4A COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL February 3, 2016
O PINION
Offbeat Oregon History
For Milwaukie gas station owner, buying
bomber was a wild adventure
BY FINN J.D. JOHN
For the Sentinel
I
t was the summer of 1947,
and Art Lacey was in serious
trouble.
He was about 50 feet above an
Oklahoma airfi eld, at the controls
of the biggest airplane he’d ever
fl own — a four-engined B-17G
Flying Fortress, one of hundreds
of the heavy bombers that the
government was selling as surplus
in the wake of the Second World
War. This one was his; he had just
bought it for $13,000. But now the
landing gear was stuck in the re-
tracted position, and it looked like
he was about to crash it.
This wouldn’t have been such a
big deal if it weren’t for his “co-
pilot.” Art, not wanting to bother
with getting someone to tag along
with him, had brought a dressmak-
er’s mannequin borrowed from a
friend, dressed it in fl ight gear and
propped it up in the seat to fool the
airfi eld manager into thinking there
were two guys in the cockpit. After
crashing the plane and ‘fessing up
to this bit of deception, Art knew
he would be in a less-than-optimal
bargaining position vis-à-vis the
defect in the plane he’d bought.
Still, that was all in the future.
For now, the number-one goal was
to not die in a giant fi reball follow-
ing a botched attempt at a gear-up
landing. He lined the plane up as
best he could with the runway and
prepared to do his best.
Art’s whole crazy scheme had
its genesis when he fi rst learned
about the surplus B-17s. They
were super-cheap, selling for not
much above their scrap value,
because there just weren’t very
many practical civilian uses for
an obsolete heavy bomber. Art,
already a successful Milwaukie
businessman, had started stewing
over how he might take advantage
of the low prices on the big war-
birds. The more he thought about
it, the cooler he thought it would
look to have one of them perched
above the gas pumps at his gas sta-
tion on McLoughlin Boulevard.
The wings could serve as a roof
over the pumps, and there would
be room for a lot of them. And best
of all, it wouldn’t cost that much
more than a stick-built structure of
similar size.
According to Art’s daughter,
Punky Scott, in an interview with
KATU-TV Channel 2 News, the
scheme he developed remained
just a scheme until someone put
money on the line. At his birth-
day party, he shared his vision of
a “Bomber Gas Station” with a
friend, who laughingly told him
he was dreaming. Art promptly
put up a $5 bet, which was just as
promptly accepted, and just like
that the whole crazy dream was
turned into a serious plan.
Art immediately turned to a
friend who, Punky suggested, was
well connected with the dark side
of Portland business — untaxed
liquor, gambling, pinball ma-
chines, that sort of thing. “Got any
money on you?” he asked. “I need
$15,000.”
“And the guy had it on him,”
Punky said in her interview. “I
don’t know how that translates
into today’s money, but it’s got to
be a lot.”
It is. $15,000 in 1947 is the
equivalent of $160,000 today — a
pretty impressive wad for “walk-
ing-around money.”
Loaded down with this bor-
rowed loot, Art made the journey
to Oklahoma to buy his B-17. He
had $13,000 for the plane and
$2,000 for fuel and miscellaneous
expenses on the way back.
Trouble started immediately
upon arrival. After selling him
the plane, the manager told him
to bring his co-pilot the following
day and he’d have the bird gassed
up and ready. But Art hadn’t real-
ized he’d need a co-pilot, so he
hadn’t brought one.
He also hadn’t given much
thought to the fact that he’d never
fl own a four-engine bomber in his
life. He was a skilled private pilot
of single-engine planes, but this
was very different.
Still, Art was determined to have
his plane. So he returned the next
day with the borrowed mannequin,
strapped it into the copilot’s seat,
breezed into the manager’s offi ce
and walked out ready to fl y home.
Hoping to familiarize himself
with the big aircraft a bit before he
started fl ying it for real, he started
Please see OFFBEAT, Page 10A
Why Cottage Grove is not like Flint
Cottage Grove
has no lead service
water lines, though
some homes have
lead solder to join
copper pipes
BY RICHARD MEYERS
Cottage Grove City Manager
Y
ou have no doubt seen
and heard a great deal
of coverage in the news lately
concerning the water crisis
in Flint, Michigan caused
by lead in the water system.
