“I love books.”

That pretty much sums up Joyce McPartland, volunteer coordinator for  Josephine Community Libraries, Inc.

Not only does McPartland love books, she loves organizing. “My experience is with volunteer coordinating. I moved to Oregon from the San Diego area where I spent five years with the Boys and Girls Clubs of Carlsbad, California. I worked to support the organization, ran the office and got volunteers for everything. One of my many duties was scheduling and training volunteers.” This was in addition to over 25 years of experience in office and employee management. “So that’s why I got into this position, I’d had experience doing this,” she smiles.

McPartland and her husband Brian moved to Merlin the same weekend the library in Grants Pass closed on May 17, 2007. “I’ve always gone to the library, just like everyone else, just for the love of the library. The private, nonprofit group here was working to open the library and I’d planned to volunteer for that, then I saw an ad in the paper that they needed a volunteer coordinator. I don’t know about libraries, but do know about volunteer coordinating,” she says enthusiastically.

Indeed she does. McPartland oversees and organizes over 500 volunteers who want to generously donate their time and toiling. “We’re all new here and we’re all trying to get to know each other. I’m trying to bring them in slowly,” she says, “to make sure all are trained.”

Holding one of three positions paid for by the library foundation, McPartland works 20 hours a week. The other paid positions include Russell Long full time director and Kris Gleisner in technical services. Gleisner takes care of the circulation desk and cataloging books for 30 hours a week.

McPartland says, “By the time we’re finished staffing the library we’re going to end up with hundreds of active volunteers. We have six people at the front counter now. Other volunteers shelve books for two hours a week.”

“We’re working on the information desk now. We’ll have to train people for that, as many as 30 people could staff that one position. There could be as many as four different volunteers a day for that particular job,” McPartland says.

Debbie Bennighof is the volunteer children’s library director. “The children’s library is run differently than the adult library so we need to train a different set of volunteers for that,” McPartland says. The children’s library was the first to open on December 20, 2008 for the Polar Express Days.

“We still have so much to do, organizing book clubs, activities, etc., but we’ll do all these things eventually. We will also have a Volunteen director who will start a youth volunteer group. And Friends of the Library will be our book sale event group,” she continues.

The community response to the all volunteer library has been overwhelming, McPartland says, “They are just so happy we are open again. The soft opening in December had 500 to 600 patrons attending that first day.”

McPartland confessed when the library first opened after months of sitting idle, “There were books all over the place - lined up all over the place - because usually some books are checked out. We didn’t have room for them all; you only have space for a certain amount. And yes, the books were pretty dirty. We’ve had cleaning crews come in several times.” Before the grand opening on January 24, another crew came in to make sure everything was clean and tidy.

Near the library’s front entrance a membership table staffed by volunteers is set up. “For any donation at all you can become a member, in amounts from $1 to $5,000, it’s up to you,” Mc Partland says. “Most people usually contribute $10 to $20, and $100. You don’t have to be a member to get a library card, but we highly encourage membership because that’s the only way we can keep afloat, because we are nonprofit.”

“Before it was a county supported library,” she continues, “but now we’re not. This is the only library in this situation that we know of. The county voted not to fund it, which therefore made it closed. Pretty much because the county doesn’t want more taxes; we want services, but we don’t want to pay for it. That’s what happens.”

The Josephine County Board of Commissioners did agree to a three-year lease of the building and $300,000 in a matching fund grant October 14, 2008. And on Saturday, January 24, County Commissioners Dave Toler and Dwight Ellis presented JCLI Board President Doug Walker the promised $300,000 grant money. The Josephine Community Libraries, Inc. has raised more than $370,000 far exceeding their matching portion requirement.

McPartland smiles optimistically, “We’re up and running now, because the people are paying for it. It’s now the peoples’ library because it is community run. We couldn’t run it without the volunteers. If the volunteers walked out the doors, we would close because we have no one else.”

