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About Sandy post. (Sandy, Oregon) 1938-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 23, 1978)
County comments Mt. Hood's greatest gift Water: A highest and best use Sue Laffcy, Editor Bob Blumhagen, Asst. Publisher . Caroline Duff, Office Manager Douglas Gantenbein. Staff Reporter R*V Tipton, Advertising Manager Published w eekly Thursday* by The O utlook Publishing Co Bo» 60 Sandy Oregon 970 5 5 Second d a s * postoge poid dt Sandy Oregon by Bill Sanderson 668 5548 Generally speaking, the phrase “ It ’s highest and best use” in our Pacific North west economic culture equates out with another P acific Northwest phrase expressed a dozen different ways. But having a single meaning places an absolute condition on the “ best use” phrase It is, very simply, “ If that’s where the biggest and most im m ediate profits a re !” SI BSCKIFTIO.N HA IES In N orthw est ond Pocilic Coast States outside Oregon per year ‘ 7 00 In M ultnom ah ond Clockamas Counties per y e a r ..............................‘ 5 00 Servicem en any oddress ................‘ 5 00 O utside N orthw est ond Poofic Coast states per year ..............................‘ 9 00 In O regon outside M ultnom oh and CIackgmos Counties per y e o r ■ ■ *6 00 MEMBER Page 2 Oregon Newspapei Publishers Association Ì Sandy Post, Sandy, Oregon 97065 Represented Nationally by U S SUBURBAN PRESS inc No. 8 MSS**« Thurs., t-eo. No Free Lunch The Hoodland F ire District may be on its way out of what some have called the dark ages. On Monday night the board supported a proposal to expand the current tax base of $65,000 to $150,000 and to put that proposal before voters in a May election. Before the increased tax base proposal goes before voters, it needs to pass the inspection of the fire district’s budget committee. Somehow we doubt if that com m ittee will dampen the enthusiasm already displayed by volunteers and board m em bers for the hoped- for adequate funding. The increased funding for the district is long overdue. Equipment is outdated and in some cases, such as the nearly inoperable “ rescue” vehicle, dangerous to use. If Hoodland area residents hope to have any kind of fire prevention, they’re going to have to spend the money to get it. As the saying goes, there’s no free lunch. Good things are happening with the H oodland F ir e D e p a rt ment—both with the volunteers and the board. Area residents should sit up and take notice. (SAL) letters to the editor What's There To Hide? On negotiations A m em ber of the Boring Action Neighborhood Group Thursday said 60 percent of persons he talked with in the Boring area would not allow D epartm ent of Environ m ental Quality officials to inspect sewers. The question that comes to mind is why? There have long been known problems with the sewers in the Boring area, where DEQ personnel were attem pting to determ ine if there is an areawide health hazard from raw sewage being dumped into Deep Creek. If the problem is to be solved—or even accurately identified—it is going to take the cooperation of area residents. If a DEQ inspection proves that the residential sewer is a problem, then we all benefit from the information and can begin w orking tow ards a positive solution. Refusing to cooperate with a state agency simply because it is a state agency is absurd. If a sewage problem exists, then it’s tim e to get our heads out of the cesspool and realize that ignoring the problem will not make it go away.YTK) A ll Kinds There is one thing wrong with the women’s liberation movement. It w ears chains. We’ve m ade valuable progress getting women in positions of m anagem ent. We’ve made strides toward financial equality. But at the sam e time we’re ex panding our opportunities, we’re cutting our options. Job snobbery has alienated a substantial portion of our num bers: Homemakers. The soap opera addict who fritters her life between the tube A February 12 editorial on negotiations in Oregon school districts needs further ex planation. The $7 million mentioned does cover “ only the tip of the iceberg” in how school adm inistrators spend tax money. A significant factor is that this is tax money paid to school districts—teachers finance th e ir negotiations from dues paid to local and state associations. It is doubtful any teacher in the state feels this money is wisely spent. Teacher groups are continually ap palled by the money districts spend hiring professional negotiators and supporting needless litigations—money better spent in the classroom. As a teacher representing Multnomah County teachers, I assure taxpayers that their school district contributed part of the $7 million. Each district in the county spent $7,000-110,000 plus expenses for a professional negotiator; each district spent $2,500- $3,500 for board members to travel in the state; and each district spent $2,500-$3,500 in dues for board members to join the Oregon School Board Association. I also agree that too much money goes to needless litigations and arbitrations by school districts. School boards tend to believe the concept of divine right allows them to disregard state statutes and signed con tracts. This causes litigations (the “win” record for school boards would indicate the need for better legal advice for the money spent). However, the most money spent is not in negotiations but simply in getting school boards to negotiate— this