Image provided by: Friends of the Sandy Public Library; Sandy, OR
About Sandy post. (Sandy, Oregon) 1938-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 7, 1982)
- The Sandy Post SANDY OREGON THURSDAY. OCTOBER 7. 1982 Vol. 72 No. 40 (I SPS tNi im» Library ventures into computer age by DAN DILLON You'd think the Sandy Public Library would be bursting at the seams when it re-opens in two weeks By that time, librarians and volunteers will have increased the library's “collection'' by nearly 250.000 volumes It won't require major remodel ing or renovations to house the new books, however They will ail be at the fingertips of patrons and librarians on a computer screen. Sandy Public Library is closing its doors Friday evening—re opening Oct 19—to begin linking its new computer system with 14 other public Clackamas County libraries and some 15 high school and college libraries in the area The net result will find Sandy library patrons able to reserve a book in the Lake Oswego or Milwaukie libraries and, possibly, have it in their hands the next day “I think it's a very positive step for the public and ourselves as far as saving money and giving the public the opportunity to utilize a computer," said librarian Sue Newlands "That and the fact it will be so much more beneficial with the idea of 250,000 books ver sus 15,000 books " She has lined up 25 volunteers to help enter Sandy's catalog into the computer system, financed largely by the Countywide Library Levy, so that it will also be available to other libraries “If a book's in another library,” Newlands pointed out. “we should have it the next day.” After a penod of transition, the public will use one of the three ter minals to search out titles they want With a little assistance from a librarian they will be able to retrieve any book in the coun tywide system There will be a number of other pluses beyond the immense growth in available ft 'es “In our own particular case, cir culation and patrons have increas ed so dramatically, without something like this there would be a dramatic drop in service,” Newlands said. Since 1979. the number Sandy Public Library patrons have jumped from 1.978 to 4,470. Cir culation jumped from 3,800 in 1979 New sign amendments criticized at hearing by DAN DILLON Despite a complaint that it discriminates against local businesses, the city of Sandy's sign ordinance was amended Monday night. Aimed primarily at providing tem porary assistance to local businesses, the ordinance amend ments allow for temporary signs advertising special prices and signs to attract farm labor during summer months The amendments were the result of a six-month study by a sign review committee, completed in late sum mer But at least one member of that committee, who was before the San dy City Council Monday appealing a decision against his off-site sign, thought the committee cast a deaf ear on local businesses' real needs Librarian Sue Newlands checks the availability of a book on the new computer system at Sandy Public Library. The library will shut down Oct. 9-18 while library staff and volunteers convert the local catalog to the computer system. to 6,200 in 1981. “I'm sure it’s a lot higher now than it was even last year," she said. “Automation particularly ap plies to the type of thing we're into,” Newlands explained. “The types of things we do are so labor intensive.” That includes checking books in and out of the library, keeping track of overdue books and fines and reshuffling the card catalog to keep it up to date Under the old system, it took one staff person an hour a day to count and alphabetize the circulation cards. Now, there will be no cir culation cards to worry about. “The machine will record tran sactions automatically,” Newlands explained. "It will do the filing.” The greatest fear of library patrons who discover an overdue library book hidden back in the closet—the huge fine—will be eas ed Rather than accumulating a large fine waiting for the librarian to find time to send out overdue notices, the -achine will promptly notify holders of delinquent books "Overdue notifications are another thing that will save us time,” Newlands said. “Now, we don’t have the staff to notify as pro mptly or often when people have a book overdue." With the new computer system, it will be a 50-cent fine with the first notice, no matter how many books are printed on the notice Seven to 10 titles can be printed on a single notice, reducing the overall fine, Newlands pointed out Second notice, mailed two weeks after the first, will bear a $150 fine. “We think this will actually be better for most people, as far as fines are concerned. It will be easier." she said. Part of the system is on-line with the countywide system as local library staff have coded in books when they found time, partially to get a jump on the week-long closure and partially to get some hands-on experience “We re learning as we go,” Newlands said. “We’ve been doing a few at a time for the last few months " At a cost of $8,000 