Happy 27th Anniversary Reno Mike and Chrissy!
Illinois Valley News
Wednesday, July 19, 2017, 1 Section, Volume LXXX No. 17
$1.00
Published weekly for the residents of the Illinois Valley
Oh, deer!
Fire district
board member
quits amid
controversy
Jason McMillen
IVN Contributing Writer
Tension ran high July 13 during the Illinois
Valley Fire District’s board meeting, where Joe
Feldhaus, successor to Carol Dickson, was sworn in
and Edwin Butler, a 10-year veteran of the council,
tendered his verbal resignation in anger.
When the vote for this term’s president was
cast near the start of the meeting, all were in favor
of Ron Humphfres resuming the position except for
Butler, who nominated Richard Bouchard. Butler
cited the several monthlong controversy surrounding
Humphfres and his general embarrassment regarding
the conduct of the rest of the board as the reason for
his resignation. “I now leave in disgust,” Butler said,
ending his speech and exiting the building.
The controversy began when Humphfres came
to Fire Chief Dennis Hoke with a memorandum of
understanding that granted one particular long-term
employee lifetime medical coverage after leaving the
district. The chief said that lifetime medical coverage
was not a good idea and, after discussion between
him and Humphfres, was reduced to six months and
signed.
SEE QUITS ON A-3
(Photo by Dan Mancuso, Illinois Valley News)
While momma retreated back into the woods, this little fawn hunkered down on the side of Bear Creek Rd.
Tuesday, July 4.
Mill property does a 180
Jason McMillen
IVN Contributing Writer
Sparetime Supply Distribution
has purchased the lumber facility
previously owned by Rough and
Ready Lumber Company and
will soon be converting it into a
distribution center to suit their needs.
They specialize in the wholesale and
distribution of farming and gardening
supplies and have been operating since
1983 in Willits, California. Sparetime
bought the property after an arduous
two-year search spanning both Jackson
and Josephine counties. They are
opening the Cave Junction location so
that they can more easily keep up with
demand in the Pacific Northwest.
The property’s ownership was
officially transferred over about two
weeks ago and over the coming month
they will finalize plans and begin the
process of remodeling the facility to
meet their needs. Some of the changes
include: adding conveyers, replacing
flooring, siding, and insulation and
rewiring electrical capabilities. The
main mill site is Sparetime’s primary
interest in the property. Although ideas
are abound, they have no current plans
to use the rest of their 300 plus acres
of land and have no plans to utilize the
airport nearby.
“We’re going to work with all the
local contractors that we can find,”
Andrew Hosford, executive vice
president, said. However, he admitted
that Sparetime may have to use
contractors from Grants Pass to work
on their new metal buildings because
nobody with that specialization has
yet been found in the Illinois Valley.
Although research has been done
with regards to finding contractors
available to work for them, Sparetime
has yet to reach out and schedule
any appointments. “We’re probably
going to start up in the coming months
and from there hopefully have most
of it done by early winter,” Hosford
concluded.
Tim Hosford, brother of Andrew
Hosford and sales manager for
Southern Oregon, moved to Cave
Junction about three weeks ago and
will be overseeing efforts to remodel
the facility.
When the distribution center is
up and running it is estimated that
Sparetime will initially need some
10-20 new employees, all of which,
Hosford hopes, are going to be hired
from the local workforce. Currently,
they plan to hire office staff, forklift
drivers, warehouse workers, inventory
personnel and commercial drivers.
Over the next five years, if business
goes as well as it has in Willits,
Hosford estimates that the number
could grow to as many as 80. “It really
just depends on how the business
develops up there,” Hosford said,
“It’ll help to bring back some jobs that
have been lost as the lumber industry
has died off over the past 20 years
or so.” When they’re ready to start
taking on employees to operate the
facility, perhaps by the spring of next
year, they are considering hosting an
employment faire for interested locals
to attend.
In addition to bringing jobs to the
area, Hosford said that their business
is one of the largest community
supporters in their small, Mendocino
County town. In Willits, Sparetime
reportedly donates to the schools,
4H, SSA and the hospital. “The sky’s
the limit for what we’re happy to
support, particularly in a small town
that doesn’t have a lot of industry,”
Hosford said, noting that community
support, like jobs, rests on their level
of success.
Sparetime has been a family
owned and operated business since its
inception as a retail store 34 years ago.
After good success, they expanded
into wholesale and distribution and
currently have over 100 employees
at their location in Willits. Sparetime
claims to have customers all over the
country, even in Alaska and Hawaii,
but most of their business takes place
in the western United States.
“The sky’s the limit for what we’re happy to
support, particularly in a small town that doesn’t
have a lot of industry,” Tim Hosford, sales manager, Sparetime Supply Distribution
JoCo cannabis advisory committee wants you:
Long debated cannabis advisory committee, which directly supports the Josephine County Board of
Commissioners with information, advice and opinions, was approved, seeks interested members.
SEE A-5
City to upgrade
wastewater system
Caroline Griffith
IVN Contributing Writer
The Cave Junction City Council took steps
Monday, July 10, to begin making necessary
improvements to the city’s aging water system and
wastewater treatment plant. Using input from Civil
West Engineering, who the city regularly contracts
with, the council voted unanimously to move forward
in seeking funding for the projects. The estimated
cost for wastewater system upgrades and water
system upgrades is $6.5 million.
According to Bill Boger, of Civil West
Engineering, the specific projects under consideration
were designated as priorities based on studies done
in 2013 and 2014. “The goal of these projects is to
protect health and human safety, and to improve
efficiencies which will lower the operations and
maintenance costs to the city,” said Boger. Both
studies outlined the need for several projects to
protect the health, sanitation and security of Cave
Junction by addressing aging infrastructure and
future population growth. SEE CITY ON A-10
Time for some folk
and bluegrass
Judy Hoyle
IVN Contributing Writer
Just when you thought the summer couldn’t get
any hotter, here comes the 14th annual Siskiyou Folk
and Bluegrass Festival at Lake Selmac County Park
with an all-new lineup of West Coast bands.
Gates open at 9 a.m. July 22 for the highly
anticipated fest, sponsored this year by the Rotary
Club of the Illinois Valley. Performances will run
from 11 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. and are listed in order of
appearance.
• Illinois Valley String Band playing a blend
of Appalachian, New England and Irish fiddle tunes,
originals, old-time Americana and novelty songs.
• The Brothers Reed hail from Southern
Oregon and offer comedic brotherly banter along
with close harmonic singing influenced by a wide
variety of genres.
SEE BLUEGRASS ON A-8