Inside:
Tax challenge on
Petitions turned
in to state
Page 3
Deputy staffing
JCSO recruits
in training
Page 4
County car clash
Fleet functionality
furor finished
Page 12
Miners harassed?
Group seeks help
from JoCo sheriff
Page 13
Sports highlights
IVHS teams give
great efforts
Page 14
DEQ seeks septic fee
hike; concerns raised
By SCOTT JORGENSEN
IVN Staff Writer
Septic system application
fees through the Oregon
Dept. of Environmental Qual-
ity (DEQ) are proposed to
rise by 60 percent, but citi-
zens still have the chance to
sound off on the proposal.
The public comment
period was scheduled to end
on Friday, Sept. 25. However,
that has been extended to 5
p.m. on Friday, Oct. 9, as
many residents were unaware
of the original deadline.
In an e-mail dated Mon-
day, Sept. 21, Mike Kucinski,
DEQ Onsite Septic System
Program manager, stated the
reasons for the proposed in-
crease. The program is run by
fee revenue, and it’s been
more than 10 years since the
agency has made any such
request, Kucinski wrote.
“Costs to operate the
program have increased over
40 percent since 2000, and
are expected to continue to
rise,” Kucinski wrote. “This
increase is necessary to main-
tain minimum staffing levels
required to run the statewide
program, which protects pub-
lic health and the environ-
ment.”
Fee increases would sup-
port 2.5 positions to maintain
current service levels, accord-
ing to Kucinski.
Among those submitting
comments against the fee
increase is Illinois Valley
resident David Anderson,
who owns an excavating
business.
Anderson stated his ob-
jections in a letter to DEQ
dated Sept. 24.
“Each time a fee increase
(Continued on page 8)
State plans for public safety ‘worst-
case scenario’ should counties fail
By SCOTT JORGENSEN
IVN Staff Writer
In a worst-case scenario
of no county funds for public
safety, what would happen?
Greg Prins, executive
director of the Oregon Crimi-
nal Justice Commission
(CJC), addressed area law
enforcement officials about
that subject. He spoke during
the Thursday, Sept. 24 meet-
ing of the Local Public Safety
Coordin ating Council
(LPSCC) at Grants Pass City
Hall.
CJC is a policy planning
agency. Its duties include the
administration of sentencing
guidelines, LPSCC coordina-
tion and the authorization of
the state’s portion of federal
Justice Assistance Grants.
Prins addressed the pub-
lic safety contingencies that
have been put in place at the
state level to address a worse-
case scenario for Josephine
and other timber-dependent
counties. Earlier this year, the
Legislature passed Senate
Bills 77 and 78 to establish
procedures dealing with the
potential funding crisis.
The state already has the
ability to assume the func-
tions of Dept. of Human Ser-
vices (DHS) offices in case of
county insolvency, Prins said.
But there was nothing similar
in place for public safety
prior to the passage of those
bills.
“We’ll have to get the
rules in place,” he said, adding
that they should be as broad
and “elastic” as possible.
Prins said that after citi-
zens vote on a pair of state
tax measures on Jan. 23,
2010; and the Legislature
conducts its next session in
February, CJC will seek guid-
ance from county officials on
a regional basis on how to
proceed with emergency
planning.
“I don’t relish doing
this,” Prins said.
A report by a state task
force was provided to LPSCC
members by Prins. It states
that “constitutional limits on
property taxes, voter resis-
tance to such taxes and state
constraints on other revenue
sources make it difficult for
counties to respond to this
crisis by raising revenues.”
The report states that
many of the timber-
dependent counties have tax
rates below the state average
and that “counties statewide
have significant unused prop-
erty tax capacity within con-
stitutional limitations.”
“It is reasonable to ex-
pect hard-hit counties to seek
voter approval of property tax
increases in the range of 10
percent to 30 percent, which
(would) increase overall taxes
paid by county taxpayers by
just 2 to 5 percent,” the report
states.
Recommendations from
the task force for the long-
term vitality of the counties
include establishing a Young
Adult Conservation Corps to
help manage federal forests.
However, the report also
states that the plans set forth
by the task force “are unlikely
to come to fruition until at
least 2012.”
Also discussed during
the LPSCC meeting was the
viability of creating a justice
court in Josephine County.