to local tax payers for the initial hook-up, the computer system is expected to make the library more efficient and greatly enhance the collection. And they won’t even have to knock out a wall to do it Single Copy 25< Bruce Cook, of Bruce Cook & Associates, told the council, "One of the things that has been said repeatedly is that the sign ordinance is a guideline." Cook was appealing a decision by the Design Review Board that denied him a 128-square-foot sign across from Janz Berryland Local ordinance is "explicit that we don’t allow off-premise signs," Ci ty Attorney Jack Hammond pointed out. “It just isn’t allowable legally ." However, Cook contended, "Signs equal jobs." He pointed out that billboards advertise out-of-town products and services, yet no one has complained in the past five years about them. But when a local businessman tries to put up a sign, he is denied, Cook said “You're discriminating against people who are trying to bring money into this community," he concluded LOCAL BUSINESS • That set the stage for council to determine what constitutes a local business and who should be allowed a sign. Mt. Hood Meadows and Janz Ber ryland asked the council for permis sion to put up a sign advertising both businesses during alternate seasons However, because Mt. Hood Meadows is not locally operated, the council was asked to determine if their selling lift tickets and special packages at Janz would constitute a local business operation “An on-premise sign has to adver tise something sold on the premises,” Hammon'! explained "Does it con stitute a legitimate, independent business enterprise?” Mike Clark, marketing director for the mountain ski resort, explained. “We fee) the mountain has long had a relationship with Sandy and this is a perfect link for it.” The "perfect link” would be an of fice on the Janz site selling the special ducats and packages. He noted a similar operation in the Sylvan area of Portland that was suc cessful last season. In turn, the two businesses would construct an electronic reader-board sign that Janz would use in the sum mer months to advertise produce specials and Mt Hood Meadows would use in the winter months to advertise the ski area and broadcast public service announcements, such as traffic advisories and snow condi tions. Clark explained that the sign would be made available to the Forest Ser vice and Highway Department for announcements in the public in terest. Building Official Tom Day told council that the Design Review Board had not problem with the sign. "The whole hang-up at DRB (who denied the request without pre judice) was what constitutes a business." Mt Hood Meadows agreed it will rent a space from Janz, staff it dur ing all office hours and not impose on Janz staff to sell lift tickets That satisfied the council APPROVAL CONDITIONS The council then adopted condi tions that address the nature of the business operation for Mt. Hood Meadows on the site and operation of the sign: 1. Council standards will be adhered to as long as the sign is in place and operating. 2. Commercial advertising on the sign will be limited solely to products and services of Mt. Hood Meadows and Janz Berryland which are of fered for sale on the premises 3. The sign replaces one sign of equivalent size. 4. The sign will be covered by a repair and maintenance agreement. Land auction draws fire, state investigation by MICHAEL P. JONES Post Correspondent An investigation of potential viola tions surrounding a recent land auc tion at the Rippling River Resort in Welches is currently underway by the state Real Estate Division. Paul Martin, chief investigator for for the Real Estate Division, said he is looking into possible "technical” violations of licensing and advertis ing statutes surrounding the auction of 69 home sites owned by American Guaranty Financial Corporation. A majority of the sites, which varied in size from one-quarter to one-half acre, were reportedly sold at the Sept 12 auction in the Rippling River Lodge The sale attracted more than 300 persons Martin, who did not attend the auc tion, emphasized his office is not con ducting "a full-fledged land probe " Rather, he is looking into advertising violations and violations committed by developer Carl Bright, the out-of- state auction company and two of the event’s auctioneers As of Monday, Martin had received just one formal complaint about the land auction He said Neal Davis, a Portland sportswear manufacturer, filed the complaint, claiming decep tive advertising of the sale which ap peared in a number of issues a Portland newspaper Davis claimed the advertisements for the auction were misleading because they stated there would be no minimum opening bids However, when Davis arrived at the auction he learned the owners had a “reserve clause” and retained the right to ac cept or reject any offer if it was below the reserve price published in the auction’s brochure The questionable advertisement was published with the copyright notice of Kennedy-Wilson, Inc. of Santa Monica, Calif., who conducted the auction The company designed the advertisement in addition to a similar one which appeared in the Wall Street Journal “The advertisement in this par ticular paper (The Oregonian) is the one which caused the problem,” said Martin. “Apparently the Wall Street Journal advertisement did not state there was ’no minimum opening bids’” James Anderson, president of American Guaranty, said a questions and answer period was held prior to the sale and the minimum-price Head-on crash fatal to two hunters by MICHAEL P. JONES Post Correspondent Friday morning two hunters at tempting beat the heavy traffic on the opening day of the deer hunting Index SECTION I Keeping Poated ................... 