August 26th, 2008
we could be in Denver…
Though November seems a long way off, ballot time will be here before we know it. Voters in Josephine County will have the opprtunity to vote on two county service districts to fund sheriff’s office operations. If the funding passes, the sheriff’s office believes it could be operational to year-2000 (that’s supposed to mean something like 24/7 patrol) staffing levels within six years. If this doesn’t pass this election cycle, it’s a guarantee that a levy will be put before voters (those of us who haven’t pulled up stakes and fled) come May. Thereafter it’s anyone’s guess but the prospects for rebuilding increasingly grow slim.
A fairly straightforward graphical presentation of the fiscal situation facing Josephine County in FY2009 is available here. The presentation, by Brian Bailey, who served as chairman of the county budget committee, is worth consideration when trying to conceive of why the situation for law enforcment is so dire right now. Bailey will be in Cave Junction Tuesday, Sept. 2 at 6 p.m. in the County building.
Posted in Local politics | 1 Comment »
August 26th, 2008
This week’s edition is packed full of fun info.
As election season rolls around…we again will see measures on the ballot to fund all those things that were funded by that federal welfare that has left us (read b-bye O&C.) Again, the knee-jerk reaction will probably be, “stop taxing us!” Please take a moment to check out our graphic demonstrating how much it’d cost the average homeowner. I’m not betting that enough folks will choose to educate themselves enough to vote for this thing but ya can’t blame Gil for trying. Be sure to pick up a print edition of the I.V. News to read more about the dire straights we’re going to be in when Uncle Sam stops the handouts.
Did the folks at the Courier touch a nerve with their stories about “Living on the Edge: CJ’s fight with crime.” What you don’t subscribe to the Courier? Neither do I but I have friends who steal it from their neighbors. Anyway, all this talk about out-of-control crime got us thinking, what is the crime rate here compared to say…Grants Pass? Check out the results here Who’s living on the edge now?
A couple of great stories of how the community has come together for the firefighters and their families affected by the helicopter crash and how the folks in Takilma knocked down a fire in their neighborhood. In this time of extreme fire hazard we all are front line in the fire-prevention area.
AAA is predicting less travel this holiday weekend (buy the paper to learn more) but the folks at the Spiral Living Center in Takilma–you know the folks who put out their own fires–held a bike repair clinic. Check the photos of happy faces fixing bikes.
Last but not least are the I.V. Lions Club Labor Day festivities. Be sure to scroll down to get the full schedule of events.
THAT’S what I call a paper!
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August 19th, 2008
‘Tis the season.
From the fallen heroes memorial to the new round of fires there is no question that we are in the ‘heat’ of fire season. A good time to review your fire safety plan, whether that means trimming the brush around your house or what you and your family would do in cause of a fire.
That’s all I got…
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August 14th, 2008
First, my apologies about the missing pages earlier this week. Somebody in the office mentioned blackberry margaritas and my mind went blank. Oddly, enough the rest of the evening is a bit blurry as well. But enough about me…
Our super hero friend at Oregon Newspapers worked up some code to list the current comments on our index page. Now if you have a comment on a story and you wonder if anyone is complimenting you on your brilliant prose, you can quickly see if there are more comments right on the front page.
Just another helpful tool to make your online viewing more pleasurable.
Speaking of decadent digital delights, don’t miss this week’s two-count ‘em TWO-image galleries. This weekend was event filled with Art Walk kicking off the 27th annual Blackberry festival. Cruising the photos, you get a sense of the art and culture that we offer in this little burg. If we’re not careful, this might turn into a place people will want to live.
As always, we want to hear from you! Keep those comments and letters coming.
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August 6th, 2008
So you gotta check out the quick blurb about State Senator Jason Atkinson getting shot by his friend. You can call me a wacko communist but if one looks at the number of people hurt and killed by guns “not-doing-what-you-intended-when-you-bough-it” you might notice that they really are not a great saver of pain. Just sayin’
Holger Sommer is happy, I am sure, to know that we do have law enforcement in the valley. Our fine sheriff deputes, “are watching you very closely”…doing 70 mph in a 45 zone. Keep it up and we won’t need that O&C money afterall.
Good news in Kerby as the 10 year grind to get a Business Enterprise Center built has finally broken ground. The original grant was a Clinton Era program that is just now getting built. Persistence can pay off. Here’s looking forward to some life put into the Kerby belt building for art, business and education.
That’s all for now…keep it cool
Posted in I.V. News, Philosophy | No Comments »
July 29th, 2008
Gotta love that Jim Raffenburg; first he says he’ll pay his own way to DC but when the charges show up on the County’s credit card he says he doesn’t have to pay for it–so there, Pfffft! So much for Raffenburg’s concern about county spending.
Then the county sticks with the same-old, “danged environmentalists” approach in whining resolving against protecting the county’s old-growth. Well the opposition approach has worked well so far…oh maybe not. Maybe fighting it this time will work!
What’s that old saying about the definition of insanity? Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.
Give it up guys, there ain’t enough trees left to support the county; can we think ahead a bit?
