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About Sandy post. (Sandy, Oregon) 1938-current | View Entire Issue (July 29, 1982)
-*W 4 SANO Y ( O f ) POST Thvrt M m July 24 194'J (Sec 2) Required soil tests never taken at school by M ICHA EL P JONES H m I Corretpondenl ’Ä . ‘i i Tests of fill m aterial u nd er W elches G ra d e School's new Si 4 million school addition could have identified potential pro blems associated with the construction and averted lengthy arbitration pro ceedings. which concluded Tuesday D e s p ite the IS, 000 budgeted for soil and con crete testing, the tests re quested by a Clackamas County building inspector were not taken d À - i -,•» ■'i i 9 y <í • .z On this f ill sits 12 classrooms, a library, a kitchen, a music room and an office complex, as well as a separate bus facility The fill material became a matter of suspicion in the latter part of the summer of 1980, after slabs for two wings were poured without inspection, according to Gary Yeaman. a building inspector for Clackamas County. When interview ed in 1981, Yeaman said “ A ” and “ C” wings of the project were poured before he had satisfactorily determined whether the fill beneath the buildings could adequately support the weight of the buildings without settling Settling can result in pro blems involving the floors, walls and ceilings. F ro m the beginning Yeaman said the project had problems He said there appeared to be a pro blem in determir ing what the responsibility of the Welches School D istrict was, as well what the role of the architectural firm, Richard L Gessford & Associates of Portland, was playing in the con struction. In addition there were coordination problems bet ween the various contrac tors and suu-contractors in volved Yeaman said a general contractor, which this pro ject apparently never had, was supposed to oversee construction and make sure the tests were taken on the fill beneath the buildings These tests were supposed to be taken for every eight inches of fill material added to insure it had no organic material mixed with it. With no person acting in the capacity of the general contractor. Yeaman said his prim ary contract was with a construction super visor. Phil Fleming of Glynbrook Construction, Salem Glynbrook had the contract for doing the ac tual construction of the ad ditions along with the bus barn In the early part of the summer Yeaman said pro blems developed between himself and Fleming, who was not calling for inspec tions He said he warned Fleming, on a number of occasions, that this was the normal procedure for con struction projects Upon visiting the site a short time after construc tio n had begun, he discovered the footings for “ A ” wing had already been poured. Yeaman said he again warned Fleming and was assured it would not hap pen again On July 7 an en tire slab was poured without an inspection When the slab for “ A” wing was to be poured. Yeaman said he was called the day before with a re quest for an inspection for the next morning When he arrived he discovered “ 90 percent of the concrete was already in place ” D ic k D o p p, ad m in is t r a to r of *t<e developm ental services section of the Environmen tai Services Department, who also doubles as the building official for the county, explained that it is not unusual for a contrac tor to get ahead of the in spectors He said it is something county officials don t like, but it does occa sionally happen. " I t ’d be pretty fair to say that everybody is in a hurry to get a job going and most contractors, when they call for a footing in spection, we have to hustle to get there before they are ready to pour,” said Dopp “ Often times they are there waiting with a con crete truck when the in spectors come up to make an inspection So it's not like he (F le m in g ) did anything more or anything less than any other con tractor would do " A few days later he poured again without the re q u ire d in s p e c tio n Yeaman said he did not give permission for the “C” wing slab to be poured because of the organic materials he saw in the fill No tests on the fill had, thus 1939-44 reunion planned ■ . j • The combined classes of 1939 th ro u g h 1944 at Gresham High School are planning a reunion party for Aug 18 at the Thunder- bird Inn at Jantzen Beach Festivities will include dinner, and dancing to music of the 1940s Ac tivities will begin at 6 p m Class members are being asked to call organizer Pete Carlson at 66&4I01 for an invitation and additional inform ation. They may write him at P 0 Box «36, Sandy. 97055 Carlson is asking for any names and addresses of members of these classes. . . . See Clackamas County Bank for financing at any of its three .. convenient offices! i=T K ubitz completes basic training Pvt Leroy A. Anderson Jr , son of Leroy A Ander son of Sandy, and Carolyn Kubitz of Isleton, C a lif . has completed one station unit training <OSUT> at the U S Army Infantry School. Fort Penning, Ga the class of Got a home improvement project in mind? » ■ * ’• •. particularly 1941. Member FDIC «3 ’T heft» CLACKAM AS «C O U N T Sonna Y ba Hcxxiiand nk Sari r«Jy V* •M m 6&1XÄ) 1U. , V GRAND OPENING (SUNDAY, August 1st NOON 8 p m.) /•! a i J ► Î FINALLY! THE VIDEO STORE YOU HOPED FOR!! - ALL M O VIE RENTALS ATARI GAME RENTALS 49’ 99*!! (Limit 3) 1 FREE FRISBEE PER CUSTOMER! 