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About Illinois Valley news. (Cave City, Oregon) 1937-current | View Entire Issue (March 22, 2017)
YOUR HOMETOWN NEWSPAPER SINCE 1937 Illinois Valley News Wednesday, March 22, 2017, 1 Section, Volume LXXIX No. 53 Body of woman missing since Thanksgiving found in O’Brien $1.00 Published weekly for the residents of the Illinois Valley Clean Up Day draws a crowd O’BRIEN, Ore. (AP) — Oregon State Police say the body of a woman missing since Thanksgiving has been found in southwestern Oregon. Police say the Josephine County Sheriff’s Office received a report of a woman’s body found Thursday on Lone Mountain Road in the town of O’Brien. Police say the woman has been identified as 20-year-old Kayla Lee Yarbrough. Police had been searching for her since she was reported missing last month. Authorities are working to find the cause and manner of her death. Anyone with information about Yarbrough’s death is asked to call the Oregon State Police Dispatch Center 541-664- 4600. (Photo by Laura Mancuso, Illinois Valley News) More than 50 people showed up to help at the Cave Junction Clean Up Day coordinated by the Rotary Club of the Illinois Valley Saturday, March 18. City moves on code enforcement Caroline Griffith IVN Contributing Writer The Cave Junction City Council met Monday, March 13, for its regular monthly meeting. On the agenda were the upcoming public safety levy, the city’s ongoing search for volunteer code enforcement officers and the establishment of a social media policy. Citizen William Campbell addressed the council, asking the individual councilors to speak out in favor of 17.80, or The Adult Jail and Juvenile Detention 5-year Local Option Tax, which will be on the ballot in May. According to Campbell, Josephine County received $2.3 million in timber harvest shares this year, a fraction of the $12 million payments received in previous years. This shortfall in funding affects many county services, most visibly law enforcement. “We all must face the hard facts, not false, emotional opinions that law enforcement programs will face a deficit of $3.7 million per year starting July 1st,” said Campbell. There are currently efforts in the works to raise the amount of timber harvested by the county and to gain more local control over the O&C Lands which would raise logging revenue to help fund law enforcement services, but, Campbell said, these efforts will take time. According to Campbell, “The county commissioners see 17.80 as a bridge to a brighter law enforcement funding future.” Measure 17.80 was written by Sheriff Dave Daniel and calls for a five- year property tax of $0.93 for every $1,000 of assessed value. The current county tax rate of $0.58 per $1,000 of assessed value is the lowest rate in Oregon and it has not gone up since 1995. Of that $0.58, public safety currently gets $0.39. According to the language of the measure, revenue raised by this levy can only be used for the adult jail and the juvenile detention center. This extra revenue will free up money from the general fund to pay for sheriff’s patrols. Although the individual councilors expressed support for 17.80, the council as a body did not pass any resolution or make a statement for or against the levy. The council went on to discuss the ongoing search for volunteer code enforcement officers. The city code allows the mayor to appoint up to three citizen volunteers to help locate code violations and issue citations. These volunteers would focus on excessive garbage, abandoned vehicles, overgrown lawns and other property issues. Though the city has been advertising the positions, not a single person has volunteered. According to Councilor Mark Dillinger, who has spear- headed this effort, “To me it’s a little disheartening because I would think that with as many people as complain about not having law enforcement that someone would step up.” Mayor Daniel Dalegowski then approved Dillinger as the city’s first volunteer code enforcement officer. “We put everything in the newspaper and we didn’t get one person to stand up and help me, so I’m going to do it by myself,” Dillinger said. “Someone will see me doing it and someone will step up and help me. Of course, if we have two people show up to a place it’s safer, but right now it’s just me.” More information and volunteer applications are available at City Hall. The council then approved a new social media policy drafted by Councilor Lindsey Gillette. The city has been looking for more effective ways to reach the public and Councilor Gillette, who has experience doing outreach and promotions for area nonprofit organizations, has volunteered to establish a social media presence for the city. The newly adopted social media policy allows for the establishment of a city of Cave Junction Facebook page,“in order to reach more residents and to remain transparent, open and honest.” SEE CITY ON A-10 Marijuana use stable among youth, nicotine on the rise Jason McMillen IVN Contributing Writer According to a document entitled, “Marijuana use among Youth in Colorado” found at