It’s sink or swim time for deficient Cave Junction Swimming Pool
Kids enjoying the Cave Junction pool
From our weekly issue dated March 5, 2008
This year apparently will mark a sink-or-swim situation for the beleaguered Cave Junction Swimming Pool.
Emphasized Shawn Carmody, president of the committee, “It’s time for this community to decide whether or not it wants the continued use of a public pool. If the community members do, then they need to let us know by stepping up to the plate and helping make it happen.
“Members of our committee have put in many hours of grant writing, only to receive letters of denial by grantors, which all share a common response: that we are unable to show community support by way of considerable monetary donations or pledges.
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“That’s a hard pill to swallow.”
She added, “I guess you can consider this a ‘wake-up call’ for anyone who wants this pool. We’re doing this for the community, but we can’t do it on our own.
“If we want to be successful in getting grants,” said Carmody, “then we have to show grantors that we have the financial backing of our community. There are many worthy programs/causes in our valley and one-by-one they seem to be falling by the wayside. How many more programs or services does this valley have to lose before there is nothing left?
“If the community does not come together to support saving the pool, or the other worthy causes that are in danger of disappearing (for example the Illinois Valley Section of Boys & Girls Club), then our efforts as a committee, and the multitude of other hard-working groups, has been for naught.”
Noted Mary Reynolds, a member of the pool committee, “More grants could become available if the community actively supports the pool. Written financial commitments from citizens are needed now.”
The CJ Pool, which the county gave the city some years ago, is in poor condition due to minimal repairs by the county during the past 17 years. Declining funding forced the city to operate the pool as frugally as possible, while keeping user fees down.
It was a no-win situation, ending with closing the pool “permanently.” The facility was shut at the end of the swimming season in September 2006.
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The cost to renovate and upgrade the pool and its equipment is approximately $250,000. After two years of fund-raising by the I.V. Pool Committee, only $17,800 has been collected. The committee continues to seek ways to raise money to fix the pool and open it this year, but little progress has been made
Some $158,000 needs to be raised to meet a $10,000 challenge grant from the Four Way Foundation which expires in April. Once the committee successfully has reached its goal in raising the needed funds, through pledges and donations, the pool can be repaired.
National studies show that swimming is the most popular form of recreation for children. It also is popular with adults well into their senior years as a pleasant way to exercise and stay fit.
“The gift of learning to swim lasts a whole lifetime,” said Reynolds. She added that not only children, but many adults, have relied on the CJ Pool for daily lap swims and water aerobics.
The facility was built in 1975 by Josephine County on E. River Street, using Land, Water Conservation funds, on land donated for that purpose. The Oregon State Parks & Recreation Dept. oversaw construction and retains control of the property usage. Parks & Rec vetoed a plan to have an enclosed pool for year-round use.
“The reason was the latitude,” noted Mayor Tony Paulson, adding, “Cave Junction is in a supposedly warm climate where an open pool could be used all year.”
Those who live here know that is not true. Temperatures fall well below 40 degrees from November through April, and some years bring more snow and colder temperatures than others. Local officials and residents long have wanted an enclosed pool for year-round use.
Paulson recalled a later proposal to add a water slide to the facility. The idea was to make the pool more exciting to youngsters. However, state Parks & Rec nixed the plan because it would have turned the pool property into a “swim park” and changed the state park inventory makeup.
Through the 1980s and ‘90s, timber money flowed in Cave Junction, and the pool was enjoyed by children, including Boys & Girls Club members, plus the Illinois Valley High School swim team, adults and swimming instructors. Life was good, and no one worried about the future of the pool.
But hard times and the need for repairs forced its closure.
As a result of that, families must drive to Grants Pass Family YMCA in order for their children to swim in an enclosed pool with lifeguards. Also, senior citizens who need water therapy must travel to the YMCA for this form of exercise and therapy.
The burden of entry fees, gasoline costs, and time driving approximately 30 miles each way places swimming out of reach for many Cave Junction children.
“The I.V. High School Swim Team is down to two members,” lamented longtime swim teacher and former pool manager, Cynthia Hobbins.
She would like to see the pool reopen, and swimming classes and swim team practice resume. Other pool uses are scuba and kayaking lessons and teen-age/family oriented parties.
What are the alternatives to not having a public pool in Cave Junction? Will people go to Illinois River or to “Forks” Park to swim?
Not likely; not safe,” say some valley residents. In order to have a public pool again, Cave Junction-area residents cannot rely on government agencies or a generous donor to come to the rescue. The pool can only be renovated with the combined determination of local people, organizations, and businesses, backers indicate.
It is possible, according to CJ Pool Committee members and other supporters.
Many Illinois Valley residents want to reopen the pool. Some would be willing to raise money or donate if they knew there was hope to reach that goal.
The cost of an entire new pool and related facilities would run more than a million dollars. So renovating the existing pool is feasible if parents, retirees, organizations, and businesses will contribute to the CJ Pool fund, backers say.
The solution is not to reopen the pool only for summer 2008, but for years to come. The community, say supporters, can have its pool if it agrees that it is important for local children, teen-agers and adults and commits to keep it running every year.
This can be done through annual commitments, donations, grants, and user fees.
Supporters note that the payoff would be a beneficial situation for the Boys & Girls Club, valley schools, families, adult swimmers, and retirees who like to swim for fitness. They add that a partnership with schools, Boys & Girls Club, nonprofit organizations, grants from foundations, and approval and support of Parks & Rec could give the pool back to the valley.
It would be a better pool in which future generations of residents could enjoy recreation in a safe, supervised public facility.
For more information about the committee and its goal, contact Carmody at (541) 415-1962 or shawn@ivpool.org.
Donations can be made via PayPal via www.ivpool.org; or contributions can be mailed to I.V. Pool Committee, P.O. Box 383, Cave Junction OR 97523.
Donations, marked for CJ Pool and sent to the box, are handled by the nonprofit Josephine Parks Foundation, which is not connected to Josephine County government. If the pool goal is not met, donors have two options:
They can obtain a refund; or permit the foundation board of directors to give their donation to an Illinois Valley 501(c)3 organization chosen by the board.
