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About Sandy post. (Sandy, Oregon) 1938-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 7, 1982)
The Sandy Post Snow east of Sandy causes biggest headaches bv DAN DILLON A year end storm blanketed the Sandy Mt Hood area with more than three feet of snow in some places, lim iting m obility, closing schools and causing spotty power outages Locally, city and fire officials say their departments have coped well with the weather, but both are keep ing their fingers crossed until the snow melts and the cold spell snaps. Wednesday morning, the National Weather S ervice forecast d ry weather until the weekend, with rain at times on Saturday and Sunday for northern Oregon High temperatures are expected to clim b into the m id 40s and lower-50s by the weekend also The heavy snowfall east of Sandy created the major points of concern Sandy Elementary D istrict and Sandy Union High School D istrict both closed their doors Monday through Wednesday, as driving pro blems east of the city hampered bus accessibility. Elementary Superintendent Clark Lund said Wednesday morning that he expected to open school Thursday, but the possibility of some inconve niences for students living off the main county roads exists Lund said he drove more than 60 miles of county roads Tuesday and noted that the main problems are caused by bus turnarounds on dead- end roads which have been plowed deep snow shut Trouble spots in the Sandy area Roads, he noted, where students have included Jadrny Road. McCabe live who w ill have to make it to a Road and Wildcat Mountain Road main arterial for bus service are Kallen said that extra crews from K itzm iller Road. Brian Ranch Road. Portland and contract crews are East Wildcat Mountain Road. Jadrny assisting local crews as they try to Road. East and West Dowling Roads restore power to the customers and Baty Road City officials are optimistic that There w ill be service on Wildcat Sandy residents won't lose their Mountain Road to 452nd Avenue Mc water supply, despite heavy snows in Cabe and Coalman Roads w ill also the Alder Creek area east of Sandy, have bus service, he said site of the treatment plant For Portland General Electric of “ We’re not really worried about finals, east of Sandy has been a the water system, other than keeping “ mess” since New Years Eve power to our treatment plant and the Bob K a lle n , Sandy D is tr ic t phone lines,” City Manager Roger manager, said Tuesday that while no Jordan said Wednesday. E lectricity major outages occurred, the spot is needed to operate the pumps at the outages are proving aggravating treatment plant, a pump station at because of access problems in the Terra F irra and at the 500.000-gallon reservoir Telephone lines signal from the reservoir to the treatment plant when water is needed “ We feel our individual systems are very secure now." Jordan said “ All the city's water systems are working, but the exposure (at Alder Creek» is something we want to keep looking a t.” Public works crews had been on 24-hour duty since New Years Eve as they worked to keep city streets open for motorists and maintain the water system Fire Chief Bob Rathke said that despite the snow, alarms have ac tually been down, with no major alarms Like other officials, though, he cast Fiery wreck claims two east o f Sandy by MICHAEL P. JONES Post Correspondent Icy road conditions were blamed for the fiery two-vehicle crash last Wednesday that left two persons dead and six injured on Highway 26 at the Salmon River Bridge, east of Sandy. Dead are Joyce Utterback of Sun nyside and Marie Elizabeth Appleton of Banks According to Sgt Dan E. Wolf, of the Oregon State Police, the 1978 Ford van carrying Mrs. Utterback was traveling east on Highway 26 when it hit some ice on the bridge and slid into the westbound lane It was struck broadside by a 1975 Dodge pickup truck equipped with a camper, driven by Todd Bishop. 18. of Salem According to Hoodland Fire Chief Don Armintrout, the propane tank in the camper exploded on impact, as well as both vehicles' gas tanks, “ making the heat of the fires very in tense.” Dr. Thomas Utterback, driver of the van, and his three children were pulled from the vehicle by passing motorists The children, Laura, 18, Thomas, 16, and Robert, 13, were taken to Gresham C om m unity Hospital by Alpine Ambulance where they were treated for minor injuries and released Mrs. Utterback died at the scene, Mrs Appleton was trapped in the pickup truck and also died at the scene Bishop and Roxanne Trina M ur phy, 19, of Salem, were pulled from their burning vehicle by passersby. Bishop suffered a dislocated shoulder and Murphy suffered leg fractures. Arm introut said that his depart ment, which responded at 4:30 p m., was the first to reach the scene When they arrived, both vehicles were completely engulfed in flames He said, “ It took 15 minutes to knock down the fire, but an hour to 4 get the fire completely out." Photo by Michael P Jones C ircum stances ham pered the With the heavy snowfall