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About Illinois Valley news. (Cave City, Oregon) 1937-current | View Entire Issue (April 2, 2014)
Page A-2 Illinois Valley News, Cave Junction, Ore. Wednesday, April 2, 2014 Letters to the Editor Illinois Valley News welcomes Let- ters to the Editor. Please e-mail them to dan@illinois-valley-news.com POLICY ON LETTERS: ‘Illinois Valley News’ encourages letters to the editor provided they are legible and not libelous or scurrilous. All letters must be signed, including name, address and telephone number. The latter need not be published, but will be used to verify authenticity. The “News” reserves the right to edit letters. Letters are used at the discretion of the publisher. *** (Editor’s Note: Views and commen- tary, including statements made as fact are strictly those of the letter writers.) Reader says Hogwash The Oregon Farm Bureau presi- dent’s blurb on Measure 17-58 sounds so familiar: “Costly…scary…gov- ernment inspectors”. Though issues change, it’s the same language we’ve heard for decades, taken straight from the scripts of political spin masters who have researched exactly what words trigger our fears. It’s also hogwash. For background, no one be- comes president of the OFB who isn’t pro-biotech. Monsanto pours money into their PAC-- from direct dona- tions to the annual golf tournament they co-sponsor. Bushue’s claim that there are “No seats at the table for…corporations” doesn’t say who bought the table. The 14 OFB PAC voter pam- phlet arguments at $400 a pop are a drop in the bucket for corporations bent on gaining total control of agri- culture. Expect all the disinformation that money can buy. The citizens who drafted 17- 58 put in safeguards to prevent any costs. A one-year transition period insures that only those who deliber- ately flaunt the law a year after it goes into effect would bear any financial responsibility. And, there is no man- date in the measure for the county to fund. But even these safeguards are unnecessary. The real life experi- ence of five counties in California and Washington with similar ordi- nances, going back as far as 2004, is they cost anywhere from negligible to NOTHING. Corporations do not contract with farmers to break laws, as that would be unprofitable. No ex- tra county staffing, no storm trooper inspectors. Pay attention to what’s happen- ing in the real world, not corporate- sponsored warnings from Scarey- land. Jack Dwyer Selma Reader Shares This originally ran in the Thursday, March 27, 2014, edition of Sustain- able Business Oregon, Rough and Ready: Oregon logging mill revives 67 jobs, controversy By Sean Stevens, Oregon Wild It was with mixed emotions that I learned earlier this month that the Rough and Ready logging mill in Jo- sephine County was reopening after a nearly year-long closure (“With 67 jobs in tow, Cave Junction sawmill reopens”). On the one hand, it is generally good news for salmon, clean water, and wildlife when an old-growth log- ging mill retools to focus on process- ing the small logs that come from res- toration-based forestry. It is this sort of sustainable approach that Oregon Wild, other conservation groups, and progressive timber mills have been supporting over the past two de- cades. It doesn’t hurt that 67 people are getting their jobs back in the process. However, Rough and Ready isn’t a “run of the mill” logging mill. The mill is owned by the Phil- lippi/Krauss family whose members have consistently been some of the most extreme voices in Oregon when it comes to logging old-growth and opposing the concept of sustainable, restoration-based thinning in less sensitive areas. For decades, their business model required logging big old trees from public forest lands. When it was announced that the mill was closing last year, owner Jen- nifer Phillippi told the Grants Pass Daily Courier, “…we can’t justify the cost with an inadequate, unpredict- able log supply supporting only one shift. It’s like sitting in a grocery store not being able to eat while the pro- duce rots around you.” The grocery store Phillippi references is America’s system of federal public lands – lands that be- long to all of us. Unfortunately, the old-growth clearcutting epidemic that ravaged Pacific Northwest for- ests in the 1970s and 1980s left the American people’s “grocery store” in shambles. Some 90 percent of our old growth was logged and processed by mills like Rough and Ready, caus- ing the store owners (the American closed and one half of the jobs have gone as well. However, the remaining mills can produce 25 percent more lumber volume than was possible in 1995. Adding to the problem is the boom in raw log exports from private lands. In each of the last three years more private land logs have been shipped to Asia than have been cut down on federal lands. The Oregon Department of Forestry reports that for every million board feet of logs shipped overseas we gain one port job but lose out on three milling jobs. It is also important to note the history of employment in Josephine County – and other rural counties that we associate with the timber industry – before, during, and after reductions in federal lands logging that came with the Northwest Forest Plan. In 1982, the northern spotted owl was not yet on the Endangered Species list and logging still remained the top priority for federal forest managers. In Douglas County and Lane County, the two largest recipients of federal timber dollars in Oregon, unemploy- ment was at 17.3 percent and 12.5 percent respectively (the state didn’t keep numbers for Josephine County until 1990). In 1994, the year the North- west Forest Plan