Illinois Valley News, Cave Junction, Ore. Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2014
Page A-7
Tales from the Rural Patrol
(Editor’s Note: Factual information
for ‘Blotter’ is provided by official law
enforcement agencies. All persons listed
are innocent until proven guilty in a
court of law. Charges can be amended
or dismissed.)
***
Monday, Jan. 13
*For the second time in recent
history, a vacant home on Jonathan
Court was broken into. It was noted
that such incidents probably will
continue until the purchaser moves
in. (Nice.)
*A bunch of people on N. Junc-
tion Avenue had a big hoo-hah that
first was reported as domestic vio-
lence; then after a deputy checked
and found neither property damage
nor injuries, all parties were coun-
seled regarding their actions.
*The U.S. Postal Service was
notified of errant mail found on
Westside Road for an address there
plus some on Prottsman Way and
Diller Place.
*Theft of a 2001 red Dodge
Ram 1500 crew cab pickup truck
was reported in the 24000 block of
Redwood Hwy. The complainant
didn’t know the license number.
*Theft of checks, apparently
from a mailbox on Terrace Drive,
was reported by someone who went
to the I.V. Substation.
*The driver of a large pickup
truck ran over a woman’s dog on Old
Stage Road and returned to tell her.
She buried the animal.
*Five calls from rural Grants
Pass were logged including a domes-
tic violence case and an alarm termed
“beyond available resources.”
ral GP areas involving various argu-
ments and problems by folks who
can’t handle life on their own. Al-
though one call was from the county
animal shelter where three men and
two women got physical with an
animal control officer because they
wanted a certain dog back.
“Don’t make me f-ing kill you.”
Then the gang pedaled out of the
park to escape.
*Fourteen calls of varying ur-
gentness, mostly not urgent, came
from areas of rural GP.
Tuesday, Jan. 14
Wednesday, Jan. 15
*There was a situation on Takil-
ma Road (maybe Holland Loop?) in-
volving a possible stolen vehicle and
someone being shot in the leg. De-
tails were lacking and a tad unclear
in the log.
*On the Junction Inn vacant
lot some dude had to be advised that
he couldn’t sell firewood without a
business license from the city of CJ.
*Civil papers were served on
Watkins Street.
*In the 24000 block of Red-
wood Hwy. a guy went to move into
a place from which a woman had
been evicted. But she was in the
place with some children and a man.
The complainant was told to get a
writ of execution.
*Something happened in the
7000 block of Rockydale Road.
*An apparently disabled (bro-
ken down) vehicle was checked
at Lone Mountain Road and Naue
Way.
*There were 14 calls from ru-
*Near a wooded area at Schum-
acher Street and Sawyer Avenue a
young man was said to have “thrown
his girlfriend,” and she was scream-
ing and ran into the woods without
her sweatshirt, which he had torn
off. A deputy checked the area, but
neither person had stayed around.
*After his cell phone was sto-
len while in a CJ business, a man
phoned the number from another
phone and it was answered a couple
of times. One person who answered
was angry, saying that the phone be-
longed to his father. The complain-
ant had his former phone “turned
into a brick.”
*A trucker was asked to move
his rig from a CJ parking lot, and he
did.
*Several male persons on bi-
cycles were said to have threatened
to kill another male person at Jubi-
lee Park. No weapons were shown,
although the complainant said that
one hoodlum with a blue bike said,
*Someone was cited on E. Riv-
er Street for an unspecified traffic
violation.
*Rural GP residents put in 13
calls for various reasons.
I.V. GUNS & AMMO 541-592-3349
Friday, Jan. 17
Monday, Jan. 20
*A dead body situation was
handled on Lakeshore Drive.
*A parent reported that her run-
away daughter had been located at a
CJ address. She asked that a deputy
help her with retrieving the girl.
*Although an anonymous “wit-
ness” said that he knows who was
involved in a hit-and-run accident,
after drinking heavily in a CJ bar, no
one reported a problem. The com-
plainant said that the suspect caused
a problem in the bar and that he
struck another car (apparently in his
vehicle) so hard that it moved into
another lane. (Either that or he was
Superman).
*Unauthorized use of a motor
vehicle (someone stole a car) involv-
ing a bright red Cadillac was report-
ed on Addison Lane.
*A case of menacing was re-
ported on Lakeshore Drive by a
woman who said that her estranged
male partner person threatened her
husband with a .22-caliber weapon
when they went to retrieve her stuff.
The loving partner had thrown a lot
of her belongings outside, she said.
One reason she was leaving, she
said, was that the model husband
recently had an accidental discharge
(of an AK-47) inside the house.
*In the vicinity of E. River
Street a deputy tried to stop a motor-
cylist lacking a headlight and a hel-
met, but the little poop got away by
running into some woods. The bike
was towed away.
*Former editor-and-publisher
Bob Rodriguez, who now lives in
N.W. Wyoming, observed his 70th
birthday. This call was deemed to be
beyond available resources. Caller
was advised to contact the fire de-
partment to report the illegal burn.
*Rural GP residents coughed
up nine calls today including one
involving an elderly man who had
fallen between his bed and a wall
three days ago. He was combative
with medics, but was not strong be-
cause of not having eating during the
three days. (You can’t make up these
items).
Exclusive dealer of Viper Tactical Arms
A moment with Mary: By Mary Halvorsen
It was well past midnight when
my husband woke to knocking at the
front door. Emerging from sleep, I
heard him press, “Have you been in
an accident?” and, “Was there anyone
else with you?” The fear that he was
on the phone with our son gripped
me, as I hurried up the darkened hall-
way.
On the other side of the storm
door, a person stood distraught, face
red with abrasions, unable to recall if
an accident had occurred, or if any-
one else was involved. Attempts at
getting a phone number for family
were unsuccessful.