that opened the new year, heading for the hills seemed like the thing to do for an afternoon of firefighters' efforts to extinguish the skiing. However, so ir any skiers crowded the roads without traction devices that getting to the mountain was half the blaze Icy conditions on the bridge fun made it difficult for the firefighters to maneuver, as well as a large crowd standing around In addition, rifle shells in the camper began discharging in the heat of the fire and made the situation dangerous, Wolf said traffic was re-routed Spreading the cost around to those One goal of the proposal is to en Under the proposal, the Sandy through Brightwood on Brightwood who use senior centers countywide is sure that everyone in the county can Senior Center would continue to be Loop Road from 4 30 p m. until after the aim of a proposed three-year use the senior center facilities A operated th rough the c ity , in 8 pm serial levy that voters w ill find on the countywide senior program levy cooperation with the Senior Center The accident occurred in 32-degree March 30 ballot make certain that everyone who does Advisory Board Daily adm inistra weather and was, according to Wolf, The $4 4 m illio n levy would use the facility w ill pay the same cost tion of the Senior Center would not be “ one of those unfortunate incidents establish a program similar to what for its operation much different than today. where two vehicles hit the ice and the countywide library system now The three-year serial levy is ex The county does not propose to dic went out of control at the same operates under Rather than leaving pected to provide a level of stability tate policy at each of the 11 senior time ” the operation of individual senior in services to seniors throughout centers countywide Rather, they He said the concrete bridge centers up to local municipalities, the Clackamas County, according to San would pass through a block of money generally sets up with ice before the new levy would establish a distribu dy City Manager Roger Jordan which would ensure that the Senior asphalt highway. With the thick tion program for the operating costs "This w ill become all the more Center and everyone who uses it is growth of trees shading the stretch of senior centers on a countywide critical as the federal and state paying a proportionate share of the from sunlight, the bridge is an ob basis budgets are cut and the city receives costs. vious place for care, he said Locally, the Sandy Senior Center less money fro m the fe d e ra l "W e fe e l th is is a g re a t Because of increased icing condi would receive $225,282 through June govern,ment to operate the senior breakthrough in developing a more lions on roads in the area, the state 1985. The Hoodland Senior Center program, and as the demands on the equitable and stabilized form of pay Highway Department was sanding would receive $97,200 for operation of city budget continue to increase, thus ing for the cost of operating a good the highway about a half hour from Its facility during the same time making money less available for senior center for our area's seniors," the bridge. Wolf said period each of our programs.” he said Jordan said Levy would give support to seniors a wary eye east of the city “ East of the city, there’s a hell of a lot of snow," he said. “ Any alarms up there are going to be a problem “ The county's got the roads plow ed. but once we get off the main roads, it going to be a bear So, hopefully that won't happen." Rathke said most weather-related calls report arcing power lines Because of the heavy concentration of snow, there is no real fire danger, he said, but PGE officials should be notified In dry weather, however, i t ’s a different story Rathke cautioned area residents to take extra care while the heavy con centration of snow is on the ground "Our response times are really in creased," he said “ Heating ap pi lances are running more than ever this time of year and the heat gets a chance to build up If things are going to break down, now is the time when they're going to do i t " A roof of a mobile home with built on additions burned Monday at .35390 SE Bluff Road, as a couple were mov ing in Rathke said said the fire started when a metal chimney, in contact with a roof rafter for a long period of time finally burned The house was valued at $30,000 Damaged was limited to $1,250. Rathke s a i. snow presented no pro blem while fighting the fire, but get ting there was different. " It took a little longer to get there, but I don’t think that contributed to the damage." Snow booms business, stops Hood traffic by MICHAEL P. JONES Post Correspondent Heavy snows over the weekend snarled tra ffic on Highway 26 in the Mt. Hood area and created a minor boom for some local businesses. More than a foot of snow fell bet ween Saturday and Sunday, drawing a large influx of skiers to the area's resorts and creating dangerous d riv ing conditions by early afternoon Sunday. At 5 p m., winter recreationists were on the highway, traveling bumper-to-bumper at a