PSU task force looks for airport answers
PORTLAND — Whether Port
land International Airport ends
up with a new runway or ends up
being moved to farmland in the
middle of the Willamette Valley
may depend on the recommenda
tion from a new task force.
The 15-member task force at
Portland State University’s Insti
tute for Portland Metropolitan
Studies will be led by Beaverton
Mayor Rob Drake. The group may
take eight months to analyze a list
of resident concerns raised during
the past three years, before a mas
ter plan effort bogged down.
Mike Thome, Port of Portland
executive director, said the task
force will explore all issues, from
airport noise to adding a third
main runway to moving the air
port.
“These are valid questions,” he
said. “Should we build a new re
gional airport in Wilsonville or on
prime farmland somewhere in the
Willamette Valley? Or should we
just tell travelers, ’Sorry, but there
are no more airline seats?’ ”
Ethan Seltzer, director of the
PSU institute, said a common
suggestion is to move the airport,
either down the Willamette Val
ley or to somewhere between
Vancouver, Wash., and Seattle
that could be served by high
speed rail. But a move would be
expensive and probably would
pose land-use problems, Seltzer
said, adding, “There is no easy al
ternative.”
One key element of the master
plan — the projected number of
passengers in 2020 — has
changed several times since the
effort was launched. The initial
forecast was that 12 million
would grow to 24 million, but to
day’s passenger total is pushing
14 million a year, and the 2020
guess is now 28 million to 30 mil
lion.
Key projects in the master plan
would be triggered by growth,
and a sudden increase in travelers
could accelerate building. When
the planners first started, the idea
was that a third runway would be
needed by 2020, but now that
date has been moved to as soon as
2015. In fact, the Port started de
veloping parts of the last 20-year
plan after only six years.
The task force also will study
whether to support high-speed
rail to Seattle and let Sea-Tac be
come Portland’s airport.
One Port of Portland commis
sioner, bookseller Michael Pow
ell, warned that issues such as
whether to add a third main run
way at Portland International Air
port could become a symbol of an
emerging no-growth climate
across the metropolitan area.
Meanwhile, airline deregula
tion leading to increased compe
tition and lower ticket prices
“may result in an accelerated use
of the airport,” he said. He cited
Southwest Airlines’ coast-to-coast
price of $98.
Powell, who participated in an
advisory committee on the master
plan, said a third runway could be
an issue much sooner than ex
pected, perhaps as soon as 2012.
— The Associated Press
Flash flood destroys
California town
FOREST FALLS, Calif. —
Search dogs prowled mud and
debris for more bodies on Mon
day after flash-flood waters 25 feet
high swept homes, boulders and
cars through a Southern Califor
nia mountain hamlet.
“It looked just like a movie out
of Hollywood,” said Tristan Mc
Dow, who helped rescue an elder
ly woman buried to her neck in
mud and debris for three hours.
Bulldozers were snaking a path
through the vacation community
of 3,500, but despite warnings of
more heavy rain on Monday,
some residents still couldn’t drive
out of the area, which was awash
in debris that included giant pine
trees, wreckage of automobiles
and propane tanks.
The body of one woman was
pulled from the ooze and four oth
ers were feared lost to the Sunday
afternoon torrent that damaged or
destroyed 15 homes, San
Bernardino County fire
spokesman Jack Fox said. Five
people were hurt.
“It was all so quick,” said
Randy Thompson, 52, of Calime
sa, who was barbecuing ribs with
friends when sunshine suddenly
turned to rain, then hail. “All of a
sudden the house started trem
bling and the boulders starting
coming.”
Peggy Merryman watched in
horror as floodwaters picked up
houses and cars in a 60 mph rush
past her Spring Drive vacation
home.
“We saw them completely go.
We knew there were people in
them,” Mrs. Merryman said, her
voice cracking as she recalled the
terror.
When the waters receded, Mrs.
Merryman and Thompson said
there was an eerie whistling
sound coming from across the
street where a home once stood.
Buried in debris under a couch
was an elderly neighbor man they
know only as Bill. Clutching two
Chihuahuas, he was whistling in
hopes someone would find him
and his family.
“My daughter! My daughter!”
he pleaded as his neighbors taped
him to a door and carried him
away from the carnage.
The body of his dead daughter
was beneath him and his wife was
airlifted to a hospital in serious
condition.
