Page A-2
Illinois Valley News, Cave Junction, Ore. Wednesday, August 16, 2017
Life in the
Valley
of Riches
By DAN MANCUSO,
Publisher
Every once in a while you have one of those days or
worse, weeks, even months when everything you do seems
to turn to mush and everyone takes the opportunity to jump
your tail about it. The president of the Illinois Valley Fire
District is having one of those months.
The district has been having some issues with the
board president. So much that one board member used their
parting time to publicly scold him and another abruptly quit
during a meeting and asked for his resignation.
Well, it’s time for me to jump into the fray. During
an interview with the Illinois Valley News the IVFD board
president said the board had made a decision to leave the
issues with Chief Hoke in the past and they needed to move
on. The board president stated he had to follow the board’s
wishes. That is all fine and dandy, but what meeting was this
decision made? Well it wasn’t. The decision was made by
polling over the phone. That is illegal. We know politicians
do it, just hard to prove. But in this case I don’t have to
prove it as he admitted it.
The second public meeting violation was during the
last IVFD board meeting. After the president closed the
meeting, the four remaining board members (a quorum)
had a conversation with the husband of the employee at the
center of the recent controversy. It’s all on tape, so it’s pretty
easy to prove. This is a blatant violation of the Oregon
Revised Statutes governing public meetings. We have no
minutes of that meeting so we have no idea what the five
men were talking about.
In the case of meeting law violations, I am obligated to
file a civil suit against the IVFD. It is not my desire to put
the district in the situation where they have to pay for an
attorney to represent them and in the end the fine that goes
along with it.
So, I am offering this as a solution - replace the
board member who quit with Carol Dickson who just
recently came off the board and is extremely qualified and
knowledgeable about the district. Additionally, the board
president needs to resign at the Aug. 17 meeting.
The public needs to have faith in our fire district’s
leadership and the board president has lost all credibility.
It’s time to chart a different course.
Thank you for picking up this week’s paper, enjoy!
~djm
Letters to the editor
Illinois Valley News welcomes
letters to the editor.
Please e-mail them to
dan@illinois-valley-news.com.
POLICY ON LETTERS:
‘Illinois Valley News’ encourages
letters to the editor provided they are
legible and not libelous or scurrilous.
All letters must be signed, including
name, address and telephone number.
The latter need not be published, but
will be used to verify authenticity.
The “News” reserves the right to
edit letters. Letters are used at the
discretion of the publisher.
***
(Editor’s Note: Views and
commentary, including statements
made as fact are strictly those of
the letter writers.)
Dear Editor:
I am SO glad I voted to
support the fire department. In
the last few years I have had
three deeply frightening fires
in my neighborhood and each
time we have been saved by the
heroic efforts of the fire fighters
called in to handle the blazes.
Wednesday’s fire at the junk yard
out by airport drive was another
example of the kind of amazing
team work that comes into play
when a fast growing, really
dangerous fire pops up. I am very
grateful to all the people that get
up in the morning and risk their
lives so that the rest of us can live
ours. THANK YOU ALL!
Iris Chinook
Cave Junction
Reader has advice for fire
board member
Attention Ron Humphries,
There is a time and place
for everything. Thursday, Aug.
17, Illinois Valley Fire Protection
District meeting is your time and
place to resign from the board.
Edwin Bob Butler
Former IVFD
Board Member.
Cave Junction.
Editor:
Finding a solution to cancer
is easy! In the Trumpist world,
the solution is to pretend it
doesn’t exist. Any day now, the
Institutes of Health and Centers
for Disease Control will remove
the term ‘cancer’ from their
websites and reports. “Disease
cured!” Trump will proclaim.
Seem preposterous?
Actually, not!
This is exactly how the
Trump Administration is dealing
with the greatest threats humanity
faces: global warming and
climate change. We now have
directives removing ‘climate
change’ and climate science from
federal department websites and
materials.
The anti-science
numskulls in Congress and this
Administration are not content
with promoting alternative facts
and post-truth testimony on
scientific issues, testimony that
has been frequently debunked in
the scientific literature to reveal
it as total fraud. They would now
handcuff science and rational
policy by suppressing reference
to, and use of, science.
In Congress, we have long
witnessed GOP efforts in the
Congressional ‘anti-science and
technology’ Committee to stack
testimony in favor of frauds
and hoaxters from sources such
as the Heritage Foundation -
partisan hacks first and scientists
secondarily if that. They tried to
prevent the Defense Department
from considering the national
security implications of climate
change.
