Section
SANDY OREGON THURSDAY JANUARY 21
1982
The SSndy Post
Area News
People
Home & Garden
Features
Mt. Hood Meadows avalanche ‘media event
by M IC H A EL P. JONES
Post Correspondent
The avalanche that swept through
an isolated section of Mt. Hood
Meadows Sunday was blown out of
proportion by the news media, accor
ding to a spokesperson of the resort
M ic h a e l C la rk , d ir e c to r o f
marketing and sales for the resort,
was reluctant to call a section of
snow that moved 150 feet down a
slope in Four Bowl an avalanche
Four Bowl is a steep area used
p rim arily by expert skiers just south
of the Blue chairlift
“ We call what happened up here a
‘Bluff,” ’ said Clark, “ a minor slide,”
Clark said that at 3 a m that same
morning, before the area was opened
up for skiing, patrols were sent out to
look for potential build-ups. or cor
nices This is a routine procedure.
When potential hazards are iden
tified they are knocked down by
dynamite or by trained personnel on
skis
The area where the slide occurr-
red. a cco rd in g to C la rk , was
dynamited early in the morning and
slid down the hill.
However, 18 inches of new snow fell
by noon, forcing the snow to slide
down through some trees
The avalanche was discovered by a
skier at 12:55.
“ When we first learned about the
avalanche, we augmented a search
im m ediately.” said Clark, “ Our
reaction time was faster than recom
mended We had 30 people there
w ithin 20 minutes
“If you can get people to an avalan
che area in 30 minutes you are doing
w ell.”
Ski patrolers and ski instructors
probed the area. 40 feet wide ( ’’ -by
w hat) and three to five foot deep, un
til 3:30 p m looking for anyone who
might have been trapped Clark said
they probed every inch of the area
with 12-foot poles, and no victims
were discovered
"A t no time were we alarmed at
all, said Clark " I t was not a crisis
situation, but it quickly became one
to the media.”
Someone monitoring the airwaves
with a citizens band radio heard
about the avalanche, and within five
minutes a television crew was on the
scene Later the resort received calls
from CBS News in Los Angeles, as
well as from United Press Interna
tional and the Associated Press in
Chicago, wanting to find out about
the incident
Bruce Haynes, a U S. Forest Ser
vice snow ranger with the Zigzag
Ranger district, and Rick Ragen, a
snow ranger with the Hood River
Ranger district, both agree that the
avalanche was a “ media event”
more than anything else They said
the incident was blown out of propor
tion.
A large avalanche at Multorpor Ski
Bowl the day before, however, went
relatively unnoticed An avalanche
moved a timing shack on the resort's
racing hill an estimated 30 feet down
hill A tim er inside the shack was
buried up to his waist.
At 3:30 p m., high winds with gusts
up to 50 miles per hour, forced the
closure of the Mt Hood Meadows for
skiing At the time of the closure, ac
cording to Clark, 3,000 people were
skiing. He said, “ they were refunded
their money on a calibrated basis,”
according to how long they had been
skiing that day.
“ One of the big problems on a
mountain like this, is when a storm
comes in and there are 50 mile per
hour winds," said Clark. “ It's just
too dangerous to risk operating the
lifts.
Clark said that it was just a coin-’
cidence that there was an avalanche
the same day as the high winds, and
said that it had nothing to do with the
early closure
Ragen said that the avalanche may
have been considered in the closure
but it was p rim a rily “ due to the un
safe situation of the lifts during high
winds ”
Two out of five of the resort’s ski
lifts did not open that day due to
weather conditions, according to
Ragen.
The Texas lift, Meadow's highest,
located about the tim berline exten
ding up between 6,000 and 7,00 feet,
had high winds and no visibility.
The Hood River Meadows lift,
which is located between the 4,500
and 5,900 foot level, was not opened,
said Ragen, due to ice on the lift.
Approval sought
for hydro study
by M IC H A EL P. JONES
:Hi*g socr
Post Correspondent
CEDAR PARK GARDENS
The Clackamas County Planning
Commission w ill decide upon a pro
*or ser-CT citizens
posed amendment which would allow
:ect jtm ntzac-f
hydroelectric projects to be con
structed on slopes greater than 35
'■ X .
* * 9°r°e"s
percent.
.
.
c- c=
On Monday, the commission w ill
-- -Ws bye
hear testimony on this amendment to
the county’s zoning and development
ordinance, which would allow water
impoundments and hydro facilities to
P hoto by Scott New ton
be developed on slopes greater than
Workers put up a wall at the senior center apartment complex on McCor
provide living quarters for 20 senior citizens by next summer.
35 percent, which is now a violation
mick Drive, adjacent to Meinig Park. The 1675.000 Cedar Park Gardens w ill
under existing ordinances. If approv
ed, the amendment w ill go before the
Board of County Commissioners on
Feb 22.
