County comments
'Take it...and like it' cry of planners
by Bill Sanderson
Douglas Gantenbein, S taff Reporter
Carl Weaver, Advertising Manager
Published weekly Thursdays by The Outlook Publishing Co. Box 68
Sandy Oregon 97055. Second closs postage paid at Sandy Oregon
668 5548
SUBSCRIPTION RATES
In Multnomah and Clockamas
Counties per y e a r............................*5.00
In Northwest and Pocific Coast States
outside Oregon per y e o r................‘ 7.00
Servicemen any oddress ..............*5 00
In Oregon outside Multnomoh and
Clackamas Counties per year . . . ‘6 00
N E W ÎF f+ P E R
Outside Northwest and Pacific Coast
states, per year ..............................‘9.00
Oregon
Newspaper
Publishers
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I
A llo c a tio n - founOoO ’ M 5
Page 2
Sandy Post, Sandy, Oregon 9 7 0 5 5
Represented Nationally by
UCS. SUBURBAN PRESS INC
No. 41
«ISR
Thurs., Oct. 13, 1977
Give Credit Where Due
The Clackamas County Historical
Society Monday night voted to sup
port a cause we’re behind 100 per
cent: Naming the new U.S. Post
Office currently under construction
on Welches Road the Welches Post
Office.
Right now plans indicate that the
new post office will go by the Wemme
name. However, we hope the U.S.
Postal Service hasn’t cast this
decision in stone.
The mountain area has lost many of
its post offices through the years
—including
Welches,
Faubion,
Zigzag and Rowe. There is also talk
about the discontinuation of the
Brightwood and Rhododendron post
offices, something we would hate to
see.
The new post office is really closer
to the Welches area than Wemme.
And 85-year-old Jennie Welch, long
time postmaster for the Welches Post
Office, still runs an antique store in
the area. Her husband, William
Welch, served as postmaster from
approximately 1910 until 1940. Then
Mrs. Welch served as postmaster of
the well-loved office until her
retirement in 1960. Shortly thereafter,
the office was closed.
Wemme is named for E. Henry
Wemme, a public spirited citizen of
Portland who posthumously deeded
the Barlow Road to the State of
Oregon. Wemme certainly deserves
to have an area named after him but
we believe the Welch name played a
much bigger role in area history. The
Welch family homesteaded in the
area in 1882 and built a summer hotel
that attracted numerous visitors to
the area. And the family previously
owned what is now Bowman’s Golf
Course.
Further adding to the historical
significance of naming the post office
Welches is that Jennie Welch’s father,
William J. Faubion, was the only
postmaster of the Faubion Post
Office discontinued in 1932.
Jennie Welch is, in the words of one
mountain resident, “a first citizen of
the mountain.” We agree and would
like future history to reflect the
Welches heritage.
If you agree with us, write to
Portland Postmaster B. W. Luscher,
Jr., care of the Portland Post Office.
It may not be the “fight of the
century” but scores of irate
Clackamas County citizens are
preparing to oppose the efforts
of the co un ty’ s planning
bureacracy to complete the
current Rural Zoning Project.
Various citizen’s groups are
busily preparing petitions to
the county commissioners and
reportedly to state and regional
authorities to save their areas
from the “’take it and like it”
authority of the “ planners.”
The announced purpose of the
Rural Zoning Project was to
zone uraoned areas, rezone
portions of rural Clackamas
County not consistent with the
current comprehensive plan or
confirm the present zoning.
The four main “ areas” of the
project were identified as
Molalla, Redland, Estacada
and
T u a la tin -W ils o n v ille ,
although a number of smaller
communities were lumped
together in some of the named
areas.
Many of the smaller areas
quite properly claim distinct
differences with the area to
which they have been assigned.
The normal problems in
volved in the land-use planning
and zoning processes have been
escalated in this zoning project
by a deplorable ineptness in its
presentation and the always
frightening threat of “ legal”
bureaucratic domination.
When the p ro je c t was
in itia lly
announced,
the
reasons for it were listed
as follows.
—State law requires counties
to zone land (ORS 215).
—Comprehensive plans and
zoning must meet state land
use goals (ORS 197).
—The comprehensive plan is
the “ overriding document”
(Oregon Supreme Court,
Fasano
vs.
Washington
County).
—Zoning must complement
the plan (Oregon Supreme
Court, Baker vs. City of
Milwaukie).
