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About Illinois Valley news. (Cave City, Oregon) 1937-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 22, 2014)
The Valley’s #1 News Source Since 1937 This edition is for Bob Rodriguez 75c illinois-valley-news.com Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2014, 1 Section, 10 Pages, Volume 76 No. 46 Published Weekly Cave Junction, Oregon 97523 C & K CEO resigns By Tammy Asnicar Rogue River Press A spokesman for C&K Market Inc. said “At this time there is no known ripple ef- fect,” after another tidal wave washed over the parent compa- ny of Ray’s Food Place stores in Rogue River, Gold Hill and Central Point. Greg Sandeno, president and CEO of C&K Market Inc., announced his resignation on Jan. 10. Sandeno is the latest ca- sualty as the Brookings-based grocery enterprise navigates its way through Chapter 11 bankruptcy. His announce- ment came just two days after the company, which operates 45 stores in Oregon and Cali- fornia, said it would lay off 45 members of its corporate staff. The recent news puts half of the employees at its head office in Brookings and a year- old employee training center in Medford out of work, and that is in addition to the layoffs announced in November after C&K Inc. made headlines with the news that it would close 16 of its stores, including three in the Grants Pass area. The company filed for Chapter 11 in the U.S. Bank- ruptcy Court in Eugene last fall and was forced to sell or close under-performing stores to resolve more than $100 mil- lion in debt. According to a press release, the corporate shake- up was the “next step” in the company’s re-organization process. See C & K on A-8 Greg Sandeno (Photo by Dan Mancuso, Illinois Valley News) Daniel Houston (right) along with his sister Sarah Houston during a march for justice Saturday, Jan. 18, up Redwood Hwy. Organizers esti- mated that almost 200 people showed up to support the Calvin and Houston families. Bridgeview uses award to help fairgrounds By Annette McGee Rasch IVN Contributing Writer While fairground managers are focused on up- grading the aging facilities and booking more events to increase profits, various grassroots fund-raising efforts are also supporting the cause. Bridgeview Vineyard & Winery scored a dou- ble-gold win for its 2011 Blue Moon Sweet Riesling from the prestigious San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition in early January and vineyard owner Bob Kerivan is parlaying the attention into a fund- raising effort to benefit the cash-strapped Josephine County Fairgrounds. For the next six months, Kerivan is donating 25 cents from every bottle of Bridgeview wine sold in Josephine and Jackson counties to the 100-year-old fairgrounds; which must raise $200,000 before July 1 to keep its doors open. “I thought they needed some help,” Kerivan said. “You don’t get $200,000 from just talking, you have to act. The county commissioners gave the fair- grounds six more months of life and we just can’t let that facility shut down, that would be a disgrace for our county. The fairgrounds are a necessity for our community.” “If more businesses donate a small percent- age of their sales, we could make a real differ- ence. It all adds up. Businesses can afford to help out more than the average resident in the area, and those who participate can advertise on this and generate more sales. It’s a win-win.” Bob Kerivan Bridgeview Vinyard and Winery “I really hope this catches on,” Kerivan added. “If more businesses donate a small percentage of their sales, we could make a real difference. It all adds up. Businesses can afford to help out more than the av- erage resident in the area, and those who participate can advertise on this and generate more sales. It’s a Walker steps in to chair county By Annette McGee Rasch IVN Contributing Writer Josephine County Commissioner Cherryl Walker took over as chairperson of the three- member board in early January, replacing out- going Commissioner Simon Hare. The position rotates annually. “Our board is functioning very effective- ly,” Walker said. “The three of us work together well.” About her management style Walker said, “I like to operate from a positive place. If you’re always building on the negative, you’ll never accomplish anything. We need to build upon our successes. And we do have successes here.” The board is holding a goal-setting session on Jan. 28 in the commissioner’s conference room at 2 p.m. and Walker is encouraging the public to attend. She also invites citizens who can’t make it but have constructive suggestions regarding what they’d like to see accomplished in the coming year to mail in or email input. In preparation for this meeting, board members are also gathering information from the coun- ty’s departments. “Our county programs are coping with big challenges,” Walker said. “Most departments are sparsely staffed because we’ve had to cut positions due to lack of funding. We’re looking at ways to implement more efficient processes, and that might include combining some servic- es; and also, we’re considering contracting out some services. Depending