Illinois Valley News, Cave Junction, Ore. Wednesday, Oct, 21, 2020
MAYOR
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Continued from A-3
“The next step is to get together
a group,” Martell said. “We need to
get our businesses together and get
on the same page. We’re so poised to
really make a leap forward.”
In Deschutes County, the
town of Sisters used the Main Street
organization to help it remake its
downtown, build curb appeal and
encourage passing motorists on U.S.
20 to stop. Similarly, the Redwood
Highway passes through Cave
Junction, between Grants Pass and the
coast.
“We have so much traffic that
goes through here,” Martell said.
“Sisters was just a place you drove
through. It’s completely transformed.”
Funding assistance might
come from $155,000 that Josephine
County agreed to commit earlier this
year from the sale of the “County
Building” in Cave Junction. That
money is earmarked to benefit
downtown with improvements
such as lighting, security or visual
enhancements. It also might be used
to leverage other investments, Martell
said.
She said ongoing improvements
at Jubilee Park, including the addition
of a ballfield, grant-funded splash
pad and upgraded playground and
pavilion, also could help attract
visitors. She predicted that work
would be done by the end of next
year. She also said a dog park was a
possibility.
As for some of his other goals,
Hall said he would try to encourage
investment in the city by offering
tax breaks to developers, creating an
urban renewal district and pursuing
downtown beautification.
He also said he would end the
city’s sale of bulk water supplies, and
said he would find savings to pay
for the resulting loss of $215,000 in
annual income that the sales bring in.
“When I get a chance to dig
around [in the city budget], we are
going to find efficiencies,” he said.
Martell faulted Hall for never
attending a city budget committee
meeting. In reply to Hall’s call for a
forensic audit of the budget, Martell
said the city already is audited
annually.
One of Hall’s biggest gripes was
the city’s purchase this year of the
former Illinois Valley Golf Club, a
move that allowed the city to continue
releasing treated wastewater into a
pond on the 60-acre property. The
purchase cost $620,000; the property
is valued by the county assessor at
$1.1 million. Hall called the move
“a fiasco” impacting ratepayers. The
city is pursuing a grant to pay for the
purchase.
The need to buy the land was
prompted by the bankruptcy of the
former golf course owners, which
forced the city to buy the property or
find an alternative place to discharge
the effluent. Under an agreement, it
had been releasing effluent there for
decades.
The former owner of the
property, the Illinois Valley Golf
Association, was formerly headed by
Gill. Martell said a feasibility study
found the purchase to be the least
costly alternative open to the city.
At one point during the forum,
Page A-5
Hall got confrontational when
moderator Dan Mancuso provided
property value and tax information for
the golf course property.
“Are you debating us?” Hall
asked him. “Are you running for
mayor?”
“Just stating some facts,”
Mancuso replied. “There were some
things stated that were inaccurate.”
Mancuso’s detailed questioning
caught both Hall and Martell flat-
footed a couple of times, including
once when they couldn’t list how
much property tax revenue the city
took in annually and once when they
couldn’t name the mayor of Grants
Pass.
“I can’t pull it out of my brain,”
Martell said, unable to name her
counterpart to the north. “I have no
idea.”
Hall also said he had no idea.
“And if you want to play these
little multiple choice-type questions,
I don’t see how this is helping the
viewers learn more about us,” Hall
said.
Mancuso countered that
it helped viewers decide which
candidate had the facts, including
facts about city revenue and political
allies.
“If we’re going to be partners
with Grants Pass, if we’re going
to look at Grants Pass as the ideal
shining city on the hill that we should
emulate, we should at least know who
their leadership is,” Mancuso said.
In his voters’ pamphlet
statement, Hall said he’d revise Cave
Junction’s city charter “along the lines
of Grants Pass — they got it right!”
The Grants Pass charter defines
roles of its council-manager form
of government. It has eight council
members and a nonvoting mayor,
except in certain circumstances. In
Cave Junction, the mayor gets a vote.
Speaking of the voters’
pamphlet, which is mailed to all
homes in the county, Martell said
she missed a deadline to submit a
statement for inclusion.
“I won’t ever make that mistake
again,” she said.
———
Reach reporter Shaun
Hallat 541-474-3726 or shall@
thedailycourier.com.
