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About Sandy post. (Sandy, Oregon) 1938-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 11, 1982)
Mutilations stump school authorities Local bank charting course to own recovery A Sandy bank listed on the brink of collapse by a nationally syn dicated fin a n c ia l colum nist is working its way out of early pro blems and feels the assessment fails to consider current condi tions The Independent Bank of Sandy got national attention last week in a column by Dan Dorfm an of the Chicago Tribune Co that listed 45 banks in the United States that could go bankrupt if their current rate of losses continue “ If that had been the case, we would have closed our doors four months ago.” said Jim Flaherty, executive vice president of the bank “I wouldn’t even be here ” According to the column publish ed Friday in The Oregonian, the locally-ow ned bank had an equity of 5369.000 as of June 30 and had losses of 5529.000 for the first six months of 1982 That, according to Dorfman, meant the bank would have to close its doors by the end of November "W hat I really want to em phasize," Flaherty said, "we re not going anywhere " The article, which caused a tremor of concern throughout the community, drew its facts from data that was five months old, Flaherty said, and was the result of activities and decisions made in the first six months of 1982 “ We've taken our lumps; w e’ve suffered our losses," he said “ But. one a day-to-day basis, we are a profitable organization.” The losses of the Independent Bank for the first half of 1982 were the result of loans charged off, not from operating losses, explained John Rowell, chairm an of the board of directors, in a letter to selected customers The bank recognized problems in its loan portfolio, charged those loans off and continues to work at improving the quality of its loans to prevent losses of this nature by M IC H A E L P. JONES Post Correspondent Authorities rem ain baffled over the mysterious decapitation of two birds recently at Welches Grade School Staff photo Officials at Independent Bank of Sandy are surprised at the delayed tim ing of a report that announced impending bankruptcy for the localiy- from occurring again, Rowell said “ We have been on a course of correcting those deficiencies, by making the tough decisions of changing personnel, improving ex pense control, w riting off bad loans, and taking a much tougher stand on credit q u ality,” he added Independent Bank opened its doors on June 11, 1979 “ right at the tail end of a good tim e to open a bank, and went boom' right into the recessionary tim e w e're hav ing now,” Flaherty said “ It takes tim e to correct an in correct course We recognized what our problems are and we’ve got ourselves turned around ” Independent Bank is completing a m erger with W illam ette Falls Bank of Oregon City and the Metropolitan Bank of Oak Grove, a bank also included in Dorfman's column. The combined institution will be renamed The United Bank of Oregon. It is in the process of rais ing at least 51 million by selling stock to current stockholders The 51 million was required for the owned institution, but happy that they are on the way to correcting earlier problems. merger "That w ill sp ed up the wound healing process,” Flaherty said. "The m erger is just going to rein force the positive and speed along the healing.” The Sandy branch of United Bank w ill open Jan. 3 7ith the same staff and services it has as the In dependent Bank. Flaherty said. "It's going to help in expense areas,” he said, noting that three “ m arginally profitable” banks will save money with consolidation of computer services, advertising and legal fees. Cutting expenses such as those, he said, "goes str .ight to the bottom line.” Despite the adverse publicity generated by the Dorfm an column, the bank vice president didn’t sense any panic am ong the customers. "M y existing customer base has e x h ib ite d c o n fid e n c e in the branch,” Flaherty said. Friday, the day the article appeared, the bank opened six new accounts and deposits were up 3.2 percent. Sandy Chamber buys time waiting for new year by VON BRASCHLER A personal loan from president C h u c k Jo n es has b o u g h t a financially-troubled Sandy Chamber of Commerce a little tim e before new dues notices are mailed and more bills fall due Chamber couldn't meet payroll for its part-tim e secretary. The paid executive secretary, D ix ie DeLorm e, and the tiny office she staffs to answer inquiries and pro mote membership at the corner of M e in ig A v e n u e an d P io n e e r Boulevard represent relatively new expenses. M erchants g e n e ra lly com plain business is down a bit in this bedroom town that bills itself "gateway to M t Hood.” Their m erchant association now shows the scars with dues paid membership down from 100 two years ago to 79 today. Treasurer Ed Storey reported a balance of 5275.35 in the treasury in the Chamber board's Oct. 7 minutes, but 5313.24 in outstanding bills were put on tem porary hold to afford the past quarter's payroll taxes M oney got so tig h t fo r the Chamber, in fact, that outstanding bills reported Oct. 7 exceeded the treasury by some 538 and the President Chuck Jones stepped for w ard last week with a personal loan to carry the Chamber through its tem porary cash flow shortage, until