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About Illinois Valley news. (Cave City, Oregon) 1937-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 7, 2009)
DEA to take lead on marijuana eradication Inside: Community forum Your letters to the Editor Page 2 Kerby to do Evening of Art & Wine returns Page 5 It takes two Tango lessons on tap at Chateau Page 5 ‘Miner’ uproar Arrest stirs unrest; sheriff urges calm Page 8 Cougar sports Volleyball, soccer, football & XC Pages 13 & 14 JCSO awarded grant funding Four additional officers will be added to Josephine County Sheriff’s Office (JCSO), as a result of $689,000 coming from the federal Edward Byrne Memo- rial State and Local Law En- forcement Assistance Grant Program. Sue Watkins, JCSO busi- ness manager, announced the competitive grant awards in a Wednesday, Sept. 23 e-mail to county officials. Watkins wrote that JCSO was awarded two of the three grants for which it applied. One is a two-year, $286,000 grant to hire a crime analyst, and a dispatcher. JCSO was the only agency in Oregon to receive that grant, Watkins wrote. JCSO will also receive a $403,000 grant to fund a cor- rections deputy with drug- and-alcohol counseling du- ties, and a corrections analyst, according to Watkins. Only three other agen- cies in the state received that particular grant, Watkins wrote: the city of Toledo, Columbia County, and the Oregon Dept. of Justice. JCSO did not receive a grant for a volunteer-and- training coordinator, Watkins wrote. And it still is waiting to hear whether it will receive funds from the second round of U.S. Dept. of Justice Com- munity Oriented Policing Services grants. Harvest time approaches. (Photo by Michelle Binker, Illinois Valley News ) By SCOTT JORGENSEN IVN Staff Writer Earlier this summer, Jo- sephine County Sheriff’s Of- fice (JCSO) joined Rogue Area Drug Enforcement (RADE), the county’s inter- agency anti-drug unit. Sheriff Gil Gilbertson discussed the arrangement during a KAJO Radio inter- view Wednesday, Sept. 30. JCSO had been a mem- ber of the Josephine Inter- agency Narcotics Team (JOINT). But when the Ore- gon State Police detective assigned to JOINT was reas- signed, JCSO pulled out in spring 2008 due to a lack of funds. JOINT was disbanded as a result. Gilbertson said that his decision to leave JOINT was motivated by the severe cash crunch his agency was facing at the time. “It was strictly a mone- tary decision. We just could- n’t afford it,” Gilbertson said. “It was costing us about $400,000 a year.” Efforts began to con- struct a new interagency drug team. RADE then was formed, with participation from OSP, Grants Pass Dept. of Public Safety, Josephine County Community Correc- tions and the District Attor- ney’s office. JCSO initially was excluded, but since has been added to RADE. Gilbertson said that he is comfortable with JCSO’s role in RADE, as his agency is no longer heading the area’s anti-drug coordination. “We’re not bearing the burden of that expense any longer,” he said. Despite that, Gilbertson maintains that JCSO “never stopped working drugs,” and always had two deputies as- signed specifically to handle those kinds of cases. But JCSO’s entry into RADE doesn’t mean that the agency will take the lead in mari- juana eradication activities. The fall season typically coincides with the harvest cycle for the illegal crop, which grows throughout Jo- sephine County. However, Gilbertson said that the fed- eral Drug Enforcement Agency will be in charge of coordinating any large mari- juana busts in the area. “It’s an operation that is leaning more and more to- wards the federal level deal- ing with it,” Gilbertson said. “The feds have kind of taken over in a sense.” JCSO will play more of a support role in marijuana eradication, Gilbertson said. “That’s kind of where it’s headed, I believe,” noted the sheriff. “We basically do the grunt work. We go pull the weeds.” Fire District brings volunteer recruiting effort to high school By SCOTT JORGENSEN IVN Staff Writer Even though the Illinois Valley Fire District (IVFD) doesn’t have Dalmatians in stations or firehouse poles to shimmy down, volunteers still will have plenty of op- portunities for future success. That was the message that IVFD Deputy Chief Jeff Gavlik conveyed to a class of Illinois Valley High School seniors on the afternoon of Thursday, Oct. 1. Gavlik spoke to 17 of music teacher Shawn McKee’s students as part of a larger, community- wide recruiting drive. Gavlik explained that he began as a volunteer with IVFD around 15 years ago before pursuing a fire science degree at Rogue Community College. When a paid training officer position opened, Gav- lik said that he was automati- Boys & Girls Club tackle football