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About Illinois Valley news. (Cave City, Oregon) 1937-current | View Entire Issue (July 30, 2014)
Illinois Valley News, Cave Junction, Ore. Wednesday, July 30, 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.) *** Tales from the Rural Patrol will be back next week (there was a problem on our end). Don’t worry it will be twice as long next week. djm Winding Trails: Thursday, July 7, 1964 – Illinois Valley News, Cave Junction, or – Climbing Rabbit Ears Strange how the frightening past can leave such a delicious aftertaste in one’s psychologi- cal mouth. I’m thinking about my last vacation experience in the Cascades with the Grants Pass rambling scramblers, who have accepted me as one of the gang, and delightedly, if a wee bit sa- distically, insist in teaching me (mostly against my will) the thrilling tricks of rock-climbing. And when I say rock I’m not referring to sling- shot ammunition. Our latest such climb, the last weekend in June, was to the top of one of the Rabbit Ears. What a rabbity, mild sound that name has! These “rabbit-ears” have an elevation of over 6,000 feet and stand out like two great thumbs, side by side in splendid and startling isolation when viewed from the Diamond Lake highway a few miles above the Union recreational area. From a highway viewpoint high above the Rogue you look north toward Hershberger Mountain, and there they are. For a long moment your view will be entirely occupied by the Rabbit Ears. And if you could stand on top of one of them and look back at your roadway viewpoint, and all other points on the horizon, the thrill would be incomparably greater. On the sheerest side, from the base of the Ears proper, the vertical distance to the ears is probably 7 or 8 hundred feet. When we reached the foot of the one we were to climb, and I near- ly broke my neck just looking up, I rebelled. I had explained to these Rogue River rogues, af- by Al Hobart ter that Mt. Thielsen hair-bleaching climb, that I didn’t intend to go in for rock-climbing, that I would botanize around below, and take pictures of them risking their necks on the cliffs and pin- nacles above. And I was greatly relieved when they thoughtfully and smilingly seemed to agree. But, as I found later, I had grossly mis- interpreted those friendly grins and sympathetic noises. Now, at the foot of our awesome Rabbit Ear, I made another plea for the picture taking and posy plucking, but ruthless Maestro Dean, our gang leader, suddenly found himself unable to understand plain, if quavery, English, and the next thing I knew I was roped in a line-up of human flies, taking turns at belaying (holding fast to a point of relative security while others move up, a, precautionary gambit designed to save any who might fall), traversing (moving laterally across) an almost perpendicular wall hundreds of feet up. And now, to prevent you from jumping out of your skin every time the telephone rings, I’ll simply state that eventually we reached the top. And, strange to relate, I didn’t even feel panicky – I guess something my hard-boiled companions have must be rubbing off on me. But don’t go yet, we still have to get down off this up-ended needle, and the scariest bit of all (to you laymen) is about to take place – the rap- pel. Rappelling is walking backward down a vertical rock face by means of anchor rope cara- bineer, seat sling and climbers’ ropes, in that or- der. We rappelled 100 feet down in one stretch. Still no qualms. Steve and I, the two tyros, had been given previous instructions, and practice in rappelling, and found it to be no problem at all. Queasiest part of the climb was making the roped together traverse, but with Dean’s me- I.V. GUNS & AMMO 541-592-3349 WHERE’S THE ALARM? The volunteers and staff of the ticulous and constant coaching, and continual words of encouragement and praise, it didn’t seem half bad. This was the first to technical climbing for both Steve and me. The three pros, Dean Charles and Joe, went on to climb the other ear while I shot pics of them against the sky- line from a vantage point far below – climbing nearly straight up rappelling down – Steve went on down to do some more practice rappelling on his own. Thus ended the day’s major adventure. But two lesser ones remained, one when Dean drove higher up toward Hershberger lookout, so I could get a good shot of the R.E.’s, and suddenly one side of the Volkswagen dropped into a quaking pit of quick-mud and kept sink- ing till the mud was above the bottom of the door. During the next hour Dean and Steve and I chalked up a new and mucky experience, get- ting the Volkswagen back on more firma terra, a bit of tangy spice added to the day’s program of thrills. I don’t know what Marcia said to Dean and