Housing in Flint is of an
age where there are numer-
ous service lines that may
be made of lead. This was
done originally because lead
pipe is very fl exible and lasts
virtually forever. However,
there needs to be an active
corrosion control program
constantly in-place to keep
the lead from corroding and
mixing with the water.
In Cottage Grove, we have
no lead service lines. The
only threat to our custom-
ers from lead in the City’s
drinking water is from older
brass plumbing fi xtures and/
or faucets and also, from the
use of leaded solder that was
used to join together copper
pipes within a home’s inter-
nal plumbing system. This
leaded solder threat is limited
to homes that were construct-
ed after 1982 and up to the
time when the Environmen-
tal Protection Agency (EPA)
outlawed the use of leaded
solder beginning in 1986.
Homes that were constructed
during this time period could
have leaded solder in the in-
ternal copper plumbing sys-
tem. Cottage Grove staff has
identifi ed 25 homes within
the City that were built during
this time period and, several
others that were built around
this time period.
To control the possibility
of lead mixing with the wa-
ter, the water production staff
maintains an active corrosion
control program, which keeps
the pH of the drinking water
above seven but below nine.
This keeps the water from
corroding lead from the lead-
ed solder and allowing it to
mix with the water. In addi-
tion, water production staff
is required by EPA to collect
a water sample from at least
20 houses built during this
time period and test for the
presence of lead and copper
in the water, currently every
three years. Homeowners are
instructed and encouraged to
run their water until it is very
cold before drinking or cook-
ing with the water. The prob-
lem with lead occurs when
water sits in contact with the
leaded solder for long periods
of time. In any circumstance,
it is generally a good practice
before drinking or cooking
with the water for everyone to
run their water for 30 seconds
to one minute when the water
has been sitting in the pipes
for several hours and up to
two minutes if the water has
not been used for a few days
or more.
The City of Cottage Grove
also has a few older wa-
ter mains (dating from the
1940s–1950s) that have lead-
ed joints. However, the wa-
ter moving in the mains does
not come in direct contact
with the leaded joints. These
leaded joints are replaced as
they are uncovered as part of
on-going maintenance and
replacement efforts.
The
City of Cottage Grove Water
Department takes the safety
of consumers’ water very se-
riously. Each year, the City
publishes a Consumer Confi -
dence Report that details the
operation of the water depart-
ment and lists test results for
known contaminants.
You can view the Consum-
er Confi dence Report on the
City’s web page at www.cot-
tagegrove.org or, call (541)
942-3349 and one will be
mailed to you. Another good
source of information for
water consumers can also be
found at www.drinktap.org.
This article fi rst appeared
in the City of Cottage Grove's
Friday Update publication on
Jan. 29.
Do vegetables lose nutritional value when we cook them?
BY JOEL FUHRMAN, MD
For the Sentinel
E
very day, we should eat a
combination of raw and
cooked vegetables, because the
effects of cooking are different
depending on which nutrients
we’re talk-
ing about.
Cooking
modifies
the physi-
cal
and
chemical
properties
of foods. It
causes deg-
radation or leaching of certain
nutrients and phytochemicals
but also softens cell walls and
other food matrix components,
facilitating the extraction and
absorption of others.
Many nutrients are damaged
by heat, light or oxygen. Vita-
min C appears to be the nutri-
ent most vulnerable to cooking;
about 30 percent of vitamin
C in leafy greens is destroyed
by cooking (if cooking water
is consumed, as in cooking a
soup). Other nutrients degraded
by heat are folate, other B vita-
mins, and phenol antioxidants.
Minerals and fat-soluble vita-
$ PUUBHF ( SPWF 4 FOUJOFM
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mins (A, D, E and K) are more
stable in heated conditions.