2 Editorial. Opinion .............. 5 Inside the Church 5 Senior Center News .............. 5 Obituaries ..............................5 Menua........................................ 6 Inside Business 7 Obituaries ................................. 8 Sports, Recreation............... >10 SECTION II Area News ................................1 About People ........................... • SECTION III Classified Acte ... TV Revue ............. Imide Tab Imide Tab season were killed in a three-car col lision one mile east of Zigzag The accident occurred at 5:30 a m at the east end of the Faubion Loop junction on Highway 26 Oregon State Police trooper John Rizzo, who investigated, said a Ford pickup driven by John Carpenter. 22. of Beaverton, was returning from Timberline Lodge heading west bound on Highway 26 Carpenter’s vehicle, said Rizzo, crossed the center line and entered the eastbound lane striking a pickup truck head-on, instantly killing the two occupants Dead are two Portland residents, the drive* Dean Fisher, 58, and a passenger Dale Shuttuck, 41. Carpenter and a passenger, Michael Poff, >4, of Portland, were injured in the coiiiaon. Rizzo said they were taken to Gresham Com munity Hospital and «dmitted for lacerations. lag and head injuries After the initial impact, a third vehicle struck the other two. The third vehicle, a 1982 Datsun pickup, driven by Keith Halsey, 32. of Aloha, was traveling east Halsey was unable to stop and slid into the other two vehicles He was not in jured Traffic was rerouted from Highway 26 through Faubion for nearly four hours Trooper Frank Morton, of the OSP Portland office, who reconstructed the accident, does not believe there was excessive speed involved in the accident He said it will be about two weeks before the the official findings of the investigation will be available Both Carpenter and Poff were cited for open containers of alcoholic beverages in s motor vehicle, said Rizzo In addition, Rizzo said an in vestigation for driving under the in fluence of alcohol and negligent homicide is continuing Te findings of that investigation will be taken to a Clackamas County Grand Jury structure was explained. He said 34 of 69 lots were sold at the sale. Of those sold, 30 went for below minimum price Anderson said that American Guaranty made a counter offer on those bids within 20 minutes He said Davis offered $10,000 for a piece of property American Guaran ty counter-offered and Davis did not accept Anderson said the average lot price at the auction was $25,000. “A lot of people who bought lots at the auction are going to build right away," Anderson said. “Some of these will be building their perma nent homes there ” The purpose of the auction, accor ding to Anderson, was to spur building activity at Rippling River Howard Coleman, a Santa Monica attorney r presenting the auction company, said the firm, as well as everyone involved, acted in good faith. He said that because Kennedy- Wilson was from out-of-state, they re- tained Howard Feuerstein, a Portland attorney “so we would know what we could or could not do.” This, he said, is standard practice when auctions are being conducted outside the state of California "There were great pains taken to comply with Oregon law," said Col eman. “Each state has different laws concerning real estate, and we will hire a firm from within that state to insure we do everything in accor dance to its statutes " He said the advertisement “clearly stated" that the complete details on financing, terms and conditions of the sale, was listed in the auction catalogue "Anyone who was seriously in terested in attending would have sent away for the brochure,” said Col eman. “If they would have done this, they would of known about the reserve price prior to the auction." Coleman said the auctioneers, Don Kennedy and Robert Mendenhal of Pounder Reality, tried to clarify misunderstandings before the auc tion At that time they discussed the reserve price, specifying that unless the bid was “equal to or greater than the reserve price,” American Guaranty had the right to accept or reject the offer "within 24 hours after the auction." He said this was the first land ac tion conducted by the company in Oregon and was the first time they have had a complaint registered against them