snail’s pace. By 5:15 p.m. tra ffic had stopped Sgt. Dan Wolf of the Oregon State Police said tra ffic backed up from east of Snow Bunny Lodge to as far west as the Salmon River Bridge near Brightwood He blamed three incidents, all within moments of one another, for tying up the traffic. A semi-truck and tra ile r ja ck knifed just above the escape ramp on Laurel Hill at 4:30 p.m , blocking tra ffic in both lanes of Highway 26 Moments later a powerline fell across the highway near Zigzag Problems were compounded by a collision between two vehicles, without chains, near Snow Bunny snow in the store’s parking lot. The spot is a popular spot for motorists to chain up. scrape the windshield and, now it appears, abandon their vehi cle. Darcy Gilbert, an employee at Ted’s Brightwood Store, said m ilk, eggs, produce and fresh meat were fast-selling items as residents stock ed up. Candles, flashlight batteries and kindling were also going fast as re sid e n ts braced fo r possible outages Monday morning residents in scat tered locations found themselves without power. Bob K a lle n , Sandy D is tr ic t manager for Portland General Elec tric, said scattered outages occurred near Government Camp, Rhododen dron, Woodland-Faubian area, in the Lolo Pass Road area, along Welches Road and in portions of Brightwood Kallen said it isn’t unusual for such outages in the Mt Hood area, but there hasn't been one this large in some time. He said the traffic jams didn’t do much to alleviate the power outages as repair crews found it difficult to get to the stricken areas. "Crossing the highway was almost impossible." he said Lodge. It took up to two hours to traverse the steep seven mile road from Timberline Lodge to Highway 26 Once at Government Camp, it took another three hours to travel the few ' miles to Rhododendron. Jerry and Patty Reneau, Rip- plebrook, said that once they entered the highway at Government Camp, it took them more than an hour and 20 minutes to go the first half mile Highway 26 Closed Wolf said that follow ing the preceding weekend’s tra ffic pro blems, the OSP was ready for heavy traffic, but "just couldn’t physically keep up with the snow and icy condi tions. "There was just no possible way to forecast the snow conditions down the line," he said. OSP tro o p e rs e s ta b lis h e d roadblocks at the east end of Rhododendron at 1:30 p m . Sunday and allowed only those vehicles equipped with chains or four wheel drive to pass By 6:15 p m the highway was of ficia lly closed from Rhododendron io Madras T raffic was prohibited until 7a.m. Monday Travelers found the roads con s id e ra b ly n a rro w e d by la rg e snowbanks that lined the road When state crews began plowing at 7 a m S unday. OSP tro o p e r D ave Whiteaker predicted they would be plowing all day They did A dispatcher at Alpine Towing i Rhododendron said the snow kept that firm “ wonderfully busy." She said the tra ffic problems around the area proved the “ fun and games don't always mix with practicality “ We permit too many people into one small area, who are ill (»quipped to handle such conditions." she said "When the traffic in the area reaches a saturation point, it should be cut off But unfortunately, we have no way to regulate such a move." Boom on Tire Chains Bill Stark, proprietor of the Mt Hood Food and General Store at Rhododendron, said the weather was good for tire chain sales He said he sold 100 pairs of chains within a five- day period Last year he sold only two pairs " I ’ve never seen so many people having so much fun, only to find themselves, later on. confused and frustrated with the heavy weather conditions," Stark said He estimated Monday that he still had 25 vehicles buried beneath the Minor Telephone Problems Carol Riffe, dispatcher for Con tinental Telephone in the Hoodland area, said the heavy snows caused only minor service interruptions Jerry Beech, repairman stationed at the u tility ’s Welches office, said th a t o n ly e ig h t re p a irs w ere necessary as a result of the storm and the lines appear to be in condi tion. Two sledders die in crash w ith vehicle Two Sandy residents were killed New Years day in a collision between an off road vehicle and two sleds on a mountain road three miles east of Sandy, according to state police and Clackamas County sheriff’s deputies Dead are Kevin Allen Fischer, 12. and Richard Glen Chaussee, .34 The accident occurred about 6 p m near the 4.370(1 block of SE Kiesecker Road, as the victims were sledding down the snow covered road, accor ding to sheriff's reports They collided with a four wheel, motorcycle-type vehicle driven by G ordon A a ro n M ille r , 18. of Tillamook No citations have yet been issued, and the accident is still under in vestigation Index SECTION 1 Keeping Posted Senior Center News Inside the Church 1981 in Review Obituaries School Lunch Menus Editorials, Letters Sports and Recreation 2 ... 3 5 ___ 6 7-8 SECTION II Area News Hoodland Happenings,.. ........1 Around the County Classified Advertising... 12-14 SECTION III TV Revue Inside Tab