Steve when she saw her little mud-caked Volkswagen, and it’s probably just as well – it likely couldn’t be printed anyhow. Showiest of the Rabbit Ears’ floral deco- ration were rock penstemon, apline daisy, and alpine fawn-lily. The fawn-lily, Erythronium montanum, was a new one to me, so far not found in the Siskiyous. Three of our miniature high-altitude ferns, parsley fern, lace fern, and Sierra cliffbreak, grow in the same community at the base of the Ears. Last adventure of the day, and one I’ll never forget if I live to be 67 (which is doubt- ful), was consummated in an excellent little eatery in Shady Cove, where three half-starved Illinois Valley Fire District responded to these recent Emergency calls… Monday-07/21 100 blk N REDWOOD HWY, Grass Fire 200 blk SW BRIDGE ST 102, Medical Emgcy Wednesday-07/23 200 blk WILD PARK LN, Medical Emgcy 7600 blk CAVES HWY, Medical Emgcy Friday-07/25 500 blk FERNWOOD DR, Medical Emgcy, 200 blk S CAVES AVE, Medical Emgcy 600 blk LONE MOUNTAIN RD, Open Burn Saturday-07/26 3200 blk LAKESHORE DR, Medical Emgcy HOLLAND LOOP RD / HAYS CUTOFF RD, Medical Emgcy CHIEF’S CORNER By Dennis Hoke Fire Chief, Illinois Valley Fire District Most people will never have to call 911, but when they do, they want help fast. But responders can’t help if we can’t find you. Please help us by having your address clearly marked so we can see it. We will provide you with an Illinois Valley Fire Dis- trict address plate free. Just stop by our administrative offices at 681 Caves Hwy. M-TH 9AM-4PM and ask for one. Display your address plate where it is visible from the main road. (Having the sign a half-mile down a dirt path does not help us help you.) Make sure you keep it visible by regularly clearing out any brush that may block the numbers. Southern Oregon Sanitation Inc. Serving Southern Oregon for over 50 years! (800) 922-1025 Al Hobart with homemade skis. Exclusive dealer of Viper Tactical Arms Sunday-07/27 400 blk E RIVER ST, Lift Assist 28000 blk REDWOOD HWY, Traffic Accident Tuesday-07/22 REDWOOD HWY / HANBY LN, Traffic Accident desiccated, mud-speckled mountain playboys thankfully landed late in the evening and stoked ourselves to repletion with wonderful food and coffee. Then on to a happy, profitable journey’s end, back to the waiting, worrying wives and kiddies – comfortably hurting inside, pleasantly tired all over, and not mad at anybody. A lot of us have gates. In a time of need, you may not be able to open the gate. So you should place a key box with a com- bination near the gate. Then be sure to provide us with a combi- nation or gate code; we will notify the 911 agency and they will load it into the computer-aided dispatch system. When your ad- dress comes up, dispatch will tell the emergency responders to call dispatch by phone for the key box location and your code/ combination information. For your safety and security, this infor- mation is not broadcast over the radio. Help us help you by making sure 1) we can find you, and 2)your gate doesn’t stop us from getting to you quickly! Until next time…let’s be safe out there. www.IVFire.com www.Facebook.com/ivfire FIRE SEASON NO BURNING ALLOWED Across 1- Grassy plain; 6- French clergyman; 10- Till stack; 14- Future oak; 15- Knitting stitch; 16- Seaweed; 17- Brown ermine; 18- Plumlike fruit; 19- Tabula ___; 20- Latin-American dance; 21- Stretch; 23- FedEx rival; 25- O Sole ___; 26- Easy stride; 29- Drinks (as a cat); 32- Discombobulate; 37- Acapulco gold; 38- Soup with sushi; 39- Caught; 40- In spite of; 43- Goes in; 44- Gull-like predatory bird; 45- Compete; 46- Martini's partner; 47- Long time; 48- Sawbucks; 49- Shoe tool; 51- Alias; 53- Gives life to; 58- Available; 62- ____-friendly: not too technical; 63- Steps down to an Indian river; 64- Hersey's bell town; 65- Ailing; 66- Architect Saarinen; 67- ___Nexis; 68- Inquires; 69- Comedian Carvey; 70- Miss by ___; Down 1- What you do to a shadow; 2- Official records; 3- Earth's satellite; 4- Capital of Czech Republic; 5- Dominant; 6- Church recess; 7- Male of a bovine mammal; 8- Sweeping implements; 9- Nicholas Gage book; 10- Gumbo veggie; 11- Tidy, without fault; 12- Ultimatum word; 13- Pampering place; 22- Australian lizard; 24- Narrow openings; 26- Hermit; 27- Maine college town; 28- Annie of "Designing Women"; 30- Tree used to make baseball bats; 31- Deputised group; 33- Pop; 34- Compel; 35- Bolshevik leader; 36- Boundaries; 38- Sister of Moses; 39- Sweatbox; 41- Bentley of "American Beauty"; 42- Ref's decision; 47- Gibson of tennis; 48- Bicycle built for two; 50- Carried on; 52- Australian marsupial; 53- Garage sale sign; 54- Bottle part; 55- Bothers; 56- Deserve; 57- Greek portico; 59- Cab; 60- Indigo source; 61- Prepare to be shot; 62- Country bordered by Canada and Mexico;