was adopted and four years after Judge Dwyer ruled that the timber sale program in the Northwest was violating federal law, Douglas and Lane Counties stood at 7.8 percent and 5.0 percent respec- tively. Josephine County stood at 8.0 percent. Throughout the late 1990s and 2000s, Josephine County un- employment never went above 9.5 percent and went as low as 6.2 per- cent. When the Great Recession hit, unemployment across the state shot up, reaching a high of 14.8 percent in Josephine County. Today, Doug- las County sits at 10.0 percent, Lane County at 6.9 percent, and Josephine at 9.7 percent. Hard data like this should drive Oregon’s economic and environmen- tal decisions, not the kind of eco- nomic nostalgia underlying West Vir- gina’s obsession with coal or North Carolina’s with tobacco. The reality is that Oregon’s quality of life – and the old growth forests, rivers, and protected wilderness areas that help define it – is the engine that brings new people, investment, and jobs to our state. Let’s hope that the retooling of the Rough and Ready mill, and the taxpayer financing that made it pos- sible, makes it easier for Oregon to protect our public forest lands. people) to demand that clean water, recreation, salmon and wildlife get equal priority with logging. When President Clinton enacted the Northwest Forest Plan in 1994, the social license for logging old forests was permanently lost. Even as doz- ens of mills across the state shifted their business model to the new real- ity, Rough and Ready refused. Rather than retool, they spent more than a decade demanding a return to logging the big old trees, until economic real- ity caught up with them. So, how is it that Rough and Ready can reopen? What changed in one year? Perhaps more interesting is what didn’t change – namely, the science- based federal forest policy of the last twenty years, with the restrictions on logging older trees that Rough and Ready found so intolerable. While other profitable logging mills across Oregon retooled their equipment to handle small-diameter logs on their own dime since 1994, it took $5 mil- lion in state and federal backed loans for Rough and Ready to make the switch. So, while I am happy Rough and Ready has joined us in the 21st century, and 67 Oregonians got their jobs back, it is frustrating that it took so long, and so much taxpayer fund- ing, to make it happen. The political reaction to Rough and Ready reopening is also frustrat- ing, because it demonstrates how little some politicians understand the structural changes that have occurred in Oregon’s economy over the last 20 years. Recent reports show Oregon ranking third in the nation in job growth last year, thanks to a thriving high tech industry, and to our tour- ism and outdoor recreation economy. Oregon’s quality of life – our forests, rivers, and mountains – are a big part of that success, bringing new people and new investment to our state. In response to the Rough and Ready mill reopening, Sen. Ron Wyden said, “…it is always good news when jobs are restored in eco- nomically hard-hit areas of the state, but it is especially good news when those jobs are in the timber industry.” In light of the dominant economic trends in Oregon that show growth in many sectors but certainly not in log- ging, this statement is perplexing. In fact, for every tree cut down today we see far fewer associated log- ging and milling jobs than we did a generation ago. Since 1995, one half of Oregon’s large logging mills have Barbar Ullian Grants Pass Just another campaign promise Recent letters to the IV News regarding the 5 year Levy to fund the County Jail and the Juvenile Jus- tice Center on the May 2014 primary ballot have been informative but failed to include that, if passed, the $1.19 per $1,000 of assessed prop- erty value will initially go into the General Fund. That is a huge, red flag for me and that’s why I will be voting NO on that levy. The GF is entirely under the control of county commissioners. Have we not seen untold thousands of dollars miracu- lously appear for their particular al- location? $350,000 spent to pay off the fairgrounds debt? $25,000 to the public libraries? Large, out-of-court settlements to avoid suits against law enforcement? Commissioner Simon Hare said recently $2 million from a carry-over fund will be “freed up”, if the levy passes, to help fund the D.A. and Sheriff’s patrols. Really? How do we know the commissioners will really do that? To me, it’s just a campaign promise. The “safety” levy should be re-written as a unique line item on property tax bills. The levy passed in 2012 to benefit the Illinois Valley Fire District’s need to replace antiquated breathing apparatus and purchase government-mandated, high tech radios is a perfect example because it created a specific line item on tax bills that guaranteed to prop- erty owners that every penny would go directly to the department/district intended. Last year our commission- ers did not reduce, but eliminated a $500,000, historical line on the Sheriff’s budget for deputies and/or patrols. Congressman Wally Hicks said recently that if they had left that line item on the budget and checked with Salem, that money could have been doubled at the state level with matching funds! There’s no space to say more about this, but it happened and the safety of every single resident under the Sheriff’s jurisdiction has been critically affected by their deci- sion. I don’t think the commission- ers truly care about our safety based on their spending choices, cutting the Sheriff’s budget so specifically, and using $2 million dollars of our taxes as a political tool is downright