The downpour, which dropped
more than 11/2 inches in just 30
minutes, was the latest devasta
tion from a powerful flow of tropi
cal moisture that has sent thun
derheads towering over the
Southwest for nearly a week. Last
Thursday, Las Vegas was inun
dated with more than 3 inches of
rain, flooding homes, casinos and
highways.
Thunderheads soaring to
30,000 feet led the National
Weather Service to post flash
flood watches throughout South
ern California on Monday. Urban
and small stream flood advisories
were also posted Monday after
noon in southern Nevada.
A break in the hot, moist weath
er was expected by Thursday.
Forest Falls, 70 miles northeast
of Los Angeles-off Highway 38 be
tween Big Bear Lake and Red
lands, is nestled at the bottom of a
steep canyon along usually dry
Mill Creek. Many of the town’s
homes are vacation and weekend
retreats.
The Associated Press
News Briefs
Smith lends support
to rush-hour trains
BEAVERTON — Oregon Sen.
Gordon Smith lent his support to
a push to operate rush-hour pas
senger trains on the freight train
tracks between Beaverton and
Wilsonville.
‘Til help,” the Republican told
a gathering of state transportation
officials last week. “I’ve always
been committed to this. It’s a
great project.”
Supporters of the 18-mile
rail proposal asked Smith’s
help in getting commuter rail
language into this year’s trans
portation appropriations bill.
That would get the project on
federal planning boards and
ensure technical help from the
federal transportation bureau
cracy.
They also asked him for as
sistance with the Federal Rail
road Administration in draw
ing up standards for a new
generation of rail cars used on
commuter lines and in devel
oping a new federal policy that
allows passenger cars on
freight tracks.
An engineering firm estimat
ed start-up costs for the com
muter line could reach $76 mil
lion, depending on the final
configuration. Annual operating
costs are projected to range be
tween $3.9 million and $4.4 mil
lion.
The Associated Press
In attempt to save kids,
father drowns on coast
WARRENTON — A family
trip to the beach turned tragic Sat
urday when a father drowned
trying to rescue his daughters and
a friend, who were being drawn
outto sea by a frigid riptide.
A U.S. Coast Guard heli
copter plucked the three girls
safely from the Pacific Ocean
about 200 yards offshore at Fort
Stevens State Park. The heli
copter retrieved 42-year-old
George Babinec of Phoenix,
Ariz., minutes later but he was
pronounced dead at Columbia
Memorial Hospital in Astoria.
His daughters Maggy, 13,
and Kate Babinec, 14, and their
friend Tabitha E. Roberts, 14, of
Kelso, Wash., were released
from the hospital after being
treated for hypothermia.
The family had been camping
at Fort Stevens and was among
the throngs of people drawn to
the beach by Saturday’s sunny,
warm weather. Police had to
herd about 300 onlookers out of
the way during the rescue.
The ocean looked deceptive
ly calm Saturday, with four to
five rows of 2- to 3-foot break
ers just off the beach, Clatsop
County sheriffs Marine
Deputy Willie Nyberg said. But
the tide was going out and
there was a strong undertow
not visible from shore.
Even on hot summer days,
the ocean is cold and swim
mers can experience hypother
mia. The air temperature on
Saturday was in the 70s, but
the water hovered in the 50s.
“The Pacific Ocean in this
area of the world is pretty
nasty,” Penkin said. “Hypother
mia is a year-round event here.
The water is so cold and people
just don’t realize it. ”
The girls were playing in the
surf west of the Peter fredale ship
wreck about 4:30 p.m. when one
appeared to slip into a hole or fell
down.
—The Associated Press
j
mm
Subs wi*h Substance*
3 item piiza
expires 7/31/99
Eugene: 686-5808
Springfield: 746-7666
1 medium 12'
1 item pizza
expires 7/31/99
Eugene: 686-5808
Springfield: 746-7666
All Ways Trave 1
Summer Specials
Orlando.$222.00*
New York.$202.00*
New Orleans...........$222.00*
Ft. Lauderdale.$222.00*
Chicago.$202.00*
•tax not included, restrictions may apply.
Subject to change without notice.
cjerlach’s
MEW!
Enlargements
While You Wait
From Negs, slides, disks, CD
flashpix or original prints
.gerlach’s
Kodak
0Lopal
Processing
See how good
a photographer
you ready are!
^erlach’s
Passport
& Immigration
Photos
Instantly
Color and B&W
Passport and Immi
gration photos while
you wait. No appoint
ment needed
Erlach’s
849 E. 13th, Eugene and
565 W. Centennial, Spfld
ODE WORLDWIDE
WWW.
dailyemerald.com