(Editor's Note: Views and commentary, including statements made as fact, are strictly those of the letter-writers.)

Typed, double-spaced letters written solely to this newspaper and/or Website are considered for publication. Hand-written letters that are double-spaced and legible also can be considered. Cards of thanks are not accepted as letters.

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Kerbyville Museum help
From Judith Knitter
Cave Junction

I am a new land owner in Illinois Valley and board member for Kerbyville Museum. Since my interests are in genealogy, historical societies, and museums, I naturally gravitated to Kerbyville Museum.

Around town, the comments I hear are, “Boy! They sure can use some help!” “I used to be involved, but I didn’t like the way the museum was run,” or “I didn’t care for the folks in charge,” etc. But I’m here to say: Kerbyville Museum is a gem.

And no matter what your feelings, or the past circumstances, it belongs to each and everyone in Josephine County and particularly Illinois Valley. It is in our trust; we can stand around and voice our opinions and watch it slowly continue to go down hill or we can get involved with our time and/or money and watch it shine.

Our history is precious, and it needs our constant attention. It is discouraging to those of us trying to keep the museum available to the visitors, local residents, pioneer families, and as a learning tool for our children to not have the support and resources we need.

For those with farming interests, we have an equipment shed with artifacts that need cleaning and restoration. For those interested in mining in our county, we have early tools that need TLC. If you like books, we need cataloguing. If you like meeting the public, we have docent positions. If you like puttering in the yard, we could use some assistance. If you’ve been here years, we have unidentified pictures, etc.

Currently the board is undertaking a membership drive. (See coupon in this issue). Members will receive a quarterly bulletin, discounts on our local history books, and free admission to the museum complex.

With yearly membership dues to help offset operating expenses, we will be able to realize much-needed repairs and artifact restoration.

Gravel traffic concerns
From Cheryl DeBrett
Cave Junction

My husband and I live on Holland Loop next to the I.V. Ranch that the Copelands bought in anticipation of mining the old farm. This has us concerned, as we are sheriff’s office volunteers who patrol for the community, and it appears that potential traffic issues are not being considered.

We have witnessed accidents on Holland Loop and cannot imagine how anyone can claim that there won’t be an increased risk of accidents with rock-laden dump trucks running up and down Holland Loop constantly, day in and day out. These slow-moving trucks will have to turn out across oncoming traffic from the intersection of Holland Loop and Caves Hwy. from a blind corner.

And Caves Hwy. is the route all tourists take to Oregon Caves; Holland Loop is a route taken to visit three wineries. How will this benefit our local economy dependent on tourist trade?

We have neighbors with small children who sometimes walk or ride bikes here. The road is narrow, has two big dips that impair visibility, and when the county road was constructed it was never imagined to have the traffic we see on it already.

The past few years we have seen a dramatic rise in traffic, and the county has done nothing to accommodate this increase, nor does it have funds to widen or otherwise improve the situation.

We believe that the county will not be looking out for the best interest of local citizens if they allow Barlow/Copeland to establish a large mine in this area. The Josephine County Board of Commissioners needs to seriously consider the safety of all who will travel these roads, and not place them at risk for the sake of mining rocks.

We hope that many will attend the public hearing at 9 a.m. on Wednesday April 2 at Anne Basker Auditorium in Grants Pass to make sure that our commissioners hear the concerns of Cave Junction citizens.

Barlow/Copeland proposal
From Cate Bendock
Cave Junction

On Wednesday, April 2 at 9 a.m. the Josephine County Board of Commissioners will conduct a de novo evidentiary hearing regarding the future of the Illinois Valley Ranch at 2612 Holland Loop.

This means that Barlow/Copeland Sand & Gravel can submit new, additional material that was not presented during the previous hearings regarding the I.V. Ranch. Many valley residents have stepped forward to make their concerns known regarding Barlow/Copeland Sand & Gravel’s desire to make this site a gravel mine.

