Inside:
How’s the battery in your smoke alarm?
911 meeting
Phone service
goals in the Valley
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By KEVAN MOORE
IVN Staff Writer
Illinois Valley Fire Dis-
trict firefighters responded
to a house fire in Selma this
past Friday.
A pair of trailers were
both declared a total loss
following the blaze which
was first reported at about
8:20 a.m. on Friday, Oct.
15, at 935 Lakeshore Drive.
“I’ve done a prelimi-
nary investigation and found
what I believe to be the
source of the fire, which
Manure money
Grants for JoCo
dairy farmers
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Cougars 3-4
IVHS football takes
win at Chiloquin
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Page B-1
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(Photo by IVFD Media Dept.)
Early morning flames on Friday, Oct. 15 destroyed the mobile home located at
935 Lakeshore Dr. in Selma. Illinois Valley Fire District crews spent several
hours working overhaul, then had to return to the scene later that day due to a
rekindle which threatened to ignite nearby brush.
O’Brien resident gets 17-years
An O'Brien man was
sentenced to 17-years in
prison for dealing metham-
phetamine and using a gun
during a drug-trafficking
crime.
U.S. District Judge
Owen M. Panner sentenced
Gerald Bart Batty, 41, to 17
years in prison and five
years of parole last Tuesday,
the U.S. Attorney for Ore-
gon's office said in a news
release.
was a short in electrical wir-
ing on the backside of the
trailer,” said Fire Marshal
Jerry Schaeffer. “The fire
appears to have then broken
through the wall of the
trailer into a closet in the
bedroom. Once it got into
the bedroom closet, it rap-
idly grew in size.”
Schaeffer said that a
woman living at the trailers,
with four children and an-
other relative, called 911
and reported seeing flames
(Continued on Page A-3)
Man arrested for
shooting brother
Real grass infield
IVHS ball field
gets facelift
Weekend review
Nutty event and
quilt winners
No one hurt in
Selma blaze
Batty, who was arrested
at his O'Brien home in Janu-
ary 2009, plead guilty in
August to using a firearm
during a drug-trafficking
crime and to possessing
methamphetamine with in-
tent to distribute it.
In January 2009, Rogue
Area Drug Enforcement
(RADE) officers and the
Oregon State Police SWAT
team went to Batty's trailer
home with a search warrant
and warrants for his arrest.
According to OSP Lieu-
tenant Darin Lux, on Janu-
ary 16, 2009 at approxi-
mately 5:00 a.m., the OSP
SWAT team assisted RADE
and the Josephine County
Sheriff's Office K-9 team
with execution of an arrest
and search warrant at 1800
Lone Mountain Road in the
O’Brien area.
When officers identified
themselves, two women and
a young child came out of a
trailer, but Batty refused to
come out, officials said.
After a short standoff,
Oregon State Police SWAT
team members fired a tear
gas canister into the trailer.
Batty shot two rounds
through the wall of the
trailer from a semi-
automatic rifle he had in-
side, officials said. None of
(Continued on Page A-3)
Police say that an
O’Brien man showed up at
the Three Rivers Commu-
nity Hospital five days after
being shot by his brother.
The victim’s brother was
arrested later that day under
investigation of first-degree
assault.
Deputies from the Jose-
phine County Sheriff’s Of-
fice responded to a distur-
bance call in the 35600
block of Redwood Hwy. at
about 11 p.m. on Tuesday,
Oct. 12. The caller reported
that shots were being fired.
Once there, deputies
contacted Donald Wytcher-
ley who denied being in-
volved in any sort of shoot-
ing. Deputies then searched
the immediate area and
found no indications of a
shooting.
This Sunday, though,
Wytcherley’s brother,
James, showed up at the
Three Rivers Community
Hospital emergency room.
Hospital staff contacted the
sheriff’s office at about
12:30 a.m. on Sunday, Oct.
17, and reported that James
Wytcherley was in the ER
with gunshot wounds. De-
tectives were assigned the
case and arrested Donald
Wytcherley under investiga-
tion of first-degree assault at
the Redwood Hwy. address
at about 5:30 p.m. that after-
noon and he was subse-
quently booked in the Jose-
phine County Jail.
In the course of their
investigation, detectives
determined that the brothers
got into an argument Oct. 12
that culminated in Donald
Wytcherley arming himself
with a .22 caliber rifle. In-
vestigators believe that
Donald shot James, who
was unarmed. James told
investigators that after he
was shot, he was cared for
at a residence near the
O’Brien Country Store. He
told police that his wounds
became infected, so he and
his caregivers sought medi-
cal treatment at Three Riv-
ers Community Hospital.
Another man, Bradley
Daniel Harkless, was ar-
rested on a pair of warrants
at the O’Brien home on Oct.
12 while deputies were in-
vestigating the reported
shooting.
