Illinois Valley News, Cave Junction, Ore. Wednesday, June 21, 2023
Hello from the Illinois Valley Country
Club golf course!
In this week’s action, the Men’s Club top
10 look like:
Taylor’s Sausage—147.5
True Value #2—138.5
Kerby Electric—136.5
Bud Bros—131.5
D&B—131
Cascade Auto—116
Pacific Ridgeline—116
Valley Fab—113
Jake, Casey, Jason and Jesse—112
Jerry’s Towing—104.5
*At Thurday’s Ladies league Sue, Cheryl,
Amy , Melindee and Tasha formed a team;
Nifty Tidbits:
Printed in the Oct. 20, 2004
edition of the I.V. News
Snakes always seem to have a
negative impact on peoples minds.
From the beginning, according to the
Bible, snakes have been in need of a
good public relations expert. I will
try to change some ideas about their
importance. Its true that many are
poisonous. But the only poisonous
snake in our area is the rattlesnake,
and even the rattlesnake performs
a beneficial service to mankind by
eating lots of rats, mice, rabbits, and
squirrels.
No snakes are vegetarians
and eat our crops or damage our
gardens. Besides the rattlesnake, the
other large snake, the gopher snake,
also eats rats, mice, rabbits and
other warm blooded prey. Racers,
king snakes, garter snakes, and even
Jamie, Jaime, Sherry and Meghan had a another
team. I was out on the course fixing some water
issues and noticed that Sherry plays left-handed.
Since my partner is left-handed, I remarked
that I know which side of the ball to park my
cart. Sherry was suitably impressed. Emily was
packing for a family camping trip but Taylor
came out for the first time and she and her new
friend Meg, from Dutcher Creek played with
Mary. They shot a pretty amazing 36 and had a
birdie as well.
*On Friday evening, Family, Friends, Fun
and Kids’ night, we had Troy, D’Lynn, Todd,
Me, Graham, James, Isaiah, Jesse, Jakob and
Steph came along as a feminine addition. Todd,
Dwight, Gary and Rich had set up the course
for the Greenskeepers Revenge Tournament
so the course played very difficultly—more
later. No skins on the first 2 holes. On #12 there
were about 4 guys putting for birdie but the pin
location was up front on a steep slope and very
difficult to stop the ball near the hole. Graham
somehow got one to roll in for a three-putt bogie
and took the first skin. D’Lynn followed that
up with a birdie putt turned bogie on #13. On
#14 Troy sunk a 35 foot putt with about 8 feet
Page A-5
of break. Everyone else had hit their first putts
to the hole which had a steep break and we all
ended up in the same place in a little sunken
area off the green so Troy was confident that he
would take the skin. Jakob hit one hard enough
to take out the break and the ball hit the pin,
jumped up about a foot and landed in the hole,
denying Troy of his skin. Todd took a nice skin
on #15 by sinking a hard putt from the backside
of the green, after nearly getting Eagle. On #17,
having a carry-over KP and about $17 in the pot,
Troy put one on the green from the tee area that
Todd had put behind the trees. Again, thinking
he had won, he gathered up the cash. Steph had
to hit from the ladies tee and she put one at about
5 feet, winning her first KP! And on #18, Todd
had placed the tee nearly into the blackberries
and sloping away so you had to have your back
foot lower than the front. Regardless, some
mighty drives resulted. D’Lynn hit one nearly
into the ditch, backed that up with shot over
the trees and onto the green, setting him up for
an Eagle putt. He barely missed the Eagle and
tapped in for birdie and the last skin.
*For the Greenskeepers Revenge
Tournament, the tee boxes were set up in crazy
places, off the tee area and most time behind
trees. The pin locations were all on steep
slopes and on the edge of the greens. And to
add further difficulty, all of the flagsticks were
removed so you couldn’t tell where the holes
were. I said, “Bye bye!” about a hundred times
during the day, as putts rolled past the hole, up
to the hole, near the hole and always off. There
were very few birdies and pars. A LOT of bogies
and a whole lot of double bogies. Everyone
remarked that they would like to play this format
again because you get to see places of the course
where you have not hit shot before. Todd and
Jesse won with an 81, many other teams finished
in the high 90s. We had people coming out while
we were playing so we scurried and replaced
pins as we finished the tournament.
**Kids League continues on Thursdays, if
you have not yet signed up your children, please
do so right away.
**Next tournament will be June 24- the
Backward Tournament, where we play from tee
to green but backward through the course.
