Inside:
Tax Day Tea Party
crowd wants end
to federal growth
Blast from past
Heritage Day at
Kerbyville Museum
Page 5
Man with a plan
Candidate Lesh
offers platform
Page 6
By SCOTT JORGENSEN
IVN Staff Writer
Hundreds of people
swarmed in front of the Jose-
phine County Courthouse in
Downtown Grants Pass on
Thursday, April 15 for a tax
day Tea Party protest.
The event was one of
many being held in Oregon
and nationally. A similar pro-
test in Grants Pass last year
drew some 1,500 people.
Participants of all ages
hoisted U.S. flags and a series
of signs while drivers passing
on Sixth Street honked their
vehicle horns in support, and
a series of speakers took to
the podium.
The first speaker was Bill
Waggoner, chairman of the
Illinois Valley Chapter of the
9-12 Project. That group or-
ganized the protest.
Waggoner read a list of
rules, urging protesters to be
respectful and clean up after
themselves. He then said that
the rally should be focused on
“what Congress just did to
us” by passing national
Losses listed
Home foreclosure
rate extreme
Pages 10-13
Here to help
LBMS students aid
Haitian victims
Page 14
Hundreds of protestors seeking changes brought by the current
administration participated on Thursday, April 15. (Photos by
Ali Madjdi for Illinois Valley News )
Sports round-up
Golf, baseball,
softball events
Page 15
Dudley
pledges
reforms
in taxes
Community volunteers were working early this week through Wednesday, April 21 to construct
a bridge at Illinois River Forks State Park, on the south side of Cave Junction. As part of the
effort, backers obtained 35-foot long logs. (Photo provided)
LBMS in top 100 schools CJ seeking
Lorna Byrne Middle School in Cave Junction has been hon-
ored as among the Top 100 Schools in Oregon in a program of
Johns Hopkins University Center for Talented Youth (CTY).
“We love sharing this good news with the community,” said
LBMS Principal Damian Crowson.
Stated Johns Hopkins CTY, of Baltimore: “We looked at the
top 100 schools by state to determine the number of student en-
rollments we received into our annual Talent Search, and we’re
pleased to let you know Lorna Byrne Middle School received
this honor.
“We hope that this achievement will be a source of pride for
you, your staff, students and families.
“We’re very thankful for your participation, of course, but
we are also mindful of what this award says about your school. It
suggests that you have a solid core of very high-achieving stu-
dents.
“It also suggests that you look out for your top students’ best
interests by encouraging them and their parents to investigate
outside academic options like CTY.”
Crowson noted, “This recognition is because of the hard
work and dedication of our students, families and LBMS staff.
“I thank them all.”
replacement
for Jim Polk
By SCOTT JORGENSEN
IVN Staff Writer
Cave Junction City Re-
corder Jim Polk has been
counting down the days until
his retirement for quite some
time — but he’s down to dou-
ble digits in keeping track of
his remaining days on the job.
Polk began working for
the city on Aug. 19, 1992
after a 20-year stint as a lin-
guist with the U.S. Air Force.
He said that he plans to retire
Sept. 1, a few days after his
58th birthday.
(Continued on page 7)
Read the News - it’s good for you!
(Continued on page 3)
(Continued on page 7)
Medical marijuana
work ruling issued
Republican gov
candidate talks
issues, vision
By SCOTT JORGENSEN
IVN Staff Writer
Chris Dudley, a Republi-
can gubernatorial candidate
and former Portland Trail-
blazers basketball star, dis-
cussed his plans for Oregon’s
future during the Wednesday,
April 14 talk show on Grants
Pass-based KAJO Radio.
Dudley moved to Oregon
in 1993 to play professional
basketball. Prior to that, he
graduated from Yale Univer-
sity, where he majored in eco-
nomics and political science.
After retiring from bas-
ketball, Dudley became a
certified financial planner. He
worked as the senior vice
president of a Portland-based
investment firm and is now
the partner of a similar opera-
tion. In 1994, he founded the
Dudley Foundation to focus
on providing programs to
children with diabetes.
He has traveled through-
out the country and testified
before the U.S. Senate regard-
ing diabetes.
Dudley was diagnosed
with Type 1 diabetes at the
age of 16.
“It really taught me
about dealing with adversity
at a young age,” he said. “It
really shook my world.”
