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Wednesday, October 18, 2000
Clackamas Community College
Oregon City, Oregon
aggart Observatory: one
CORINNERUPP
Staff Writer
■A new deck was placed on the
Hpggart Astronomical Observa
tory last week, bringing it one step
closer to re-opening.
■About 15 people watched as a
50-ton crane began to hoist the
steel structure into position. It took
ten hours altogether to move the
16,000-pound deck. The new deck
will provide a solid base for the
warming hut and dome that, along
with a 24-inch f/4.8 Newtonian re
flector telescope, make up the rest
of the observatory. ,----------------
Harold Haggart
L* built the observa-
) tory in 1948 on his
< property in Redland,
Ore. His widow,
Darcy Haggart, do-
'£ nated the dome,
■p which is 16 feet in diameter, to the
John Inskeep Environmental
Learning Center (ELC). Since its
opening in 1989, the Haggart Ob-
¿rvatory has been the only pub
lic observatory in the Portland
metropolitan area. Over the years,
v thousands of people have come
through its doors to take a closer
look at our universe.
» ■The observatory has been
dosed to the public for almost two
j years while much-needed renova-
tion s of the structure were completed.
" 1 Placing the new deck on the ob-
servatory makes possible the last
remaining steps in the rebuilding
process. Still to come is building
the new warming hut, placing the
dome back on top, and training
volunteers to educate visitors
about meteors, comets, moons,
planets and stars.
New technology will be intro
duced, with computers, to the old
structure. Soon, the observatory
will be connected to the informa
tion superhighway. The ELC is
hoping to add a camera to the tele
scope, creating the ability to down
load pictures of the sky on the
Internet.
“This also means that in times
of bad weather here, we can look
at the sky in, say, Sunriver and still
be able to educate people coming
in,” said Dawn Todd of the ELC.
“There are so many opportunities
—:----------- 1 with technology
that we are able to
use now. The only
thing restricting us
is money.”
The rebuilding
of the observatory
has been a com
pletely volunteer effort. Coast
Crane - the same company that
brought the dome to Clackamas
ten years ago - donated their ser
vices for Tuesday’s event. And
they are not the only company that
has volunteered time, money or
effort to this project. Andersen
Construction has been supervis
ing the project every step of the
way, keeping the rebuilding efforts
up to code.
Many others have donated
products and services to the demo-
lition and rebuilding of the obser-
vatory. More than $70,000 has al
ready been raised from the com
munity to cover the cost of this
massive renovation, but the
project is far from over. Donations
to cover the remaining $ 15,000 are
still being accepted by the ELC,
Volume XXXIV, Issue 2
o com
MIKE POLLOCK / Clackamas Print
The steel platform took about ten hours to be lifted onto the observatory structure last week. Work on
the observatory should be completed for re-opening in mid-November.
and are tax-deductible.
Many environmentally sensitive
products were used in the restruc
turing of the nearly 50 year old
structure, from post-consumer
milled steel to recycled plastic prod
ucts. With good luck, the observa
tory will re-open in mid-November.
Anyone interested in more informa
tion or becoming a volunteer may
contact Todd at the ELC, 503-657-
6958, ext. 2633.
$47 million bond would improve outdated, over crowded facilities
This bond, Measure 3-97, would
go to improve technology, add
classrooms and upgrade aging fa
cilities at the college, and would
cost taxpayers only 20 cents for
every $1000 of assessed property
value.
Clackamas’ last bond was ap
proved in 1989 and went to build
News Editor
the Streeter, Dye and Gregory
■ The $47 million Clackamas Com
buildings, and the building in
munity College bond will be on the
Wilsonville. After 11 years, the col
Nov. 7 ballot again after failing to
lege now desperately needs money
pass last May.
to add facilities and fix the existing
ones to meet the rapid
growth the college is expe
riencing.
“The bond would give
the college flexibility to
build classrooms, correct
aging buildings and keep up
with technology,” said col
lege President John Keyser.
“This would give us the
only source of money we
have to address the build
ing concerns.”
In the last six years,
Clackamas enrollment has
grown 30 percent, and en
rollment is expected to ex
STEVE NIELSEN / Clackamas Print ceed original projections of
another 30 percent, accord
Facility repairs are a major element in CCC's bond measure.
STEVE NIELSEN
ing to Keyser. This kind of growth
has pushed classes and faculty
into every available space.
The Bill Brod Community Cen
ter, which used to be entirely used
by students for study and social
activities, is now filled to capacity
with offices and student services.
The areas that are now registra
tion and financial aid were formerly
used to host billiard exhibitions,
movies and concerts. If the bond
passes, the school will add a whole
second level to the community
center.
Several programs must occupy
spaces in multiple buildings, often
in places not equipped for those
programs.
“Facilities aren’t designed for
what they’re being used for,” said
Gary Nelson, chair of Clackamas’
music department. He sits in an
office jammed with paperwork and
music equipment. The office was
originally intended as a wrestling
room. Randall Hall, intended to be
a physical education facility, also
has four classrooms in a space de
signed to be handball courts, and
a music classroom that doubles as
a hallway.
Nelson’s office contains a rare bit
of history. Most of one wall is cov
ered with cassette tapes of the Ed
Beach Jazz Collection. Ed Beach, a
New York disc jockey, kept record
ings of all the Jazz musicians who
appeared on his show. One copy
of his collection is in Nelson’s of
fice; the other is in the
Smithsonian.
The music department’s
cramped conditions also make it
hard to recruit new talent.
“It’s hard to recruit people be
cause all the high schools have bet
ter facilities,” said Nelson. “Other
[colleges] have much better facilities,
so that’s where the new recruits go.”
See Bond, page 8