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This edition is for Barry Snitkin
illinois-valley-news.com
Wednesday, January 21, 2015, 1 Section, 10 Pages, Volume 77 No. 46 Published Weekly Cave Junction, Oregon 97523
Council meeting
gets heated over
weed lawsuit
75c
Flight for life
By
Judy Hoyle
IVN Contributing Writer
Over 30 people tore themselves away from the Oregon
Ducks game to attend the first Cave Junction City Council
meeting of the new year on January 12.
The agenda included newly elected Councilor Dan Bosch
taking his oath of office along with returning officials Mayor
Carl Jacobson and Councilor Daniel Dalegowski.
Once again, medical marijuana dispensaries (MMDs)
were the big topic of conversation. Cheryl Keil and Tony
Smith, the owners of PAPA (Providing All Patients Access),
made an agenda request regarding the declaratory judgment
lawsuit rendered in September. Unsatisfied with the extent
of Judge Pat Wolke’s decision, the city has opted to appeal in
order to get a more complete answer. The League of Oregon
Cities also continues to participate in the interest of protecting
Home Rule status.
Keil is suing the City of Cave Junction in order to keep
her business open. She contends that since the city did not place
a moratorium on MMDs prior to the state mandated deadline,
they can’t prevent her from operating one within city limits.
PAPA is currently the only dispensary in the city. It opened
about six months ago and already has 790 patients according to
Keil.
“This city needs this service,” she said.
See Lawsuit on A-5
(Photo by IVFD Media Dept)
An April 2014, single vehicle incident brought Mercy
Flights to the I.V. Airport. Mercy was scheduled to
make practice runs to the new landing pad at Siskiyou
Community Health Center after deadline Jan. 20.
Commissioners at odds with first responders
By
Judy Hoyle
IVN Contributing Writer
The quarterly Josephine County Emergen-
cy Medical Services Board meeting Jan. 14 was
dominated by discussion of Oregon Lifeguard
(OLG) air transport, their parent company,
Classic Air Medical (CAM) and how the new
service would be integrated into the current 911
response system.
Those present included County Commis-
sioner Cherryl Walker; IVFD Chief Dennis
Hoke; Grants Pass Department of Public Safety
Deputy Chief Lang Johnson; Dave Matthews,
AMR Josephine County operations manager
and EMS board chair Gary Heigel, head of
Emergency Services at Rogue Community Col-
lege as well as other department and organiza-
tion representatives.
Commissioner Walker stated, “This issue
has never been a question of which service is
better, it has always been about who has the
quickest time of arrival at the side of the patient
needing transport.”
But while OLG has been licensed and
certified by the FAA and the State of Oregon,
the same as Mercy Flights; emergency service
personnel at the meeting still expressed concern
regarding CAM / OLG’s safety standards and
lack of experience.
Heigel stated, “This is an inherently dan-
gerous business. Statistics are alarming with
private, for-profit as opposed to nonprofit ser-
vice. A corporation either has safety as a para-
mount concern or they don’t. At the minimum,
we need to know safety protocols are in place.”
He then asked what OLG was doing to over-
come their parent corporation safety issues.
Hoke said, “I share Gary’s concerns 100
percent.” He asked about liability issues and
dismissed the idea that the shortest flight time
would be more important to patients than safety
records.
Hoke also questioned OLG’s stated re-
sponse times. “Mercy’s reports are based on
historical data and breaks out the time it takes
to get up to speed and also powering down. You
don’t start out doing 110 knots,” he said, and
added that Mercy Flights will soon be getting a
new helicopter as fast as OLG’s.
OLG, a new company, has been operating
in Josephine County since October. In that time,
their calls have been restricted to second choice
and they’ve only flown to Roseburg and Port-
land, according to Hoke.
Johnson said, “As it stands now, Mercy
Flights is first out for all of us.”
The National Transportation Safety Board
(NTSB) has cited pilot error in three CAM he-
licopter crashes which took place in other states
between 2000 and 2012. In comparison, Mercy
IV Students offered enriched opportunities
By
Cilicia Philemon
IVN Contributing Writer
An exciting new program is taking place at our
local schools! It is “The 21st Century Community
Learn Center”. This program supports the formation
of a community learning center that offers educational
enhancement opportunities during non-school hours
for children, primarily for students who attend
high-poverty and low-performing schools. It also
helps students meet state and local student standards
in core academic subjects, such as reading and
math. Additionally, it offers students an extensive
assortment of enrichment activities that can
supplement their regular academic programs. Literacy
and other educational services for the families of
participating children are also offered as well.
This program was developed through “The
21st Century Community Learn Centers” grant. The
purpose of the 21st CCLC is to provide students with
academic and enrichment opportunities, including
tutorial services to increase student achievements.
Illinois Valley High School Principal Jamie
Ongman says, “We’re in the second of a five
consecutive year grant. Each year we are gaining
momentum and are evaluating and implementing new
activities and supports student interest.”