Let’s return to sanity.
Alan Journet
Jacksonville
Editor:
I’m sure I’m not the only
American wondering if we are
heading the right direction as a
country. If we can get answers to
these questions, we will have a
good start.
*Has anyone else
wondered exactly what GW
Bush meant when said he was a
“compassionate conservative”?
Allowing Republicans to spend
lavishly, like Democrats, certainly
wasn’t conservative. Was his
costly attempt to “nation change”
Iraq compassionate? Building
“big government” was neither!
*When Obama and his
congressional Democrats passed
their trillion dollar Bill for
“shovel ready infrastructure
projects” and found very few,
whatever happened to the 900
billion or so dollars that were
left? Did Obama need David
Copperfield to teach him to make
money disappear?
*The MSM (Main
Stream Media) seems to
have a huge reservoir of
anonymous sources to report
much derogatory information
on Trump. Meanwhile Trump
is accomplishing many
achievements like eliminating
many costly regulations and
making real changes improving
the VA that are not being
reported. The incredible rise in
the Sock Market indicates big
confidence in Trump policies.
This same MSM told us Hillary
was going to win. Should we
believe anything they say?
*Lois Lerner appears to
have committed a number of
crimes as boss at the IRS under
Obama. Eric Holder, Obama’s
AG, allowed a number of
weapons to be purchase in U.S.
and smuggled into Mexico.
Loretta Lynch, another Obama
AG, had a clandestine meeting
with Hillary’s husband on the
tarmac of the airport in Phoenix.
Why was a special prosecutor
appointed to look into Russian
influence in our election when
there is no evidence of a crime
when there were numerous
potential crimes under Obama but
the MSM didn’t care?
*As Secretary of State under
Obama, Hillary allowed Russia
to purchase a 20% interest in a
company called Uranium One in
the U.S. Shortly after Bill was
paid hundreds of thousands of
dollars for a speech in Russia
and the Clinton Foundation was
gifted with a hundred million or
so dollars by Russia. Should a
“special prosecutor” look into this
potential crime?
The real question is: Does
Lady Justice still have a blindfold
or has the MSM allowed the
blindfold to slip so a “chosen
few” get a bigger helping of
“Justice under the Law” than
others?
Gregory Anderson
Cave Junction
Obituaries
Leslie Doris
Oberlies III, 78, of
Cave Junction, died August
12, 2017 at his home.
No services are planned.
Illinois Valley Funeral
Directors are in charge of
arrangements.
I llInoIs V alley F uneral D Irectors
www.since1928Hull.com
541-592-4110
Save the date
Aug. 16
Wednesday, Aug. 16, 2017, at 7
p.m. at Cave Junction City Hall, 222
W. Lister St., the Common Council
of the city of Cave Junction will
hold a workshop to consider previ-
ously collected public input on the
matter of law enforcement priorities
within the city of Cave Junction and
produce a final set of law enforce-
ment priorities for adoption by the
council at a forthcoming regular
council meeting.
Aug. 17
The Illinois Valley Fire District
board of directors regular meeting
has been rescheduled from Aug.
10 to Aug. 17 at the administration
Building, 681 Caves Hwy., Cave
Junction, OR. (The Board reserves
the right to hold an executive session
at this meeting under the author-
ity of ORS 192.660.) (The meeting
location is accessible to persons with
disabilities.) (Any comments or con-
cerns must be submitted in writing.)
Aug. 22
The Associated Student Gov-
Illinois
Valley
News
Published weekly by
W.H. Alltheway, LLC
Daniel J. Mancuso, Publisher
ernment of Rogue Community Col-
lege (ASGRCC) has partnered with
the American Red Cross to host a
blood drive on Tuesday, Aug. 22,
2017, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the
Redwood campus Student Center
at 3345 Redwood Hwy. in Grants
Pass, Oregon.
Aug. 28
Planning Commission hear-
ing on Aug. 28, 6 p.m. at the Anne
Basker Auditorium 600 Nw 6th
Street, Grants Pass.
Order 2017-034 Ban on
OLCC regulated marijuana produc-
tion on all sizes of Rural Resi-
dential lands in Josephine County
by the Board of Commissioners,
Simon Hare, Dan DeYoung and
Lily Morgan. This now includes
medical marijuana.
