The Srfntty Post
Editorial & Opinion
Von Braschler, Publisher
Caroline Duff, Office Manager
Don Dillon. Editor
Scott Newton, News Editor
SANDY OREGON. THURSDAY. NOVEMBER 25 1982
I
Killer bridge let off hook
The Salmon R iver bridge near
Brightwood is a kille r, let off the
hook another year
State Highway Division plans to
install a lanes separator to stop
head-on auto collisions when the
bridge ices in winter were killed
in review by Departm ent of
Transportation
Regional T ra ffic Operations
Supervisor Ron Failmezger still
believes his proposed barricade
between lanes could save lives,
when eastbound cars skid left into
opposing traffic.
Such an accident took the lives
of two colliding motorists last
year during the holidays. In all,
fo u r t r a f f ic accidents were
repo; ed at the little 450-foot
danger bridge between 1977 and
1981.
Transportation o fficia ls who
reviewed Failm ezger’s proposed
solution, however, concluded the
separator m ight result in even
more injuries. Failmezger figures
skidding into a concrete separator
m ight be better than a possible
head-on collision with highway
tr a ffic w ith o u t a sepa ra tor,
however.
A substitute solution now calls
for special new pavement that
would thaw the structure At
least, that’s what the state hopes
to do. Only catch is the work
couldn’t be done until next sum
mer, when the danger of winter
ice is past
Also, the project cost would
skyrocket to more than $100,000.
Strange how such a little bridge
could present such a big, baffling
problem. Or is the solution caught
up in bureaucratic red tape?
One wonders how neighbors
ever tackled problems like a
tricky strip of road, before big
brother stepped in to throw money
at our problems.
We suggest here that a simple,
but large caution sign at the
Salmon River bridge m ight be a
good first step in preventing ac
cidents there during winter.
Also, if your eastbound auto
skids left at the bridge in ice, don’t
forget to let the Highway Division
regional office hear about it at
653-3090 With lives at stake, le t’s
not let them off the hook w ith their
com m ittm ent to correct the situa
tion. (VB)
Mt, Festival makes Sandy proud
I f those M ountain F estiva l
bears seem to be grinning, i t ’s
because they’re proud. Sandy’s
Festival committee again cap
tured top honors at Northwest
F estival A ssociation’s annual
meeting recently in Yakim a.
The co m m itte e —represented
by Ann F e n w ic k ,
K a th ie
Sim onsen, M a ry R utz, Ken
Peasley and D arrell Dempster,
won a first-place plaque for best
program cover. This m arks the
second consecutive year Sandy’s
Festival has been decorated by
the Northwest Association.
What’s especially noteworthy is
the fact Sandy’s Festival is one of
the smallest in terms of budget
and active olunteers. In terms of
Festival quality and per-dollar
payback by quantity of visitors
brought to Sandy each July,
h o w e v e r, S andy M o u n ta in
Festival stands at the very top.
That’s all due to the selfless
hard work of a few community-
minded volunteers Sandy can be
proud of them and the honor they
bring to this community each
year. (VB)
L etter to the editor:
Many aided Bull Run dinner success
The Bull Run Community
Club would like to extend a
sincere thank you to all the
Sandy area merchants who
generously donated prizes
for our annual spaghetti
dinner and game night
Saturday. Nov 13.
The evening was a great
success due in part to the
terrific prizes we were a ole
to offer The top prize, a $50
..Easy for llMto say..
HEs
two more years/
s a v in g s
bond
fro m
Clackamas County Bank,
went to Roger A tkins,
father of three Bull Run
students and a daughter at
Sandy High School
We also wish to thank
several residents of our
a r e a who c o n trib u te d
prizes and much of their
valuable time toward our-
evening Of course, a great
deal of gratitude goes tq<
our cook. Mrs Konsella.
who expertly prepared the
outstanding spaghetti
Î
Stephanie Leas
Bull Run Community Club
Letter campaign could boost city
Sandy Economic Development
C o m m is s io n ,
fa c e d
w ith
m arketing tasks to sell new
employers on m erits of locating in
Sandy, might take a lesson from
Seattle.
The queen city mounted a suc
cessful, aggressive campaign to
woo industry to town a few years
back with a simple letter-w riting
campaign Call it a refe rral ser
vice, or sorts.
They formed a “ Committee of a
Hundred’’ to w rite testimonial le t
te rs
to
p ro s p e c tiv e
new
employers It was just the sort of
personal approach that works
Sandy could do that, too It
wouldn't require a lot of travel or
costly presentations Yet the com
munity could get involved in a
real way
Good use could be made of the
Chamber of Commerce secretary.
who already likes the idea well
enough to offer her help in typing
and m ailing the letters.
Of course, som** m arket search
would be required to develop
leads on what industrial firm s
might be interested in locating in
this area Here, again, there’s
help from the county, state, Port
of Portland and even Mt. Hood
Community College.
F inding a few com m unity-
minded business persons who are
w illing to jot a few lines in praise
of Sandy shouldn't be hard here.
Cut backs by Sandy’s precious-
few employers, notably in the in
dustrial park, make the need for
jobs and economic diversification
for shouldering taxes great.
But Sandy also looks great as a
site for future business Here’s a
chance to shape the future with a
stroke of the pen (VB>
Ask the superintendent:
SUHS stops quarter grades
by JOHN I) P E T E K »
Mandy H l ( h Maprrlnlenllrnt
QUESTIO N
“ I understand that you no
quarter grsile*
How do
parent« find out how their children are do
•ng?"
