Established 1937
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illinois-valley-news.com
Wednesday, Apr. 13, 2011, 2 Sections, 12 Pages, Volume 74 No. 05 Published Weekly Cave Junction, Oregon 97523
Awards for IV Fire 2010 team
Inside :
By Darcy Wallace
IVN Staff Writer
IVHS Softball
Page A-6
Bird Watching
with Harry
Page A-7
IVHS Track
Page B-1
IVHS Baseball
Page B-1
The Illinois Valley Fire District
(IVFD) held its annual recognition
ceremony for members and volunteers
Saturday, April 9, in the Lorna Byrne
Middle School cafeteria.
IVFD members received recogni-
tion in various categories such as Rook-
ie, Support Member and Firefighter of
the Year. Staff also won credit for the
time they had served, from first-year
participants to 20-years-plus veterans.
Many of those in the IVFD are
volunteers, mostly unpaid in their work
at the office, assisting in fighting fires,
responding to other emergencies or
maintaining fire stations and more.
“These volunteers are paid noth-
ing to put their lives on the line,” said
IV Fire Chief Harry Rich.
Many new employees joined the
IV Fire District and received first-year
awards, some of whom include Alison
Arnold as administrative assistant, Jon
Vellinga and Justin Lewis.
Vellinga also won the Rookie of
the Year Award in what Rich said was
a tight race between two high-perform-
ing new members.
Gerry Bjornstad won Officer of
the Year as Captain at Station 1 in Cave
Junction. Bjornstad works alongside
Division 1 Captain Wayland Sher-
man and Station 1 Lieutenant Kathy
Koontz.
First-year member Andrea Steel-
man won the Support Staff of the Year
award and was recognized for her en-
thusiasm and energy as a new face on
the IVFD volunteer roster.
“[Steelman] has come quite a
long way,” Rich said. “[She’s] always
willing to dive into whatever seems to
come up.”
Volunteer firefighter Tony Paulson
won the Firefighter of the Year award
in his second year with the IVFD.
Just a handful of other awards in
Saturday’s ceremony included recog-
nition of Fire Station 2 in the Mainte-
nance Award category and the numer-
ous others who have served anywhere
from one year to the 29 years of Tom
Zullinger.
Rich recognized 88-year-old
Ralph Howell, who has served for 28
years with IV Fire. Rich said Howell
is a great mentor who made a promise
to stay on while Rich was still with the
department.
“I said, you don’t have permission
to retire until I leave,” Rich said.
Rich and Deputy Fire Chief Jeff
Gavlik also acknowledged family
members for their constant support of
employees and volunteers, and for
dealing with the times IVFD members
sometimes have to leave unannounced
for an emergency.
The awards ceremony also hon-
ored the dispatchers for their hard work
at all hours taking emergency calls, es-
pecially the times when 911 services
halted during power outages.
To close out the event, guests ate
dessert and watched a video slide show
by photographer Dale Sandberg, show-
ing major events where IV Fire District
personnel responded.
One extra flower bouquet went to
Chief Rich’s wife, Rainie, for her sup-
port.
“She is my true boss,” Rich said.
SPECIAL Easter
Pages
Page A-6
Water Quality
Discussion
Page A-1
City Recognizes
Public Safety
Page A-3
Obituaries
Sudoku
Crossword
Classified
Blotter
A-6
A-7
A-7
B-2
A-5
(Photo by Dale Sandberg, IVFD Media Dept)
Illinois Valley Fire District officials (from left) Kamron Ismaili, Jeff Gavlik, Harry Rich, Kris Sherman and Ken Gavlik.
Fund-raisers
help Safe
House Alliance
By Darcy Wallace
IVN Staff Writer
In a busy weekend for the Illinois Valley
Safe House Alliance (IVSHA), the nonprofit
held a community garden work party followed
by its annual Soup for the Souls fund-raiser
dinner Saturday, April 9.
Soups made by residents and local
businesses, an auction, a raffle and a cakewalk
entertained guests, who also had the option to
take home the handmade ceramic bowls used to
serve the soups.
According to IVSHA Executive Director
Christine Mallette, the dinner raised about
$8,000, which is comparable to last year despite
ongoing economic troubles.
“There were a few new faces, but many
were people who have been [to the fund-raiser]
every year the last five years,” Mallette said.