new year dues start trickling into the treasury in December Storey figures a bail-out is possible in a few weeks, provided the local business community kicks in their support with dues paid up front Dues collection has been a chamber pro blem recently with a new dues struc ture to finance the information office that left some depressed businesses balking at graduated costs To help, Sandy Area Merchants retail group has agreed to join hands The somewhat rival offshoot has operated as a Chamber committee, but maintained separate mem ber ship with separate dues. The retailers agreed Tuesday to merge their membership with the Chamber main body in 1983, so that SAM members also must be bona fide Chamber paid members as originally designed. To help, also, Chamber president Jones recently purchased Sandy booster buttons in an effort to sell them for Chamber funds and operate a first snowfall guessing contest with merchant-donated prizes. To be legal, however, the Chamber hasn’t required a 51 button purchase as prerequisite to entering the con te s t-o n ly requested a 51 donation F o r m e r C h a m b e r p re s id e n t George Morgan personally covered another recent Chamber expense in the campaign mailing of flyers to urge support for the city's unsuc- cessful 5460 tax base election. Jones and his Chamber board tried earlier with lim ited success to raise money with a golf tournament, a summer festival food booth and ban quet. Storey said the board anticipates no increase in dues amounts in 1983, and hopes that increases Chamber support. "T h a t’s our recovery plan,” he s a id of th e m e m b e r s h ip drive “getting people to pay their membership dues when we send them out, in3tead of thinking we don’t need the money.” The board reportedly agreed last Thursday to pay back Jones' loan as soon as they can and avoid any deficit spending in 1983. Teacher group takes SUHS administration to task by SCOTT NEW TO N G ary Adams, president of the San dy Education .Association, had some advice for the Sandy Union High School Board of Directors Monday night. Claiming the present adm inistra tion "doesn't engender harm ony” with the teachers, he pointed out that the SEA has filed four grievances in the past six months The grievances, he said, were reactions to ad m inistrative actions Class sizes have increased, he said, but over the past four years the number of teachers has decreased while there is more support person nel. The administration could help with this problem, Adams said, sug gesting that Jack Peters, superinten dent, and John McM ahan, principal, each teach one class a day. He sug gested that Dennis Crow, vice prin cipal, and Dick Harrison, director of student services, each teach two classes a day. Adams said another proposal being studied shows 5130.000 could be saved per year by instituting a four-day scnooi ween In conclusion, he said he hopes to "im prove communication between the administration and the teachers T h e board d id n 't respond to Adams' s««gsstiom. though Board Chairm an Wayne Johns an thanked Board members were not able to respond to the two latest grievances as copies w ere n 't av ailab le by meeting time One grievance concerns notifica tion of openings on the staff The other has to do with the district 's re jection of tuition reimbursement, an item on the B ballot that was voted down in September Tuition reimbursement is part of a "professional agreem ent" the board has with teachers, Peters told The Post. Requests by teachers for tu i tion re im b u rs e m e n t have been denied because of the vote on the B ballot, he said He said notifying teachers of vacancies is "routine.” He had no comment on either grievance He said the other two grievances Adams referred to were settled “ at the principal's level ” Peters said, " It's sometimes hard to distinguish between grievances and memorandums." According to information prepared for the Northwest Association, which accredits high schools and colleges, there were 65 full-tim e teachers last year, compared to 51 this year. Class siass have increased from 15.01 students per class to 15.57 per class this year, or lees than one student per class. Enrollment as of Oct. 1 was 1,155. Two and one-half teaching poet- tlo m were not filled due to the failure of the B ballot Peters told The Post the ad m inistrative staff has been reduced. There were 73 support positions budgeted for last year, while 70 are in this year's budget "O ur intent was to hold tight," Peters said. Support personnel includes custo d ia n s , bus d r iv e r s , c a f e t e r ia employees and others. Using the principal's office as an example, Peters said it would be "d ifficu lt" for McMahan to work a regular class into his "busy " day He may have to deal with pa2ents or students at any time during the day, Peters said He said McMahan does relieve teachers, giving them an ex tra hour to work on other things "That goes on all year long," Peters said The superintendent said he is open to any idea that will save the district money, but he said he does not favor closing up the school three days a week. He said there are activities at the school seven days a week It gets "great community uae," he said The board instructed Peters to in vestigate the two grievances and report back to them Nov. 15 In other business Heidi Lam er and Shawn Bums, seniors who