Image provided by: The Willamina Museum; Willamina, OR
About The times of Willamina. (Willamina, Oregon) 1972-1974 | View Entire Issue (July 18, 1973)
Voters to decide on proposed school bonds Thursday, July 19 Voters will be asked to go to the polls July 19 and approve or disapprove a proposed school bond Issue totalling $1,950,000. The bond issue Is being r e quested by the school district to finance four projects: 1. Construction of a new grade school at Grand Ronde, 2. Remodelling of the present Willamina Union High School, 3. Addition of a new physical education facility at the high school, i W - Jim Walker, custodian at Grand Ronde Elementary school, shows some of the cracks and buckling on the exterior of the gymnasium. 4. Addition of a new wood shop at the high school. If approved, the new grade school at Grand Ronde would utilize the two newest class rooms which were added to the old building, and would be con structed behind the site of the present structure so that clas ses would not be interrupted dur ing construction. Completion date for the pro posed school would be Christ mas, 1974. In 1970, a committee was ap pointed by the School Board to make recommendations about the Grand Ronde school. The com mittee had a structural engineer report on the condition of the building. The engineer found the structure unsafe. Here are a few excerpts from his report: “ The original school building was constructed in 1919 with other additions since then. This building and additions are beyond economic repairs. Structural failures are showing up and have become hazardous to its occu pants. . . From the exterior, it is obvious that the entire original structure has settled consider ably . . . This excessive differ ential settlement does not in it self make a flexible structure unsafe or dangerous. It has, however,, contributed significant ly to the deterioration of the exterior walls. When the win dows and doors twisted in their frames, moisture entered the walls. The subsequent wetting and drying has caused extensive wet and dry rot in many areas. . The gymnasium is not even as well constructed as the original building. The gym was built with horizontal siding over the studs without diagonal sheath ing like the original building. The roof trusses are conventional “ Howe” trusses with steel rod verticals and all other members of heavy timber. The diagonals have been notched into the cord members but in most cases no positive connection has been made. This is the classical structure that, to the structural engineer, is being held up only by the paint on the walls and shingles on the roof.” The report goes on to outline many instances of wall bucklings, fire hazards and many other structural deficiencies. The de ficiencies range from the fact that “ The plaster has been patched so often that in some areas there are patches over the patches,” to the more ominous observation that the gymnasium roof is joined so loosely to the rest of the building that a good stiff wind could carry it away. In his summary, Van Domelen, structural engineer who pre pared the report, states: “ These buildings do not meet current building codes and there fore could not be built today in the manner they were originally constructed. The buildings are not properly designed to resist lateral loads and are marginally acceptable to ,support the verti cal loads. In general, the cur rent condition of the original buildings is very poor. “ I do not feel that a partial remodel to a building of this (continued on page 2) From the inside, heavy wooden trusses under the bleachers are stronger than the rest of the building, helping to cause warping by holding steady as the structure settles.