causes litigation. Teachers go to the table expecting to meet their employers, but find a professional negotiator who knows little, if anything, about education. Teachers have remained involved because of their dedication to the profession. E arl Thompson President, Multnomah County Uniserv Oregon Education Association 1001 SE 217th Ave. Gresham Now when everyone from hungry timber interests to hungrier politicians, from jerry-built water works and sewer-system operators, to a distant city the size of Portland or a Cherryville sized neighborhood. When everyone, from Congress to the Clackamas County Planning Department (and th a t’s a great “ from believe m e !) decides to start tinkering with one of nature’s biggest, most complicated and most perfect natural water systems, the results w ill be predictably disastrous. In all of the world there is probably no more efficient, self-loading and fully automatic pure water supply system than our own Mt. Hood. The storms of winter load it with the millions of tons of snow and ice that will keep its run-off cold and clean through the summer. P re v a ilin g winds carry summer rains up into its sponge-like forest to be held and mixed with the melting snow and ice throughout the year. Its majestic heights fur nish the flow and the power to deliver its pure liquid gold some 25, 50 or even 100 miles away. All of the electric energy sources now on the market in the area could not begin to power one-half the machinery it would take to do for us what Mt. Hood does—and furnishes a substantial amount of power while doing it. Unfortunately, nature's astonishing cold, pure water supply system is not fool proof against the profit- motive meddling of those who cannot see the mountain because of the foothills, the forests because of the trees nor the great water-supply system because of the quick profits in grabbing off rights to the individual streams. As a matter of hard, cold facts, the total system, big as it is, is incredibly sensitive and fragile. The total ecology of the mountain has already been ignored by dozens of studies, each geared to a precon ceived advantage for any one of the several competing pressure groups whose sole concern for the mountain is, and has been, “ how much can we get out of it?” If it is not already much too late (and I believe that it is), the people of the area might possibly repair some of the almost irrepairable damage already done to the mountain and eventually come close to realizing most of its best and highest use by joining forces to carefu lly define the priority of its highest uses and the minimum extent to which some of its lower priority uses will be allowed. As yet there is no over-al 1 authority to act, and cer tainly no competent authority to even define, (as I have tried to do) the one outstanding ability of the mountain to serve man in its highest capacity; pure, clean and cold (and almost inexhaustable) water supply system. By comparison with its long-range values, the price is not too high, even yet. But when did the quick profit-takers and those who serve them ever bother with the long-range benefits? When the cornucopia of pure, cold and clean water starts bringing the mud of clear-cutting and the filth and disease of over-crowding there may still be those who will remember when it was not “ too late.” For Mt. Hood forest and subsista nee housekeeping may not be a growing individual. But homemaking and motherhood can be creative, too. Ju st as a college degree doesn’t make its recipient sm art, a place in the “ the work force” doesn’t automatically make the w orker superior. You get out what you put in, w hether in class, at home or in the executive washroom. L et’s not limit women to no choices. T hat’s what we had in the past. There’s room for all of us.(LV) Environmental groups appeal timber plan Seven Oregon citizen organizations have appealed the environmental statement for the new 10-year management plan of the Mt. Hood N ational Forest to Forest Service Chief John McGuire. The groups have protested what they call “ severe flaw s’ ’ in the tim ber management plan that will “ greatly restrict the range of benefits” of the Mt. Hood Forest. The groups making the appeal include the Oregon Environmental Council, the Wilderness Society, Sierra Club, Portland Advocates of Wilderness, Friends of Bull of the Woods, Mt. Hood Forest Study Group, and the C orvallis based Cascade- Holistic Economic Con sultants Inc. R egion al-F orester DicR Worthington last month approved the plan which describes an annual sell level of 364.1 million board feet a year “ Although the Mt. Hood Forest contains about 1 million acres, only about 824,000 acres is included in the commercial forest land base,” said tim ber staff member Wendall Jones of the Mt. Hood Forest’s office in Gresham. “ Of this, timber harvest is only prescribed on about 662,000 acres. According to John Ham mond, a spokesman for the environmental groups, the new plan “ will very likely curtail the forest’s ability to produce a wide range of resources, including a high level of timber output.” The appeal did not ask the Forest Service to stop doing tim b er management ac tivities during the appeal, said Ann Heisler of the Mt. Hood National Forest. “ What they want us to do is to revise the tim b er management plan so en vironm ental impacts are fully disclosed and thoroughly qualified.” “ We do not wish to disrupt