I’m glad that they have come forward during our public meetings to oppose this type of development for I.V. Ranch and Little Elm Ranch. But now is not the time to think that Barlow/Copeland will not get their way. Just because the planning board has recommended that this development not be allowed, our county commissioners can override this.

It is imperative that many people attend this meeting to voice their concerns regarding this type of development. This does not just affect those who live on Holland Loop or the properties immediately adjacent to I.V. Ranch. This affects anyone who owns or rents property in the county.

If this company is given the go-ahead by our county commissioners to change the land-use zoning; given a conditional-use permit to mine gravel adjacent to the river; and not made to abide by the laws and codes of this state and county, our property is at risk in the future. They are doing it on the old Martin Dairy Ranch (now Little Elm Ranch) and allowing this sets a dangerous precedent for everyone.

Try to imagine listening to back-up bells on large equipment from sunup to sunset; encountering large trucks loaded with gravel on our roads daily; mud, dust, and dirt on the road and in the air; our children, pets and livestock affected by the traffic, noise, pollution, and safety issues; the river being compromised during high water – including possible damage to the city of Cave Junction’s main water intake; and further depletion of our salmon stocks; loss of valuable farmland; loss of business for those close or on the road to this enterprise.

The few jobs that this business brings to this valley do not outweigh the degradation it will create if it is allowed to continue this type of development on I.V. Ranch. It is not the public’s, the planning department’s, nor the county commissioners’ responsibility or duty to allow this to happen just because Copeland made a bad choice of property for their next gravel mine.

The land-use maps and soils maps are public documents and were available to Copeland officials before they purchased this ranch. This company, for too long, has had the county board and planning department allowing it to disregard the public, the planning commission board’s recommendations, and state laws and county codes.

I am urging people to testify, or show the commissioners their support for those who do testify at the meeting, that this company does not have the right to destroy what we have all worked hard to have. Your neighborhood and property could be next.

* * *

Editor’s Note: A similar letter about Barlow/Copeland was submitted by Ken Stern).

Sheriff’s office comments
From F. Bellermann
Selma

As a property owner and taxpayer in Illinois Valley, I feel compelled to respond to a number of issues listed by Sheriff Gil Gilbertson (I.V. News, March 12).

He lists the mandated activities that his office is required to perform and then admits that he has considerable leeway to assign priority and resources. I am among those who feel that his office is a long way from efficiently administrating these responsibilities or providing us with a good return from our tax investment.

Can the courts not fund their own security through fees levied on litigants?
If the sheriff’s office maintains supervision, can it not hire independent contract security for the courts, while maintaining a supervisory presence only? This way a whole group of portly sheriff’s deputies who have been
sitting on comfortable court benches can be reassigned to the streets and reduce their weight (diminishing obesity related health benefits costs) by patrolling.

It’s a win-win.

Can the sheriff not delegate search and rescue to private contractors who then charge those who get into foolish trouble and get help? If this is not possible, why not? Are we responsible for the idiocy of those who risk life and limb with extreme sporting, or those who lack the common sense to leave
maintained roads in winter? This is not a task his office should spend resources on.

Let Darwin sort this one out.

Perhaps his office should take a page from Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County in Arizona. Lest anyone think we can’t house prisoners in tents, because our climate (“It’s the Climate”) is too wet and cold, think again. Put a pot-bellied camp stove
in every tent. Where does the wood come from? Why from the chain gangs that
happily clear brush and small wood from the understory of overgrown forests.

Indeed, the county prison should break even, perhaps even make money, by
selling labor services and, if the price is competitive, housing prisoners from other jurisdictions who find Josephine’s rates cost-effective. Sell the
jail in Grants Pass, pitch tents at Illinois Valley Airport, putting it to good use finally, and get those convicts to work clearing brush. It’s a
win-win.

Just exactly how many deputized citizen volunteer patrols has the sheriff trained? How many new Neighborhood Watch groups has he assisted? There is no
visible effort to utilize the talents and voluntary offers of the good citizens in this county who are ready to “ride with you” and keep the
valleys safe.

Illinois Valley is already considered the “Wild West” by many; at least the sheriff should have the temerity to admit it’s so and start administering it as it was done then.