The proposed zoning change
originated after Paul Sanders of
Zigzag, was denied a conditional use
by M IC H A EL P. JONES
project would im pair or be detrim en
Citizens division of the Environmen structure to be location at the 1,420
perm it for a mini-hydro project on
Post Correspondent
tal to the public interest.”
tal Committee on Suitability (ECOS), foot elevation in the steep basin,
Minikahda Creek just off of Lolo Pass
The mini-hydro is being proposed
and the Columbia Group of the would be detrimental to fish
Road.
The project was denied on
The proposed B oulder Creek
by Steven Sweitzer of Wemme, who
Oregon Chapter of the Sierra Club,
Nov. 5 of last year by a hearings of
Francis N. Diack who owns a cabin
h y d r o e le c tr ic
p ro je c t
near
underwent a series of hearings
questioned the generating capacity
ficer because it was to be constructed
Brightwood has been recommended
before the board last summer, seek
of the project, arguing that there in the scenic waterway area of the
in
an area with slopes that exceed 35
Sandy
River,
wrote
the
board
in
op
for approval by the State Water
ing approval for the prelim inary per
were not historical flow records
percent. Sanders argued that slope is
Resources department staff.
m it in order to study the stream fu r a v a ila b le on the stream . The position to the hydro, raising the
necessary to create enough drop to
Steve Brutscher of the department,
ther. Having met head-on with oppos
hydrologic correlation for the project same concerns.
produce energy.
said that they w ill recommend F ri ing factions, the project’s fate was
was based off of F ir Creek, which is
“ Since the Sandy River, including
At the project’s appeal before the
day morning to the Water Policy
placed tem porarily on hold, until fur
located in the Bull Run area.
its tributaries (and that means Clackamas County Commissioners
Review B oard, to accept the
ther measurement of the stream's
Boulder Creek ) is the great spawning
on Jan. 6, Edward Sullivan, a
Dr. John Beschta, a hydrologist for
prelim inary perm it application for a
flow could be conducted
ground for 20 percent of all Columbia
Portland attorney representing the
the
Oregon
State
University
in
Cor
hydroelectric project on Boulder
The hydro application stated that
River steelhead taken on the Oregon
Mt. Hood Water Resources Coalition
Creek, a tributary to the Salmon
the project would divert up to 60 v a llis , te stifie d that the flows side (fish ladders are not 100 percent
which
is opposing the project, argued
available
for
power
generation,
may
River
.
cubic feet per second (cfs) of water
be 33 percent less than what Sweitzer safe for fish), why would you want to for a dismissal because the hydro
In a memorandum to the Board
from the creek and theorectically
cut out this food resource from our in was in violation of the ordinance.
dated Dec 18, 1981, Brutscher wrote
c o u ld g e n e ra te up to 1,956 has estimated He said that such a creasing population?” wrote Ms
The commissioners concurred but
reduction could make the project
that “ the application and hearing
horsepower, producing an estimated
Diack “ I hate to think of the day
agreed to let Sanders refile another
record indicate that there are some
3,400,000 kilow att (kw) hours of elec economically unfeasible.
when there are no cans of salmon on conditional use perm it application, at
issues of concern which could be ap
tric ity annually. Portland General
Edward Sullivan, a Portland at the grocery shelves, thanks to the no charge, if the zone amendment is
p ro p ria te ly addressed under a
E lectric has indicated a willingness
torney representing the project’s op Water Policy Review Board for approved.
prelim inary perm it.” By approving
to purchase the power.
ponents, also challenged that the pro allowing small dams on the many
H e n ry M a rk u s , a la n d use
the perm it “ it is not apparent that the
The M ountain Area C o rrid o r
posed three to five foot high diversion
tributaries of Oregon’s watersheds.”
specialist for the Oregon Department
State gets involved in county zoning proposal
of Energy, said that his office is
assisting the county’s planning staff
from a legal standpoint because a
s im ila r p ro b le m c o u ld o c c u r
elsewhere in the state. He said that
“ the more small hydro projects that
are proposed, the more the issue w ill
keep coming up.’ ’
“ We were aware of the problem
with the zoning ordinance and the
development of a lte rn a tive and
renewable resources like hydros,”
said Markus, “ so we decided to get
involved by drawing the county’s a t
tention to their policy problems.”
“ It was clear in the language of the
existing development code,” said
Markus, “ that it was not written with
hydro in m ind.”
Markus said that most counties
around the state are not aware of the
siting problems for small hydros and
with reasonable ordinances and plan
ning, the conflicts can be resolved.
The proposed conflict between the
zoning ordinance w ill be eliminated
by the addition of a sentence which
reads: “ Facilities which satisfy this
provision shall not be denied on the
basis of slope-related development
standards .”
Carolyn Smith of the coalition said
that her organization is currently
speaking with other interested par
ties in opposing the ordinance change
and said that it would have statewide
ram ifications, if approved
Sullivan said in an interview Tues
day that he did not know if the coali
tion would be at the hearing to legally
combat the amendment.