Cruciferous vegetables con-
tain valuable nutrients called
glucosinolates, which are con-
verted to cancer-fi ghting iso-
thiocyanates (ITCs) when the
plant cells are broken up by
chopping or chewing. Impor-
tantly, heat inactivates the en-
zyme (myrosinase) that drives
this conversion, so chopping
(preferably blending) these veg-
etables before cooking them is
important. Blending the raw
greens and then adding them to
a soup of stew is most conserv-
ing of ITCs. After that, steam-
ing—compared to stir-frying,
boiling and microwaving—re-
sulted in the smallest gluco-
sinate losses in broccoli, but the
less it is cooked the better. Re-
member though that the myrosi-
nase is deactivated by heat, so in
order to produce more isothio-
cycanates from the remaining
glucosinolates after cooking, eat
some raw cruciferous with that
meal or add some raw crucifer-
ous (such as shredded cabbage)
to the cooked greens.
Carotenoids, such as alpha-
carotene, beta-carotene and ly-
copene are not only heat-stable
but actually more absorbable
once foods are cooked. Carot-
enoids are inside the plant cells,
embedded in the matrix of the
food, and some of the cellular
structure must be mechanically
disrupted (such as by blending
or heating) to make the carot-
enoids extractable by the diges-
tive system. Vitamin E fractions
from plant foods have also been
reported to be more bioacces-
sible after heating. A study on
raw foodists found that lyco-
pene status was low without
eating any cooked foods. Fat in-
take in that study was associated
with better plasma carotenoid
status—adding fat is a way to
improve carotenoid absorption
from raw vegetables. One study
measured alpha-carotene, beta-
carotene and lycopene in the
blood after subjects ate salads
topped with fat-free dressing, or
dressings containing either six
or 28 grams of fat. Carotenoid
absorption was negligible from
the salad with fat-free dressing
and high from the fat-contain-
ing dressings. Salad dressings
made by blending nuts and
seeds (instead of using oil) are
the healthiest.
Some nutrient loss occurs
when fresh foods are stored.
Produce that has been shipped
a long distance will likely have
less nutritional value than the
same produce bought locally.
Frozen vegetables do have low-
er levels of vitamin C, thiamin,
ribofl avin and niacin loss due to
the blanching step of the freez-
ing process. However, once the
food is frozen, nutrient losses
due to storage slow down sub-
stantially. Plus, frozen vegeta-
bles are picked fresh and frozen
soon after, preserving a large
proportion of the nutrients. For
frozen fruits, there is minimal
loss of polyphenol antioxidants
(such as fl avonoids) because
fruits are not blanched before
they are frozen.
Sometimes nutrients are not
destroyed by heat but can be lost
in the cooking water if boiling
or steaming—this is why soups
are a good cooking method for
vegetables, as long as the veg-
etables are not overcooked.
Remember to avoid high-heat
dry cooking and browning to
prevent the formation of acryl-
amide—a possible carcinogen
formed in cooked starchy foods.
A good general guideline to
maximize nutrient quantity and
variety is to eat a large variety
of raw and gently cooked veg-
etables—large daily salads plus
vegetable-bean soups or stews,
or vegetables cooked in a wok
with water or steamed for only
10 minutes.
Remember—Eat a large
green salad, containing a vari-
ety of raw vegetables, with a nut
and seed based dressing at least
once a day.
Suggested healthy
cooking methods
for vegetables
Steam greens in a wok alter-
nating covering and stirring.
Steam greens in a steamer for
10 minutes or less
Half artichokes up the middle
and steam for 18—20 minutes
Boil sweet potatoes, cook car-
rots and parsnips in soups and
stews
Bake hard squashes at a low
oven temperature (325° F) for
one hour
Wok or steam mushrooms, or
add to soups and stews
Puree raw cruciferous greens,
shallots and onions before add-
ing to soups and stews
Dr. Fuhrman is a #1 New York
Times best-selling author and a
family physician specializing in
lifestyle and nutritional medi-
cine. Visit his informative web-
site at DrFuhrman.com. Submit
your questions and comments
about this column directly to
newsquestions@drfuhrman.
com.
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