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About Sandy post. (Sandy, Oregon) 1938-current | View Entire Issue (July 23, 1981)
Errant tree kills power for wide area \ tree, accidentally fallen across Portland General Electric Co power lines Monday evening, knocked out electrical service to the Sandy, Boring, Brightwood and Welches areas for more than an hour in some localities. According to Bob Kallen, PGE Sandy district manager, 6,(MM) to 8, (MW persons were affected by the outage He said the Sandy area was without power for ap p ro x im a te ly 45 m in u te s, w h ile residents of the Brightwood and Welches areas waited more than an hour for the lights to come back on Kallen said the outage was caused when a resident of the Compton Road area, east of Heidi's Swiss Village, ac cidentally fell a tree across a PGE transmission line knocking out the feeder for the area at about 7:55 pm He said that PGE has authority to fine the individual A two-man crew on duty was able to isolate the outage as much as possible, the PGE official said, but a second crew was needed to restore a local feeder in the immediate vicinity. The biggest problem caused by the outage, other than individual inconve niences, was the elimination of traffic signals on Highway 26 in Sandy Local police market! the hazardous intersections with flares to caution motorists City studies community school options by DAN D IL LO N W hile plans move ahead for grant ap plications to save the Sandy Communi ty School, city officials are studying ways to assimilate as much of its pro gram into the city's Recreation Depart ment as it can The Community School fell victim with several other Sandy Elementary School District programs at the June 30 special election Now Jan Reynolds, w ho served as coordinator, is seeking a means of keeping the school alive Both private and public funding sources are being explored "Since the fall program wouldn't start until the end of September, we have a little time to watch the grant funding approach," City Manager Roger Jordan said this week He said the city w ill try to pick up as many recreational aspects of the curriculum as possible "Those elemenLs of education, the college w ill be asked to pick up," he said. The Community School had been governed in a unique tri agency aggree ment The Elementary School District, the city of Sandy and Mount Hood Com munity College all participated in the school’s direction and funding However, with only the c ity ’s portion, about $4,(MM) remains after it under wrote the summer program after July 1, the school cannot survive without out side funding The Elementary School District would have contributed $14,300 M HCC’s c o n trib u tio n was ad ministrative and fiscal management, according to Jordan "In terms of recreation, our foremost commitment is to the athletic activities we have been sponsoring the last few years," said Sandra Potter Marquardt, community services director "Com munity Services might be available for some comm unity school-style ac tivités.” During the nine years of its existence, the Sandy Community School provided a wide array of activities It was the springboard for such ongoing projects as the Sandy Community Players, the Silver Threads program and the Sandy Country Market Classes ranging from macramé to fiscal management and soap making to solar greenhouse construction were in itiated and taught through the school by volunteers Reynolds told The Post, " I see Com munity School as ail ultimate facilitator and an ultimate resource center The possibilities are endless " The new city Recreation Coordinator Bill Knight Weiler spent five months as interim coordinator of Sandy Com munity School last summer and is aware of what the city can and cannot do to fill the school's gap "Our emphasis w ill mostly tie on the organized sports leagues," he said, "w ith quality officials " Summer tennis classes will begin next week and the Recreation Depart men, w ill sponsor three nature hikes for the whole family to sites like Ramona Ealls and Still Creek Trail The half day hikes w ill be led by a qualified naturalist and focus on natural history, wild edibles and enjoyment of the out doors Knight Weiler said the Recreation Department will I k * picking up some ol the programs which were ottered through the Community School suih as aerobic dancing and wrestling tor kids tiu, resources are limited Approximately $4.