Meanwhile in the city…“I’ll be watching you….” Just what our beleaguered mayor wants to hear. Oooh, I think we have a new nominee for Wingnut of the Week! Go Holger!
In the “someone-left-the-barn-door-open” department. So we get a call from a Grants Pass laundromat that wants to advertise. The night before, all the equipment at our local laundry mysteriously goes missing. Coincidence???
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July 22nd, 2008
A hot week indeed.
Several fires in the valley interrupted power and called out all the fire crews. (You’ll have to scrounge up 50 cents for a real paper to get all the stories.) The scariest was in Kerby where several agencies responded to knock down a fire started by “scrappers” burning insulation from wire. Maybe the folks who stole all the Cave’s wire?
Did someone mention dumb tweakers? Deputies nab crank and cash…note to tweakers, when transporting large amounts of drugs and cash, follow all traffic rules! I guess if they were smart they wouldn’t be dealing drugs for a living.
In the print edition (a.k.a dead tree edition) we have a story about how the governor opposes drilling off the coast. That seems like a no-brainer for most. It was George H.W. Bush (for the record he was not a “radical environmentalist”) who put the law into effect. Our nation is addicted to oil. If an addict wants to quit, does more of the drug make it better? May we should ask Batty.
On a lighter note: we have tons of photos from Bluegrass festival up in our gallery.
On our wingnut awards, my boss is worried about details…do we nominate someone? is there voting? will we need the UN to monitor the voting?
I have the first nominee. Why is it that anonymity brings out the stupid in people. (It does make it easy to insult them though.) The idiot that I am referring to wrote a comment on the letters last week. It seems we have some radical tree-huggers out there and this one thinks that attacks on “extreme environmentalists” deserve a hate-filled and rude response.
Whether or not they deserve rudeness, I propose that the approach of using violent concepts to point out the fact that someone is not sensitive is not effective on multiple fronts. First, the person writing the original statement is rather unlikely to respond with, “Oh, my ideas were misplaced, you are right. I should kill myself.”
Second, folks who consider themselves moderate just think you are a wacko. Finally, even folks who might agree with you cringe at the crudeness of your attack. It’s a lose, lose, lose proposition.
Next time let’s see if we can play nice…OK?
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July 15th, 2008
As promised, we are adding new, fun features to the web-site. This week we have added a photo gallery feature that allows to show as many photos as we want and you don’t have to scroll down the page. Check it out at the Art Walk page. Let us know what you think.
Many thanks to Lee Eschen at Ashgrove Visual Arts for the coding needed to make that happen.
We are looking for give a new award here on the blog. It is the wingnut award, we are taking nominations 
What does wingnut mean to you and who deserves the title? Let us know at wingnut@illinois-valley-news.com.
Mayor is on the ball letting the alcohol vendors know that we don’t appreciate the drunks around town. Even having a chat with a few of the drunks themselves. Go Tony!
The boss is back so things are back to normal in the production room. Some of the items that that temp guy missed (like the weather) are now back in the paper. D’oh…my bad.
As always let us know what you think.
Peace…
Josiah
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July 10th, 2008
The boss is chillin’ down San Diego way and so things in the office feel a bit less stressful. Not that Bob’s a tyrant or anything. The fact that he put together most of the paper on the weekend and then got out of the way made production day go rather smoothly.
Meanwhile in the news…
Walden says he wants to drill off the coast. Never mind that it’s against the law. Oh, but all the money we make from that will go to projects that the “greenies” like. As someone who cares about the environment; why do I feel like I’m getting screwed…but at least he’s fixing breakfast?
Lot’s of response to the Garter story including this letter. Folks who talk about what it’s like to live in a small town should keep in mind how rumors work. “I know someone who said she talked to someone who knew exactly what happened.” As we’ve demonstrated in this paper, rumors are seldom even remotely related to fact. Oh and rumors don’t stand up in court.
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We’re still brainstorming ideas to make this web-site a profit-center instead of a community service project. We’ve changed the front page ad to an appeal for piano donations for the schools. A great cause; if you have an unused piano you could get yourself some good Karma by letting the kids use it. We’d get some good vibes by helping it to happen.
We’ve added a link to Digg on our story pages. “What is this Digg thing” you ask? Well the short answer from their website is: “Digg is a place for people to discover and share content from anywhere on the web.” Obviously, most of small town stories are not going to generate much interest in the wider web-world but the next time an RV destroys a pizza parlor…we’re ready!
Try to keep kool!
Posted in I.V. News, Local politics, National issues | No Comments »
July 3rd, 2008
Well after a few months away, I have returned to the I.V. News and can’t resist putting in my 2-cents, as it were.
My challenge is to maintain and the website, easy enough…just some clip and paste work from the newspaper. The greater challenge provided to me is making the website profitable. I’m sure you’ve seen (and have enjoyed the useful links in) our Google ads. While we do get a few bucks from that, it don’t quite pay the bills.
Get ready to see some changes to the way we present the web-site as well as new advertising opportunities. This blog is a great way to let us know what you think as well as to suggest ideas with which to bring cash-flow from the web.
Of course, I am anticipating a huge rush of page-views as the world clamors to read my pithy comments in this space. We shall see.
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