despi- cable. Marilyn Arnold O’Brien I llInoIs V alley F uneral D Irectors www.since1928Hull.com 541-592-4110 Save The Date April 12 Rough & Ready Wildflower Hike on Sat- urday, April 12, 2014 at 10 a.m. Meet at the parking area at Rough & Ready Botanical Way- side south of Cave Junction on Hwy 199 at Mile Marker 34. The walk through the Rough and Ready Wayside is geared for plant enthusiasts and novices alike. This is a great opportunity for folks to come out and enjoy the spring wild- flowers no matter what your skill level on plant identification might be. It will be a short hike on rocky, but relatively level ground with lots of beautiful wildflowers to see, many of them are rare or of limited range. A portion of the hike will be along a wheel-chair accessible path so folks of limited mobility can come out and enjoy the wildflowers too. Be prepared: bring water, dress in layers and wear comfortable shoes. For more information call Suzanne at 541-291-8860. Sponsored by Cultural & Eco- logical Enhancement Network (CEEN) and the Native Plant Society. April 12 FREE Eye Clinic Saturday, April 5th from 9:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. (9:00 a.m.-Noon by appointment, Noon - 3:00 p.m. walk-ins wel- Illinois Valley News Published weekly by W.H. Alltheway, LLC Daniel J. Mancuso, Publisher come). At the Illinois Valley High School Gym. Free eye exam & pair of glasses (if needed). To schedule an appointment call 541-787-0860. Please leave a message. This clinic is brought to you by Amigo Vision, Josephine County Foun- dation & IVHS Leadership Class. April 12 Open House on April 12, 2014 to invite Bud Winter’s friends and relatives to spend the day to help celebrate his 100th birthday. Steak, chicken, barbecue, plus sides will be served from 1 p.m. – 3 p.m. followed by birthday cake & ice cream. 5138 Holland Loop Dr., Cave Junction, 541-592-2743. April 15 The Illinois Valley Chamber of Com- merce and The Illinois Valley News will present a Public Forum. The purpose of this forum is to introduce all the candidates for the office of Jo- sephine County Commissioner, County Legal Council and Sheriff. This event will be held at the County Building, 102 S. Redwood Hwy in Cave Junc- tion on Tuesday, April 15, 2014 from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. POSTMASTER: Please send address changes to P.O. Box 1370, Cave Junction OR 97523 Illinois Valley News is published at 221 S. Redwood Hwy., Cave Junction, OR 97523 Telephone (541) 592-2541 FAX (541) 592-4330 Since 1937 periodicals postage paid at Cave Junction OR 97523 P.O. Box 1370 USPS 258-820 SUBSCRIPTION RATES One year in Josephine County - $30.50 One year in Jackson and Douglas counties - $32.50 One year in all other Oregon counties and out-of-state - $39.00 Illinois Valley News does not refund subscriptions. Remainder of subscription will be donated to the charity of your choice. April 16 2014 OSU Master Food Preserver Course Orientation - April 16, 2014 Classes start April 24 through May 29, 2014 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Cost-$150. Applications available in January. 2014 Instructors: Certified Master Food Pre- servers from Jackson and Josephine Counties and Jeanne Brandt (statewide coordinator). We invite you to an eight class learning adventure in the food preservation arts. Along the way student trainees learn how to prepare garden produce for preserving, the ins and outs of food preservation equipment, how to water- bath and pressure can safely and efficiently, as well as a host of other skills! Classes are held at the Josephine County Extension Auditorium and start April 24 with 6 consecutive Thursdays and two Saturday Labs (May 3 and 17) ending on May 29th. Tuition is $120 + $30 for the man- ual and 48 volunteer educational service hours. If you have any questions contact Jeanne Evers via email: jeanne.evers@oregonstate.edu April 18 The Cave Junction Farmers Market opens Friday, April 18th 2014, at the Junction of Red- wood and Caves Highways in Downtown Cave Junction, 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., every Friday through October 31, 2014. April 18 Saturday, April 19, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. A rummage sale to benefit he Dome School Rang- ers after school program at the JoCo building in CJ. Donations may be brought on Friday from 1 to 6 p.m. Call 541-592-3911 with questions. April 26 Tea Lunch & Silent Auction benefiting the Pregnancy Center of the Illinois Valley, 11 a.m. Location: Bridgeview Church Auditorium 5181 Holland Loop, Cave Junction. Tickets are $10 per person. FREE Zumba Classes at Healthy U Tues- days and Thursdays, March 4th-April 10th, 4:00-5:00 p.m. with Lydia Roberts. “Ditch the workout, join the party!” Healthy U is located at 535 E. River St., Cave Junction (in the very back of the Fam- ily Resource Building). For details visit www. healthyucenter.org or call 541-592-4888. News - Dan Mancuso dan@illinois-valley-news.com Circulation - Kimberly Potter office@illinois-valley-news.com Advertising / Composition Dan Mancuso dan@illinois-valley-news.com Mailroom - Millie Watkins Office Manager-Laura Mancuso office@illinois-valley-news.com Ongoing DEADLINES: News, Classified and Display Ads, Announce- ments and Letters 5 P.M. FRIDAYS POLICY ON LETTERS: ‘Illinois Valley News’ encour- ages letters to the editor pro- vided they are legible and not libelous or scurrilous. All let- ters must be signed, including name, address and telephone number. The latter need not be published, but will be used to verify authenticity. The ‘News’ reserves the right to edit letters. Letters are used at the discre- tion of the publisher.