Unfortunately for the project,
rural people who have slaved a
lifetim e to carve out a farm,
rural home or investment do
not take kindly to being told
that without so much as a “ by-
y o u r - le a v e , ”
p la n n e r s ’
decisions have already been
made and have already been
applied to the old homestead.
And
s till
more
un
fortunately—or
ineptly—the
schedule for completing
the project seemed to
allow citizens only one meeting
in September in each of the
main areas for discussion of the
changes the “ planners” were
about to make!
A great many people—a clear
m ajority according to some
reliable observers—attended
the September area meetings
hoping to, (1) get more in
formation on some of the basic
problems completion of the
project would cause, and (2) to
find some way to offer their
own ideas and suggestions in
the face of what they regarded
as an economic catastrophe or
an intrusion upon their legal
rights.
In either case they were short
changed.
Meeting agendas
were
c a re fu lly
printed,
spelling but the “ one way’’
communications flow.
Agenda items were closely
followed, allowing no response
from the floor and ignoring all
other points of view.
The
m eetings
were
“ tellings” —not “ hearings.”
Much of the dissatisfaction
with the county’s rural zoning
project springs from the use by
the planners of such words as
“ must” and “ required’’ and
“ perm it” and “ according to
our maps.”
Few people who own, care for
and pay plenty of taxes on their
homes and property take kindly
to the presumption that any
b u re a u cra tic
plan
takes
precedence over the rights of
ownership.
Strong comparisons are
being made between the legal
“ investment” in time and of a
fam ily farm or home, and the
county employe whose ad
m in is tra tiv e
w him ,
or
schedule, or decision, could, if
left unchallenged, destroy the
scanty
rew ards of land
ownership.
Those opposing the zoning
project are not the stubborn,
unthinking people who resist
even efficient land-use plan
ning.
These are the people who are
well aware that the public
employee whose wages they
help to pay can avoid the
vicious side-effects of higher
taxes on the land along with
impossible limitations on its
use, w hile the landowner
cannot.
They are also well aware that
a “ law” is one thing, and that
a d m in is t r a t iv e
p la n s ,
schedules, meeting agendas
and poorly concealed squeeze
plays are something less than
the "la w .”
Among those who have most
persistently questioned the
legality, necessity and methods
being used in this project are
those in rural areas already
zoned.
Planners claim that parts, or
all, or most of such areas are
inconsistent with the current
comprehensive plan and must
therefore be rezoned to con-
His 'fa ir' share
We Want Your Stories
Why do you rewrite my articles?
How can I get my story in the
newspaper?
These are questions we are
frequently asked at The Sandy Post.
We want to help so next Tuesday night
at 7 p.m. we will sponsor a newspaper
article seminar in Rm. 4 of the Sandy
Upper Grade School geared
especially for the club publicity
chairmen. We are interested in
getting your local news in the paper
and want to help organizations g
the most out of their publicity efforts.
We’ll cover such topics as how to
submit an article about a group
meeting, planned . money-raising
project or special event. Newspaper
writing has a style all its own and we
want to help people write an in
formative article suitable for the
press.
The class is sponsored by the Sandy
Community School. (SAL)
Tri-Met Looks for Alternatives
A blue-ribbon committee currently
is studying possible alternatives to
Tri-Met’s present method of finan
cing.
Tri-Met doesn’t have a route that is
paying its own way and a few recent
cuts in service really have done
nothing more than nibble away at the
deficit. Additional, substantial cuts
will occur unless more money is
found.
Two obvious avenues are
open. . . increases in fares, and a hike
in the business tax. Either would be
unpopular and would be implemented
only with reluctance.
The business tax can only go so
high. Right now, it is at five-tenths of
one per cent of payrolls in the Tri-
County area encompassed by Tri-
Met. It could go to six-tenths but no
higher under Tri-Met’s enabling
legislation. Practical considerations
dictate just how high fare increases
can go.
The blue-ribbon committee will
report about Jan. 1. Reportedly, none
of the proposals considered thus far
have met with much enthusiasm.
Some
cities—Tacoma,
for
one—have a household tax: each
residence is taxed 50 cents per year or
some such minimal figure. Voters in
Seattle, however, rejected even that
approach in an election earlier this
year.
Advertising, inside and outside Tri-
Met buses, also has been suggested
but this wouldn’t generate the kind of
income Tri-Met feels it needs.
Coming up with the necessary cash
isn’t going to be easy.
