2
SA N D » (O r * ) POS’ Thur»
O o o b e r 7?
1987 Se.
I
The Sandy Post
Editorial & Opinion
Scott N e w to n , e d ito r
K o rin d a H e dlu nd, a d v e rtis in g re p re s e n ta tiv e
Housing needed
for farm workers
Opposition to the expansion of a migrant labor camp in San
dy is symptomatic of a problem occurring throughout Oregon
and the United States.
People empathize with migrant laborers, who are the latest
wave of immigrants in our 200-year-old history. We rely on
then! to do the back-breaking labor that is essential to many
local, agricultural-based businesses.
But when it comes to finding a place for them to live, we tell
them that Sandy - Trubel Hoad in particular - is not the
right place.
That was the underlying message of a meeting sponsored by
Firwood Neighbors last week. Firwood Neighbors, a citizens
planning organization for Clackamas County, was asked to
give the Clackamas County board of commissioners a recom
mendation on whether to allow an expansion of 1 one) Wicker-
sham 's labor camp from 61 people to 175.
From the testimony, it seemed that most of the people in at
tendance were farmers. Because of that, it was somehwat sur
prising that the vote was 61 to 7 in opposition to the expansion.
Much of the area is zoned for "exclusive farm use," which
means local property owners probably favored the designa
tion when the area’s comprehensive plan was developed.
With the importance of migrant workers to the berry and
nursery industry, it seems a contradiction to oppose the
building of housing for workers.
According to Clackamas County’s legal counsel, the issue
probably will be decided on whether Wickersham can prove he
needs the workers.
And he has a good chance of proving that he does need them.
Wickersham farms 250 acres in an operation that is labor in
tensive.
,
.
Conflicting opinions have been offered as to whether there
was a shortage of migrant labor last spring during the
strawberry harvest. Wickersham said there was not a lack of
labor, but a lack of places for the workers to stay. He said he
left strawberries in the field last year because he had no place
for workers to stay and thus could not get the help he needed.
Fanners at the Firwood Neighbors meeting said Wicker
sham does not need the workers because he is able to "loan"
them out to other farmers.
Wickersham does not argue that he can keep the workers
busy from May to October, the months he would like to keep
his camp open. But he said he needs 300 to 400 workers during
harvest.
, , ,
He said he needs 175 people in the labor camp as
"insurance" that he will have enough workers during peak
times.
—
Wickersham does not have a flawless record. The state Ac
cident Prevention Division has cited Wickersham for viola
tions of migrant housing standards in the past.
But it appears now that Wickersham is trying to work within
the system. The improvements that have been made to his
camp in the past year are impressive.
Because the Firwood area is agricultural in nature, it would
make sense for the Clackamas County board to approve the
expansion of Wickersham’s camp.
Letters to the editor
th e ir fa c ilitie s and being crowded to
the point of it being dangerous at
tunes Would this be your firs t p rio ri
Tusk force
seeks opinions
ty ”
M any of our roads are in bad
shape, and it is very costly even to
keep them m aintained to standard
These are some of the things the
task force m ust soon p rio ritiz e and
send to the C ity Council fo r them to
decide
Many of us, m yself included, com
plain about whai the gove rn m en t"
has done a fte r it is too late to do
anything about it. Now is your
chance to help decide It is your
money - your governm ent
it
should be your wishes'
Please ca ll I would like to hear any
and a ll ideas on this and would hope
that the other task force m em bers
would feel the same
Task fo r m em bers and th e ir
telephone num bers are
M a rily n
Howell, 668-65!«; Howard Berger,
668-4723; B ill W a rily. 668-7126; Phil
Jonsrud, 668-4995; Ken H a llg re n .
668-60;«; Ginny K allen, 668-7149; L in
da Hanna. 668-6818; Beth Scarth.
668-9580. B ill T ickn e r. 668-6566. Ruth
l.ou n d re e , 668-4024; J e ff Jaqua.
