Letters to the Editor
From our weekly issue dated January 2, 2008
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Elder abuse concern
From Linda Schluter Tedder
Cave Junction
The story of Tom Green’s death and the chilling way in which it happened, complete with pictures, should only help keep us more aware of our seniors and their lives.
People had seen Tom Green all bruised, but they didn’t want to ask him what was happening; didn’t want to pry. Along with child abuse, senior abuse is on the rise also.
We can go ahead and be nosy; ask questions. What’s the worst that could happen? We have seen what happened to Tom Green. A truly kind, selfless soul.
This town isn’t exactly Mayberry. But it’s still a great little town. We just need to be more aware of what’s going on and take care of each other. Mr. Green we hardly knew thee…
Rockydale mining opposed
From Larry Herman
Cave Junction
In the Dec. 12 issue of “Illinois Valley News,” Wally Aiken wrote an article headed, “Request for ceremonies denied 3-0.” Martha Tinsley was denied the right to conduct marriage ceremonies on her property because of a concern for causing traffic hazards.
Josephine County Commission Chairman Jim Raffenburg stated, “Our codes set a very high bar for home occupation in order to ensure residential neighborhoods remain just that.”
The same standards should apply to Copeland Sand and Gravel/Barlow Rock on the mining project on Rockydale Road at Little Elm Ranch. There is a full-blown mining operation going on. When it resumes sometime after the first of the year, 45 round-trips will be made per day, with tons of rock and gravel, being carried down to Barlow Rock.
There is a very dangerous blind curve above the entry point on Rockydale, that is a severe traffic hazard, endangering everyone. The county commissioners voted 3-0 to allow this travesty of justice. The bar was not set very high to protect our neighborhood. The bar was set to protect the corporate interest of Barlow Rock and Little Elm Ranch; not in deference to this residential neighborhood.
Do the county commissioners have Alzheimer’s? Do they speak with forked tongues? Once again, money talks. An individual was denied her rights, a corporation was given carte blanche. Mining and clogging the roads is safer than wedding ceremonies.
The mining operation should be denied 3-0 because it’s unsafe and unscrupulous. The county commissioners should be denied re-election 100 percent for total lack of judgment. The voters got what they deserved -- very bad government and lack of integrity.
We need creative, honest, local government that innovates. Government that doesn’t revert to past practices of destroying ancient forests. The county needs fresh minds with creative financing experience. Until then, there will be a dead zone called Josephine County.
WOPR comments deadline
From Patty Dalegowski
O’Brien
I am a longtime resident of Illinois Valley concerned about the Western Oregon Plan Revisions (WOPR) so well explained last week in Dorothea Hover-Kramer’s letter to the editor.
What many people may not realize is that this is going to happen right here in Illinois Valley and the rest of western and southern Oregon. It is going to happen right in our back yard.
If BLM gets its way they will clear-cut currently protected old-growth forests. BLM will cut back riparian zones, protected areas next to streams and rivers, to virtually nothing. This will cause massive erosion, silting and muddying of our streams and rivers. The off- highway vehicle (OHV) areas to be set aside include areas next to homes, streams and rivers and will cause lots of noise and erosion.
BLM says that it will “manage” these areas. I don’t think so. Our valley is a special place. We have clean air and water, peace and quiet, beautiful forests, streams and rivers. If BLM’s preferred alternative is allowed to be implemented we can say good-bye to all that.
Concerned citizens can contact their elected representatives, Sens. Ron Wyden and Gordon Smith, Reps. Greg Walden and Peter De Fazio, our county commissioners and Gov. Kulongoski. The Jan. 11 deadline for comments is fast approaching.
Keep backyards peaceful
Andrea King-Brockman
Selma
Wally Aiken’s report of a county commission meeting, printed on page 14 of Illinois Valley News on Dec. 12, prompted the writing of a letter to the board.
In it, I pointed out that during their Dec. 5 meeting they disallowed an activity that would disturb a residential neighborhood. I asked if I could assume then, that they also disapprove of the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Western Oregon Plan Revisions (WOPR) proposed Off Highway Vehicle (OHV) Emphasis Areas that abut residential lands in Josephine County.
I am particularly concerned that the Deer Creek Watershed, the community of Selma, is sandwiched north and south by the Elliot Creek and Illinois Valley OHV Emphasis Areas. These proposed Emphasis Areas are interspersed with privately owned land where many residents treasure the quiet.
Will the county board charge BLM to uphold Executive Order 11644, Section 3 (3) “... to ensure the compatibility of such uses (off-road vehicles) with existing conditions in populated areas, taking into account noise and other factors.”
