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About Sandy post. (Sandy, Oregon) 1938-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 15, 1981)
Section SANDY, O R EG O N , THURSDAY, JA N . 15. 1981 The Shindy Post Area News JA People Home & Garden Features Engineer finds fault with Welches construction by K A Y E BARTON BAKKE Post Correspondent Welches School Board's independent engineer told the board Thursday night that he had both good news and bad news to report to them after his fine- tooth examination of the uncompleted addition to the school. “ The good news,” said James T. M errifield of the Portland engineering firm Moffatt, Nichol and Bonney, “ is that you don’t have what I consider to be insurmountable problems. “ The bad news,” he continued, “ is that you do have problems.” Merrifield was referring to Wings B and C of the addition, in what he em phasized was an interim report. He indicated a final, writted report would be made available to the board by approximatelv Jan. 15. A letter sent from Merrifield to the board in December recommended that construction could proceed on Wing A while Wings B and C underwent further examination. Construction had been halted by board vote Nov. 17 after citizens ob jected to problems with the building and what Hoodland home builder Gene Shannon Thursday night said was “ very poor workmanship.” One of the uppermost concerns about the new building expressed during public meetings was the quality of the concrete floors. Various rumors were repeated, including discovery of a one- inch thick floor slab in spots where four- inch thickness was specified, and inadequate soil preparation which allowed settling of the floors. M errifield told the board that he had bored six-inch holes into the floors in Wing A and determined that they were satisfactory. The biggest problem in Wing A, according to the engineer, was the material, later identified as “ Fix- ¡5 all” , which was inappropriately used to finish the floors in an attempt to level them. “ The floor finish in all the (wings) is poor,” Merrifield said. “ I t ’s among the worst I ’ve seen, whith one exception, and that was 30 years ago.” But he repeated that the problems were “ not insurmountable. With an adequate amount of grinding and leveling with the proper m aterial,” he said the floors could be made ac ceptable. Merrifield acknowledged some problems with the site preparation. “ I have examined the plans,” he said, “ and there is some discrepancy bet ween what was recommended in the soil report and what was accomplished in the field.” The soils analysis done prior to construction recommended that the site “ be stripped of overburden material to expose original soil,” Merrifield said, in order to create a proper base for building. Merrifield reported that the thinnest place in the slab which he located in 15 random samples was 2A< inch thick, which would make the slab one inch thin or less than the four inches that were specified rather than one inch thick, as some rumors stated. M errifield’s test samples indicated that this was not done in all areas. Some of the six-inch cores, bored revealed plant matter mixed in with the soil beneath the concrete slab. M errifield said the 2%-inch thickness “ doesn’t bother me. I know it should be four inches, but with the load this building gets, it should be adequate.” The engineer said that his tests “ verified that all the wall footings are based on original earth,” but that parts of the slab poured within the walls might have a problem with settling as the plant material in the sub-grade decayed. This could take place over “ a period of 10 to 20 years or two to 30 years," he said. “ I don’t know the time element on that. It would depend upon the rate of decay.” In addition to the extensive grinding and filling to level the floors required in all the wings, Merrifield said that in Wing C and parts of Wing B “ it might be more economical” to entirely remove the floor slab and tear out the over burden beneath it so that the new floor would be based on original earth as recommended. Site preparation was done by Havlik Construction of Scappoose. Contractor for the project was Glynbrook Con struction of Salem. Richard Gessford, the building’s architect, told M errifield Thursday night, “ I've watched as you’ve taken tests out there and shaken my head along with everybody else.” Gessford said the contractors have "some answering to do to me. Some things happened out there that weren’t supposed to happen and reportedly didn’t happen.” Another construction defect pointed out by Merrifield was the absence of perimeter insulation in Wing A. The form insulation is required by building code to be placed around the outside of the foundation. It was originally “ omitted all the way around,” but was later installed in Wing B and C, according to Principal Ken Blackburn. It is impossible to install at this point, M errifield said. The board was asked by a citizen in the audience, “ If the building doesn’t meet the code, how can we occupy it?" “ There’s not much you can do about it,” M errifield answered. He said he believed the building inspector would grant a certificate of occupancy, since the absence of perimeter insulation “ is a pretty minor deviation.” County faces bleak year ¿ sits OREGON CITY — Inflation, federal, state and county budget cuts and the poor economy are jeopardizing vital Clackamas County services, four department representatives told county commissioners Thursday. Representatives of the county’s Department of Human Resources, Department of Environmental Ser vices, sheriff’s office and district at torney’s office told commissioners during an informal “ state of the county” work session that the outlook for their offices is “ bleak.” In specific terms, that means elderly, low-income and mentally ill residents w ill receive less help from the county, fewer roads w ill be improved and drainage problems tackled, polio* protection w ill be inadequate, fewer criminals w ill be prosecuted and convicted criminals w ill be released sooner from the county jail. “ The next