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