the Forest Service timber management, nor do we wish to threaten employment within the forest products in d u stry,” said D avid Corkran, a Sierra Club and Friends of Bull of the Woods member. According to the appeal, the plan threatens the long term productivity of the forest by the proposed widespread application of herbicides and a tree genetic improvement program. The groups also alleged that the environm ental review for the plan included “ im p ra c tic a l and illeg al a ltern atives such as suggesting no timber harvest or harvests in excess of even- flow, sustained yield levels. “ They go on to make the point that we haven’t quantified the environmental impacts and haven’t iden tified the location of the roads,” Heisler added. Heisler said the Forest Service chief has 30 days to answer the appeal of the seven citizen groups If that appeal is denied, further administrative appeal may % College schedule mailed "Come On, Mod Get The Cool Outi" The spring term schedule of classes at Mt. Hood Community College will soon be in the mail to all district residents with its listing of more than 1,300 different class sections available through the college The schedule contains a form at change to help potential students find evening classes more easily Pages five through 11 list the classes alphabetically by day of the week so that someone looking for a Tuesday evening class need only look in that section rather than paging through the entire spring publication General academic classes are offered in the evenings as well as during the day so that those unable to attend during the day can still continue their education at night Also, the class offerings provide day and evening programs in basic courses for those needing to brush up on reading, w ritin g, or mathematics. Following the listings for the Gresham campus is the section containing classes available at the Maywood Park Center and the self- paced instruction annex. Many of the day and evening classes at the Maywood Park Center are offered in three- hour blocks so that the student need only attend class once a week instead of two or three times The schedule also contains classes offered through the MHCC extension services program Via the program, area residents may take college credit, vocational technical. and adult education courses in the evenings at conveniently located, neighborhood high schools Finally, the spring term publication provides a description of the community service short courses, Mt. Hood aquatics center swim m ing lessons, open recreation periods for adults and children in the college physical education facilities, and spring term offerings by the college counseling center Open registration for all students starts with a special Saturday session in the M H CC College Center from 11 a m to 2 p m March 11. Registration will continue through the month and into April with spring term in struction beginning March 27, For more information concerning the schedule of classes of spring term reg istration , stop by the admissions and records office or call 667-6422 i be made to Assistant S ecretary of A griculture Rupert Cutler. “ A lawsuit would be the next choice,” Heisler said. “ As a result of these procedural irregularities, we believe your decision to implement the (plan) carries w ith it a substantial unrecognized risk of im pairment or destruction of the forest’s eco systems and its productive capabilities,” the groups said in a letter to Worthington. Jones said last month that there was significant public input on the draft en vironmental statement He said concerns expressed in the input were considered and many changes occurred in the final statement as a result. “ An example,” said Jones, “ is that the final statement reflects a 29 percent reduction of number of acres harvested, while at the same time reflecting only a 2.5 percent reduction in the annual harvest levels.” FEX rates /from page 1 receiving have been in opposition to the increase. “ The effect of the calls is to alert the commissioner that the phone companies are not letting the customers know what is going on and why,” Hower said. Davis apparently requested that the phone companies request the increase to oetter reflect the costs of the F E X service. “ The commissioner knew it would be a large increase because it’s coming all at once instead of in in crements,” Hower said “ But I don't know if he knew it would come in at 200 or 300 percent.” The last F E X increase for Con tinental Telephone Co. was April 15, 1972, and General Telephone Co. last increased rates Aug 25, 1975, Hower said. For more information on the F E X rate increase proposal, call 238 8265. Window shot Sandy area resident C o n s ta n c e K irk w o o d reported that someone drove by and fired a BB gun at a window Saturday night, causing an estimated $100 damage Kirkwood told Clackamas County S heriff's deputies that she was sitting in the living room of her home at the time and that the car sped away immediately after the shot was fired No description of the car was available Carlson request approval Carlson Chevrolet w ill make a request for parking and landscaping approval by the Sandy Design Review Board tonight at 7:30 p m in the city library. May Baucom is applicant for approval of a sign for Ward's Catalogue store and Radar Curl Shop will seek tem porary sign approval. Location for both sign requests ia the R adar Building