year does not look bright for human services provider agencies anywhere,” said Mary K. Holder, DHR administrative assistant. “ More people are out of work, the cost of everything is higher and there are fewer dollars to go around.” Boring dog trainer uses affection instead of whip by GWEN BOGH Post Correspondent Tom Burke meets one of his dogs after a successful retrieve. First, however, the trained animal points the bird out (rig ht), then dives into a pond for the retrieve after the shot. photos by Gwen Bogh Love breeds beauty at Greenacre Kennel. At least, that’s what owner Tom Burke believes. Burke trains bird dogs to perform; not by the whip, but with gentleness and love. Burke said that some people think that “ you can’t have a fam ily pet and a good bird dog in one animal, but that’s not true. The more the dog loves you, the more he’ll perform for you.” For 13 years, Burke has trained German shorthair, springer spaniel and labradors at his site in Boring off Highway 212. On occassions, there have been as many as 70 dogs boarded at Greenacres. The dogs begin their training at six months of age. It continues for two months amounting to one half day per dog Three basic whistle commands are learned by the dog — coming in by a whistle, going out and stopping in the field. More than 2,000 quail are raised at Greenacres for training purposes The dogs do not touch the birds until they have been shot They w ill stand at a stance, pointing, until the owner initiates a command. They then retrieve the bird from land or water A bird dog must be able to swim and retrieve from water. Often times Burke uses trained dogs to train other dogs. He’ll take the dogs out to a lake and practice with the trained dog as the untrained dog watches. Soon the dog watching becomes jealous and wants to join in on the activity. In advanced stage* of training, the dogs are taken off the grounds to unfamiliar areas and tested for actual performance. This assures the pet owner and Burke that the dog is trained to hunt anywhere. Burke said the dogs he trains perform to please their masters. Fear and physical punishment is not an effective method of training, he said. Some trainers have resorted to whipping and electric collars. “ Every dog has a different per sonality,” noted Burke, so training sometimes conforms to the dog’s individuality. He recalled an instance when a dog he trained performed remarkably well in all areas except retrieving. The dog would not retrieve, no matter what he did. Then in a final attempt he and the owner took the dog out again. A storm was manifesting at the time. The dog was given commands and retrieving was the next step. Then a crack of lightening burst from the clouds and the dog retrieved in stantly. From that time on, the dog never failed to retrieve. Burke has entered many dogs in competition over the years and has earned over 350 trophies. He has trained bird dogs for 22 years as both an amateur and professional. Currently there are 20 dogs at the kennel, all are German shorthair. Among the clan is a prize dog named Johnny D, owned by Burke. Johnny I) has won several awards in competition trials. Burke plans to enter her in the “ National Shooting Dog Championship” held in the midwest. This contest is so stringent that only 60 to 80 dogs in the entire country w ill qualify., I t ’s evident by the dogs’ responses that Burke's technique in training is successful. They act instantaneously to commands, receiving praise as rewa. J. Hunting is fun for them, not work — and commands are just part of the game The result is a heavier demand for services at a tune when those services are being cut back for lack of funds. Holder said. The projected cut in food stamps, for example, w ill create moi e demand for the county’s food programs which are themselves being cut back, she said. The 1981 state Legislature is expected to cut back funds for county mental health services, focusing the scare dollars on programs for the severely mentally ill, “ which w ill hurt children, adolescents and the less serverely ill,” Holder said. “ And we know there w ill be a 20 percent cut in funds for welfare mothers, possibly more.” Her office is currently “ swamped’ with people trying to get fuel-assistance funds, she said. The Reagan administration “ appears not to be tuned to programs affecting health, safety, food and shelter needs,” she said. “ Generally that w ill mean fewer dollars for these programs.” DES Director John McIntyre said one of the main concerns in his office is the* fewer and fewer roads the county can afford to maintain every year. “ What are we going to do with the billions of dollars invested in our roads, when gas consumption, on which we depend for funds, is on the decline and petroleum-based paving materials have a high inflation rate?” McIntyre asked. Mass transit may be the trans portation of the future, but “ I can tell you it isn’t going to function without roads," he said, “ And, sure, we’re going to have light rail coming into Gresham, but not everybody can live within walking distance of it.” McIntyre urged commissioners to authorize placing a county gas tax measure on an upcoming ballot to raise funds for the road maintenance program. User fees may soon be charged at some county parks to finance their maintenance, he said, and the county is unable to work on drainage problems that may be preventing development in some areas Construction of the Clackamas Town Center and Precision Cast-parts, both in Clackamas, “ ha/e pulled us out of what could have been a bad year,” he said “ It ’s ironic that housing con struction is down, but conunercial and industrial construction is way up, so they sort of balance each other out ” The outlook of the sheriff’s office largely depends on whether voters approve a 84.7 million B tax levy on Feb 17, said Sheriff Paul McAllister The levy w ill allow him to fill five deputy's positions now being left vacant and to hire about 17 more, he said. “ Right now we have no one working on narcotics and fraud cases are having to be handled by our regular staff,” . (( ontinuedou Page •)