Commissioners express opposition to COVID measures
CJ Schatza
IVN copy editor
The Board of Josephine County
Commissioners convened at 5:30
p.m. Oct. 14 at the Anne G. Basker
Auditorium in Grants Pass for a
weekly business session.
Administrative actions kicked
the meeting off, starting with an
intergovernmental agreement with
the city of Grants Pass for the 2017
and 2019 Byrne Justice Assistance
Grant (JAG) program award.
“Essentially this is a grant that
the city of Grants Pass has applied
for for several years,” Commissioner
Lily Morgan said. “They are not
allowed by the grant protocols to
receive the money directly without
it going in partnership with the
county.” The GP Department of
Public Safety will be using the funds
to purchase radio equipment. One
grant was for $14,000, and the other
was for $18,000.
Next up was an order
authorizing the sale of county real
property. Helene Lulich, the county’s
real property manager, said, “These
properties were originally set to be
auctioned on March 18 and because
of coronavirus, that auction was
put on hold.” A Sunny Valley Loop
property suffered a fire back in
March, so the minimum bid price
was reduced. The auction is slated
for Dec. 2, on which sealed bids will
be opened by the sheriff, and the
winners will be publicly recorded.
During requests and comments
from citizens, several individuals
questioned the effectiveness and
safety of wearing masks which goes
against the vast majority of reputable
public health officials.
Daily COVID-19 case counts
have risen to levels not seen since
the height of July, and experts are
warning that the next few months
may be the darkest days of the entire
pandemic so far. It is still highly
recommended by scientists to wear a
mask while in public.
Among the commissioners,
there was no substantial pushback
against the questionable statements
made by the anti-maskers. “What
I can tell you is it’s not our rules,”
Morgan said. “At the local level,
we have advocated every day since
this has started for it to be quick
and succinct and opening up again;
opening up for our businesses... all I
can say is we continue to advocate.”
Commissioner Dan DeYoung
led by saying, “Well, if this whole
thing’s political it’ll be over in
about three weeks,” referencing a
conspiracy theory that coronavirus is
a hoax perpetrated by Democrats to
damage President Trump’s reelection
prospects. He also theorized that
“COVID went through Josephine
County well before it had a tricky
name,” and said he thinks he’s
already had the virus and didn’t
realize it.
“The governor did a very un-
American thing,” Board Chairman
Darin Fowler said. “I think all of
this government action that is telling
everybody what to do is getting free
press coverage and coverage for
their mistakes by the media. Because
the media is not on board to opening
up America. They’re on board for
thwarting our present president
and anything he says. That’s very
frustrating.”
On the board’s consent
calendar; there was an order to form
the Josephine County Transient
Lodging Tax Committee. Fowler
said that 51% of voters were in
favor of the tax on temporary
lodging facilities when it was posed
as an advisory question. The new
committee will advise the board on
whether or not the tax should be put
on next May’s ballot for the voters to
weigh in on.
Go to the county’s official
YouTube channel to watch
this weekly business session
in its entirety. You can submit
comments to the board at bcc@
josephinecounty.gov.
Today in History : by The Associated Press
Today is Wednesday,
Oct. 21, the 295th day of
2020. There are 71 days left
in the year.
Today’s Highlight in
History:
On Oct. 21, 1879,
Thomas Edison perfected
a workable electric light
at his laboratory in Menlo
Park, N.J.
On this date:
In 1797, the U.S. Navy
frigate Constitution, also
known as “Old Ironsides,”
was christened in Boston’s
harbor.
In 1892, school-
children across the U.S.
observed Columbus Day
(according to the Grego-
rian date) by reciting, for
the first time, the original
version of “The Pledge of
Allegiance,” written by
Francis Bellamy for The
Youth’s Companion.
In 1941, superheroine
Wonder Woman made her
debut in All-Star Comics
issue No. 8, published by
All-American Comics, Inc.
of New York.
In 1944, during World
War II, U.S. troops captured
the German city of Aachen
(AH’-kuhn).
In 1945, women in
France were allowed to vote
in parliamentary elections
for the first time.
In 1960, Democrat
John F. Kennedy and Re-
publican Richard M. Nixon
clashed in their fourth and
final presidential debate in
New York.
In 1966, 144 people,
116 of them children, were
killed when a coal waste
landslide engulfed a school
and some 20 houses in Ab-
erfan, Wales.
