Illinois Valley news., January 25, 2017, Image 1

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Illinois Valley News
Wednesday, January 25, 2017, 1 Section, Volume LXXIX No. 45
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Published weekly for the residents of the Illinois Valley
Burglar takes
checks, cash
and 1 toy;
Washout!
leaves books
Jason McMillen
IVN Contributing Writer
Sometime in the evening of Jan. 14 the Cave
Junction Library was broken into through a window long
thought to be screwed shut in the aging building. Although
there’s an alarm that has a battery backup and connects to
a satellite for instant communication with authorities, the
burglar made off with a box of blank checks, the keys to
every lock in the building, a handful of donation checks
from individuals amounting to $270, a $50 toy from the
children’s program, and of course—this burglar not being
one to leave any details out—a small pile of change in
branch manager Roberta Lee’s desk. There are no suspects
at this time.
“They got as far as rifling through my desk then the
alarm sounded which is loud and obnoxious,” Lee stated,
thankful that the burglary was short-lived. The burglar,
having not stolen any books for their later education or
amusement, must have decided that they could come
back later and simply rent them out if they were feeling
inclined. Lee also mentioned that the burglar was kind
enough to close the window on their way out.
Lee, because the keys had been stolen, was forced to
replace all the locks on the building and of course quickly
closed the account to which the blank checks were tied. In
total it was $210 for the locks to be replaced and another
$35 for a box of checks and new account. On a side note
the burglar also managed to pull the key rack off the wall
as he took the keys.
“The big one was that we lost donations which was
a drag … One of my amazing friends went through town
and let all the store fronts know not to cash a three party
check.” Fortunately, Lee was able to contact their donors
immediately and together they were able to cancel all the
checks without any of them being used for ill-gotten gains.
“It makes it so much easier to come back to work
after something like this happens because you feel
disheartened but know that you’re not the only one. The
neighborhood is here and we’re all feeling it together,”
Lee remarked, trying to look on the bright side of things
before continuing on to some of the other problems facing
their establishment.
“There’s lots of places outside the building that are
covered from the weather so we get people who are trying
to find some place that’s got a little shelter. Not all those
people are respectful about the fact that you don’t leave
your trash behind or that you don’t go to the bathroom
out there.” Lee went on to conclude that the majority of
people seeking shelter are well mannered and respectful
but that it only takes a few to cause serious issues. Ending
her point on the topic of nuisance crimes she said that her
building generally gets tagged with spray paint more often
as weather becomes favorable.
After a continuous bout of vandalism the library
decided to shut down their Wi-Fi service that was
available to the public 24/7 without a password. According
to Lee the Wi-Fi is now only available when the library
is open for its few hours every week. To be sure, this is
a great loss to the community but for Lee the benefits
outweighed the burden.
“I spent more time and more money cleaning up the
vandalism than anything else that I was currently working
on.”
(Photo by Dan Mancuso, Illinois Valley News)
Three Mill Rd. bridge in Selma Friday, Jan. 20. According to the Illinois Valley Fire District
(IVFD), residents in the affected area are urged to use extreme caution as IVFD cannot provide fire
protection beyond the bridge.
Commissioners meet with residents
Caroline Griffith
IVN Contributing Writer
Newly elected Josephine County
Commissioners Lily Morgan and Dan
DeYoung hosted a town hall meeting
at the Cave Junction County Building,
Monday, Jan. 23 to introduce
themselves to constituents and answer
questions. Commissioner Simon Hare
was unable to attend.
The meeting was preceded by
a half-hour sit-down with members
of the Cave Junction City Council
to discuss how the board of county
commissioners could better serve the
city of Cave Junction. The public was
invited to listen to this discussion, but
not allowed to comment at that time.
The public meeting began
with the commissioners stating their
intention to hold more meetings in
the Illinois Valley. The new board of
commissioners will be holding more
meetings in general than the previous
board. According to Morgan, they
plan to increase their weekly meetings
from three to six. “We are going to do
business in public more frequently,”
she added.
Before taking any questions from
the public, Morgan and DeYoung
asked attendees to stay away from
the subject of proposed changes to
the Rural Land Development Code in
regards to cannabis cultivation. The
board of commissioners is considering
amending the code to address the
growing of cannabis on residentially
zoned properties. There is a public
hearing on the subject planned for 9
a.m. Monday, Jan. 30 at Anne Basker
Auditorium in Grants Pass. According
to Morgan, it would be a violation
of state public meeting laws for the
commissioners to take comments on
the issue before the public hearing.
