By Julie Niles-Fry I found out about SB 762, the fire map debacle law, through Facebook. I checked my mail pile for “the letter” from the Oregon Department of Forestry and read the dreaded word: “Extreme.” My first thoughts came rapid-fire: “Our property is the poster child of fire safe”; “what were the thoughts that created this punitive bill?” “what …
By Richard Emmons In Pixar’s 1998 animated film “A Bug’s Life,” the ants worked hard and served the grasshoppers. One day a single ant questioned the order of things. The grasshopper in charge saw where this might lead: “If you let one ant stand up to us, then they all might stand up to us. The puny, little ants outnumber …
By Richard Emmons As the editor of the Josephine County Eagle, people often seek me out to share story ideas, complain about local problems, or ask me to do a major journalistic investigation into something that affects only a handful of people in Josephine County. Sometimes an idea seems too good to be true yet intrigues me enough to sit …
By Victoria Marshall With the 2022 school year now over, parents have the right and responsibility to ask, “Can we do better?” According to World Population Review, Oregon ranks 40th of the 50 states in education overall. The NEA is more generous and has Oregon Public Schools listed 26th for the 2019-20 school year. Each organization has a different methodology …
By Karen D. Austin I have owned a small business that serves children in Grants Pass for 32 years; the first three decades as All That Jazz Dance Studio, and since 2020, rebranded as Southern Oregon Dance Center. We had been planning to relocate downtown, remodel and rebrand right before COVID and the lockdowns hit. Our long history and great …
Your eyes have been opened to the reality of today’s public schools. You’ve looked at local private schools and found them with waiting lists or simply beyond your budget. Now what? Do you take the plunge and homeschool your children? My wife and I homeschooled our four daughters from K-12 over a 19-year period. Yet we began with one child …
Today, The Flying Lark’s application for horse racing machines was blocked by the Oregon Racing Commission. The ORC members voted this way due to pressure by Gov. Kate Brown. Here are excerpts from the Oregonian’s report with my comments in brackets: === Oregon Racing Commission, under pressure from governor, moves to block Travis Boersma’s Grants Pass gambling center The Oregon …
By Jay Meredith Most in Grants Pass are excited about the new entertainment venue called The Flying Lark, which is on the verge of opening soon right next to the county fairgrounds. That’s because we know that one of our locals, Travis Boersma, successful co-founder of the famous Dutch Bros, will bring the same “Dutch Luv” to this venture, and …
For many decades, Riverside Park has been the gem of the Grants Pass parks system. Now Riverside Park is known as a haven for homeless people sleeping overnight on park benches and tents, questionable bathrooms and drug users who leave needles on the ground. Many moms don’t feel safe taking their kids to Riverside Park because of this situation. Unfortunately, …
Following the recent student walkout at Grants Pass High School and North Middle School, District 7 Board Member Gary Richardson said, “The school district becomes the parent when a child is dropped off at school or climbs into a school bus.” This was a reference to the doctrine of in loco parentis, which is the Latin phrase meaning “in place …