Section
SANDY
O REG ON
THURSDAY
NOVEMBER 26
JA
1981
TA T
_
People
Home & Garden
Features
FC 3 N C W S
Little gained by sewage spill investigation
The SÉndy Post
by MICHAEL P JOSES
Post Correspondent
The sewer spill at the junction of
Fairway and Bright Avenues in
Welches was investigated this past
week by the Oregon Department of
Environmental Quality (DEQ), and
the pieces of the puzzle are falling in
to place, although the puzzle is
unlikelv to be put together complete
ly
Dick Wixon, an investigator with
the DEQ. visited the dump site w here
Lar-v Hoyt rnd Brian Crocket, both
employees of Hoodland Thriftw ay,
drove through an estimated six in
ches of sewage that was dumped
along the south side of the road The
sewage flowed down a hill and into a
storm sewer where it emptied into
the Salmon River
After close analysis. Wixon iden
tified the contents of the sewage,
which he described as ' sludge." as
being com prised of disposable
diapers, condoms, cigarette butts,
sanitary napkins, tampons, grease
and toilet paper He said that it was
apparent that the sewage was
dumped by a pumper truck and the
A
distance of about 25 feet before his
truck was empty
Wixon said that this method of
dumping sewage is typical, and it
allows illegal dumpers to get away
from the scene quickly, especially
when the sewage is flow ing down hill
Wixon said that he could not tell
how much sewage was dumped on
this stretch of road, or how many
times it has occurred He said with a
sewage came from either a holding
tank or a private septic system
Wixon said that the pumper truck
operator probably tied a rope to the
release valve, located at the rear of
the truck's tank, and pulled the valve
at the beginning of the hill as he
drove east (and up' on Fairway
Avenue He said the driver went
about 100 feet and turned south onto
Bright Avenue and continued on for a
pumper truck having the ability to
dump 3.000 gallons of sewage in eight
seconds on a dark, back road, that
that doesn't give DEQ much to go on
“ I ’m afraid there is not much DEQ
or 1 can do in this particular situa
tion," said Wixon "There's going to
be budget cuts coming that w ill
seriously affect what we will be able
to do in the future.”
Wixon said, “ Unfortunately, all we
can do is respond to the spills after
the fact and only when we know
about it Most of the tune we never
know where the sewage is dumped
and where it came from
W'ixon said that he believes that the
same person that illegally dumped
into a waterfall just fifteen feet south
of the six 5,000-gallon sewage holding
tanks at Rippling River this summer
is responsible for this dump also
He said that the close proxim ity to
the other dump site, and the ingre
dients in the sewage sludge, clearly
indicate this.
DEQ notified Clackamas County
last Thursday, requesting they
shovel the remains of the sewage
spill and clean the site, but as of Mon
day the sludge still lined the south
side of Fairway Avenue and the west
side of Bright Avenue
Operation REDDI is a ‘war’ on drucken drivers
ski weekends
Persons can call the toll free
number, I 800 452 7888. and report a
drunken driver
According to Sargent Dan Wolf of
the OSP, who is in charge of the
Government Camp outpost, REDDI
is the result of many months of study
by the Oregon Traffic Safety Com
mission and the OSP He said
statistics show that there is a rela
tionship between alcohol use and
traffic fatalities in the state. It is
estimated that over 50 percent of
by MICHAEL P. JONES
A new program designed to keep
drunken drivers off the roads and get
citizens involved, all at the same
time, has been instituted by the
Oregon State Police (OSP>
The program is called "Operation
R ED DI.” which stands for "Report
Every Drunk D river Immediately
REDD I went into effect on Hallo
ween night, and could have a major
impact on preventing serious ac
cidents on holidays and during major
highway deaths involve alcohol
"We are waging a war on every
drunk d rive r because they are
responsible for most accidents that
occur on Oregon highways,” said
W o lf
“ D ru n k d riv e rs a ffe c t
everyone, so it ’s time that everyone
get involved.”
The OSP w ill be handing out
business cards for people to carry.
The car has the toll free number that
connects with the main office in
Salem That office w ill alert person
nel at the closest OSP field station
and apprise them of the situation.