(MMi remains in the city's budgeted allocation for Sandy Community School for fiscal 1981 82 There are two options for those funds, according to Jordan The city may ye, enter into another cooperative agreement to operate the school if funding can be found If fun ding is no, forthcoming, Jordan said he will recommend to the City Council that the city integrate the money into the Recreation Department and pick up what programming it can County goofs on A ballot appropriation Clackamas County o fficials are discovering the county might not tie as fiscally fit as they thought it was Clackamas County may be forced to place a special tax levy on the September ballot just to raise some $365,000 in revenues that voters have technically approved The state contends that $365, (MW of the county's $2 million A levy, approved by voters last November, should not have been included in the A levy and so is not eligible for its homeowners' property tax relief program To raise that portion of the levy, which was part of a package to fund county justice services, the county may have to submit a new levy, according to Carole Berggren. county budget analyst. The county is first trying another op tion, however Rep Ed Lindquist, D Gladstone, was scheduled to present an amendment to the House Revenue Committee over the weekend which would clarify the formula under which the A levy was calculated The amendment is attached to House Bill 2175, a "dead" bill which will only serve as a vehicle for the amendment If passed by the Legislature, it would allow the county to levy the full $2 million of its levy The problem began last September when the county was forced to calculate the amount of its A levy using its own population estimates, Berggren said The size of an A levy is based on a for mula using population and inflation fac tors Before placing the levy on the ballot, the county conferred with the state Department of Revenue and the at torney general's office, both of which gave their approval, she said Then the county received its official population inflation indicator from the Depart met of Revenue in December and "ours didn't exactly coincide." she said "They said that we had placed too much on the A levy Clackamas is not the only county ex periencing roblems Polk County of ficials underestimated the possible size of their A levy Berggren said However, while Clackamas officials are being told they can't levy the $365.000 without voters approving the elimination of state tax relief, Polk of ficials are being told they may levy the entire amoung of their A levy, despite the fact voters approved a smaller amount, she said "We re seeing a lot of inconsisten cies," she said 1 oder new districting, approved by the Oregon Legislature, Sandy will find itself in a local House district (23) with Estacada, Canby and the Hoodland area, rather than the former sprawling district which included Hood River and The Dalles. The Senate district (14) finds Sandy in the northern end of a ribbon-shaped district which extends from the outskirts of Springfield to .Mount Hood. The new districts, particularly the House district, are expected to strengthen Northern Clackamas County's voice in Salem. Dam proposal generates heated issue by MR II \ E L I*. JONES Post Correspondent A decision w ill be delivered Aug 3 by the Clackamas County hearings officer on a proposed hydro electric project for the Boulder Creek area Steven Sweitzer, of Hoodland's S.S. Investments, seeks a conditional use permit for the hydro project which he says he would operate six months a year on his property He faced a group of protesting pro perty owners who live on Country Club Drive, just below the proposed project. They were organized by the En vironmental Committee on Suitability (ECOS) and represented by land-use a tto rn ey Ed S u lliva n, who also represented the Sierra Club According to Sweitzer, projects like his could offset the construction of nuclear and coal-fired plants, and help prevent future blackouts He said Portland General Electric has agreed to purchase the plant's energy for the next 30 years He contended that the location is in "a decent place that would not hurt anyone " However, the suitability of the loca tion was questioned by hearings officer Ken Stewart as concerns such as ero sion. urbanization and protection of fish habitats were raised Eish biologist Jay Massey, Depart ment of Eish and Wildlife, questioned the project's environmental assess men, prepared by the Redmond firm . Consultants Northwest, Inc He disagreed with the assessment's conclusion that no fish habitats were "known to exist above the proposed powerhouse site approximately 2,(MM) feet upstream from the mouth ” He said. "Boulder Creek provides good habitat for anadromous fish (winter steelhead) throughout the year from the mouth upstream two miles The creek also provides good habitat for resident trout from the mouth upstream for approxim ately five miles.” He added that the assessment’s con tention that insufficient algae, "the main food supply for fish," was wrong "The main food supply of salmonids (salmon, steelhead and trout) is aquatic insects, not algae,'* Massey said. He said the Department would re quire fish passage facilities to protect upstream and migrating fish That would involve a fish ladder over the diversion dam and screens to prevent downstream migrants from entering the pipeline EROSION PROBLEM James J. Kirk, attorney and con sulting biologist, stressed that even a fish ladder would not eliminate all the