In the end, Gilbertson exposes his agenda. It’s the same tired routine: Give us
more money or we’ll cut personnel. He offer us only the choice between two evils (kinda’ reminds me of the current presidential race).

One option is to find a sheriff who can creatively manage the responsibilities of his mandate within the fiscal constraints and do an excellent job, providing us with all the security we expect and then some.

Flag flap continues
From Gregory D. Anderson
Cave Junction

I was saddened to read Catherine Austin’s rant trying to justify her daughter’s lack of respect for our Pledge of Allegiance and for her fellow students (Illinois Valley News Letters, March 12).

Austin’s daughter is obviously intelligent with a 4.0 gpa. I suggest that one can make the decision of “being a conscious human being of the world ...” and be “exclusively American.” It has been my good fortune to live for extended periods of time in two foreign countries and have traveled in several others.

I have no problem being a conscious human being of the world and being a very proud “exclusively American.” I would also suggest before one chooses to be one at the exclusion of the other without experiencing living outside of the United States of America, they are basing their decision on emotion rather than facts.

Sure, I’m critical of elected officials from time to time. Who wasn’t disappointed when Clinton had sex with an intern in the Oval Office, or when a congressman hid $100,000 bribe money wrapped in foil in his home freezer? Most of us realize that America is more than a president or a corrupt congressman or any individual or even a group.

America is a concept our forefathers provided (some say inspired by God) that gives more rights and freedoms to its citizens than any other country.

Repeating hate-filled Far Left tripe like “fascist corporate criminals who control the White House” or “Our country is being run by a ruthless and greedy band of criminals” not only serves no useful purpose, it has no basis in fact. Does Austin realize that she and her daughter would be put in jail for their words and actions in many countries of the world?

When students are permitted to ignore the customs and traditions of a free society it is disruptive to the student body and may lead to chaos.

I highly recommend that mother and daughter go to YouTube and experience Red Skeleton’s Pledge of Allegiance. Hopefully an exceptional student can absorb some exceptional wisdom.

Pledge of Allegiance
From Joseph Latva
Cave Junction

I acknowledge the right of Catherine Austin to share her views as in her letter, “Pledge of Allegiance stance.” But I do not agree with her.

I have no problem if her daughter chose not to recite the pledge. But where is the harm in standing up when asked? This is not about “The War in Iraq,” or “the price of this one war.” It’s not about the “Fascist corporate criminals who control the White House” or “Lemmings jumping into the abyss.”

It’s not about “Exxon” or “goose-stepping with magnetic ribbons made in China.” Plain and simple, it’s about respect or lack of it. However Austin or her daughter may choose to justify her actions, they still offended people.

If anyone’s daughter is “more concerned with being a conscious human in a world that we all share than being blindly and exclusively American,” that’s fine with me. But I don’t think the “world” is what gave her and me our rights and privileges in the first place.

These rights that we all take for granted were bought and paid for by the American people, who from the beginning have chosen to stand up when asked. Until placing all your tomorrows on the line for something greater than yourself, how can anyone truly understand how great and precious these rights are?

There are so many things wrong with our government that are mind-boggling. Our national leaders have made some terrible mistakes that we may never truly recover from. These facts are undisputable and I, like Austin, are very troubled by them.

National unity is not such a bad thing; we used to be proud to claim that we were Americans, now in many cases we and our children make excuses for it like it’s a bad thing. When we stand for the national anthem or the Pledge of Allegiance we are not standing up for Exxon, Wall Street, or those corporate criminals -- we are standing up for each other.

We are standing up for the ones who have given so much, and for the ones who are still giving. The bottom line is that we are standing up for the people.

Our flag, Pledge of Allegiance, Constitution and Bill of Rights are interwoven. How can one be more important then the other: They all serve to make up national identity. Arlington, Walter Reed, and countless other places are filled with individuals who saw no distinction between these documents and symbols of national identity.

I have been told many times that the right to free speech is a double-edged sword that is fundamental in order for a truly free society to exist.