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Illinois Valley News, Cave Junction, Ore. Wednesday, July 10, 2013
tographer by the name of Debra
Thornton. Pretty impressive work,
I must say. There are many kids
who enjoyed growing up here in
the Valley and seemed pretty ex-
cited to be back, even if only for
the weekend. Many others have
stayed and left their mark on the
Valley.
By DAN MANCUSO,
Leaving marks on the Val-
Publisher
ley brings another topic to mind.
On Monday, the State Legislature
passed HB 3453 which allows the
governor to help cash strapped
I had the opportunity to go to the par-
counties like Josephine. This is a bad bill in my
ties and take the class photographs at the an-
opinion, but it will become law when the gov-
nual alumni weekend which you will see in this
ernor signs it.
week’s edition. It was nice for me to put faces
The good news is that our county com-
to the names of many of our subscribers. Hav-
missioners have to ask for it to be put in play.
ing not grown up here, it was a chance to see the
Some people call this bill the “recall bill.” The
people who helped make this community what
reason is that if our county commissioners ask
it is, I liked that.
the governor to put it in place, they along with
I met Orville Camp, a 1953 grad, whose
any other elected official will be recalled. In
family homesteaded here in 1818. I also discov-
Curry County, the people are already initiating
ered that the class of 1983 has a fantastic pho-
Life in the
Valley
of Riches
that process.
The people of Josephine County are not in
a public safety crisis. The City of Grants Pass,
is though. Currently, the 50 patrol officers of
the Grants Pass Public Safety Department have
no room at the county inn to place the trouble-
makers that are plaguing the city. In the county
for the past year, meanwhile, we have had, I
think, only three deputies assigned for rural pa-
trol. That means the city has over 16 officers
for every deputy the county has. Now, with
the City of Grants Pass having 70 percent of
the county’s crime with only 50 percent of the
population and 16 times more law enforcement,
it seem rather obvious that Grants Pass has the
problem, not our beloved Valley.
A few weeks back, Grants Pass City
Councilmember Lilly Morgan purposed that the
city of Grants Pass spend $1 million to rent 26
jail beds from the county. What an obvious and
apparently bold move on her part. But, what did
the folks in Grants Pass have to say about her
leadership? No, they said, if we fix the prob-
lem, we will never get a levy passed. The pow-
ers that be want you to be afraid so you will pay
more in taxes while county residents will not
get any more service than we get today. Some
70 percent of the jail population is arrested by
the city. And they want YOU to pay for it. Sure,
city residents pay the same 58 cents per $1,000
of assessed valuation as we do for county ser-
vices. But, they detain 2.5 times more people
than our sheriffs office does.
Now, let’s think back to 2010. How many
of you were burglarized? How many of those
burglaries were solved? Due to the budget
cuts at the county, I have had difficulty getting
that number. Using the crime rate index from
CLRSearch.com, Cave Junction had in 2010
a burglary risk of 84, Grants Pass had a rating
during the same period of 178 while the nation-
al average was 100. Seems like Grants Pass has
always been in a state of public safety crisis.
If our elected officials try to enact this 18-
month stop gap measure, you can count on re-
call forms being passed around.
Thank you for picking up this week’s pa-
per ~ djm
A moment with Mary: By Mary Halvorsen
I went up to the Oregon Caves
National Monument over the week-
end. It was the 21st of June, the Sol-
stice, the day the summer employees
used to threw their first party. We
would hike through the woods to a
clearing, one by one, or in groups of
2, 3, or 4, in whatever costumes we
could drum up: biker chic, superman,
or a cedar tree, branches attached to
arms and legs. One guy found a yel-
low, diamond shaped road sign and
tied it around his neck. We would
laugh, drink, and ultimately howl at
the moon, but mostly we bonded.
Some of the most enduring friend-
ships of my life began while scrub-
bing bathroom floors, flipping eggs
on a hot grill, and gearing up to howl,
those summers of my late teens and
twenties.
All these years later it was
about deciding which trail to walk.
We chose the Cliff Nature, a one mile
trek with an elevation gain of 300
feet that started out steep. Winding
through old growth, the path leveled
out and the breath-catching pauses
lessened. We came to a rocky out-
crop with a display that identified
Grayback, Little Grayback, and the
rounded cone of Eight Dollar Moun-
tain in the distance. I remembered
being on that trail for the first time,
long hair swinging loose, with Nan
from California, Matt from Ohio,
Deb from Kansas, each of us finding
a spot on the rock ledge, and looking
out over the Valley for the first time.
It was called Sunset Point,
and the girl I was then, in Osh Kosh
overalls, who never had to stop for a
breath, was present this day, thirty-
seven years later, the Valley seen
through the same eyes, with the same
wonder.
“There’s the water tank!” I
exclaimed, more excited than the
stained wall of concrete through the
brush seemed to warrant. “I had to-
tally forgotten about it. We used to
go up there and lay out.” My son’s
girlfriend asked, “How did you get on
it?” and I wanted to say, “I was 19,
there wasn’t anything I couldn’t do,”
but remembered only “It was easy.”
Seeing that water tank was
like seeing an old friend, and the faces
of those I hadn’t thought of in years,
swam before me. We walked up and
up. I sweated, breathed hard, and
stopped to rest many times, eventu-
ally above a stretch of green, slanting,
meadow, which like so much from
1976, I hadn’t thought of in decades.