helped guide the efforts of the committee to R e in sta te Sandy S w im T eam s, presented Johnson with a check for 56,965 The board unanimously ap proved spending the money on the swimming teams Nick Roth said raising the funds was "rew arding" because the com munity "joined together ” Johnson thanked Olin Bignall for his efforts “ I know Olin's put in a lot of w ork," Johnson said Bignall. in turn, credited Shirley Roth for her “ undercover work.” The board got some good news in that an "outright” 520.000 federal grant has been provided for a late afternoon school for vocationally disadvantaged students Crow said he envisions a program th a t p ro v id e s ‘ ‘ h an ds on experience." "Learning disabled,” as well as ‘ ‘ a c a d e m ic a lly d is a d v a n ta g e d ," students are expected to benefit from the program A director and instruc tional staff w ill be hired The goal is to provide tutorial assistance in reading, writing and math, as well as vocational skills taught by experienced professionals Considering the job market, Peters said he feels they should be able to find qualified people for the posi tions About 65 students are expected to benefit from the late afternoon school Approval was given to hire Nancy Kieburtz. a speech clinician When Johnson had trouble pronouncing her name. Board Member Terry I>nchit sky said, "You need to go see her, Wayne.” John Rohr, a teacher at Sandy Elem entary, was hired as head baseball coach, and Robert Hulin was hired as an assistant wrestling coach. A 51.495 bid was awarded to U S. Metal Works Inc. of Sandy to install an exhaust system in the bus shop Another local firm , Crown R efrigera tion of Sandy, and A l’s A ir Condition ing Service of Hillsboro, also submit ted bids A resolution was unanimously passed dissolving all past transporta tion studies, allowing for a "fresh start ” Board Mem ber Bob Boring was selected to represent the SUHS board in new transportation studies, hopefully in cooperation with the feeder school boards Leon Hamblin told the board, "w ith a very saddened h eart,” that the Richard Gessford and Associates architectural firm has "resovled to dissolve '* He said Gessford has chosen "a d if- ferenct direction as far as architec tu re," but that he would like to con tinue working for the district Board Member Pete G riffin an nounced his resignation Monday night, citing increased personal and business obligations The first incident occured Oct. 14, about the same time that the top beaks of nine pelicans were cut off in California. The body of a wild Canadian Snow Goose, which had frequented the school grounds a couple days prior, was found nailed to the wall of the new addition at the school by students arriving ar school that m or ning. Later that morning, the head of the goose was found by some students playing basketball, according to the parent of a boy who attends the school. Rosem ary S ilva, who teaches seventh- and eigth-grade science, didn’t learn about incident until she returned from a field trip a few days later She said two of her students brought the body and head of the goose to the substitute teacher in charge of her class, believing they could get extra credit for the specimen. Silva said Kenneth Blackburn, superintendent and principal, had her conduct discussions with her classes concerning animal cruelty, focusing on the snow goose incident. Karen Corsini, a fourth-grade teacher at the school, said when the goose first appeared at the school, she included the bird as a teaching tool. Corsini said she read the class a poem w ritten about another goose and took her class outside where they m t on the grass, a short distance away from the goose, and quietly observed it. "The class," said Corsini, “ was very upset when they learned what had happened to the goose ” Saturday morning, two days after the first incident, Hoodland Fire Chief Don Armintrout said members of his department removed a seagull from atop the flagpole at the school The gull had also been decapitated Vice principal G ary Dietderich doesn’t believe the mutilations were done by any students currently enrolled at the school He said g en erally when a student does something wrong, he learns about it through rumors In this case, there has been no such talk He encourages anyone with infor mation concerning the incidents to come forward with the information During the weekend of this same week, unidentified vandals damaged doors, broke out windows and lights at the school. Injured girl said improved after wreck The 14-year-old Sandy girl struck last week in an accident at Cedar Ridge School is improving, according to a Gresham Hospital spokesperson Deborah King, daughter of Ray and Diana King, was listed in satisfactory condition Wednesday morning by the hospital She had been struck Nov. 1 by a Sandy Elem entary District van on the playground between Cedar Ridge and the playshed The accident oc curred just after school was dismiss ed for the day. She suffered a broken pelvis and right arm , bruised lung and exten sive lacerations Police are continuing investigation into the accident, Police Chief Fred Punzel said Tuesday Index SECTION I Editorial, Opinion 2 Obituaries Inside the Church 4 Keeping Posted ....5 Menus Senior Center News ....5 Sports, Recreation ........ 12-14 SECTION II Classified Ads ........ Inside Tab T V Revue Inside Tab
