Letters to the Editor
IVHS Career Connections program open to businesses
From Bill Moore
Selma
Illinois Valley High School, in partnership with Illinois Valley Community Development Organization and several employers, has initiated the “Career Connections” program at IVHS, which began in early April, and will culminate in a Job Fair at the school on Wednesday, May 30.
This program is quite an innovative approach to matching students with potential employers, while providing educational training addressing work ethics, problem-solving, resume-writing, customer service, interpersonal relationship, etc. -- all targeting the requirements that every employer looks for in potential new employees.
The participation and interest of the students has been commendable, with 18 students originally registering and participating in the classes. I have attended several sessions and found that not only were the students and instructors focused and involved, but I learned a few new aspects of employer-employee relationships myself.
The key to ultimate success of this program is that our local employers support this program. Whether you may have one employee or 50, or if you have opportunities for training or apprenticeships to help both you and the students, we need your help and participation in the Job Fair. The Career Connections program can become a true model program, directly linking our local employers with their future employees, through the educational system.
Area employers who see merit in this program should contact Jennifer Marsden at 592-2451 or Bob Schumacher at 592-4440 for more details on the Job Fair, and how to help IVHS students and their own businesses grow.
Cave Junction development not to her liking
From Linda Schluter Tedder
Cave Junction
Why, oh why, are the good citizens of Cave Junction selling out to the company which has bought property in Cave Junction to put in a small shopping mall (don’t need it, don’t really want it).
Cave Junction is a beautiful town of like 1,600 people. The developer sees turning this jewel into a place with an additional 5,000 people. Why? He doesn’t even live here.
Look what’s going on with Redwood Hwy. Widening a road is never good.
I hope that folks don’t sell out to a medical center and assisted living facilities because I feel they’re being fooled.
Notice that here in Cave Junction we don’t have a real police force. Many of us
are obtaining a license to carry concealed weapons. Only thing we can do is
vote against anything to increase taxes.
This is a wonderful town. Kids can walk to school, and many residents don’t even lock their doors. But hey, with development nothing is good. Look at Southern
California where developers have turned it into a toilet.
I think that the developer needs to pack his bags and just go. People remember what a beautiful town this once was. He has no real connections here.
Blame Game by leaders following rejection of levy
From Lew Lyons
Cave Junction
It started as soon as the voting stopped. Once it was clear that the voters of Josephine County had shown that they would not allow the huge increase in property tax, the powers-that-be began wringing their hands, even though they knew the O&C funding would end at this time and place.
Everything that does not go with the plans they set out will be blamed on the voters not being willing to pass their uncalled-for taxes. Let the blame fall where it belongs, on poor planning for the future. Telling us that called-for services in the future will not be answered is not much of a change for Illinois Valley.
Failure of the levy was not a surprise. As my dad used to say, “Read ‘em and weep.” Make do with what you have and work on getting funding from other than just property owners only.
Be prepared before you head out on the highway
From Matt Garrett, director, Oregon Dept. of Transportation
Salem
This Memorial Day, Monday, May 28 will mark the kick-off of one of the busiest construction seasons in Oregon’s history.
Work on the Oregon Dept. of Transportation’s OTIA III State Bridge Delivery Program has shifted into high gear, with 63 bridges currently under construction and another 55 entering construction later this year. Already, 56 highway bridges have been completed and opened to traffic since the bridge program started in 2003.
Across the state, you’ll see ODOT workers and Oregon contractors working hard to repair, replace and modernize vital highway corridors and highway bridges. Travelers on Interstate 5 alone will pass through 19 active work zones between Portland and Medford.
I can’t overstate how important this work is for Oregonians. Our highway system is the lifeline that keeps our state moving forward. Our economic competitiveness depends on our ability to move people, goods and services more efficiently in our growing economy.
Our commitment to motorists is, “Better roads ahead,” and I’m happy to say we’re seeing the truth in that statement every day.
No travelers, especially people on vacation, want to be slowed on the way to their destinations. That’s why we’ve taken steps, where possible, to schedule work at night or during off-peak hours. We’ve also coordinated projects so that truckers, commuters and visitors get where they’re going as smoothly and safely as possible.
Still, it’s possible that delays could be encountered.