Ongman continues, “The program was
developed and is overseen by our new co-coordinators
Sara Creek and Scott Thornhill. They have brought
a fresh perspective to the program. We’re seeing an
increase in student participation. Creek and Thornhill
are also dedicated in growing the program not only for
Illinois Valley students, but also for Lorna Byrne and
Evergreen students. Moreover, they want to increase
the program so that parents and other community
members can also partake in activities.”
Creek and Thornhill develop both academic and
enrichment opportunities for the students of all three
schools, as well as for parents. There is an array of
enrichment classes available, such as Cooking, All
About Music, Art Stars Preforming Dance Troupe,
Pottery, Board Games, Yoga, P90X exercise, Hunter
Safety Courses, Ski/Snowboarding, and much more.
Students also have the opportunity to receive extra
academic support provided by four teachers in the
core subject areas. This additional academic time
gives four more hours a week for student support.
This 21st CCLC grant is administered by the
Oregon Department of Education (ODE) and provides
funding for the establishment of community learning
centers. These provide students with academic
enrichment opportunities to meet state and local
student academic achievement standards in core
academic subjects. Along with academics, the 21st
CCLC grant may also offer participants a broad array
of other services and programs, such as counseling,
character education, entrepreneurial education, drug
and violence prevention programming, art, music,
recreation activities and technology education.
Additional services that promote parental engagement
and family literacy instruction are also provided.
Ongman says, “The students are able to attend
enrichment opportunities that they would not have
otherwise been able to. We are continually having
conversations with students around their interest
and how the program can best serve. Those that
are utilizing it are having fun and broadening their
experiences. The availability of this program could
potentially impact our student achievement in a
large way. We are hoping that parents will encourage
students to get involved in an enrichment program
or seek additional academic support through our
Homework Help House, Tuesdays and Thursdays.”
Flights had one accident 30 years ago with an
airplane. Walker contends Mercy had a second
crash in 1989, 24 years ago.
Another point of discussion was a letter
sent to Mercy Flights by the BCC in December
stating they had violated the Josephine County
EMS ordinance and rules. Walker responded
that Mercy had used their own ambulance for
an internal transport between hospitals, and that
all ambulance transport in the county must be
provided by AMR.
There was also some discussion around
how a response time could be quickly calculat-
ed. A map displaying response time radius prob-
abilities was rejected as being too complicated
for 911 operators to be able to quickly interpret
in an emergency. A simple map with different
colored territories was preferable.
Walker assured the gathering that the BCC
wants to set up a system that works.
Oregon ready to make rules
for recreational marijuana
Steven Dubois
Associated Press
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Or-
egon voters have spoken on marijuana
legalization and now it’s time for legis-
lators to have their say.
Though the legislative session
starts in February, lawmakers submit-
ted more than a dozen bills this week
dealing with marijuana. Many more are
anticipated in the coming weeks as the
state tries to design a retail market and
regulatory system that avoids problems
seen in Washington and Colorado, the
first states to allow recreational pot
use.
Under Measure 91, Oregonians
starting in July can possess up to eight
ounces of marijuana at home. Retail
sales start sometime in 2016 and will be
regulated by the Oregon Liquor Control
Commission.
In Washington, where retailers
began selling the drug in July, high tax
rates and an initial supply shortage sent
prices to more than three times what
people pay on the black market. In Col-
orado, there have been several cases of
people overdosing on high-concentra-
tion edibles that look the same as candy
and cookies.
The Oregon Legislature has es-
tablished a joint committee on mari-
juana (yes, they’ve heard the jokes) to
help put Measure 91 into practice. Hot
topics figure to include zoning rules for
retailers, whether to allow local taxes
on top of state taxes and how to keep
pot candy away from kids.
“It’s a big job because there are so
elements to it,” said state Sen. Ginny
Burdick, D-Portland, committee co-
chair. “There’s the regulation, the taxa-
tion, the issue of doing of everything
we can to shut down the illegal market;
then there’s medical marijuana. All
these issues are converging and we’ll
just have to deal with all of them.”
The tax issue might be the thorni-
est and could end up in the court sys-
tem.
The measure approved by vot-
ers in November gives the state sole
authority to tax marijuana, charging
growers at a rate of $35 per ounce of
bud, $10 an ounce of leaves and $5
for each immature plant. Many cities,
however, preemptively approved sales
taxes on pot — either to make money
or discourage retailers from doing busi-
ness there.
Because the measure is not a con-
stitutional amendment, the Legislature
has the power to make changes and
OK local taxes. But if those taxes boost
prices too much, Oregon risks losing
sales to street dealers and a commercial
advantage over neighboring Washing-
ton state.
“I don’t think anybody thinks that
we want to follow Washington’s course
and have taxation so high that the black
market becomes more attractive,”
Burdick said.
Another way Oregon wants to dif-
ferentiate itself from Washington is ad-
equate supply.