Sept. 13
AWANA starts Sept. 13 for
children PK – Sixth grade at Com-
munity Bible Church, 113 S. Caves
Ave. CJ, Wednesdays at 6:15 – 8
p.m. Registration will be the 13th
so come a little bit early! Children
must be registered by their parents
POSTMASTER: Please send
address changes to P.O. Box 1370,
Cave Junction, OR 97523
Illinois Valley News is published at
221 S. Redwood Hwy.,
Cave Junction, OR 97523
Telephone (541) 592-2541
Since 1937 periodicals postage
paid at Cave Junction, OR 97523
P.O. Box 1370 USPS 258-820
or legal guardians. There will be
stories, music, games and often
light snacks. AWANA will meet ev-
ery Wednesday night unless there
is no school. This is a church spon-
sored program regardless of their
religious affiliation. At the same
time there will be a free parenting
class for all parents, grandparents
& guardians.
Continuing
*Illinois Valley Community
Watch Meeting every Monday from
5 - 6 p.m. at Wild River Pizza, 249
Redwood Hwy. – Cave Junction. A
Public Safety Outreach Campaign
effort with all I.V. Neighborhood
Watch Groups – representatives, in-
cluding businesses and churches,
and support for anyone wishing
to start a neighborhood watch. In-
cludes a 2-way hand held radio pro-
gram briefing from 4:20 - 4:50 p.m.
Contact Guenter - 541-415-1929 /
ivwatch541@gmail.com.
*The I.V. Senior Thrift Store:
Join the crew and make new friends.
You don’t need to be a senior citizen
to volunteer at the store. Call us at
SUBSCRIPTION RATES
One year in Josephine
County - $35
One year in Jackson and
Douglas counties - $36
One year in all other
Oregon counties and
out-of-state - $43.00
Illinois Valley News does not refund subscriptions.
Remainder of subscription will be donated to the
charity of your choice.
541-592-6630. Open Monday – Sat-
urday, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
at 6 p.m., Wild River Pizza in Cave
Junction.
*Volunteers are needed in the
Cave Junction Substation to provide
support service hours to the public.
Applications are available at the
Merlin Substation, 100 Acorn Street,
Merlin, 541-474-5135, and on-line
at
http://www.co.josephine.or.us/
Files/Volunteer%20Application.
Mar%202014.pdf.
*Come join the Cave Junction
Lions Club at River Valley Restaur-
rant, at 6 p.m. on the 2nd and 4th
Thursday of each month. We are a
co-ed club and are always looking
for community minded people that
are dedicated, hard working, whether
physically limited or not and most of
all, like to have fun.
We host the Classic Car Show
in late June and Turkey Bingo in ear-
ly November. So if you like to have
fun and like to help make great things
happen, to provide glasses, hearing
aids, scholarships and support for
our community and so much more.
Come by and see what we do
or give us a call, 541-592-9243 Nina
Horsley, president.
*Cave Junction Patrol, LLC is
looking for volunteers. CJ Patrol is
a private citizen volunteer orgnaniza-
tion dedicated to effectively address-
ing heretofore-unchecked property
crime in our city and neighborhoods.
The primary mission of CJ Patrol is
to prevent, interrupt, report and de-
crease property crime in the city of
Cave Junction. Call 541-592-9665 or
visit cjpatrol.org.
*Committee Meeting STATE
OF JEFFERSON Josephine County
1st Thursday of each month at 5:30
p.m. Black Forest Restaurant, Grants
Pass and 3rd Thursday of each month
News - Dan Mancuso
dan@illinois-valley-news.com
Editor -Laura Mancuso
laura@illinois-valley-news.com
Classified Ads -Laura Mancuso
laura@illinois-valley-news.com
Circulation - Laura Mancuso
laura@illinois-valley-news.com
Advertising / Composition -
Dan Mancuso
dan@illinois-valley-news.com
Mailroom - Millie Watkins
*Second and fourth Mondays
of the month, 7 p.m. in the Coun-
cil Chambers of City Hall, 222 W.
Lister Street, Cave Junction, Oregon,
the Common Council of the City of
Cave Junction will meet in a regular
session.
DEADLINES:
News, Classified and
Display Ads,
Announcement and
Letters
4 P.M. FRIDAYS
POLICY ON LETTERS:
‘Illinois Valley News’ encour-
ages letters to the editor pro-
vided they are legible and not
libelous or scurrilous. All let-
ters must be signed, including
name, address and telephone
number. The latter need not be
published, but will be used to
verify authenticity. The ‘News’
reserves the right to edit letters.
Letters are used at the discre-
tion of the publisher.