**And July 1 is the Alumni Tournament, a
big fun party with live music, good food and lots
and lots of fun.
by Chuck Rigby
the rubber boa eat various sizes of
lizards, other snakes, frogs, worms
and even insects, which means that
they cause no harm to human beings.
There are two fairly small
snakes, rarely over a foot long,
which are found in moist habitats,
such as rotting logs and densely
forested areas of the Illinois Valley.
They are very docile, are easily
handled, and both are beneficial
to humans. The ringneck snake is
usually olive or gray-green in color
on the back or dorsal surface. The
belly, or ventral surface, is a vivid
orange color and this color forms a
ring around the body just behind the
head. There is also a series of black
spots all along the upper part of the
orange area. This is the basis for its
scientific name which is Diadophis
punctatus. Diadophis is derived from
the Greek word “diadem,” which
means headband and “ophis” which
is Greek for snake. “Punctum,” the
source of the word punctuate, is
Latin for spots. Therefore it means
the spotty snake with a headband.
Ringneck snakes normally
feed on salamanders, lizards, frogs,
and earthworms. They also are
known to eat slugs which should
make all gardeners happy to have
them in the area. They are usually
active only at night and will secrete
a smelly mucous from their mouth
when disturbed. I’ve never seen that
trait and have handled them many
times when they were brought to
school.
The other small snake in
our area is known as the sharp-
tailed snake. This snake is a dull
reddish-brown color with faint
white stripes along the length of
both sides. The name is based on a
noticeable sharp spine at the tip of
its tail. The function of the spine is
not positively known but seems to
serve as an anchor when it struggles
with its prey. That prey, which is
their main food, seems to consist
almost entirely of slugs but small
salamanders may be eaten as well.
The sharp-tailed snake also has long
thin fangs which help in gripping the
slimy slugs. By the way, no snakes
are slimy. They are smooth and
dry, but they produce no mucous
in the skin as do salamanders and
frogs. They may be wet because of
wet grass or coming out of water.
Hopefully, this information may help
make some people more inclined to
hold them in their hands.
The scientific name of the
Sharp-tailed snake is Contia tenuis.
It was named “Contia” to honor
John L. Leconte, a herpetologist (a
scientist that studies reptiles and
amphibians). LeConte collected
many reptiles and amphibians for
the United States National Museum.
“Tenuis” is the Latin word for narrow
or slender. Predators of both snakes
are abundant and varied. They would
include jays, opossums, other snakes,
shrews, skunks and even scorpions
and spiders on occasion.
My main objective in
writing this article is to show that
snakes are generally beneficial
as far as humans are concerned.
Finding a snake in the woods, even
a rattlesnake, is not an excuse to
destroy it. They are usually not
considered a cuddly pet but they are
an important part of the ecosystem.
The natural ecology thrives if all
species are left to fill their niche in
the environment.
Today in History: The Associated Press
Today is Wednesday,
June 21, the 172nd day of
2023. There are 193 days left
in the year. Summer begins
today.
Today’s Highlight in
History:
On June 21, 1788, the
United States Constitution
went into effect as New
Hampshire became the ninth
state to ratify it.
On this date:
In 1377, King Edward III
died after ruling England for
50 years; he was succeeded by
his grandson, Richard II.
In 1834, Cyrus Hall
McCormick received a patent
for his reaping machine.
In 1942, an Imperial
Japanese submarine fired
shells at Fort Stevens on the
Oregon coast, causing little
damage.
In 1954, the American
Cancer Society presented
a study to the American
Medical Association meeting
in San Francisco which
found that men who regularly
smoked cigarettes died at a
considerably higher rate than
non-smokers.
In 1964, civil rights
workers Michael H.
Schwerner, Andrew Goodman
and James E. Chaney
were slain in Philadelphia,
Mississippi; their bodies were
found buried in an earthen
dam six weeks later. (Forty-
one years later on this date
in 2005, Edgar Ray Killen,
an 80-year-old former Ku
Klux Klansman, was found
guilty of manslaughter; he
was sentenced to 60 years
in prison, where he died in
January 2018.)
In 1973, the U.S.
Supreme Court, in Miller v.
California, ruled that states
may ban materials found to
be obscene according to local
standards.
In 1977, Menachem
Begin (men-AH’-kem BAY’-
gihn) of the Likud bloc
became Israel’s sixth prime
minister.
In 1982, a jury in
Washington, D.C. found
John Hinckley Jr. not guilty
by reason of insanity in the
shootings of President Ronald
Reagan and three other men.