668-6966. Roger Bronx, 668-7402. and
H ick K ry . 668-9376
M a rily n Howell
Sandy
I ¡m i w ritin g as a m em ber of the
m a yo r's task force We are now in
the process of p rio ritiz in g things fo r
the city, which w ill a ffect your (the
ta xp a ye r s i pocketbook fo r years to
come We need your ideas and o p i
nions
As fa r as I am concern«! thv
necessities come firs t, then the lu x
uries. but that means d iffe re n t things
to d iffe re n t people. How do you fe e l'
If the city continues to grow as p ro
ps led, our present sewer system w ill
be outgrown by about 1991 Shall we
sta rt ta xin g fo r that now. or let it go
as is, try to keep our town sm all, and
try not to encourage new business
anil g ro w th "
I h» you th in k Sandy is a livable
town now May lx- you would rather
see your tax d ollars go fo r increasing
com m unity services, such as a larger
lib ra r y , or a c o m m u n ity center
b u ilding that would house senior
c itize n fa c ilitie s , com m unity a c
tiv itie s . a possible teen center,
pioneer m useum , a u d ito riu m for
plays and other public usage
Also, our police force is doing a
great job in spite of having outgrown
The Sandy Post
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No 47
C>< lobe** 77 I « 8 1
Recliners are plastie seats of power
E verybody has one
( lo in t o a n y h o u se in th e
neighborhixxi and yo u ’ll find it lu rk
ing in a corner
the re c lin e r ch a ir
It is usually covered in Naugahyde,
skinned, no doubt, fro m the backs of
countless naugas It is often olive
green, though sometim es brown
i M y guess is that the m ale nauga is
the green one i More often than not it
w ill have little saddle bags on the
side, as though the person seated in it
was going somewhere .m il needed to
pack fo r the tr ip And there is a bitty
gear sh ift, though I have never seen a
re c lin e r in any mode but P ark
In a way, the c h a ir does move One
m inute it just there and the next it
reclines and aw ful things happen A
big c h a ir under the best of c ir
cum stances, ¡i re c lin e r reclined fla t
out can grow to the size of ¡in a irc ra ft
c a rrie r flig h t deck It w ill swallow
half the room , causing dogs and
sm all c h ild re n to flee
Like an
astronaut in a nose cone, the occu
Y e x fe ry c iir
in
pant of the ch a ir peers out between
his toes An ugly sight, indeed
The
s a il
th in e
is
t tia t
r e c lin e r s
d ivid e the sexes. On the day men and
women are tru ly equal and ha lf the
Supreme Court ca rrie s purses to
w ork, this tru th w ill s till exist Men
love re clin e rs; women hate them
My frie n d B etty was m u tte rin g
about hers the other day How it had
to go How she was so ashamed of it
It s olive g re e n ," she whispered
"C an you believe i t ’ " I nodded know
ingly. Betty believes she is alone in
the w o rld w ith her o live -g re e n
re clin e r. Like incest, spouse abuse
and our exact w eight, re clin e r chairs
are som ething we just don’t ta lk
about in polite society.
At lunch yesterday, tw o women at
the next table spoke in confidential
tones, unaware of how th e ir voices
ca rrie d
" I t ’s got to go I t ’s H U G E ," said
the firs t
W e ll," said the second, I
do like m ine when I ’m sick
But th a t’s no reason to keep it , "
she h u rrie d ly amended. “ I ’m not sick
T H A T o fte n '"
I wanted to ju m p fro m my seat and
te ll those tw o that they had friends
everyw here. Sisters. Sisters of the
ch a ir C hairw om en, if you w ill
My m other was a sister of the
ch a ir It happened when Bad went to
M ontgom ery Wards in the 1950s and
bought w hat was then heralded as the
contour ch a ir. There was no subter
fuge in a countour ch a ir About the
size of an O ldsm obile, it was always
stretched fla t out The rest of the fu r
nitu re was forced to cow er in the fa r
corner
Since it occupied the m a in spot in
the room , m uch like a throne, others
of the fa m ily used to sneak into it
His firs t words on entering the
room were, "G e t out of my ch a ir
On the day he died, I knew before
Mom told me She was s ittin g in his
ch a ir
My hubby, on the other hand, only
appears to have died in his ch a ir
We have argued about his seating
arrangem ents fo r years In the h a l
cyon days a fte r the honeymoon, we
were m uch too poor to buy ’ re clin e r
so he used the couch I sold the couch
out fro m under his sleeping body and
he got his firs t re clin e r
Today he has a brown one that he
regards as sort of a Naugahyde
worn!) He clim b s into it. kicks it to
fla t out and peers at the television
between his slippered feet Should
som ething rouse him fro m between
the arm s of this padded tem ptress,
he and the ch a ir both groan loudly in
protest
I never knew the answer to the pro
blem u ntil Sunday when I spotted a
green re clin e r cru m p le d at the side
of the freeway like a stranded whale
W hile I have ce rta in reservations
about litte rin g the roadside w ith un
wanted recliners. I s till wonder how
fast he was d riv in g when she sneaked
back and kicked that chan out ot the
tru ck
S u iii/y
History ¿roup plans meeting Sunday
by M IL E S A t BIN
Special for The Post
The Sandy Pioneer and H isto rica l
Association w ill hold its q uarterly
m eeting on Sunday . Oct 25. a, the
Mel Haneberg Com m unity Center
This w ill tie a potluck meeting w ith
dinner at 1 p in and a short business
m eeting to follow
People should take th e ir own table
service.
