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