Image provided by: Friends of the Sandy Public Library; Sandy, OR
About Sandy post. (Sandy, Oregon) 1938-current | View Entire Issue (March 5, 1981)
Section SANDY, OREGON THURSDAY. MARCH 5 1981 The Sandy Post Area News People Home & Garden Features Local resident puts water to work creating cheap power The water wheel .he ll..rKer proper., h „ reduced electric hill, to . b> K W E BARTON BAKKE Pont Correspondent < al Horger, who lives near Dover in a l” dge like home on Deep Creek, has pul the creek s water to work providing power for his large home. Many Oregon residents are ex perimenting with wind and water generating plants, but for a majority, generators have turned out to lx* expen sive toys The Horgers' water wheel, however, produces eight cents worth of electrici ty an hour around the clock and has reduced their electrical bills to a few dollars per month in the three months it has been operational. Horger and his wife, Elizabeth, have lived on the banks of Deep Creek since 1962 One of their first projects after moving m was to investigate the feasibility of generating water power. “ Everywhere I asked. I was told there was no information available on water wheels’,” Horger said He finally began searching through the hydraulic section of Multnomah County’s main library and there found his first and on ly lead Corger discovered not a book on water power but a picture of a 16-foot water wheel He persuaded library of ficials to let him take the print off the premises, where he had it photocopied An engineer friend of Horger's scaled the dimensions of the drawing from 16 fee, down to 12 feet, the size needed for the water flow available at Horger's site A Portland metal fabrication com pany built tin* wheel of steel, and it was hauled up Firwood Road to theCorger's place, where it rested in front of the double garage, awaiting assembly A flume had to lx* built, and a con crete base for the water wheel “ For the total package to be functional, it took 15 years," Horger said His investment in the plant, which generates two kilowatts, totals approx imately $13,(Mio, “ not counting building the dam or any of the labor or the head w ork," he said Because technology has advanced, a plant of sim ilar capacity could now pro bably be installed for around $6,000, Horger estimated dollar,. One of the puzzles which slowed H orger was locating a suitable generator to use with his water wheel Trial and error taught him that the generator had to operate at very low speeds A neighbor referred him to Mark lan dgren, of the Portland firm Wind Power Systems, on the possibility that a wind generator might be adaptable to the water system The hunch proved out, and Horger purchased a generator made by an Aberdeen, South Dakota firm which has since gone out of business The project was “ strictly experimen tai all the way," said Horger's wife Elizabeth She gestured toward Scott Silva, Lindgren’s partner at Wind Power Systems. “ If they hadn't come along with their wind generator, we’d still be playing around with this thing Silva and Lindgren havesinced form ed a subsidiary, Northwest Water Power Systems. They serve as con sultants to homeowners investigating the feasibility of wind and watei power generation at their home sites The men also sell literature on alter native energy, and act as distributors for equipment needed to generate power on a small scale Silva pointed out that water power at present is much more cost effective and has an earlier pay back than wind power plants, since water usually flows around the clock, while wind blows in termittently He also said a larger generating plant is a better investment and pays for itself sooner than a small one such as the Horgers installed But the retired couple doesn’t com plain too loudly about the water wheel Since it became o perational in November, their electric bills have ranged from $3 50 to $y per month, in cluding the $3 minimum charged all customers by Portland General Elec tric Co Power companies presently buy back the power produced by wind and water generators at current retail rates. Silva pointed out that c e rta in preliminary steps should be taken by homeow ners interested in water power, including measuring the flow of available water and determining, through state agencies, where owner ship of water rights lies ( al Horger looks over his money-saving waterway Despite language barrier Student enjoys Paraguay trip by M A Itk F LO Y D Last year Claudia Richards had to learn to speak Spanish in a hurry this year she is trying to relearn English in a hurry The 18-year old Sandy High senior spent the ye ar in Asuncion, Paraguay as par, of the American Field Services i AFS, exchange stu dent program When she left las, February, Richards knew practical ly no Spanish a t. all When she r< turned two weeks ago, however she found herself thinking and speaking Spanish and having some trouble with English To compound the problem, two languages are spoken in Paraguay. Spanish and Guarani, an Indian dialect “ I had to learn them from scratch, she admitted I finally started to understand Spanish and people would speak Guarani when they didn , wan, me to know wha, they were talking about I, took me about four months to pick up Spanish to where I could manage fairly well, then I jus, go, better from there." she added. “ I've only been home two weeks and l m ready to go back It seems strange, it 's like being in a new world again " Richards had no special tutors in Paraguay and, since she had to learn the language from scratch, she fell behind a bit in her studies You had to learn fast and pick up what you could," she said “ They're very serious about school and they don', stop You're expected to keep up and if you don t catch on, you have to ask a classmate There are no sports or anything You go to school to learn, period.” Classes were similar to those at Sandy with chemistry, philosophy, english and math standard subjects Students attended school from 7 •i m to noon, then wen, home tor the big meal of the day in the afternoon The big meal was followed by a siesta, when all the shops closed un til about 3 p m or so, then reopened Life a, night and on weekends was also exciting There wen* dances, movies and lots of nigh, e n te rta in m e n t," Richards said "W ed go ou, and have a few beers The drinking age there was as soon as you could reach to the counter I be guys in Paraguay were a Io, different, she added “ They seem ed to be more friendly, more ex ,rover,ed They d meet you one day and wan, to go ou, the next " Richards also found the food dif feren, and welcomed the change Natural foods were encouraged and there was very little junk food. “ In stead of having candy bars, you have a fruit salad." she said R ich a rd s stayed w ith a Paraguayan fam ily during her year. Miguel and Nylda Rodriguez and their two sons, Leo, 23, and Dam, 19 I heir home was in Asuncion, the capital of the country with a popula tion of more than one million people I he country was very traditional and so was my fam ily,” Richards said “ (¡iris can't go ou, alone, they always have to go with someone in the family We eventually found ways to ge, around that, though My family was understanding, they'd had AFS students before We had three maids,” she added ‘One would cook, one would clean and one would wash clothes Bu, even with three maids, there was a Io, of work for my cousin • Leila, age four, and I There was always scads of stuff to do " The Rodriguez family was fairly well to-do, according to Richards, who added that there is a class system in Paraguay Most families are either rich or poor, no, middle class I hiring her stay, the Sandy student visited a ranch in the jungle area of Paraguay and made a trip to Brazil, the larges, country in S South America She enjoyed the trave I, but detested the inse cts and mosquitos' of South America Richards enjoyed the Paraguay experience hu, admitted that it was Sandy High senior Claudia Richards at home after a year in Paraguay. Richards enjoyed her stay and her new family (fa r rig h t,, parents Miguel and Nvlda and her brothers Leo. 23. with the hat, and Dani. I». Also Using in her house was cousin Leila, age four (rig h t,. I . costly she and her parents, Vern , V1I1 and Melba Richards, had to come up with $2.(MH, for the year and she is having to make up a lot of credits at St IIS. R ic h a rd s ' c la ssm a te s graduated las, year and she will be 19 when she dons the cap and gown this June. But the experience was worth the sacrifices, she said "I'v e had no trouble with my fam i ly or anything since coming back, but I, Will take some tune to adjust back to school,“ she admitted "M y first impulse is to speak Spanish and I even think in Spanish Bu, it ’s star ting to go away "M y parents noticed that the ex perience changed me and I m glad to have had the Opportunity,” she added “ I d like to go back I really liked my family there and after a year, you ge, really attached "