ANSWER
In response to faculty and
parent concern over our notification pro
cedurea thia year we inatilutad the prac-
tire of issuing progrès» report» These
reporta are prepared at an and twelve
week intervals and identify a student'«
grade and level of accomplishment a t
well as his/her attendance
Students receive progrès* reports from
teachers and are then requested to hand
c a r r y “ th e m hom e fo r p a r e n t a l
signature* They are returned Io the high
school for filing Semester grade* are
given in the usual manner and if during
any semester a stwdenl is found to be fail
mg or in danger of failing academic refer
rals are sent to the home Progress reports
for all students will he sent home again the
wewb of Dec » 1«
longer
im u »
qvevnON
W ill the Bandy Uwan High
fleheel heard of Director* be meeting
r e g a rd in g th e I » a t budget m feeder
a e M a *”
L E TT E R S PO LICY
The Post asks that
all letters to the
e d ito r be ty p e d ,
double-spaced and
signed. Deadline is
noon. Tuesday. Let
ters should be ac-
c u r a te ,
fre e
of
libelous remarks and
in good taste. This
newspaper attempts
to publish all letters
it receives and may
edit m aterial lightly
to
c o n fo rm
to
g u id e lin e s .
Personally speaking:
Vocational students ‘adrift’
There are some stone« that are
so obvious a person couldn't miss
them if he wanted to
year “ All the comments we got
from the people who participated
were great." said Montgomery
This is one of them
II appears that the local chapter
of Vocational Industrial Clubs of
America, or VICA, is like a boat
without a captain
They ail wanted to do it
again.''
He admits there were minor
problems ” Said Montgomery,
“ Everybody seemed to get where
they were going Everybody com
peted that wanted to compete The
judges were there for the most
part
Last year there were about 50
members, and the club took third
overall in stale competition
Paul Montgomery was the ad
v is o r , and L yn n S o nd en aa
assisted him To their credit.
VICA was successful
“The only complaints that we
heard were from people who
wanted, like, coffee set up early in
the morning Things that were
peripheral to the main event
Sondenaa can't help but com
pare the success of VICA to that of
this year's Sandy High teams
Pioneer teams were 24-39-1 this
fall
In 1973 and 1974. when
Sondenaa guided the program,
VICA members brought home 11
gold medals two silvers and two
bronzes from state competition
ANSWER
Yes For the i onvemence of
our patrons the Board of Directers will
hold three information gathering meetings
in preparation for Budget (om m ittee
meetings at the feeder schools On Nov XI.
we wilt be at the Boring Elementary
School on Dec 1, our meeting will be held
at Cottrell School and on Dec 4. we will
meet at Welches Elementary School All
meetings w ill start at 1 29 p m
(E D IT N O T *: tfeestlees ter Dr Peter*
■ ay be addressed le The Pest. Ptl Bes ta
Beady 979U >
',
Last year V IC A m em bers
brought home two gold medals
and three silvers Thai was in
com petition against 47 other
schools including the likes of Ben
son Polytechnic School, Vocs
tional Village and the Owen Sabin
Occupational Skills Center
When asked why he won t be
heading VICA this veer. Mon
tgomery said, ' The main reason
is I don t think I got (he support I
should have '
That's both
financial'' and
Things that as far as I'm con
cerned were the least important ''
by SCOTT NEWTON
people wise ”
When Sondenaa was asked the
same question, he responded.
Probably comments and memos
directed toward Paul and I from
the adm inistrative team and from
board members about the pro
g ram .”
When asked what kind of com
m u n ication s. he said,
"Just
«•»•»ng how ’h e y ih ooeh l the eluh
should be run. in their opinions.''
Seven schools attended a one
day skills contest at Sandy last
One of Montgomery's suojects.
drafting, was discontinued this
year He looks around and sees
less challenging subject« being
taught He claims enough support
to justify a drafting program
Montgomery aired some of his
complaints when he appeared
before the SUHS Board of Direc
to n in February of this year with
an eight-page chart showing the
cost of co-cumcular activities as
compared to vocational educa
tion
He claims the figures (bowing
co-cumcular activities receiving
more financial support than voca
tional education were "vary ac
curate " Personally. I could not
figure his methodology
I also would not claim to unders
tand the SUHS budget document,
hut every question I've ever had
about it has been answered to my
satisfaction
Asked if there is friction bet
ween members of the vocational
education dep'rtm ent and the ad
m in is tra tio n , S u p e rin te n d e n t
J a c k P e te rs s a id . “ T h e re
s h o u ld n 't be
W e 'v e sp en t
thousands of dollars on equipment
and personnel out there '
He pointed out the district i
recently received a $20.000 federal
grant for an after-school voca
tional program
He said that since 19M he's been '
“very active in vocational educa
tion on the state level.”
He added, " I believe every stu- ;
dent that leaves here ought to ;
have a salable skill I believe it
(vocational education) is an in
t e g r a l p a r t of th e w h o le
program "
Principal John McMahan made
an effort to guide the VICA pro
gram Four students attended the
first meeting, and two attended
the second and third meetings
" I was ready to go whole hog in
• biscuit." he said, but the interest
wasn’t there
Unless someone in the voca-!
tional education deportment takes
the helm, it appears the once
successful VICA program w ill,
continue to drift at sea