www.Colorado. gov, the prevalence of marijuana consumption among youth has decreased by 5 percent since 2009 despite the long standing medical program and the allowance of recreational marijuana in 2014. Colorado also ranks 0.5 percent lower than the national average in the use of marijuana among teens. In addition, and despite the accessibility of marijuana, the use of alcohol is 21 percent more common and only a small percentage of youth have experimented with other drugs. Shawn Martinez, Josephine County Prevention and Treatment coordinator stated, “Josephine County has not seen any significant increase in its use [of marijuana] on our student wellness survey.” The wellness survey is given out to eighth and 11th-graders and Martinez believes that it works well enough to give a “clear picture” as to the prevalence of drug use among youth. Going further she said that, overall, drug use has decreased significantly since 2009 and that alcohol, the most widely used psychoactive among youth, is slowly decreasing as well despite its popularity. In contrast, according to Martinez, the use of nicotine has increased in recent years. She attributes this problem to the growing popularity of vaporizing devices and the appearance that they are harmless. Martinez said that, in the near future, there may be new regulations put on the devices. “I think there has been some culture shift and we’ll have to focus on that as well because of marijuana being legal,” Martinez said, despite the stable prevalence of marijuana use among minors. She further explained her position by saying that there has been a noteworthy decrease in the perception of harm around marijuana. She believes that it is a situation worth addressing since drug use among youth of any kind is problematic because they are still developing and it can cause an array of problems. To combat the use of drugs among youth there are several prevention programs in Josephine County primarily run by the Boys and Girls Club and the Women’s Crisis Support Team which targets sixth and ninth-graders respectively. In addition, Josephine County has 10 certified prevention specialists which, according to Martinez, makes a “big difference” in turning youth away from drugs. Sheriff celebrates St. Patrick’s Day with saturation patrol According to a press release from Josephine County Sheriff’s Office (JCSO), Friday, March 17, into the early morning hours of March 18, JCSO organized and conducted “Operation Lucky Charm.” The sheriff’s office was assisted by members from the Oregon State Police (OSP), Josephine County Parole and Probation (P&P), Bureau of Land Management (BLM) law enforcement and the Rogue Area Drug Enforcement Team. The purpose of the operation was to provide saturation patrols specifically in the Illinois Valley and North Valley areas. The operation lasted approximately four hours. Several investigations stemming from the operations are active and ongoing. The statistics from the operation are as follows: Traffic stops, 33; arrests/ probations detainers, 11; and recovered stolen vehicles, two (from Portland/ Roseburg). The following arrests were made: Scott G. Case, two failure to appear (FTA) warrants, OSP arrest; Joseph L. Watkins, two FTA warrants, JCSO arrest; Scott C. Hicks, parole board warrant, JCSO arrest; Richard L. Baumgartner, restraining order violation, BLM arrest; Sammantha A. Patterson, probation violation, P&P arrest; Michael E. Dangerfield, Lake County warrant, OSP arrest; Christopher E. Dangerfield, Lake County Warrants, OSP arrest; Kara G. Freeman, six FTA warrants, JCSO arrest; Harvey H. Fishel, post prison offender and new possession of controlled substance meth charges, JCSO arrest; Sarah I. Jaentsch, two FTA warrants, JCSO arrest; and William E. Badon, driving under the influence of intoxicants (DUII), OSP arrest. The JCSO will continue such operations in the future as they have in the past with “Operation April Fools,” “Operation Sex Offender Sweep” and “Operation Boo.” These operations are funded by savings within the JCSO public safety budget and from each agencies individual budgets. Bottle refund going to 10 cents in Oregon SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Starting on April 1, Oregonians will be able to double the money they get back for recycling their old plastic water bottles, soda cans and beer bottles at redemption sites throughout the state. A measure which requires payment of the 10-cent refund for covered beverage containers beginning the first of the month, regardless of refund value indicated on the container, was overwhelmingly approved by the Oregon Senate on Monday and heads to Gov. Kate Brown for her signature. The Oregon Legislature set a trigger for the deposit to increase to 10 cents if the recycling rate fell below 80 percent for two consecutive years. Last year state officials said that had happened and the increased bottle rate was set in motion. Oregon was the first state to adopt a bottle refund bill back in 1971 as a way to encourage recycling. Ten other states have similar laws, but only Michigan currently offers a 10-cent refund.