As more funds become available, JCLI plans to reopen branches in Cave Junction, Williams and Wolf Creek, hopefully all in 2009.

Some people have conjectured that the internet will replace libraries. But McPartland doesn’t think so saying, “People love to read books. The internet cannot replace a book. You should see the lines of people with stacks of books each. You can borrow for a whole month. I personally don’t like to read on the internet, I mean I get information off the internet, but to sit down and read a book…. you know I still want to do that, and I do that every day. I don’t want to look at a screen; I’ve done that all day. I want to go home and read.”

So what drives McPartland and the many volunteers to be involved with the library?

Her dark brown eyes reflect deep conviction, “For the love of the library, we love serving our community. It’s a great social outlet -absolutely fabulous- not only with each other, which it is, but we get to see the general public in here for every single day which is wonderful. We have so many volunteers so we all get to be social with each other and…. gosh it’s everything. What’s better than being at the library? We love it!”

She smiles broadly- “And the patrons that come in are just so happy that we’re here, so there is nothing negative at all. It’s all positive. I love coming to work, they all love coming in here. It’s a very positive environment.”

And as she glances towards the stacks she acknowledges there will always be books. “At least in my lifetime,” she laughs.

“I can’t imagine life without a book.”

# # #

Library hours -

Tuesdays and Thursdays: 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Wednesdays and Fridays: 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Saturdays: noon to 4 p.m.

Mary Ann Bullard

With the economy as low as it is and unemployment on the rise, it’s no wonder that hunger is a concern in our community, even after the holiday season. There are several organizations in Grants Pass doing their best to meet the needs of those less fortunate. One of which is the Gospel Rescue Mission. The director, ordained minister Keith Heck, oversees both the women’s and the men’s residential homes.

Running on a tight budget with no assistance from the state or federal funding, Pastor Heck relies solely on donations from individuals, businesses, and churches. He feeds an average of 94 people per day, and nearly 6,000 meals per month! This requires help from each of us.

The mission prefers to receive fresh foods, such as vegetables, and anything that can be frozen. They try to stay away from foods high in sugar, and anything that would cause a health risk for any of the residents. Where some foods may be preferred over others, any help from the public is greatly appreciated.

Pastor Heck accepts food donations as well as monetary contributions at any of the three following locations: 531 NE E st. (Gospel Rescue Mission-men) Foundry st. (Gospel Rescue Mission-women) and 120 SE J st. For any questions, contact Keith Heck at 541-476-0082.

In spirit of the holiday season, Josephine County is now anticipating a community wide gift to be presented in the end of December. The re-opening of the main branch Josephine County Library! Russell Long, previous director of the del Norte County Library District in California, and current director of our library, wishes to extend his appreciation to our community for their participation.

With several significant grants from Oregon Community Foundation, Fourway Foundation, Zonta, business contributions, private donations, and annual member fees, the $395,000 available to re-open the library doors has ascended in just 18 short months. While further community contributions are needed to ensure the library’s security, the 1500 gold, silver, and platinum members thus far are anticipated to provide the majority of support required. However, a paying contribution is not mandatory to utilize the library. The building, and all of its assets are made available to paying and non-paying members.

In addition to the monetary support, the library also acknowledges gifts of books and any publications from late 2007 and 2008, in fair form. Where there is little need for older encyclopedias, or magazines, newer editions are greatly appreciated.

Russell expressed his excitement for the event, as well as for the new equipment being donated to the library. This includes a new phone system, new computers, and new library cards. While the library is used to spending close to a million dollars each year, the budget of just a little over half this amount is keeping the project running smoothly thus far. Now the focus for support is finding the best volunteer staff at hand. Positions are available on an interview basis, and any assistance is welcomed.

It is predicted that the soft opening will occur around December 20 of this year, and the grand opening sometime in the beginning of next year. Hours of operation may vary based on the availability of volunteers, however, it appears the hours will include late mornings, early afternoons, some evenings, and Saturdays.

