Illinois Valley News

Illinois Valley News welcomes Letters to the Editor. Please e-mail them to dan@illinois-valley-news.com.

POLICY ON LETTERS: ‘Illinois Valley News’ encourages letters to the editor provided they are legible and not libelous or scurrilous. All letters must be signed, including name, address and telephone number. The latter need not be published, but will be used to verify authenticity. The “News’ reserves the right to edit letters. Letters are used at the discretion of the publisher.

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

A fan of the new look
Mac McCollum
Cave Junction

Hey there, “New” I.V. News. Great format and great reporting. Who is it that has the terrific sense of humor writing the blotter (very funny)“

Pot farms should go
Linda Schluter Tedder
Cave Junction

Well it’s very nice to hear about all the raids on the marijuana farms through out the valley.

I can only commend the police forces that are helping to rid these illegal farms from existence.

But how about the farms that are just springing up in rural residential neighborhoods“

One day the property is vacant, before you know it, it’s being cleaned up, and inside a week a twelve foot high solid wooden wall is up, a few weeks later there is an additional two feet of dark linen attached to the top. I have been told that this is a marijuana farm.

My question is, is this a legal farm“ Regardless of its legality, how does this affect the property values of the other people who have lived in the neighborhood for years. How does a Realtor show a property with a marijuana farm, legal or not, next door“

Maybe, like in other areas of construction, a sign on the property should have read, “Future Home of Alcapulco Gold!”

Look, these are great neighborhoods, but I wonder about the safety of the people who lived there before this “boom.”

It sure would be nice had people been told what was being built.

CJ ghost town“
Ann Padgett
Cave Junction

I’d like to speak to a comment made by Gary McAllister in the Sept. 15 issue of Illinois Valley News.

An article on the abatement process for the City of Cave Junction stated his concerns over the many unkempt properties here within the city. I, too, share his concerns over the state of our town. Fire danger is of concern to me but more importantly is the impression we are making on visitors. Gary said ““when people come to town, it should look like a town.”

Thousands of vehicles travel Highway 199 every day. A fraction of these are residents of the Illinois Valley. The majority are visitors or folks passing through on their way to other places. What if we could get 25% of them to stop here in our town and spend money“ What if 1,000 people a day stopped and spent $5-$10 each in our local businesses“ Wouldn’t that be a boost to our local economy“ Now ask yourself, if you were traveling and passed through a town like Cave Junction, would you want to stop“

Cave Junction is really looking like a ghost town. There are numerous vacant storefronts and unkempt properties. Gary says he would be hard pressed to remember a time in which he has seen more weeds growing out of control throughout the city. What kind of impression does that make“ To me it says here is a town in which people do not care. I, however, know this is not true. The majority of folks who live here do care. I hear comment after comment on how shabby the town has become. I would like to propose a solution.

What if we had a “Clean Up Your Town Day“” There are numerous organizations here in the valley and each one could “adopt” a property. The adoption could be as simple as cleaning up the landscape to painting a building. How about hanging flower baskets on the street light poles“ The hangers are already there!

I’ve had people say to me when I have made this suggestion that why bother, it just gets vandalized. My response is that I am an avid gardener. But there are pests that enjoy my gardens, too. Does this stop me from gardening“ No, I just try different methods of out smarting them. I believe if we get the community behind a cleanup and involve as many people as possible this vandalism problem would diminish. Once people have ownership in something they are more apt to take care of it.

Let’s start some dialog on this. And let’s get this town to look like a town again.

Mills hurt by low demand
Donald Smith
Cave Junction

Some facts in response to “Last Mill Standing,” in which the owner of Rough and Ready says that one of the big problems facing sawmills in the area has been a lack of access to trees off national forests.

According to the Western Wood Products Association, lumber production in 2009 were the lowest since the industry began compiling the data in the late 1940’s. Most logs in Oregon come off timber industry lands. In 2009, logging off these private lands declined significantly from the year before. Yet last year logging off BLM lands actually increased, according to the Oregon Department of Forestry.

Logging has declined significantly due to a lack of demand as a result of the housing bust. Housing starts in 2009 were the lowest since 1945. Data from the last two months indicates housing starts are declining even more in 2010.

During the beginning of 2010 we heard all this happy talk about how the housing market had hit bottom, and that a rebound in housing was coming. So the timber industry increased production.

According to the Swanson Group, which owns mills in Glendale, the industry “had a pretty good market run-up in early January,” and the industry “took advantage of that run-up, and since there isn’t any significant increase in demand, we’ve come off a run with a glut of product.”

There was an increase in production without demand, so overproduction has resulted, requiring sawmills to cut back on inventory.

The owner of Rough and Ready says that the housing market will improve the second quarter of next year. Any chance of that“ Again, the facts.

In August, home foreclosures dramatically increased. Housing prices are dropping as well. According to Bloomberg, “The slide in U.S. home prices may have another three years to go as sellers add as many as 12 million more properties to the market.” This is evident in Oregon and across the West.

“Shadow inventory — the supply of homes in default or foreclosure that may be offered for sale — is preventing prices from bottoming after a 28 percent plunge from 2006, according to analysts from Moody’s Analytics Inc., Fannie Mae, Morgan Stanley and Barclays Plc. Those properties are in addition to houses that are vacant or that may soon be put on the market by owners.”

According to CoreLogic, across the country “11 million, or 23 percent, of all residential properties with mortgages were in negative equity.”

That means the amount owed on the house exceeds its value, which leads to more foreclosures.

A rash of home foreclosures is anticipated well into 2011. Halfway into 2011 adjustable rate mortgages kick in, forcing higher mortgage payments, precipitating yet more foreclosures.

As reported by Bloomberg, “Whether it’s the sidelined, shadow or current inventory, the issue is there’s more supply than demand,” and when “you reach bottom, it will take three or four years for prices to begin to rise 1 or 2 percent a year.”

The bottom line is this: the problem facing sawmills like Rough and Ready has nothing to do with a lack of supply coming off public forests.

The problem is one of demand. The number of sawmills in the area have the capacity to produce much more than is needed. So mills close down. It’s as simple as that.

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