Vacation B-Ball
Vacation school
page 7, section 1
Vol. 71
page 1, section II
No 26
Striale Copy 20*
Mt. Hood climbing expedition ends in tragedy
J
by MICHAEL P. JONES
The bodies of four mountain climbers
were removed Monday from the nor
them slope of Mount Hood in the wake
of the worst climbing accident in
history on the 11,235 foot peak Sunday
afternoon.
A fifth climber in the 17-member par
ty died Sunday night in a Portland
hospital and five other climbers were
hospitalized.
Dead are George Anderson. 4H, of
Damascus who was the leader of the
climbing party; Jim Darby. 35. of
Newberg, Garth Wescott. 35 of Bend;
Uarry Young, 30. of Corvallis, and Leah
Klaudt Lorenson, 30, of Vancouver,
Wash , who died at Portland Adventist
Hospital after being airlifted from the
mountain.
mountain. She
She suffered
suffered a a heart
heart attack
attack
climbing
at 10:40 p m
Hardman, who has been involved in
Chief Deputy Don Hardman, of the
rescue operations since 1959, called the
Hood River County Sheriff’s Depart area “ dangerous "
ment, told The Post that Anderson, the
" I f you fall from any given area on
lead climber, slipped or fell about 2 the north side, you fall onto the Elliott
p m from the steep slope of the Cooper Glacier," he said " I t ’s like a funnel It
Ridge Trail near Elliott Glacier “ which
just sweeps you through "
pulled down the other climbers who
David R Turple, 51, of Portland, and
were all roped together
17-year-old Bill Pilkenton of Newberg
"They dropped 1,200 to 1,500 feet
died June 6 in a sim ilar accident in the
through a snow field filled with rocks,"
same area While the pair was descen
Hardman said “ With the lead climber
ding from the summit, Pilkenton fell
roped in with the rest when he fell, it
and Turple tried to block him
just dominoed the others ”
With four persons dead, another in
Hardman said that 13 of the
critical condition and four more in
17 member party fell from the Cooper jured, John Richard Goss, 20, of
Spur, but could not explain how the four
Portland, who was also involved in the
remaining persons were not swept
fall, climbed down the mountain until
down onto Elliott Glacier which ran
he met other climbers coming up
north of the area from which they were
Cooper Ridge They returned to Cloud
Cap Inn and notified the Hood River
Sheriff’s Department with a radio on
the premises
According to Sheriff Robert Lynch, in
charge of the rescue operations, his of
fice received the call around 3:15 p m
and immediately headed for Cloud Cap
Inn to set up a command post
He criticized early media reports that
confused the Mount Hood incident with
a n o th e r
in c id e n t
Sunday
on
Washington's Mount Rainier in which
11 climbers were killed by an avalan
che He said rescuers “ were aware of
what they were dealing with from the
very beginning "
Lynch said three helicopters from the
304th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery
Squadron, the National Ski Patrol, as
well as the Crag Rats, the Alpinees and
the Moresco search and rescue teams
assisted in the operation
Hampered by high winds and heavy
cloud cover, the injured were airlifted
from the mountain by dark Sunday
They were taken by helicopters to The
Dalles General Hospital, Hood River
M em orial Hospital and Adventist
Hospital and Kaiser Sunnyside Medical
Center in Portland
The hospitalized were Jan Young, 29,
of Corvallis; Jack Bohl. 29. of Portland.
Susan Cox, 39, of Portland; Bob
Vreeland. 36. of Portland, and Goss
Early Monday morning, a ground
team left Cloud Cap Inn at 6 a m The
last body was recovered from the
mountain by l a m
The operation was accomplished by
"manpower and guts alone." said one
sheriff's office representative
Budget set;
council OK’s
adjustments
Hardman, who fielded calls from
media nationwide, emphasized that bad
conditions and accidents never closed
the mountain off."
"Caution and awareness are the
things you live with when you climb the
mountain," he said " I t can kill both in
the dead of w inter and in the middle of
summer with no snow on the rocks."
Sheriff Lynch said, "Climbers must
lx* prepared and have the proper ex
perience for what they are attempting
to do If not their own experience, then
the proper experience in their party.
But. even then anything can still hap
pen."