Detectives are continu-
ing their investigation and
are asking anyone with in-
formation about the incident
to contact the sheriff’s Ma-
jor Crimes Unit at 541-474-
5153 or the confidential tip
line at 541-474-5160.
Advocates weigh in on Illinois Valley Airport fence project
The controversial airport fence
project appears to be headed to-
wards resolution following a brief-
ing given to the Josephine County
commissioners on Friday, Oct. 15,
by David Atkin, an attorney and
former smokejumper who grew up
in Illinois Valley.
The controversy is centered on
concerns about the original fence
plan and how it would adversely
impact the economic opportunities
offered by the historic Siskiyou
Smokejumper Base. The historic
base is the oldest intact aerial fire-
fighter base in the United States
with its original buildings in their
original location. Advocates for pre-
serving the base believe this repre-
sents an important opportunity for
establishing a national smoke jump-
ing museum capable of increasing
tourist spending in Josephine
County.
Gary Buck, President of the
Siskiyou Smokejumper Base Mu-
seum, accompanied Atkin during
his meetings with the commission-
ers on Friday.
“It is important that we take a
little extra time to get this fence pro-
ject done right to avoid mistakes
that will have a long term negative
impact on the economy,” said Buck.
“We don’t want to lose the full
benefits that the smokejumper base
can offer to the community.”
residents to work cooperatively with historic base a powerful tourist at-
Buck and others who are advo- state, and federal agencies to im- traction to bring travel dollars to the
cates of the base want to assure the prove the plan,” Atkin said.
community.
fence project does not make this
Atkin said he believes the out-
“By involving greater coopera-
unique tourism attraction unattrac- come of these efforts will help to tion, we can make minor changes to
tive or uninviting to the traveling retain the economic value of the the location of the fence that will
public.
historic base while increasing the retain the historic integrity of the
“We think the fence plan can be value of the airport.
base as well as retain the benefits
easily improved to retain
that a fence can bring to
this attractiveness and
the air operation areas of
marketability while at the
the airfield,” Atkin said.
same time accomplishing “It is important that we take a little extra Atkin also pointed out
the objectives required by
time to get this fence project done right that hundreds of volun-
the Federal Aviation Ad-
hours and thousands
to avoid mistakes that will have a long teer
ministration,” said Buck.
of dollars in donations
term negative impact on the economy.” have already been in-
There are nine im-
provements to the fence
vested by the nonprofit
Gary Buck, President, Siskiyou Smokejumper Base Museum
project requested by the
Siskiyou Smokejumper
Smokejumper Museum,
Base Museum to restore
which were submitted by
the historic buildings of
Atkin who has been in contact with
“The original fence plan would the base.
the Federal Aviation Administration have been devastating to the historic
“There is great interest in this
(FAA) and the State Historic Preser- integrity and authenticity of the his- group to restore the entire base in-
vation Office (SHPO).
toric base,” Atkin said. He also cluding the historic supervisor resi-
“Both the FAA and SHPO have noted that this raised concerns that dences near the entrance to Smoke-
expressed no apparent objections to the fence would inadvertently inflict jumper Way,” Atkin said.
the proposed changes,” Atkin told damage to local economic develop-
The group’s plans include re-
the commissioners.
ment efforts because the full value storing the training equipment and
After the public meeting, Atkin of the smokejumper base as a na- jump tower and the eventual display
met with each commissioner indi- tionally significant tourist attraction of a historic smokejumper plane on
vidually to answer questions and was poised to suffer substantial de- a raised pedestal near the entrance
clarify objectives.
terioration.
to the base.
“I think the support of the com-
Advocates of the historic base
“These efforts are going to put
missioners will put us on track for a think it will not be difficult to im- the base on the map but none of this
collaborative effort that enables Jo- prove the fence plan to prevent was considered when the original
sephine County administration and damaging the values that make the fence plan was drafted,” Atkin said.
Atkin feels the proposed im-
provements suggested in the docu-
ment submitted to the FAA will
mitigate this and many other ad-
verse impacts to the historic site.
The creation of a museum in the
historic parachute loft will move
closer to reality this winter when the
Forest Service will give their airport
warehouse to the county.
“The current tenant in the para-
chute loft has expressed support for
the development of the museum by
offering to move out of the loft and
into the warehouse as soon as it be-
comes available,” said Atkin who
added that his discussions with the
commissioners on Friday signaled
full support for the warehouse to be
leased to the tenant.
The commissioners are plan-
ning to hold a community meeting
at the Illinois Valley Airport on the
first of November to obtain public
input about the fence project and
ideas of how to adjust the fence to
retain the value of the smokejumper
base as a tourism attraction. All
residents are encouraged to attend.
Copies of Aitkin’s twenty-five
page document outlining the ad-
verse impacts to the historic site and
suggested solutions to mitigate these
problems can be downloaded from a
link on Highway199.org.