Upon dialing 911 and explain-
ing an injured person was on our
premises, and that we suspected an
accident had occurred, we were in-
formed there were no deputies, and
that an ambulance could not be sent
until law enforcement was present.
We were then transferred to State
Police dispatch, and told it would be
at least an hour before help arrived.
In the evolving moments from the
knocking, to opening the door, the
list of things that might happen, and
needed to happen, began to whirl.
While being warned to not allow any-
one in, I looked up to see my husband
opening the front door. “Too late”
I reported, and a quick, heavy sigh
came across the wire.
Within fifteen minutes things
had begun to feel out of control, when
a sudden, angry outburst from the in-
dividual, precipitated a return back
to a chair on the porch, with a wool
blanket. A degree of fear had been
kindled upon finding that help would
not be forthcoming. It hit that we
were out in the country, in the middle
of the night, on our own, uncertain of
what we were dealing with.
Though we had reported a sus-
pected car accident, dispatch offered
that the individual was technically
trespassing and could be ordered off
our property. I had to wonder, to go
where? It was 3:00 am and injuries
were involved. It has been stated
by the Sheriff that it is now common
Southern Oregon Sanitation Inc.
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in Josephine County to call 911 and
not get a response. In a communica-
tion with him a few days after this
episode, he confirmed, “The ambu-
lance/fire service in this county will
not respond to suspicious calls like
this without law enforcement being
present” explaining that safety was a
concern. I wasn’t sure why our call
was “suspicious,” perhaps because
it reported an accident victim, with
no vehicle in sight. We had initially
been leery, worrying that a knock in
the middle of the night might open the
door to a robbery. In the communica-
tion with the Sheriff, it was affirmed,
“you were cautious in that you sus-
pected it might be a ruse….you can’t
be too careful today.” More than just
private citizens seem to be experienc-
ing the apprehension that comes with
limited law enforcement
According to the Sheriff’s of-
fice, the county patrol division con-
sists of six deputies, three of whom
are contract, covering Cave Junction,
the federal forests, and the area’s wa-
terways. The remaining three, patrol
from north of Grants Pass to the Cali-
fornia border. The U.S Census Bu-
reau counts roughly 80,000 residents
in Josephine County. This allots one
deputy per every 13,788 citizens, or
one for every 243 square miles. The
Oregon Department of Revenue ex-
plains that, “Oregon’s property tax is
one of the most important sources of
revenue for Oregon’s public sector.”
Josephine County’s .59 cents per one
thousand dollars of assessed value, is
the lowest in the state.
Our county is in a Catch-22,
where many emergencies require
police presence, and county law en-
forcement is only sparingly available
eight hours a day, five days a week;
no nights, no weekends. In twenty-
five years at this residence, we have
had to call 911 three times. The first
two calls brought patrol in a matter
of minutes, but that was many years
ago. It has been taken for granted
that a call for help in the middle of
the night will bring an emergency re-
sponse. With little assurance that help
will come at all, let alone quickly, the
inclination to be a Good Samaritan
may disappear.
The flashing lights of the
state police were eventually visible
through the trees. They were unable
to progress up our driveway, due to
the disabled vehicle that had come to
rest close to the road. They traversed
the hill, flashlights bobbing in the
darkness, while the ambulance that
was immediately summoned, had to
inch over a rarely used entry, through
thick grass and hanging branches.
I lit a candle for the valley a
month ago for an end to violence.
Who will light one for a community
that may become too fearful to help
one another? What will happen when
the porch lights and the glow of win-
dows across the valley go dim?
Across
1- City near Kobe; 6- First Arabic
letter; 10- 1998 Wimbledon
winner Novotna; 14- Birth-
related; 15- Completed; 16-
Hydroxyl compound; 17-
Championship; 18- A Chaplin;
19- Having a sound mind; 20-
Inter ___; 21- Antagonism; 23-
Crown of ancient Egypt; 25-
Actually existing; 26- Primate
with a short tail or no tail; 27-
Cavalry sword; 29- Musical
drama; 32- Viscounts' superiors;
33- "Lord, is ___?": Matthew; 36-
"The Time Machine" people; 37-
Dispute; 38- H.S. exam; 39- Deli
bread; 40- Extra-terrestrial being;
41- Back in; 42- Peaks of Peru;
43- Orch. section; 44- Virginal;
47- Interruption; 51- Knot uniting
the ends of two lines; 54- ___
about (approximately); 55-
Winglike parts; 56- Marquand
sleuth; 57- Conductor Dorati; 58-
Frond plant; 59- Med school
subj.; 60- ___ Selassie; 61-
Worry; 62- AMEX counterpart;
63- Luges;
Down
1- Available; 2- Leaves port; 3- Room at the top; 4- Desert region in SW Africa; 5- Bass, e.g.; 6-
Take as one's own; 7- Coil; 8- ___ uncertain terms; 9- Probable; 10- Clown; 11- Diarist Nin; 12-
Taboos; 13- Coeur d'___; 21- Any person; 22- Supermodel Sastre; 24- Clean air org.; 27- Wise
ones; 28- Give ___ for one's money; 29- Not 'neath; 30- Layer; 31- Fair-hiring abbr.; 32- Buffalo's
lake; 33- Believer's suffix; 34- Pitch; 35- Figure skater Midori; 37- Councillor; 38- Private; 40- Chip
in; 41- Numbered rd.; 42- Thumbs-up; 43- Melancholic; 44- Grain husks; 45- More healthy; 46-
Alert; 47- Benjamin; 48- Free laces, say; 49- Author Dahl; 50- City on the Rhone; 52- Emaciated;
53- Greek letters; 57- Sighs of relief;