Dr. Chris Mackert. president of the
Mazama Club, said all 17 climbers in
the party were experienced inoun
taineers
Local schools
try 3 ballots
again Tuesday
bv DAN DILLON
The city of Sandy budget for fiscal
1981 82 is finalized
Following some minor fine tuning to
incorporate a higher-than-expected
cash carryover, the Sandy City Council
Monday evening gave its stamp of ap
proval to the $2,056,394 document.
The cash carryover from the current
fiscal year was approximately $40,000
more than ( ity Manager Roger Jordan
had anticipated
At the same time,
however, the city lost $21,819 from an
ticipated CETA reimbursements forced
by Reagan administration cuts
Those cuts w ill cost the city the
equivalent of one and one half posi
tions
With nearly $20,000 in excess, Jordan
distributed those monies in the budget.
Unbudgeted fringe benefit increases
received $10,000, police overtime and
court time. $5,000; the library person
nel account, $2,000, and the contingency
fund, $3,000
That raised the contingency fund to
$44,678 and Jordan told the council that
that fund is particularly important
Failure to have a good beginning cash
balance means you have re a l
problems,” he said “ If we lost our
beginning cash balance, we could be in
a world of hurt "
He warned the council that while the
budget looks “ rosy," the beginning
cash balance is necessary for operation
of the city “ Hopefully, we can carry
the majority of the contingency over to
next year for a begming cash balance. ’
Jordan said
He told the council that federal and
state revenue sharing are both “ up a lit Oscar and Felix bring their antics as The odd Couple" to the Sandy Community
tle " The federal money w ill go toward
Theatre on I rector Boulevard next Friday. July 3. kicking off a three-weekend
equipment replacement and paying for
a sander The slate monies are targeted
for parks and parkway improvements
rhe council also saved the city some
money Monday evening when it approv
ed purchase of lia b ility insurance
through City County Insurance Ser
vices, a group formed through the
by M ICHAEL P. JONES
League of Oregon Cities and the
A resident living near the develop
Association of Oregon Counties. The
ment reported that he saw a pumper
The investigation into who was
plan was written specifically for the
truck backed up to the waterfall area
needs of cities
responsible for the sewage spills at Rip
and thought it was “ going to go off the
pling River and how they occurred
The annual premium on the new
edge."
policy will be $16.455 I^ast year, the city
seems to have become clouded by
According to Dan Bush, soils scientist
paid more than $30.000 for liability in
regulatory agencies lacking funding
with Clackamas County Environmental
surance
and manpower to do the job
Services Department which has begun
I he savings won't have a major im
When the byproducts of a spill or
its own investigation, he was more
pact on the 1981-82 budget, however,
deliberate "dum ping" were discovered
pessimistic than o ptim istic about
because the insurance payments are
along a small waterfall just below six
discovering who is really at fault
broken down in five separate funds
5.000 gallon sewage tanks near the
"We are not going to get very far to
"There's not any big boon to any one
development, the Department of En
be honest. " Bush said "We need hard,
fund," Jordan said Tuesday, “ but it will
vironmental Quality <DEQ> threatened
undeniable facts like a photograph or
to fine the developers
help out. The plan appears to be better
eyewitnesses which we just don't
than what we've had in the past and i t ’s
In fact, after Dick Wixon of DEQ in
have "
cheaper."
itially investigated the spills, he warn
A ccording to Robert Hornsby,
The city's agent of record. George
ed Rippling River personnel that they
superintendent at the Sandy Sewage
Morgan of Sandy, presented the city
must notify his office if a spill ever oc
Treatment Plant which has a sewage
with a pair of policies to choose from
curred again or they would be subject
treatment agreement with the develop
The other policy, from Transamehca
to a fine Now. however, lacking fun
ment, he has had problems in the past
Insurance, was for $18,378 84
ding and manpower, the investigation
treating sewage from Rippling River
In other action, the council:
has halted
that actually did not come from the
A closer examinatin of the spill area
— Granted Jordan a merit increase in
development."
raised questions because of the large
his salary and commended him for his
In a letter written to Rippling River
job as city manager, based on its
quantities of restaurant or kitchen
officials Dec 8, 1980. Hornsby said the
evaluation of his actions * We re very
grease found in the area Rippling
treatment plant had "recently ex
pleased with the work you’re doing and
River does not have large quantities of
penenced the discharge of a large
the way the city is operating," Council
grease flow ing into its tanks and some
volume of burnt grease into our
believe the spill might have been "m id
President Deane Wesselink told Jor
system However. I am confident that
dan
night dumping."