“It’s always fun to see them coming back.”
Proceeds from the fund-raiser will go
towards IVSHA general operating costs and
providing services and support for abuse
survivors.
“It goes towards keeping the doors open
and lights on, emergency motels, gas out of
town, whatever it takes [to help],” Mallette
said.
Mallette was impressed with the hard
work of volunteers who helped run Soup for the
Souls, also crediting new volunteer coordinator
Marcy Sowa for her ambitious goals.
“It’s slow growth here in the Valley and
you don’t always take leaps and bounds,”
Mallette said. “I was very impressed with the
turnout and the volunteers were amazing.
It was a huge success.”
Earlier that day, several community
members worked on the developing
community garden behind the IVSHA
building in Cave Junction next to the
DMV.
Ann and Ron Padgett, owners of
Harmony Gardens Landscape and Design,
used their experience to help organize the
community garden work party the morning
of April 9. The volunteers leveled out the
grounds, took out rocks and spread mulch
to help get it ready for home gardeners to
take out plots of their own.
According to Ron Padgett, current
plans set aside 25 plots of about 120-150
square feet each. Volunteers also put up
birdhouses and hope to include a beehive
for pollination.
“I’m really excited something like this
is happening in Cave Junction,” Padgett
said. “There’s something about gardening
together, growing food and sharing skills
and ideas; it’s great for people who maybe
wouldn’t have come into contact any other
way, but what they have in common is
gardening.”
Padgett said future projects for the
community garden include installing the
watering system and bringing in compost,
something that could be done as early as
mid-May.
“I think community gardens are great
and I’ve been involved in a few throughout
my life,” Padgett said. “I like being able to
help get [the garden] going so other people
can experience that too.”
Groups discuss
water quality
By Darcy Wallace
IVN Staff Writer
The Illinois Valley
Watershed Council (IVWC)
and the Soil and Water
Conservation District want
to reach out to the public
about their current and fu-
ture projects and hear more
community input.
On Tuesday, April 5,
that outreach began with a
presentation on the Salmon
and Trout Enhancement Pro-
gram (STEP) from Chuck
Fustish of the Dept. of Fish
and Wildlife, and a stream
table demonstration from
Mike Bowman at the Cave
Junction County Building.
IVWC member Emily
Ring said for a first attempt
at public outreach, the event
was fun and engaging for
those who attended. Many
were “familiar faces” of
those already interested or
involved in water conser-
vation projects, but Ring
hopes to include others in
the Illinois Valley.
“We really want to
see new faces,” Ring said.
“We’re looking for ways
to draw in new community
members. It was a way to
get people exposed; but I
think everybody who was
there had a good time.”
At the county build-
ing, Fustish explained how
the STEP program conducts
research on fish migration pat-
terns, periodically checking
hoop fish traps for the num-
bers and types of fish who are
hatching in local rivers. Mem-
bers of IVWC and City of
Cave Junction employees help
out with the project.
According to Fustish,
the Illinois River Basin has
important spawning and rear-
ing areas for Coho salmon.
Last year’s project sampled
Brooks Creek and is monitor-
ing Tributary A this year. Both
watersheds are in Cave Junc-
tion near the Illinois Valley
Golf Course.
Volunteers found 48
young Coho salmon, five
steelhead and two sculpin in
the Brooks Creek trap from the
end of January to early April
2010. As of April 3, 2011, a
spreadsheet showed 38 Coho
and 19 steelhead in Tributary
A.
“These are living streams
that support fish populations,”
Fustish said. “We hope to in-
crease people’s appreciation
for the land they live on.”
Bowman,
education
manager for the Clean Forests
Project, used the stream table
April 5 to simulate a local wa-
terway running through a resi-
dential area and how it might
be affected by weather chang-
es, clearing the stream bank or
pollution.
Bowman turned a spigot
adjusting water flow to simu-
late lower water flow in sum-
mer and higher flow in winter.
With a drop of red dye, Bow-
man also demonstrated how
runoff could still end up in wa-
ter tables underneath houses,
leak into well water or make it
to the stream itself.
“Pollution on land, even
far away [from streams] can
get to water tables and into
people’s water,” Bowman said.
“Water is very hard to stop; it
has a way of getting where it
wants to go.”
Continued on A-7
A Coho salmon caught in Brooks Creek this past month.