YOUR HOMETOWN NEWSPAPER SINCE 1937
Illinois Valley News
Wednesday, July 26, 2017, 1 Section, Volume LXXX No. 18
$1.00
Published weekly for the residents of the Illinois Valley
4th DQ
break-in
Jason McMillen
IVN Contributing Writer
(Photo by Dan Mancuso, Illinois Valley News)
Oregon State Police recruit trooper John Anderson looks for shell casings in the parking lot of Speedy Mart
in Cave Junction July 20.
Squabble ends with 1 in
hospital, 1 behind bars
“I saw Jed looking very determined,
like he had tunnel vision”
The Cave Junction Dairy Queen was found
burglarized on the morning of July 19, 2017. It’s the
fourth time this restaurant has been broken into so
far this year. The burglar made away with a single
ice cream cake but, while leaving the premises,
accidentally dropped it onto the floor which was
covered in broken glass. He did not attempt to
exchange his glass covered cake with a new one. “He
just picked it up and kept going. I don’t know, I guess
he ate it,” Nancy Clark, assistant manager, said.
The suspect was caught on camera and although
he partially concealed his face with a black scarf it is
rumored that authorities have a person of interest in
the case. Sheriff Daniel could not divulge additional
information about the case because it’s still under
investigation. “The sheriff’s department—they do a
good job,” Clark said, “They do what they can.”
During the course of the crime, the man broke
two windows with rocks, the first of which was too
high up to crawl through. After shattering the second
window and gaining entry he proceeded to smash
open the cake freezer. Unfortunately, attempts to lift
fingerprints from what remained of the cake freezer’s
glass door were unsuccessful.
“I don’t know what the attraction is with the
damn ice cream cakes,” Clark said, frustrated that
three of the four break-ins this year have resulted
in stolen cakes. Of those three incidents, two stole
nothing but a single cake. Clark firmly feels that most
of the burglaries around town are perpetrated by a
small group of local drug addicts; most of which, she
feels, have lived in the area their entire lives.
Clark has been working at the Dairy Queen in
Cave Junction for 8 ½ years and in all that time never
experienced a break-in until this year.“They’re not
going to beat us,” Clark said, stoic in her resolve,
“We’re here and we’re staying here.”
Carol Thomas, Speedy Mart
By Dan Mancuso
IVN Staff
Shortly before 9 p.m. July 20, 2017
Speedy Mart manager Carol Thomas
heard what she thought was three
firecrackers. Thomas went outside to tell
the, what she assumed was children to
take their fireworks somewhere else. What
she saw was in her words was a “very
determined” Ronald Jedidiah Fehlhaber,
age 32, of Cave Junction, rounding
the fence behind the store’s parking
lot looking to fire more shots at Floyd
“Bubba” Argus Greenlee, 29, also of Cave
Junction
According to Thomas, earlier in the
day Fehlhaber and Greenlee had some sort
of an altercation after which Fehlhaber
returned with a 0.22 caliber pistol.
“I saw Jed looking very determined,
like he had tunnel vision,” Thomas said.
“I yelled, ‘Hey Jed, get the heck out of
here’ and he snapped out of it and started
walking toward Jubilee Park.”
Thomas, with help from store patron
Zane Blankenship, moved Greenlee into
the store and locked it down. Thomas
called 911 and started to give instructions
to Blankenship who was applying
pressure to Greenlee’s wounds. “The 911
operator kept me calm, told me what to
do, she was so awesome, without her I
don’t know what I would have done,”
Thomas said.
This is not Fehlhaber’s first incident
discharging a firearm in town. May 25,
2016, Fehlhaber discharged a firearm in
a crowded Jubilee Park during another
argument. Fehlhaber left the park that
day shirtless wearing a skipper’s hat
and riding a beach cruiser. That incident
caused the lockdown of local schools.
On July 22, 2017, around noon,
Fehlhaber turned himself into the
Douglas County Sheriff’s Office.
On April 19, 2017, the Illinois Valley Soil & Water
Conservation District (IVSWCD) was denied use of the county
building in Cave Junction for a cannabis farmer’s forum on the
grounds that the County Board of Commissioners had, at some
point, banned all cannabis related events on county property.
Despite the ban, on the evening of June 26, the Illinois Valley
News witnessed Commissioner Dan DeYoung attend a cannabis
themed event, at the county building, with a group of citizens
who primarily voiced their extreme dissatisfaction with the
cannabis industry’s presence in the area. Mark Seligman, a
local community activist, further complicated the issue when he
attempted to rent the county building out July 23, and was, like
the IVSWCD, denied its use on the grounds that his event was
cannabis related and fell under the ban—even though DeYoung
himself attended a cannabis related event there just a month
before. “Dan DeYoung broke his own order,” Seligman said.
Wally Hicks, Josephine County’s legal council, said
Health Center
announces new CEO
Ronald Jedidiah Fehlhaber
County violates constitutional right of freedom of speech
Jason McMillen
IVN Contributing Writer
Siskiyou Community
that the ban was made via a “verbal vote” and was intended
to prevent a singular outdoor cannabis event. He added
further that banning all cannabis related events on county
property is unconstitutional on the grounds that it inhibits
freedom of speech and could, in no way, be a legal policy due
to that. However, in the email sent by Glenda Wooldridge,
with Josephine County Building Operations, to Amy Britt,
IVSWCD’s office manager April 19 at 11:39 a.m., it was
written by Wooldridge that, “Our Legal Dept. has advised us
that these meetings are considered marijuana themed events
which the Board of Commissioners has decided will not be
held on county property.” Wooldridge refused to answer any
questions regarding who, or what department, informed her that
cannabis related events had been banned.
When Seligman was refunded the $25 rental fee, he
allegedly requested that his receipt be signed by Wooldridge
along with a written statement as to why he was denied. When
she refused he went to Josephine County’s legal department
and was denied again.
Grants Pass, Ore. - Siskiyou Community
Health Center July 12, announced that its board of
directors has unanimously chosen Rich Booth as the
new chief executive officer (CEO). Booth, who has
been serving as the chief operating officer (COO) of
Siskiyou Community Health Center since 2008, will
succeed the late Kurt Higuera. Booth and Higuera
worked closely for nearly 10 years and, together,
have ushered Siskiyou Community Health Center
through the last decade of strategic growth and
service expansion for the community. After thorough
succession planning and a comprehensive search
process, the board is pleased to have found the best
individual to assume leadership of the organization.
Under Booth’s exceptional leadership as the
COO, Siskiyou Community Health Center has seen
many exciting hanges and growth. They’ve expanded
from 87 employees in 2008 to currently over 200
employees.
SEE CEO ON A-10
SEE FREEDOM ON A-10
Navigating the currents of water rights and regulations
Read about it on A-5
Rich Booth