Street roots., September 12, 2014, Page 5, Image 5

Street roots
Sept. 12, 2014
11
a
JM
5
MORGAN, from page 4
been covered to keep people from coming
into contact with creosote, a tar-based wood­
preserving carcinogen used by McCormick
and Baxter, which operated on the site for
nearly 50 years.
The Department of Environmental
Quality is working with the Port of Portland
and Metro, the site’s owner, to remove more
of the toxic upland soil later this year. In
July, the DEQ covered a pathway found to
contain high levels of dioxin and furan with
compacted gravel. The cove is located
within the boundaries of an 11-mile stretch
of the Willamette River that the EPA has
designated as a high priority site. The fate
of the area, a Superfund Site, will be
decided in 2017 when the responsible
parties are determined and the EPA
announces the plan for cleanup, which will
include containing contaminants in both the
Sediment in the river and along its shores,
as well as natural restoration projects.
K T em bers of The Portland Harbor
.VxCommunity Advisory Group are
working to raise Portlanders’ awareness of
tie Willamette River in hopes that citizens
rill chime in when the EPA opens the floor
)r comment before issuing its final order on
tie Superfund Site cleanup. Two of the
'HCAG members, Barbara Quinn and Laura
eldman, are compiling an oral history of
he river with $3,500 in grant money
warded by Metro. They first met Morgan
¿hen they walked down to the cove in
earch of subjects to interview for their
iroject.
“It was an eye opener for me as a
teighborhood activist to hear his story and
ee how regular he is. We thought it would
e good for others to actually hear and
iteract with him too. There is a lot of-
misconception between the housed and
Louseless communities here,” says Quinn.
>he invited him to take part in a series of
itorytelling events that are part of the
Villamette Speaks oral history project, and
îe accepted. Last month Morgan, along with
i representative from the Confederated
rribes of the Grand Ronde and a Lewis and
Clark memorabilia collector, shared stories
about the river with a crowded room full of
activists and neighbors at the Water
Pollution Control Laboratory next to the St.
Clouds gather over Willamette Cove where Sean M organ and others have docked boats along. The cove is one o f the most environmentally
contaminated areas along the willamette River. The Burlington Northern Railroad bridge rises in the background.
logs to form benches, a mixing station for
says Morgan, noting that he doesn’t miss
week recreating in the area when the
his DJ and a bar. Another boat was anchored
the comforts of living on land at all. “I’d just
weather is nice — a statement echoed in the
in Willamette Cove alongside Morgan’s fleet
sit on my butt all day and play video games
health authority’s report, which noted many
that day. Loud music, ranging from death
and watch TV, but here, I gotta do
signs of public use, including joggers and
metal to Eminem, echoed throughout the
something. I deplore boredom.” And he
dog walkers. But most of the year, Morgan
cove while Morgan prepared for his party.
tries to stay as busy as he can. Being
is alone in the cove, which he says suits
The owner of this boat started living on the
exhausted at the end of the day, he says,
him. “Sometimes I get depressed ahd it just
river around the same time as Morgan back
helps him sleep through the night, th o u g h
feels better being alone, I can just read a
" in 2012 and the two have become friends.
the rocking of the boat helps too. “It s the
book on my tablet, [charge] batteries, work
But not all of Morgan’s interactions with
only place I’ve been able to go back to sleep
on the boat, clean up the beach, there’s a
other river dwellers have been as fortunate.
variety of things I can do out here by myself. after I wake up since my back went out. I
“There are a lot of trashy people who live on
couldn’t do that living on land,” he says,
Sometimes I just don’t want to see people,”
boats. Some are drug addicts. I can’t deal
Sometimes Morgan is visited by the
he says.
Multnomah County Sheriff River Patrol, who with drug addicts. Well, the way I deal with
Morgan, an only child, has resided in
them is I stay away from them or I call the
he says has suggested he move into a
Portland and Vancouver most his life, living
police on them. You never know if they’re
marina,
but
Morgan
says
he
can
t
afford
the
mainly with his grandparents in his youth.
$250 a month it would cost him and the idea going to steal from you,” says Morgan. He
He says he doesn’t know his father, and his
of living in a marina again isn’t appealing,
had a run-in with a couple of men who were
mother was busy battling her own demons
camping on the beach a few weeks ago. He
mainly due to the nature of the people he
as he was growing up, although he says his
says live theie. But he likes Dep. Todd
got into a heated argument with one of
relationship with her now is much better.
Shanks, the River Patrol officer who’s been
them after telling them they couldn’t stay in
He says without anyone to help with his
working to build a good rapport with
the cove because they were leaving needles
homework and keep him focused, he didn’t
John’s Bridge.
permanent boaters, even though he
and trash everywhere — items that Morgan
do
too
well
in
school.