Wolf said that the program is
designed for quick response and that
as soon as a drunken driver is spot
ted, the REDDI number should be
called Callers should give as much
information as possible including
license number, make and year of
the vehicle, and what direction the
vehicle is traveling
Wolf praised the new program and
said that since he has worked on the
mountain he has seen enough situa
tions involving drunken drivers that
he realizes it is a must to get the
public involved He said that he feels
the REDDI program, in addition to
speed control <radar» and saturation
patrols, w ill pressure drunken
drivers to stay off the road He said
that all three enforcement tools are
needed
"Two years ago we had 20 fatal ac
cidents between Government Camp
and Sandy.” said Wolf "Since we
stepped up our enforcement, we've
reduced that figure to three or four
fatalities a year "
$30,000 cabin destroyed by fire
by M ICHA EL P. JONES
si ¡iff photo
A number of different crafts will be sold at the IXth annual Snowman’s Christmas Bazaar, which will be put on by the
Hoodland Women's ( tub Dec. 5 and 6 at the club building in Welches. Standing, from left to right, is Bobbe Pearson,
Dave Enna and Lucy Bowman, with Brent. Sitting, from left to right, is Sue Elina. with Alex behind her, and Kathy
Forbes
The Hoodland Rural Fire Depart
ment was busy this past weekend
with two auto accidents and a house
fire
On Nov. 21 the d e p a rtm e n t
responded to a two-car head-on co lli
sion at the junction of Highway 26
and Sleepy Hollow Road.
Fire Chief Don Armintrout said
that the accident occurred at 3:57
p m. and that three persons were in
jured They were transported to
Gresham Community Hospital by
Alpine Ambulance
Armintrout said that the accident
occurred after one of the vehicles, a
Datsun four wheel drive pickup,
crossed the center line of Highway 26
and collided with a 280Z. The impact
hurled the 280Z into a guard ra il and
completely destroyed the car
Brad Norris of Troutdale, the
driver of the 280Z, sustained a con
cussion and a broken wrist
Gary Foster of Aloha, the driver of
the pickup, suffered minor injuries to
the mouth after hitting the steering
wheel Alice Dunn, also from Aloha
and a passenger in the vehicle, suf
fered a fractured right foot and an
eye injury.
That same night at 10:53 p m a car
went out of control at the north end of
the Brightwood Bridge, where it in
tersects with the Barlow Trail Road,
and rolled over into an old gravel pit
The d rive r was transported to
Gresham Community Hospital and
treated for minor injuries
At 7 a m Sunday morning, a cabin
located at 21490 SE Brianwood (just
off Lolo Pass Road), caught fire and
was completely destroyed
Armintrout said that the fire was
caused by a malfunctioning car
buretor in an oil heater
The loss of the cabin is estimated to
be around $30,000 with a loss of $2,000
worth of the contents. The cabin is
owned by Murray Brown of Portland
Four persons were inside the cabin
when the fire broke out and were
lucky to escape, according to A rm in
trout
Despite effort United Way
may fall short of its goal
Carl Halvorson, campaign chair
man, announced last week that
United Way has received pledges
totaling $13,030,153, or 81 4 percent ol
its $16 m illion goal
"In spite of recent successes, it is
doubtful that our $16 million goal w ill
be achieved," Iklvorson said The
final total is to be released today
" I'm extremely proud of the com
munity and our 20,000 volunteers for
their extraodinary efforts and con
trib u tio n s Given our economic
climate, without that effort, our 1981
campaign probably would not have
equaled our 1980 revenues," Halvor
son added
He said that the average employee
gift is up from $50 to $56. and that
total employee contributions are up
12.9 percent, over 1980
Halvorson said, "This is significant
considering that dosed employee
campaigns have shown that 2.580
fewer people were employed at those
places of business over last year's
figures "
The trend is back to wood and this family’s going for it
by SCOTT NEWTON
goodness.”
The only regret that Jim Buckelew
has about being in the wooden toy
business is that he didn't get in it
sooner
" I t ’s going great,” he said. " I t
seems like every day somebody
orders something The wholesale
part should have slowed down by
now, but it hasn't."
Buckelew, who lives in Sandy but
rents a shop in Damascus, added.
"We re doing two-thirds again what
we were last year We're looking fo r
ward to even a better one next year."
The Frontier Toy Company sup
ports two families, Buckelew and his
wife, Corine, and son Wayne, and his
wife Becky, and their two children
M ilt, and his wife Lori, also help out
part-time
Asked w hat a ll he m akes,
Buckelew responded, “ Oh my
The list is long, and it includes
ro c k in g horses (a n d ro c k in g
elephants and rocking lions), freight
trains, three different kinds of cars,
frogs, grasshoppers, cobbler's ben
ches, bi planes, helicopters, log
trucks, animal toys on wheels and
animal crayon holders.
There are also toys for the bigger
kids, including cribbage boards in
the shapes of aces, hearts, diamonds
or clubs, a game called cheating
chess, which includes old m ill and
blind man Morris, elimination, tic-
tac-toe (which comes in a parlor
game or a smaller version for travel
ing) and a transpose game, which is
described as being extremely d if
ficult.
Buckelew, who is at the Saturday
Market in Portland on Saturdays and
Sundays, likes to get people in the
booth and challenge them to a game
vr ÿ
T
f
m
of transpose If they can work the
game in the booth, it's theirs If they
can't, they're to pay double.
