Illinois Valley News, Cave Junction, Ore. Wednesday, August 3, 2016
Page A-5
Valley girl comes home to build a future
By Dan Klapheke
IVN Staff Writer
New homes in a new
neighborhood are under
construction in Cave Junction
thanks to a Valley’s native’s
drive and a local team effort.
Barbara Howard,
originally of Cave Junction,
and husband Donnie
have bought 34 lots of an
unfinished development
on Pomeroy Drive and
Retirement Lane. The couple
moved to the Valley from
Maui, Hawaii, and Barbara
said the couple decided to
build here because they saw
a need, but also because she
loved the area.
“I like the community,”
Barbara said, who grew up
in the Valley and graduated
in Eugene. “It is a very
good community with good
people, and I wouldn’t give
up growing up out here for
anything.”
The Howards had to
track down the property’s
developer, the late Elton
Frank, because it wasn’t for
sale. Once purchased, Barbara
and Donnie went through
an extensive list of potential
builders, which ended up
being Jacoby Construction
and Design. Greg Jacoby
of Jacoby Construction and
Design said he and brother
David jumped on board
because of the area’s promise.
“We were excited just
for an opportunity to be part
of a project out here that was
going to take a good, honest
shot of being successful,”
Greg said.
There are currently
three homes being built on
the property, and David
said the reason is so they
can physically show off the
designs to potential buyers.
“Without doing that
you’re just gonna have a
really stagnant project that
just sits here and nobody’s
willing to go in,” David said.
Mark Wauge, mortgage
legal consultant at Willamette
Valley Bank, who is attached
to the project, said the homes’
prices will start low and
affordable, but won’t stay that
way.
“We’re the last to
recover in Oregon, and so our
prices are still affordable, but
it won’t be for long,” Wauge
said. “And so it just creates a
huge push for people to buy
before it’s too late to buy.”
The homes currently
under construction are meant
to represent the size and price
ranges the lots offer, other
than the option of custom-
designed and built. According
to Barbara, the decision to
build in the area in general
was a big one.
“The reason why we’re
starting with three is we have
plans all the way from 13,030
square feet all the way up to
17,050, and we were the ones
that said, ‘Hey, we’re willing
to step across that line and
develop in Cave Junction,’”
Barbara said. “That was a
huge decision.”
The property was bought
in August of last year and
construction began in June.
After the three houses are
finished, construction will
begin on the next three, and
then waves of six at a time
will be built until the whole
development is complete.
Barb said the entire project
is expected to be finished in
about two years.
Donnie Howard,
originally of Pineville,
Kentucky, is a power lineman
currently taking a year’s
time off to recover from a
work-related injury. In the
meantime he and Barbara
are watching construction go
along, and Donnie said it’s
exciting.
“I think it’s gonna be a
(Photo by Dan Klapheke, Illinois Valley News)
Donnie Howard (left), Barbara Howard, Pete
Cuhna, Chris Barnett, Greg Jacoby, David Jacoby,
Rhonda Beck and Mark Wauge.
great project, and we were
the ones who stepped out
when nobody else would,”
Donnie said. “And I think
once the houses start getting
built, I think people will start
coming in here for sure. They
just wanna see it, smell it and
touch it.”
Barbara said the
demographic usually attracted
to homes like the ones being
built are families and retirees,
and she’s hoping the project
builds up a solid community.
“You could definitely
have a mix and have a very
good community,” Barbara
said. “That’s what we’re
hoping for.”
Whirlwind Play Festival, take five
Eliot Feenstra
IVN Contributing Writer
As the Illinois Valley slept, eight
playwrights were busy at work in the cottage
of Rusk Ranch Nature Center creating new
plays for performance...the next day.
July 23, the Illinois Valley’s fifth
Whirlwind Play Festival kicked off, bringing
together local residents and families to
create an original show for performance on
the evening of July 24. The festival invites
participants to write, rehearse, and perform
original plays along a theme within 24 hours.
For this festival, the theme was “The Web
of Life,” inspired by the Rusk Ranch Nature
Center’s future gallery exhibit of the same
name.
While Rusk Ranch’s exhibit will focus
on local forest ecosystems, the Whirlwind
playwrights took the theme in many directions.
Stew Towle, who lives in Williams and Wolf
Creek, wrote a series of poetic pieces titled
“The Web of Life” which invited the audience
to participate in the metamorphosis of the
butterfly.
Ryan Forsythe Elder teamed up with
his two sons, Rory and Kailen, to create a
humorous play called “A Fly Walks into
a Pitcher Plant” in which a fly hooked on
Pokémon Go (played by Elijah Ocean) finds
himself stuck in a pitcher plant and struggles
to escape.
“The Historian,” written by Amber Ryan
Bruce of Wolf Creek, went in a different
direction, portraying a philosophical conflict
between “History” (played by Kellyn Gross)
and a young revolutionary man and woman
who found themselves reenacting a series of
classic stories as they tried to figure out how
to learn from the past and make meaningful
change in the present.
Lindsey Gillette, who also directed and
acted in the festival, wrote a short poem called
“I See Ghosts on Takilma Road.” While she
wasn’t expecting to write a play, she went
home after introductions Friday evening and
typed it out.
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Kaci Elder and Jen Schneider, a visiting
artist from Los Angeles, co-wrote a play titled
“When the Other SHU Drops” about an inmate
in solitary confinement at Pelican Bay. While
the piece was mostly movement, it ended with
the butterfly prisoner’s (beautifully portrayed
by mother daughter pair Alisa & Na’amah
Ocean) beseeching request to the audience:
“Those on the outside, remember who is
trapped on the inside/And please, oh please,
never forget about me.”
The show was performed on a beautiful
Saturday evening at Rusk Ranch Nature
Center’s meadow stage, followed by a talkback
with the audience. Patty Downing, the founder
of Rusk, also stepped up to act in the Festival.
She said, “It was a pleasant experience for
us [to host the Festival.]...The literary and
intellectual quality of it was juicy and warm…
a consciousness raising, humanizing process.”
Other highlights included a playwriting
workshop with Ezra Phillips (a playwright
who is currently working at the Oregon Caves)
and wonderful meals from Feral, who donated
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his time to support the Festival. Meals are
provided for participants all day, as well as
dinner for the show’s audience. Organizers
try to source as much food locally as possible,
which included quiche with Siskiyou Alpaca
sausage and shepherd’s pie with dancefarm
herbs, grass-fed beef from Barbara Leon,
carrots from Chinook Bar Ranch and Kellyn
Gross’s garden, and veggies from Alisa Ocean.
The Festival also received generous
support from the Josephine County Cultural
Coalition.
Organizers look forward to hosting
future festivals and a playwriting workshop
at various locations in the Valley and
drawing new participants into this exciting
creative opportunity. “It’s super satisfying to
collaborate with people in this way,” said one
participant.
For more information, check out their
website at whirlwindfestival.wordpress.com,
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