After
9th
grade,
he
According to Kenneth Thiessen, the DEQ
suspects he will eventually get kicked out of
will ultimately pick up in his effort to keep
decided to go info Job Corps where he
Project Manager assigned to the site, the
the beach clean. Morgan walked away from
the cove.
learned drafting and got his GED. Later he
surface sand on the beach shifts seasonally,
the argument, but left his backpack on the
took classes at Oregon Polytechnic Institute
making it difficult to characterize, but
beach, which he says the men took with
for
a
while,
but
says
h
e
couldn’t
wrap
his
previous surface samples collected from the
them. Another night he says he awoke when
head
around
computers.
He
took
all
kinds
of
cove indicated elevated levels of lead, which
iver Patrol Lt. Travis Gullberg says his
a man who was “tweeking” started throwing
jobs,
from
delivery
driver
to
stagehand,
but
prompted the Oregon Health Authority to
department has been working with the
rocks at his boats. “I called the police and
spent
most
of
his
working
years
laying
prepare a consultation. After reviewing soil
city, state and county as well as with social he left,” says Morgan. But even with these
concrete.
samples taken over a period of nine years
service providers and land owners to find
run-ins, Morgan feels safe on the water. He
“I watched my grandpa work really hard,
and finding high levels of lead, the public
solutions to the recent increase in what he
says one thing that does scare him, however,
and I thought I could never work that hard
health authority concluded that people
calls “live-a-boards.” He estimates that there
is that something might happen to his boats
until I was in the (concrete] trade for about
coming into contact with the beach were
are about 20 to 30 individuals living on
six months; I sat down next to my grandpa
when he’s not there.
susceptible to lead poisoning. While there is
boats in Portland Harbor, most, of which, like
and he says, ‘It looks like you worked really
JOIN, a local, nonprofit serving the
no safe level of lead exposure, the report
Morgan, are men living alone, although he
community’s houseless population, is also
hard today.’ Coming from him, it was like *
stated that “Children and teenagers who
does
see
the
occasional
family.
“There
are
the biggest compliment I had ever gotten,”
working with the River Patrol and other
trespass on the East Parcel beach are at
people who are working, some that are
agencies performing outreach on Willamette
Morgan
recalled.
But
years
of
concrete
higher risk for lead exposure because they^
getting assistance, people from all walks of
finishing can be hard on the body. These
River. Its director, Marc Jolin, says that
engage in behaviors that put them more at
life,” he says. The River Patrol does
days he says his back and neck injuries
many permanent boaters “see the boats as a
risk than adults.” A summary of the report
outreach to ensure that permanent boaters
make it difficult to keep a job. Life on the
level of security.” For many of them, he
are
able
to
access
resources
available
to
warns that lead poisoning can cause
river comes cheap, and he’s able to get by
says, it’s the one thing keeping them from
“reading, learning and behavioral problems,
them. There is a 30-day limit on anchoring
each month on $189 in food stamps and
being completely homeless and out in the
slowed growth; brain damage; and lowered
in the same spot, and boaters are required
about $50 in funds that he earns selling
elements.
to move at least five nautical miles from
intelligence.”
computer parts and services on Craigslist,
A dreamer, Morgan says he-doesn’t plan
Morgan bathes in the coves water and
their previous location after the time has
to live on the Willamette forever, but it’s |
and recycling cans.
spends a lot of his time working on the
lapsed,
but
Gullberg
says,
“Everyone
sees
Despite his limited resources, Morgan
only because he hopes to one day sail the
beach - cleaning up trash that’s been left by
that enforcement is not the answer. Thus
has managed well. Solar panels provide
world. He says he’d start by sailing down the
far, River Patrol has only used enforcement
visitors or that’s floated in from the river
power to his sailboat where he reads -
coast to Chile, then west to Tahiti, see New
when boaters are committing other crimes.
and working on car batteries that he says
everything from tech manuals and books
Zealand and Australia. He especially wants
For the most part, he says, live-a-boards
play a big role in his unplugged life. But he
about theoretical astrophysics to Dean
to see the Rock of Gibraltar and the Monaco
have
been
cooperative
and
do
their
best
to
says hé doesn't spend a lot of time worrying
Koontz and Frank Herbert. Last year he
Grand Prix. But before he can do all that, he
adhere to boat licensing and safety
about the toxins. And he doesn’t contribute
bought a Buddy heater, which was a vast
says he needs a bigger boat: a 60-footer.
regulations.
to the contamination either. He takes
improvement over the previous winter when
“It’s probably the only way I’ll get to see the
On a cloudy Saturday afternoon in late
regular trips upstream to dispose of sewage
he kept himself warm with two lit candles
August,
Morgan
was
busy
on
the
inlet’s
world,”
he says.
at designated dumping stations, and calls
under his chair, a blanket over his legs, a
beach preparing for a party he was throwing
local authorities when particularly toxic­
R ead more about the Willamette R iver and
coat on his upper body and a sleeping bag
that evening with some friends. He had
looking debris trashes ashore. PHtAG
ou r survey on whether the river is safe to
over it all.
fashioned a tarp shelter in case of rain and
refers to him as a “steward of Willamette
sw im in at news.streetroots.org
was arranging lumber and giant weathered
“The benefits outweigh the drawbacks,
^M o rg an says he sees about 50 people a
R