problems He said there was a potential for "im poundment,” Despite the fact that fish would eventually be able to find their way out of the structure, it would make them more susceptible to predators such as Kingfishers, Blue Herons and bears Kirk claimed that erosion from the construction of the facility and access road, and from 160 clear-cut acres above the stream could cause serious damage to the creek He said that over the years sediments from erosion would affect steelhead spawning areas by covering gravel beds and coating eggs He added that the gills of the fish might be covered with the coating, placing them under stress and making them "more susceptible to diseases " John McMahan, an area property owner, complained that erosion is already coming from the, logged off hillside and filling his pond with silt He added that the eroding hillside has changed the course of the spring from w hich he gets his drinking water " It's a fragile facility, the land we live on,” said McMahan "A dam is a death threat to the fish." Attorney Sullivan criticized that the project is growing He said that the original project application, filed April 30, said that 38 cubic fee, of water per second would be diverted to generate 1,240 theoretical horsepower That, he said, was amended June 19 and 22 addi tional cubic fee, of water per second were added, increasing the generation to 1,957 theoretical horsepower. He told the hearings officer that the permit should be denied because the characteristics of the site havMiot been proven suitable and ,h«* project con flicts with the goals and policies of the Clackamas County Plan "There are several reasons for deny ing this application," said Sullivan "There has been unrefuted evidence to the effect on fish and w ildlife which w as glossed over by the applicant." He disagreed that the project would prevent the construction of nuclear power plants He said that power com panies would be delayed only "10 minutes" by such a contribution to the energy pool. He charged th a t the p ro je c t "facilitates an urban use in a rural area The plan, will only make fish meal through the turbines," he said The hearings officer's decision was postponed to allow a site visit and tune for PGE and the Bonneville Power Ad ministration to submit letters showing their support and documenting the need for such a facility. The Aug 3 decision w ill lx* at 9 a m at the Clackamas County Environmen tai Services Building in Oregon City (See related story on page 3. section I.) Rhododendron spill source identified The Clackamas County Environmen tai Services' code compliance division this week confirmed the sewage spill in a small creek that flows through Rhododendron and eventually empties into the Zigzag River According to Dave Phillips, in charge of code compliance complaints, an in spector from his office located "a very small sewage seep" behind the Alpine Hut Restaurant July 17. Phillips said the case w ill be turned over to the Health Division which will conduct a dye test of the restaurant's septic system to confirm w hether or no, the problem originates in that system "A ll we are prepared to say, at this time, is that there is what appears to be sewage seeping out of the ground behind the Alpine Hut," he said "Only a test of the system w ill confirm it and then we will proceed from there." Phillips did not believe that the latest spill could have been the result of a deliberate dumping by a pumper truck " I have a lot of confidence in Hal Wilson's (the County inspector who found the seepage» ability to track down a problem If he's looked at one septic system, he's lookiHl at 10,000,” Phillips said " I ’m confident the pro blem w ill fie solved shortly." He said residents should not be con cerned about the brownish liquid in the creek Phillips said it is actually iron oxidized water State police investigating fatality Oregon State Police are investigating the possibility that a woman who was run over on Highway 26 east of Sandy last Friday night was deliberately lying in the road at the time of the accident Patricia Ann Owen, 35, of Sandy died after she was run over by two vehicles traveling westbound on the highway at about 10 30 p m., police said The first vehicle stopp'd but a second one, a tractor-trailer truck, ran over the body a few seconds later, stopped momentarily, and continued on. accor ding to witnesses. Police determined that Owen was on the ground when she was first struck because of the type of damage to the car that hit her first, police said Witnesses at the scene said that the truck ran over the body within six or eight seconds after the firs, vehicle They were drawn to the scene after hearing screeching brakes Owen had been living at the Pioneer Motel since July 8 The accident occur red adjacent to the motel Oregon State Police are continuing their search for the truck that hit the victim but did no, remain on the scene Victors Visitors page 7, section I page I, section II C