In 1967, the Israeli
destroyer INS Eilat (ay-
LAHT’) was sunk by Egyp-
tian missile boats near Port
Said (sah-EED’); 47 Israeli
crew members were lost.
Tens of thousands of Viet-
nam War protesters began
two days of demonstrations
in Washington, D.C.
In 1971, President
Richard Nixon nominated
Lewis F. Powell and Wil-
liam H. Rehnquist to the
U.S. Supreme Court. (Both
nominees were confirmed.)
In 2001, Washington,
D.C., postal worker Thomas
L. Morris Jr. died from
inhaling anthrax as officials
began testing thousands of
postal employees.
In 2012, former
senator and 1972 Demo-
cratic presidential candidate
George McGovern, 90,
died in Sioux Falls, South
Dakota.
In 2014, North Ko-
rea abruptly freed Jeffrey
Fowle, an American, nearly
six months after he was ar-
rested for leaving a Bible in
a nightclub. Former Wash-
ington Post executive editor
Ben Bradlee, 93, died in
Washington.
Ten years ago: Eight
current and former officials
pleaded not guilty to looting
millions of dollars from
California’s modest blue-
collar city of Bell. (Seven
defendants ended up being
convicted, and received sen-
tences ranging from home
confinement to 12 years in
prison.) French police used
tear gas and water cannons
against rampaging youth in
Lyon while the French gov-
ernment showed its muscle
in parliament, short-circuit-
ing tense Senate debate on
a bill raising the retirement
age from 60 to 62.
Five years ago: Vice
President Joe Biden an-
nounced he would not be
a candidate in the 2016
White House campaign,
solidifying Hillary Rod-
ham Clinton’s status as the
Democratic front-runner.
Actor-comedian Marty
Ingels, 79, died in Los
Angeles. The New York
Mets finished an NL playoff
sweep of the Chicago Cubs
to advance to the World
Series as the Mets brushed
aside the Cubs 8-3. The
Blue Jays beat the Kansas
City Royals 7-1 to close to
3-2 in the best-of-seven AL
Championship Series.
One year ago: Prime
Minister Justin Trudeau
won a second term in
Canada’s national elections;
his Liberal party took the
most seats in Parliament,
but fell short of a majority.
Zion Williamson, the NBA’s
top overall draft pick,
underwent knee surgery to
repair a torn meniscus; he
would be sidelined for three
months and miss the start of
the season with the New Or-
leans Pelicans. The nation’s
three biggest drug distribu-
tors and a major drugmaker
agreed to a $260 million
settlement related to the toll
from opioids in two Ohio
counties; the settlement
averted the first federal trial
over the opioid crisis.
Today’s Birthdays:
Actor Joyce Randolph is
96. Rock singer Manfred
Mann is 80. Musician Steve
Cropper (Booker T. & the
MG’s) is 79. Singer Elvin
Bishop is 78. TV’s Judge
Judy Sheindlin is 78. Ac-
tor Everett McGill is 75.
Musician Lee Loughnane
(LAHK’-nayn) (Chicago) is
74. Actor Dick Christie is
72. Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu is 71.
Actor LaTanya Richard-
son Jackson is 71. Musi-
cian Charlotte Caffey (The
Go-Go’s) is 67. Movie
director Catherine Hard-
wicke is 65. Singer Julian
Cope is 63. Rock musician
Steve Lukather (Toto) is
63. Actor Ken Watanabe
(wah-tah-NAH’-bee) is 61.
Actor Melora Walters is 60.
Rock musician Che (chay)
Colovita Lemon is 50.
Rock singer-musician Nick
Oliveri (Mondo Generator)
is 49. Christian rock musi-
cian Charlie Lowell (Jars of
Clay) is 47. Actor Jeremy
Miller is 44.
Country singer Mat-
thew Ramsey (Old Do-
minion) is 43. Actor Will
Estes is 42. Actor Michael
McMillian is 42. Reality
TV star Kim Kardashian
(kahr-DASH’-ee-uhn) West
is 40. Actor Matt Dallas is
38. Actor Charlotte Sul-
livan is 37. Actor Aaron
Tveit (tuh-VAYT’) is 37.
Actor Glenn Powell is 32.
Country singer Kane Brown
is 27.
JASON
HAYWARD
JUDGE
for
EXPERIENCE COUNTS
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experience in Josephine County. He
has experience in BOTH criminal and
civil law.
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