
All funds will be spent on
specific targeted projects that
are, or soon will be, ready to
go. Projects on the Rogue
River-Siskiyou National For-
est in Josephine County are:
*The Hope Mountain
Stewardship Project, a $ 1.4
million effort that covers
1,000 acres. This partnership
project between Siskiyou Pro-
ject, Lomakatsi, and the forest
service will accomplish fuels
reduction and forest restora-
tion on the Wild Rivers
Ranger District.
This effort will restore
forest stands that pose poten-
tial wildfire risks to communi-
ties and ecosystem values.
*Waters Creek Hazard-
ous Fuels Reduction Project
with $310,000 funding that
provides for cutting over-
crowded trees and brush and
hand-piling to thin out small
trees that have created a high
fire hazard.
Some 233 acres within
wildland urban interface areas
will be improved.
*Vegetative improvement
and fuels reduction work with
$290,000 in funding will treat
225 acres across the Wild Riv-
ers District.
These three project areas
in Josephine County, and one
in Curry County, meet all fed-
eral environmental require-
ments and have been through
the National Environmental
Policy Act process, said the
forest service.
Wine tasting course offered through OSU
In “a bold new approach”
for wine-tasting classes, Ore-
gon State University Extension
Service, Hanley Farm Central
Point, announced a five-week
series, Wine Tasting With
Three Experts: How to Select
and Enjoy The World’s Great-
est Wines.
The course will begin on
Monday, April 20, and will
continue for five consecutive
Monday nights from 6:30 to
8. The wines to be tasted and
discussed will include samples
of some of the world’s greatest
wines. They include Classified
Growth Bordeaux, Premier
Cru Burgundy, and the great-
est wines of Oregon, Washing-
ton, California, Italy, and Ger-
many.
A fee covers the entire
tuition, including the cost of
the wines and a textbook on
how to taste. The class is
strictly limited to 20 people.
The team of experts teach-
ing these classes include the
Rogue Valley’s most well-
known wine collector, Dr. Pe-
ter Adesman; and the Rogue
Valley’s most well-known
sommellier, Andrew Phillips,
of Ashland’s Winchester Inn.
They will be joined by Condé
Cox, the wine critic and regu-
lar wine columnist for Port-
land Monthly and Seattle Met-
ropolitan magazines.
As there is a strict maxi-
mum of 20 students, phone
776-7371 to reserve a spot for
the classes. Pre-registration
and payment are required.
Fire detectors critical, says IVFD
Do you have smoke detec-
tors in your home? When is the
last time you checked the bat-
teries? Did you take one out
because it was beeping? That is
telling you that you need a new
battery, said Illinois Valley Fire
District (IVFD).
Smoke detectors do save
lives because when working
properly they can provide an
early warning that smoke is in
the house, noted IVFD.
People and pets die in fires
because they don’t know the
house is on fire.
Not all children hear
smoke detectors -- do yours?
The life you save may be
your own.
If you need help with the
proper placement of smoke
detectors and extinguishers, or
have any question about being
fire safe phone IVFD at 592-
2225.
Maurer: OEBB insurance
‘opt-out’ dead in House
By SCOTT JORGENSEN
IVN Staff Writer
During the Oregon Leg-
islature’s 2007 session, law-
makers passed Senate Bill
426, which established a
statewide insurance pool for
public education employees
through forming the Oregon
Education Benefit Board
(OEBB).
That piece of legislation,
which was strongly opposed
by the Oregon School Boards
Association (OSBA), re-
quired most school districts in
the state to purchase health
benefits for their employees
through the pool beginning
last October.
However, Rep. Ron
Maurer (R-Grants Pass) is
sponsoring House Bill 2455,
which would allow districts to
offer benefit plans other than
those provided by OEBB.
Maurer said that some
school districts and commu-
nity colleges have seen their
benefit costs decrease as a
result of SB 426. But the op-
posite has been true for other
districts, including the Three
Rivers School District
(TRSD).