“A happy book is a book checked out.” Russell eagerly stated. “The most important thing is that people use the library.”

For further information on volunteering or donations, contact the library at (541) 660-6531. Or visit the website at info@josephinelibrary.org . 

  -Miranda Mills

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A Place for Teens to Feel Safe – and to Learn

What happens to kids when life at home is unbearable because of alcoholism, drugs, physical abuse or neglect, or even homelessness? Or when kids go sideways from the structured environment of a high school campus? Fortunately for teens in our community, there’s an answer to these problems – the Inn Between.

Started more than 27 years ago by Executive Director Brian Burgess, the Inn Between has evolved, expanded and contracted during that time span. Currently, the agency serves about 150 youth in its two principal programs: the Inn Sight Alternative High School and the L.I.F.T. social services project for homeless youth, offering donated essentials such as sleeping bags, clothing, food, sanitary items and school supplies to kids living on the streets.

Operating out of shared space owned by Avista Utilities on SE “J” Street, the Inn Sight Alternative High School offers a fully accredited secondary school education leading to a diploma or GED with two teachers on staff, Shannon Stearns and Brant Hanes. The day I visited, a guest speaker was telling the class about Native American culture. The kids all looked serious and engaged, reflecting the high success rate. Last year, 9 students received diplomas and another 9 got their GED’s. This year there are 13 kids on track to graduate. Under a formal agreement with Inn Sight, diplomas are issued by each of the two public school districts, Three Rivers or Grants Pass, depending on the student’s last place of legal residence.

L.I.F.T., which stands for Life through Independence, Family & Trust, is a more recently added program staffed by Anna Bernstein, who is also pursuing her bachelor’s degree in Human Services at Southern Oregon University. Anna’s job is outreach: every Thursday afternoon, she drives over to the Growers Market parking lot with a vanload of sleeping bags, blankets, personal supplies and a couple of boxes of hot pizza. Kids flock around the van to pick up the donated items and eat the pizza, affording Bernstein the opportunity to hear about their most pressing concerns and do a little social counseling. She’ll also give referrals, connecting kids with all the helpful resources she can muster from health care to legal issues.

In its earlier incarnations, the agency has had as many as 50 employees operating in three counties, with programs that included a Juvenile Shelter Facility, education, job training, group homes and teen parent programs, annually serving as many as 1300 at-risk youth. Many of these programs were spun off to county government or other agencies took over the functions. Now, Inn Between is focused just on the core educational and homeless outreach programs.
Jackie Cruz, a board member for 12 years and currently its president, extols the virtues of alternative education. “These aren’t kids with learning problems, they’re kids with social problems or issues with discipline or structure in regular high school. The Inn Between provides a safe, nurturing place for teens to hang out, finish school, and address many of their personal needs at the same time.”

The biggest challenge facing the agency today is its possible upcoming eviction from its building. Avista Utilities, the building owner, has announced plans to sell the building and has asked the agency to vacate so that it can be shown and sold as unoccupied space. Burgess and his board would like to buy the building, which is perfectly suited and well located for their purposes, and asked the company for some time to gather funds for the purchase. The agency has applied for a number of grants from area foundations. They just learned that the main request, to Meyer Memorial Trust, was turned down and now they’re scrambling.

Private donations are gladly accepted. To make a pledge, contact Anna Bernstein at 218- 4594, or mail a check to 618 SE “J” Street, Grants Pass 97526.

Photos from the open house

Firefighter Battalion Chief Tim DeLisle is full of gratitude when he walks through the new fire station in the Redwood district on Leonard Rd. The station became operational on October 10th and has already proven to be a great success in protecting lives and property in Western Grants Pass.

When a kitchen fire broke out in a mobile home in a 55+ community about 1 and a half miles west of the new fire station, it became clear how the new facility is benefiting the community. The station was not yet completed; a fire crew was there taking measurements for furniture when the call came in. The crew was able to respond in less than 2 minutes and contain the fire to the kitchen only. Had the firefighters responded from their previous location at the Parkway station, it was likely that the entire home would have been lost in the 11 minute response time.