The estimate for the Big Tree
Loop Trail was 2-3 hours and we
completed it in 2:15. Upon discover-
ing we had walked it within the al-
There are certain spots in life
that afford us to walk side by side
with our nineteen year old selves,
to see the world with that young vi-
sion again. These are the places that
should be returned to as often as pos-
sible. The young men and women we
once were seem to lie patiently in our
souls, waiting for a little adventure.
While I no longer want to free-fall
from an airplane or run off a cliff en-
cased by a hang glider, it’s good to
know I can start an ascent, and make
it down the other side.
One week after the Cliff Nature
Trail, I was back at the Oregon Caves
with my son and his girlfriend to at-
tempt a longer hike. As we trekked
behind what used to be the girls dorm
and farther up the trail, the old Guide
Shack, I didn’t fear the 3.5 mile loop,
but the 1,125 ft. elevation gain that
came with it.
lotted time, twenty years seemed to
slide away, as we headed down to the
lodge. I don’t know if it was the clear
air, or the elevation, or the fact that I
sat on a smooth expanse of yellow-
grained wood, a section of the four-
story staircase that swept from the
second floor of guest rooms into the
dining area. Through a huge window
on the landing, my eyes rose over the
fish pond and waterfall, to the narrow
drive I once walked each morning,
and the memories of a lifetime began
to play.
As I sat there I got it. I am dug in,
this is my place. It reaches from the
Chateau at 4,000 feet to the beaches
along the Illinois River. From age 19
to today, the hills and valleys of a life
have lead here, the climb slow and
steady, the vistas worth every step.
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Obituaries
Adelena
R. Strayer Passes Away
Ken Phillips, Derek Honnoger, Carol Billing, Ruth
Rubeit, Ted Doney, Jim Schultz, Doug Yarbrough,
Robert Mayfield, Don Thomas, Joe Jackson, Robin
Jackson, Richard Sowell, Janie Pope, Roger Ham-
ilton, Ron Versteeg, Marvin Core, Jim Pope, Larry
Bertram, Randi Gutierrez, Debra Larsen
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Beloved Mother and
Grandmother Adelena R.
(Minke) Strayer passed away
on Sunday July 7, 2013 in a
Portland Nursing Home. She
was 98 years old.
She was born in Decem-
ber 1915 to Harry and Eliza-
beth (Schilling) Minke in Dav-
enport, Iowa. She was the first
of three daughters.
She graduated from Dav-
enport, Iowa High School in
1935 and completed Business
Courses and worked in a law
office in Davenport for several
years.
In 1940 she met Henry
Strayer of nearby Rock Island,
Illinois and they were married
on Nov. 29, 1941 just 10 days
before the Japanese Attack on
Pearl Harbor, Hawaii that pro-
pelled the United States into
World War Two.
They had four children:
David born in 1943, Dennis
born in 1946, Mary born in
1947 and Christine born in
541-592-4110
1952.
The family moved to
Oregon City, Oregon in 1955
where the children attended
St. John The Apostle Catho-
lic Grade School. In 1963, the
family moved to a home in
S.E. Portland where Dennis
and Mary graduated from Gro-
ver Cleveland High School in
June 1965.
Mrs. Strayer enjoyed mu-
sic, working in the community
and was an active member of
the Catholic Relief Society. in
the 1960’s, she and her family
helped many Cubans who fled
Castro’s Communist Cuba re-
locate to Portland. As a result
of their work, both Mr. and
Mrs. Strayer were made hon-
orary Life Members of the
Portland Cuban Club.
Mrs. Strayer also enjoyed
gardening and always took
fresh grown flowers and roses
from her garden to neighbors
and to her Chiropractor, Dr.
Emery L. Wayman.
She was preceded in
death by her late husband
Henry who died in 1975 and
her two sisters Irene who died
in 1988 and Ruth in 2008.
She is survived by sons
David of Portland and Den-
nis of Cave Junction, Oregon,
daughters Mary of Portland
and Christine of Salem. In ad-
dition to her children, she is
survived by three Grandsons,
Shane Sipe of Portland, Jus-
tin Baker of Illinois and Adam
Baker of Oregon. A private
family memorial service will
be held later this year.
In lieu of flowers, the
family requests that donations
be made to either the Illinois
Valley Chamber of Com-
merce’s Bluegrass Festival (on
July 27, 2013 at Lake Selmac)
at P. O. Box 312, Cave Junc-
tion, OR 97523 or to the Ker-
byville Museum and History
Center, P. O. Box 3003, Kerby,
OR 97531-3003.
Helen E. Versteeg,
age 94, of Cave Junction,
died Monday, June 24, 2013 at
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Illinois
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Ay
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her home.
A funeral service will be
at 1:00 p.m., Saturday, July 13,
2013 at Illinois Valley Funeral
Directors (chapel) with Walt
Freeman conducting. Private
interment will be at Laurel
Cemetery. Hull & Hull Fu-
neral Directors are in charge of
arrangements.
Remembrances may be
made to Illinois Valley High
School Scholarship Fund, PO
Box 2086, Cave Junction, Or-
egon 97523 or the American
Red Cross, Southern Oregon
Chapter, 60 Hawthorne Street,
Medford, Oregon 97504.
Helen was a member of
Eastern Star; Illinois Valley
Garden Club; and served on
the Josephine County School
Board (now Three Rivers).
She especially loved to
play bridge.
Survivors include five
children; nine grandchildren;
and two great-grandchildren.
She was preceded in
death by her husband, Dr.
Charles Versteeg Sr. in 2002.
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