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From Sheriff Gil Gilbertson
Josephine County
During my campaign for sheriff, among the commitments I made to the people of Josephine County was to seek alternative sources of funding and to provide the best public safety environment possible with the funding available.
Many of our citizens have expressed their dissatisfaction with the property tax solutions proposed to date. Practically speaking, there may not be a one-shot solution to our financial problems, but weaving together several different solutions could provide substantial benefits.
One of the first steps I took in this regard was the formation of a Sheriff’s Advisory Council (SAC) comprised of well-qualified volunteers with many years of combined service to Josephine County to help identify and develop ideas. I have asked this council to look beyond funding the sheriff’s office to considering solutions for the countywide issues. Some of the more promising ideas are:
*New construction asset buy-in. This proposal would assess all new dwelling units built in Josephine County to proportionately match the investment in existing community assets such as roads, fairgrounds, parks, bridges, buildings and equipment that existing residents have already funded.
The ability of existing residents to remain in their homes would not be threatened, as their existing homes could be grandfathered in.
*Two separate tax districts for law enforcement. This would copy a system already implemented in Deschutes County by creating tax districts. District One, would include everyone in the county, which would fund the lawfully mandated services to the community (i.e. jail, civil, court security, search and rescue).
The second district would provide all “other” current services; including 911 response, patrol, investigations, records, etc. Only the residents directly benefiting from those services (everyone outside the city of Grants Pass) pay for district two. We are currently developing this proposal.
*Insurance industry program funding. I have initiated discussions with several companies providing home owner and vehicle coverage in our market to review with them how increased patrol presence might benefit them by reducing their claims losses; and provide an elevated level of safety to our community. So far, they have been receptive to the idea with more discussion on the horizon.
*Deductible contributions to public safety trust funds. The sheriff’s office currently has several line item “Trust Fund” accounts, similar to a nonprofit 501(c)(3) -- where tax-deductible donations can be made directly to funding the sheriff’s office obligations. Since this type of account is legally insulated from the county, public confidence concerning how, and for what, the money is spent is dramatically enhanced.
*Justice of the Peace (JP) System. Such a system would take over administration of minor civil matters arising in Josephine County such as traffic or parking tickets, code violations, etc. This would retain the related fine revenue that currently goes to the State of Oregon. By jointly occupying current building space owned by the county, and by staffing the JP position from the many well-qualified local retirees, the accompanying costs remain low.
These alternatives address the problem in a variety of ways. Some charge county residents for services that directly benefit them. Others charge new arrivals for incremental demands placed on our community services purely by their joining the community.
I don’t expect any of these alone to solve our problems, and I don’t expect a free lunch to last. Perhaps others have some ideas as good, or better that these.
Ideas sent to jocosheriff@co.josephine.or.us will be forwarded to the Sheriff’s Advisory Council, which is open to any viable proposal and will appreciate contributions and creativity.
It continues to be my honor and privilege to serve the people of Josephine County in these difficult times.
Youth sports programs make couple happy
From Christi Alvarez
Cave Junction
“Coach Cricket” is how some people know me, although most probably will recall me as Christi Alvarez (Raymond). My husband, Dane, and I are fairly active parents.
We enjoy the fact that we are able to be so involved with our children and their activities, especially sports. For the past four years we have coached whatever sport our children choose.
We have coached baseball, from coach pitch to majors, and helped some with wrestling. Until this year my husband coached Pop Warner and high school football, and I have coached Pop Warner cheerleading.
I have 23 of “my boys” on my team, a Boys & Girls Club tackle football program. I have four awesome coaches: Billy Culbertson, Nathan Smith, Erik Kovis and, most recently, Tony Hess. Our team is awesome.
It will play its last game on Saturday, Oct. 20 at 11 a.m. on the IVHS football field. We hope lots of people will come watch.
Thanksgiving, Christmas free meals help needed
From Lynn Boucher,
Cave Junction Cares coordinator
This is written to describe the Cave Junction Cares Program. The “Program” started in 1989, when it was very clear that the Illinois Valley had a large number of homeless and needy residents.
Approximately six people at that time decided to feed these people on Thanksgiving Day and Christmas. It was arranged that the pavilion at Jubilee Park would be the perfect place to achieve this.
The first year we fed approximately 50 people. Since that first year, it has escalated. With the help of more volunteers and generous donations, the Cave Junction Cares Program now feeds approximately 300 to 350 people each Thanksgiving Day and Christmas morning.