Will they call on their constituents’ other elected officials, Sen. Jason Atkinson and Rep. Ron Maurer at the state level, and Sens. Ron Wyden and Gordon Smith and Rep. Peter DeFazio on the national level, to remind the BLM Medford District of its own Rural Interface Area directive in its Resource Management Plan, page 88, to “Consider the interests of adjacent and nearby rural residential land owners ... to avoid/minimize impacts to health, life, property and quality of life?”
Perhaps the county board has considered how it would respond if a government agency encouraged OHV users to ride through their backyard. I appreciate the county board efforts to protect that valuable and fast-disappearing commodity, the peaceful neighborhood.
‘Unintended consequences’
From Robert Thomas
Grants Pass
In the Oct. 31 Illinois Valley News, persons representing STRIVE (Save The Rural Illinois Valley Environment) penned a political attack on Barlow/Copeland Sand & Gravel to stop their request for mining expansion of aggregate resource near the Illinois River in the Holland Loop area.
STRIVE posted two questions, “What does this mean to you?” and “What will happen to the value of any property you own in this area?” STRIVE backers should consider some intended, and unintended, consequences of their proposal on the people and economy and growth of Illinois Valley should they prevail in this effort.
I would guess that STRIVE activists live in homes which required sand and gravel in their development, not mud huts or straw bale structures. I also presume that they travel on private and public roads, and bridges, which utilized aggregate they did not mine to allow more direct, faster and dustless access to their homes and other destinations than wagon trails.
Had STRIVE leaders, who suggested that proposed expansion and mining of additional aggregate would lead to 150 truck trips per day (30,000 trips per year), asked Barlow/Copeland’s General Manager Bill Peterson how long the additional aggregate would last and if that resource would last 10 years, they would have found out several things.
If this suggested mining and processing schedule could be implemented, all the aggregate would be mined in one year. This could happen only if all the potential future state and county highway repair and improvement contracts were won by Barlow/Copeland at the same time. And given the unlikely chance that government priority and budget schedules for all projects in Illinois Valley would be granted at the same time, yes, this is a possibility, but historically not probable.
One wonders if Barlow/Copeland would not be subject to existing pollution regulation and controls in the area or at Cave Junction’s water treatment plant several miles down stream. Studies of Illinois River floodplain channel changes during the last 75 years clearly show relocations many times, no matter what man tries to do to prevent it.
Even if a flood overran Barlow/Copeland’s aggregate site, Cave Junction city water providers currently have technology to filter annual river flooding with all the sediment and other pathogens common to every winter season the valley has experienced.
What if STRIVE and others were able to convince the government and the people that Barlow/Copeland and Copeland in Grants Pass were denied new aggregate resources? One unintended consequence valley residents might experience is that these businesses would go out of business.
Since there are few sites where qualified aggregate is available, and Measure 49 and the state are loath to “grant” new mining and home applications, public and private aggregate users would have to rely on LTM in Medford until its aggregate runs out.
One ODOT representative said that maintenance of existing and new roads and bridges would come to a halt because only few aggregates meet structural specifications. He said he realized that he would lose his job if this happened. Josephine County roads would suffer the same fate, leading to degraded roads, and later, closure of public highways and roads.
Concrete suppliers and contractors will go out of business, leading to other business closures or contraction. County and sales tax bases will decline and property taxes could plummet.
Another unintended consequence is that private land owners and developers who want to repair or upgrade property will have to buy pre-batched bagged concrete and mix it with rented concrete mixers. Currently, batched and delivered concrete by local suppliers costs approximately $94 a cubic yard.
A 90-pound, 3/4 cubic foot bag of premix dry concrete costs approximately $6; so, 36 bags would have to be delivered on site (add $35 delivery charge) to mix one yard on site, at a cost of $216. Then, the owner would have to rent a mixer (add $50) or contractor would mix, pour and finish the slab or footing (add $300). One yard of concrete would cost more than $600, or a 639 percent increase in cost. And, the taxman will happily assess our new taxes accordingly.
With O&C funds gone, business decline and stagnant private land development resulting from Measure 49, look for added taxes and higher prices for all other products and services if aggregate development and sources are denied. One wonders what the life of Illinois Valley and other southern Oregon citizens would be like as serfs in feudal times if aggregate producers run out or were denied access to new sand and gravel.
Just look at what “environmentalists” did to timber industry jobs and product availability.
Barlow/Copeland must be and are concerned with our environment, and have shown a willingness to be flexible and sensitive to local property owners. Barlow/Copeland is a valued asset to our community. All I.V. residents and government agencies should consider the preceding and other unintended consequences before throwing the proverbial aggregate baby out with the water.
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