teams played at Illinois Valley High School from 9 a.m. until around 2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 3. There were teams from Grants Pass as well as the sixth-grade team from Lorna cally in the running because he already had proven him- self to IVFD officials. Aside from himself, Gavlik said that his older brother, mother and father (still active) all have volun- teered with IVFD. “It’s amazing how conta- gious it is,” he said. To be an IVFD volunteer firefighter, applicants must have a valid Oregon driver license, be 18 years or older and pass a driving and crimi- nal background check. How- ever, Gavlik said that the ap- plication process is being opened to 17-year-olds, who still would need permission from their parents or guardi- ans for the initial training. Such training involves a commitment of 100 hours at the IVFD firefighting acad- emy, Gavlik said. There, fire- fighters learn about fire char- acteristics, operating the tools, and establishing basic skill sets that can later be honed at the two-hour drills held every week. Volunteers get the same training as paid staff and can drive most of the district’s trucks, Gavlik said. But any- one younger than 18 cannot enter a burning building. IVFD volunteers receive a “very, very, very small compensation” four times per year for responding to calls, Gavlik. He added that there are a number of rewards for that service. “It does carry very strong weight in a lot of areas,” he noted. Firefighting training can be applied to the medical field, as well as outfits like Grayback Forestry, which specialize in putting out wildfires. Gavlik said that IVFD Byrne Middle School. The turnout of teams and spectators met ex- pectations, said Scott Thornhill, director of the club’s Illinois Valley section. (Photo by Illinois Valley News ) members have been recruited to work at area hospitals and for the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Volun- teer experience also can qual- ify for student senior projects, he said. Right now, IVFD is down to around 20 firefight- ers to fill its six stations, Gav- lik said. Between 20 and 25 are needed to fight fires, he said, and the district has “barely enough people to do it” at this point. Gavlik said that what he enjoys the most about his position is helping vulnerable people in the time of their greatest need. “It’s been a very reward- ing opportunity for me,” he explained. After the final bell rang for McKee’s class, Gavlik made volunteer applications available to students, some of whom picked them up. Fateful Labor Day fall reveals heart condition By SCOTT JORGENSEN IVN Staff Writer There’s something differ- ent about Blake Peterson these days — perhaps it’s because the 71-year-old Illi- nois Valley resident knows that he’s lucky to be alive. It was around 9:30 on the morning of Monday, Sept. 7. Peterson, a member of the Illinois Valley Lions Club, was at Jubilee Park in Cave Junction. The annual Labor Day parade had just begun, and Peterson was preparing a trailer for the club’s raffle of a Harley Davidson motorcycle. He began climbing a ladder, and it’s the last thing he remembers from that day. He then fell nearly 7 feet to a patch of grass below, landing on his face and narrowly missing a concrete walkway. When his wife, Sue, ar- rived, Peterson was uncon- scious, bleeding from his mouth, vomiting violently and being loaded onto a gur- ney by American Medical Response medics. Peterson’s injuries required that he be airlifted by Mercy Flights helicopter to Rogue Valley Medical Center in Medford. Once at the hospital, it was determined that Peterson had broken bones in his face: But physicians soon discov- ered something much more serious. Peterson flat-lined for around four seconds as he lay hooked to an oxygen tank in the hospital’s trauma unit. Subsequent tests determined that he had an irregular heart- beat, which led doctors to install a pacemaker. As such, Peterson and his family now regard his fateful fall as a blessing in disguise. The first hints of Peter- son’s health problems emerged about 18 months ago. A bad case of vertigo caused him to be referred to an ear specialist, who con- ducted a computerized axial tomography (CAT) scan to confirm the condition. A prescription for medi- cations to battle motion sick- ness was provided to Peter- son, which he said “sort of cured everything out.” Peter- son continued to go about his business until January, when he totaled his 2004 Buick LeSabre after hitting a utility pole in Kerby. “I don’t know what hap- pened,” Peterson said, adding that he woke up in a hospital two days later. In retrospect, Peterson said that his best advice to anyone is to “pay attention to (Continued on page 4)