In 1989, a sharply
divided Supreme Court ruled
that burning the American
flag as a form of political
protest was protected by the
First Amendment.
In 1997, the WNBA
made its debut as the New
York Liberty defeated the host
Los Angeles Sparks 67-57.
In 2010, Faisal Shahzad
(FY’-sul shah-ZAHD’), a
Pakistan-born U.S. citizen,
pleaded guilty to charges of
plotting a failed car bombing
in New York’s Times Square.
(Shahzad was later sentenced
to life in prison.)
In 2011, the Food
and Drug Administration
announced that cigarette packs
in the U.S. would have to carry
macabre images that included
rotting teeth and gums,
diseased lungs and a sewn-up
corpse of a smoker as part of
a graphic campaign aimed at
discouraging Americans from
lighting up.
Ten years ago: A
one-page criminal complaint
unsealed in federal court
accused former National
Security Agency contractor
Edward Snowden of espionage
and theft of government
property in the NSA
surveillance case. President
Barack Obama nominated
James Comey, a top Bush-
era Justice official, to head
the FBI, succeeding Robert
Mueller. The Food Network
said it was dropping Paula
Deen, barely an hour after the
celebrity cook posted the first
of two videotaped apologies
online begging forgiveness
from fans and critics troubled
by her admission to having
used racial slurs in the past.
Five years ago: First
lady Melania Trump visited
with migrant children during
a brief stop at a Texas facility
housing some children
separated from their parents
at the border; she caused a
stir when she left Washington
wearing a green, hooded
military jacket with lettering
that said, “I REALLY DON’T
CARE, DO U?” Pulitzer
Prize-winning conservative
columnist and pundit Charles
Krauthammer died at 68; he
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Cave Junction
592-3667
Ted Crocker, LTC
Bob Litak, LTC
Licensed Tax Consultants B14914
had said a year earlier that he
was being treated for a tumor
in his abdomen.
One year ago: The
House Jan. 6 committee
heard testimony that Donald
Trump’s relentless pressure to
overturn the 2020 presidential
election led to widespread
threats against local workers
and state officials. A month
after the Uvalde, Texas school
massacre, the state’s public
safety chief testified that
police had enough officers on
the scene to have stopped a
gunman three minutes after
he entered the building and
killed 19 students and two
teachers. Officers with rifles
instead stood and waited in a
hallway for more than an hour
before they finally stormed
the classroom and killed the
gunman. Józef Walaszczyk,
a member of the Polish
resistance who rescued dozens
of Jews during the Nazi
German occupation of Poland
during World War II, died at
age 102.
Today’s Birthdays:
Composer Lalo Schifrin is
91. Actor Bernie Kopell is
90. Actor Monte Markham is
88. Songwriter Don Black is
85. Actor Mariette Hartley is
83. Comedian Joe Flaherty
is 82. Rock singer-musician
Ray Davies (The Kinks) is
79. Actor Meredith Baxter
is 76. Actor Michael Gross
(Baxter’s co-star on the
sitcom “Family Ties”) is 76.
Rock musician Joe Molland
(Badfinger) is 76. Rock
musician Don Airey (Deep
Purple) is 75. Rock musician
Joey Kramer (Aerosmith)
is 73. Rock musician Nils
Lofgren is 72. Actor Robyn
Douglass is 71. Actor Leigh
McCloskey is 68. Cartoonist
Berke Breathed is 66. Actor
Josh Pais is 65. Country singer
Kathy Mattea is 64. Oregon
Gov. Kate Brown is 63. Actor
Marc Copage (koh-PAJ’)
is 61. Actor Sammi Davis
is 59. Actor Doug Savant is
59. Country musician Porter
Howell is 59. Actor Michael
Dolan is 58. Writer-director
Lana Wachowski is 58.
Actor Carrie Preston is 56.
Rapper/producer Pete Rock
is 53. Country singer Allison
Moorer is 51. Actor Juliette
Lewis is 50. Actor Maggie
Siff is 49. Musician Justin
Cary is 48. Rock musician
Mike Einziger (Incubus) is 47.
Actor Chris Pratt is 44. Rock
singer Brandon Flowers is 42.
Britain’s Prince William is 41.
Actor Jussie Smollett is 41.
Actor Benjamin Walker is 41.
Actor Michael Malarkey is 40.
Pop singer Kris Allen (TV:
“American Idol”) is 38. Pop/
rock singer Lana Del Rey is
38. Actor Jascha Washington
is 34. Country musician
Chandler Baldwin (LANCO)
is 31. Pop singer Rebecca
Black is 26.