YOUR HOMETOWN NEWSPAPER SINCE 1937
Illinois Valley News
Wednesday, December 21, 2016, 1 Section, Volume LXXIX No. 40
Caves and cats
top Oregon’s
fan favorites
$1.00
Published weekly for the residents of the Illinois Valley
Dreaming of a light Christmas
Judy Hoyle
IVN Contributing Writer
Two Illinois Valley attractions were listed in
the recently announced “100 Best Fan-Favorite
Destinations in Oregon.” Both the Chateau at the
Oregon Caves rated No. 49 and Great Cats World Park
rated No. 78 bested hundreds of other competitors to
make the list.
Portland based MEDIAmerica, publisher of
Oregon Business magazine, opened the competition
to all 9,000 tourism destinations in Oregon. Of the
hundreds of businesses which signed up to compete,
MEDIAmerica crunched scores from 22,000 online
reviews combined from Trip Advisor, Yelp and Google.
They then ranked the results based on the number
of four and five star reviews compared to the overall
number of reviews, to determine the level of traveler’s
satisfaction.
Crater Lake National Park was ninth on the list
and the other Southern Oregon destinations listed in the
“top 100” included Wildlife Safari (No. 76), in Winston,
and ScienceWorks Hands-on Museum (No. 77) located
in Ashland. The Prospect Historic Hotel (No. 97) and
Crater Lake Lodge (No. 99) also made the fan favorite
list.
Menno Kraai the executive director of the I.V.
Community Development Organization (IVCDO)
and general manager of the Chateau said, “I’m very
proud of our staff. They’ve been able to carry through
offering superb hospitality and worked beyond standard
expectations. We really have a great team. My heart
goes out to them for giving our guests such wonderful
experiences.”
Kraai added that he’s looking forward to the
planned renovation of the historic structure that is
scheduled to take place in 2018.
MEDIAmerica also publishes “Oregon Home”
magazine, “Discover Portland” hotel guest guidebook
and the annual “100 Best Companies to Work for in
Oregon” survey. They will be distributing 75,000 “100
Best Fan Favorite” maps at visitor information locations
around the state.
“Consumers have a high level of trust in online,
third party reviews.” said Andrew Insinga, CEO of
MEDIAmerica. “So for us to be able to crunch the
data and compile a usable, valuable list of the best
destinations in Oregon is exciting.”
Craig Peebles, events manager at MEDIAmerica,
added: “It’s very meaningful that the actual scores
and decisions that created the ranking were based on
customers, and not derived by us. This is a list that
Oregon fans, both visitors and residents, will find
extremely useful.”
Additional news for the Valley was the ranking for
the Historic Balch Hotel, 13th on the list. The hotel is
owned and managed by former Illinois Valley residents
Claire Sierra and her husband, Josiah Dean.
Dean had hotel management experience before
moving to the Illinois Valley to become general
manager of the Chateau for several seasons a decade
ago.
The Balch Hotel overlooks the Columbia River.
The couple bought and renovated the property over the
past few years.
(Photo by Laura Mancuso, Illinois Valley News)
A house in the Hanby neighborhood on Lindilu Ln. decorated with festive lights showing the Christmas
spirit Monday, Dec. 19.
Situation degrades
at Old Stage Park
Annette McGee Rasch
IVN Senior Contributing Writer
Both city officials and residents
are noticing increased criminal activity
at the isolated 40-acre Old Stage Park,
located on the Illinois River at the
south end of Old Stage Road.
“There’s been complaints from
citizen’s living in that area about
excessive foot and vehicular traffic
in and out of there at all hours,” said
Cave Junction’s contract deputy
Lehman. “It’s not a safe place for
families.”
“The recent increase of activity
at Old Stage may well have to do with
that some residents who’d been watch-
dogging the park moved away - one
man did that for two decades,” said
Cave Junction’s city recorder Ryan
Nolan. “So now it’s easier for people
to gather there.”
CJ Patrol (Cave Junction’s
neighborhood watch) also closely
monitors criminal shenanigans near
SFI open house reveals grant
Judy Hoyle
IVN Contributing Writer
During the presentation,
it was announced that
Siskiyou Field Institute
(SFI) has won a $100,000
grant from Pacific Power’s
Blue Sky program to fund a
solar array installation.
The grant will fund an
initial installation and plans
are in the works for a second
phase that will further move
the facility toward energy
self-sufficiency.