In 2006, Grants Pass voters honored their firefighters by approving bonds to build a training facility, two new fire stations, and purchase 3 new fire engines. Building the Redwood district fire station took top priority, as it has the greatest effect on improving response times and public safety.

Before the opening of the new station, response times from the Parkway fire station to the western Redwood district were 7 to 10 minutes, nearly twice the “acceptable” response time standard. Now, with the new facility fully operational, response times are well under the 5 minute goal. Shortly after opening, a fire alarm was received from Redwood Middle School. The response time was less than one minute.

The new facility is a “residential” station that welcomes visitors for tours, but is designed primarily for providing services in the immediate area. It is a modest, utilitarian building without meeting rooms or facilities for large gatherings. Once constructed, the new Parkway station will include a museum, meeting rooms, and opportunities for community gatherings.

The new facility also houses the Grants Pass Crime prevention office, a single office where police officer Kevin Blaich is available from 8 to 5 Monday through Friday. In addition to the Crime Prevention office, the facility also provides both a report writing room and an interview room for local beat police officers to use while on patrol in the Redwood district. This enables officers to stay close to their “beat” while completing tasks necessary for their duties.

The fire station is currently staffed with two firefighters and one intern firefighters at all times. The facility was designed with growth in mind and will accommodate both more fire fighters and fire engines as the Redwood area continues to boom.

In addition to benefiting residents of Grants Pass, thanks to the mutual aid agreement with Rural Metro, the new fire station can now respond as the “closest response” to incidences outside the city of Grants Pass. This means that if the station is closer than any Rural Metro resources to an emergency outside the city limits, they will respond first and provide water trucks and emergency services until Rural Metro is able to arrive on the scene.

Thank you Commissioner’s for this opportunity to speak to you today. This is the 9^th year we in Josephine County have recognized Red Ribbon Week. We have participated in quite a few events over the years.

What started out as Red Ribbon Rallies at the courthouse - has progressed to essay and poster contests for students in elementary schools and middle schools.

This year, the Jo. County Drug Court is collaborating with a new group called S.N.A.P. which stands for Social Network of Advocates for Prevention. This group is an offshoot of the local Meth Task Force.

Not only is SNAP partnering with the Drug Court this year for RR Week, they host clean and sober teen events to coincide with our local First Friday evenings. They are doing an awesome job to offer fun and creative activities to youth in our area.

During RR Week, many schools in Josephine County will be hosting a variety of activities. Our sponsored activities include:

• Our Drug Court ProTeam family group made fabulous posters using the theme ” Life - Nothing Added,’ which is the theme of our Red Ribbon bracelets.

• Classes at Fleming Middle School and Lincoln Savage entered our essay contest by writing some amazing essays using the theme, “Why I Choose to be Drug Free.” Prizes will be given to schools, classrooms, students, and teachers — next week.

Essays and Posters will be displayed for RR Week starting this Friday, the 24^th on the County Commissioner’s wall on the 1^st floor of the courthouse. Come by to view the display.

Rogue ducks are once again taking over our town. It’s time for the 6th annual Rogue Duck Derby here in Grants Pass!

Local residents are encouraged to adopt their ducks as soon as possible. The proceeds go to charitable causes, and provided it isn’t below ten dollars,the cost of adoption is up to you.