One man spent nearly three hours
in the booth "He never did get it,"
Buckelew said, adding that the man
bought the game
A solution to the puzzle is included
in the price. " I f they run out of
fingernails they can go to the solution
and do it,” Buckelew said No one has
worked the game in the booth to date.
He said that freight trains and
rocking horses are a couple of the
more popular items He added,
“ We've got a little car that’s kind of
different We call it the Love Bug
That’s our most popular car. The
kids can hang onto it real easy, and, I
don't know, they just love it."
They've also come out with a trac
tor that they expect w ill sell well
Thread caddies seem to bring
potential customers into their booth,
•
H ‘
Photo by Scoli Newton
Wayne, Corine and Jim Buckelew
1
Buckelew said They also make pasta
d r ie r s , re c ip e c a rd h o ld e rs ,
magazine racks, cooling racks, foot
massagers "and on and on and on.”
The ideas for the toys and other
item > come from a number of d if
ferent places His father was a "wood
butcher,” in other words a carpenter,
and Buckelew made toys for his four
boys when they were growing up
Some ideas have been taken from
books or magazines, and some are
original, although not all of the
original creations have worked out.
Buckelew thought up one game, in
cluding a board and instructions. " I
flew in there right quick and made
about six boards and then I sat down
to write ou, the instructions and I'd
forgotten how to play it.
" I ’ve still got the boards Someday
I ’ll remember."
The Buckelews’ handiwork can be
seen at the Calico Caboose in
Wemme, Made In Oregon stores, at
the Portland Saturday Market every
weekend until Christmas, at Mt
Hood Community College’s Scrooge
Lives bazaar the first four days of
December, or at the Western
Forestry Center, 4033 Southwest Ca
nyon Road, this Saturday and Sunday
at its Wooden Toy Show. Also, the
Washington Park Zoo sells the
B u c k e le w s '
ro c k in g
h orses,
elephants and lions
A lthough the Buckelews put
together a number of toys, there are
some they won’t make.
" I purposely stay away from noisy
toys," Buckelew said He later
pointed out that the loudest toy he
makes is the cobbler's bench, where
a youngster can pound pegs through
holes with a wooded hammer, and
then can turn the table over and
knock the pegs through the other
way.
"I'v e got a thing about guns, too,"
Buckelew said " I just don’t feel right
making them to sell to the kids
" I know I played with guns when I
was a kid It just seems to be a part of
growing up But our society has got
ten to the point where there’s too
much killing going on
"Let the other guy sell the guns and
the destructive things I just want to
make things for fun.”
The Buckelews also do not put a
finish on their products, or paint
them, except in certain cases when
Becky will fill a special order
"They can chew on it till they’ve
got their little tummy full of bark,”
Buckelew joked He was serious,
though, when he pointed out there is
nothing toxic on the toys
All of the Frontier Toy Company's
toys are made out of pine, although
when things slow down a fte r
Christmas Buckelew is going to ex
periment with alder, as it is a prettier
and harder wood
"There's a definite trend back to
wood," Buckelew said, adding that
it's amazing what can be done with it.
And, he jokes about putting up a
sign over their booth that would
read "Made in Oregon from Oregon
wood by a damned ol' Texan.”
The Buckelews lived in Oregon for
24 years before moving to Palm Spr
ings because of Jim 's back The
warmer, drier climate may or may
not have helped his a rth ritis .
Regardless, they moved back Their
other two sons also live in Oregon
Steve is in Beaverton and Jim is in
Medford
Upon moving back Jim took a job
in Ashland teaching in a private
school He taught at levels from
junior high through high school
"That's what forced me into making
toys," he said with a laugh
He said that he didn’t care much
for teaching, and after the toy
business got going, and it got too ex
pensive to drive back and forth from
Portland to Saturday Market, they
moved to Sandy Corine added later
that they like it here
"1've got to the point with this a r
th ritis," Jim Buckelew said, "that I
can't work for the other man,
because the first thing you know I'm
crippin' around like I am right now
and he says, 'Hey, who needs him '’ ’
"So, I work and do things for
myself.”
If everything keeps going the way
it has Buckelew plans to buy some
labor saving euqipment And. a
representative has been hired to a t
tend trade shows in Texas and
California
B u cke le w s a ttitu d e may be
reflected in what he told a man in
terested in the wooden toy business
that he met at a trad«' show in San
Francisco " I just told him (over the
phone), ‘ Hey, man, go for it It's out
there and it's for those who go out
and get i t . " ’
A few of the most popular items made by the Buckelews Include the rocking
horse, the action wagon (bottom left I. the larve Bug. and the biplane
I