Christina Kruger,
regional business manager
for Pacific Power, attended
the event and said, “We’re
pleased that SFI was
able to win this highly
competitive grant. The
Blue Sky program was
created to increase Oregon’s
energy independence and
protect our environment.
We’re hopeful that this
development will lead to
additional community solar
projects in Jackson and
Josephine counties.”
A team led by facilities
manager Michael Moss
worked to write the grant
proposal. Team members
included SFI executive
director Robin Hartmann,
and SFI board members
Karen Chase, Cathy
Mechling, Jim Gurley and
Lee O. Webb.
The installation will
be a 21 KW system with
84 solar panels in seven
arrays built 8 feet off the
ground. The system will be
connected to the electrical
grid, so that on sunny days,
the energy generated will
actually make SFI’s
electric meter run in
reverse.
Hartmann also
announced a second
“win” for SFI. In the
recent general election,
“Outdoor School for
All” (Measure 99)
passed statewide. The
initiative will provide
the opportunity for
every fifth and sixth-
grade student in the
state to attend a week
of exploratory, science-
based learning.
The program will be
financed with 4 percent
of the Oregon Lottery
Economic Development
Fund and administered
by Oregon State
University (OSU).
SEE SFI ON A-8
the park. “Even the thieves are getting
their stuff stolen in that neighborhood,”
said patrol organizer Jimmy Evans.
“Neighbors complain about people
camping over there and said there’s been
stolen cars and a lot of street traffic and
drug houses nearby causing problems. A
few weeks ago, a boy stole a city lawn
mower and drove it over there.”
While looking for that lawn mower,
Lehman and city maintenance workers
recently found about 60-75 cartridges and
blank casings in the park. “That leads us
to believe they’re firing semi-automatic
weapons,” he said, adding that, “there’s
been a lot of transient camps there. We
spotted about eight to 10 campsites that
are used at different times of the year.
There’s only one being occupied right
now.”
So, with several vacant camp sites
at Old Stage Park; reduced numbers
of transients at Jubilee Park after the
community exerted pressure; and
fewer reports of people breaking into
vacant homes this winter (according to
Lehman); where is the local transient
population hanging out?
“It doesn’t seem that we have the
loitering problems in town as much as
the same time last year, but I don’t think
the transients really went anywhere,”
Lehman said. “Maybe some of them
found refuge on different peoples’ grows
where there’s some work in exchange for
shelter. If that’s the case, that’d be a good
thing.”
However Evans reports multiple
transient encampments currently
surrounding the periphery of town.
“There’s one behind Hanby Lane on the
Field’s property; another behind Dollar
General; and the camp at Old Stage Park.
And we used to know who most of the
players are, but now, there’s a lot of new
faces.”
Lehman also thinks transients
will move back in at Old Stage Park in
summertime. “Then there’ll be a huge
danger of fire. Each campsite had been
burning, it’ll be something we need to
address.”
SEE PARK ON A-8
Concerns about dog
fighting rise in JoCo
Annette McGee Rasch
IVN Senior Contributing Writer
In recent weeks, several dogs
have gone missing under suspicious
circumstances - and a few other dogs
had narrow escapes - in various locations
throughout Josephine County, and
according to longtime animal advocate
Raleigh Smith, there’s good reason to
suspect links to organized dog fighting.
The Josephine County (JoCo)
Health Department - which oversees the
county’s Animal Protection Department
- seemed to share this view, as per
comments made to multiple media outlets
in recent weeks. Dec. 16, released a
statement clarifying its position. “The
Josephine County Health Department had
no reliable evidence that an organized
dog theft ring, nor an organized dog
fighting ring exists in Josephine County. An
organized dog theft ring or an organized dog
fighting ring was just one possibility, out of
many, to explain Animal Control Officer Pitts
recovery of Labrador (named)“Finley” from
the Wal-Mart parking lot in Grants Pass. The
Josephine County Health Department has
discovered no reliable evidence since Dec. 8,
2016, to substantiate the presence of either an
organized dog theft ring nor an organized dog
fighting ring in Josephine County. Neither
the Grants Pass Department of Public Safety
nor the Josephine County Sheriff’s Office
has seen a recent increase in reports of stolen
dogs.”
Smith said the apparent shift in JoCo
officials’ views about potential dog fighting
involvement in this incident may be about
preserving the integrity of an investigation.
SEE DOGS ON A-5