The matter was brought
up by Commissioner Dwight
Ellis, who said that the issue
has been considered by Sher-
iff Gil Gilbertson and Com-
missioner Sandi Cassanelli.
Ellis asked other LPSCC
members if the concept is
worth pursuing.
Circuit Court Judge
Lindi Baker said that officials
of the county’s existing court
system don’t oppose another
entity taking on that caseload.
But she added that a justice
(Continued on page 8)
Illinois Valley Chamber of Com-
merce held its third-annual Grape
Stomp Party on Saturday, Sept.
26 at Bridgeview Vineyards Win-
ery east of Cave Junction. (Top
photo) Irene Guererro-Acevedo
(right) sends grapes flying while
catcher Celia Lettis collects juice.
(left) The boisterous crowd eggs
on the stomp contestants while
Eastfork (below) provided the
tunes. (Photos by Michelle Binker,
Illinois Valley News)
Hope Mountain Project blends traditional forest practices with new methods
By LINDA
COREY-WOODWARD
For IVN
Work on the Hope
Mountain Stewardship pro-
ject began in April with 160
workers thinning dense
second-growth plantation
forests in the east Illinois Val-
ley watershed.
The project is part of a
partnership agreement be-
tween the U.S. Forest Service
(USFS), Takilma-based
Siskiyou Project and Ash-
land-based Lomakatsi Resto-
ration Project. They are
working to reduce fire risk,
promote ecological restora-
tion, employ people, and im-
prove water quality and wild-
life habitat on USFS land.
A Master Stewardship
Agreement (MSA) sets the
goals and parameters of this
unique partnership. It allows
A Lomakatsi worker. (Photo by Oshana Catranides)
stewardship efforts on up to
10,000 acres of USFS land in
S.W. Oregon during the next
10 years. This year involves
forest projects of 1,500 acres
with names such as Brushy
Elk Hazel, Longwood, Camp
Elk, Pepperbuck, Page Moun-
tain Snow Park and Hope
Mountain, all in the Wild
River Ranger District.
The agreement evolved
from input by residents, busi-
ness owners, timber op-
erators, District Ranger
Joel King, Lomakatsi
technicians, Siskiyou Pro-
ject staff, “and other stake-
holders.” Funding comes
from federal stimulus dol-
lars to put “local people”
to work, matched by non-
profit organizations Lo-
makatsi and Siskiyou Pro-
ject.
Valley businesses are
benefitting. Dave’s Out-
door Power Equipment,
owned by Dave & Liz
Paulsen in Cave Junction,
is one of them.
Liz Paulsen voiced her
approval.
“We are
grateful,” she
said,
“that
local
busi-
nesses
are
being utilized
and local peo-
ple are being
hired. At the
same time, we
have done our
part as com-
munity mem-
bers by cutting
a great deal on
equipment and
supplies,
so
the economic
stimulus fund-
ing can get (From left) Marko Bey, Lomakatsi’s Justin
stretched further
to treat more Cullumbine, USFS District Ranger Joel King
acres and keep and Oshana Catranides at the work site.
local
people (Photo by Linda Corey-Woodward, for IVN )
w o r k i n g
Other valley businesses have
longer.”
noticed an increase in sales
Oregon Caves Chevron
for supplies, food and tools.
co-owners Jeff & Karen
Page Mountain Snow
Stiles in Cave Junction have
Park project began in Sep-
seen an increase in sales to
tember after the peak fire
project workers since April.
season. Crews of 35 valley
people are working to clear
space for larger conifers and
hardwoods, as well as native
plant species to flourish with
patches of sunlight and room
to grow. The areas were
clear-cut 40 years ago and
replanted as plantations.
These are now over-
grown with thin trees, little
diversity and few truly large
trees. Project implementer
Lomakatsi hires crews to re-
move selected trees (12
inches and less in diameter)
and handles sale of logs.
A mechanized harvester
also is used to thin trees in
more level forest areas. The
harvester moves on tracks,
and has a cab and crane with
a robotic cutting device at the
end. The operator controls a
computer to grasp, cut, strip
and lay down a small tree.
Said Lomakatsi Director
Marko Bey, “Trees are cut by
the harvester and loaded onto
the forwarder (a forestry trac-
tor with a log bunk), which
(Continued on page 8)