Section
SANDY, O R EG O N , THURSDAY, JA N . 15. 1981
The Shindy Post
Area News
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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,”
.
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