the grease did not come from your
Photo by Sanrti Pnulala
run. Hank Fmrich. left, plays Oscar, the incurable slob. Glen Dickman is Felix his
impeccably clean roommate. The opening night performance begins at x p m
Sandy's two school districts take
their B ballot proposals to the voters
this Tuesday, June 30
For the Sandy Elementary School
District, the vote represents the final
attempt to salvage several existing pro
grams
For the Sandy Union High School
District, the vote offers an opportunity
to counter a projected shortfall in state
revenues
The elementary school district's B'
ballot was defeated initially in March.
A proposed $160,000 kindergarten pro
gram was eliminated, but the ballot
went down again in May
Under state law, Tuesday’s vote is
the last time the district can present a
•R ballot to the voters this year
If approved, the $198,000 ballot would
provide funding for the talented and
gifted program, after school athletics
and activities, outdoor school, guidance
and counseling services for grades 16,
Sandy Community School program, the
purchase of two school buses and a
grounds maintenance tractor, and im
provements to the aquatic center
If the levy passes, district patrons
w ill pay an estimated $8 25 per $1,000
assessed valuation
The high school district, on the other
hand, is making its first attempt to pass
a B ballot since the May approval of
its 'A' ballot
Its $355,296 proposal would buffer
against projected losses in state monies
and provide $96,000 for renovation of an
art room, hiring a guidance counselor,
library improvements, athletic field
improvements and a new school bus
Unlike the elementary district, the
high school district can approach
voters again in September if it fails this
time
Rippling River investigation clouded
system ”
Hornsby said because the treatment
plant is set up to process fresh sewage
only, when old sewage is discharged in
to the system, problems can develop In
the case of the burnt grease, it took two
full days over a weekend t clean up ap
pro xim a tely 800 pounds of "o ld
restaurant grease" that got into the
system
. In the same letter, Hornsby also com
plained that the deve lo pm e nt’s
"sewage hauler," Schulz Sanitary Ser
vice of Portland, was delivering sewage
d u rin g u n a u th o riz e d hou rs, on
weekends and holidays, which did not
allow the plant workers the opportunity
to observe what wa being discharged
into the system
He emphasized that new controls
were going to be instituted in order to
"have better control over this m atter."
"While I am in no way implying that
any commercial hauler is dishonest,"
Hornsby wrote, the present arrange
ment certainly presents the opportunity
to be."
Shortly after Rippling River officials
were notified of the stricter controls.
Schulz Sanitary Service stopped haul
ing for the development Cascade Sep
tic Service of Estacada took over the
pumping operations Dei 18, 1980
He-nsby says that since Cascade took
over the operation there has been no
grease or old sewage processed from
the development
Bush said the possibility that Rippl
mg River s holding tanks were being
used for disposal of sewage from other
holding tanks or residential septic
systems exists He said the develop
ment may have had sewage pumped
d irectly into their holding tanks
through the cap on the pumping riser
Bush said that most people have little
reason to question where their sewage
goes after it's pumped, leaving it up to
the pumper to properly dispose of it
Sewage is out of sight, out of m ind,"
he said " I t ’s a headache that’s expen
sive The priority of sewage is the
lowest in peoples mir.ds It does n t
become a priority until i t ’s a problem "
Bush would not say that Rippling
River is not at fault for the spills
because DEQ has held fast on their fin
dings But, he did say, all new informa
tion would be turned over to DEQ and
this "could be a case where Rippling
River is an innocent victim, and they
may not know it."
He commended the development's of
ficials for cleaning up the spill and
cooperating w(th the investigation
According to Clackamas County of
ficials, a cap on line leading to the
pump station that had been related to at
least two of the spills was mortared to
prevent future problems
a
Index
SECTION 1
Keeping Posted
Senior Center News
Obituaries
Editorials. Letters
Sports, Recreation .
SECTION II
Area News..
About People...
Around the County
Bits it Pieces .,
What’s Cooking
Hoodland Happenings
Classified Advertising
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