So what happens to your duck after adoption? Your duck will be barcoded with the number given on your adoption papers and kept safe until September 27th. At approximately noon, all adopted ducks will be dropped from the Parkway Bridge at Baker Park, where they begin the race of their lives. No ducks may be touched or moved during the event. The first to cross the finish line at Riverside Park will be declared the winners, and their adopters rewarded with a variety of prizes. The grand prize is a $20,000 vehicle credit towards a new car or truck from Lithia, Jim Sigel, Mocks, Wheeler Toyota, or Roe Motors. Other prizes include a Lasik Corrective Procedure from the Medical Eye Center, a 46″ Sony Bravia LCD HD Flat Panel TV, and an $1,850 family membership and spa package good for one year at Club Northwest. These are just a few of the great prizes being offered.
video by Sights and Sounds

Bill Thorp of State Farm Insurance, who has chaired this event for five years of its six year existence, recalls the confused look a visitor gave him as Bill explained the Duck Derby. When the story was finished, the man grew very quiet and asked “How do you gather all those ducks at the end of the race?”

Like that man, you can also be assured that these ducks aren’t real. Think back to the little rubber ducky that graced your bubble bath as a child, or perhaps graces it still. Those are the types of ducks we’re talking about here. Despite the fact that the little critters don’t require nearly the same amount of care as the real ones, the Rogue Duck Derby still requires quite a lot of time and effort to coordinate. So why does Bill Thorp bother? Here is the answer in his own words: ” I have always felt an obligation to give back to the communities in which I live. This was an event that needed help to get off the ground, is sustainable and has the capability to make good money for the youth in our community.”

That is exactly what he did. Through his involvement in the Rotary Club, Bill helped get the Rogue Duck Derby started and spends a number of hours every year to help the event run smoothly. While his family thinks he might be slightly crazy to give so much of his time to Derby, they also have a lot of respect for him and realize just how important and helpful it is to the community.

The businesses around town have been quick to get in on the action by sponsoring the prizes that are awarded. The residents apparently enjoy the Rogue Derby, and the adoption of ducks raised over $120,000 dollars last year. Ducks are easy to adopt by visiting any of the following locations:

Bill Thorp, State Farm Insurance
Blind Georges
Club Northwest
Debi Ashley, State Farm Insurance
Dutch Brother’s Coffee House
Elmer’s Restaurant
Field’s Home Improvement Center
Fire Mountain Gems
Grants Pass Daily Courier
HellGate Jet Boat Excursions
Hidden Valley High School
Home Valley Banks-all branches
Jim Sigel Automotive
KAJO/KLDR Radio
Lithia’s Grants Pass Auto Center
Mail Boxes Etc.
Mock’s Ford
North Valley High School
Grants Pass High School
Noteworld Servicing Center
Ol Champion Outlet
Papa Murphy’s Pizza
Photo Den Vision and Sound
Roe Motors
SOFCU Federal Credit Unions
Venuti Group Real Estate
Wheeler Toyota
YMCA
Durolast Roofing
Illinois Valley High School

Good luck, and may the best duck win!

Mr. Dahl, Economic Advisor for the city, discusses the economic trends within the City of Grants Pass.

Steve Dahl is the economic adviser for Grants Pass. He moved into this position on August 10th of 2007 after serving a little over two years in the same position in Grant County. He holds a Masters in Management degree from Willamette University, and has over ten years of management experience. Mr. Dahl’s job includes coordinating different projects for people in a variety of ways. For example, he might help a small struggling business find new customers, or help a large company find a needed employee. He also helps businesses interact with the city so if a business has an issue with the city, sometimes Mr. Dahl can help resolve that problem.

He recently outlined and described a number of new and older economic happenings in the community of Grants Pass.

Mr. Dahl feels that the most visible economic impact affecting Grants Pass is the new golf resort, Paradise Ranch, which is being built in Merlin. It is the first destination resort located in Josephine County, and only the third golf resort in the northwest to be designed by Jack Nicklaus. Because of this, it will bring in a number of visitors looking for a chance to play a championship course. After 18 holes, these people will bring with them the desire for a unique experience, whether it be shopping, dining or taking a jet boat ride down the Rogue River.

