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Dry-dock boat exams to take place By MARK FREEMAN Jackson County sheriff's deputies plan their second weekend dry-dock inspections beginning Friday in White City to check boaters for safety and registration equipment. The inspections will be done from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. Friday and 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Saturday at the Jackson County Marine and Search and Rescue Headquarters, 620 Antelope Road, White City. Similar inspections last Friday and Saturday netted more than 50 boaters. That includes 35 on Friday night, the first evening of dry-dock inspections, but just 18 on Saturday, when heavy rains kept boaters indoors. Last year's two days of dry-dock inspections led to 100 boat exams. "We hope we're not getting the same 100 boaters as last year," sheriff's marine Deputy Wally Ramsay says. "We want to get some new faces among the 12,000 registered boaters in Jackson County." The inspections are a chance for fishing guides and other boaters to get their crafts' safety features verified with the boat on the trailer instead of during an impromptu inspection by police on a river or lake this summer. Boats should be taken to the inspections with all the required safety and registration materials as if they were about to be launched for a day on the water, deputies say. Boat owners can then get their needed inspection sticker without risking a citation for not having the necessary personal flotation devices, whistles or other requirements for being on the water. Boats that fail inspection at the patrol office are simply told what items they need -- such as better life jackets or a new state registration -- and sent home. Those failing the same inspection on the water will be ticketed on the spot. Boats that pass dry-dock or field inspections get a green 1999 sticker showing they passed. Boats on rivers and lakes without those green stickers will be stopped when seen by marine deputies and inspected. Elk and deer hunters will have the chance Friday to bid on a combination tag that will let one hunter stalk any deer and elk statewide this fall. The 1999 Governor's Statewide Combination Hunt tag will be auctioned off Friday evening in Reno as part of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation International Elk Camp and Exposition. The tag is offered through the elk foundation by the Oregon Access and Habitat Program. The high bidder will get an extended season to take one elk and one deer within any of Oregon's 67 wildlife units. The season will run Sept. 1 though Nov. 30. Any legal weapon may be used during the hunt. The deer and elk taken with these tags are above and beyond any deer and/or elk the winning hunter can take in conventional hunting seasons this fall. The tag will be auctioned between 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. Friday. Anyone interested in bidding by telephone should call Kristy Bosworth at the elk foundation, 406-523-0242. GRANTS PASS -- The Schroeder Park camping area will be closed through February so contractors can install upgraded electrical hook-ups at the Josephine County park. The lower boat ramp area and the upper field area, however, will remain open during the upgrade, which will provide new 50-amp electrical panels and pagoda lights at 90 RV sites. The upgrade will provide adequate power for modern recreational vehicles. The Josephine County Parks Department received a $235,000 grant from the U.S. Forest Service for the upgrade of all the electrical hook-ups at Schroeder and Indian Mary parks, which are both along the Rogue River. The Indian Mary work is done. Three Rogue Valley dog mushers placed in the annual sled-dog races in Chemult on Jan. 30. More than 70 mushing teams of humans and huskies participated in the fifth annual races, which are now called the South Valley Bank & Trust Chemult Sled Dog Races after picking up the Klamath Falls-based bank as a corporate sponsor. Ruth Whisman of Medford took third in the 20-mile distance race, where Coutler Francis of Cave Junction placed fourth. Matt Broyles of Medford placed seventh in the skijorning race over 2.5 miles. In skijorning, mushers ski behind two dogs. In the main 30-mile mid-distance race, Shay Miller of Redmond survived a crash out of the gate to win. Outdoor Journal main page Mail Tribune Copyright � interRogue & The Mail Tribune 1998, Medford, Oregon USA