Illinois Valley News, Cave Junction, Ore. Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Page 10
Limited to stock on hand.
Learning Through Art volunteers staged a reading of the Gettysburg Address on Thursday,
May 27 as part of a study on the American Civil War. Ross Welcome (above, center) portrayed
President Abraham Lincoln, and answered questions. (Photo by Michelle Binker, I.V. News )
Community shows support for
Coultas’ morale-boosting garden
By SCOTT JORGENSEN
IVN Staff Writer
It’s been nearly two
years since a helicopter crash
near Weaverville, Calif. re-
sulted in the death of nine
people and left co-pilot and
Cave Junction resident Wil-
liam Coultas seriously in-
jured.
But Illinois Valley resi-
dent Greg Anderson is deter-
mined to show Coultas that
the community has not for-
gotten his sacrifice and subse-
quent struggle.
On Aug. 5, 2008, Coultas
was among 13 people aboard
a Sikorsky S-61 helicopter,
owned by Carson Helicopter
of Grants Pass, used to battle
a wildfire at the Iron 44 Com-
plex. The copter crashed near
the Shasta-Trinity National
Forest, causing the death of
seven firefighters, a pilot and
a U.S. Forest Service em-
ployee.
The tragedy was felt
throughout S.W. Oregon, as
the victims were from many
communities throughout the
region. They were:
Medford resident Shawn
Blazer, 30; Phoenix resident
Scott Charlson, 25; Grants
Pass resident Matthew Ham-
mer, 23; Ashland’s Edrik
Gomez, 19; Bryan Rich, 29,
from Medford; 19-year-old
Ashland resident David
Steele; Steven Renno, 21; Jim
Ramage, 61; and 54-year-old
Roark Schwanenberg.
Since then, Coultas has
endured many surgeries,
treatments and therapies for
the injuries he suffered, in-
cluding burns.
Anderson said that he has
gotten to know the Coultas
Family in the 10 years he’s
lived in the valley. He heard
that Coultas was interested in
planting a garden, and began
asking people around town to
contribute to a public show-
ing of support.
“We wanted to let him
know that we haven’t forgot-
ten him,” Anderson said. “The
pain and suffering he’s been
through for the past couple of
years are not unnoticed by
members of the community.”
Prior to settling down in
Illinois Valley, Anderson
worked as a nurse. He said
that experience familiarized
him with the trauma that peo-
ple go through when recuper-
ating from serious injuries.
“I know how difficult it
is to keep a patient’s morale
up over a prolonged recovery
period,” Anderson said.
Anderson sought $5 do-
nations to help fund Coultas’
garden project. Many people
offered more, but Anderson
said that it was not a fund-
raiser, so much as it was a
“morale raiser.”
“It didn’t matter where I
went, everybody wanted to
give five bucks or more,”
Anderson said. “It’s gratify-
ing to know that everybody
felt the same way I did.”
All the money that was
raised was put toward a Shop
Smart Food Warehouse gift
card to pay for tomato plants.
The card was given to Bill’s
wife, Chris, who said that she
is grateful for the support.
Contributors included
many businesses including
TC Computers, You Dirty
Dog, Dr. Joe’s Pet Hospital,
Dave’s Outdoor Power
Equipment, the Hair, Face
&Nail Place, Special Produc-
tions, Treehouse Florist &
Gifts, Home Valley Bank and
Oregon Caves Chevron.
Individual contributors
included Charlie Valdez, Mi-
chael Owens, Lidia Morgan,
Mike & Linda Hughes, Dave
& Deb Bienenfold, Dale &
Patti Brain and John & Laura
Nolan.
Chris Coultas could not
comment for this story, as the
family is in litigation in con-
nection with the crash.
Canceled Cave Junction contract
causes contractor consternation
By SCOTT JORGENSEN
IVN Staff Writer
Earlier this year, the city
of Cave Junction decided to
cancel its contract with
Grants Pass Water Labora-
tory for water backflow pre-
vention assembly inspections.
But that firm’s technical
director, Eric Schaafsma, is
crying foul and claiming that
the move ultimately will cost
city residents more money.
Cave Junction’s back-
flow program had been under
contract with a different water
company, but was put out to
bid in 2005. Schaafsma’s firm
won the contract and assumed
responsibility for testing, bill-
ing and submitting reports.
The city retained responsibil-
ity for notification and in-
spections.
“The city wrote it as an
open-ended contract,”
Schaafsma said.
He said that in April, he
sent test notifications to Cave
Junction residents, but later
found out that the city had pre
-empted him by mailing its
own notices. Clients had
called and told Schaafsma
about what happened, he said.
The policy shift had been
discussed with him on a pre-
liminary basis, Schaafsma
said, but he wasn’t expecting
the city to act so quickly.
“It was never presented
to me that it changed from a
thought process to an action
plan,” he said. “I had no idea.
They never communicated
with me.”
Mayor Don Moore said
that outsourcing the program
for the more than 300 back-
flow devices in the city used
to be cheaper than handling it
in-house. He said that soft-
ware was “prohibitively ex-
pensive,” along with parts for
repairs and test equipment.
“Before you knew it, it
was $10,000, almost,” Moore
said. “It was a lot of money
upfront.”
But the cost for all those
items fell, Moore said, mak-
ing it more feasible for the
city to provide the service.
He added that the state is
requiring all backflow de-
vices in the city to be tested
before June 1, the start of the
irrigation season. By handling
the testing in-house, Moore
said, the city can ensure that it
meets that mandate.
“If we send it out to
somebody else, they do it on
their terms, not our terms,”
Moore said.
City Attorney Patrick
Kelly said that the city termi-
nated its contract with
Schaafsma’s company on a
“reasonable basis,” and that it
had every right to do so.
“There is no such thing
as an open-ended contract,”
Kelly said. “He is not the
city’s water guy for life.”
Kelly said that if Schaaf-
sma were to go out of busi-
ness, he would be unable to
hold up his end of the con-
tract, but the city would not
sue him for the breach.
“Any party can terminate
the contract,” Kelly said. “I
couldn’t sue him if he quit. It
works both ways.”
Schaafsma maintains that
the cost for the city to assume
control of the backflow pro-
gram will be at least “six fig-
ures.”
“The cost to the city to
do this is very high,” he said.
“Where is the savings? There
is no savings.”
Moore said that the city
can better ensure the pro-
gram’s quality by providing
the backflow services.
“We have to guarantee
that what our people do is
correct, and we have that re-
sponsibility for the integrity
of our water system,” he said.
“We wanted to bring that
under the umbrella of the city
again so we could control the
quality.”
Schaafsma said that the
issue is another instance of
government squeezing small
business out of the picture. If
that keeps happening, Schaaf-
sma said, there will be
“nothing to build on.”
Kelly stated that he has
had a contract with the city to
be its attorney since 1982.
“I can be disposed of
tomorrow,” Kelly explained.
“I don’t see how this would
be any different than it is for
me.”
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Thursday & Friday 9 am - 6 pm, Saturday 9 am - 5 pm
Shop Smart Food Warehouse parking lot
205 Watkins St., Cave Junction
541-592-3333