The Chamber of Commerce recently received two $5,000 grants to conduct a study of the economic impact this destination resort will have on Grants Pass. The study should be completed within the next six months and will be made available to the community. When done, the report will describe the clients who will be visiting Paradise Ranch, their needs, issues, and they will include an analysis of current businesses in Grants Pass. The study will then show what types of businesses the Grants Pass area lacks for servicing destination resorts. This report will act as a basis for new businesses to start up, or give direction on how established businesses can expand their offerings to attract new clients. It will also help those seeking business loans because it will give them solid information on which they can build their business plans around.

However, the future availability of money for businesses is an issue that has Steve Dahl concerned. With the current home mortgage loan crises, banks are no longer able to easily sell loans on the secondary market to replenish their ability to make loans. While he hasn’t heard of any banks in Grants Pass not being able to loan money for a business startup, he is very interested to see what will happen over the next six months concerning the ability of local banks to sell loans on the secondary market, as being able to do so greatly increases the likelihood that new business loans will be available in the community.

Part of the economic outlook involves the availability of funds for police and fire protection. When businesses move to a new area, they want to know that their multi-million dollar investment is protected. They look for communities that have a stable funding mechanism within the community. They need to know that the community they are moving to is safe and that police and fire protection is readily available when it is needed.

Concerning the economic well being of Grants Pass, what has impressed Steve Dahl the most is how well rounded the economy really is. Grants Pass has been able to shake off the loss of timber industry jobs to become a light industrial based community. This is demonstrated with Spalding Industrial Park. At its high point in the past, the Spalding Brothers employed just over 500 people at its plant in Grants Pass. Today, the same amount of land supports over 1,100 employees. Most jobs are family wage and have health and/or retirement benefits. Although we have seen some slow down and layoffs because of recent economic troubles, we haven’t seen the mass layoffs that affected Grants Pass ten or twenty years ago. Combine this with a healthy tourism industry and you see a community that will survive the recent downturn in the economy and will excel when the national economy picks up.

An issue that worries Mr. Dahl is the lack of available industrial land within the City of Grants Pass. According to a study sponsored by the Urban Growth Planning Committee, Grants Pass is going to need 198 additional acres of industrial land to meet its current growth requirements. Mr Dahl is quick to point out that industrial land acts as a profit center for the city. Being that most industrial companies pay more in taxes than they use in services, this allows for the citizens of Grants Pass to pay less then the cost of the services they use. Although there is no immediate solution to this issue, the Urban Growth Planning Committee is looking into the possibility of having Merlin act as the industrial base for the Grants Pass area. Whether this will be allowed by the state is still undecided.

Mr. Dahl’s preference is to promote smaller businesses in Grants Pass that could provide these same benefits to the community. He feels that if we can get locally owned businesses to grow, they can provide the same level of economic stability that new companies moving into the area would provide. This would help keep Grants Pass thriving, allow consumer money to remain within the city. Furthermore, it would help keep up the appeal of Grants Pass for tourists.

That leads us another economic issue addressed by Mr. Dahl, which is a lack of skilled laborers in Grants Pass. Welders, auto mechanics, and other skilled workers are difficult to find, despite the fact that Josephine County has one of the highest unemployment rates in the state of Oregon. Mr. Dahl points out that we do have a training center in the form of Rogue Community College and this does help the situation, but lack of affordable housing has becomes a serious problem. Combine this with some of the drug use problems in the area and you find that some employers have a hard time finding qualified workers who are drug free.

The last issue citizens need to be concerned with is transportation. The Siskiyou railroad line has cut down the number of trips they make through our area, forcing businesses to spend more money to ship their products via trucks. These increased costs of shipping, combined with all of the other issues, have been making it tough for business owners to survive. Because of the cost of maintenance work on the railroad, the Siskiyou line itself may cease to run at all.

Economically speaking, we have reached a time of great uncertainty across our entire country, and Grants Pass is not immune. However, this is not the first time there have been hardships. We look forward to helping and watching Grants Pass pull out this time of this time of difficulty, and helping it remain the beautiful and unique place it has been since its inception.