on the service, that solution may be less expensive.” While the county faces many hurdles, finding solutions to the public safety funding crises is at the top of Walker’s agenda. She said the county’s 80,000 residents are entitled to a sense of security in their homes, schools, parks and businesses and that public safety is a basic human right. “We must continue to work toward solu- tions,” Walker said. “All the other issues fac- ing our county are important, but when it comes down to it, without a solid law enforcement sys- tem in place, we cannot experience the benefits of our other accomplishments.” Walker said citizens deserve the peace of mind that comes along with knowing a depend- able police presence is available to maintain or- der, protect property and apprehend criminals. “Young people raising families may not want to expose their children to an unsafe com- munity, and we cannot afford an erosion of our citizenry,” Walker said. “This is a beautiful and amazing place for people to live, work and visit, but if people don’t feel safe, and if we cannot resolve this situation, in addition to people mov- ing away, our tourism industry, which is impor- tant economically, will also be diminished.” Walker supports the efforts of Securing Our Safety, the non-profit organization dedicat- ed to finding long-term sustainable strategies to fund the county’s public safety services. SOS is facilitating a public safety levy for the May ballot to fund the jail and juvenile justice pro- grams. See Walker on A-5 win-win.” The $10-a-bottle Riesling is packaged in Brid- geview’s trademark blue bottle that is “beautifully etched” and now features the double-gold award on its label. “Women really like this wine,” Kerivan said. “We’ve gotten three good write-ups on this Riesling so far. It’s well-established. We started our business making Riesling 35 years ago. We’re one of the big- gest Riesling producers in the state.” Bridgeview, with its 300 acres of vineyards, has about 25 employees in both Josephine and Jackson counties and produces a variety of high-quality popu- lar wines. The 30-year-old San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition is the largest showdown of American wines in the world. Over 60 professional judges from all areas of the wine industry participated in the blind tasting. Out of 5,825 wines (from about 1,500 winer- ies) entered in the competition, only 88 earned the double-gold award. See Bridgeview on A-8 Sheriff’s office volunteers needed By Judy Hoyle IVN Contributing Writer The sheriff office sub- station, located in the ground floor of the Cave Junction City Hall, is still in need of addi- tional volunteers in order to expand coverage to five days a week, according to Sgt. Rich- ard Butler, who is in charge of the volunteer program at the facility. He can be reached at 541-592-5151. The substation is open from 1 to 4 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays and from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Fridays. Butler, though, is hoping individu- als or couples will step for- ward to help fill similar three- hour shifts on Mondays and Wednesdays. “We’ve lost function with the failure of the levy,” Butler said. “So, what we’re asking is less difficult than what vol- unteers have provided in the past, or even what they cur- rently provide in Grants Pass. For example, since there was no money for gas for the patrol cars or deputies for backup in case of a problem, the patrol cars used by volunteers were sold.” Previously, volunteers patrolled specific areas to check for problems including the Lake Selmac boat ramps, the West Forks Trail area, the main parking lot at Forks State Park and Jubilee Park. “We lent a presence we aren’t able to do right now,” Butler said. “In the past, we also visited all the businesses, and created a list of emergen- cy contact information for the sheriff.” Other volunteer tasks in- clude providing a presence at parades, and passing out in- formation regarding available services from a booth at the Josephine County Fair. “We appear at recruiting tables for events or open hous- es, but we haven’t had a lot of luck recruiting volunteers for Cave Junction,” Butler said. “On the days the substation is open we do get a fair number of walk-ins and it can be in- teresting. We take non-emer- gency reports and funnel the information to the sheriff’s of- fice on an expedited basis and also file online reports for such incidents as stolen property or a neighbor dispute. Citizens are also able to file reports di- rectly online.” Volunteers receive pep- per spray training, CPR in- struction and instruction in traffic control. “We don’t carry weap- ons,” Butler said. “Guarding people is not one of our func- tions. In Grants Pass quite a few of our members provide court security, both in fam- ily court and the main court, checking backpacks and bags and other support functions. We also help out at the jail providing administrative func- tions. Some sheriff’s office volunteers drive into Grants Pass from Illinois Valley, Wil- liams and Merlin to volunteer at the courts and the jail.” See Sheriff on A-5