With the generous donations, we have been able to expand the Christmas breakfast to include two Santas, one who delivers breakfast and new toys to the needy that cannot get to the park (this includes the elderly and disabled that are homebound). The other Santa sits on the stage surrounded by beautiful new donated toys and distributes them to every child.
It is such a blessing to see a child receive a new toy and a stuffed animal (we want all the children to have something to “hug”). Some of these children have never seen Santa Claus or received a new toy. We have been fortunate during the past few years to even get new donated bicycles. Unfortunately, not enough for every child, but the bikes are given to those who truly needed them.
The breakfast consists of all-you-can-eat pancakes, cooked-to-order eggs, ham and Taylor’s sausage patties, and gravy with homemade biscuits. There is plenty of hot coffee, milk and orange juice.
Our Thanksgiving dinner consists of a complete home-cooked dinner of turkey, ham, candied yams, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, vegetables, and rolls and butter. Hot coffee, milk, punch and pies are also available. This is an all-you-can-eat meal.
We encourage our volunteers to serve these people and then join them and make them feel comfortable and wanted. It is a joy to see that the volunteers are enjoying the event even more than the people they serve.
Donations and volunteers are always needed. Those who wish more information can contact me at 592-6855 or 592-3594.
We appreciate all our supporters and helpers, and wish a God Bless on all of them. Those making a donation by check should make the check payable to: Cave Junction Cares c/o Lynn Boucher-Johnson.
Thirty-seven years of observing valley
From Ellis Couron
Cave Junction
When I came here all of those years ago this valley was a quiet place where the country folks looked after each other, and mostly there was no trouble.
Trouble of any kind was settled by those who lived here; and law enforcement, such as it was, was rarely seen.
Later people started buying property and moving in. Illegal plants of one kind or another began growing in the forests, fences went up, “No Trespassing” signs sprouted like weeds -- and then trouble started big time. When the local residents tried to control what was going on, the sheriff (from Grants Pass) sided with those living in shacks and around the forest saying they had a right to manage their property or any part of the forest around them in any way they saw fit.
Then the logging industry, that had been the main support of those who lived here, was almost totally shut down by those who came here from LaLa Land claiming to know more about the forest and spotted owls and the like than anyone else. Nearly every week I read long letters in the local paper about how determined they are to save us all from ourselves.
Makes one wonder what they have going on in the forest and why they are so anxious to keep everyone else out.
There hasn’t been any real law enforcement in the valley for years except for the officers who know how to write citations for failing to maintain your lane of traffic on narrow country roads, or parking on city lots after hours when business is shut down, or for vehicle maintenance and of course speeding. The law is the law 24/seven we are being told.
More than 20 years ago the Fish & Game Dept. in its infinite wisdom closed the Illinois River for taking fish. When questioned, it’s spokesman claim to need the fish in Illinois River to stock a river someplace else. It’s not all that safe to walk in the woods anymore nor park your vehicle some place out of town because of the vandalism.
We elected a brand-new sheriff who said he would help us clean out the bad guys, and the first thing he did was take his nice new uniform to Salem and, according to reports, tried to get the state legislators to set aside the vote of the people that protects their property from excessive taxes long enough for him to get his $10 or $12 million a year whether we liked it or not.
And I don’t remember a vote of the people that authorized anyone or any group to speak for the valley residents while they block our roads, hang out in trees and under bridges in their efforts to close down logging in the forests. So who are these people and where do they come from that they want to change the whole valley to fit their lifestyle?
I have said before that if you don’t like what you see here why don’t you just keep going until you find something you like better instead of bringing your theories and prejudices here in your efforts to change everything?
I have seen clear-cuts and replanted areas and believe that trees can be harvested without harm to the forest. I have personally spent a lot of money clearing brush and have planted hundreds of trees on my place in an effort to bring back a forest where a fire in the ’60s burnt it all off. I now have trees growing where there was only brush, and eventually there will be a forest.
I believe there is no such thing as an “Old-Growth” forest; there are only trees that have been lucky enough not to have been burned in a Nature-caused fire that will sooner or later burn them as well. What do you suppose happened when a forest fire started a couple of hundred years ago and burned until the rains came. How many acres do you suppose got burned when there was no one to put it out?
And still we have trees today, thousands and thousands of them, and there will be trees when we are all gone. Boise Cascade for one owns miles and miles of forest land, and it cuts and plants trees. I haven’t heard of anyone bothering that company, so why can’t the folks in this valley harvest and plant trees as well?