Choices for the College
It was just a couple of months ago
that Mt. Hood Community College
finally gained approval of its 1977-78
operating levy.
Now the College is back at the well
again. Board members will decide
tonight (Wednesday) what route
they’ll take for 1978-79.
Three choices are being con
sidered. . . a one-year levy, a new tax
base, or a three-year serial levy with
a constant tax rate.
The latter alternative, made
possible by passage of SB543 during
the recent legislative session, offers a
new approach Heretofore, serial
levies were for a set, specified
amount of money each year. .. say $1
million.
The new approach doesn’t set a
money amount but rather a constant
tax rate. New construction or in
creases in appraised value thus are
reflected in the amount of money
collected. In other words, tax receipts
will increase as the district grows.
We don’t know which of the three
alternatives the College board will
accept. Students favor a new tax
base, management groups favor a
one-year levy, and classified per
sonnel and faculty favor the new
serial levy appcoach.
Each has its drawbacks, each its
advantages. Mt. Hood’s present tax
base is inadequate to support the
College so some sort of decision has to
be made.
We realize voters traditionally are
reluctant to approve multi-year levies
but we still like the new serial levy
approach. It will give the College
some stability as well as catching up
with new and-or revalued con
struction. It’s worth a try.
Official: But John Q., w e’re going to let you pay for if.
letters to the editor
Office open
To the Editor:
We wish to thank everyone
for their thoughtfulness and
prayers during this trying time,
especially the Sandy Fire
Department for their prompt
and expert services, which we
are sure saved doctor’s life.
The dentists assciated with
the Clackamas County Study
Group, which Dr. Lamke has
been affiliated with for 20
years, are volunteering their
time and services to keep our
office open.
The office will be open on
Monday and Thursday mor
nings from 9 to 11:30 a. m .
The office w ill be open from 9 to
11:30 a.m. Monday thru Friday
to answer calls.
Dr. and Mrs. Albert Lamke
and family
Sandy, Ore.
form with that document.
Actually, areas zoned prior to
the adoption of the com
prehensive plan were in
complete compliance with
existing
statutes
and-or
ordinances and were the then
comprehensive plan.
There is no evidence that
such lands have legally been
measured against either the
Fasano or the Baker decisions
of the Oregon Supreme Court.
It is a fact that some areas
were zoned more than three
years before the adoption of the
current comprehensive plan
and by procedures that were
far more democratic and in line
with LCDC’s Goal No. 1
(citizen involvem ent) than
those used in the present
project!
Another area of contenion
between citizens and country
employees, (planners, coor
dinators, etc.) has been that
county bureaucrats have not
always followed the same
regulations they insist must be
followed by the citizens.
The
size,
shape
and
geographic locations assigned
to some “ neighborhood" or
“ community" areas is a case in
point.
The county’s comprehensive
plan which the “ planners” use
so glibly as a legal reference
and guide sets forth, among a
plethora of other bureaucratic
verbiage, “ that the boundaries
of
the
neighborhood
specifically define an area of
appropriate geographic size
and population for effective
planning and that these
boundaries take into account
n a tu ra l boundaries, com
mercial patterns, community
organizations and historical
factors.”
It is no secret that the
county’s planners and coor
dinators have rarely followed
their own regulations in the
establishment of neighborhood
organizations and m aking
recommendations that such
organizations be “ recognized."
The rules have been warped
to accommodate various
persons or groups believed to
h«y com pliant
w ith
the
bfcteaqcracy’s plans just as
many'people believe they have
been warped to exclude some
hard-headed citizens who know
the difference between true
democratic process and the
tyranny of fuzzy, complicated
administrative rules mat are
generally interpreted for the
b u r e a u c r a t — by
th e
bureaucrat.
Ample evidence of the above
situation
is
available
throughout the county where
strange, unusual and unwieldly
combinations of former long
standing and historical neigh
borhoods have been combined
to form “ Community Planning
Organizations" in which only a
small per cent of the people are
either interested or active.
The opposite is equally true.
Many geographically small
neighborhoods have either been
absorbed
by
the
b u re a u cra tica lly
oriented
confederations
or
le ft
unrecognized because they can
not be “ handled ”
The w rite r has in his
possession a list of persons
more or less active in “ plan
ning” circles throughout the
county who have been actually
“ evaluated” by a former
Clackamas County Citizen
Involvement Coordinator.