The proposed zone change w ill go
before the planning commission at
7:30 p.m., Jan 25, at the Department
of E nvironm ental Services, »02
Abernethy Road, in Oregon City.
SUHS programs rated by public, assigned budget priority
by SCOTT NEWTON
The unedited comments may have
been the most interesting thing about
about a recent Sandy Union High
School survey
“ I personally know of a student
, who graduated from Sandy Union Hi
School who can’t either read or
wright This type of schooling goes on
all the time at Sandy,” wrote one
respondent
Some respondents said th a t
teachers are overpaid, while others
feel they should receive better pay.
A few said that the administration
might be top-heavy.
One wrote, “ It is generally con
sidered that we have a discipline pro
blem at Sandy H S. This problem
should be cured by removing those
who are unwilling to learn and con
fo rm .”
Many, when commenting about
physical education and extracur
ricu la r activities, brought up sports
Although many supported athletic
programs, others did not.
" I get angry when my students
come home w ith new practice
uniforms whenever they turn out for
a sport,” wrote one
Another said that physical educa
tion classes “ should be taught with
health and fitness in mind Not many
people can participate in football
through ( -out) life It should not be
overly stressed ”
One respondent wrote, " I get angry
w ith the sex education th a t's
taught ”
One thought that was echoed often
was the fact that these are tough
times, and that the private sector
wants the job of education done with
efficiency.
“ I commend you for seeking input
from patrons and wish you strength
in meeting the challenge of m aintain
ing good programs while battling the
ever tightening financial re stric
tions,” wrote one
The survey was a random sample
of 440 patrons from two groups,
registered voters and parents of
SUHS students.
About 40 questionnaires were
undeliverable, through the m ail,
resulting in a sample of 400
The school had 190 surveys return
ed, of which 187 could be tabulated.
The overall response rate was 47 per
cent.
A post card, and then a first-class
follow-up letter, with another survey
enclosed, may have had something to
do with the high response rate
Although parents were only 40 per
cent of the sampling, 56 percent
responded Approximately 63 per
cent said they voted in the last school
board election, while 73 percent said
they voted in the last budget election
If the data is accurate, it indicates
that parents vote in budget elections
at a higher rate than do non parent
registered voters
“ We did not have any pro
gram —and this is what we were
pleased about p rim a rily —that did
not have a better than average
patron support factor,” said Dennis
Crow, assistant principal,
Respondents rated programs in
two contexts There was the patron
support factor, and the budget p rio ri
ty factor.
Therefore, it was possible for
respondents to approve of a pro
gram, while giving that program a
low rating as a budget priority.
That was the situation in art educa
tion On a scale of one to five, with
five being the best a program could
do, art was given a 3.676 approval
ra tin g . As a budget p rio r ity ,
however, again on a scale of one to
five, art was given a 2 676
Vocational education received the
highest patron support rating Also
doing well was counseling and
guidance, mathematics, science and
homemaking
As fa r as budget p rio ritie s ,
mathematics, language education,
science and vocational education
were at the top of the list
“ I think the public is telling us that
math, language and science are very
high priority factors, and they're
high here We re a basic skills institu
tion We’ll continue to be quite ac
countable in those areas,” Crow said.
“ Ia m very pleased that we had the
response rate we did, and it has real
ly helped up in our budget prepara
tions.”
Crow said that the results of this
survey are sim ila r to a survey
published in 1976.
Forty-five percent of those respon
ding to the survey said that the goal
of the people at SUHS should be to
provide students with a general
education.
they w ill be guided in that direction.
Or, a balance between vocational and
general education can be planned
A sim ilar survey has also been sent
to patrons as a special section in The
Sandy Post. The results of that
s u rv e y a re c u r r e n tly be in g
tabulated
Vocational education was perceiv
ed as the most important goal of 39
percent of the respondents, while col
lege preparatory work was perceived
as the most important goal of 16 per
cent.
“ The philosophy at Sandy High
School is you develop a program to
meet the needs of a specific in
dividual.” Crow said, explaining that
counselors work with students, their
parents and teachers, to make educa
tional plans for freshmen If students
want college preparatory classes,
Survey results
Program
BPF
PSF
BPF PSF
Mathematics
language education
Science
Vocational ed
Social science
Counseling
Health education
Homemaking ed.
Physical education
Support services
Student activities
Special services
A rt education
4 733
4 327
4 209
3 982
3 808
3 602
3 575
3 145
3 115
2 939
2 832
2 792
2676
4 163
3 762
4.107
4 606
3.710
4 254
3 933
4.195
3 896
3640
3 767
3 535
3 676
4-0.570
+0 565
+0.102
4)624
+0 094
4)652
-0 358
•1 05
-0.781
-0 701
4)935
-0.743
-1 00
Dennis Crow