To minimize that inconvenience, ODOT has two great resources for up-to-date information about construction and traffic for anywhere in Oregon. Be prepared before hitting the road by visiting TripCheck.com or phoning 511.
And, when you see ODOT construction teams, remember that they are working to make Oregon’s roads and bridges safer. So please, slow down in construction work zones.
Visit oregon.gov/ODOT/COMM/video_podcasts.shtml for a video message from me about the 2007 construction season and how to be prepared -- Better roads are ahead for Oregon.
He questions reality of freedom in USA
From William Schneider
Cave Junction
Words cannot express the emptiness I feel when I think about how easily the people of the United States of America have turned their backs not only on the victims and immediate families of 9/11/01, but on truth itself.
I can never again see the U.S. flag as anything more than a corporate logo, for it surely does not represent unity or freedom. Not any more. Maybe at one time when I was young. I can only compare the events of 9/11 on America as a horrible rape committed by family members possibly with help from others afar.
I do not see a United States of America. I do see states of America -- State of Denial, State of Apathy, State of Complacency, State of Confusion, State of Mindlessness and the biggest state of them all: a State of Turning Back the Truth, Honor and Integrity. A Texas-size state that fits like a glove. A state our president is surely a part of. Along with other members of the sitting administration.
Until we get to the cold, hard facts of truth about 9/11, I will never see America as anything but a sadly pathetic state of affairs. Not to be trusted, not to be honored and certainly not to be celebrated by waving the corporate logo on the end of a stick saying, in the words of Michael Moore, “We’re free, we’re free. We live in a democracy. Whoopee.”
There are mountains of evidence pointing to complicity by members of our own government in the attacks of 9/11. The failure on the part of the people of America to address this before this administration is finished will be the greater crime. For then truly we pass on to our children and the future a very broken country.
How can we ask God for a blessing while we allow such evil in our presence? Every word of love, respect, honor, truth and unity from henceforth will be tainted by the greatest lie and crime ever committed against this nation if not resolved. It will be an “in-our-face” mockery of all this country stands for.
Or should I say, used to stand for. It spits in the eye of the Church. It Jack-boot tramples, much like the Nazis, across the land, and someday, if not dealt with now, will kick in the door of your children’s homes for whatever trivial reasons deemed necessary.
This is the last chance we have of taking this country back, if we ever had it to begin with. If we fail in this moment our future generations will surely pay the price. But we already know that, don’t we? It is upon each individual to search the heart and act in accordance with what is felt. This will show ourselves and the world what we are really about.
Good or bad, no one gets away from this one.
‘Blessing bestowed; return to sovereign responsibility’
From Raymond Ronald Karczewski ©
Cave Junction
A recent “Illinois Valley News” headline read, If May 15 law levy fails -- patrol deputies go poof. Only illusory fluff is capable of going poof.
A gritty, no-nonsense, enlightened awakening has occurred amongst the Sovereign People of Josephine County. They have boycotted/boycotted/boycotted their corrupt county government. The law enforcement levy failed by a large margin.
The People have spoken. The politicians, the corrupt judges and prosecutors of Josephine County will now be listening, and rightfully so, to the voice of the Real Government, the Sovereign People.
What now awaits the people of Josephine County? An example of taking charge of our own lives, our community -- a lesson for the entire country to follow -- has been set. Now we must follow through.
Let every able-bodied family man strap on a sidearm while they conduct their daily business in Josephine County. That act alone is guaranteed to have a chilling effect upon crime and terrorism that the sheriff’s office could not contain.
When my wife retired and we arrived in Southern Oregon in the late 1980s, armed men were commonly seen in business areas of Grants Pass and Cave Junction carrying sidearms openly. Has crime declined or increased in your community since when our Second Amendment rights were stripped from a free people?
Has the fear factor of violent crime and terrorism grown or declined since?
I personally know the “Terrorists” who threaten our American Way of Life. There is information at arkenterprises.com/index11.html that shows just how blessed Josephine County is when the People came to their senses and recognized their responsibility in self-protection and the protection of family and neighbors.
It is time to follow through. Let armed neighbors form neighborhood patrols to protect neighbors from criminals and terrorists alike.
By the way, these comments come to you from a retired police sergeant who understands that no one can protect you in your moment of need unless the aid is as close as your family or your neighbor.
