New superintendent, filtering system
Ramifications of ‘Crater Lake Crud’ still felt
wwnen wt? iff si wtuneu in me
door we were confronted with
eight moaning girls lying on the
floor in the hallway, near the bath
room door. “It's too far to run
from the sleeping porch,’’ ex
plained someone who could talk.
"We all got it, just like that," said
another girl en route to the second
stall.” (Oregon Daily
Emerald-August, 1975)
The above is not a description
of the aftermath of a mass mur
derer run amok. Neither is it an
excerpt from a particularly violent
science fiction move.
Rather it describes the begin
ning of what was to become ten
days of sickness and pure hell for
over a hundred young employes
and unknown numbers of tourists
at Crater Lake National Park this
summer.
They became victims of what
was not-so-affectionately known
as "The Crater Lake Crud," a par
ticularly violent flu-like malady
which was to eventually close the
park for three weeks this summer.
The disaster, which was finally
determined to be a direct result of
raw sewage entering the pa* s
water supply, had ramifications far
beyond the bathrooms and hall
ways of Crater Lake Lodge.
A new pa* supenntendent now
occupies the desk of his unfortu
nate predecessor
A new, filtered water supply
now provides water to the tourist
facilities at the park.
A congressional examination of
the incident has produced new re
commendations under which na
tional parks, aid the private con
cessionaires who run their tourist
facilities, are to operate.
The vomiting ended seven
months ago; the hearings, spon
sored by Sen. Mark Hatfield
(R-Ore.) wrapped up weeks ago.
But what about now? Has the
notoriety stemming from those 10
days in July been flushed away?
it snould be just about forgot
ten," said Ryan Gilmore. “Most
people feel it’s cleared up, which it
is. They're confident in applying to
work there."
Gilmore, a recruiter for Crater
Lake Lodge, Inc., the company
which operates all visitor accom
modations and services in the
park, was on campus three days
this week.
Gilmore said he interviewed
over 90 applicants for jobs at the
lodge and plans to hire “20 to 30”
of them.
He said last summer s troubles,
which included charges by news
papers and employes that the
lodge management was trying to
“cover up” the sickness, has not
"at all" affected his recruiting of
area students for work in the park.
By DENNIS PFAFF
Of the Emerald
He said he didn’t tell the people
he interviewed about the epidemic
unless he was specifically asked
about it. He stated, “Most of them
(the prospective employes) didn't
even bring it up.”
On the other hand, he admitted
the lodge received the kind of pub
licity that requires counteracting.
He listed several changes in the
lodge's operation making it more
attractive for employes:
•Less people are being hired
this year "so that the dorm is less
crowded. ’ Gilmore said only
about 120 people are going to
work at the lodge this year, as op
posed to last year's 140 workers
•As a result of fewer employes
being hired, most jobs will entail
48 rather than 40-hour work
weeks, making paychecks larger
•The lodge operation is paying
its employes the federal minimum
wage ($2.20 an hour). “We may
have to pay state minimum wage
eventually, but we re not sure
about the law on that yet," Gilmore
said. State minimum wage is
$2.30 an hour.
•While wages have gone up,
room and board costs (which are
taken out of employe’s
paychecks) have remained sta
ble. Employes are still charged
$150 a month for dorm rooms and
food.
The nearest health care facility
is still over an hour’s drive away,
however, in Klamath Falls.
But Gilmore said he doesn’t see
that as a problem.
“In a normal year, we usually
have three or four people who get
sick, and that's usually only a
cold," he said.
At the lodge itself, Gilmore said,
several people trained in first aid
are available in emergencies. In
addition, a similarly-trained
“house mother" is hired to keep
watch on employes and deter
mine who may be too sick to work.
The lodge hires no professional
medical people, such as a nurse,
though.
“We probably wouldn't be able
to keep that person (a nurse) busy
enough to keep them here,” Gil
more said.
The new park supervisor, Frank
Betts, said the Park Service is
looking into the possibility of hiring
a full-time nurse. “We re checking
into it through the Public Health
Service,” he said.
Betts was not about to commit
the National Park Service to find
ing and funding a full-time nurse
for the facility, however.
He added, “I think it should be a
joint effort between the Service
and the concessionaire.”
Betts contended that communi
cation between his office and the
lodge corporation, run by Ralph
Peyton, is now “no problem."
He also said that a situation
similar to last summer could not
possibly happen again, given the
fact that “the sewage and water
SCHOOL GOT YOU DOWN?
PACE (Peer Academic Counseling and
Evaluation) is a student staffed program de
signed to troubleshoot student difficulties
and identify appropriate campus resources.
PACE is now offering academic counseling
appointments to students needing help!!
If you have any academic problems or
questions, come to the PACE
office—Suite 1, EMU 11. Office hours are
Monday through Friday, 9 to 4.
lines are now completely sepa
rated from each other.” A full-time
maintenance man is now on duty
at the park to watch over the water
and sewage systems, Betts
added.
“We hope to have a good sum
mer this year," he said.
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