What was it Chicken Little said? -- “The sky is falling, the sky is falling.”
Tree planting, weed control help available
From Suzanne Vautier
Forestry Action Committee
Cave Junction
The hot, dry summer weather is over for another year, and the winter rains have started. The difference between the summer dry season and winter rains is quite dramatic in our area, and it greatly affects plants in the region.
Successful tree planting and weed management require an understanding of the differences of the seasons, and tailoring strategies to them. For instance, with the changes come a need for change in strategies for weed control.
As the rains soften the soil, it becomes easier to dig up the roots of noxious weeds such as Scotch Broom and knapweed. Because the soil is softer and it is easier to get more of the roots, digging up weeds in the rainy season can be more effective. The Forestry Action Committee (FAC) still can be phoned at 592-4098 to borrow tools for weed removal.
For those who have had 6mm black plastic over knapweed for the entire summer, it is now time to remove it. The bare ground will need to be planted, and as the rains become more regular, it is time to plant where the knapweed once stood. The rain will water the plants during the winter, giving them a good head start.
Native grasses are good ground covers for restoration projects. Native trees and shrubs are also good choices. Suggestions on weed control, or help choosing what plant species to plant after eliminating weeds are available from FAC.
The rainy season is also time for tree planting, so watch for information on FAC’s Tree Planting Project, which will start its 16th year in November. Land owners who have participated in the past soon will receive the FAC Questionnaire. It will be appreciated if land owners will fill them out as best as they can and return them.
The questionnaire really helps FAC tailor its project to the needs of Illinois Valley residents. And mailing it will ensure that land owners are on the list for receiving free trees this year.
Land owners who have riparian areas (seasonal or perennial) and who would like to receive free native trees, but do not receive a questionnaire, can phone FAC; leave their name and number; and state that they want to be on the list for trees. FAC will get back with them as soon as possible.
The annual IBIG (Illinois Valley Basin Interest Group) Volunteer Tree Planting Day is scheduled for March 1.
FAC appreciates all the folks who have been working on managing their weeds, and all who have planting trees with FAC during the past 15 years. Together we can do a lot.
Twin Tower theory; government cover
From William Schneider
Cave Junction
This passage from Michael C. Rupert’s “Crossing the Rubicon” explains a lot.
(Page 54): “After the assassination of JFK, Allen Dulles, staff director and lead investigator of the Warren Commission, was asked how he could have offered the Warren Report, full of inconsistencies, to the American people with a straight face. He is reported to have said, ‘The American people don’t read’.”
I am truly concerned and at times not just a little pissed at some of the general American public for their ignorance until I remember how uninformed I had been in my ignorant support of Bush’s Iraq invasion. God forgive me.
I know what flip-flop means. I also was unaware of the free-fall issue, Bombs in the Basement, Building 7 World Trade Center free-falling into its basement footprint.
What I am learning right now is that extent to which the major media are controlled by the government in that such a world- changing event is so unmentioned in lieu of continual mounting proof charging government conspiracy and complicity in the civil war attack on the United States on 9/11/01.
This evidence should be and should have been all along, front page news. I am dropping subscriptions to Time and U.S. News and World Report for their total failure in the lack of in-depth coverage to the mountains of science that points to the government’s obvious involvement and the complete and utter failure of the government to substantiate its story with science and expert witnesses other than the pathetic pancake theory and the 9/11 “omission” report.
A commission jammed with conflict of interest, biased to the nines.
The most obvious question and telling answer to the Twin Towers 10-second free-fall into its basement footprint is, how? If 110 stories of steel and concrete pancaked, it would take at least a second for each floor to hit the next, break all the steel connections in the acreage of square feet connected to the 47 steel columns that were the center of the construction.
The columns which, by the way, miraculously disappeared in the Popular Mechanics report. And could not be found towering 110 stories over the rubble. Instead we find a neat, tidy 10-second (not 110 seconds, being nearly two minutes) free-fall of 110 stories of concrete and steel all piled into approximately eight to 10 stories of the basement. Questions anybody?
Some people will fight to the death defending their right to be ignorant. I have to ask, when is it no longer a right if others are suffering due to the ignorance? Don’t we have a moral obligation to become more educated if our ignorance causes grief? Do we really want to support that which murders our families while spewing family values? Is that ignorant, or stupid, or evil?
I see the fortunately rapidly dwindling number of people whose relationship with their government is akin to a small child crying, “Mommy, Mommy, make the bad men go away!” The only answer I could give is, “My dear child, Mommy is the bad men.
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