A handwritten note on this
“ secret" list is addressed to an
o ffic e r
in
a
regional
The Veterans of Foreign
Wars w ill meet at the VFW hall
in Sandy this Friday night at
earned dollars w ill provide
much needed funds fo r
research to find a control or
To the Editor
cure for cystic fibrosis, a
On behalf of lung-damaged leading genetic k e lle r of
childred throughout the United
chikfren.
the
Cystic
6:30 for a potluck dinner. A
business meeting at 8 w ill
feature the district commander
and the auxiliary president.
SERVICE
WE GIVE!
Fibrosis
Foundation extends sincere
thanks to the many members of
the Portland Metropolitan area
who did “ everything to help” in
the Breath of Life Campaign.
Thousands of dedicated
volunteers donated their time
in the door-to-door march, and
although it is too early for a
final tally, indications are that
this year’s goals w ill be met
when all the money has been
turned in.
Special thanks to the mass
media representatives who
have helped alert parents to the
signs of CF and other lung
damaging diseases and to the
importance of diagnosis and
comprehensive treatment
Through the humanitarian
efforts of volunteers, con
tributors and the media, we
hope one day to realize a future
in which children no longer
suffer from cystic fibrosis or
any other lung-dam aging
This volunteer effort w ill help disease
to support Cystic Fibrosis
When that day arrives, you
centers throughout the United
w ill have helped make it
States specializing in the
possible
John T. Floyd,
diagnosis, trea tm en t and
Executive director
referral of children with CF
Cystic Fibrosis Foundation,
and other lung-dam aging
Oregon Chapter
diseases
0112 SW Pennoyer,
To the contributors, we send
Portland, Ore 97201
heart felt thanks Your hard
Although this happened
during the incumbency of a
former “ coordinator” there are
no reasons to believe that the
urge to “ control” is still one of
the significant forces behind
the county’s planning effort.
The various belated efforts of
the countv commissioners to
improve the “ planning” have
only served to highlight, rather
than provide any lasting
benefits to the county’s wobbly
planning program.
While the real benefits of a
c a re fu l,
c itiz e n -o rie n te d
planning program have been
shrinking from a lack of
leadership and a real desire to
serve rather than control, the
difficulties of imposing this
kind of a program upon the
citizens have been allowed to
m ultiply until they (and their
rapidly escalating costs) have
formed a formidable barrier to
its success or its acceptance by
the public.
More and more citizens are
beginning to realize the “ insult-
to-injury” factor in a public
program that lim its their
freedoms at the same time it
takes more and more of their
money to support it.
In the matter of costs, an
exceedingly sore point has been
the planner’s stock answer to
citizen request that planning
studies and program s be
tailored to fit each neigh
borhood or community and its
particular problems.
Planners insist that such a
course would be too costly and
too time consuming.
Citizens (who pay the costs in
any case) simply cannot accpet
that answer. They see both the
costs of supporting the
program and the much greater
costs of its consequences as
being their contribution, while
the program is being directed
and controlled by those who
have contributed nothing but
the willingness to accept a fat
paycheck.
In the Molalla area a few
citizens are said to be gearing
up for an all-out battle to resist
the rural zoning program
unless more effective citizen
participation is allowed.
In the Viola area petitions are
being distributed to put the
county commissioners on the
spot for legal and official ex
planations of the program that
planning employees could not
or would not offer.
In the Estacada-Colton area
letters and phone calls indicate
a rapidly growing coalesence of
resistance.
In Redland small groups of
neighbors are banding together
to explore the possibilities of
petitioning the county com
missioners for relief from what
they believe are unjustified
procedures initiated by the
planners.
Back of it all is the often
expressed fear of bureaucratic
domination without adequate
protection of the citizen’s rights
by his elected officials.
Perhaps it is now long past
time for the three county
commissioners to take a good,
careful look at what they have
permitted to grow in the
county’s bureaucratic garden.
Their legal responsibility to
provide for the health, safety
and welfare of the citizens
contains no exceptions not even
when that means protecting
them from their own em
ployees.
VFW slates potluck
CF thanks
States,
organization. It states that the
list is "fo r you alone because of
the evaluations" and contains a
“ key” to the evaluations.
INSURANCE
WE SELL . . .
The personal
insurance counsel
and advice of a local
agent is important
to you in planning
a complete insurance
program.
Gaorga Morgan
Local Rapratantativa
WALRAD ScT'
Sandy, O regon
668*4421