“We understand there are a lot of
concerns,” Morgan said. “We do
want your feedback. We do want to
hear you, but it has to wait until next
Monday. We want to make sure we
are following the law and that we are
following due process.” She added
that those who wish to comment,
but are unable to attend the meeting,
should email their comments to bcc@
co.josephine.or.us. Emails that are
received will be logged as public
comments.
Comments from attendees
centered mainly on the county’s
response to the recent snowstorms
and how to fund law enforcement.
In response to a question about
where the county is now in terms
of providing law enforcement,
DeYoung responded, “We’ve got a
lot of work to do, as a community
and as a county.” He referenced a
recent meeting with representatives
from Senators Jeff Merkley and
Ron Wyden’s offices who indicated
that the county should not expect to
receive any funding from the Secure
Rural Schools Act. “Basically, we are
on our own,” he said.
In response to public safety
funding questions, Morgan brought
up three potential avenues to generate
revenue. One is a bill before the state
Legislature to turn some state lands
over to counties who can then extract
resources to raise revenue. Another
idea is to lease jail space to the state
prison system, which is overcrowded
and looking for alternatives to
building costly new jails. The third
idea is to lobby the state to allocate
more cannabis sales tax revenue to
Josephine and Jackson counties which
are home to one-third of the registered
cannabis grow-sites in the state of
Oregon.
In response to a comment
from a local Sheriff’s Department
volunteer about how severely people
are suffering from the level of crime,
DeYoung lamented, “The people who
said “no” (to the public safely levy)
got what they want. The people that
said “yes,” there is not even anything
for them to buy. They wanted to pay
for public safety, but there is nothing
we can sell them.”
The commissioners also
acknowledged the need for better
communication with the public. “As
a county, we don’t do a good job of
communicating,” said Morgan. “We
need to do a better job of getting
information out.” She also encouraged
citizens to communicate with the
board of county commissioners. “If
there is something you want to see
the county do, call us and get it on the
agenda,” she said.
With the exception of
holidays, the board of commissioners
convenes the first, third and fourth
Wednesdays for weekly business
sessions at 9 a.m. and the second
Wednesday at 5:30 p.m., unless
otherwise noted on the agenda,
the board meets at Anne Basker
Auditorium, 600 NW 6th Street,
Grants Pass. The meetings are open
and the public is invited to attend.
Conservation District elects new board members
Jason McMillen
IVN Contributing Writer
The election results for the
Conservation District’s new directors are
finalized and they are set to be sworn in
Jan. 26. The winners and their respective
zones are as follows: Zone One - Janet
Walker, Zone Four - Katrina Poydack,
and the vacant “at large” position was
filled by Jim Gurley. The director
position for Zone Five remains unfilled
at this time but there is still hope for it to
be in the future. All mentioned positions
are unpaid volunteers.
Walker, a long time environmentalist
and current member of the Illinois Valley
Watershed Council, sought to become
a zone director primarily because she
was worried that nobody else would
step up for the job and that it would
remain unfilled for an extended amount
of time. It was also mentioned that she
has many years of experience with this
type of work and she was concerned
that, on the off chance the position was
filled in a timely fashion, the candidate
might not be as well equipped to deal
with their new responsibilities as her.
“I was involved with the Middle Rogue
Watershed Council for a number of
years,” Walker said, substantiating past
experience before moving on to her
ambitions, “We had plant sales and we
put out a little shrub book and they did
a little more than the one does here so I
enjoyed that and I’m going to try and get
the Illinois Valley to do more things like
that.”
Despite the last minute nature
of her application, and the fact that
she ran unopposed, Walker received
a considerable amount of write-in
votes after she frantically turned in the
required paperwork. “It was a very last
minute decision to do this,” Walker
stated before explaining herself, “I didn’t
campaign or anything I just called my
friends and said, ‘Hey, vote for me!’”
Walker initially became active
with watershed council’s when she
was talked into it by the Sierra Club,
a hiking club whose meetings she
attended, who thought they should have
an environmentally friendly person on
the board. “Now days we have a lot more
environmentally friendly people and I
think we’ve come a long way,” Walker
remarked, reflecting about the changes
in society’s view of sustainability over
many years and as a whole before
continuing, “People understand now that
it’s very important to take care of the
land.”
In a closing statement Walker said
that she’s looking forward to serving
the community and is highly motivated
to keep its water clean and to protect
the salmon—some species of which are
endangered. “We always have plenty to
discuss and vote on but I can vote now,”
Walker said excitedly before briefly
explaining that she could only vote on
watershed matters previously. “It’s a big
zone and I’m excited about being elected
to this board … I could never ever fill
Carl Summer’s shoes (her predecessor)
but I’ll try to do my best.”