8 ’ j 4 » 6> ' nK &í » . D O O R PRIZES! FREE POSTERS! CHAMPAGNE! FREE COFFEE! BALLON C LO W N FOR THE KIDS! 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CLUB N O IN IT IA T IO N ’ ’ ' N O DUES’ ESI / * Qi) In A d v a n r e I or I V M o v i e P u n c h C o r d C o s t p e r M o / m $ 2 . 2 7 ( e * r lu d m q le a s e d ' far, been presented to the county as he had re quested Yeaman said after "A " wing had been poured he both telephoned and wrote Gessford. and told him that the county had to be called, prior to the pouring of any more slabs or footings, so the necessary inspections could be made Gessford. according to Yeaman. assured him the concrete had been placed propertly and done to code He said Gessfird had taken photographs of various phases of the work The concern, however, said Yeaman. was not the slab itself Rather, it was what was underneath the slab THE MISSING TESTS The "A " wing site was in an area that had been ex cavated so there was little concern about the fill underneath There was a concern, however, that the site's excavated materials had been used for fill underneath "C " wing. When I walked up there and saw the concrete was in place (on "A " wing). I started looking around to see if it was all right," said Yeaman “ For the most part, what I saw from the exterior surface ground, and how the thing was ex cavated, it was okay It was "C ” wing that was for sure in trouble because of fill Everything had been scrapped off the "A " wing area and pushed into "C " wing area “ I looked at that and told them. Now you're not go ing to be able to pour con crete over there until we have some testing done * And that superintendent, M r Fleming, assured me they were going to dig down to solid ground for the footings But that left fill in the center ’’ A few days after “A" had been poured, Yeaman said Fleming called him back and told him that the testing had been done Y e a m a n said he was assured that he was to receive the test results shortly Today, nearly two years later, the test results have yet to be sent to the county The only tests received by county officials were taken shortly after the site was cleared in March of 1980. and only the top 12 in ches of soil was analyzed The tests requested were to anaylze every eight inches of fill added Yeaman said he gave F lem in g perm ission to pour "subject to the testing approval." Organic material from the excavation of the “ A" wing site had been moved over into the "C " and "B " wing areas, said Yeaman As a result rotted wood. grass, logs, stumps and large chunks of wood were mixed in with the fill A fter “ C” wing was poured Fleming quit and the superintendent's posi tion was taken over by E m il F a h re n k ru g of Almsville, Ore Fahrenkrug said from the time he arrived on the job, Yeaman kept pressur ing him for the test reports He said he asked the a r c h ite c ts , R ic h a rd L Gessford and his partner. Leon Hamblin, who both assured him the tests had been taken and w ere already in the county's file "A t first I thought Gary (Yeam an) was a kind of hard nosed son of a bitch," sa id F a h re n k ru g *'I thought, ‘Jesus Christ, they tell me he's got 'em (the soil tests)." F a h re n k ru g said Gessford had even assured him that "he personally sent them in " " I told Gary this and he said. I ain't got a damn thing. " said Fahrenkrug Upon learning the county had still not received the soil reports, Fahrenkrug said he again approached the architects He was reportedly told by Hamblin that Northwest Testing Laboratories of Portland had ta k e n the tests However, when he con tacted Northwest Testing for a copy of the reports. Fahrenkrug said he was told they had conducted no such tests It was about that tune Fahrenkrug said he began to get nervous He said he "started to notice the floors (in "C" wing) were beginn ing to buckle ” In the fall of 1980 Glyn brook p re p a re d the footings and concrete slab for ‘.he school’s new $55.305 bus facility When Yeaman arrived to inspect the job. he said there was already HYPNOSIS Call fo r A p p o in tm e n t _____________ FOR _______________ • STRESS • FEARS • SPORTS .S M O K IN G .B E D W E T T IN G • N A U B IT IN G » W E IG H T .M E M O R Y • SELF CONFIDENCE Call 668 4221 Billie M cNutt PHD C ertified Union Hypnotherapist three inches of crushed rock in place and com pacted Yeaman said the site “ looked good to him but underneath was organic fill As a result, the entire slab had to be torn out and redone SERVICE a PARTS Authorised Service For: e Amana • Frigidaire eG.E. e Jenn-Air e KitchenAid • Maytag RiEG ELm onn? Sales and Servie» 301 i/Pewetl 685-4158
