Illinois Valley news., April 21, 2021, Image 1

Your family. Your friends. Your neighbors.
Illinois Valley News
Wednesday, April 21, 2021, 1 Section, Volume LXXXIV No. 15
$1.00
Published weekly for the residents of the Illinois Valley
Fire season approaches rapidly Fraud and other
charges leveled at
Laurel Cem etery
Burning discouraged as
hot, dry conditions m ake
outlook grim without rain
Annette McGee Rasch
IVN senior contributing writer
Time is short to burn off brush and
debris piles before the season’s burn ban
is declared by the Oregon Department of
Forestry (ODF). As early as May 1, ODF
could forbid any further outdoor burning on
all state, private, county, city, and Bureau of
Land Management forestlands in Josephine
County - until the fall rains return.
The outlook for the 2021 wildfire season
has both residents and firefighters concerned.
“Escaped debris burns are spreading
faster than people anticipate for this time
of the year,” said Natalie Weber, ODF’s
Southwest Oregon Districtpublic information
officer. “Fire agencies from across southern
Oregon are responding to multiple escaped
burns in the past few weeks. Warmer weather,
winds and a lack of rain are contributing to
increased fire activity and risk.”
Weber noted that citations are being
issued to those responsible for these escaped
burns.
“Where we’re at right now is fairly
typical,” Weber said. “We always see pre-
season fire. It’s really weather dependent.
We’ve had seasons where we had an early
start with fire, but then late spring rain meant
we had a mild fire season.”
Declaration of this year’s fire season
“will come down to the forecast in the next
few weeks,” she said. “If we continue to see
the warmer weather and don’t get any more
rain, it could happen soon. We’re constantly
evaluating. We can never have enough rain in
this region because we’re so fire-prone.”
Recent years have seen many weather
and fire records broken and 2021 could be
another year for the books.
SEE SEASON ON A-8
Association ousts m an agem en t as
financial transactions referred to state
Dan Mancuso
IVN staff
(Photo by Laura Mancuso for the Illinois Valley News)
Erickson Air Crane lands at the Illinois Valley Airport during a
training day Saturday, April 17 to prepare for wildfires.
In the past, the historic
Laurel Cemetery Association
meetings were as quiet
as a ghost. But recently,
association members have
been concerned about alleged
mismanagement of funds for
personal use, squatting in the
chapel and desecration of
historical markers.
The April 18 meeting
was standing-room only with
a dozen attendees standing
outside looking to get answers
from the current management:
Lyn Poitz and karen Delarme.
Association member
Roy Barto a gave a financial
breakdown and mentioned
multiple cases of fraud that
he has reported to the state
of Oregon. One includes a
purchase of food using an
Electronic Benefits Transfer
(EBT) card known in Oregon
as an Oregon Trail card. The
receipt was then reimbursed
with cemetery funds, which
is food stamp fraud. Violators
may be facing up to one year
in jail and a substantial fine.
SEE LAUREL ON A-9
Making defensible space at home
Annette McGee Rasch
IVN senior contributing writer
While it’ll soon be too late to
burn off debris, it’s never too late to
create more defensible space around
homes, to reduce vulnerability in the
event a wildfire encroaches.
Too often, wildfires are started
by human folly before spreading to
their neighbors (or into the forest).
Oregon Department of Forestry
fire safety materials instruct how
once a fire is started, it simply
follows the fuel, so whether that is to
trees or houses comes down to what
the residents of any particular area
do to minimize that threat.
ODF also points out that the
more residents do to make their
homes defensible, the easier it is for
firefighters to protect it.
To create defensible space
within a 30- to 50-foot perimeter of
the home, all dead sticks, leaves and
pine needles should be removed.
Needles should be cleaned off the
roof and from under the eaves, and
rain gutters kept free of needles and
leaves. Within 100 feet of homes,
tall grass and low-lying brush
underneath trees that can act as
ladder fuels should be eliminated.
SEE SPACE ON A-8
REGGAE ON ThE EAST FORk
(Photo by Laura Mancuso for the Illinois Valley News)
Suzanne Vautier with the Cultural and Ecological
Enhancement Network (CEEN) takes a look at a
manzanita shrub during a wildflower hike Saturday,
April 17. SEE MORE PHOTOS ON A-10
J oCo to aid Curry
County in operations
CJ Schatza
IVN copy editor
(Photos by Laura Mancuso for the Illinois Valley News)
Some of the Valley’s favorite musicians, Alcyon
Massive (left) and Rosie Wittman (above) opened up
for Indubious and Mike Love at the Earth People’s
Park on Highway 199 and the East Fork of the Illinois
River Saturday, April 17.
A neighborly endeavor
was the first order of
business at the April 14
business session of the
Board of Josephine County
Commissioners.
According to JoCo Public
health Director Michael
Weber, the government
of Curry County, home of
the port of Brookings and
Josephine’s neighbor to the
west, has been experiencing
staffing shortages which have
led to decreased capability to
run important programs.
One of these programs is
environmental health, which
includes water and restaurant
inspections.
SEE COUNTY ON A-8
housing squeeze still acute this spring Local doctors, health
Last m ultifam ily
housing project in
Valley was in 1978
Jason McMillen
IVN contributing writer
It’s safe to say that the housing
crunch in the Illinois Valley is
just as bad as in Grants Pass and
elsewhere in Oregon — but it’s
probably more realistic to say that
it’s worse, and there’s no signs
of progress under the current
economic conditions and COVID-
19 shutdowns.
According to records provided
by the city of Cave Junction, the
last time multifamily residential
housing, better known to most as
apartments, was built in the area
was 1978. Even then, it was only
two complexes — for a total of 52
units.
That’s Valley Village
Apartments on Schumacher Street
and Siskiyou Village on Lister
Street, both built within a year of
one another. Grants Pass has had
just under 100 units added since
2006, with many more middle-
family style developments, which
include duplexes and triplexes.
According to information
provided by I.V. Real Estate - a
business that manages a lion’s share
of the area’s rental units, including
rental houses - average monthly rent
prices for vacated units has more
than doubled in the last 10 years.
Since 2019, current tenants
saw a further 17% increase in rent, a
trend likely only capped by Oregon
Senate Bill 608, which reduced
year over year rent increases to
a maximum of 10% in 2020,
depending year to year on a variety
of economic factors.
Rent was said to be lower on
average than Grants Pass, but not
by a large margin. It’s hard to say,
because there’s nothing available to
rent.
SEE HOUSING ON A-6
officials hold vaccine Q&A
Laura Mancuso
IVN staff
Twenty-two participants attended
the COVID-19 Vaccination Question
& Answer Virtual Forum that was
held April 11 on Zoom and hosted by
Jerry Allen from the Josephine County
Democratic Party healthcare Caucus.
The invited speakers were Dr. kathy
Mechling, family medicine specialist
in Selma; Dr. Bruce Murray, internal
medicine specialist and JoCo public
health adviser; and Dr. Barbara Villona,
international emergency physician.
Allen said the forum was about
“providing information to people
so they can consider becoming
vaccinated.”
The following are some questions
asked at the forum and their answers by
the doctors:
If you are on
immunosuppressant medication for
arthritis should you get the COVID-
19 vaccine (CV)?
Mechling advised talking to your
physician about getting the vaccine. She
explained that some doctors recommend
getting the vaccine and then skipping a
dose of your medication, but it really
SEE VACCINE ON A-9