Although having the dis-
ease made his professional
basketball dreams a “long
shot,” Dudley said, he over-
came the odds, becoming the
first National Basketball As-
sociation player with diabetes.
The race for Oregon’s
top elected office features
former Gov. Bill Sizemore
and former Secretary of State
Bill Bradbury, both of whom
have considerable political
experience. Dudley said that
the fact that he has never held
elected office is “a very good
thing,” as he doesn’t have the
“political scars from the parti-
san fighting.”
He said that his guberna-
torial bid was prompted by
health-care reform legislation.
Many states, Waggoner
said, have filed lawsuits ques-
tioning the constitutionality of
that bill (Oregon did not), and
others plan to do so.
Waggoner cited some court
cases to support his claims
regarding the bill, and dis-
cussed the importance of
elected officials upholding
their oaths of office.
Ron Gibson, Southwest
Oregon Mining Association
vice president, shared the
story of the battle that in-
spired Francis Scott Key to
write The Star Spangled Ban-
ner, in which the American
flag was still standing, despite
direct bombardment from
British military forces.
Josephine County Com-
missioner Sandi Cassanelli
expressed her enthusiasm for
the First Amendment rights
granted to U.S. citizens.
“Here in Josephine
County, we see those rights
gradually eroded,” she said.
Citizens are being denied
By SCOTT JORGENSEN
IVN Staff Writer
Medical marijuana advo-
cates suffered a pair of set-
backs last week, as separate
court decisions spelled out
clear limits for the program
approved by voters in 1998.
On Thursday, April 15,
the Oregon Supreme Court
overturned a previous Court
of Appeals ruling in the case
of Emerald Steel Fabricators
Inc. vs. the Bureau of Labor
& Industries (BOLI).
“The decision now
means that employers can be
assured that they can consis-
tently enforce their zero toler-
ance drug policies without
regard to an employee’s
medical marijuana registry
status,” stated Associated
Oregon Industries (AOI).
The Emerald case
stemmed from the termina-
tion of Anthony Scevers from
his job as a steel press opera-
tor, according to AOI. Sce-
vers held a medical marijuana
card and used the drug up to
three times per day, AOI said.
Upon termination, Sce-
vers filed a charge with BOLI,
AOI said, alleging discrimina-
tion due to disability and the
company’s failure to accom-
modate him. BOLI issued an
order in Scevers’ favor and the
Court of Appeals agreed in a
June 2008 ruling.
AOI characterized the
ruling as a “fairly technical
opinion that focused more on
procedural issues than it did
on the underlying issue of
drug use in the workplace.
“However, the decision
gave comfort to medical
marijuana advocates and left
most employers in a state of
confusion, unsure about the
legal boundaries and what
was permitted in the work-
place,” AOI said.
AOI filed a brief of the
court brief as the case made
its way to the state Supreme
Court. In a 5-2 opinion, that
court reversed the lower
court’s decision, and ruled
that although medical mari-
juana still is excluded from
state criminal statutes, it is an
illegal drug under federal law.
“Therefore, no employer
could be forced to accommo-
date the use of an illegal sub-
stance because state disability
discrimination law specifi-
cally says that illegal drug
users are not protected by the
statute,” AOI said.
In light of the ruling,
AOI said that “employers
should feel free to consis-
tently apply zero-tolerance
policies, consistently disci-
plining those who violate the
policy and refusing to hire
those applicants who fail drug
screens.”
AOI recommends that
such policies be issued in
writing to applicants and em-
ployees.
J.L. Wilson, AOI’s vice
president, said that the organi-
zation has tried to address the
issue of what he characterizes
as “forced accommodation”
to the state’s lawmakers on
multiple occasions.
“We’ve made that exact
argument in front of the Leg-
islature for three consecutive
sessions, and they absolutely
botched it,” Wilson said. “It
took the Supreme Court to
finally inject common sense
into this.”
The Oregon Court of
Appeals also ruled last week
to uphold the conviction of a
California man who argued
that his physician from that
state had authorized his use of
medical marijuana. The pa-
tient, stopped for speeding
near Portland in November
2006 while taking a friend
from California to Washing-
ton, was arrested for having
more than 2 pounds of mari-
juana in his car.
However, legal battles
regarding medical marijuana
are far from over. Efforts are
under way to put a measure
on the November ballot to
further expand access to the
medical marijuana program.