“There are some districts
that have come out on the
worse end of it that are now
paying more than they were a
year ago based on the pool-
ing,” Maurer said.
When SB 426 was being
considered, TRSD represen-
tatives expressed concern that
it could end up costing the
district money.
“It came to our attention
really quickly once we had
our people crunch the num-
bers, we realized it was going
to be a detriment to our
budget,” said TRSD Board of
Education Chairman Dave
Strahan.
Maurer said that the man-
dates of SB 426 became an
issue with TRSD when classi-
fied staff employees were
facing charges of an additional
$100 per month in health in-
surance costs. Strahan said
that TRSD always has been
diligent at researching differ-
ent insurance pools and edu-
cating its staff, and that those
efforts have paid off.
“They’ve reduced our
cost through better wellness,
safety, and just being aware
of the things they can do per-
sonally to help us,” Strahan
said. “For all of us to have
worked together to keep it
manageable, to have the state
trying to override our efforts
is very frustrating.”
Maurer said that the ex-
ample provided by TRSD
illustrates why he opposed
SB 426 and proposed HB
2455 to try and remedy the
situation.
“I don’t like to see any-
body overpay for services,”
Maurer said. “I believe that
districts should have the abil-
ity to find services, or in this
case, a health benefit plan,
that’s cheaper on the open
market.
“If you can find one
cheaper on the open market,
why would the state prohibit
them from saving taxpayers
or employees money?”
Strahan said that TRSD
was able to avoid inclusion in
the OEBB and keep its costs
down as a result.
“Basically, what we were
told was that we didn’t have a
choice, but that if we didn’t
follow the orders, nothing
was going to happen,” he
said. “We chose not to do it
and stuck with our current
provider. We saved money,
and we’re still doing it.”
When SB 426 still was
being debated, Maurer char-
acterized the issue as part of a
continuing struggle between
OSBA and the Oregon Edu-
cation Association (OEA),
the statewide teachers union.
OSBA traditionally has
offered its own benefits op-
tion to districts, but Maurer
said that the passage of SB
426 was intended to put a
stop to that.
“They wanted it to cut
the legs out of the OSBA,”
Maurer said. “They success-
fully accomplished their mis-
sion.”
OEA is among the larg-
est source of campaign contri-
butions to Oregon Democrats,
and Gov. Kulongoski’s chief
of staff, Chip Terhune, is a
former lobbyist for that
group. Because of that,
Maurer said, HB 2455 stands
little chance of passing.
“It’s dead,” Maurer said.
“The governor’s office has
said there will be no change
to OEBB.”
However, Maurer said
that House Speaker Dave
Hunt (D-Clackamas County)
recently asked him to sign on
to a bill that would expand
the time that school districts
will have to enter the insur-
ance pool. The date is cur-
rently 2010, Maurer said, but
Hunt’s bill would extend that
to 2013.
Maurer said that while
he’s disappointed that HB
2455 is unlikely to receive
any consideration this ses-
sion, he did agree to co-
sponsor Hunt’s bill.
“Something is better than
nothing,” Maurer said. “(But)
I still don’t think it answers
the question.”
Oregon DOJ warns of ‘free’ scams
Attorney General John Kroger is warning consumers to
avoid misleading and possibly illegal promotions for “free gas”
and “free groceries.”
The promotions are designed to get consumers to buy prod-
ucts they might not otherwise purchase. They typically offer hun-
dreds of dollars of free groceries or gas if you buy certain prod-
ucts and mail in your receipts. There’s often a $5 registration fee.
The scammer sometimes sends the first payment to encour-
age the consumer to continue to participate. But future rewards
don’t appear even though consumers continue to buy the product
and mail in their receipts.
The Oregon Dept. of Justice is participating in a national
crackdown of such false promotions and has warned Oregon
retailers that these offers could be false and illegal.
Consumers and retailers seeking information about “free
gas” and “free groceries” promos should contact the Attorney
General’s consumer hotline at (877) 877-9392. Justice is online
at www.doj.state.or.us.
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