The e n tertainm ent that follows the
business m eeting w ill feature W illie
E isher, an accordian pla ye r, Homan
Scott, local a rtis t, and Jerry Lind
Meyers Newcomb, w ho w ill present a
m usical num ber
The Sandy Pioneer Association is
now in the process of producing a
book of pictures related to the e a rly
history of the area l’he te m jxira ry
use of any pertinent p ictures would
1 m - appreciated
The association w o u ld also ap
p re c ia te d o n a t io n s o f a rtifa c ts ,
n e w sp ap e r a rtic le s o r p e rsonal
w r it in g s o f e v e n ts o f e a rly
y e a rs of
this area
In the early years, local w rite rs
c o n t r ib u t e d a r t ic l e s to lo c a l
newspapers A by-line w a s s e ld o m
present h o llo w in g are itm es taken
fro m the Oregon City E n terprise
B o rin g , Sept 30, 1897 — Ole
Am isegger has erected a hall on the
corner of R ichey Avenue and IXig
Kennel Avenue (T his was probably
the firs t dance h all in the B oring area
and was very near the present fa rm
of A lvin Richey i Music was p ro vid
ed by the Kern H ill S trin g Band and
M r Welch
B oring, A p ril 2, 18!«
W illia m
Welch of Salmon R ive r was in Boring
bidding his friends goodbye before
leaving fo r Copper R ive r, Alaska
D o v e r, May 20, 1898 -
Joe
DeShazer had a barn raising the
other day.
D a m a s c u s . Ju n e 20, 1898
Damascus can now boast of hav ing a
doctor, W E Hempstead, M I)., late
of Ohio He is lix a tin g here if people
give him th e ir patronage. His recom
m endations are enough to convince
the most skeptical of his s k ill
The best dance of the season was at
Boon Johnson's b a m Saturday night
Il was a nice c iv il crowd
D over, Ju ly 11, 18!«
The Dover
Sunday School celebrated the 1 ourth
of July at Joe DeShazer's P a rk The
exercises were conducted in a pleas
ing manner.
Damascus, Sept 6,1898
So many
people are hop picking that very little
is tra n sp irin g
E v id e n tly the patronage of the peo
ple of Damascus has been well
received D r Hempstead has decid
ed to stay
Sandy, Aug 14, 1898 _ M r and
M rs Jones had an interesting ex
perience w ith a bull W hile ta kin g a
sh o rt cut th ro u g h S trow b rid g e 's
pasture, the b ull took out a fte r them
and chased them up a tree, and kept
them there u n til e a rly the next m orn
ing when the bull became discourag
ed and relieved them of th e ir lofty
position.
Boring. Aug 21, 1899 — School
commences Sept 4 w ith Miss Rose
B ow ennan of Sunnyside at the helm
B o rin g ,
( le t
3.
189!i
Mr
O le
A m isegger made a fly ing tr ip to San
dy on business
One young m an's m ind seems to be
preoccupied lately, while threshing,
he was sent o the house fo r a bucket
of w ater and returned w ithout it.
There m ust be some a ttra c tio n at the
house, O rville .
B oring, Oct. 30, 1899 - M r Ole
A m isegger made a fly in g tr ip to
Douglas Ridge recently Boys, we
w ill get to rin g our cow lxdls and cans
in the near fu tu re
One young m an in the com m unity
has been th in kin g of going to school
and taking up botany, his fa vo rite
specimen being the " R o s e
B oring, Aug 7,1900
Ole A m isei
ger has settled down to m a r r ie d life
and is showing a responsibility of Is
ing the head of his fa m ily
Of late there has been a new colony
of settlers in B oring The y seem t..
come fro m the South and are known
as the "C u t w o rm " fa m ily They ; ik
sweeping the fields as they go. takm
e ve ryth in g green They c lim b the
trees and eat the green shells ot the
nuts. They even stripped s o m e ot Mi
H ickey's nice tobacco plant
and
w ord has been received tlia t they an
now ro llin g and sm oking cigareet
Sandy, M a rch 21. 1901
* asper
Ju n ke r has purchased the B enlei
place and has pruned the ok hard
This is one of the oldest orchards in
Sandy.
The booming reports of oil havi
g re a tly excited some of our people
Many th in k th a t oil can be found hei
in Sandy, probbly in the large tank ,d
M eim g’s store